More to come

Some times I feel like the snow is going to take us over. The forecast is calling for more
and more storms. Boy, I'm ready to throw up my snow shovel. However, some awesome guys in our ward sure make life easier when they come with their tractors and 4-wheelers and scrape my driveway and sidewalk. I don't know if they realize they make my day when they do that. I do love to be outside and shovel snow(weird I know but it's my time to be outside, accomplish something, and just have time to think). But, I don't enjoy it that often. ; ) So I say, 'Feel free to shovel my drive any time you want!'

This is a picture of our back porch. Yes there is a porch under there. As you can see the snow is coming up over the porch heading for the house! I hope this all melts slowly or we'll flood for sure.

Potty Time

I've hesitated posting anything about this because I didn't want to jinks it. But we've been doing the potty training thing for about a week now. It all started last Friday when Darryl took him running to the bathroom because he said potty. I thought, 'Ya, right.' Well he went. Same thing happened a few hours later. Hmmmm. Maybe this is it! A while later he said it again so I took him and he went again. I'm totally dying at this point. Okay, this is why, it's not Kade doing the training it is CLINT!!!! He is barely 18 months and he probably goes 80-90% of the time in the toilet. What is that? Here's Kade, who will be 3 in a couple weeks, and he doesn't seem to be ready and then this????? So now I'm frustrated that Kade isn't doing better with it, where before I figured I'd let him just do it when he was ready. Kade has gone a few times now that Clint has or maybe it's just because we seem to be spending all our time in the bathroom so it's more convenient. I didn't realize what potty training can entail: the amount of time just sitting in the bathroom and the frequency of those trips. Oh the glorious times.

Good Idea

Today my neighbor Wendy and I decided to take the kids sledding over at the park. Well that was a good idea gone . . . COLD. This morning was fairly warm and sunny. By the time we left our houses a little cold wind had kicked up. By the time the kids were ready to go home there was no sun and it was bitter cold. Kade had such a great time though. He could have ridden the Spencer's sled all day. After each trip down the hill he would say, "I go fast and faster." The cold didn't phase him until we quit sledding and headed for home. Clint just wanted to play on the slides at the park. He was not happy about sledding so we spent some time on the snow covered park equipment.
Side Note: Kade is holding a picture that a little boy drew of himself. Our friend in Pennsylvania has a nephew that wanted to see all the places he could 'travel' and all the things he could 'do' via this picture. So they asked us to take this picture with us and take a picture of 'him doing' some fun stuff in Utah. Kind of a fun idea for that little guy.

Little things

Last night I made a new chicken dish, Spinach Stuffed Chicken. Darryl and I thought it was great but I don't expect my boys to eat everything new. However, I do expect them to taste everything. Well Kade had a bite of potatoes, loved them and ate a nice serving. Then time to try the chicken. Without pressure he took one bite and said, "No stankyou." (which is no thank you.) He continued eating some more potatoes then announced he was full. Just to make sure he was good and done I asked, "Do you want anymore potatoes?"

Kade replied, "No, stankyou."

So I thought I'd offer one last time, "Do you want some more chicken."

Kade kind of chuckled and said, "Don't be silly."

They truly are the cutest things ever!

President Hinckley

Today was just such a great day. The boys have had colds so Darryl stayed home with them while I went to Stake Conference. It was such a nice relaxed meeting for me. I was able to really listen and soak in the messages from the speakers. I was inspired by so many of the talks. Inspired to:

• teach my sons as they well return to the teachings of their parents


• use primary songs to teach the gospel to non/new members and my children


• handle life with charity


• help my children learn and respect the power of tithing and the sacrifices that were made for them long ago

After a refreshing day I returned home to find my great husband and sweet babies well and happy. Later that night after putting the boys to bed I started flipping through the channels on TV. Much to my surprise I see a huge headline: President Hinckley 1910-2008. I couldn't believe it. Earlier that day I had raised my arm with sincere sustaining thinking of a man who just seems to be able to do so much and just keeps going. Now to know he had passed was just such a blow. I was so excited for him to be reunited with his sweetheart. After being married for 67 years they seemed like they just couldn't get enough of each other. He said that the secret to a successful 67 year marriage, ". . .look less to our own comforts and more to the comforts of our companion." Great advice I'll apply. I always found myself so proud of him. He was so great with people and spoke the things I would hope I'd say if I were him. He opened his arms to everyone, LDS or not. I heard today the number of temples before he was president and then currently the numbers were something like this: 46 before and since he's been prophet 130. To think of the great work and spirit those temples offer. What a wonderful man. I'll miss him but know he's in a glorious place with his wife.

Side note: I thought it was so interesting that most everyone we talked to found out through text messaging. I'm sure he would have never guessed that would be the way the news of his death would spread. Wow times have changed.

Dating

Darryl and I got to go on a date today! It was so nice to go and do something fun with him. Our great neighbor watched the boys for us. One of the businesses Redmond works with has a couple corporate passes at Sundance and so Darryl and I spent half the day skiing. I have only been 3 times in my life, all of which are pretty spread out over my almost 30 years, so needless to say I'm not great. Well add to that I haven't been since before I had kids(over 3 years ago). Darryl was great though he was patient with me. He is much more advanced than I. I also had a new experience, skiing in powder-- all the other times have been packed trails without any fresh snow. A not so new experience I had was whiplash. I crashed pretty good once it'll hurt tomorrow.
PS. Unfortunately this isn't a picture of us. Just one I got off their website. :(

Video Picks

I've been going back and looking at some old pictures and videos and decided to make my Video picks of 2006.
Here are the top three videos. They are all of Kade when he was 1yr.- 20 mon. old. Warning: You have to ignore my commentary. I really need to quit talking while I film. Also, they were taken on our old snap shot camera so they're kind of hard to see. They're all pretty short and worth watching if you ask me.


#3 Video


#2 Video


And the #1 Video

Boxes

Why buy toys when you could have fun like this. Darryl's cousin works at a local appliance store so he hooked us up with some great boxes for a tunnel and two connecting huts. The boys had so much fun opening and closing the windows and doors, and crawling back and forth through the tunnel. While Darryl was constructing the play area Kade kept saying, "Good job Dad! Nice building."

0 - 76

I'm not referring to a game score. 0 deg. is Heber City, UT and 76 deg. is San Diego, CA. Did you know that there are places that look like this in January. Once a year the company lets the wives join their husbands at a salt show. That was fun to spend time with people Darryl works with and their wives. It was great too to take a break and just be with Darryl. Thanks to his folks for watching our boys. It was also nice for me to see what it is like for Darryl when he's away from home on the salt shows. Can you believe while I was there I didn't take one picture, so I had to snatch some off their website.
While on the trip I spent a lot of time walking along the bay, and lying at the pool; anything to soak up the sun. It felt so great! We spent a lot of time eating too. We had some of the most fabulous meals I've ever eaten.

USS Midway

We had some time to spend before Darryl had to work at the salt show so we went over to a retired aircraft carrier they have docked at the bay. They have made it into a museum now. It served in WWII and Desert Storm. What a neat thing to see. You just can't imagine what a complex place it is. It would have over 4,000 crew members on it during a mission. Plus dozens of helicopters and other aircraft. It's amazing to think they were able to build such a structure. I've never seen so much metal in one place in my life.
On board they have the actual air fight simulators that they pilots trained with. Darryl and I did a simulated mission. It was so neat. You set in an actual cockpit of a fighter plane and look at a huge screen that shows real life video. You fly the plane and shoot your enemies. You also have a head set on and a guy that is watching your flight yelling things like, "Nose up 101"(that was our plane number), "Their on your tail 101!", "Bank it hard, hard, hard!!!" What a thrill.

Got my wings

I flew in a jet for the first time today. Not what I imagined it would be like. When we stepped onto the plane I said to Darryl, "It's a lot tighter than I pictured." His reply, "It gets worse, this is first class." I was again surprised with the take off. It reminded me of an amusement park ride. My stomach wasn't amused though. Luckily the ride back didn't effect me as much. I've always thought of flying as this magical thing. Well now that I've flown I see it as just another mode of transportation. Funny how perspective can change.

Guitar Hero

Our little rock star! And slight addict. It all started the summer of 2007. If you've ever played Guitar Hero you know how addicting it is-- even if you're not very good. The addiction got a hold of Kade the first time he played. Every time we go to Grandma's house he runs through the door, says "Hello", then "Where's my guitar?" as he begins searching for it. Darryl and I try to act somewhat mature and hold off running straight for the game, so we greet everyone and drop our bags. That is usually long enough before we break out the guitars and the PlayStation. What a fun toy! This picture was taken right after Kade finished playing a song. At the end of the song he puts his arms in the air and says, "Ya, we ROCK!"

Banana Bread!

My boys could eat banana bread for every meal. We made some today. The boys are pretty good about helping. Clint was so excited about the eggs, almost more than watching the mixer going around and around. Maybe because it was the only ingredient he recognized.


I shouldn't admit to this but when my kids eat bananas I have been known to break out into that classic ridiculous 80's cheer. You know the one. Here's Kade doing it while we were making banana bread. If you've forgotten you'll remember quickly and then have a devil of a time getting it out of your head!
BANANAS UNITE!

BANANAS SPLIT!

GO BANANAS, GO GO BANANAS HEY!

Finished!

I'm done!!!! I just finished blogging past 2007 months. Darryl just asked, "Now what?" Hmmm. I guess I'll just keep my blog updated now with what is going on currently. Hmmmm. Or maybe I'll go back and do 2005 and 2006. We'll see if I get there. Right now I've got to worry about making some cards for my card exchange and finish scrapbooking the traditional calendar for my mom. Yes I know 2008 has already started. I always do the calendar in Dec. and give it to her for Christmas but this year it wasn't happening. I was ready to do it the week I got home from tending my sisters 4 boys. Yes, I had 6 boys for a week. There were some crazy moments. The one that took the blue ribbon was when I was wrestling/trying to change a super messy diaper on her 2 year old, while my Clint was screaming out of jealousy, while Kade was trying to brush his teeth with hemorrhoid cream, while the 8 and 6 year olds were spraying down the 4 year old with Lysol because he'd had an accident and messed in his pants. Timing was great with all of that! Anyway, back to my point, the calendar didn't get done the weeks between that and Christmas because my boys had the worst flu bug they've ever had. So it's onto projects and more!

SNOW!

Since the snow never seems to melt in Heber we always get a big pile at the corner of our porch and driveway. It's just a good spot to throw it. It's hard to see in the first picture but our accumulated snow level is about half as tall as Clint.

YUM!

I'm always looking for a yummy, super fast, new recipe. I found it! Darryl and I have been hooked on this for a while now. We both really love balsamic vinegar so maybe that is why.

Side note: I use 1 & 1/3 c. olive oil, 2/3 c. balsamic vinegar, 1/2 - 2/3 tsp. red pepper flakes, 1/2 - 1 Tbl. dried Italian seasoning plus a dash of dried basil, and then everything else the correct amounts.
ENJOY!

Balsamic Chicken
Ingredients:
2-3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup fresh basil, minced or 1-2 Tbl dried Italian seasoning
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch strips
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
12 oz cooked pasta of choice(we've had pene and bowtie)
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Method:


1. Combine first 7 ingredients on large baking dish. Stir to coat chicken chicken.
2. Place baking dish in oven on high broil. Broil approx 7-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
3. Toss chicken over cooked pasta; use a rubber scraper and get all the seasonings off baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4.