My Real Life Love Story!

The song "Love Story" by Taylor Swift

seems to be popular with the youth right now. In fact, this past month Tracy and Jade went to a youth fireside and "Jon Schmidt" was one of the performers and played this on the piano and the kids in the audience went wild and were singing the song word for word.

Tracy came across this
"A More Real Love Story" video
that is a parody of the Taylor Swift song/video
that is PERFECT for all married couples
in Love with Children.

It starts out showing a young couple meeting and then falling in love and then how REAL LIFE sets in and you deal with the chaos of life and wonder if you're ever going to be able to go on a date again!!
To see this video with the catchy modern tune

(listen closely to the words)

that will make you dance, make you smile, make you laugh and make you want to get out there on a date with your sweetie...
Click Here
(Ethan was sitting with Tracy and I when we first watched/listened to this and he loved this song/video SO much he laughed and played it over and over and over...just like a typical kid.)

A few photos from my
Real Life Love story...
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith".

20 Years of wedded bliss!!
(Even though it started out in front of a "balloon backdrop" and my handsome prince charming forgot his white socks and was wearing black socks with his white shoes and tuxedo...We both still laugh at both of those moments!)

Marrying Mr. Smith

has been and always will be the HAPPIEST and most perfect day of my life!!

Through thick and thin, good and bad hair days, daily walks together around the block, perfect days, rain storms, snow storms, hikes in the mountains, raising sons, camping, playing in the water on the beach, enjoying nature, dealing with the stress of sick kids, DATE NIGHT, whatever it is we are doing, there is always lots of hand holding and plenty of laughter and joy and

I LOVE and cherish each and every moment of my
very REAL,
very HAPPY
Love Story!!
Looking forward to getting all "gussied up" to enjoy my Friday Night Date with the love of my life "Mr. Smith"!!

Happy Weekend,
Happy Date Night,
Happy Life!!

Memories of Poppy Seed Bread!

20 years ago
Tracy and Kimmie started off on their road to wedded bliss. And what's amazing is that each day just gets better than the day before.

I don't think that there ever was a more Happy or Excited girl than
I was the day I married the love of my life.

I was SO excited to be a WIFE
(especially Tracy's wife)
and was SO excited to cook and to feed my hubby...sending him out the door each day with breakfast, a kiss and lunch box of yummyness and greeting him at the door each night with a hug and kiss and also making a yummy meal each night for him to come home to as well.
20 years later
this same excitement is still very real and still very much a part of my daily life.

When I got married
I had never made bread before,
never made a pie,
never soaked and cooked beans or
never did any type of canning.

This was back before the
"World Wide Web"
and so I read encyclopedias, LOVED reading magazines and many other books about cooking, trying to learn basic cooking skills. There was no such thing as going online and querying "how to make bread", or "how to cook dried beans", or "recipe for Beef Stew", etc....
************************

(WARNING...Crazy photos showing how Kimmie used to be a little "skinny minnie" and check out the post-80's hair-do! Tracy used to call it "The Claw", LOL! I look at these photos and go "what was I thinking with doing my hair like that?!?)

This photo is of our cute little kitchen in our first apartment. I spent the first four years of married life cooking in that little space. All the counter space you see, is all that I had.
I wanted to be a wife and homemaker SO badly
that I didn't let that little space keep me from cooking and baking.

Many batches of breads and rolls were rolled out on that tiny counter top, as well homemade pies at Thanksgiving time. Many pots of soups and many of beans were soaked and cooked on that stove.
There was nothing that I wasn't willing to try making in that Tiny little kitchen.

Which brings me to the reason for this post...
I had a roommate in college that left me a box of recipes when she went home claiming that she didn't need them and probably would never cook any of those recipes. Two of the recipes in that little box became some of our family favorites...
Buttermilk Biscuits and Poppy Seed Bread.

I still remember the first time I made this bread...it was shortly after our 2nd wedding anniversary. Tracy couldn't believe how yummy it was (in his words...
this was worthy enough to be sold in a bakery)
and so we took a loaf to his parents to enjoy.
"Wow" and "Delicious"
were the words were kept hearing out of everyone's mouths.

Last week I noticed a lonely orange in our pantry and decided that it had been awhile since I made this yummy creation and so I baked up a batch and heard the same familiar words out of my kids and Tracy's mouths.
"Wow"..."Yummy"..."Delicious"

Here is the yummy recipe so you can enjoy it as well. I have made adjustments to it as it called for melted Shortening and I used my famous 1/2 applesauce 1/2 oil mixture and decreased the sugar to 2 cups and it turned out perfect!

Poppy Seed Bread
3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil (I use 1/2 cup applesauce 1/2 cup oil)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp. Almond extract
2 tsp. Poppy seeds

Mix together and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in comes out clean. (Makes 2 large loaves)

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup orange juice (I just squeeze 1/2 an orange)
2 Tbsp butter
½ tsp. Almond extract
Melt together ingredients in a sauce pan.
Pour Glaze over loaves while still warm.

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.”

Julia Child

Little moments of JOY!!

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." --Washington Irving

It has been quite an emotional past few weeks
as I realize how quickly my sweet children are growing up and moments that I look forward to are no longer there.

My sadness came as we registered Jade for his Sophomore year of High School...I cried tears of sadness thinking that I only have a few more precious years of having Jade in school and then he most likely will move on to college, mission, or where ever life takes him.

I had a moment of sadness,
as Ethan is now in Cub Scouts and his activities are on Tuesday nights. Tracy and Jade have Young Men's activities on Tuesday nights and these nights used to be
reserved to sit with Ethan and read book after book on our comfy bean bag.
I could always guarantee
that no matter how crazy and busy life got I always had Tuesday night book reading with Ethan to look forward to!

Now, I have Tuesday nights to myself and I miss my sweet times with my little boy.
Oh how did the time pass SO quickly!!

This morning we sent Ethan off to Scout Jamborall and it has been quiet. In fact, this afternoon after we had lunch and we were cleaning up the kitchen, Jade said:

"It's so quiet...I really miss Ethan"!

That moment just made me melt as even though Jade and Ethan don't always get along, they miss each other when they're not around.

My first favorite thing in this whole wide world is being a wife to Tracy and
my second favorite thing in this whole wide world is having the great honor to be a MOM to my sweet sons Jade and Ethan.

Here are some happy moments from the past month or two that brought smiles and JOY to my life.
Oh, the JOY and Happiness
of being a mom,
friend and aunt
to many sweet and adorable children.

What a sweet time we had in April as Ethan was baptized and what awesome boys, friends and neighbors that got Baptized the same day as Ethan!
Ethan, Karsen and Nate!

Ethan and Tracy...priceless!
(Poor Ethan had fallen on the playground 2 days before his Baptism and was sporting a pretty big shiner on his eye).

It was a hectic day and these were the only two photos we got on Ethan's special day.
SO grateful for these!!

Jade and Tracy looking so handsome
in their blue shirts as they
head off to an amazing evening at EFY.
Great talks were given and they touched Jade's heart...
They also got to enjoy the
music and talent of Jon Schmidt!

My special window...
We got one of the windows out of one of the old schools from the school district that Tracy works for and for MANY years I have been begging Tracy to make me a spot to display all of our photos that we get from our Christmas cards and letters each year.
Tracy finished this for me
for our 20 year anniversary!
I LOVE going into my entry and seeing the many faces and smiles of friends and family that mean so much to me!
(details of how he made this, coming in a future post)

My handsome Jade getting ready to run the 800 M in track.
YAY, that we actually finally got to see him run as 5 out of 8 track meets were cancelled this season due to bad weather.

Jade running a GREAT race!!

What an AWESOME thing to have your grandma there to congratulate you after you have run your 1600 M race!
LUCKY to have such an awesome Grandma who drove all the way from Utah (3 hours) to watch him run!

This cute little family...
Travis, Cheryl and Hudson just welcomed a new member to the Smith family
Reese Claire...

This is the adorable birth announcement
we received in the mail for Reese Claire...
It is SO cute
and it makes me happy and smile each time I look at it!

(our talented Niece Candace
is the one who created this clever and unique masterpiece).

How lucky Ethan is to have cousins that were born at the same time as him and they all get to celebrate important dates together.
Paris got Baptized in February
Ethan got Baptized in April
and Olivia got Baptized in May!

Happy moments from the luncheon after Olivia's Baptism...
Along, with celebrating Olivia's birthday
we also celebrated the birthday of Olivia's sister
"Princess Ava"!!
It's always SO much fun each time we get to spend together with cousins and family!

“Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart.”

Happy Mother's Day 2010!

Poppy Seed Dressing!

I'm sure I sound like a broken record,
but, making the majority of the things that my family eats from scratch has been and always will be a passion of mine.

It brings the greatest satisfaction
to sit down down and eat dinner as a family and to know that my own two hands and ingredients I took from my pantry and food storage created the yummy things we are eating.

I have been making Poppy Seed Dressing for years. Anytime we are having a party of any kind I make up some kind of yummy spinach/green salad and this dressing to go with it.

It is as easy as...
putting ingredients in a blender and blending until smooth,
putting it in the fridge to chill and
"Voila"
you have homemade dressing that really tastes so much more yummy than anything you buy in the store and it doesn't have any "High Fructose Corn Syrup" or other ingredients I don't want to feed my family.

BTW...
you can get this great salad dressing bottle in almost any store including grocery stores. You will find it in the aisle that sells salad dressing mixes...it is used to make oil/vinegar salad dressing.
It's perfect for putting your homemade Poppy Seed Dressing in!

Poppy Seed Dressing
3/4 cup sugar (I used 2/3 cup sugar)
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp onion flakes
1 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
Blend everything but oil and poppy seeds.
When smooth slowly add oil—stir in poppy seeds.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

BTW...
this stores for weeks in the fridge and so pull it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to use it, as the oil solidifies a bit....shake well and then enjoy on your yummy salads.

"Happy Salad Eating"!

For the Love of Artichokes!

If you were to ask my sweet little Ethan Kip
what his favorite thing to have for dinner is, it would be Artichokes

Our family LOVES Artichokes SO much!
In fact, I just fixed up Artichokes last weekend and Ethan screamed at the top of his lungs
"Artichokes...YAY ARTICHOKES"!!

(Tracy had to come running in to make sure everything is okay, because from outside, it sounded like something was wrong).
I had one excited kid on my hands that couldn't wait until dinner.

I have very much enjoyed
participating in the Bountiful Basket service that we have available for the time being. It is always like Christmas each Saturday when we go and pick up our produce and so exciting to see what yummy things we get to eat during the next week.
Every time Tracy and I walk in the door with our produce, the kids are running and pulling the bags out of our hands excited to see what we got as well.

I'm sad that the only two times we have not purchased a basket (because we were going to be out of town) they had
4 Artichokes in them
It makes me even more sad that many Artichokes have gone to waste because people don't know what to do with this silly little thing called an Artichoke.

So, besides documenting FUN things
about our family so I can look back in years to come and remember our FUN times we had together as a family,

I thought I'd share some helpful tips on
how you deal with this yummy thing called an
Artichoke

Happiness is sitting around the dinner table,
dipping Artichoke leaves in butter,
pulling Artichoke leaves through your teeth and
laughing and talking about your day, or
planning out your weekend and
getting SO excited when you are all done with your leaves
because mom and dad will peel away
all of the hairy and interesting inner leaves
and then we all get to savor and enjoy our
OWN Artichoke heart together!
One of our all time Favorite Family Meals!!

(The men in my life are going to be SO excited when they come home from school/work and find out that we're having
Artichokes and Green Smoothies
for dinner tonight!)

In Ethan's opinion,
"Life just doesn't get any better than this"!!

MMMmmm.... Muffins!!

I have always been fascinated
how memories form and are created in our minds. As I reflect on childhood memories, I am always amazed the things that stand out as things that made lasting impressions in my mind.

I have a fond memory of muffins.
My mother's sister lived in Stevensville, Montana and each year we would make the trek to Montana and spend Thanksgiving with her and her family.
I loved her 2 story farmhouse complete with wide stair case going upstairs, a large gathering room with a cozy fireplace, nine foot ceilings with crown molding and trimwork, a large farmhouse kitchen and breakfast area and a formal dining room.
We would always play LIFE at her dining room table and eat treats and I just cherished each moment!

She was such a good cook
and I loved the yummy things she used to make for breakfast...my favorite being her brown sugar muffins.
Just the perfect amount of sweet and incredible flavor and texture. I looked forward with great anticipation to our yearly trips and loved this muffin creation she would make each time we came.

I have had a freezer full of Huckleberries
that we got on our adventure
last September and don't want them to go to waste. I have been trying to find a Blueberry Muffin recipe to use with my Huckleberries, but most Blueberry muffin recipes, call for lemon zest, or some other ingredient that I don't always have on hand.

I came across a Brown Sugar Muffin recipe in a recipe section of a magazine I was reading and noticed that they added in Blueberries as well. I compared the recipe to my aunt's recipe and they were exactly the same, only with the addition of blueberries.

SO, I pulled 2 snack sized bags of Huckleberries from my freezer and made 2 batches of muffins, both of which turned out SO yummy and the best thing of all is they use staple ingredients that I always have on hand.

Marvelous, mouth-watering
Blueberry Muffins...
a sure crowd pleaser each time they are baked up!

Also a fun and yummy treat
to deliver to neighbors and friends "just because"!!

Blueberry Muffins
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar (I only used 3/4 cup)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 heaping tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 cup frozen blueberries, OR, huckleberries

Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla.
Mix in the egg and milk, salt and soda and then beat well.
Add in flour until moistened.
Fold in berries.

Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray and fill muffin tins and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (OR until toothpick inserted in comes out clean)
After they have cooled slightly, I always put my muffins in a Rubbermaid container to keep them moist

(PS...the containers of Berries you get from Bountiful Baskets are yummy to put in as well--Blackberries were really good!)

ALSO...I made a batch using 1/2 cup of wheat flour and 1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour and that turned out yummy as well too. Versatile recipe!

Enjoy!!