Momma's House

A family of quails lives in the backyard, we can't wait to see their chicks following them soon.

My mom loves gardening and flowers. May and early June is a great time to be around. The front of her house is covered in fragrant roses, the weather is warm but not too hot, and her pergola starts blooming. A couple years ago she collected all the old telephone poles they were cutting down along her street and made this pergola in the back yard. It is really big, and each year gets more pretty as the flowers grow. Each telephone pole column has a flowering plant growing up and around it. She has hammock swings out there and it is so fun. This time of year makes me feel like getting lots of girls together, dressing up, and hosting a tea party out there. But I don't know that many girls who would be up for that. But maybe it would surprise me which of my friends would enjoy a frilly afternoon party under the roses.... lemonade, and lots of good treats, and tons of laughs, sounds pretty good to me.

Modest Dress, Clean Speach, Word of Wisdom, YO!

I was in charge of the skit for the leaders at girls camp. My mom and I wrote it: "The Girls Camp Rap". I know it is cheesy and lame, and isn't rap really, but isn't that what girls camp skits are all about? I'm a major dork....I already know. Before I went to Girls Camp Rhett asked me if I was going to come back all weird "like they always do". I asked what that meant and he described growing up all the girls would be so weird after Girl's Camp, the testimony meeting right after would be all about camp and all the adult leaders would be silly and weird for a while. After he described this LDS Girl's Camp phenomena I thought about my own experiences and decided there was a weird, excited, atmosphere directly after G.C. but told him I couldn't be sure I wouldn't bring it home as an adult. I think I didn't come home weird. I think I drained it all out while I was there. If you take the time to watch the video, understand we were much better in rehearsals. We froze up in front of the audience.

***There was an uncensored version of the rap, but I kept telling my mom it was a church event and inappropriate, so a lot of her ideas were omitted...but they were pretty funny I do admit.

Girls Camp

I'm the Beehive Advisor and we had Girl's Camp up at Heber Valley Camp. It is a huge area owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints specifically for girl's camp. It was really fun and a great facility.

Why Girls Camp Was Awesome:

-Camping at the Mariott: there were nice cabins, with electricity, heated bathrooms, showers, refrigerators, etc. Basically the only sense of camping was cooking outdoors and seeing deer walk through your camp. The worst is when you're camping and you wake up in the wee hours of the morning and have to pee, creeping out in the cold, dreading having to pull down your pants. But with nice heated bathrooms, it's actually nicer than home.

-No Girl Drama: Our group was small, only 15 girls but I wasn't aware of one cat fight, feeling left out, gossip, hurt feelings, cliches, etc. WOW. That was what I was dreading the most. I don't tolerate girl crap very well. Everyone got along and had fun. It was a good group

-Gourmet Food: For camping, we ate well. Orange rolls, Cafe Rio Salads, great dutch ovens, pancakes with all the toppings, and much more. We ate a lot and it was all so good.

-Pretty Scenery: It was really pretty. There was a lake. The girls paddled canoes and the leaders had paddle boats in case the girls fell in and needed rescuing. I was glad I was a leader, because we all knew the paddle boats were better than a canoe.

-Fun: The girls in our troop were so much fun. Lots of times I'd have to remind myself I was neglecting my duties just chatting it up with the kids. They were really funny.

The leaders were really fun too. I was assigned to plan/execute the skit for the leaders (8 women between the ages 24 and probably close to 50). I had told them in our last meeting it would be a chant we clap and walk to telling them about each of us. But my Mom convinced me that would be lame and not funny enough, so we co-wrote "The Girls Camp Rap" the night before we left. I called all the ladies around 9:30pm to tell them the change of plans and to pack a gangster outfit with plenty of bling for our skit. They were great sports and I was impressed with the gang signs they knew...just kidding, as if I know any either. But I definitely saw a different side of some of them in our rehearsals for sure.

-We Saw The General Young Women's President: Elaine Dalton came up the first night because there was a special ceremony unfurling a new flag at the camp. They added the gold flag, representing the new YW Value: VIRTUE. It was spiritual and exciting to see/meet the pres and be there for the special event.

-Zipline Swing Thing: They have this big challenge course with different tasks to teach teamwork and leadership. Our course had this huge swing where you are in a harness and they pull you forward about 25-30' in the air and let you swing. I watched all the girls go, thinking it's much funner if you are a kid at girls camp, but they let some leaders so too. So never mind. I got to ride the swing and had a paddle boat.

-Cute Sweats: The theme for our group was "Stand Out" and we all had matching hoodies and sweat pants. I don't ever remember getting anything when I was growing up.

So all in all, it was pretty great. But I am glad it's over and I missed my two Rhetts a lot.

Oh. and Terrilynn, I saw your mom up there. She says hi and I can just imagine her being such a great missionary for the camp.

Future Daughter-in-law

Remember Mysha? We got together with her and other friends for a roast in the canyon. She has a daughter 7 months old. I was holding RJ and Ella. RJ busted a move and held her hand. It was so funny. Too bad he's a little white trash with his gut hanging out of his tiny sweatshirt, dirty face, and sticky hands. Compared to little, dainty, princess, RJ is a slob.

So he has his first girlfriend, but I'm afraid she'll move on to less slobbish guys in the future.

It's Summer...and I'm in Dairy Country

You know when summer is here when my mom's roses bloom on our front porch.

Rhett is doing an "out rotation" in Brigham City. So we moved to Cache Valley for the next 4 weeks, living in Rhett's sister's basement apartment. This is a photo of our drive through Sardine Canyon. It was beautiful. It's been fun to see the neice/ nephews so much. We're watching them for two weeks when their parents go out of town so we've already started planning the parties.

It's been fun entertaining the little boys, 7 & 5. They are really fun ages. Every day so far we've walked to the pond to try to find frogs. First day--nothing. Today--we heard a croak and searched to find nothing. Maybe tomorrow we'll find an actual slimy frog.

Also, I've found buddies who are willing, and actually as excited as I am to watch my X-Men Animated series on DVD. RJ gave me x-men for mother's day and we're 4 hours into it and have already established every one's favorite characters and analyzed all the relationships, thanks to Brock's X-men Encyclopedia. Did you know Professor X is Juggernaut's half brother??? Whoa.

My Family Is Passionate About Food

This is my dad, Scott. (and Lynette)

Scott loves watermelon.

Scott is passionate about food, especially his favorite foods.

When I was in high school, my older sister and I were in our kitchen chatting. It was a Saturday night at 11:45pm. My dad stumbled in to the kitchen in his underwear, tossed some cash on the counter and squinting, muttered: "I need a watermelon. You better hurry. It's Sunday soon," (We were raised not to spend money on the Sabbath) turned and left the room. I called after him "Dad are you awake?" "I need a watermelon!" he replied, trudging back up the stairs to bed. So Heather and I fetched him the midnight watermelon so he could sleep knowing there was one to greet him in the morning.

Watermelon makes his summer.

This being said, you may understand this next story better.

Unfortunately, I was not present so this is passed on from the rest of the family. (Photo of my cousin, Nate, with a watermelon my mom grew in our garden)

Watermelon season was on, and Scott went to the local grocery store, Kholer's. Upon returning home, and cutting the melon in half, he was outraged to find it was completely white inside. Ticked, he threw it out and grabbed his keys. Soon he returned home, having bought the second watermelon. "This one better be good!" he said sawing it in half.

It was also white inside.

Scott was a-n-g-r-y. Infuriated, he threw this melon back in the sack and grabbed the huge carving knife and declared: "I'm not going to leave that store without a good watermelon!" Lynette, who was in high school at the time, knew this would be a sight to see and jumped in the car to watch the spectacle.

As they pulled into the parking space, and my dad was gathering the hacked melon and his huge knife, Lynette noticed peers from school going into the store and decided she'd wait in the car. So no one was there to report the rest of what happened, we'll take Scott's word for it:

He marched straight to the customer service, flinging the plastic sack leaking bitter melon juice on the counter. "I'm not leaving until I find a decent one," Scott said raising the knife as he continued marching to the melon pile. The display of watermelons was a large pile in the middle of the produce section. Scott just started hacking into them. You can imagine the scene of some infuriated Irishman with his wife's Cutco bread knife going to town on the local watermelon patch.

Luckily for my dad they didn't call the cops for wielding a knife like that.

Luckily for Kholer's produce department Scott found an acceptable watermelon on the second hack.

Holding the two halves of the acceptable watermelon in his arms, he walked past customer service on his way out, announcing: "I found one." Once at home, we all laughed and still think it is so funny. I'd like to think Kholer's had to develop protocol for anyone else bringing knives in to hack up all their produce, because they definitely didn't have a procedure or plan to stop Scott.

We take food very seriously in our family. So look out, summer is coming and with that watermelon. But lately we've been going to Costco for our melon and haven't had issues.

Reminds me of this Seinfeld episode:
(Kramer holds up cantaloupe)
KRAMER: Taste this.
JERRY: No, I just had a sandwich.
KRAMER: No, taste it. Taste it.
JERRY: I don't want cantaloupe now.
KRAMER: You've never had cantaloupe like this before.
JERRY: I only eat cantaloupe at certain times.
KRAMER: Jerry, this is great cantaloupe.
JERRY: Alright.. (tastes it)
KRAMER: Ah, huh. It's good?
JERRY: It's very good.
KRAMER: Good, huh?
JERRY: Good.
KRAMER: I got it at Joe's.
JERRY: Uh-huh.
KRAMER: Forty-nine cents a pound. That's practically half than what you're paying at the supermarket. I don't know why you don't go to Joe's.
JERRY: It's too far.
KRAMER: It's three blocks further. You can use my shopping cart...
JERRY: I'm not pulling a shopping cart. What am I suppose to wear? A kerchief? Put stockings on and roll 'em down below my knee?
KRAMER: See, the other thing is, if you don't like anything, he takes it right back.
JERRY: I don't return fruit. Fruit is a gamble. I know that going in.

So tell me, have you ever returned fruit?

Baby Ruth!

Get excited. Goonies. Where are they now.
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/getback-goonies.html
Chunk isn't so chunky anymore.

Officially a 4th Year

Rhett is now in his fourth and final year of med school. A year from now he will graduate and our days of paying tuition will end...much to look forward to.
I'm sure someone will remind me that residency is much worse and ruin my parade, but I'm being positive. Only one year left! To celebrate we had a picnic in AF Canyon at the reservoir. It was fun. I love living so close to the mountains.

RJ is one year old and walking. He signs "more", "milk", "pain". The only words he uses consistently in the correct context are "Papa" and "ouch". He can make donkey, cow, and puppy sounds. If you ask him he will point to his nose, ears, and tongue. Those are all the tricks I can think of. He eats a ton. He loves to show off and laugh. When he gets to watch TV he always pushes this little rocking chair into position for himself. He is doing well and keeps us busy.

Jess is the same pretty much. Looking forward to helping harvest the huge garden this fall. We're going to have a mini farmer's market so that will be fun and keep us busy this summer growing all the stuff. Especially with the raspberries. We still are working on all the raspberry/peach jam I made last fall so this year we'll sell the excess. We will be eating peas next week maybe.

Lemon Gelato

Italy and lemons have been on my mind lately.

Lemons because we bought a huge bag from Costco and need to use them. Italy, well mainly Rome because we recently saw Angels & Demons, which is set entirely in Rome. So we made lemon gelato.

I've only been to Italy once, but I loved the citrus all over. In one village on the coast especially, one of my favorite memories of the trip was a warm afternoon walking around smelling all the citrus trees. The lemon tree out the window was taken when we were in Venice. I loved that. I knew my mom would love it too.


Gelato is italian ice cream and it is amazing. In no way do I think you can replicate the actual stuff. On our trip, I ate gelato every single day, most days twice a day. The best gelato we had was in the Vatican in Rome. It was only 1.5 euro for a huge cone, we had strawberry. Maybe it was extra good because I had experienced an awful morning and ice cream helped cheer me up. Either way, here is this recipe which is good, but just an attempt at the real thing.



Lemon Gelato

a little taste of Italy cookbook


5 egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. milk
2 T lemon zest
3/4 c. lemon juice
3 T thick (double) cream


Whisk the egg yolks and half the sugar together until pale and creamy. Place the milk, lemon zest and remaining sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil Pour over the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the custard back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring continuously until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon--do not allow the custard to boil.


Strain the custard into a bowl, add the lemon juice and cream and then cool over ice. Churn in an ice-cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve.

I usually double this recipe and it makes about 2 qts. We like to serve it with fruit.

Trying to be an entrepreneur...sort of

I've opened a little etsy shop to see if the stuff I've made for kids has any appeal to anyone other than myself and my mom. We think they are really cute, and so you may agree, or know someone who might like it. The first one I made was the bluebird and I was so excited with the way it turned out I wore it to Herschel's blind event, because they couldn't tell an adult was wearing a kid backpack. One night I was telling Lynette about some plans I already had for this little shop and our minds exploded with great ideas...so credit to Lynette for some of the ideas, and mentoring me through backpack construction.

So far I've really enjoyed it, the animal backpacks are really fun and I have lots more planned if people seem to like the one's I've already made.

So if you know anyone who might like to take a look: http://www.primobambino.etsy.com/
Thanks!
And if you think they are lame, I can take some constructive criticism too.



Also, I've been thinking of selling the patterns for the animal backpacks, since they are all original designs I drew freehand...do you think people would prefer to buy a pattern for cheap (<$10) and sew it themselves???

Blackberry Citrus Rolls

I LOVE SWEET ROLLS. Cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, etc.

I love these particular rolls in the summer. The combo of lemon & blackberries is delicious. I've also made these with blueberries instead of blackberries and that is good too.

Blackberry Citrus Rolls

DOUGH

1/4 c. warm water

2 1/2 tsp yeast

spoon of sugar

1 c. warm milk

2 eggs

1/3 c. margarine, melted

1 tsp salt

1/2 c. sugar

4 1/2 c. flour

FILLING

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 1/2. c. sugar

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 to 1 c. blackberries, quartered length-wise

GLAZE

juice of 1 orange

1 T fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 to 3 c. powdered sugar

Let water, teaspoon of sugar and yeast froth until doubled. Add remaining ingredients and mix/ knead until soft dough forms. Additional flour may be required, add a little at a time until dough begins to clean side of mixing bowl. Place in greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise until double, about 1 hour. Punch down and knead air bubbles out. Roll out into rectangle.

Spread 1/2 c. butter over dough evenly. Mix the sugar and orange/lemon zest in bowl. Spread sugar mixture over butter evenly. Sprinkle your quartered berries over dough. Roll up on long side into a long tube, wrapping the berries in tightly as you go.

Slice into 2" segments and place in greased 9x13 pan. Cover with plastic wrap again, let rise about 45 min or so until the rolls start poking out the top into volcano shapes.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Makes 12 rolls.

Mix juices with powdered sugar to form glaze. Drizzle over rolls after they've cooled 10-15 minutes.

4 kids under 4...I Don't Recommend It

My sister went out of town for a week and we stayed at her house to watch her kids.

I was nervous to jump from one kid to four kids, and there was major chaos but it wasn't totally hellish. There was Katie, who actually barely turned 5, Dace: 2 1/2, RJ: 12 months, and Kael: 11 months.

Each age had it's challenge, but here are some highlights:

-changing Dace's diaper only to have Kael's quick hand shoot out of no where, grabbing the diaper and flinging poop all around. Luckily, Dace has reindeer poop pellets so clean up could have been worse.

-just after bath the two babies were playing with toys, I ran up to get pj's for the 2 year old and came back to hear splashing and laughing from the bathroom that is supposed to stay shut. Both freshly washed boys were pulling the toilet paper from the roll right into the toilet

-after shrieking and cleaning up the toilet mess, getting the boys back to playing, I had the daunting task of washing the paint out of Katie's hair. She honestly thinks she's 20 and therefore showers and doesn't need help. So our compromise (I wanted her to take a bath) was her showering as I was leaned in to lather her hair. Just then RJ flagged me from the right, trying to crawl into the shower. I stuck my leg to block his path when Kael darted between my now open legs, crawling into the wet shower in his 2nd pair of clean jammies. At that point I kept trying to keep them out with my legs, and finish getting the paint out of her hair, needless to say, it was messy and the kids were laughing--of course at me.

Here is me looking trashed and Katie getting her hair brushed and hating it.

-Katie getting triple time outs in 3 minutes...sassy

-The second night Katie snuck down out of bed to get a drink, filling a sippee cup with chocolate milk, only to let it drip in the bed all night. The next morning she said a ghost had given her the chocolate milk...discussion on lying and the what ghosts can and cannot do

-babies getting their heads conked because I can't be 4 places at once

There were some fun moments too, one day we went to my mom's to plant corn and the boys had fun swinging in the pergola, the lilacs were blooming and it was a great spring day. It's fun to see RJ have a buddy his age, and so it was not all bad.

So there was some of this.... all bathed, fed, house cleaned, and ready for bed

but there was also a whole lot of this....

Rhett asked me if I thought I could handle this if it was my life. I guess I could handle it, but I now understood when we were all little the occasion my mom locked herself in the bathroom and told us no one could talk to her for 10 minutes. Then when I'd slip notes under the door, she'd promptly slide them back saying "10 minutes!!"

For those that have lots of small children at home, you deserve a medal. A medal and a week long cruise with lots of massages. For those that have one year old twins, you deserve two cruises.

I'm hoping that this babysitting is like babysitting when you're 12, "it's always different when they're your own." But one was my own.... I do like being a mom, I've just decided spacing is important for me with future kids we may have, and I thought this already, but it reinforced the feeling of never wishing for twins...and early bedtimes are sanity maintainers.