Kashton and Yankee Doodle Canyon

in a second. . . .

but, first. .. . . . . . .

Kort. Cutest Goalie On The Planet! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Thankful for some friends with a really nice camera. . . . . and my email address ; )

The BEST birthday wish EVER! ! ! ! !

written to me on the 23rd by my bro-in-law:

I know the 22nd is just a day 

and you dont like the stress 
of the word happy, 

so hope that the day after the 22nd

is satisfactory 
and free of negative incidents.

". . .Birthday To Me, . . .Birthday To Me!"

It was another "birthday."

The kids fought all day. The entire freaking day!

Primary program day and our kids were on time for church.

"On time" means they were late, and the pressure of that stigma weighed greatly on me.

Hubby was sick. His uvula was swollen really bad and super sore. It was better by church time, and he gargled with salt and baking soda water, then gargled with ST37. (I had to have the pharmacist order this for me years ago.)

I was excited for RS. The teacher was super sarcastic and super funny. But, it wasn't her turn today, so it was someone else. I hate boring RS lessons. If the "raise your hand and give me answers" ends up being "go to church", "read the scriptures", "say your prayers", etc, it makes me cringe.

It offends my need to not feel stupid.



Hubby was sick, so to make him make me dinner was selfish beyond question, so I made my birthday dinner. (When he is sick, he is way sick.)

Kinzie made my cake. She made my frosting. Then, she made my homemade ice cream with help of her dad.

As I am trying to get some Halloween prop put together, nothing is going right. Some of my kids wouldn't even help when I asked them to.


The kitchen sink stinks. Really bad. Some dish water and dishes got left in there for days without being noticed while I was out of town, and started stinking. No one bothered to clean anything in the house above and beyond what is required of them on a Saturday.

No one did the dishes above and beyond what is required of their turn of loading the dishwasher. (which never really gets ALL the dishes done.)

A LOT of fighting between kids, a LOT of noise for a sick husband, a lot of non-help, a lot of things going wrong. So, basically, another birthday just like all the others.

That's why my sister always wishes me "birthday" on my birthday, cause "Happy" bestows a lot of pressure on a birthday.

(A visit from a neighbor to bring me some homemade salsa revealed to me that my son is in trouble and "on his own" when it comes to Boy Scouts when he turns 11 next month. Not a welcome thought. The 11 year old's scout leader won't take the boys on a camp out. They can't advance without camp outs. If they have not passed off their first three advancements before they turn 12, then the 12 year old's scout leader refuses to help them, cause he doesn't have time to go backwards. Then again, the scout leader doesn't believe in merit badges. He believes scouts should only get what is required of them to become an Eagle and that is it. Oh, My. I. Am. Going. To. Be. Offending. Some. People. Soon. I. Can. Tell. !)

PS. and it turned cold today. I don't like cold.

tator tot taco bake

TATOR TOT TACO BAKE....(thanks, Linda)
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion (diced)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 small can black olives (sliced)
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn
1 (4 ounce) can green chilies (diced and drained)
1 (12 ounce) can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 (16 ounce) bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (16 ounce) package frozen tater tots
1 (10.5 ounce fluid ounce) can enchilada sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add ground beef, garlic, and onion and cook while breaking the meat apart with a spoon or spatula until the ground beef is completely browned. Drain off any excess fat. Add taco seasoning mix, green chilies, frozen corn, and black beans to the ground beef. Cook until heated through.

In a large bowl combine ground beef mixture, ¾ of the Mexican cheese blend, and all of the tater tots. Stir well to combine.
Pour about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the tater tot mixture to the baking dish and lightly pat the mixture down into a solid, even layer. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tater tots.

Place into the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. During the last few minutes of baking, top the casserole with the remaining Mexican cheese blend and the sliced black olives. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Are they PRAYING?

MADE MY DAY!

lol

I was sitting by this cute, high school senior girl

at a high school

football game.

It was her first time being at a football game.

There was an injury on the field.

Players started "taking a knee".

Cheerleaders started "taking a knee."

So, pretty much everyone on the field is

"taking a knee."

Cute new football fan asks confusedly:

"What are they doing? Are they PRAYING?"

Love it!

have you ever seen a kookaburra?

a kookaburra sitting in an old gum tree in Australia via Kyson's friend Sister Shane Beckstrand.



The only way I could get Kinzie, as an infant,
to settle down was to sing this song
to her over and over and over again.

Don't worry!

Worry

 is like 

a
rocking chair.

It gives you 

something

 to do,

 but
never 

gets you 

anywhere.

Erma 

Bombeck

My birthday wish list is not YOUR birthday wish list for sure...lol

Cowboy caviar

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can seasoned black-eyed peas, drained
1 (15 ounce) can seasoned or plain black beans, drained
3/4 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 or 3 tomatoes, diced
10 jarred jalapeno pepper slices, diced (mild or hot depending on preference)
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 ripe avocado, chopped
Tortilla chips

Dressing:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine black eyed peas, beans, corn, green onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, jalapenos, and cilantro in a medium bowl. In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. Pour over bean mixture. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, add avocado and gently stir to combine. Serve with tortilla chips

Cafe rio copycat recipe

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html

Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Salt Lake City Posts: 18,609

Copy Cat Recipes Post your favorite Copy Cat Recipes here! There are a lot of Copy Cat Recipe websites, but what’s your favorite ‘Tried and True” Copy Cat recipe? Café Rio Salad Build your salad using the following ingredients in the order given. You can use disposable pie or cake pans to make these salads. 1. Large Flour Tortillas Use homemade or buy the uncooked ones and cook them on a griddle. Sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top and cook until the cheese is melted. Place the cheesy tortillas in a cake pan. 2. Spanish Rice Recipe below (or cook a packaged Spanish Rice Mix) 3. Black Beans Recipe below 4. Meat of your choice I like sliced grilled chicken, but you can also use shredded chicken (recipe below) or shredded pork (recipe below) 5. Romaine Lettuce Wash thoroughly, and cut into large squares. 6. Pico de Gallo Recipe below (or buy some) 7. Guacamole Recipe below (or buy some) 8. Lime Wedges 9. Grated Cotija cheese 10. Cilantro sprigs 11. Crispy Tortilla Strips Just cut some corn Tortillas in thin strips and quickly fry until crisp. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with a little bit of salt. 12. Creamy Tomatillo Dressing Recipe below Suggested recipes: Cilantro Lime Rice 3 c water 3 c rice 3 chicken bouillon cubes 1 tsp salt ¼ cup lime juice 1/2 small onion 2 cloves garlic 1/2 bunch cilantro, remove large stems 1 small can green chiles Place water, rice, bouillon, and salt in pot. Bring to boil. Place lime juice, onion, garlic, cilantro and green chilies in a blender and puree. Stir into rice. Simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes. Black Beans 1 can black beans, rinsed 2 Tbl finely mined onion 2 cloves minced garlic 1 tsp ground cumin 1 cup tomato juice 3 Tbl chopped Fresh Cilantro 1 tsp salt Fry onion, garlic and cumin in a small amount of olive oil. Add beans, tomato juice, cilantro and salt and heat through. Cafe Rio Chicken 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp chili powder 2 cloved minced garlic Cook for about 4 hours in a crock pot. Shred chicken with a fork. Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa Pork Roast: Put it in a crock pot with a little water and cook until very tender (about 8 hours on low). Shred pork and add: 1 can enchilada sauce 2 cloves minced garlic 1 small can diced green chilies 1 can Coke (not diet coke) 1 cup brown sugar salt to taste Cook for one more hour. Pico de Gallo 4 ripe Tomatoes 1/2 cup chopped white onion 1 jalapeno, minced (remove the seeds and veins if you don’t like a lot of heat) 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped lime juice, to taste salt, to taste Mix everything together. Guacamole 2-3 ripe Avocados 1-2 Tbl lime juice 1/2 tomato, finely chopped 2 Tbl finely chopped onion salt, to taste (or use garlic salt) Mash avocado and lime juice with a fork. Fold in the tomato, onion, and salt. Creamy Tomatillo Dressing 1 package Ranch Buttermilk Dressing mix 1/3 cup buttermilk 1 cup Mayonnaise (I use half mayo and half sour cream) 3 fresh tomatillos 1 cup fresh cilantro 2 cloves garlic ¼ tsp cayenne pepper Just put everything in a blender and puree. Refrigerate for a couple of hours and if you need to, adjust the thickness by adding more buttermilk to thin it out, or sour cream to make it thicker.

a new idea

I wrote a little letter. . . . . .

 to the powers that be.

These days, that translates to "google". hahaha

Anyways, every time for years when I googled the local high school that my kids attend, there was an image that popped up next to the school's name that had the word "LOVE" with squiggles that resembled a Japanese word above it.

It seemed to be all innocent just to glance at it, but if you were to really look at the squiggles, you would realize that they were really an obscene picture.

I finally figured out how to do something about it.

I wrote to the powers of google and reported it to them. They wrote me back and said they would review my objection and act accordingly.

I just googled my high school and that offensive image no longer comes up : )

I like to write letters and get results like that. Thanks for listening; I just wanted to share my story.

In 1986...

I owned one of these and rode the crap out of it ! ! ! ! ! ! !