A Regular Day That Ends With Skip-Bo

Today was no different than if we were 'home, home'. Chores. They are just a part of living, aren't they!

--Laundry. Christine's whole suitcase as a matter of fact. EFY, remember. Sheets and towels.
--Deep clean the kitchen. The day where you take the whole stove apart, wipe out and reorganize the refridgerator.
--Mop the floor.
--Wipe down and shine up all the things that sit on the counters. I actually like that one. It looks so good afterwards. When something looks good it makes you feel good too.
--I made the grocery list and Duff took off for Heber to get the marketing done while I stayed here and stayed steady with getting things done.

Christine got a call from Taylor (a cousin) to come down and meet them at the Lindon pool. Robert graciously drove her down the canyon, Shane met her on his lunch hour and took her over to meet up with Jennifer and the boys. She had a blast! THANK YOU! After Robert visited with some friends, they drove back up just in time to get ready for our BBQ with the Kleins.

We did burgers and hot dogs with fresh, local corn on the cobb, potato salad, and Julia brought all the fixings for a delicious fruit salad. Jill and Ben joined us too, and we played games in the game room, watched some tv, and after dinner played some Skip-Bo. Addy and Christine like this game ever since Jake, my cousin's very cute teenage son, introduced them to it last summer when we were in Sacramento for Natalie and Robert's open house. A cute boy makes quite an impression!

Duff: "I hate this game!" (after he couldn't play anything during his turn.)
Duff: "I hate this game!" (after he could only play one card this time around.)
Duff: "I'm out. I LOVE this game!" (after he played his last card and WON!)

My grandma Myrna loved this game. She taught us all how to play. She loved playing cards: Skip-Bo, Canasta, Pinocle, Hearts, Nertz, you name it. She was GOOD, knew all the strategies, and had a secret weapon: Cheating! Don't ask me how she did it, but all of us grandchildren knew she did! There was no mercy when playing with grandchildren during Skip-Bo. We had to learn to pay attention and play well or she would wup us everytime!

Time passes quickly here, especially at night when it stays light forever. All of a sudden it was after 10 and Christine got her bag packed to go back with them to Park City. They are going to the Alpine Slide and then down to SLake for the rest of the day. We said good-bye to Marshall who enters the MTC on Wednesday. He's going to Albania.

Rest and Relaxation

--Nice day.
--Great church meetings. Talks on judging and holding grudges. Pretty interesting topics, but taught extremely well from the pulpit.
--Home to that 'take me away' aroma of a traditional Sunday pot roast!
--Mike and Karen K. came for dinner and to spend the evening. Mike is another of Duff's business partners who had come for Heather's wedding. We watched Harry Potter 5 down in the 'man-cave' game room. Christine has become quite the pool player. She wups us all, even the adults!
--Right on cue as predicted by the locals, a huge summer storm hit and we enjoyed every lightening bolt and drop of rain!
--I'm making progress on the receiving blanket now. There are 5 rows of fine crochet and I am almost done with the 3rd one. Matching burp cloth is finished.

See ya tomorrow!

Wedding Day

Here is a peek at Heather and Kyle's wedding! It was very nice. Completely Heather. She had thought of every detail. Deer Valley was gorgeous.

The Program
The Ceremony.
Truly, I have to say it was one of the best civil ceremonies I have ever been to. So much spirituality spoken and felt. One of the highlight points that the pastor said to them was that God had brought them together and now He will be the one to keep them together. When all the newness wears off and the daily-ness of married life sets in, it gets hard. They need to turn to Him as the key partner in their marriage.

Beautiful mountain flowers. Much prettier in real life, or with a more advanced camera than my little point and shoot. So delicate yet strong.

The site of the ceremony. A peaceful meadow in upper Deer Valley.

The Empire Canyon Lodge, just to the back of the meadow.

Bride and Groom with bridesmaids and ushers. Heather was gorgeous. All grown up into a beautiful woman. I remember when Natalie used to babysit her!

A spectacular combination of flowers.

The wedding party.

Just as the pastor announced them as "Mr. and Mrs. Kyle---", it started to rain. Ah, mountain life! At least it waited until the ceremony was finished! They walked down the Arch of Sabers (Kyle is a pilot for the Air Force and just graduated from the AF Academy), and we guests bee-lined it for the unbrellas on the lodge deck where we enjoyed appetizers and beverages. It was the perfect temperature at 6pm!

As summer storms do, it rained off and on for a while. At each break, they ran outside and took as many pictures as they could.

This gentleman played his accoustic guitar for all the music for the ceremony and cocktail hour. He was amazing. None of the music was traditional. No wedding march, etc. But it all worked and made perfect sense. Beautifully simple in this mountain setting. The perfect touch.

John and Cathy. Parents of the bride. Good friends, good neighbors, good business partner. I had a different photo of them looking into the camera, but because he is sooo tall and she is sooo short, it didn't turn out very well. So here they are having a good chuckle about the rain's timing. Tough old John got a touch emotional walking her down the aisle! You old softy. We've known it all along, ya know!

Our seating assignment and menu for the meal. It was delicious in every way. We toasted with sparkling cider. Christine, Natalie, and Robert were seated at another table across the room. The waiters kept bringing wine and champagne to them even though they told them they were a dry table. At one point, a waiter finally looked at Christine, and realized she was not older! Everyone had a good laugh.

Now they are off at the Stein Erickson for the night and then travel to Tahiti for a fabulous honeymoon.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!

[Just a side note observation: Lots and lots of fly-boys from the AF. I had an interesting thought at one point. They were indulging in the 'spirits' a tad much. Let's just say they were having a really good time celebrating, okay. And after they sleep it off in the next day or two, could get a call to climb in that multi million dollar fighter jet and defend us. Kind of a sobering ponderance. It was a little Top Gun-ish for me. Haha!]

She's Home

We got our girl back bright and early this morning. Heritage Halls was humming with activity. All the kids in front of their halls--luggage and pillows and blankets ready to load up when their responsible adult arrived to take them home with a weeks full of memories. They were hugging all their new friends good-bye. Tired, but happy.

She settled in on the great room couch to read Harry Potter. She is almost through the series. She wants to finish before we go see the movie this next week. All of a sudden, I could hear her soft breathing. She is OUT! She told us Thursday was her favorite day if she had to pick one. She is tired, happy, a bit cranky, more tan, has blisters on her feet from her new silver flats, and has a lot of new information and feelings to process from all the workshops.

We of course had to stop at Beto's. They call it Rancherito now, but we still call it Beto's. Breakfast Burritos from there are the match to A's Breakfast Burritos at home.

Darla drove down with us and was beside herself to see The Miss. She is perched on her cabin blanket on the big brown bean bag right next to Christine on the couch keeping vigil by her side. Loyalty. And Love.

Hall Wedding BBQ

Tonight was the friends and family bbq for Heather's wedding at their cabin in Promontory. I've never been part of a destination wedding before. Everyone invited has had to travel to come to Park City.
We got a welcome bag for each of us filled with goodies to enjoy our stay in Park City. We were treated to an amazing catered buffet tonight. It was all good, but our favorite was the Utah Trout. At first I thought it was a thin salmon, which is one of my very 'mostest' favorite fish. But nope--it was good ole Utah Trout, and man let me tell you it was delicious.

All the paper goods were 'green'. Plates and flatware: wooden. What looked like acrylic cups were made of corn and were compostable after using. Even these thin wooden papers to wrap your ice cream and brownies with chocolate sauce in. I'd never seen anything like it. Totally Cathy and Heather, though. Bride and Groom ready to go and all the details are in order. Tomorrow night will be lovely. We're looking forward to it. It's so fun to see all the different styles of people. Heavenly Father was so smart!

I'm off to bed. We have to pick up Christine at 7am tomorrow.

Cupcakes

Cupcakes seem to be taking over. They are the perfect 'fix' when you want a 'piece' of cake without having to bake an entire one which sits there tempting you to eat all of it. I have seen this bakery on a few blogs I check in on from time to time. I decided I had to see what this was all about and if it lived up to it's hype.

It's name: The Sweet Tooth Fairy Bake Shop. On south University Avenue. It is right next door to The Quilted Bear. N i c e. Perfect location. A little shopping....a little treat... It is a darling shop. Small, whimsical, light, airy, and the aroma of baked goods smacks you in the face the instant you open the door. They have some indoor seating and some outdoor seating. I think they should add some additional indoor seating, especially for the summer months when it is so hot. Maybe that's already on their agenda. Natalie and I sat outside at this quaint white wire table with curly-cues. It felt like being in Pollyanna.

Out of the many choices, we decided on 4 and purchased our box and some water. They have a pedestal cake plate/dome with large doily full of samples to help you make your decision. It was hard!

We decided on: (clockwise from top) Van-NIE-lla Squared, Coconut, Red Velvet, and Black and White. They really are amazingly delicious. No boxed mixes here. Through and through homemade from scratch goodness. And their signature frosting is addicting, and I'm not a frosting lover. The texture is different, and the taste, well I can't put my finger on it, but just a smidge different as well. Being a cook/baker I'd love the recipe, but I'm quite sure they aren't giving it out! I wonder if this is what cupcakes will taste like in heaven. I do wonder about those kinds of things from time to time.

I've already decided we're going back next week when we make a trip down the canyon. The Raspberry Lemonade will be one of the choices. It was a raspberry cupcake with lemonade frosting. Yeah. GOOD. They also have cookies, brownies, lemon bars, etc.
Check out their website at: http://www.thesweettoothfairy.com/ You won't be disappointed.

(Van-NIE-lla Squared is named in honor of a young wife and mother, Stephanie Nielson, who survived a small airplane crash last summer in Arizona. She and her husband, who was also in the crash, and their 4 children have relocated to Provo near their families for help in their recovery. She was burned over 80% of her body. She loves this bakery too and so they named this cupcake after her. On different occasions, the proceeds from the sales of Van-NIE-lla Squared go to her burn recovery. Isn't that cool? Click on the link I have for NieNie Dialogues to read about her story. It is inspiring.)

Officially, It's A BOY

Natalie and Robert had their 'official' 20 week ultra-sound today, at 22 weeks (a little later than usual because of them living in California and her going to Utah for her appointments because of their insurance). It is for sure a BOY!

She has lots of pictures, but I'll let her post them on her blog. Other interesting news: the baby is b i g. So they are thinking she is about 2 weeks farther along than they thought. That means the baby could come the first week of November instead of later. The good news on that is Nats will have a little more time to recuperate and get ready for December finals!

Now we can plan. I think all things b.l.u.e. are in order!

Congrats, Natalie and Robert!

Happy Birthday Ashley

Happy Birthday To You,

Happy Birthday To You,

Happy Birthday Dear Ashley,

Happy Birthday To You!

Have a great day, honey. What are you going to do to celebrate?

We Love You--

Nuthin'

Is is okay to be doing 'nuthin'?

We are having so much fun relaxing and doing nothing, we haven't even left the cabin since Monday. Naps, movies, reading, handwork, a little organizing things here and there, sitting on the deck.

Even Darla is not doing much of anything. She follows the sun around the great room and sunbathes. What a life!

We do have the blind company coming tomorrow to put new batteries in the blinds that are on a remote. The windows are huge and up high so we put them up and down with a remote control and the batteries are a lithium kind so we can't replace them ourselves--not that we would want to get up on that high ladder anyway. Too scary.

I finished up my last tropical bandage today. Humanitarian Services no longer takes them. So I have my last 7 to give to them and then I'm forever done with that little on-going project. I'm kind of sad about it. I wonder why they stopped asking for them?

So this is one of my new projects. I figured out how to do the crocheting around flannel baby receiving blankets and burpcloths. I read up and followed all my little pamphlets. If you crochet at all, this is the simplest project and gives a great result. I had bought a couple of little kits from the Quilted Bear a long time ago and never did them. Now with a baby coming, I decided I better get going!

(btw: Christine told me my picture taking is a little boring. She recommended that I take some pictures on an angle....haha)

Here is my first burp cloth. I finished row one, and just started row 2. I'll share the finished goods when they are done.

So here's to doin' not much of nuthin'.
The break has been nice.

PAN FRIED TILAPIA

By Sandra Lee

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 8 min.

Serves: 4

(picture from google)

Okay. Another new recipe tonight. This one is also very fast and easy. We had some rice, corn on the cobb, and watermelon with it.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons seafood seasoning (just what I had on hand)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds fresh tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (I used jarred)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves (again, I used dried)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. In a shallow baking dish combine flour, seafood seasoning, salt and pepper. Add the tilapia and lightly coat each side.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Shake off any excess seasoned flour and place in the skillet. Brown on both sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Place tilapia on a baking sheet that is lined with a paper grocery bag or paper towels and keep warm in the oven while you prepare the sauce.

4. Turn down the heat to the pan the tilapia was cooked to low and add the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the garlic, lemon juice and parsley and saute for 2 minutes. Place the fillets on serving plates or a platter, top with the sauce and serve. (The sauce is amazing...)

Spring Chicken Roll-Ups with Lemon Dijon Pan Sauce

Spring Chicken Roll-Ups with Lemon Dijon Pan Sauce

Prep Time: 10 min.

Cook Time: 20 min.

Serves: 4

EASY!

I made these for dinner last night. I watched Rachael Ray make them on her afternoon show. I got the pictures from google. These bundles are a healthy twist to a Cordon Bleu chicken. In fact, I think we liked them better. They are much lighter and still have all the taste. I didn't have chicken breasts, so I used 2 chicken tenders per serving, just pounded them out and put them side by side and layered the cheese, ham, and asparagus on top. They stayed together perfectly. I served them with bow tie pasta and a pesto sauce. It was awesome!

Ingredients
2 (6-ounce) pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 thin slices provolone cheese
4 thin slices prosciutto cotto OR 4 thin slices honey ham lunch meat (I used Deli Select in the carton with the red lid.)
12 medium-thin spears asparagus, trimmed of tough stems and blanched in salted water 2 minutes, drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup chopped, flat-leaf parsley, a handful ( just used dry parsley, about 2 T.)

Cook's Note: Some markets sell "thin cut" chicken for a premium price. With a sharp knife, cutting the chicken breast yourself is easy. When chicken is on sale, stock up. Plastic storage bags can be stacked and frozen. Each portion will thaw in minutes and be ready to use for dinner any night of the week. Plus, by halving and pounding out the breast meat, you're stretching your dollar and the meat to provide twice as many portions.

1. Halve the chicken breasts horizontally separating each into 2 cutlets.
Place each halved cutlet in an individual freezer plastic storage bag. Add a tablespoon of water to each bag and pound into1/8-inch thick cutlets.

2. Arrange the 4 cutlets on work surface. Season cutlets lightly with salt and pepper on the side facing up. Cover each piece of chicken with 1 slice cheese and 1 slice ham. Starting on 1 side of the breast, place a small bundle of 3-4 asparagus spears. Wrap and roll the chicken around the asparagus. Wash hands.

3. Heat about 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. When hot, using tongs, add the chicken roll-ups to skillet with seam side down. Season the roll-ups with salt and pepper. Cover the pan loosely with tin foil and cook 4 to 5 minutes, turn roll-ups over and cook and other 4 to 5 minutes. Remove cooked roll ups to a serving plate.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons flour Stir in the chicken stock and Dijon mustard, scraping up any drippings from the bottom of the pan, and simmer 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley and spoon over chicken.

t.u.e.s.d.a.y.

Lazy but busy day.

Got all the windows washed. Nice crew who came. There are a lot of windows and it took the better part of the day. Got laundry done. Books and movies put away. Read. Talked with Jenn, Sue, the kids. Working on some Christmas things.

No new news on Wendy.

Tried a new recipe for dinner tonight. I will post it separately. It is a keeper. A lighter version of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Funny thing. Here we are alone and we still choose to stay in and cook. That's just how we are. And it works for us!