Food Storage never tasted so good!

You can definitely feel the "Fall Chill" in the air
and nothing warms you up better on these cool days than a hearty bowl of soup!

I really enjoy this soup recipe because everything but the onions and chicken are basic food storage items that we have generous amounts of in our food storage. Plus, this is every bit as yummy (if not yummier) as the Chicken Tortilla Soup we get at one of our favorite restaurants.

So, if veggies are limited to make up a hearty vegetable soup, OR, you are in the mood for a Mexican Cuisine
this is a great recipe to choose, PLUS it comes together in less than an hour.

Also, this is a great way to use old Corn Tortillas that have been in your fridge for awhile and aren't soft enough to roll up into tacos or enchiladas.

Once again as easy as 1, 2, 3
you can whip up a yummy meal for your family where the majority of the ingredients are found in your pantry or food storage.

DO NOT let not having any limes scare you. I used to not make this up because I didn't have any limes at the time I wanted to make it, but one day I said "what the heck" and made it without the lime juice and couldn't tell much of a difference at all. Although, the lime does "Brighten" the flavor a bit...it is also yummy without it.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
8 corn tortillas cut into thin strips (see photo above)
(olive oil or non-stick cooking spray)
Olive oil
1 large chopped onion
2 cups cooked diced chicken (I cook up 2 chicken breasts)
1 can corn drained
1 can black beans drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chopped green chilies
1/4 cup taco seasoning
4 cups chicken broth (OR 2 or 3 bouillon cubes in 4 cups water).
Fresh squeezed lime juice (optional)

Brush lightly both sides of 8 corn tortillas with olive oil. Cut tortillas into thin strips with a pizza roller and then either the strip Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until crisp and brown.

Heat oil—sautée onion until soft.
Add chicken, corn, beans, chilies, tomatoes taco seasoning and chicken broth.
Bring to boil—reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Stir in lime juice.

To serve place a few tortilla strips in bowls—ladle on soup and garnish with sour cream and additional tortilla strips. Can also garnish with lime slices

Enjoy!!

How Frugal is this meal?
Chicken Breasts---$1.50
Corn---.33
Chilies---.59
Tomatoes---.79
Black beans---.69
Taco Seasoning---.25
Onion--.19
Chicken Bouillon---.20
..............................................
Total--$4.54
We fed 4 people 1 dinner and 3 people 1 lunch

"It's a Wonderful Life"
thanks to my hubby and kids!

A Ray of Sunshine...and Awards

(First off...Kimmie had a moment this week where she wasn't looking her most beautiful and of all days to have that happen, on the day when she would me a sweet Blogging friend. It was right after getting a haircut and I hadn't had time to "style my hair" so it was straight and not fixed the greatest. When I meet new people I get a "red face" and so I was looking AWFUL in the photos they took. I think I'm a pretty person until I am standing next to someone with nice olive complexion and dark long hair etc...So, YES, I'm totally aware that these aren't the most flattering photos of me, but these are the only photos I have).

When I started my Blog this year

I had no idea that I would make so many wonderful friends! Women who truly inspire me to want to be a better wife and mother and women who teach me so many wonderful things as well.

Friday...

I was able to meet someone who inspires me greatly and is such an enjoyable woman in the Blogging world. Cherie from Bakow Babble. She had come to visit her daughter Brittany and had called me and wanted to visit and get acquainted. It was like talking to a long lost friend!
I talked Tracy's ear off the rest of the night about how amazing, fun and easy to talk to Cherie and her daughter were! It was truly a highlight of my week!

She is SO NICE...she is the queen of niceness in the Blogging world and is the queen of niceness in real life...just as beautiful and sweet and kind on the inside as she is on the outside!

TALENTED is what her and her daughter are. They were making the most gorgeous wreaths out of Christmas balls they had bought at the dollar store and the finished product looked like something you would buy in the store for over $50.00 and they spend less than $10.00 on it.

One of the things I love about Cherie's Blog is the passion and love that she has for her family and it was SO much fun to see this in real life as well.
I just felt sad that Ethan had been dealing with a slight fever the night before as she had brought her son Trent with her and he would have LOVED to have someone to play with. Next time we will have to plan better and do something fun with the kiddos!
Cherie is an inspiration to me and I feel blessed to have been able to meet her and get to know her better. I just feel bad because we got talking and enjoying ourselves so much that I hope I didn't overstay my welcome. I all of a sudden realized it was after 5:00 and getting dark outside and we had been visiting for over 2 hours.
She gave me a late birthday gift of the most beautiful jar and I have filled it with my glass leaves for autumn and we are enjoying the Candy Cane Hershey's kisses she gave as well.
I am now officially part of the Big Lips Vampire Club thanks to her generosity in giving me my very own Wax Lips.
I just love you Cherie and Brittany!!

AWARDS!

Tauna from "The Garden of Egan" gave me an "Over the Top" award. She is SO funny and always gives me a good belly laugh when I visit her Blog. She and I also live in the same town and keep on running into each on Saturday nights at Winco.

With this award you are to list your answers to the questions shown below in one word. I did my best at that, but some of the answers are multi-words.
Hope that's okay.

1. Where is your cell phone? Don’t have one
2. Your hair? Short Highlighted Blonde
3. Your mother? Sweet
4. Your father? Generous
5. Your favorite food? Apples, Salmon, Sweet Potatoes
6. Your dream last night? None
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Your dream/goal? Running a Marathon
9. What room are you in? Den
10. Your hobby? Being Frugal
11. Your fear? Walking alone in the Dark
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Debt Free
13. Where were you last night? Cuddling with my 3 men on the Beanbag
14. Something you aren't? Organized
15. Muffins? Oat Bran
16. Wish list item? Shelves in my Craft Room
17. Where did you grow up? Utah
18. Last thing you did? Cleaned kitchen
19. What are you wearing? Jeans/t-shirt
20. TV? Off
21. Your pets? dog/chickens
22. Friends? Cherish
23. Your life? THE BEST
24. Your mood? Energized
25. Missing someone? No
26. Vehicle? Sentra
27. Something you're not wearing? Bra
28. Your favorite store? Barnes and Noble
29. Your favorite color? Hot Pink
30. When was the last time you laughed? 1 hour ago
31. When was the last time you cried? Last Sunday
32. Your best friend? Hubby Tracy
33. One place that you go to over and over? Nature
34. One person who emails me regularly? Britt
35. Favorite place to eat? Plum Loco

The next award was given to me by Sondra at "Happy Clean Living". Sondra is an amazing and inspiring woman and said SO many nice things about me! I love her honesty, cleaning tips, thrifty-ness and most of all the LOVE she has for her family!

With this award you are supposed to name 10 Honest things about me! Well, this is going to be a tough one because I just did a long detailed birthday list a few weeks ago and every time I post I tell some honest thing about myself, so hopefully, I can list more honest things about myself that most people don’t already know.

So here goes...

----I HATE getting my face wet! When I wash my hair in the shower I can’t put my face in the water and get it wet. I stand backwards and barely tilt my hair into the water and try not to let it run down my face. I would much rather backstroke when I’m swimming because of this. I’m a nerd about this and my hubby just doesn’t get or understand this quirkiness about me. Sometimes, I don’t either.

----When it’s cold out side I love turning up the heat in my car and putting my hand over the dashboard heaters in my car while I’m driving and getting really warm to the point of being hot. LOVE that!

----I am a very efficient person and so to avoid ever having to look for sunglasses, or stretch gloves, or gum I keep a pair of sunglasses in the house to wear out in the yard and all 4 of our cars has sunglasses in them. I keep chewing gum in every car so we can always have gum to chew and all 5 of my coats have stretch gloves in the pockets so I always have gloves to keep my hands warm.

----I have to have fresh air every day (and not just walking from the car into the store or the car into the house). I have to get out and go on a daily walk. Even if it’s Zero degrees outside, we bundle up (sometimes in multiple layers) and go out and embrace it. These daily walks of fresh air, sunshine and seeing the wonderful beauty where I live really feed my soul and are something I crave and need!
----Along with walks outside I get great joy in observing the clouds and the sky. I enjoy throughout the day seeing the cloud formations, the sun, the moon silhouette, the colors in the sky, light peaking through the clouds on a grey and cloudy day. It is something that I am always taking note of and I LOVE it!

----Anytime I close a Zip-loc bag I have to completely get all of the air out of it and if I see that someone’s put something in a Zip-loc bag that doesn’t have all of the air out of it, it drives me crazy until I can get it sealed correctly.

----I love to recycle, repurpose and reuse! I love putting an old item to use somewhere in my house, I enjoy recycling paper, cardboard and plastic containers. It’s become a quest of mine to see how far I can make something stretch as far as meals go. Frugality is in my blood and I don’t think it will ever go away!

----I LOVE learning new things and love reading! There are always books and magazines in my home that Tracy and I are always reading. If my home gets cluttered it is from books and magazines. In fact, my favorite place to go on our dates is to Barnes and Noble and read books/magazines together as well as enjoy great conversation together.

----If I’m going to cook I want to make one big mess so I only have to clean up once and so I will bake up bread, bake cookies and bake dinner all at once. My kitchen usually looks like a cyclone hit it by the time I’m done, but then I get it all cleaned up so it is nice and heavenly to enjoy family dinner when the kids and hubby get home!
----I really enjoy being creative and LOVE that I’m married to man who is creative as well. Our home is a creation of both of our personalities and talents. I enjoy decorating for the holidays and displaying photos showing the FUN things we have done in our lives. I also LOVE the creations my children make and can’t wait to finally have my wall finished in my house to display their creations in some nice black frames.

----I am a believer in PRAISE! It’s amazing the joy and excitement that comes from giving someone a word of praise or a genuine compliment. I love to see peoples faces light up. I try and make sure that every day I have given many compliments and praise.
----I LOVE MY FAMILY! My family is the most important thing in my life and if I were put on a desert island and didn’t have anyone else around me but my family I would be perfectly content. They are my everything and my greatest joy comes from seeing them succeed and being happy as well!

----Thank goodness for my positive hubby, because since we are both VERY positive and try our best to “look on the bright side of life”,

Our motto in life is…”It’s All Good”!

Summer, Fall, Winter Spring, vacations consisting of a cruise or a camping trip, wild flowers or flowers of any kind, greenery, bushes and trees of all kinds, sunshine, clouds, rain, snow, stars, the moon, High Caves, Mountains, low valleys, streams, rivers, water falls, the ocean. Historical sites, old buildings, new buildings, etc….Whatever it is I really try and enjoy it to the fullest!!
My Grandpa taught me a great lesson…
”Sometimes you aren’t able to change your situation, but you can always change the way you THINK about the situation.

The rules of these awards are to pass them along, but, I have decided long ago not to pass along awards because I really feel that everyone deserves them and it would be too hard to choose and so I gladly play along and will post them with honor.
So ladies...
"Thank you" for thinking of me!

Have a Happy Week!

Sunshine for the Soul...Sunday!

"The rich fire of the orange sunset
gloriously announces the coming of night".

My second favorite time of the day...

Sunsets!
This is a bitter sweet time of year in the fact that we are off daylight savings and we finally have that hour back that we lost in the Spring.
However, that means that by 6:00 at night it is completely dark and I have such a hard time being motivated when it's dark out.
I am always amazed at how energized the Sun makes me feel, and it's not until I don't have it there that I realize how much it truly does for my
spirit, attitude and motivation!
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SO, since the days are shorter, it means Tracy and I are out trying to enjoy as many amazing sunsets as we can.
The sunsets this time of year are spectacular and they almost don't look real when you snap photos of them.
The BRIGHT orange sky
warms me up and makes me happy and able to enjoy the last few minutes of daylight before the stars appear and the darkness of night sets in.

The earth truly is a wondrous and beautiful place and even though darkness sets in earlier this time of the year I am grateful that the night time is gloriously announced with such beautiful, breathtaking color to enjoy!
If we didn't have the darkness of night, we would never love and appreciate how wonderful the daylight and sunshine really is!
Loving and Savoring every moment of life!
"It's All Good"!

Raisins anyone would enjoy!

Tracy and I LOVE raisins
and our food storage has a great supply of bags of raisins
as we enjoy them each morning
in our bowls of Steel Cut Oats!

Trying to get our children to love and enjoy raisins as much as we do has been a challenge. My kids will eat spinach, beets, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, artichokes, pomegranates, and pretty much any other fruit and veggie, but getting them to eat raisins has not been a success...YET!

I'm grateful for recipes that "disguise" things a little bit and your kids don't realize what they are eating, but they comment on how good it tastes and how much they love it. That's how my kid are about Raisin Bars.

I went to Education Week at Rick's College when Jade was just an infant and went to class called
"Feed me right...I'm Yours"!
I learned all kinds of great recipes to nourish your children's bodies and to get your children to eat more veggies, fruit and healthy snacks and treats and this recipe was one of them for a fairly healthy treat to make for your kids.
VERY easy to make up and uses basic ingredients that are part of our food storage.

Raisin Bars

1 cup raisins
1 cup water
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cups chopped walnuts
1/3 cup softened butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:
1 tablespoon warm water
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla

Mix raisins and water in blender for 30 to 40 seconds.

Combine dry ingredients and nuts in mixer bowl.
Add butter and liquids, including the water-raisin mix. Mix well.
Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.
Bake in 375 degree oven for 14-16 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in comes out clean).

Remove bars from oven and let cool slightly while combing glaze ingredients in blender. Pulse until smooth.
Pour onto warm bars and spread with spatula. The thin glaze sets the bars.
Cut into squares after glaze sets.

Enjoy!

"Cloudy...with a chance of Meat Balls"

"Being frugal does not mean being cheap.
It means being economical and avoiding waste."
---Catherine Pulsifer

One of the KEYS to our Frugal living is refraining from eating out and so to "spice things up" a little bit and not feel deprived we have 2 or 3 FUN meals a month to break up the many bowls of soup and beans that we eat. (Although, I would be perfectly content to eat soup or beans every day). Even though these meals aren't always the most frugal, they are much cheaper than eating out and we always have left overs for lunch the next day so we still feed our family of four, two meals for one time of cooking.

However, we do treat our kids to a fun night out on the town when it is Pay Day each month!

This recipe is one of Tracy's favorites.
I first made this up for Tracy just shortly after Jade was born. It was a hectic few weeks dealing with a new baby and the stress of life that I wanted to make Tracy something special for dinner. I found out from his mom that this was his favorite, got the recipe from her and we have been enjoying this ever since.

MEATBALLS with RICE...
so yummy and so easy to make!

Meatballs and Rice
1 pound hamburger
1 egg
1 package saltine crackers crushed (any kind of crackers will work)
1 teaspoon mustard
1 or 2 cloves garlic minced
1 green pepper chopped
1 onion diced
Mix altogether and mold into balls.
Cook until browned on all sides and inside is no longer pink.

Mix 1 cup sour cream and 1 can cream mushroom OR chicken soup together.

Stir sour cream/soup mixture into meatballs and heat until mixture boils. (add milk if it’s too thick), Serve over BROWN RICE.

Enjoy!
Variety is the "Spice of Life" and I'm so grateful to have a family who is appreciative of any meal served. Whether it be a simple bowl of soup or a meal such as this...they LOVE it and always show gratitude!

"This is Halloween..."

What a FUN time we had this year for Halloween!
Since Halloween was on a Saturday this year we actually got to celebrate for 2 days!
FUN!!
Tracy downloaded the song "This is Halloween" from "The Nighmare Before Christmas" from iTunes and we listened to this all day in the house, in the car everywhere we went and the kids begged for him to keep playing it.

The kids got to dress up for school and Ethan was the cutest little Mad Scientist ever!! I am just cherishing the few years I have while he is still little and SO excited about life.
This was the EASIEST Costume ever.
I used one of Tracy's old church shirts for his lab coat. We were given the glasses at a Harry Potter promotion at Barnes and Noble and I just purchased a can of silver hairspray paint "Ratted out " his hair to make it crazy and sprayed it silver and then added a little make up on his face and he was done!
Look how adorable he is!

His lab coat said
"Doctor Franken-Smith!!

My little adorable Ethan Kip!!
YES, as you can see, we got snow on Friday!!

Ethan was REALLY excited
to make "potions" and so we added some salsa to water to make this bloody concoction!

Another potion....
we added green food coloring to the red mixture to come up with this potion. Ethan was SO much fun and kept on making silly faces. I don't think I've ever had more fun taking photos of my kids than this day with Ethan.

Jade after his Halloween Dance
he went to. He was cold and had a long day and this was the only photo I was able to get of him.

Jade decided he wanted to be a "Hippie" this year for Halloween and wanted us to make him a "Tie-dyed" shirt and so since I was making one shirt I decided to make 4 shirts to make use of the dye. For less than $22.00 we tie-dyed 5 shirts. ($15.00 for the shirts and around $6.00 for RIT Dye).
This was something we did for Monday Family Night and the kids got to choose what colors they dyed their shirts and they were in charge of making their own shirt. The excitement they had was priceless to watch!
FUN Family Memory!

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We actually are a family that likes to go ALL OUT for Halloween with being dressed to kill in whatever costume we are wearing. I actually had hideous hippie boots, flare legged jeans with inserts Tracy had sewn at the bottoms (true RETRO ugly high waisted jeans), but in the vein of simplifying life we pared down our costume box from four large totes to one tote last Spring and so our costumes this year weren't as "decked out" as they usually have been in years past.
As we were getting ready we had a small "pang" of "why did we send on all that cool costume stuff" (for LOTS of different costumes including my black wig for being a gypsy-witch)?

HOWEVER, now that Halloween is over, I'm steadfast in my thoughts that Halloween was plenty "fun enough" and I'm SO glad we resisted buying more costume accessories to clutter our already cluttered basement.

"Far Out Man"!!

YAY!!
I was able to catch my neighbor before we left to go to the Halloween Concert to snap some quick photos of us all dressed up!
I LOVE them!!

Our Yearly tradition
and something I think I look forward to more than anything else all year is the
Annual Halloween Symphonic Orchestra concert at BYI-I.
It's such a FUN way to introduce your kids to the arts and to classical music.
They always have a theme and this year it was SUPER HEROS! The stage was decorated like Gotham City and all of the people in the orchestra were dressed up in costumes. It was SO much fun to see Ethan get SO excited when they played songs from Batman, The Incredibles and Superman.

Here are the songs that they played.

Batman Suite.............................Danny Elfman
I. The Batman Theme
II. Flowers
III. Love Theme
IV. The Jokers Poem
V. Up the Cathedral
VI. Waltz to the Death
VII. Final Confrontation
VIII. Finale

End Credits from
"The Incredibles".........Michael Giacchino

The Ride of the Valkyries............Richard Wagner

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra........Benjamin Britten
Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell

Superman March...........John Williams

It was SO fun being at the concert all dressed up as a family!
The last of our Halloween night...
after the concert I snapped these last 2 photos. Ethan was being SO funny and really getting into "posing" for photos.
Sad that Halloween is over for another year!
However, I'm really looking forward to November, Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays.
I'm sure sad to lose that hour of light at the end of the day, but I am going to enjoy an extra hour as we had to turn back the clocks tonight.

Now, if I can just get the song "This is Halloween" out of my head as it has been going through my head all day and night! Hopefully, I won't have this going through my head while we're at church. (wink).

S.U.P.E.R T.O.N.I.C.

(Halloween...Circa 2001)

I just LOVE this time of the year!!

Right now, I feel like a witch or a gypsy and I need a cauldron and wooden spoon to brew up the potent tonic spell that is steeping right now in my kitchen...which is guaranteed to open up your sinuses, clear out a head cold and keep away the Vampires! (wink!)

Tracy's sister Shelley has got us hooked on something called "Super Tonic". She has made this up for years and given us several jars of it and we enjoy it SO much that we got the recipe and are making up our first brew of this. It's pretty exciting!

For some crazy reason I have always been fascinated by "old fashioned" remedies for various "ails". I even had a relative that made cough syrup by cooking honey and chopped onion for hours on the stove and the syrup was a soothing relief to drink for a sore throat.

The ingredients in Super Tonic are individually and collectively, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and have many other benefits as well.

White onion---is anti-flammatory, antibacterial and good for digestion
Garlic---anti-fungal, anti-viral
Habanero Peppers---reduces inflammation, clears mucus membranes, detoxifying
Ginger root---anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory improves digestion
Horseradish root---antibiotic, heats up the body to detox

Recipe for Supertonic
1 large white onion
1/4 cup chopped cayenne peppers (leave seeds in), OR you can use a combination of Habanero/Jalapeno peppers...one friend even uses 15-20 Habanero peppers Whichever combination you use will work great. You can also sprinkle in a teaspoon or two of dried Cayenne pepper if your peppers aren't hot enough)
3/4 cup grated horseradish root, peeled
4 whole heads of garlic (not cloves)
1/2 cup grated and peeled ginger root

Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar 2 to 3 quarts

Put the onions, garlic, and peppers, cayenne, horseradish and ginger in a blender and blend until they are a mush.

Put mixture in a gallon size glass jar. Add vinegar until there is about 1-2 inches of vinegar above chopped ingredients (I put in 2 quarts of vinegar)

Cover jar with plastic lid. Leave on counter for one week , pushing stuff down in jar a minimum of 3 times per day with a NON-metal spoon. MAKE SURE to keep sides of jars clean....The stuff sitting on sides of jar can mold and ruin the whole batch.

After 1 week place jar in cool dark place for 3-4 weeks.
STRAIN (through 4 layers of cheesecloth) and then put remaining liquid into dropper bottles, OR, you can store this in a mason jar in the fridge. (discard solids)

Keep Refrigerated and then during cold and flu season to keep icky bugs away put a few dropper-fulls of this down your throat everyday.

*******************************
Just making this makes you immune to just about anything and nothing could live in your kitchen for a while, it is pretty strong smelling . I LOVE to take the lid off and inhale the vapors...it cleans out my sinuses every time.

Great gift to give friends!! Don't you wish you were my neighbor...I'd bring you a jar of Super Tonic along with a fresh baked pie, plate of cookies or fresh baked French Bread! (BIG wink)

We have some in our fridge from March of 2008 and it is still potent and hasn't gone bad . It literally can last for years!
All of that vinegar is a preservative and makes it keep for ALONG time.

Looking forward to November 28th
when our Super Tonic will be done "Brewing" and we can fill jars and enjoy the benefits and yummyness of dumping this in our mouths everyday. It's also SO yummy to put a few dropper-fulls of this in soups, or put some on a salad in place of salad dressing!
Lest, you think I'm crazy...
I'm not really...I'm just an adventurous person that likes to try things!
Enjoy!

Grateful for "Whatchagot" Soup!

"The unthankful heart...
discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings"
~Henry Ward Beecher

My Heart has been full of Gratitude
this week as I read a "Letter to the Editor" that was in this month's National Geographic.
This is a little snippet from her letter...
Linda from Durham, North Carolina (whose husband had recently lost his job a few months prior to her writing this article) writes:
"This morning I was mired in self pity and grumbling about the state of our finances. Four out of five meals consist of beans and rice and I was sick of it. I headed upstairs to nurse the baby. As I settled down with my son in my arms, I turned to the picture on page 36 depicting a starving baby in Ethiopia. My eyes filled with tears of shame. I couldn't help but compare that withered little boy with the chubby infant on my lap. That boy is no less cherished than my child. I bet if his mother were plunked down in my life, she wouldn't know what to make of her good fortune. She wouldn't have time to complain. She'd be too busy cooking the beans and rice I disdain, planting vegetables in our yard and feeding her child" (end of quote)
This time of year it seems like there is an abundance of garden produce and zucchini gets added to about every meal and there are LOTS of soups and stews made with the abundance of garden veggies as well. I have heard quite a few people complain that they are sick of eating zucchini for every meal, or tired of eating soups for every meal, etc....

Every pot of soup we make up I feel SO grateful and feel rich as we are eating things that nourish our bodies. My children devour the bowls of soup they are served for dinner. I think of children in other countries and Haiti comes to mind as I read an article of moms taking a certain edible dirt and making it into cookies to feed to their children because they couldn't afford basic staple ingredients to feed their children and they were trying to ward off hunger pangs in their children's little tummy's...that is SO sad to me.
(click here to see the article)

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We are SO blessed have such an abundance of food in our lives and it is sometimes easy to take things for granted. So many people don't feel like they are eating a good meal unless it is lasagna, roast beef or pork chops with potatoes and gravy and all the fixings, etc...
If you think through history how many people would have LOVED to have had some onions and garlic and a variety of spices to throw in their soups to add flavor and a cornucopia of veggies...they would have felt rich to have such an array of things to put in a pot of soup.

For some odd reason we really do LOVE the thrift and health of a pot of soup.
(Tracy took this photo with his iPhone at Sam's Club)
On our Friday night date a few weeks ago we purchased a yummy Rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club for $4.97.

We enjoyed making sandwiches with it on the weekend, made a yummy Chicken Parmesan Pasta with part of it...

Then we took the ugly carcass and broke it apart and boiled it all afternoon and made up a pot of "Whatchagot" soup!!
I just love coming home on the one Saturday afternoon that I have to work each month and having the yummy smell of this soup filling up my kitchen as Tracy usually has this to eat when I get home!

Whatchagot Soup (my hubby's creation)
1 to 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 large or 2 small onions chopped
2 to 4 cloves of garlic minced
Saute these 3 ingredients together for 5-10 minutes until they are tender

Then add in:
6 to 8 cups chicken broth (OR 8 cups water with 3 or 4 tsp. boullion)
Whatever chicken or meat you would like
1/2 cup pearl barley
3 carrots sliced
Red potatoes diced (however many you would like)
Whatever other veggies you would like to add in (this is the reason it's called "Whatchagot soup"...you just put in what you have on hand at the moment). (We have added in broccoli, zucchini, fresh corn, peas, cabbage, etc... We have even added in leftover pasta from a previous meal...this is really an "anything goes" soup!)

Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Then add in:
3 stalks celery chopped
Simmer for 10 more minutes

Then add in:
1/2 to 1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. dried chives
1/2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Boil for 5 minutes and then enjoy with a slice of homemade bread, breadsticks, or toast. (yummy with a little Cayenne pepper sprinkled on it after you dish it up).

If you don't have much meat in your soup this is great served with a bowl of cottage cheese on the side, OR, it is yummy with cottage cheese put in your bowl of soup.

Enjoy!

SO grateful to have a hubby who helps out in the kitchen and my kids just love and look forward to the yummy things he makes!

I'm sure lucky and life is just wonderful!

We celebrate with cake!

Traditions...

It’s that time of the year for Tracy’s birthday cake. Decadent German Chocolate Cake I might add. In 19 years we have never made anything else.
October 22nd means we get to enjoy this yummyness!

Note to my hubby...
I can’t believe that it’s been 20 years...(October 18th, 1989) since I saw the most handsome young man in my Pearl of Great Price class at Rick's College. Wearing a navy blue and white striped turtleneck, a white cardigan sweater with burgundy and navy blue stripes around the neck and black penny loafers with your curly hair and trendy eyeglasses! It truly was love at first sight and I can’t believe that out of all the all the girls at Rick’s College that I got to be the lucky one to date and marry you!!

Birthday Highlights...

NOW to the cake....

VERY yummy and easy to make!
Other than the occasional Angel Food Cake, I have never made a cake from a mix from the store. Flour, sugar, salt, soda, eggs, butter, cocoa powder, vanilla and milk are the ingredients used to make a chocolate cake from scratch.

Taking staple ingredients and turning them into something yummy and enjoyable is so much fun for me!
The German Chocolate topping is actually staple ingredients at my house as our food storage always has sugar, cans of evaporated milk, coconut, butter and walnuts available to grab.

German Chocolate Cake
(Cake)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
In a mixer bowl stir together flour , sugar, baking soda and salt.

1 cup butter
1 cup water
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
In a saucepan combine butter, water and cocoa powder. Bring just to boiling, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat. Add cocoa mixture to flour mixture; beat with electric mixer on low speed until just combined.

2 eggs
½ cup buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Add eggs , buttermilk and vanilla; beat on low speed for 1 minute. (batter will be thin). Put batter in greased/floured 9x13 inch pan (OR 2 round cake pans).
Bake in 350 degree oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (30-35 minutes)
Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan if desired.

(German Chocolate Frosting)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
pinch salt
1 cube REAL butter
1 can evaporated milk
Boil ingredients until it thickens. Cool.
Then add
2 tsp.vanilla, 2 cups coconut and 1 cup chopped walnuts OR pecans. Then put on top of chocolate cake. After I put the topping on the chocolate cake, I always chill it for 1 to 2 hours to set it up.

Enjoy!
I just LOVE Tracy's birthday cake tradition.
SO yummy, so easy and SO good!

Kimmie's List!

I found this quote a few years ago and LOVED it because it fits me perfectly! I am a person that likes to "march to the beat of my own drum" and I really would much rather sit on a pumpkin by myself than to be crowded on a velvet cushion!!

It's a FUN week at our house this week as Tracy and I have birthdays that are just 2 days apart. Today I am sharing my list of unique things about me.
These are my feelings and thoughts, likes and dislikes at this moment in my life, so that when I look back many years from now I can see what was important to me and how I felt about life.

So, other than things you already know about me like how FAMILY is the number one thing in my life, I thrive on Frugality and being Thrifty, I LOVE nature, LOVE to cook and be healthy and LOVE taking photos and I'm a lover of quotes, LOVE backpacking and enjoying the outdoors and I LOVE to create memories...

Here's a list of quirky, interesting, fun and unique things that make me... ME!

---I don’t have many dislikes in life but here are my Pet peeves…..cold butter on the plate when you have to spread it on bread or pancakes. When someone uses the last paper towel and they just set a roll of paper towels on the counter to use instead of just replacing it. Splatters of water and toothpaste all over the faucet, mirror and counter. Being called “Kim”!

---Favorite movies: "E.T.", Titanic, Calendar Girls, The Saint, Chocolat, The Fugitive, Miss Congeniality, Some Kind of Wonderful, How to lose a guy in 10 days”, Count of Monte Crisco, Bridges of Madison County, Shawshank Redemption, Joe Versus the Volcano

---I LOVE “Little House on the Prairie Series”, “The Sound of Music” and “Lawrence Welk”! (I know I have some diversity with my tastes and likes in movies/programs).

---Favorite treats…I LOVE any kind of berry or apple pie! Raisin oatmeal cookies and homemade bread. I love DARK chocolate Snickers bars and I’m sad it is a rare thing to find them anymore. I also enjoy Almond Joy, Mounds and Reese Sticks. Cinnamon bears and “Ju Ju Fruits” and my favorite of all BLACK licorice!!

(DO NOT like Skittles, Starbursts, Airheads or Sour Patch Kids candy).

---LOVE chewing gum! I enjoy popping it, blowing bubbles and just plain old chewing it! We have gum stocked in all of our cars and plenty in our food storage so we can make sure to always have gum to chew.

---I twirled baton when I was younger AND I also know how to juggle. I think because of these two things that is the reason that I am always tossing things into the air. (dusting polish, pens, balls, etc…) I even throw my dish towel in the air as I’m walking through the house. I enjoy tossing and catching things…it’s a subconscious act.

---I love getting into a bed with cold sheets and then pulling the covers over my head and hunkering to get warm.

---I can’t stand to be barefoot. I have to always have shoes on my feet. I wear Birkenstock slip on shoes around the house and shoes are the first thing (OTHER than lipstick) that I put on when I wake up in the morning.

---I LOVE morning time! I love being up early with just me, my thoughts and the cool morning air. I can accomplish more in 1 hour of the early morning than I can all afternoon. I never tire of my morning time.

I love COLOR!!

---My makeup is VERY colorful. I wear royal blue mascara, green eyeliner, I use my hot pink blush on my cheeks as well as my eyelids and I wear hot pink lipstick. I feel like I look “harsh” in black eyeliner and my pencil thin lips look washed out in just chapstick.

---Along with color I LOVE BOLD colors for my wardrobe…hot pink, bright orange, turquoise. I don't feel like pastels look good on me.

---I like sitting UP in my chair and I am always adjusting the seat in the car to sit me up completely straight! It drives Tracy crazy to sit in a chair or in the car after I have been there.

---I always walk FAST everywhere I go and I always park at the back of the parking lot, even if it’s bad weather, because I like to get as much exercise as I can everyday! Love the “Earth Gym” of getting daily exercise by doing things like brisk walking, pushing a lawn mower rather than riding one, etc….

---I have the world's WORST handwriting! I quit writing in cursive shortly after graduating from High School and since I do so much typing during the day for my work, my handwriting suffers and now is just pretty pathetic to look at. So, as much as I LOVE sending heartfelt notes to friends and families, they are always typed, but SIGNED by me. (although my signature looks like a Doctors signature...pretty much unreadable as well).

(the ever famous..."light bulb with a dent in it" hairstyle that I had in High School---I can't belive that this style ever looked good to me).

---I LOVE to shift gears when I am driving a car. I have driven a standard car for so many years when I drive an automatic I feel like I’m going to get in a wreck.

---I really believe that LAUGHTER is the best medicine and when I am around Tracy his laugh is SO contagious and I always have a good belly laugh!

---I LOVE to read “vanity plates” and figure out what they say. For that matter, I just love WORDS in general and love to READ and love doing “Word Searches”!

---I love to take red or black licorice and tie it into knots and then eat it.

---I am a NON-padded bra kind of girl and can only wear a front clasp bra NON-padded bra!

---I haven’t bought a purse for 6 years. I just LOVE the purse that I have. It is practical, functional and it might not be the newest COLOR or STYLE, but I love it and hope I still have it many years from now!

---I like practical footwear and I don’t even own a pair of HEELS! For business casual I like my Doc Martens BUCKLE shoes, or my Keens. For summer I wear Birkenstocks and Chaco sandals and for every day life I wear my Merrill slip-ons. For church I have a pair of Brown and pair of Black 2 inch wide heels to wear with my church attire.

I am a LOVER of music!!

---I love to put on Black Eyed Peas, Ace of Base, The Killers, Depeche Mode, Def Leppard to DANCE and be energized or to enjoy while driving in the car. For easy listening I LOVE Ronan Hardiman, The Secret Garden, Enya, Yanni, Williams Classical Guitar.

---I LOVE Mormon Tabernacle Choir and I LOVE symphonic Orchestra concerts!

---I LOVE to listen to NPR on my morning commute to work.

---I LOVE to sing...Especially when no-one is around!

---My favorite “look” for my wardrobe, is a plain white shirt with a cute button or crocheted sweater, OR, sheer shirt over it. I jazz it up with a spunky necklace.

---6 years ago I found my dream pair of jeans and I have been buying them ever since. My jeans in my wardrobe consist of light and dark “Levis Strauss…low-rise boot-cut Stretch” jeans. I don’t have any other jeans other than this brand/style. It’s nice after so many years of trying to find pants to fit me to actually find something!

---I do NOT like to be late!! I have to be 10 to 15 minutes early to everything!

---I have pierced ears, but after having little babies and having my holes get enlarged I haven’t worn earrings for years. It’s kind of sad, because I have more earrings than anyone else I know.

---I very much am a HOPELESS Romantic! I love Romance and Love and I'm passionate about keeping the SPARK alive in our marriage. The first year we were married I bought a book “Have a Love Affair with your Husband” and I am always reading books to find out FUN ways to keep marriage EXCITING!! (My favorite books for this are: ”Light his Fire” and “How can we light a fire when the kids are driving us crazy”!)

---I LOVE crazy socks! Every pair of socks that I buy has some kind of color or colorful pattern to them. My kids have never had WHITE tube socks…their socks are all colorful!!

---The first time I bought my kids white socks is for Ethan to play soccer and Jade to have socks for his running shoes. Other than that…COLORFUL socks are what fill our drawers!

---I do not own a slip! I feel that by wearing our “Unmentionables”, bra, nylons, and a dress why do we need anymore layers. I threw away my slip when I went to college and my mom noticed and gave me a slip for my first anniversary of marriage. It got sent on as well!

---I do NOT like to spend money on meaningless things like crafts, etc….I used to do this, but the past few years of life changing experiences have made it where I don’t crave to go out and spend money. If I have something on my counter, table, etc…. I want it to be useful and functional as well as look pretty. Other than my curio and my entry shelf, everything else in my house serves a useful purpose. I don’t care HOW good of a DEAL it is---even if it’s free…if it won’t be useful than I won’t purchase it or bring it into my house.

---I LOVE people watching! I really enjoy going to malls or the store and just observing people!

---I’m finally starting to celebrate my thin straight hair. The older I get the more days I have a straight look to my hair, although I absolutely LOVE styling and curling my hair!!

---I LOVE my “A-line” style haircut and I can’t stand having my ears show and so I like have my hair shorter in the back and longer in the front, hence my LOVE for A-line/bobbed haircuts! (LOVE that "Roaring 20's" look!)

---I hate to spend money, especially on things that I could make for so much cheaper at home. I do NOT like getting my own entrée at a restaurant and Tracy and I always get something and split it.

---I also HATE to waste food. I get stressed out when I see food being wasted! Lots of starving people in the world and it makes me feel bad when I see people wasting.

---I am a LOVER of Art! I enjoy looking at paintings and photos of all kinds. I wish I was more artistic as I can’t even draw a stick figure. I LOVE that I am married to a creative person. He can doddle and draw, build and never ceases to amaze me with his talents!

---I’m thankful for Blogging because I love to be creative and Blogging has allowed me to be able to express my creativity through writing, photos and cooking. I love this outlet that I have in my life.

---I do NOT like nylons of any kind. If I have to wear something with my dresses I choose to wear tights or knee socks/boots. I have never bought a pair of “Nude” or tan nylons in my life. My tights consist of white, cream and black.

---I LOVE my old ’92 Nissan Sentra and I proudly drive it everywhere I go! We bought it brand new and I hope it keeps running for many more years! I have no desire to buy a new car until we are completely out of debt and we can pay cash for it.

---I am a very devoted friend and cherish friendships and it is an important aspect in my life to keep in touch with my friends.

---20 years ago I used to get comments all of the time on how white my teeth were. Now, since the age of “whitening products” that hasn’t happened.

---I don’t like contention at all and I try to avoid contention at all costs!! I am always quick to apologize and I am NOT a grudge holder!

---I really believe that life is an adventure it’s meant to be ENJOYED to the fullest. Grateful, for a family that lets us really enjoy life!

---My poor hands are the last thing on my body to ever get any attention! I have UGLY hands and my poor fingers are sausage fingers. HOWEVER, my feet make up for it. I love my feet and they get plenty of TLC….toenails always painted colorful, heels filed. I love everything about my feet! If it can be said, my feet are cute and sexy.

---I don’t own a cell phone and don’t really feel I need one. I drive 30 miles (round trip) to work and back and if I did have a car breakdown between work and home there are LOTS of nice people I could ask if I could borrow their phone to call Tracy. And after work I am home for the rest of the day and we have a phone at home and so I don’t see the need to have one.

---I am a versatile kind of gal….I LOVE to get all gussied up to head on a date with my hubby or head to work, or church, but, I LOVE to head to the hills and camp/hike and get dirty. I LOVE gardening and digging in the dirt. I’m never too good to get a little dirty. It’s all good!!

---I LOVE to get dressed up sexy and cute for my hubby! I love to surprise him with little outfits and I can tell you that I always spruce up my hair, put on fresh lipstick and a little body spray to greet him with a kiss at the door when he comes home from work.

I LOVE being Tracy’s wife!

---I am a VERY happy and cheerful person and I have never suffered from depression, of which I am SO grateful! “Always look on the bright side of life” is my motto and I try to be positive about most everything in life, especially things that you can’t change.

---I am actually kind of a SHY person and at parties I LOVE to sit and people watch and definitely don’t like to be the center of attention.

---Even though I am shy and not someone who likes to be the center of attention, I enjoy very much leading the music in Sacrament meeting each week and never get stage fright (there is kind of a “dichotomy” going on there).

(these photos are just after I had got done riding the SAMURAI at Lagoon...I was NOT feeling well!)

---I LOVE to befriend people who don’t have many friends. I enjoy it SO much and would much rather be on the sidelines with someone who genuinely cares then part of a crowd of people who don’t.

---Something that goes along with “being shy” is I LOVE to do things anonymously! I would much rather take a goodie to someone and leave it on their doorstep and brighten their day then to actually present it to them in person. (sometimes, even jars of money get left). I love to do sweet things in secret and don’t like to be given praise or attention.

---I’m always mixing up metaphors. My most embarrassing moment was when I went to ask a member of our Bishopric how things were going. (they had some stress in their home that week and I was trying to think should I ask him…“How are things going?”, OR,”Are you hanging in there okay?” What came out of my mouth is “How’s it hanging?” (it’s a good thing he had good sense of humor).

---I had 2 great accomplishments in 1988----I was listed in the National Achievement Academy award book for honors in Spanish AND I won “Miss Congeniality” in the Dairy Princess Pageant!

---I have a mild PHOBIA of phones. I had a situation at college that has stuck with me and everytime I hear a phone ring I stress out. It drives Tracy crazy! I actually don’t like to talk on the phone as well and always try and find a way to give the phone to Tracy to talk. Although, I really enjoy talking to close friends on the phone!

---I have little boxes of TREASURES! My boxes are full of love notes, letters, programs from concerts, trinkets, etc… and I love to pull them out and read them and look at them a few times each year.

---I have awesome memories from all 4 seasons—there is not a season that I love anymore than the next. I cherish each moment of time in each season that I get to enjoy with my family.

---I’m a nerd, but I LOVE my digital watch. I have a beautiful dressy watch that I wear with my dresses, but I LOVE my digital watch. I won’t be making one of the latest craze BEAD watches. Sorry. I'm just not a "frilly" person and like simple things and so I am happy with the functionality of my digital watch.

---$25.00 wedding band—I love my simple wedding band and I don’t long for anything else. It is a sterling silver band with Sego Lily cutouts around the band. I NEVER long for diamonds at all. SIMPLE is best and SIMPLE is ME!

---I ALWAYS get a red neck when I am nervous. YES, I could never lie or get away with anything, because anytime I get nervous or stressed out my neck gets all blotchy and it is a dead giveaway!

Favorite place to be
(besides anywhere with Tracy)…
sitting on the beanbag reading to my kids!
(Nursing Ethan as we were hiking up to go through the Lewis and Clark Caverns)

---I LOVED nursing my kids! That is the thing I miss most about having little ones is nursing them. I LOVED every moment of it! There is just nothing more sweet than watching a baby suckle on his mommy!

---I am comfortable in my own skin and don’t have any body shame. I celebrate my body with flaws and all! I have a really bad surgical scar on my collarbone (that is 1/2" wide and about 5 inches long) from when I was 11 and have never felt a desire or need to cover it up, even though it’s not the prettiest sight to look at. It’s my body and I love it! I love the size of my chest and the size of my behind. I am really content with myself! Although, I definitely need to do some toning and be more active, but, nonetheless, life is good.

Besides, as a good friend once told me…you need to LOVE the body you have today…flaws and all. You can't live in yesterday's body or tomorrow's body.
I have a body! What a privilege! And, nothing I do in the next 24 hours will significantly change my body anyway... so you have to just learn to love it how it is right now (that doesn't mean you can't have a desire to make it better in the future, but “self-loathing” doesn't help towards this end).

---I can drive a semi-truck and unload a grain truck!

---WATER is my drink of choice! Other than herbal tea, or homemade lemonade, I rarely drink anything else. (Besides, I don't want to waste my calories on liquid calories as I would much rather save my calories for something YUMMY for dessert!)

---Speaking of Calories, I actually always seem to be subconsciously counting calories and it is very rare for me to overeat.

---Have to always have LOTION and lipstick! I have lotion and lipstick in every car, my purse, kitchen drawer, my swim bag, etc....Cant ever be without these 2 things.

---I had a Sociology class in college and I just LOVED my professor (Hal Hunter). Often when he came to class he had just had a spirited, competitive game of racquetball with the love of his life Marilyn during his lunch hour. During the course as we came to the section on marriage and family, he discussed his relationship with Marilyn and made the statement: "When I married Marilyn, she wasn't just one more person added to my ever growing circle of friends... she BECAME my circle of friends"! (this doesn't mean that he doesn't have many good friends... he was simply emphasizing the singular importance he placed in his relationship with Marilyn).

I am that exact same way. I want to experience the majority of my life with Tracy…I don’t want to do anything unless I can enjoy it with Tracy and so therefore, I don’t crave to go out with girl friends, neighbors, etc….

(We sure love this little tent trailer of ours and we have had LOTS of good times with it...We LOVE when we are on a trip and it's time to stop and make lunch!)

---I LOVE clean looks. A few years ago I took down all of my greenery and window valances and I just LOVE a nice clean look with just a few simple frames/ objects on a shelf wall, but DON”T like the messiness and dealing with dusting greenery. Love WOOD BLINDS on my windows because they can be cleaned easily and they aren’t dust collectors like fabric is.

---I don’t like change at all! I never get an inkling to rearrange my furniture at all. I have figured out what I like and I don’t want to change it. Old habits die hard!

---I don’t like to waste money and so when there is something at a restaurant that I know is good then I will keep on getting that rather then trying something new because I don’t want to spend money and then not have it turn out. HOWEVER, I do like to try NEW things and when we have gone on our cruises I only like to eat things that I have never tried before!! (I just don't like to spend my money on something that isn't "tried and true").

---My eyes are sensitive to the sun and so anytime I am outside I have to be wearing SUNGLASSES!!

(these photos are SO funny...Ethan was scared of Santa)

---Whenever I hear music and my legs are crossed I will lead the music with my foot (Either 3/4 time, OR, 4/4 time, etc…).

---Love to have my toes popped!

---DON’T like ICE in my water. I would rather drink room temperature water...that way I can guzzle it!

---I really believe that it doesn’t matter how my hair looks, or what my clothes look like, but the most important thing a person can put on each day is a SMILE!!!

---Love the innocence of little kids and their honesty! It’s sad that somehow while growing up we learn to LIE for many aspects of life instead of being truthful like little kids.

---I don’t like to waste time watching meaningless TV….if I watch TV it is because we are watching a movie, OR, I’m watching my favorite programs….”LOST”, or, “The Office”. Other than that, you won’t find me sitting in front of the TV.

---I'm a multi-tasker hate to waste time! I love to be busy all of the time and I am a very efficient “Multi-tasker”. My drawers and closets may not be the most organized things in the world, but my TIME is very organized.

---The older I get the more “Round” my face gets. I sometimes find it challenging to think I look pretty when I look at photos of myself, or look in the mirror at my round, jowly face.

---I am a bird lover and I am always Looking UP to see if I can spot a bird flying, on a telephone pole or in a tree.

---I hate to shave my legs!! I can go for weeks in the winter without ever shaving my legs. (it’s a “time thing”…I am always hurrying in the shower to get ready in the morning and so my legs are the last thing to get attention). HOWEVER, the “Netherlands” and armpits, are always shaved weekly! (smile!)

---I will NOT buy cheap candy for Halloween or any holiday! I would rather spend $20.00 extra and give out good stuff than cheap candy. My motto is…."I will only buy for others what I would buy for my own children"!

My only regret in life is that I didn’t finish college while we were newly married (I worked while Tracy went to school).
I would have loved to have either been an
ENGLISH teacher or a NURSE!
Other than this, I have no regrets!

After 39 wonderful years of life...
it just doesn't get any better than this!

It's Here....

It's that
time of
the year
for Scary Movies
& Stories!!

On many an October night you will see the following at our house….
bowls of popcorn and treats, Blankets and Pillows all ready to be enjoyed as we get snuggly on the couch and beanbag and watch our favorite scary movies as a family, OR sometimes just Tracy and I!

Also, Ethan LOVES that we get to pull out our Halloween and Scary storybooks that have been put away for the past year. He and I enjoy our afternoons getting snuggly on the beanbag and reading together.

Here are some of our favorites!

We don't watch gory and extremely violent shows in our home, but we do love a Scary suspense thriller, from time to time.
A favorite of mine in this Genre is COMA with Michael Douglas.
I LOVE it!

I remember my mom thinking that Michael Douglas was a "hunk" when I first watched this movie when I was 10 or 11. Shortly after seeing this movie I became seriously ill with Osteomylitis and I was hospitalized for 6 weeks and had to have surgery and I remember feeling SO scared that I wouldn’t wake up from the surgery.

My next 4 favorites in this Genre are:
The Nightmare before Christmas,
The Corpse Bride
Coraline
and Monster House
I must have a warped sense of humor but I just LOVE these and I especially love the music.
These are just awesome…love, Love LOVE them all!!

Another Classic we enjoy...
POLTERGEIST!

*************************

Alfred Hitchcock and old Film Noir are always a good choice with:

The Birds,
Vertigo
Double Indemnity
and Rear Window
ranking up there quite high on the list.

***********************

But, the movie that makes the grade to watch on Halloween night is...
PSYCHO!!

(Obviously, after the little ones have gone to bed).

HAPPY WEEKEND!!
Wishing all of you LOTS of fun watching movies and enjoying time with your FAMILY!
I'm excited to enjoy Jades last Cross Country meet and some 60 degree weather with my family! (YES...no more snow it has warmed up...WOO HOO)

Cupcake deprived no more!

"There's just something about a cupcake that makes you smile!"

I guess I am finally getting in touch with the trends...I've been in the dark ages of making cakes, cookies and pies and haven't ever ventured into cupcake making!
Heaven forbid, my poor children have never had a cupcake served by their mom until yesterday...
Every time we look at a magazine, look at someone's Blog, etc..., everyone is showing such cute and YUMMY looking cupcakes. Tracy had mentioned it would be fun to maybe try making up some cupcakes, but I can't ever bring myself to buy a cake mix, because I like to make anything like this
from scratch.
SO, I pulled out my cake book that I use for all of my cake making adventures (I actually got this book for Christmas when I was a Senior in High School) and found a yellow cake recipe that had an option for Cupcakes and made them up and what HAPPY little children and hubby I had. They turned out so well, I made up another batch so everyone could have a cupcake in their lunch the next day.

SO easy,
uses BASIC ingredients that everyone has on hand
and SO yummy!!

These were the cupcakes I baked up
...and here's the recipe!

(Click on the photo)

The recipe is from page 90 of the Better Homes and Gardens Cake Decorating Cook Book. I love that it has a single layer and double layer recipe so you can make a small OR large batch.

Enjoy!!

Some of my favorite "Monsters"!

These little guys are growing up way TOO fast.
I wish that there was a button that I could push and make them stop growing for a little bit. Since that is not even a possibility I am definitely savoring every moment of time that I get with them!

My favorite little monsters
get REALLY excited this time of the year because with the abundance of apples that we have around us we make up another one of their favorite snacks.

“Monster mouths”!

So easy to make

---Wash apples well.

---Cut apples in half and then cut in half again.

---Cut out seeds.

---Spread with peanut butter

---Add candy corn pieces to look like teeth. CHILL for about 30 minutes

VERY yummy treat to give
your little monsters as an after school snack.

Their faces always seem to light up when these little treats are served.

SPEAKING OF LIGHTS....

As we were putting up Halloween this year my sweet hubby looked up and commented...
"Wow, we don't even have to decorate with cobwebs this year; we have the real thing on our light"!
OOPS...while the areas of our house that we live are clean and neat and tidy, my light fixtures and ceiling fans don't get as much TLC as they need.
I'm kind of an "out of sight, out of mind" type girl!

I love my Frankie….
This retro monster was purchased for a
whopping 25 cents at a local thrift store a few years ago and what an amazing deal! Grateful Tracy made him work again by replacing the tiny watch batteries inside, that had long since died.
I love that he greets me everytime that I walk by him with those flashing red eyes!! This little guy is my very favorite Halloween decoration.

Enjoying the FUN and excitement
that my house is filled with this time of year as we Decorate the house...Make up goodies...Pop up popcorn and Watch scary movies...Enjoy the changing leaf colors and try and figure out how we will carve their pumpkins and what fun “disguise” they will be this year for Halloween!

Whether they’re just dressed up like Jade and Ethan, OR, disguised as someone else,
I LOVE the joy and happiness that my little monsters fill my life with!

Adding a little "Spice" to life!

You know October is here when the smells that come from the kitchen are rich with cinnamon and spice!!

I'm always amazed that cooking with a teaspoon or two of cinnamon in a recipe can make your home smell SO good!

Some more Autumn favorites in our family are:
Spiced Cider... Pumpkin muffins...
Pumpkin cookies...

It was a lovely 32 degree Saturday morning and Jade had a track meet at 11:00 in the morning. I felt SO bad that he had to run his 5K run in the CHILLY morning air and so I put some "spiced cider" in the crock pot for him to enjoy when he got home.
What a yummy treat!
There is nothing that tastes more like the holidays than SPICED Cider!

I hope you enjoy some of our holiday favorites as well!

Spiced Cider
1 gallon unsweetened apple juice
1 orange sliced
cloves
cinnamon sticks
Bring apple juice to a boil on the stove.
Pour in crock pot and
put in
1 large cinnamon stick
1 sliced orange with 2 to 3 cloves studded in each orange slice
Cook in crockpot on low for 2-3 hours.

Enjoy!!

(I sure LOVE my hubby who is always
SO helpful in the kitchen!)

Pumpkin Muffins
½ cup REAL butter
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 cup pumpkin (OR leftover squash)
¾ cup raisins OR chocolate chips
Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

These are really good and freeze well.

**************************

Pumpkin Cookies
(these are an “egg-less” cookie)

1 cup sugar
½ cup REAL butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup leftover squash/pumpkin
2-1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Cream together sugar and butter and vanilla.
Then add squash/pumpkin, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Then mix in flour (to make a nice consistency) and last chocolate chips.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes (or until lightly browned).
These are especially yummy frosted with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 a package)
¼ cup REAL butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
In a mixer bowl beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla till light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating until smooth.

Enjoy!!

More Inspiration from Grandma!

The cold and flu season is upon us…

time to buy bags of lemons and limes, oranges and grapefruits to provide some relief and plenty of VITAMIN C.

(BTW...the brown glass Ovaltine jar is actually full of HONEY that we got from a local bee farmer this summer)
This time of the year I usually reflect with fondness of memories of being a young girl and having my mom make me up some honey and lemon tea, OR, Postum/PERO when I had a sore throat or cold. This is what her mother had done for her and so she was doing the same for me.

(Speaking of Postum, they no longer make this beverage and so once our Postum in our food storage runs out it is no longer to be bought). (sadness)
At least you can still get PERO!!

I have to say that 9 times out of 10 those natural remedies really do work... if anything to soothe and comfort. Since the start of our marriage Tracy and I have been making honey/lemon tea when we felt a cold coming on AND also making up a brothy soup of chicken, LOTS of extra garlic and onions (then we normally put in) and veggies. We then sprinkle on whatever amount of Cayenne Pepper OR Crushed Red Pepper we want in our bowls and you have a great soothing and healing soup that cleans out the sinuses as well.

Jade was complaining about a throat tickle yesterday and so I bought limes, lemons, and grapefruits and we have been squeezing limes/lemons into mugs, filling them up with boiling water, putting in a heaping teaspoon of honey and stirring well and drinking it.

I also bought some herbal tea that has a lot of good things in it to try out as well. This was a great alternative as well. Jade is my “nature” kid and likes to try different things (pretty much everything that is NOT normal, he likes to try—whenever we do eat at Restaurants or get treats , it gets interesting).

************************

What a touching inspiration it was to see NieNie on Oprah yesterday. Tracy and I both broke down into tears and we weren’t expecting to.
I really connect with her love of being a wife and mom AND her desire to “feed her family right” with LOTS of fresh veggies and fruit and very little meat (except Salmon/fish).
I just love her quote:
"Love your body and you will feed it right"
(I love all of her posts, but I REALLY love
her posts from May and June 2007)

My kids haven’t known any other lifestyle than one that we have. From the time they were babies they have been fed whatever food we eat (I pureed up whatever we were eating, rather than buying Gerber) and they really enjoy everything that we eat and I feel so fortunate to have NON-picky eaters for kids, who have a desire to want to be healthy and who rarely, if ever complain! (except for Raisins—still working on them with that). Over half of the meals that we eat are “meatless”, OR, if they do have meat, they have very little meat and are FULL of lots of yummy veggies, legumes or grains.

Hoping to make it thorough this season as a family, healthy and strong! (other than Jade's seizure struggles and Ethan getting RSV when he was an infant) none of us have missed school or work due to sickness in over 5 years.

Feeling VERY blessed that all of us have our health right now and it is definitely something that I DON’T take for granted!

Warm up with a bowl of Chili!

BRRR....it's been a "Chilly" past few days.
It always makes me chuckle when people act like it's a BIG deal when we get snow in October!
I can't count how many years we have had snow the first part of October and we have been worried that our trees branches are going to break off because they are so heavy with snow and the leaves are still on the trees.
HOWEVER, we have also had many a year that it has been warm all through October and into November and we are still mowing our lawn and watering our plants/lawn until Thanksgiving.
I am waiting on baited breath to see how our Autumn turns out...
will this cold spell pass and we will enjoy a little bit more warmth through October and November,
OR,
will the cold spell stay and we will have to make sure our kids are bundled up like Eskimos for Halloween?!?
Stay tuned!
(this is Tracy's photo he took while driving to work yesterday)
I awoke at 5:15 on October 5th, 2009 and looked out my bedroom window and made a statement to Tracy...
"It SNOWED last night".
Everything was covered in white and when I pulled out of the driveway the roads and all of our yard looked like a Winter Wonderland. The kids just thought it was GREAT and were SO excited to see the snow!!
(I just LOVE the optimism of kids...
they truly enjoy and celebrate everything that comes their way!)

My favorite Fall time meal
is a pot of homemade Chili.
I can't think of a better way to enjoy a CHILLY Autumn day
than a bowl-full of CHILI!!

So easy to make up and if you haven't had time to soak and cook up beans you can use your canned beans and if you don't have any garden tomatoes you can use your diced canned tomatoes!

PERFECT meal to use your food storage
and so YUMMY and tasty as well. I usually double this recipe and then freeze Chili in quart sized bags to be able to pull out and enjoy on evenings when we haven't had time to make dinner.

Great pulled out of the freezer and warmed up and served over baked potatoes!!

Of course any bowl of Chili is always YUMMIER if you serve it with either
BREAD STICKS <---click here
or
CORN BREAD <----click here

CHILI
(If you like WENDY's Chili you will LOVE this Chili...
really similar in taste and always a HIT every time you make it!)

1 pound ground beef
1- 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce
1- 14.5 oz. can kidney beans (with liquid)
1- 14.5 oz can pinto OR great northern beans (with liquid)
1- small can diced green chilies
1 large onion chopped
2 stalks diced celery
3 medium tomatoes chopped (OR 1 can diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon cumin
2 Tablespoons chili power
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water

Brown the ground beef in a skillet...drain of the fat.
Using a fork crumble cooked beef into pea-sized pieces.
Add all of the remaining ingredients to the cooked beef and bring to a simmer over low heat.
Cook, stirring every 15 minutes for 2 to 3 hours.
NOTE...the longer it simmers the better the flavor.

Serve topped with your choice of toppings...
cheese, olives, sour cream, cottage cheese, corn chips, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, etc....

Enjoy!

*******************

How Frugal is this meal?
ground beef--FREE (if I would have bought it would have been $1.99)
2 cans beans-- $1.10 (dried beans would have been about .50)
1 onion--.19
celery--.20
tomato sauce--.54
tomatoes--FREE (from our garden) (canned tomatoes would have been .69)
green chilies--.47
misc. spices.--.20
------------------------------
Total--$2.70
(Total if I would have bought the meat and used canned tomatoes and dried beans---$4.78)

We fed 4 people 2 dinners and 3 people 1 lunch for this price!

Fond Memories of Summer 2009!

"People don't notice whether

it's winter or summer when they're happy."
~Anton Chekhov

I LOVED this quote when I found it...such a true thing that when you truly are happy it doesn't matter if it's winter or summer, rainy or sunny, you somehow are able to find "Joy in the Journey".
As my hubby always says:
"It's All Good"!!
I'm finally getting around to posting about the FUN we had this summer and as much as I am enjoying the "chill" in the air that accompanies Autumn, I am greatly missing my two FAVORITE things about the LONG dog days of summer...

TWILIGHT!!
(sorry NOT the book...).
I LOVE the morning Twilight walks and talks with my best friend.
I LOVE when the days of summer are SO long that if you aren't up and going on a walk by 5:30 in the morning you miss the "Twilight".
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE morning Twilight and sunrises!!

SUNSETS!!
I miss the LONG days of summer when you can go outside at 9:00 in the evening and enjoy an amazing sunset!
This photo was taken at 9:22 on the evening of July 1st.
WOW!! We get some amazing sunsets where we live and I love the vibrant bright orange and yellow colors in this photo!!

I love noticing all of the different cloud formations during the day and this was such a COOL photo. You can see a vertical little stripe of color in the middle of the photo. This was a view that I enjoyed from my kitchen window!
LOVE it!

Ethan Kip lost his first top middle tooth shortly after we got back from our trip to Yosemite...it took him another month to lose the other one.
He looks SO cute with no front teeth!!

SOCCER GAMES!!
We spent our Tuesday and Thursday evenings the month of July and first 2 weeks of August going to Ethan's soccer games. They were SO fun to watch and I actually miss going to them. They won every game but their last one.
(soccer team members)
Back row: Ethan, Caleb, Coach Taylor, Crit, Larz and Blair
Front row: Karsen, Nate, Taralee and Logan

This summer we realized that you don't have to spend a lot of money on family trips to have FUN!!
Other than spending $20.00 on swimming and $15.00 on a camp site permit, our Family FUN mostly consisted of putting a few dollars of gas in the car and packing a picnic lunch and we created MANY lifetime memories!!

It is VERY true indeed...
that it really is the LITTLE things in life that makes life BIG for kids!!

*****************
JENNY LAKE
July 3rd, 2009

Despite RAIN (yes another family adventure that consisted of rain or snow this summer) we LOVED our trip to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. It was a gorgeous day and beautiful blue sky, clouds and lush green forest!
And hidden falls was Spectacular!!

I LOVE noticing all of the textures and scenery along the way and these were some cool rocks and a mushroom and gorgeous flowers!

This collage of photos shows...
the gorgeous lake reflection, a piece of wood that looks like an "Aardvark"
Ethan found a piece of wood that reminded him of a space ship and he was in ACTION mode pretending he was in "Star Wars" the whole hike out
and as you can see, we got drenched and I had to take photo showing that.

****************
Grandpa and Grandma's property at LAVA!!
May and July 2009

Life just doesn't get any better
than spending time with cousins camping, chewing gum, fishing, swinging , dogs and just playing together!!

We decided to take a different drive home from Lava and we drove through Soda Springs. WOW, loved the old buildings, rolling green hills and blue sky and clouds that we saw on our drive!
Complete and utter beauty and it made me wish we had a little home on one of those hillsides.

This is showing Palisades Reservoir.
It has been LOW for the past few years, but with all of the snow we had this winter it is now up to full capacity and it was AWESOME to see so much water!

************************
Granite Hot Springs
July 7th and 8th 2009

The dusty road heading towards our campsite at Granite.
BEAUTIFUL!

Tracy, Jade and Ethan
all worked together as a team getting our tent all set up.

Granite Mountain...
the view just south of our campsite.

The gorgeous meadow and view from the picnic table at our campsite.

Crossing the bridge on our way to go swimming at Granite Hot springs!
LOVE the cute red building in the background, which actually used to be the changing rooms.

We LOVE the water at Granite!
However, this year it wasn't as HOT as we like it because of all of the snow runoff that was feeding the Hotsprings. We had fun nonetheless!

The view from the hot springs as we were heading back to camp!

I LOVE how Tracy takes care of us while out camping.
He always makes us something warm and yummy on our backpacking stove.
We were able to collect enough dead wood to make a fire!

I woke up early and went on a walk while everyone else was sleeping in because I wanted to enjoy TWILIGHT and this is the gorgeous waterfall not too far from our camp!

Some gorgeous flowers that I saw on my Twilight walk!

Tracy's neice Candace and her hubby Mark
showed up at camp late that night
and the kids were THRILLED to play with cousins the next day.
Ethan, Jade, Alyssa and Cole had LOTS of fun playing and
they also went swimming as well.

Since Mark and Candace wanted to go swimming and wanted to take Jade and Ethan with them, Tracy and I decided we would go on a leisurely hike along the mountainside together.

The gorgeous sights that we saw on our hike!!
(we got a kick out of the VW bus that we saw at the trailhead as it was spray painted with all kinds of silly things)

************************
An afternoon in Idaho Falls
July 13th, 2009

Tracy is always doing something spontaneous
and this day, he decided that we would go and walk the 2 mile loop around the greenbelt in Idaho Falls. We first enjoyed a picnic and then the kids enjoyed playing in the sand,
petting a duck that was injured along the shoreline, feeding the ducks and geese and just enjoying the warmth and sunshine of a beautiful summer's day.
(Regarding the injured duck...we debated long and hard whether to take it home and use a Popsicle stick to put along its broken leg to heal it, but in the end, we left it to nature to take it's course, although we had some VERY melancholy kids on the way home that were sad that we left it.)

************************
Lava Tubes (Caves)
July 28th, 2009

Tracy decided he wanted to take us to enjoy the underground Lava Tubes (Caves) just 30 miles north of where we live.
Tracy loaded up our Subaru with jackets, headlamps, wood for a fire and I loaded the cooler with things for a picnic and we headed off on a fun evening adventure.

The gorgeous view of the Teton mountain range from the desert!
We were excited when we took this photo as we were going to be doing our yearly hike in those mountains in less than a week!

So, excited to be at the caves and the kids were thrilled to put on their headlamps and put their flashlights to use!

I Loved these rocks!
Someone had spray painted "Hard Way" and "Easy Way"
As you can guess, my family chose the "Hard Way". I actually was thrilled that my family was happy to have to do a little more work and by doing that we enjoyed a much more AWESOME cave experience!

Inside the cave...

and more cave...

We were amazed when we came across this "YES" that was spray painted on the inside of the middle of the cave. We were wondering what those words meant. Was it someone answering "YES" to a dance invitation, was it letting us know we were on the right path to getting out of the cave?
I guess we'll never know.
I particularly like this YES sign...because as often as people are taught to say just say "NO" to things in life we sometimes forget there are also many things in life we really should say "YES" to.

Awesome textures, colors and rocks in the caves!
VERY wet caves!

I was the last one out of the cave as I was trying to capture some cool photos.

My view as I was climbing out...
my three handsome men in my life waiting to greet me!!

The cave took us quite away from our car.
You can see our Subaru off a ways in the distance!

On our walk back to the car
we found this little treasure. I haven't seen a pop "pull tab" like that since I was a little girl.

Tracy doing what he does best...
starting a fire and helping the kids roast hot dogs.
What an amazing, FUN and gorgeous evening we had in the desert!

***********************
Our GARDEN!

My awesome hubby...
Harvesting our potatoes!!

**************************
Friday Night Dates!!

My most treasured and looked forward to event of the week...
Friday night dates with "Mr. Smith"!
We never miss a week without a date. Sometimes we go on Thursdays or Saturdays if we have conflicting events, but EVERY week there is a night for us to go and enjoy each other's company.
This was a gorgeous sunset we saw on our way out of a store. Tracy snapped the photo with his iPhone. It was an incredible sight to behold!

************************
Family Get-togethers!!

Candace did the most AWESOME birthday party for her daughter Alyssa.
A birthday Luau...complete with leis, grilled kabobs, pina coloda smoothies, seashells, a pineapple pinata and a "flip-flop" cake!
What a FUN night!!

***********************
My most touching part of the summer...
SERVICE!!

What a wonderful blessing it is that we live in such a wonderful community and ward.
I am SO grateful for the opportunity that my boys have to give SERVICE to others!!

The men and boys took a saturday a few weeks ago and went and chopped and hauled wood for some elderly and needy sisters in our area so they can keep their homes warm this winter. Later that evening they served the boys, men and their families a Dutch Oven dinner to thank them for the service they provided that day. They announced that they had gotten 23 cords of wood that day and not only had they delivered the wood, but it was all neatly stacked at the homes of these women and ready for them to use this winter.
WOW!
It touched my heart SO much and brought tears to my eyes. These are some photos Tracy took and I love the photo of Ethan and Sister Hill. She was SO thrilled that he kept on coming in her house and saying "HI" to her.

**************************
Which brings me to today...
We have been listening to the 179th Semiannual General Conference broadcast of our church.
I wept as I heard President Monson's talk when he told about all of the wonderful acts of kindness that children and teenagers had done this year, in commemoration of his birthday wishes.

I wept when he talked about the child that played with an 11 year old kid that was lonely. I have witnessed SO many acts of kindness towards Jade in this way.
I wept thinking of the sweet older people that we know and how much JOY they get when we take time out of our busy lives to come and spend some time with them.

I hope to be able to do better in this aspect and NEVER be too busy in life to go and visit the lonely!! I really need to be better at doing this!
What a wonderful world we live in and I feel SO blessed to be apart of such a service oriented community!!
I'm "Cherishing every Moment"!

The power of a SMILE!

Tuesday was another crazy and hectic Autumn day and I heard the sweetest words from Mr. Smith to me last night as I was getting ready for bed.

"Your smile makes everything better"!

That just made me melt and truly made my day! I am indeed the luckiest girl in the world to be married to such a wonderful man that adores me as much as I adore him.
Life is truly wonderful and my marriage is a cherished possession that I never take for granted!
*************
So, I got to thinking about how powerful a smile really is. It really is the only thing that we can give Everyone we meet!! It's free and it's amazing how much just a simple thing as a "Smile" can do to brighten someones day!

Just this Sunday a sweet lady in our ward came up to me after church and told me how much she LOVED my smile while I lead the singing in Sacrament meeting because it made her happy and want to sing the songs!

Here are some Smiling photos and some quotes to help us remember to "spread a little sunshine" today with one of the greatest gifts we can give...our Smile! :-)

(Click on the photos to see the JOY!)

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.
It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown

Everytime you smile at someone,
it is an action of love,
a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
~Mother Teresa

A smile costs nothing but gives much.
It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.
Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some people are too tired to give you a smile.
Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.
~Author Unknown
Everyone smiles in the same language.
~Author Unknown

"Are we human...or are we dancer"?

(What ever those lyrics in The Killers song "Human" are supposed to mean?!)

It was another HIGH ENERGY

weekend full of FUN!

However, life is CRAZY right now! I feel like I’m swimming in laundry, overloaded with garden produce since our weekend consisted of being gone from 2:00 to 9:00 Friday afternoon and evening at Jades Cross Country meet....Leaving for Utah at 11:30 on Saturday…..we took Ethan to my parents house, then drove to West Valley City and met up with friends and then attended a concert, got back to my parents house at 1:30 in the morning. Left my parents house at 7:30 Sunday morning, got home just in time to get the car unloaded and showered up and headed to church at 12:00 since I help out in our ward library, I’m the ward chorister and it was our Primary Sacrament meeting program so we couldn't miss church. After church we relaxed as we were sleep deprived and then today it was back to school and work as normal.

With all of that said it was another
AWESOME, FUN and EXCITING weekend!!

First off, it's so funny how many people judge something by the name of it. Tracy had done a Facebook update one day last week stating how excited we were to take Jade to "The Killers" concert. Our Bishop's wife responded "Sounds Awful". It made us chuckle.

Tracy and I really enjoy "The Killers" music, however, we don't know all of their songs really well. Our sweet son Jade has some struggles in life and so he doesn't have a lot of close friends to go and do things with and so we thought it would be SO fun to take Jade to do something that a teenager would enjoy doing.
I'm SO glad we bought tickets to take Jade to this concert. He had SO much fun...It was priceless and I LOVED seeing how excited he got and how he danced and got into the songs that he knew when they played them!
It was one AMAZING night for all of us!!
I love meeting new people and so what a joy it was to finally meet Ann Marie and Chad. We had such a great time and she is SO friendly, nice, honest and SO easy to talk to!!
Chad is awesome as well and what a great couple they are! It felt like I was talking to an "old friend" and I can tell you that Ann Marie is the type of person that cherishes friendships greatly and when you talk to her you feel appreciated, important and cared about!
As you would guess from reading her Blog she is SUCH an extra miler and SO thoughtful! I can't believe how sweet she was to bring me a basket of goodies!
A jar of homemade peach jelly and pickles! YUMMY!
She also had a "Mumkin" and an antique potato masher and iron pan. I LOVED them all and the "Mumkin" has found a spot on my entry shelf and every item will be enjoyed immensely!!

After our meeting and dinner we headed off....
to the concert!

Jade was ONE Excited kid when we hopped out of the car at the "E-Center". He had to stand in front of the large marquee until it said "The Killers", however, the lighting was not right and you can't read the words on the sign.

Jade and I walking up the stairs to go into the "E-Center".
It was SO exciting to see the other marquee saying "The Killers" LIVE in concert tonight September 26, 2009!

(these are NOT the best photos because real cameras were not allowed into the concert, but iPhone photos are better than NO Photos!! )
Here are some photos showing us while we were waiting for the concert to start. As you can see it was a FULL house and lots of teenagers/middle 20's aged kids there. I also saw quite a few parents taking their kids to the concert.

The first opening group was so loud and not enjoyable at all. However, the 2nd group was quite good. They were a Mariachi band and quite talented, however, that wasn't what we came to listen to and we just wished they would get on to the main event!

Despite technical difficulties at the start
of "The Killers" concert, (and it didn't get started until way after 9:30) it was AMAZING!! I was kind of sad thinking it wouldn't be as good as "Depeche Mode", but it was AWESOME!
(although, I can't compare the concerts as that would be like comparing apples and oranges).
Jade saw his mom go a little bit CRAZY when they played
"Somebody told me",
I was dancing and screaming all over the place!! WOO HOO!!
Jade and Tracy and I also went crazy when they played
"Spaceman"... "Read my mind"...
"Human"
Concerts are SO much fun! I pretty much moved my hips and shoulders the whole time dancing to the awesome music! I think one of my favorite parts was when Brandon Flowers sang a little bit of of the song
"I can't help falling in LOVE with you".
(That same song is played at the end of my favorite movie..."Some Kind of Wonderful").

Brandon Flowers is the
ENERGIZER BUNNY!!
He was on the move almost the entire time and he put his ALL into every song he sang. His energy was out of this world! Not once did he even give an inkling to the audience that he was tired.

Amazing CONFETTI!!
This was a wonderful way to end the show (or so we thought it was the end of the show). A huge cannon of confetti exploded and was SO cool to watch as it fell and you could see it with the light show going on stage!

Amazing

Pyrotechnics

And the audience was screaming after they had left the stage hoping that they'd come back and do one more song. They didn't let us down and they came back and did an Encore of three more songs and during the last song they had FIREWORKS on stage!!
It was an incredible sight to be behold!!

I had the time of my life with my hubby and son!!
It was a once in a lifetime experience and worth every penny spent to get to enjoy an evening with Jade and to see him get SO excited and have SUCH a fun time!!

These next photos I found of Brandon Flowers at the concert at the E-Center and thought I would share them. To see all of the photos....click here)

"It's Autumn Time"

Autumn is a second spring

when every leaf is a flower.
~Albert Camus

SO, many wonderful memories associated with Autumn Time...
BRIGHT Colorful Leaves on the trees... Starting College...
Meeting my hubby...Hay rides...Pumpkin patches...Corn mazes...Cinnamon rolls,
LOTS of yummy things made out of Pumpkin and Squashes,
Homemade Stews and Soups served with fresh out the oven bread
Caramel apples...Carving Jack-O-Lanterns...
Crunchy Colorful Leaves under your feet,
the Crisp chill in the air in the morning and evening.
Apple pie...Apple crisp and hot Apple cider,
Haunted houses and HALLOWEEN!!


Autumn time also brings back many memories of the FUN I had participating in the community classes.
I LOVE to learn and so since this is not the season in my life to go back to college, I looked forward with great anticipation to the community parenting classes we used to have available. Thursday nights were for me!
They were my "mini college classes" as I would refer to them.

A wonderful woman named Joleen donated her TIME to offering such wonderful classes and I am a better mother, organizer, "love and logic parent", add more FUN to dinner times/holidays kind of mother because of her classes!
I have a 3 ring binder of her wonderful handouts that she gave us and I refer to them weekly. They are my "Tools" to help me in raising happy and successful children.
She is an extra miler,
she is my inspiration and I miss her!!
*************
Well, one of the weeks that we went to class it was on September 22nd and the class was
"We have lost the family dinner table"
and it was all about getting your kids to LOVE eating together as a family and how to add FUN to dinner times to make it enjoyable and memorable and something the kids looked forward to. Here is one of my favorite quotes from this class...

"Think of dinner hour as a special and enjoyable time to build the values you would like your children to live by. It's when you're all together sharing the details of your day that real bonding happens"!

She had such a fun idea in her handouts to celebrate the First Day of Autumn with a fun meal and I have been doing this for the past five years.
DINNER in a PUMPKIN!

It is SO much fun and a much looked forward to tradition.
Dinner in a Pumpkin
and
Hot Apple Pie from local apples
It just doesn't get any yummier than that!

Dinner in a Pumpkin
1 small to medium pumpkin (OR you can use any winter squash--"Sweet Meat Squash" is what I used this time)
1 chopped onion
1 pound ground beef
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cooked BROWN rice (or you can use white…I prefer brown since it’s healthier)
1 can sliced water chestnuts drained

Cut off top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp. If desired draw a face on outside of pumpkin with permanent marker or acrylic paint. (This is a great thing to let kids help you with)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large skillet cook onions and hamburger until hamburger is cooked and onions are tender.
Drain drippings. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and soup.
Simmer 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into cleaned out pumpkin shell.
Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin with filling on a baking sheet.

Bake 1-2 hours (depending upon the size of the pumpkin) It will be done when the inside of pumpkin is tender. Put pumpkin on a plate. Remove pumpkin lid and serve meat and some of the cooked pumpkin.

Kids get a kick out of this and
it is SO Delicious!!!

Apple Pie
(pastry for double pie crust)
(for yummy pie crust recipe click here)
6 cups thinly sliced cooking apples
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (optional)
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. butter

Line pie plate with half of the pastry.
Put 6 cups sliced apples in large bowl.
Pour in sugar, flour and cinnamon and coat apples well. (if apples lack tartness, stir in the 1 Tbsp. lemon juice)
Put apple mixture in on pastry in pie plate.
Dot the top of apples with the 1 Tbsp. butter.
Put top half of pastry on top and crimp and seal edges.
Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake 30 minutes longer or until golden brown.

Cool slightly and this is just absolutely delicious
served with ice cream!