Ideas

I always have great ideas, plans, or thoughts. Really, they seem so easy and great in my head. I have learned that nothing is as easy, cheap, or simple as my visions make them to be. For example the year of the bed swap. That would be this year. Ages ago my in-laws gave us a head board and foot board that they had and for some odd reason the mattress we had for it was too long by about 1.5 inches. It took us until this spring to finally fix that problem. We had to do because we were using the daybed that I had growing up as our guest bed. So, I decided that I would finally get someone to weld 1.5 inches to the metal bars on the bed to make it longer. Then I put that head board in our room. I didn't paint it or change it because I haven't figured out what I want our room to look like yet. Then I moved our frame downstairs to the guest room. Our guest are probable ecstatic to not have to sleep on the day bed and trundle. Then I spent about 30 hours (seriously) sanding and paint the daybed white and I was able to put it in McKayla's room. then I took her toddler bed and I put it in Ariana's room. Last, i took Ariana's crib out and put in it a trailer full of baby stuff that I need to take out to my parents house. This all seemed like an easy idea in my head, but now that I ma finally finished, I am exhausted. I am finished with grand ideas for while. I checked out four books from the library last Wednesday and I have only completed one, which tells you how much time and effort this all took. I am ready for a little relaxation. I want to lay down in my swing outside and read under it's shade. Too bad rain is in the forecast for the next week. Sigh, soon my books and I will have a serious date outside.

McKayla Turns 5

I know I didn't take a ton a pictures, but I was trying to finish painting a bed, getting her ready for dance, baking a cookie cake, and decorating. I was a bit frazzled on Saturday and then I was so exhausted on Sunday. I was grateful for the day of rest.

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Fire Skit

So, I am in charge of girl's camp for our ward which is the equivalent to church camp. I still double check everything I do with other's, which is a good thing. I'm not really sure that I know what I am doing, but I'm trying. This week I decided to help the girls learn what to do in case of a fire at camp. I was the fire and one of the older girls fought me. We discussed fire on the ground, on a tent, on a person, and a grease fire. I think that the girls liked it. My goal is that by giving them a visual, they will remember it better. Here are some pictures that Chad took of the skit. Remember that it wasn't all that warm, about 65 degrees and we were in the shade.

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Boise Fun

I got my camera back!

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Zesty Mozzarella Chicken

Today's blog is brought to you by another chicken recipe. First, I like chicken, so I am trying lots of new recipes. Second, I love Italian food, so I am trying healthy Italian recipes. Third, I still haven't recovered my camera from the US postal service (which could be a blog rant all in it's self). So I hope you enjoy.

1 egg white slightly beaten
2 Tb of milk
Put the about ingredients in a bowl
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 Tb Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp of each of the following seasonings:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
oregano
Put the about ingredients in another bowl
4 chicken breast halved
1/4 C butter
1 C mozzarella cheese
8 oz tomato sauce (I used pasta sauce)
1 tsp basil

Put butter in pan and melt on med heat. Dip chicken into the first bowl and then the second bowl. Put the chicken in the pan and cook until done. Sprinkle chicken with cheese and remove from heat. Let it sit for 3 minutes.
In small sauce pan combine tomato sauce and basil. Cook until it is heated. Serve with chicken.

I ate some more spaghetti squash with this meal. It was really good. Chad asked how I was doing eating the squash and I said it was okay. It will never replace my love of a good pasta, but I know it is better for me.

Chicken Parmesan

I found this recipe in one of my brother's cook books. It is so delicious and fairly easy to do, so I thought I would share. It's also pretty healthy.

You will need:
2 chicken breast
2 tsp oil
1.5 C of pasta sauce
.5 C mozzarella cheese
2 Tb Parmesan cheese

Brown chicken in oil over medium heat. Add sauce inn bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover for 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and broil in the oven for 3 minutes.

I put this over the top of some spaghetti squash and I loved it. I am a huge pasta fan, so I am glad that I found a healthy alternative.

To cook a spaghetti squash in the oven, cut in length wise. Scoop out the insides. Place some water in it. Wrap it in tin foil and bake at 350 for until soft.

Ariana Turns 2

Before you look at the slide show, no, we didn't do a cake. We did one down in Boise with my family. For one thing, our family does not need cake. Chad and I are really trying to eat healthy and McKayla would only eat the frosting. Second, Ariana does not like cake, frosting, cookies, ice cream, cookie dough, cool whip, short cake, or pie. So, we took her to Burger King for some chicken strips and a crown. However, she does enjoy chips, pasta, chicken strips, some candy, and eating off my plate. Enjoy the show!

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Superstar

At McKayla's pre-school they have a superstar every week. McKayla has been waiting very impatiently for her turn to come. Yesterday it was finally her turn to be the superstar. We made a poster all about her and took her favorite snack to share with the class. She loved telling everyone about herself!

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Family Matters

I love my brothers and sister-in laws. They are so great to hang out with. They have the wonderful ability to make me feel that they have nothing better to do then sit around and play with my kids and talk to me and my husband. They rearrange their schedule when we visit them to accommodate us and they cook awesome food. I love that they love my kids. They think it's great to let them play their drums and they encourage them simply to have fun. Granted, they are the fun uncles and aunts that can wind the kids up and then send them home, but still, my kids love going and visiting. I also love that my brothers and I can go a month without talking, but then we will talk on the phone for hours. Chad will often dig out the phone charger when I call my brothers because he knows we will talk until the phone goes dead. My brothers and i are all different and have different views on things, but in the end we are family and that is what holds us together. I am blessed not only to experience this from my siblings, but from Chad's as well. We are pretty close to his sister that lives near us, and when we can, we visit with his brothers. I also have very caring parents and in-laws. I am grateful for family. They can make us laugh, cry and really, I know they are there for us no matter what. It's nice to know that if I needed anything, and it was an emergency, I would have family to help. Thanks everyone for loving us and being apart of our family.

Boise

We are back from Boise and trying to recover from our little trip. It was a lot of fun, but the weather was kind of crummy. I would love to post all of the great pictures that I took, but I left my camera in Boise. My brother is shipping it to me. I hope it gets here before Wednesday, which is Ariana's birthday. Thanks everyone for such a fun trip!

Memories

In case you didn't know, I love to scrapbook. Now, I am not great at the designs, in fact my goal is to get as many pictures on a page a possible. I like to spend money on embellishments, but then I try to make them go a long way. I also love taking pictures. I take a ton a pictures at every event. It's just so fun because every picture has a great story behind. McKayla loves to look at our scrapbooks. She will spend a long time just looking at what we have done and asking questions. The other day we were all watching a movie together as a family and she said "This is a great memory". I kind of chuckled and agreed. Then she became insistent that we take a picture of it right now. In her mind, if we don't take a picture of things, then we won't remember them. I tried to explain that some memories are caught on film, but more often than not memories are kept in our heads. She didn't like that idea too much. Now she wants to camera to follow us around all day so that we can remember what our life was like. The idea might be interesting. However, I'm not sure anyone wants to see what I look like at 5:15 a.m. when I get up to work out. I am grateful that McKayla wants to remember each day. Sometimes I wonder if she wishes to do more things, but if she wants to take pictures of her life everyday for her memories, then I must be doing okay.

Snow!!!

School is canceled today due to the snow. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, on April 6th, 2010 the school called in a snow day. We have bout 4 inches of fresh snow. The high today is suppose to be 40 degrees, so later we will have lots of mud, muck and slush. Crazy huh?

Easter 2010

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April Fools

I guess the weather had the last laugh. This is what our front yard looked like this morning.

Something Worse

So I read this book called After Anne (the author has another one called Finding Ruth). It was a wonderful book that made me cry through most of it, but still it was great. The author was Christian, but not specific. I wish I hadn't already taken it back to the library because then I could tell you her name. Anyway, the theme of the book is friendship and faith. I think this book touched me because I think we all long for a friendship like Libby and Anne had. They found each other and while they were not perfect, they were great friends. They learned from one another and both became better through the course of this book. The character of Anne is a faith driven woman who is young and pregnant with her first child as her and her husband move to a new town. Anne finds Libby and they develop a bumpy friendship. Libby has fears about letting people in and allowing herself to love unrestrained. Libby has faith issues and often judges others before she knows them. Anne teaches her how to love and Anne is also an example of faith. Anne is diagnosed with cancer early on in the book and a game that they play throughout her treatments and doctor appointments is called "Name Something Worse". This game helps them focus on their blessings and helps them laugh through some hard trials. Like I said, I bawled through most of this book. As I woke up this morning, I had this book on my mind. I think that naming something worse could really help. I wonder if in the midst of our trials if we stop and think of what blessing we have, it could help a little. Also, I think that having faith lessens our burdens so much. I don't care what church someone goes to or what they believe in, but faith in something greater than ourselves often pulls us to a better place. On a humorous note, McKayla was upset because she couldn't find her sock this morning, so I told her that something worse would be not being able to find her foot. She thought I was very odd, but she did laugh and take a minute to calm down. So at least it works for little ones :)