Sunday Good Times

Mike and Adrianne got away overnight this weekend for a much needed break.  I taught her primary class.  It was so fun!  The lesson was on Samson.  We started by talking about physical muscles and why it is important to be strong.  I brought a 4 1/2 foot piece of pvc pipe and the kids tried their hand at stick pulling.  Oh, did we cheer and laugh.  Then we got into the scriptures and talked about Samson's story and spiritual strength, covenants, symbols, why we need to be spiritually strong and how to do it.

Rushed home to help Meredith.  She already had the crock pots out and the pork chops searing.  I grabbed an apron and got to work.  Then they headed off for 1 o'clock church. Today we were celebrating Josh's birthday.  He asked for a pork chop dinner.  This is the easiest menu.  Once it's all in the crock pot, just clean up a bit, and let it do it's thing and relax.

Had a houseful to celebrate.  Apples to Apples.  Cake, ice-cream. Good Times--Good Times.

Just A Saturday

--Busy day today.
--Duff worked.  Haircut.
--I picked up the house, grocery shopped, gassed the car. Please, if you use my car fill it back up.  The men in our family (aka: my handsome hubby) drive the cars until they are operating on fumes and go from whichever car has the most gas to the next one because they don't want to stop to fill them up!  It is driving me crazy!  Because then I get in to go somewhere and there isn't any gas and I have to stop at the station and didn't know I needed to plan time-wise for that.
--Our camper came home.  Dirty, tired, but happy.
--Cleaned/straightened out the refrigerator and pantry.  Is it just me?  There is a shelf, drawer, section for certain things.  Please just put things back where they go.  It isn't hard to 'see' it.  Should I label?
--Went to the RS summer board party.  It was a lot of fun and a good turn out.  Great bbq brisket with lots of pot luck dishes.  I brought all the veggies.  Good food and good people.
--Duff went straight to bed since he has early meetings.  I tried to stay up, but fell asleep on the couch.  Then I got Christine's call to pick her up from the dance.  It was 11pm.  Then I realized Josh was still here, carless.  So I had to go to the church and pick up Christine, then take Josh home.  We didn't get home until 12:30ish.  At that point I was wide awake.
--Decided to say my prayers in the bonus room.  I guess I was more tired than I thought, because I fell asleep on my knees and woke up at 1:30am. Finished my prayers and went to bed. 9am church will be here really soon!

Where Is A Police Man When You Need/Want One?

Missed my Dr. appointment this morning.  I wrote it down as 9:30 and it was at 9.  Geez.  Made a new one for next week.  That was embarrassing.

Got back home and sprang into house tidying before I had to leave for the airport to pick up Shaun.

Driving to Long Beach was scary.  Not because of traffic or anything like that--everything was pretty clear for the noon hour on the 405.  But there was a white corvette with a black soft-top and a dark gray mustang with lots of black custom striping playing chase on the freeway.  For about 15 miles.  It was ridiculous!  We were all one heartbeat away from disaster.

They were using all of us other cars and the semi's as game pieces for their strategies.  Zipping around us all to gain the advantage.  They were laughing and reckless.  I was so disgusted at one point when the mustang pulled over three lanes to get in back of me and then to the lane on my left to try and get ahead of me and back over another 3 lanes to catch the corvette.  I slowed next to the semi on the right to block Mustang in.  The other cars around me did the same thing.  We must have all been thinking on the same page as we unwillingly became part of their contest.  OH!  Was he mad!  Probably not a good thing on my part, I thought later.  What if he had had a gun?  I could have been on the 5 o'clock news as the latest road rage victim!  Won't do that again.

He was literally riding the car's bumper in front of him in the left lane.  At one point, he connected with the bumper and pushed the car to make it go ahead so he could create room to pass me.  As the car he hit was trying to recover, he sped up to pass me and there was N.O. room to do it.  But he did it anyway!  The nerve!  He accelerated, started to go in my lane where there was literally inches between us.  I had to slam on my brakes, he shimmied sideways screeching in front of me and the semi to my right over three lanes to the corvette.  I layed on the horn along with many other cars and he and his passenger thought it was funny because they were laughing so hard I don't even know how they could drive!

Finally they chased each other to an exit around Lakewood and the 605 transition.

I wondered after:  Can I call 911 about something like that?  There wasn't a highway patrolman anywhere to be seen.

I so want them to get caught.

The Hoo-jit Man

Happy Birthday Josh! 

It started when he was a baby, we called him 'Hoo-jit'.  A friend, Shelly Cooper, called everything a 'hoo-jit' when she couldn't remember it's/their name, and one day it just stuck to him.  Even every once in a while I will randomly call him 'hoo-jit' and he still responds!  Funny, those little things.

Today is the big 30!  Have the best day ever.  See you later tonight for tacos at your place.

Love you so MUCH!

Another One.

Earthquake.
While Steve and I were working on the album, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit.  Epicenter:  Borrego Springs.
Christine even felt it all the way at girls camp in the mountains.  She called twice to make sure everything was ok.
Crap.  I don't do well with earthquakes.  They freak me out.  I'm always worried it is the 'big' one and in spite of all my careful preparations that I will never be prepared enough, that is if I even survive....
See.  I told you they freak me out.
However, I did remain calm.  I had 'company'. Hahaha!

From One Thing To The Other All Day Long

Up and out early at 7:30ish to get Christine to the church for girls camp!  The camp is now requiring at the last minute an individual personal medical/insurance form in addition to the one provided by the stake, and since we've been gone and only home a day, I had to fill it out in the parking lot. 

They got started and I took advantage of being there to get some computer work done in the clerk's office for visiting teaching.

Home from that and then a RS meeting until 1:40.  I quickly grabbed a bit of something for lunch and then had another meeting.  This one with, Steve Nissle, the photographer of Natalie's wedding.  We haven't done her wedding album yet.  Their 2nd anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks.  Life has been busy and I just haven't sat down to do it.  Plus, I couldn't visualize it.  That's another one of my quirks.  I get nervous with things I don't know and can't 'see' them.  Once I have a little experience with it, I'm good to go.  This was intimidating me.

I should probably mention that Natalie is very good about things like this.  Now she has her hot buttons about other things, but not this kind of stuff.  I was all worried that she wanted to be hands-on involved with this project of her wedding photos.  But like her wedding, she told me to just do it.  "You know me.  You know what I like.  Just do it."

What a relief!

So Steve came over at 2, and we sat in the office for 3 hours and got it done.  He put all the images up on the computer while I went through them in the proof book.  He has a program that helps you pick what you like and how to choose between similar poses/shots to get the best one.  I learned a LOT.  He has an eye to notice little things like chin tips, eyes, lighting, capturing emotion, and blending the casual/emotional with the traditional/formal to tell the wedding day story.  Of course, that is his job and his training and his expertise!  But how lucky was I to have the actual photographer sit down with me and go over all those details deciding how he will crop them, how he will put them on the pages to capture it all.

Steve and I go back a long way.

We knew each other as kids back in the day when his family and my cousin's family lived around the corner from each other in Monterey Park.  Our families would get together for bbq's and swimming at my aunt and uncle's and have a grand old time racing in the pool, eating, diving, fighting, and laughing.  As we got older we reconnected in college at the  Y, and after he graduated he went to work with his dad doing catering and photography.  His dad used to be one of the principal photographers at the Academy Awards.  When Duff and I got married, we were one of his first weddings he did.

We got the album pretty much designed and got all caught up visiting. I did give him some leeway for it.  He kept asking, "what about this?", and I finally told him I'd let he and Diane (his wife) decide on some of those items.  I trust his professional eye.  His business is now based in Phoenix/Mesa, but he has clients all over the country.  Every July he and his wife come to socal to escape the AZ heat for the month and shoot family beach photography, which was why he was able to come over and help me.

Can I just tell you how good it feels to have that D.O.N.E. !!!

Switched gears and got the garden and the pots all watered.  Adrianne took the best care of them while we were gone than any body else, ever!  Not only did they live, but they thrived.  I am picking zuchinni and tomatoes now.  Yes.

Dinner and then Mike back to work and Duff off for a church meeting.  Adrianne whipped up some banana bread and the house was smelling sooo good.  I've been folding laundry while watching some CSI:NY and now I'm off for bed.

Back To Life

The washer and dryer are hummin' along. I've been picking up the house. You know: all the post trip and holiday things you do. Christine is getting ready for YW girls camp tomorrow. She is tired. It's been a busy summer so far.  Not as many girls are going as usual.  I was surprised.  Maybe it's because the date was changed to this week instead of the usual first week after school and families had already made other summer plans.  It actually worked out better for us.  Last week was the only week the lacrosse camp was offered so Christine would have had to choose one or the other and now she can do both.

The office portion of the bonus room is always a mess with papers here and there and hither and yon.  So I decided to get these pending office files from Staples so everyone can have their own slot and (cross my fingers) put their paperwork in a place where it won't get lost, spilled on, or wrinkled.

I used my p-touch to make name labels.

It looks so much better and so far so good.  The area not only looks better, but everyone is keeping their stuff in their 'basket' and it's working!  Please last, please last, please last....

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

This is my version of the Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Shortcake Cake.

She makes her sponge cake from scratch.  It is very similar to The Barefoot Contessa's recipe that I use for Flag Cake.  But today I wanted to simplify, so I used a boxed yellow cake mix.  It worked just fine and saved a lot of steps and time.

Cake:
Mix yellow boxed cake mix according to package directions.  Bake.  Remove from round pans after 10 minutes to cool on wire racks completely.  You will have 2 layers and I only have 9 inch rounds so that's what I did, but 8" pans would work too. I would love to have some and I have my eye on them at Williams-Sonoma.  One day.

Filling:
1 plastic box fresh strawberries.  The 1 lb. size.  Wash.  Stem.  Cut in quarters.  Put in bowl and sprinkle 3 Tbsp. white sugar over them and stir.  Let sit for 30 minutes.  Taste one.  Depending on your berries, they might be sweet enough, if not add a little more sugar 1 tsp. at a time.  Stir and let sit another 30 minutes.  Mine were pretty sweet after the first addition, but I had really sweet, ripe berries.  Stir and mash with a potato masher or fork.  You should have some beautiful mascerated berries now!

Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 1/2 lbs. powdered sugar
1 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix butter till fluffy.  Add cream cheese and mix again until fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Then add powdered sugar a little at a time until all combined and then whip until fluffy.

To Assemble:
 ***In using a boxed cake mix, the density is different than a sponge cake.  To avoid my cake layer being drenched and falling apart with the berry juice, I spread a very, very thin layer of strawberry jam over it before I put the berry mixture on.  It was the perfect solution as you can see from the picture.
--Put both cake layers on a sheet pan side by side.  I used a sheet of parchment paper under them.  Waxed paper would work too.  You just don't want the cake to stick to the pan.
--Spread a very thin layer of strawberry jam over the top.
--Spread 1/2 of the mascerated berries on top.
--Put in your freezer for about 15-20 minutes.
--Take out of freezer and place one on the bottom of a plate or cake pedestal.
--Cover very gently with part of the frosting. (The freezing helps with the spreading!)
--Add top cake layer.
--Spread with jam, berries, and some more frosting.  Be sure to leave enough to frost the sides!
--Use remaing frosting to frost around the side of the cake.

This is a very rustic looking and tasting cake, so it doesn't have to look perfect.  In fact, it's more appealing when some of the berries are showing through, and then everyone knows it's strawberry time!

***Put in the refrigerator to set up and store.  In fact, the PW even puts hers in the freezer during each step to set up.  I did do some of that and it does work well.  It was a great tip.

The Holiday Continues...

We flew home mid-day.  Always sad to leave but happy to go home too.

Lucky for us, we had the kids all over and had another chance to celebrate the 4th with everyone here.

How about that? THREE days of gratitude for America!

We grilled fajitas.  Mike makes the BEST ever.  I'll have to get him to write down the recipe for me.  Surprisingly they are not as hard as you would think, and oh, so good.

It's all in the marinade.

Chicken breasts and flank steak before the thin slicing.

And the fajita veges. YUM.   Can you just smell and taste and hear them sizzling right now?

You've gotta have some homemade guacamole!  Adrianne cuts up the onion really, really small for me.  What can I say?  For my whole life I just can't do a raw yellow onion in or on anything.  Cooked, yes, love them.

One of my quirks.

I rummaged through the pantry and fridge and decided I had the ingredients to make this Strawberry Shortcake Cake.  It is similar to one that the Pioneer Woman makes, but I switch it up to make it easier.

The house was buzzing with the family and I stopped for a moment as I watched them all around the island in the kitchen working and laughing and talking together.  Dipping the chips into the guac.  It warms a Mother's heart.  I missed Rob and Nats and John, and Shaun.  They will be here to visit soon enough and then we will have another get together.

It was Mike and Adrianne's turn for the combined family FHE, and Mike did a stirring lesson on how the weather and God's control of it, played a pivotal role in the American Revolution.  That our country was a promise of greatness in order for the gospel to be restored.

Then closed with these remarks by L.Tom Perry given at a 1976 speech at BYU:

"I want to again remind you of your responsibility to preserve the righteousness of America....The land must continue to remain strong and great and good.  It is destined to be the major supplier of human and financial resources, to build the kingdom of God here in the whole world for the return of the Lord and Savior.  The adversary knows all too well that a weak America will literally stop this building process and thwart the work of God.  I hope I have painted a clear picture for you to see your role in this great eternal process.  The Lord is making his major investment in you.

"I want to issue you a challenge.  I want you who are the best trained, the best educated, who have been given these great advantages here in America to literally become the conscience of America and the molders of its destiny and future.  With your knowledge, your training, your understanding of how God works in the hearts of his children here on earth, let us obligate ourselves to temperance, to frugality, and to industry.  Let us show justice, kindness, and charity toward our fellowmen.  Let us demonstrate the love and reverence we should exhibit toward our Almighty God.  Let us not trifle with the things that are holy to God.

"...This is the time for you to be bold enough to stand up for what you believe, to let the world know that God still blesses this great land of America--if we will live righteously, according to that which he has commanded." 

Meredith, Christine, and Karley then went for another showing of Eclipse!  And the rest of us cleaned the kitchen and relaxed.

BBQ Pork Sandwiches

photo from food network, but this is just what they look like--

1 pork tenderloin from Costco (they are lean and tender)
1-2 cups water or beef broth
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce

--Put pork tenderloin in crock-pot with water or broth.  I don't even season it, but you can if you want.
--Cook on low over night.  I put it on just before I go to bed.
--In the morning, check on the liquid left.  Depending on where I am I may need to add more or scoop some out.    You want it to be moist, but not soupy.  In Utah my slow cooker cooks really hot, even on low.  Our elevation is high so that may be a factor. So I always have to add more liquid.  But in California, I use the lesser amount.
--Shred with forks right in crock.
--Add bbq sauce in the amount you like.  You can serve more as a condiment depending on if you have family members who like more or less.  Stir thoroughly and warm through with lid on.

I like to serve it with a cole slaw mix.  I use the bagged kind and you can mix it up with your favorite cole slaw dressing (there is a recipe on the bag) or plain.

Serve the pork on buns piled with cole slaw and enjoy!

God Bless America

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We've had a really nice day.  It was cloudy and drizzly all morning.  We enjoyed all our church meetings.  It was still sprinkling at noon when we were done.  I am fascinated by the way colors change or are enhanced in different lighting.  The greens were so vivid against the gray morning.  If there was an ocean nearby you'd think you might be in Ireland!

We celebrated the holiday yesterday with the neighbors and city, and tonight a couple of the resorts are shooting off their fireworks.  We made bbq pork sandwiches with cole slaw, corn on the cobb, and fruit for our dinner.  And tomorrow we will celebrate with Mike and Adrianne and Josh and Meredith when we get home in the afternoon since they all have work off.  Wow.  3 days of celebrating the birth of our country!

As I get older, I get much more sentimental and emotional about America.  It probably doesn't help that the US has seen difficult and interesting times lately either.  First of all, I look at the 4th of July as a spiritual holiday.  If the Lord had not prepared America and set in motion all the things necessary for the gospel to be restored and the Book of Mormon to come forth, we would not have the blessings of  the church, the priesthood, a living prophet, temples.  It makes me think about God's wisdom and timing.  I am grateful.

Then my thoughts and ponderings go to my German grandparents.  They heard the message of the gospel and converted when they were teenagers.  They didn't know each other then.  But independently when they were 17 years old, left their homeland to come to America so their posterity could have freedom and the gospel in it's fullness.  When I contemplate that, I feel so blessed.  And humbled.  I often wonder if I would have that kind of clarity at that age to think that far into the future and what a decision like that would mean for generations yet unborn.  They had no jobs, no education, no money, no family, but they had their testimony and a dream and lots of faith.  Was it easy?  No.  But they learned the language, worked hard and devoted their lives to the Lord.  I am forever grateful and blessed because of their sacrifice and hope my life is a reflection of that.

When I count my blessings that one single unselfish act is among the greatest ones.  I have so many more from the other side of my family and Duff's family, but since it's the 4th and about America's birthday I've mentioned this one this time.

I love the Star Spangled Banner.  When we sing it I always get choked up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Oh, and I watched the Boston Pops concert and fireworks show.  This is the first time I've ever watched it.  I was blown away by the program.  It was awesome.

'Some' Saturday

--Some sewing.
--Some laundry.
--Some walking.
--Some watering.
--Some friends over. Nancee and Darin.
--Some grocery shopping.
--Some corn from the farm stand.
--Some mexican vanilla from the little mexican market.
--Some bbq for dinner with fresh zuchinni.(!)
--Some tv watching.
--And a whole lot of Some Fireworks!  We sat on the top of the water tower and watched them down in Midway City shooting from Memorial Hill.  They did the shows today since the 4th is tomorrow on Sunday.
--Some Earnestly Chocolate ice-cream cones to finish the night.  (The byu creamery named their chocolate concoction after Ernest L. Wilkinson's favorite ice-cream ingredients, and let me tell you--it is really good.)