Jordon

My poor Joe Joe is not feeling well. I think the croupy cough is going around.

To whom it may concern,

If you gave the croupy cough to us I would like you to come get it because we don't like it here. It has made my baby boy sad and his throat sore and scratchy. He really wanted to make a snowman tomorrow. Which probably won't happen. I wanted to go walking. Which probably won't happen. Next time please ask first. Thank you!

Sincerely, A mom trying to keep her kids well.

Get Well Soon my sweet Joe!

Gavon, Love Bug, Sweet Heart, Sugar Pie, Gavatar

Gavon, Gavon, Gavon! I'm not sure what we would do without him.

He loves his picture taken and he never does exactly the same thing.
(I love this picture)
This is his Ninja picture. He keeps us laughing always. We put our Christmas tree up last night. You would think that he had never seen a Christmas tree before. I think it has been re-decorated, re-decorated, and re-decorated. I hope it will make it at least until Christmas in one piece.
We love our sweet Gavon!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jenson and Jordon putting whip cream on the pies they made.
One spoonful for the pie. One spoonful for our mouth.:)

Another Gavon face while Jenson and Jordon make their pie.

Menu- Brined free range turkey (It was moist and yummy)

Homemade stuffing ( moist/healthy/better than stove top any day)

Grandma Wray's famous jello ( I think I put a little too much orange peel.)

Mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes (-minus the marshmallows. I think they are sweet enough)

Organic apple cider

And of course....Pie! ( I made a sweet potato pie with a whole wheat crinkle cookie crust, Madison made a yummy frozen key lime pie, Brooklon made a chocolate/peanut butter pie to die for, Maron made an amazing coconut cream pie, and Jenson and Jordon made a great pumpkin pie each.)

All in all it was a great meal. It has been a nice break together. We are grateful for our many blessings. We are truly blessed.

Maron's Social Studies Project

Maron is working on a social studies project. Part of the project is to create a plaque of someone from Utah's history. Maron decided to make a plaque of Joseph Smith. While Joseph never made it here to Utah He still is a big part of Utah history.

Brooklon's Sixth Grade Medieval Feast

Brooklon's Sixth Grade Medieval Feast

(the pictures are a little out of order and once again I don't know how to move pictures)

During the feast Mrs. Mason (Brooklon's teacher) lead the sixth graders in a little dance/jig around the tablesThey weren't allowed to use utensils while eating. Everything was eaten by hand or in Brooklon's case straight from plate to mouth. (She's supposed to be a "Lady" in waiting.

uh.....there's a little something on your face Brook.:)

The Jesters

The Knights in armour jousting. They're trying to put their "lance" through the donut hole while riding their "horse".

Brooklon's friend Kirra.

Brooklon at the table with friends.



This is the table where the King, Queen, etc. sat. ( their teachers chose what they would be. You were asked to be a King, Queen, Knight, Lady in Waiting, or peasant. The peasants served everyone and took turns eating. It was fun to watch. I think they all had a fun time. I think Brooklon's teacher is great.

Pictures are a little backwards- Brooklon and Tia having their own fun after the party was done.

Tia.

Being silly together.

The whole group of friends - minus one girl that had to leave a little early.

(this is a long blog. Make sure you go all the way to the end even if there is a space. I'm not sure of how to get rid of the gaps)

Brooklon's 12 year old birthday
The Amazing Race!
Challenge #1 (We went to the DI) You have $2.00 and 10 minutes to find and accessory that will be used in another challenge. Don't be late and work together or you may get a penalty challenge.

(The girls each got an invitation saying either to wear as much green as you can or as much pink as you can. The colors determined the team you were put on. This is the GREEN TEAM!) Emerie, Jessica, Becka, Rebecca, and Marissa.

*The pink team got a penalty for running late so they had to run outside and write on the sidewalk with chalk a happy birthday sign.

Challenge#2 Take your shoes off and gather in a circle on the floor for a round of "Musical Nail Polish". Make sure every person on your team has at least 1 pink nail and 1 green nail. Good Luck!

Challenge #3 How is your dress making skills? I guess we'll see. Make a dress out of paper on one of your team mates. The dress must be wearable, modest, and as decorative as possible. You will be judged.

* This is where the accessory from the D.I. had to be used.
Challenge #4 was to put together a puzzle of either Justin Beiber or Jacob Black.- We used large posters of them glued to poster board.

Challenge#5 Was a Detour . They had to find as a team 1 balloon with a dog, 1 balloon with a hamster, 1 balloon with a cow, 1 balloon with a pig, etc.. out of many and pop them.

Challenge 6- decorate a cake for Brooklons birthday. Work together as a team. The pink team and their cake.

(Kirra, Cassidy, Kennedy, Brooklon, Maron, and Tia)

Finding their animal balloons.

Cassidy modeling her paper gown.

Becka getting her dress put together with helpers.

Pink team putting their dress together.

Green team putting together their dress.

Pink team trying to decide what accessory to buy.

Green team trying to find what accessory to buy.

We planned the party for 3 hours. I thought maybe I had too much for them to do and worried if we would make it time wise. Wellllll .......they were speedy and finished everything in about an hour. (Not Cool!) so we played "What if"- a game they learned at Clear Creek- and Curses. We then jumped on the tramp and dug up an old game of pin the tail on the donkey. PHew!!! And one Mom and Dad opted to not pick one girl up until 2 1/2 hours late.:) Very cute girl though. Her (Tia) and Brooklon sewed with Brooklons new "Birthday" sewing machine. All in all they had a fun time. Brooklon has a cute bunch of good friends. Happy Birthday Brook.

Green teams finished product.

I'm not sure what's with the crazy face. He is definitely a face maker. He keeps us in stitches. -Gavon making a Christmas ornament.

Isn't he handsome! My camera wasn't working for awhile so we lost out on pictures of all our doings. I'm glad we are back in business. We made salt dough the other day for Maron's state of Utah map and we ended up with extra. With the extra we decided to make some Christmas ornaments. While listening to Christmas music. We are all getting so excited for Christmas. It's fun watching Gavon this year. He is so excited. Jordon and Gavon have been making lists of all the things they "need" :). I think they just repeat the same list over and over. Both Gavon and Joe are into cowboy everything. We'll have to see:)

With all of the hard work and exercise I have done lately I'm proud to say I am down 1o lbs. Yeah! I'm hoping for another 10 by Christmas. I actually feel better. No meat, more fruits and veggies, very few sugary treats, and exercise. Tonight's meal is a meatless meal that I happened to stumble upon. I haven't tried it but the girl I got it from loved it so I thought we would give it a try.

Spinoccoli Pizza
Ingredients:

For the white sauce:

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. flour

¾ cup heavy cream or half-and-half

1 clove garlic, smashed

Salt and pepper, to taste

6 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese



For the pizza:

Pizza dough

Olive oil, for brushing

½ cup packed baby spinach leaves, torn

1 cup very small broccoli florets

2 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Grated Parmesan



Directions:

To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until bubbling and light golden, about 1 minute. Whisk in the heavy cream and garlic, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and bubbles. Remove from the heat and whisk in the grated Parmesan until completely melted and smooth. Discard the garlic clove. (Note: This will make a bit more sauce than you need for the pizza, but with a little extra cheese it makes a great dipping sauce for crust.)



To make the pizza, preheat the oven and a pizza stone at 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round. Lightly brush the perimeter of the dough with olive oil. Spread a thin layer of the white sauce over the crust, leaving a border clear around the edge for the crust. Sprinkle the torn spinach leaves over the white sauce. Evenly distribute the broccoli florets over the dough. Layer evenly with the shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Finish with additional grated Parmesan, if desired. Transfer the pizza to the preheated pizza stone and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the crust is lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Yesterday was a little crazy so for dinner we just had homemade bean and cheese burritos. They are quick and easy. We just buy a huge bag of pinto beans and pressure cook them into jars and make our own re fried beans. We sometimes add garlic, taco seasoning, small amounts of cheese, and maybe some veggies.

Today for dinner we are going to have a tried, true, healthy, and loved recipe. Try it and you will see. Quinoa Taco Salad-We pretty much follow the recipe to the t except we don't add so many bell peppers. Maybe a little red. I also don't usually add salt to anything. I 'm not a huge salt fan. I seem to think everything tastes salty whether it's been salted of not.We use spinach and lettuce. And I don't chill it. We eat it warm on top of the salad like I think taco salads are suppose to be.:)


•1 cup quinoa
•1 red onion, chopped
•3 cloves garlic, minced
•half a red bell pepper, chopped
•half a green bell pepper, chopped
•half a yellow bell pepper, chopped
•1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
•1/2 teaspoon oregano
•1-2 teaspoons chili powder, depending heat preferences
•dash cayenne pepper
•1 -15 ounce can black beans, drained
•3/4 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
•2 limes
•salt and pepper, to taste
•6-8 ounces baby spinach
•1 bunch cilantro
•1/3 cup cheddar or feta cheese
•1 avocado, diced
Cook the quinoa according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, swirl a bit of olive oil in a saute pan. Heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and saute for 3-5 minutes, until translucent and tender. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, cayenne and peppers and saute an additional 2 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in the black beans, tomatoes, and the juice of 1 lime. Stir in quinoa. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill.

Roughly cut baby spinach into strips like you would shred iceberg lettuce for tacos. Remove about 1 cup of cilantro leaves from the bunch, rinse and pat dry, and toss with the spinach. Divide spinach and cilantro mixture evenly among 4 salad plates. Top each plate with a scoop of the quinoa salad. Top each salad with your choice of cheese and diced avocado. Cut the remaining lime into slices to garnish the plates.

I thought maybe we would try this blog thing again for a couple of reasons. I will just share one of those reasons now. One of the reasons is I think blogs help you keep your goals. I think when you write your goals down you/and others help to keep them. One of my goals is we are trying to change our eating habits . Not that we really eat bad, just that we want to eat better. Something that has always somewhat plagued my mind is D&C 89:12. Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;. It's that last word "Sparingly". Now I'm not saying what anyone else should think this word mean to them at all. To me I feel like it means sparingly. Not to eat a lot of meat all the time. My Merriam Webster Dictionary definition says- Sparingly= to use frugally or rarely. We are not becoming vegetarians! We are just cutting back. More fruits and veggies. Less sugary and processed things (not that we really eat a lot of processed things). I will try and share my favorite recipes with you. I have some really yummy meatless dishes. I hope you will enjoy and maybe try some. Now after enduring all of that I will treat you to some sweet pictures. (I'm sorry they are backwards. I'm having to re-learn how to do this)

Landon dressed as the Mad Hatter this year. I think he looked awesome. I guess no one at school recognized him. He got first place in the costume contest and his picture taken several times with others and for the year book.

Madison dressed as a flapper. (She sewed this get up all by herself. Didn't she do a great job).

Jenson - G.I. Joe. Jordon- settled on The Hulk (He changed his mind several times). Gavon- Spider Man. Trenton- Cowboy. Brooklon- Cheerleader. Maron- Cute Witch ( I found a cute skirt tutorial and made her skirt. I will make this pattern again)

The younger kids school did a fun run and we all participated.

Sorry it is sideways but that's Brooklon.

Landon and his scout group ran in a 10k race called "The Dirty Dash". It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place -Soldier Hollow. We went to watch as a family and support Landon. He did an awesome job.

Well there you go. Life is busy. We will try this again.

Christian is working hard at work. He helps a ton with all of the many activities that goes on at our house as well as helping with the 12 year old scouts.

Me...I'm trying to exercise to help combat stress and maybe lose a little weight. I still teach Relief Society. I've decided I'm not a teacher. I have learned a lot though about the gospel and am thankful. There is always homework assignments/projects/activities etc... going on and now I'm going to try and change our eating:). Call me crazy because sometimes that is how I feel.

Madison- Besides going to school she volunteers at a developmental center. She has decided to go to nursing school. I am so proud of her. She never ceases to amaze me with her kindness and compassion. I think she is amazing to me. Amazing!

Landon- Just finished football. He was able to play a few different positions and did a great job. We really enjoy watching him play. He is a straight A student and has a lot of friends who invite him to everything.

Trenton - has just started wrestling again and we look forward to watching him at the meets.

Brooklons last day in primary was today and she is soooo excited to go to young women. She is doing great in school and absolutely loves her teacher. She has lots of friends and is looking forward to her 12th birthday party.

Maron is the smartest 4th grader. Her teacher has to keep giving her extra work to keep her and me:) busier:)

Jenson is in love with reading. He wants to read, read, and read some more. He loves going to school and is doing great.

Jordon loves to do anything to do with school. He loves horses, cowboys, and playing outside. He wants it to snow so bad so he can play in the snow and build snow men. It snowed early on and we built a snow man then and he loved it so much he wants to do it again and again.

Gavon is the baby here and I think he knows it. He is so sweet. I love to hold him. He also loves to be read to as often as possible. He also loves horses and anything cowboy.