9.30.2010

My Boss

I showed up for work Tuesday morning and had a shock. My head boss had died suddenly the night before. I was in shock. I wasn't prepared. He was such a good man. He cared about people. One thing I realized after this is that I had never heard anyone say one single negative thing about him. I don't hear very many negative things, but not a single one? To me that is a testament to how great of a person he was. We will all miss him tremendously. Here's a link to an article in the paper about him.

Orem's Jim Reams remembered for his integrity, love of family

9.28.2010

4-Wheeler


He's only Nine! I'm really looking forward to his Teenage Attitude!

9.26.2010

Middle Child's Talk

Middle Child has been assigned to give a talk in church. In front of the whole congregation. Remember how I've mentioned the LDS church has a lay ministry? It is imperative that people learn to get up in front of others without losing their stomach contents on a regular basis, so at 12 the kids start giving short talks in front of the whole congregation on Sundays. Middle Child has already done one before, but just one.

Several days before the talk I reminded him and he got to work on it right away. After about 15 minutes he asked if that was enough.

I looked over and saw about six lines on the page. "Um, no. I'm thinking you need about 1 1/2 pages before you have enough material."

He got back to work. I would occasionally glance over to see how it was coming. I recommended he get some books to help him come up with ideas. He just ignored me. He's done this before, I'm sure he thinks he doesn't really need my help. Then I looked over and noticed the spacing has increased from single to double. And then the font got a little larger. That left margin kept creeping to the right. He was on a mission and he got that talk done!

Next time I'll tell him it has to take three minutes, not 1 1/2 pages. One day I'll get this parenting thing right.

9.21.2010

Tis the Season

Can you guess what season is up and coming almost immediately?


And guess who got outfitted for his first hunt?

9.19.2010

When Family & Snakes Collide

This weekend we spent time with some of Olaf's family. Down south in Fillmore, Utah. It's smack dab in the middle of the state and used to be the State Capitol before the founding fathers got wise and made the metropolis of Salt Lake City the capitol. Saved a lot of traveling back before cars were real common.

But we had fun visiting with family, some of which we hadn't seen for a very long time.


The kids had fun playing games.


And the Aunts provided plenty of games for the kids to play. Including a Jack-a-Lope hunt.


Which ended in this tragedy.


I won't mention which Baby broke this really cool snake. Although he may have been trying to save everyone in the search party from any ER visits, never any fun on vacation.


But he might look a lot like this tuckered out Baby.

9.16.2010

Froggy Love

Baby still loves Froggy and his Friends. He still sleeps with Froggy every night. I adore it.


I slept with my Teddy Bear forever, I don't even remember when I stopped. I took him to college and sat him on a shelf. I had matured enough at that point to quit sleeping with him. But as you can see he's a little worse for wear. My roommate made fun of him. I was mad. I think I recommended she read the book The Velveteen Rabbit at that point.


And then I just told her that my Teddy Bear was well loved, not tattered.

9.14.2010

Anyone Have an Outlet Handy?

When I was looking for a new car at the end of last year I would drag at least one kid with me. This way we could check on leg room in the backseat.

One day Middle Child and I ended up at the Ford dealership in town. Of course it had snowed about a foot the day before and the cars were in the process of being uncovered and parking lot plowed. So the awesome salesman brought us inside to look at the hybrid Fusion they had on the showroom floor. He knew I didn't want a hybrid, but they were almost the same when just looking at them. 

I climbed in the front and Middle Child climbed in the back, to check out the legroom. And since he can't be anywhere without touching things he flipped a plate cover and found this below it.


The excitement in his voice as he called for me was barely contained.

"Guess what is back here!?!?!?!? An OUTLET! If we forget to charge our DSi's we don't have to worry about it! We can just bring out home chargers!"

The important things for boys.

9.12.2010

12 Pounds

12 Pounds is not to be confused with the absolutely horrible movie 7 Pounds by one of my favorite actors, Will Smith. And that will be the last I speak of that movie. 12 Pounds refers to the weight I  would like to lose but haven't. The problem may lay in the food that keeps appearing in my house. All of the following items were consumed over the course of this weekend.


Candy Corn, one of my weaknesses. Actually, considering how many weaknesses I have I don't even know if that term applies.


Cranberry Walnut bread. Reminds me of the Fall I've been feeling in the air lately, even though it's only September.


A delicious Buffalo Chicken Burger, homemade and to die for.


Olive cheese bread. Heaven on Earth.


Lemon-Lime Jell-o Salad, "Poisonous" as Middle Child called it in an effort to keep his cousins from eating it so he could finish it off later, all by himself.


Ambrosia. The real name is Peanut Butter Oatmeal Brownies with Fudgy Chocolate Frosting. (And who invented spell-check? Fudgy is a real word!) Even though almost everything is homemade, I don't think it was all super healthy. Someone check me into Eaters Anonymous.

9.09.2010

And One Less Tooth

The other day Olaf never showed up for a meeting around lunch time. I didn't think much of it. And then he called me later that day.

"How'd the meeting go?" he asked.

"Oh, fine, nothing exciting," I said. "How's work going?"

"Oh, fine, nothing exciting. Teaching a CPR class right now." Pause. "I had a root canal today."

"Oh, that's right. You were going to the dentist. I'm guessing he felt your tooth wasn't going to make it. So how do you feel?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

"Did you get any good drugs?"

"I haven't filled anything yet."

"That's not what I asked. Did he give you a good prescription?"

"Actually, he said since I haven't needed any pain meds yet he didn't think I'd need much now."

"That's what you get for being a Manly Man, doctor doesn't even give you pain meds!" I have a good laugh. "You know, most people don't go to work after having a root canal. You are crazy."

"Aaahh, it's no big deal."

And that is how Olaf functions on a daily basis. He refuses to feel pain and sickness. It absolutely amazes me. Every. Single. Day.

9.07.2010

The Almost New Cross Stitch

Several years ago I did a cross stitch. I love it.


But I didn't have anywhere to put it. So I put it in a frame from Ikea with a boring white mat and hung it on the wall at work.


My friend at work would look at it and remark that it needed a different color mat. But I didn't want to spend the time or money to get it professionally framed.


One day last week she brought all her framing stuff to work because she was framing pictures for the office. And she brought this mat from home. It went perfect with the cross stitch, but it wasn't a color I would have ever picked out. But I loved it when we put the two of them together.


And then she learned how to cut circle mats just for me! And she framed my little cross stitch with a new coordinating mat. Look how great it looks now!

9.05.2010

The Chef

Crusty sourdough bread. Soft, creamy, goat cheese. Caramelized sweet onions. Olive oil. What are these things? They make sweet heavenly sandwiches!

While I love a good Grilled Cheese I was tired of the same old thing. So I did what I do best. I looked for a simple recipe online. Nothing makes me happier than simple recipes using fabulous ingredients. It beats eating out any day.

Recently I rediscovered the joy of Cooking and Baking. And, at the ripe old age of my 30's I discovered I had a talent for cooking and baking. And now with the invention of blogs, I have access to millions of delicious, unique recipes!

Cupcakes were my first foray into the world of delectable baking. I had always made them from mixes, which was rare. Cookies were my specialty. I found so many delicious cupcake recipes online. And homemade frosting! To die for. I never liked the canned frosting at the store but cake mix cupcakes didn't really deserve homemade frosting. These new recipes were more than perfect for some good old fashioned butter cream, one of the foods of the gods.

After such great successes with desserts I branched out into dinner food. And breakfast food. And the occasional lunch. I only wish I had discovered cooking this good 15 years ago! In the last year I have really turned my idea of cooking around. It is no longer a chore, but an Adventure! I dare you to go on your own baking/cooking adventure. It's so much fun! And so delicious! And not good for your waistline at all. Now go get on your treadmill. Or if that makes you too tired, take a nap, like me.

9.02.2010

The Joker Strikes Again

If you'll remember I posted this little story about Middle Child last year. Well, the little Joker has struck again.

Last week we were somewhere important and I turned my phone off. On the drive back home I turned it back on and hopped on Facebook. Just to see if anything interesting had happened while I was away. To see if anyone had done something fun that I'd missed out on, again. To see if life was still the way it was two hours before. And it was.

But I had a couple notifications for comments on a post I had made several hours earlier. Except I couldn't remember posting anything. So I clicked to see what the hullabaloo was all about. And I started laughing!

I had let Middle Child do some homework on my laptop earlier in the day. And here was the result.


Donna McLean Hansen i love mushy gushy stories and mushy dates

August 26 at 5:17pm  ·  · 

Hopefully I'll learn my lesson the first time. Or is this the second time? I'm already doomed.