SALSA, THIS IS THE ONE

We have been waiting for my Step Mom's Salsa recipe.  We finally got it and for FHE tonight made our first  batch with her recipe.  We are excited to see how it turns out.  It's not just a basic one.  Todd's is good, but very basic.  He has been wanting another good one, and when he tasted hers last year, he loved it.  So for those of you who were looking for one a little different and vamped up...you should try it. 

Ok, so I just went over to the stove to have a taste while it's simmering (smelling SO good) --LOVE IT!

So, here's the recipe...THANKS JAMI.  We love you.

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10-11 QTS Tomatoes quartered
2 ½ - 3 QTS Bell Peppers
10 hot peppers
1 ½ QTS Celery chunks
5 Med diced onions                                                                                                                                      (Opt. Jalapeno's for heat.  We used 7 med. size, minus seeds.)  
3 Cloves crushed garlic
½ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup cider vinegar
2 Tbs course pepper
½ Cup salt
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp paprika

Combine above & simmer for 3 hrs.  Process in water bath.

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MY HEART, MY HEART!

Talk about pulling heartstrings!  My heart was/still is bursting at the seams since finding these little journaled "gift lists" that Tyson must have put together a few days before I discovered them in his notebook.

Last week we briefly started discussing idea's he might have for Christmas gifts this year.  I said we should make a list pretty soon, so that Santa could start making them early.

This is what I found sitting on his dresser after he had cleaned his room one night and then went to bed.  It was the only thing left out...and left open. 

All of these little lists we so adorably heartbreaking, and yet the last one caught me so off guard...I was smiling and laughing and crying all at the same time.  It was just so touching for me as a mother to see this.  I went into to Todd to showed him and immediately said "Does'nt this make you just love this boy as much I do?  My heart.  I just kept holding it.  I was so touched, because with each page I turned I saw his little hopes and dreams for fun toys and surprises, all of which are temporal and mainly "wishes".  Then to notice after the Easter gifts page, that there was writing on the back, and to turn the paper and read what he felt from his tender little heart.  For him not only to recognize the type of gift to ask for, but to KNOW who he should ask for just such a request.  Not Santa, not the Easter Bunny, not even his parents...

 

My heartstrings were definitely tugged with the last line that is

written in pencil, which he must have added in later.  

When I saw that he had gone further than a Christmas List,

I smiled a little more.

This Easter Bunny one made me giggle and then...

This is the one, yep...this is the one that made my heart overflow.

 

It was just so unexpected.  We haven't talked a lot lately about having another one to Tyson.  Although, Todd and I want almost the same Jesus Gifts as him, only let's cut it in half shall we. 

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IT'S BEEN A WHILE

It's been a while since we have invited any of our fun family over to our home for Sunday dinner.  So, we decided to call 'em on over and grill up some juicy Steaks and smother them with sauteed mushrooms & onions.  Let's not forget homemade French Fries,  Grammy's salad & Lesa's  super moist Poppy seed cake. 

..... YUM,YUM! ..... 

Alyssa & Sky hunted for worms (one of Grammy's worst phobia's.)  While the rest of us played Taboo and Guitar Hero.  It was fun to have a full group around the kitchen table.  It reminded me that I need to have friends and family  over more often.  After Grammy, Gramps & Chad left, the girls made some cute notebooks out of scrapbook paper and ribbons, Fun stuff! 

Thanks for coming...We love you!            

 

Really, I just needed a good excuse to put this

Darling picture of you on our blog. :0)  

FOREVER STRONG

KIA KAHA 

Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! Tenei te tangata puhuru huru....

Thursday evening we had a fun opportunity to go to the Utah Premier of the movie  FOREVER STRONG.  Although it has a PG13 rating, we took Tyson along with us.  Todd had the unique experience last year to see it at work with his whole company as a new feature film, before it had been picked up by "Hollywood".  It has such a good message to it, and a lot of inspiration for youth to get out of it.  PLUS, it is about the collective winning history of Utah's own Highland High School Rugby Team.  Ok, and some cute guys in it too! (shhh)

So we went to the Mayan for dinner with Todd's parents.  Tyson had never been there, so it was fun to see him watch the divers in the show and enjoy the atmosphere.  Before the movie started, we were able to see a few of the actors in the film being interviewed on the "red carpet".  Tyson really liked that.  He loved the show.  Again even though it has a PG13 rating, and he usually doesn't get to see those, we thought this had a good message.  Todd asked him when we were in the car on the way home what the movie was about and Tyson said only these 3 words: 

FAMILY  RESPECT  &  HONOR. 

If that doesn't say he got something out of it, I don't know what would.  The overall message reminds me of what President Hinkley said:

BE TRUE TO WHO YOU ARE AND THE FAMILY NAME YOU BEAR. 

Then Todd asked one more question about what one of the only rules of a certain institution was that one of the boys went to, and Tyson replied:  TO ALWAYS LISTEN.  The slogan used in the movie was TO LISTEN RIGHT.  It showed the main character go through a distinct transformation that pretty straight forward for youth to follow.  Plus fun Sports action and silly moments as well.  

Thanks so much Grammy and Gramps for letting us come with you!  Also Thanks to T.C. Christensen, Filmographer,  for tickets to a fun premier screening of one of the shows you directed.  You are a great talent! 

RUFF DAY, CHAMP?

Grandpa John arrived bright and early the other morning to pick up Champ for his big day.  Todd got him all ready and made sure to give Grandpa good instructions.  We told the kids Champ was going to school to get tutored. 

..........FUNNY!..........

Grandpa John made sure to take great care of him.  He let us know that Champ was such a great boy during his shots and snip it surgery.  I had scouts that night so Todd and the kids went to pick him up.  Todd finally explained to the kids, mainly Tyson why he had stitches on his private area.  Tyson came home and Todd had him explain it to me like this:

Tyson said:  Champ had to get stitches on his private area because when he grows older he will want to fall in love with a girl dog.  And if he finds one that he really likes then he will want to dig under the fence to be with her, or he might jump over the fence to be with her.  So they had to make a cut by his pee pee and take out the thing inside that will make Champ want to fall in love. 

I think that's pretty close to what we heard him say.  So funny coming from an innocent 7 year old.

Ohhh, poor pup!  This little tyke just LOOKS pathetic!  So sad.  He has to wear this collar through the weekend so that he will not infect his stitches.    Bless his heart!

TEARIN' IT UP

SOO- the situation called for desperate measures.  Last week in sacrament meeting, Alyssa had finally had it.  She was ornery, tired and thirsty.  She wanted nothing to do with being quiet or patient and definitely not reverent.  I forgot our church bag with all the to-do's for the kids.  We had nothing.  But we were committed to sticking this thing out to the end.  There's a big difference going from having Sacrament meeting first to then having it at the end of the 3 hour block.  We all know that right?  Anyway...In desperation, this is what I came up with by recycling the program.  It turned out to work like a charm.  She was completely enthralled in this little paper doll family that I was able to create from tearing little figures carefully from the folded paper.  Just look how AWESOME Todd's head turned out!  I think I have little horns on mine (oops!)  I think I did pretty good with the dog and the cat.  The top row is a mermaid family without the Dad. (no more paper)  The bottom row is our family plus a baby- COMPLETELY FICTICIOUS  just so we're clear on not starting any pregnancy rumors tonight.

Just documenting again.  These frail little creatures will be whisked off with the wind soon, and I wanted to remember what a great time she had with them.  Just think of all the little things to create each time.  Trains, dinosaurs, trees, a snake!  ;0)   Does anyone want to try the nativity for Christmas?  That'd be an undertaking.  You might have to snag an extra program or two.  It'll be hard to do, those sacrament programs are hard to come by!  :0)

SEW, I STITCH

Last year I fell in love with the

Halloween Advent Calendar from Pottery Barn. 

I thought I'd wait till after Halloween & take my chances to see if one would be available on sale.  OF COURSE NOT, what was I thinking?  This year, I had been eyeing the new one, when my neighbor happened to mention she and another friend wanted to make one.  I said I was in!  The new one from pottery barn is in the shape of a haunted house.  Cute, but I still like the pockets to put larger things in.  Each of us tailored our colors and pockets  sizes to what we liked.  They turned out SO cute!  I am just in the middle of stitching the rest of my pockets- but wanted to post this fun thing just incase any of you wanted to jump on a project (in all your spare time) and do this before October this year.  Really though, this took maybe a total of 4 hours to do.  If even that.  Most of it is just cutting the felt down to size for pockets.  Buying cute things for the pockets and gluing them on with felt glue.  Then at your leisure stitch pockets to the background for added security.  We had a great time with the girls and a little brunch a long with it.  My friend made a really cute short poem to go along with it to start the calendar out with the kids.  I'll get it and post that too.  We are planning to fill the pockets really simply with only smarties, or a gummy worm a day.  Spider rings, an eraser or just a fun little note, to make cookies, play with "spooky play dough" or stay up an extra 15 minutes at bedtime for a scary story.

  This calendar is mine.  I zoomed in to get as much detail as I could.  I havent sewn the edges evenly yet.  It looks like a small space on between the ric rac and the pockets,but there is actually quite a bit to put our family name at the bottom and Happy Halloween at the top with embroidery.  My pockets are quite close together.  others spread them out further.  They are not all cut perfectly, but to me that was part of the "crafty charm of it.  It would drive me nuts on something else.  I'll replace the picture with my finished project when it's hung.  By the way, the black pockets will be stitched with another color to show them up...also if pockets look dirt on the pic, it's because they are made from glittery felt.  *Also, mine only goes to day 30- they can trick or treat on 31.  depending on your layout, 7x5 or 6x6 you will end up with extra pockets.  I wanted to keep mine a little more refined for the space I wanted it to go in. 

There are a few online that have all orange pockets and more of a monochromatic look to them.  I actually like some of them better decorative wise, but this one with the colors was just too fun for the kids.  Some of us made ours apx. 2ft x 2.5 and others made their's a little larger apx 3 ft x 4.  depending on where we were hanging it in our house.  We are going to get little wooden witch brooms to hang them from, in place of a regular dowel.

MINK ON THE LOOSE!

"Mom, mom there's mink on the loose!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming".  I replied to Tyson

Todd had come up stairs to change his clothes just a few minutes before Tyson and told me they had just started playing catch in the back yard, when Alyssa came around from the front yard stating

"Dad, there's a whole bunch of people outside in the front and there's minks on the loose."

We changed our clothes and headed out the front door to a large congregating group of neighbors starting up the streets grabbing pet cages and make shift boxes to catch these little mink starting to come through the neighborhood. The animal control was already on the scene and had their nets ready and awaiting.  Some were found in window wells, in bushes, and in gardens.  Luckily they don't move very fast and these were just a small bunch that traveled up this far.  A few dozen though.

The Bishop announced at church that there were 6000 (yes that is 3 zero's) I repeat 6000 mink let loose in the wee hours of the morning.

The mink are no bigger in length and width than my forearm.  They're coats are beautiful and jet black...but oh, they SMELL!  Like a ferret, but worse.  They bite and squeal really loud when caught too, those little buggers.  But they were really cute. 

The mink farm is directly below our neighborhood development about a mile out.  So the elders quorum and others members of the ward at different times before and after church went to go get their grubs on and put their hands to work. 

The kids in the neighborhood were in heaven.  They thought this was just dandy.  With in a half hours time a good 60 or so men were searching the fields down close to the farm and catching these buggers one by one.  The cages soon filled up 6 and 7 at a time were taken back to the farm.  Some women came with water for the guys.  The Elders Quorum Pres.  came back around with Root Beer and soda packed in his trunk.  And then got back to work himself. 

After a few hours went by, nearly 90 % of the mink had been caught and returned to the owner.  Luckily the mink are not fast, and even when let out of their cages, don't far well in the open and most stayed close by.

The local news interviewed some of the neighbors.  One of my friends came home to find one on her doorstep.  Little Champ was just a bark'n at the fence for a while.  The neighborhood kids were hunting in droves with butterfly and fishing nets.     

I'm not up for touching the politics of this one.  However I guess I'll say this.  Todd and I were discussing the group that let these mink out and wondering  what their thoughts on other issues might be regarding the survival of the mink out in the open.  We have wetlands surrounding our area, and many indigenous birds and foul that lay eggs and live near by.  Most of these mink that were not found, will either die on their own in the wild or prey on these birds and eggs.  Even a couple hundred mink still out and about down there in those wetlands will disrupt the eco system.  We think that is an interesting concept.  Is the group just after certain types of animals they consider are being help captive with cruelty, or are they more of an environmentalist group who really care about the well being of all of natures animals.  I wonder if PETA and the SIERRA CLUB are for each other, or if it might be a one sided deal.  Interesting.  I don't know enough about either group to form an educated opinion on either of these. 

It is also however, devastating for this farmer to have his property trespassed in the wee hours of the night, by roughly 25 men who spent apx. 2 to 3 hours letting out 6000 mink one cage, one latch at a time.  Not only that, but also being armed and upon leaving his grounds, littered rounds of ammunition into this farmers trucks and barns.  This is a federal offense that the FBI is involved in heavily.  Apparently the members of this group could be charged largely with a multiple year conviction if caught.  This farmer lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Even with most of the mink returned.  He has no idea what immunizations which ones have already had, or which ones were on different feeding schedules.  Also with the mink drinking the water from the creeks, it will lead to contamination of half of these mink with different diseases.  So he will be forced to put many of them down anyway.  Also the scraps on the mink coats ruin his option for selling the furs anyway, because they cannot be pocked or marked up he said. 

Again.  no opinion stated.  Just an interesting topic that I found came up today.  It reminds me with the Presidential election just around the corner, that I have a duty to learn more about each candidates platforms and truly I need to educate myself on more issues that directly effect myself, my family, my neighborhood, state and country.

ok.  I'm done-  So here's the FUN, LIGHTER  part of the day...PICTURES!

        

YUH-MEE

Just documenting.

 

A few months ago, Tyson wanted some cheese and crackers.  He loves to pile Easy Cheese from the can on top of Chicken in a Bisket crackers.  What kid doesn't?  Anyway.  He came upstairs with the can of cheese and asked where the crackers were, I said I don't think we have any Chicken in a Bisket, but maybe some Ritz or something. 

A few minutes later he came back with a whole plate full of cracker sandwiches.  He was just a chow'n.  You found some crackers- Yum!

GRAHAM CRACKERS!  He had about 6 little cracker sandwiches with EASY CHEESE and GRAHAM CRACKERS.

I bring it up now, because even when we have other crackers in the cupboard, he will ask where the Graham Crackers are and go straight for them to pile high with circles of Easy Cheese. 

Today he said-they're "THE BEST"!   Am I missing something? 

THE CARMAMAL

Alyssa was so excited that we got to go to a Carmamal on Saturday.

This was a little Charity Carnival that one of the young men in our ward was putting on for the Stake for his Eagle Project.  It was a hit!  Talk about such a cute idea, and they just went all out.  This one is a great idea to keep on the books for any type of Charity event.  I just want to document some of the fun stuff.  I don't have enough pics to show everything that was there.  They had almost 20 different prize games.  Cotton Candy, Snow Cones and Popcorn.   An animal petting pen with at least 5 little animals sheep, small pony, rabbits and ducks.  They had a little wagon ride and 4 or five different craft stations.  The crafts were little bracelets, purses to sew with yarn, etc.  they were only 50 cents.  They had an entire table filled with prizes that the kids could choose from with the tickets they earned at the game stations.  The games were all free.  Alyssa got a really cute stuffed animal sting puppet.  The cost to get into the carnival was 5 cans of food per person.  This was a charity for the the State Food Bank.  He had a list of businesses and individuals that contributed to his project.  It really was great. 

   

GAME ON!

WE LOOOVE SOCCER SEASON! 

Ty has such a fun little team this year.

 

He hopped right up in this tree after his game. 

Now it was my turn to take a nice shot  -We love him.

 

ALySSa- One of Tyson's Greatest Fans!

They played a year older girls team. 

Is Dad (in the background) happy that Tyson

A.   Has the control of the ball.    

B.   Has 3 cute girls chasing after him all at once? 

This photo is my favorite of the day.  While these two were waiting for a corner kick, the girls coach said to them, something to the effect of  if the ball doesn't get kicked to fast, you two might have time to lean in for a quick kiss.  Immediately, the two faces shot into different expressions.  Just look how mad she is and then look how embarrassed Tyson is. *LOL*  Priceless!

Our Punk'n Noodle has to do everything her Brother does.  She thinks she's SO old!

A DAY IN THE LIFE...YELP ME!!

Ok, so the title is a little corny.  Todd took one look at it and we both started laughing.  But, hey...cornball is good sometimes right?  Ok, maybe not...but I'm not changing it.

Todd said "who's saying Yelp me?  You or the Dog? 

This is just a typical day in the life of our Champ.

Lyssa Lou LU-UVES this woofster.  She's definitely a smitten kitten mixed up in puppy love.  Now me?  Uh, not so much...you'll see why below.

 

Yep!  That's why.  This little runt finally found the patio cushions.  This is what I caught him doing later that day.  Just look at him.  Look at the snarly smile on the left side of his shnoz.  STINKER.  Now I get to replace the cushions with some fabulous ones that hopefully will be on sale this time of year.  How's that for a positive attitude?

What are you doing Tyson?  Oh, bathing the dog.  Great!  Oh, you decided to use the plastic bin that Dad put all his onions from the garden for the winter.  Ok, yeah just throw them all over the grass.  Did Alyssa help you?

 

YELP ME!!!!!!   Look how cute and pathetic that pup looks.  Aohh!  Champ came out smelling SO good.  Thanks to some Apple scented Shampoo & a hint of red onion. ;0)