Must have someone make this for me.

Tried and Tried Again

Recipes that I've tried and would like to try again!
School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

(This was one of the first recipes I ever posted, but I didn't post any pictures, so I decided to do a re-do!)

So, I know that most people haven't been completely obsessed with food their entire lives like I have been...but do you remember eating peanut butter bars in elementary school? I totally do. They served them as dessert with school lunches. I remember thinking that one bar was just not enough, and searching for ways to get more.

Well, then when I grew up, I worked with this nice woman who was a former lunch lady. She took the cafeteria's peanut butter bar recipe, and scaled it down, and came up with this gem. They are the best peanut butter bars I have ever tasted. Ever.

This recipe makes an entire cookie sheet full, and I can only make them if I have a place to take them and share. I could pretty easily down the whole pan by myself without really trying. They're kinda dangerous...at least in my chocolate/peanut butter loving world.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

1 1/2 C Flour

1¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking Soda

¾ C Butter

¾ C Sugar

¾ C Brown Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split)

2 Eggs

1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaning ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Found this for Koby!

Mother's Day gift 2014

Kyson and Koby Open Mission Calls Together

Koby Does Back Tuck at Pine View High School Graduation 2014

T minus 10 hours

We visited my 98 year old grandmother at 9 pm after Kyson got set apart as a missionary.

She had a card ready for both my boys and $25 for each of them. That is a lot for her.
She was very glad to see them. She teased with Kyson that she might not be here when he gets back.

Oh, man, that hurts to think that this was the last time they would see each other on this earth.
Grandma tended Kyson from age 2 months till he was 2 years old when Koby was born, and I quit my job to stay home with them. She considers Kyson to be one of her own.

She told them she hasn't felt very well lately, and she asked them to give her a priesthood blessing.

Hubby and the boys went to her fridge and found her consecrated oil.

Kyson asked her specifically what was ailing her.

She said her head hurt and she hasn't been sleeping well.

Hubby held up the anointing prayer card while Koby put a drop on her head and anointed her.

Then, Hubby sat on the couch by me while our 2 Melchizedek Priesthood holding sons
gave their Great grandmother a blessing!

Wow! You want to feel like you've done your job as a parent well? Try that one!

She said she hasn't had a blessing in a long time, and she just wanted to feel special.

Kyson confidently gave her a blessing that she would feel better, and sleep well.

We asked a few questions about Kaibab where we had just been camping. She asked about the tree swing. We showed her a picture of our family at the tree swing just the day before.

She exchanged a few stories with Kyson. My favorite one is the one where he took off from her house and crossed Main Street while he was 1 1/2, and some man found him and brought him back to her. She had been searching all over for him.

He says he remembers it, and that he remembers levi's and a man taking his hand and walking with him.

T minus 14 hours

The Stake President's counselor, Pres Leslie, showed up right at 5 pm.

He interviewed Kyson for about 20 minutes in his room/play room.

We each took a minute to say things to Kyson why we think he will be a good missionary.

Kauri was so sweet and genuine, and cried the whole time she talked. I was very surprised she was so touched, because Kyson was not sweet to her at all this camping weekend.

Hubby's turn: he needed lots of tissues. He has gotten close with Kyson these past few summers while Kys worked with him.

I basically lectured Kyson, telling him that his maturity and experience living on his own was going to be a huge asset to his mission president and the people of Brazil, and to use it the best he could.
I told him his Patriarchal Blessing promised him way more blessings than was fair, and that he needs to live up to a lot of expectations in order for the Pat. blessing promises to be fulfilled.
I told him that I was excited and envious, and that I wish it was me that was going out on this adventure.

Kamarie refused to say anything and hid her head behind my arm, then she fell asleep.
This is hard on Kams. She is a Kyson favorite. She does not like "missing" him, and she counts down the days when he gets home from college.

Pres. Leslie, Hubby, Gpa Kay, (who calls himself the "fill-in" grandpa), and Koby all got to put their hands on Kyson's head.

Pres. Leslie set Kyson apart as a missionary for the church, and I felt the room get immediately HEAVY!
It felt as if all of Heaven was sitting on me. It was very HEAVY.
I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit that strong in that way before.

After all the hugs, Koby was basically Kyson's puppy dog the rest of the night. Kyson made him follow him everywhere. Since Koby has been ordained an Elder, Koby got to be his companion for the night.

(Missionaries are not supposed to ever be alone unless they are in the bathroom.)

Koby even had to get a cot and set it up in Kyson's room, so they could be together as companions.
They went to bed at 10:45, 15 minutes late, then the excitement took over, and they chatted for another hour before Kyson could go to sleep.

I stayed up way late going over my check list of things to make sure he had.
I put all my church and inspirational music on an mp3 for him.
Kash sold Kyson his speaker box he never uses, so Kyson's mp3 would be within the guidelines of missionary work.

Waited 20 years for these pics!

There's 2 Courtney's in Town!

Kamarie:

Mom, only 1 more day till Courtney gets here.

Hey, there's TWO Courtney's! There's TWO Courtney's in town!

(Christopher's wife's name is Cortney. They live in our casita right now. LOL)

uh, eww

Yesterday, Castle kissed Beckett and Kamarie, age 4, says:

Eww, I hate it when they kiss!!!

Carl kissing me goodnight tonight as Kamarie walks in:

Eeeewwwwww!

We keep kissing for more reaction.

After a few seconds, she says:

uh. . . EWW!

LOL

"I hate it when you kiss on the lips; it's so gross."

The longest 15 days of my life. . .

Ready or not, here he comes. . . .

PLEASE?!

PRETTY PLEASE?!

No, really, can he come NOW?

Happy freaking mother's day to me!

Three weeks from today.

My son will be in an MTC somewhere!

Brazil VISA's are notoriously slow pickin's.

He may be getting a second mission call soon!????

Start making homemade pizza in Omaha!

Let the Fun Begin!

He's home!

And I've only got the "shortest 3 weeks of my life" left with him!

He will spend every minute that he can working and earning money: helping his dad do concrete is not easy work.

We got him some baptism pants today. And a new set of scriptures. And a bunch of garments.

His scriptures were new for his baptism, and I was so excited that he was given scripture markers that I let him mark his scriptures as an 8 year old, and a 9 year old, and a 10 year old, and an 11 year old, and his scriptures look like it.

(Now, my rule is that kids can't mark them till they are 12.)

He is also trying to finish the Book of Mormon in 3 weeks.

I ordered the sheet music for the farewell today from the author. I left her a message that I needed it quickly, and she called me on the phone and found out what I needed and will even enclose the lyrics in Portuguese. :)

She will even throw in a 2nd copy for $1.50.

She will even autograph them to "Elder Sullivan". haha

Kys tried on several pair of slacks today to find the ones that fit just right. I had bought them on a really good Easter sale at JCPennney. Luckily, I only have to trade 2 pair.

Koby had to work after he got home from work with his dad, so he wasn't able to come with us today.

Since he graduated from high school already (his early-college high school), he is able to be ordained an Elder this coming Sunday, and after that, he is free to go to the temple. We have heard there is a huge rush at the temple the weekend after graduation, with all the boys who have turned 18 during the year. Koby wants to beat that rush.

Oh, man. . . .it's starting to get REAL.

Pass the tissues!

Stop! It's too long!

So the 6 yr old granddaughter was telling us about a new cup she got.
She was going into great detail, which she does often.
The details and the story were going on and on and on!
Kamarie had been as patient as possible as she stood right in front of the story teller.
Finally, she waved her hand in front of the storyteller's face and said:

"Stop! It's too long!"

AhHA HAHAHA   HAHAHA


Another one:

Kams grimaced as she yanked at the back of her pants and declared to me,
"My underwear is stuck in my BUTT!"

AHHH HAHAHA

If you show me Pepto Bismol in a dosing cup . . . .

and I know that it is for me. . . .

you just might have to clear the room!

Kinzie dosed some for me the other day, cause I was nauseous. I took one look at it, and started barfing my guts out.

Some things about my health are so bizarre, you can't help but laugh.

If I am camping (or travelling, or somewhere other than at my house where my meds are,) I can usually predict when I will get HEARTBURN.

If I eat Dutch Oven potatoes with my meal, and then follow it with
Dutch Oven cobler with ice cream on top, I guarantee that I will get heartburn.
(this is while I am camping in a highish elevation,
cause I don't know what D.O. potatoes or D.O. cobler
taste like at city-level elevation. LOL)

and the heartburn won't be pretty!

It is so painful to me that neither Acetametaphine nor Ibuprofin will even touch it.
None of the over the counter antacids or chewable chalk are any good.

The only thing that even touches the pain is a leftover Rx that I got from a dentist 20 years ago.
Demerol.
I take it to every campout! Even though I only have 1 pill left. :(

I went camping.
I ate D.O. potatoes (yellow onions cooked in butter or maybe oil and only potatoes, no bacon)
I did NOT eat ice cream or anything fatty or milk-based that night.
I did eat 5 of the most perfectly roasted marshmallows you ever tasted. thanks Hubby.
I did go home right after that and drank a Mt. Dew on the way home.
I did go to bed 4 hours after eating the marshmallows, 5 hours after the potatoes.
I woke up 6 hours after eating the potatoes with a painful burning in my chest.

I ate 4 tums. (which is worse than having heartburn).
Nothing.
I swallowed 500 mg Acetametaphin.
Nothing.
Curiously, to see if it would work, I swallowed an Oxycontin that was left over from a Rx from a baby birth from 9 years ago.
I started to feel really light headed and dizzy after 15 minutes, but the meds didn't touch the pain for 25 minutes.

I went to sleep thinking I was good for the rest of the night,
but 2 1/2 hours later, the pain was back and woke me up.
That's when I realized I could've taken two of those pills.

I took another Oxy and waited for it to start working.
About 30 minutes later, I got nauseous and threw up.

Amazingly, the pain that had still been there and showing through the Oxycontin,
was suddenly non-existent as soon as I threw up!

Wow. All I had to do was to throw up?

Good to know!

When I get these bouts of heartburn, I get nausea after most of them.

I was a bit nauseous for the rest of the morning.

I tried soda crackers, and soda pop to no avail.
I sent Kinzie to get me some Pepto to settle my stomach around noon.
As soon as she showed me the dose, I told all the kids to clear out of my room,
cause I like to barf in private.

Most of my heartburn bouts happened while I was pregnant.
And the nausea and barfing would make me dehydrated.
The dehydration would start contractions.
The contractions would put me in the hospital to get i.v's to get re-hydrated to stop the contractions.

Moral of the story: if I am heartburning and nauseous,
bring me some narcotics, a bucket, and a bottle of Pepto and CLEAR THE ROOM!  LOL

PS and shut the door behind you.

Hard Baked Eggs!

Oh Man, this was easy!

Brought the eggs home, set the oven to 325, put the eggs in muffin tins, put them in the oven, set the timer for 30 minutes, and walked away!

Thirty minutes later, I took them out of the oven and removed them from the muffin tins with a big spoon, and set them in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes.

I cracked it and peeled it right away, cause I was dying to see if it was as easy as I had heard.

It WAS!

Why on Earth do people even boil them?

I hate peeling boiled eggs. Hate, hate, hate.

These were as easy to peel as any I have ever peeled!






In the meantime, I tried the other method of boiling eggs in cold water
with half teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt, bring to a boil,
cover and remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

I let them stand for at least 12 minutes in the hot water,
then put them in an ice bath for 10. Then I peeled one, cause I had to know.

This one was very easy to peel. even easier than the baked method, but the yolk was not cooked as much as the baked eggs and the yolk was not tender like the baked eggs.

Final Analysis:

I will be baking eggs from now on! ! ! ! !

PS.  I GOT IN TROUBLE FOR PEELING THOSE EGGS,
CAUSE THAT IS TWO LESS THAT Kams GETS TO COLOR.  

 LOL

Best quote of Survivor, ever.

"He thinks about all of you behind your backs!"

baked eggs? someone try this for me.

Idiot Alert LittleLeagueSoftball 2014 Version

First off, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more less stress to be a parent on the sideline than the coach on the field.

I am not saying I'd rather be on the sideline; I like coaching Kinzie's team.

Luckily, there are still IDIOTS involved with LittleLeague Softball in the area, so that I still have something to blog about! LOL

All 4 of the presidents of the various LL softball leagues in the area (for the 13-14 yr old league, there are not enough girls that play, so there are only 1 or 2 teams per city, so the various cities within 30 miles play each other) got together and decided which of the rules they were going to tweak to fit our areas needs. (there just is not time to play 7 innings per game and play two games in one night, for example.)

One of the rules they tweaked and agreed upon was the time limit.
They all agreed that the game ends right at 1 hour and 50 minutes no matter where the game is in innings or "at bats" or who is up and who gets their last "at bats."

We play by a stupid rule that each team can only score 5 runs per inning until the last inning. The last inning is an "open run" inning and teams can score till there are 3 outs.

That leaves a HUGE guessing game for the umpire to decided if the 4th inning or the 5th inning or possibly the 3rd inning will be the last and "open run" inning according to how much time is left. It is just that: a guess, and it is never a right guess.

The other day, Kinzie's game was going well. Kinzie's team had to stop one of their at bats cause they had scored 5 runs. The score was 12 -9 at the end of the 4th inning. A game has to legally be 5 to count it as a game.

The umpire guessed this would be the last inning and declared it an "open run" inning. The opposing team scored 9 runs. They were the visiting team, therefore batting first, and they took awhile to score the 9 runs and to get 3 outs.

The time was up by the time they got done with their "open inning at bat".

The umpire called the game on account of time. The visiting team won.

Yep.

They ended the game with the visiting team having first and last "at bats" including the open run inning.

No one there at the game was one of the "voters" of this rule, so nothing I argued had any meaning.

The woman that was there enforcing the rule looked at me like I was an alien when I told her the game had to be reverted back to the last COMPLETED inning.

She had no idea what I was talking about.

The game ended and the winning coach was super happy, and a super jerk, about the win.

Rule 4.11 d, exception 2 states the obvious: if the home team does not get their last full at bat, which means 3 outs in the last inning, due to whatever reason, the score reverts back to the last completed inning.

HA, YOU DUMB WOMAN AT THE GAME!

Someone notified our LLPres and he fixed that mess by the time I texted him the next morning. Sure, he voted for the time limit, but he had NO idea, they would or could end the game with the visiting team having an extra at bat.


One more thing:
Our pitcher hit a home run and missed touching home plate. The other coach saw it and had his girls touch home plate to get her out. She had already gone into the dugout, therefore, creating a dead ball situation and forfeiting her right to come fix her miss.

Our pitcher pitched an amazing game, but the defense was not there to back her up. There were a lot of errors by the fielders that she had no control over. The pitcher was feeling like the loss was 100 percent her fault.

The coach of that winning team, bragged it up about his win to our pitcher after the game in the parking lot. Then, he had the audacity to tell her that he had done the missed-base play wrong, but the ump didn't catch it. She was already feeling horribly about the missed base and the loss, then this arrogant jerk bragged it up.

He knew the kids had to take the ball back to the pitcher's plate before the ball could be taken to home plate in order to protest her missing home plate, since she had gone in the dugout and made the play "dead".

It's not a very known rule, but what a jerk that he was even bragging about it, let alone to the person who made the mistake.

Stay tuned, I'm sure we are not done with idiots.

Cooking Eggs and Avocado Deviled Eggs - 4Utah.com

Best to use eggs that are at least 3 days old.

Add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and  1 teaspoon salt in cold water.

Bring to boil.

Take off stove and cover for 10 minutes.

Then put them in an ice bath till cooled, then peel.



Avocado Deviled Eggs - 4Utah.com

Kyson and Koby Open Mission Calls Together

English is funny, at least this article about it is.

The European Commission has been working on an agreement whereby English is the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five year phase-in plan that would be known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru! And zen world!

My friends passed away.

One was my Sunday School teacher. She was the wife of my favorite Bishop.

She got cancer, and it would not respond to treatment.

Her husband is my Accountant. She helps him out this time every year for months.

March and April are crazy busy for Accountants. They don't shorten work days in April.

They shut the office down on April 4, a Friday.

It was her funeral.

:(

Another one just died in a helicopter crash. He is the father of Kort's friend and Kinzie's friend. 

Today, Kinz and her friend are supposed to play as partners in a badminton tournament in PE.

A few months ago, the helicopter pilot was teasing Kinz that he was gonna pick her for his

recreation basketball team. He didn't actually get to, but he wanted her on his team.

He actually still owes Kash a ride in his helicopter. . .

He would fly it to the elementary and show it off to the kids on career day.

He had just gotten remarried 2 months ago.

He had been in our ward.

He had a sister that lived 4 houses away from me a few years ago. The sister and her family moved away when the economy tanked.

I haven't seen that family since, but one of their sons was friends with Kash for awhile.

The sister's husband, Albert, was in the helicopter with my friend.

They both died.

They were looking for Elk antlers on Sunday, and they didn't come back at 8 pm when they were supposed to, but the wreckage was not found till close to 3 pm on Monday.

I feel sick to my stomach.

Such a big loss for the Venuti family.

A neighbor that I didn't know (cause she was always sick and mostly homebound) that lives 4 houses away (across the street from Albert) passed away on Saturday as well.
In her obituary, "A special thanks to the young men of the ward who faithfully fulfilled their priesthood calling and brought her the sacrament each week."That was my sons. Kash and Koby took the sacrament to the "shut ins" on a regular basis. Koby says he had many conversations with her.

I just barely found out that another neighbor/friend passed away last Friday.
He lived across the street from me.
He developed the subdivision I live in.
He was the Stake Patriarch that gave Hubby his Patriarchal Blessing.
He would always throw work Hubby's way.

I am ready for death to visit someone else's neighborhood for awhile!

Me and my neighbors are all cried out!

Murphy, Murphy, Murphy!

A letter only has to travel an hour away, but it gets lost anyway.

Not an important letter or anything,

JUST THE POLICE CLEARANCE
AND VISA APPLICATION IS ALL.

GEEZ, of all the time sensitive letters for them to lose.
It should have gotten there in 2 days at the most.

Today is day 6 and it did not arrive today, either.
No one knows where it is.

Holy Murphy!

Idiot Alert.

Dear Health Clinic of my City:

Thank you soooo much for the $45 discount you give to missionaries for their travelling shots. . . . .

It makes me feel so relieved that you make the missionaries pay $25 for your "travel clinic" so that they can be educated about the risks and fears about travelling to a foreign country.

'Cause, I'm pretty dang sure the MTC WON'T DO IT!!!

AND, because I don't think the $130 price tag for a Yellow Fever shot is a high enough price that I would gladly like to pay you an additional $25 for you to tell them to boil the water. . . .

Thank Heavens I was forced to check the prices in other towns, cause apparently, Logan's health clinic is not up to par since they don't make the missionaries pay for the "travel education". And their shots are $15 cheaper for each one.

That adds up to a LOT when you have to get 2 shots for 2 missionaries at once.

We will save $104 to have 4 shots done in Logan rather than in our town, and we will be going up there anyway in a couple of weeks.

HA!

Weekend Bucket List

Get family pictures taken that include all 8 kids.
       We got that done the first weekend of Spring Break, but the files are apparently in a deep dark
       alley on my computer somewhere.

                             x INSERT LOST PICTURES HERE x

Buy my sons shoes for their missions.
       How can shoes cost that much money?
       And, they need 2 to 3 pair cause they wear out?
       We got them each 1 pair for now. . . . . .

Take my oldest son to the temple for the first time.
        Tear-jerker right there, seeing that little tyrant all growed up AND sitting still !

BEFORE:

AFTER:

You can see his brand new garment line! ! ! ! !

See my oldest son play the organ. It was prelude only, but I had to beg and plead for him
         to do THAT much, and it was what I asked for for an early mother's day gift.
         Baby steps! baby steps!

Teach Kyson how to cut hair just in case he needs to do it during the next 2 years.
         He practiced on his DAD! ! !

He did an awesome job, and he will save his companions and future kids a bunch of money!

Another neighbor passed away...

This death is going to impact a lot more than just a neighborhood.

He was a bishop till he passed away, he was a coach at the high school of multiple sports, he was an employer of mostly teens, he was married to a do-er which escalates his status by trillions.

I knew him 25 yrs ago when he was newly married and played ward sports with a boyfriend of mine.

I knew him 20 yrs ago when we built a house and ended up in his ward. We got split from that ward about 15 yrs and 8 ward splits ago.

He used to run the local catering business that his father-in-law owned. He employed probably every teenager that needed a job, and he never worked them on Sundays. Everyone wanted to peel potatoes for this guy.

I knew him 4 yrs ago when my oldest son was on the cheer team with his daughter. I rode to a game in Vegas with him and his wife. He was so pleasant to be around. I remember the Vegas school had a metal detector at the entrance to the football stadium. He was allowed to bypass the detector on account of his pacemaker. He was only 48ish at this time.

His wife put on the banquet for the cheer team that year. She never just does something like that. If she is involved, it is always overdone. Decorations, food, prizes. Everything is always crazy amazing. She is kind of crazy like that.

Recently, for the past 3 yrs or so, he has been in a wheelchair. His failing health required it. Something in his body was going haywire and I'm not sure if even the doctors could figure out why.

He was the bishop of his ward despite his health hardships. Lots of wards were realigned 2 weeks ago, and a lot of new bishops were called, but he remained in the leadership spot of bishop.

His greatness was made even greater because of his wife. She is a doer. She does it all. They host firesides at their house. They host a Valentines Day dinner for all the single ladies in the ward. She never slows down. She is a very creative person and uses her talents to the hilt. Which makes him look even greater as a person.

A few months ago, he was the Grand Marshall of our local parade.

For years, he helped coach the baseball and basketball teams. The past few years, his wheelchair was parked at the end of the team bench by the wall. I would walk past him in his chair several times a night to get to a place to take pictures of my kids at halftime or whatever. Each and every time I greeted him, he made me feel like I was his favorite person in the world.

That's the kind of guy he was.

That's why the line to his viewing will be out the door, down the street, and around the corner.

Even though he lives a mile away from me, we were some of the first people to build in this area of our town. That makes us neighbors, still.

I can't help but wonder what might have happened if our high school basketball team had won their game on Thursday. (which I looked for him in his chair, but he wasn't on the sideline with the team.) That would have put our team playing on Friday night. Friday night is when, I believe, he had a heart attack. The word was spreading fast about him on Saturday, and if our team had made it to the championship game (which they were sort of expected to) would they have ended up playing it? I know that I would not have been able to play if my beloved coach was in the hospital.

As I understand it, the EMT's revived him and he was put on life support. His family was able to say good bye before they took him off of life support on Sunday.

He has 5 kids, the youngest is a Junior in high school. His next youngest had her mission farewell 2 weeks ago. She was supposed to enter the MTC for a mission to Mexico tomorrow.

My heart breaks for this family and the community.

This loss is huge.

Three in 2.5 years.

This morning, my neighbor died.

He was in the hospital for some reason over the weekend, and this morning he got a blood clot in his head and passed away before he could be treated for it.

He was only about 58. He lived around the corner from me.

Two and a half years ago, my friend died of ovarian cancer. She was maybe 50. She lived 3 houses down from me.

A little over a year ago, my neighbor around the corner died when her schizo husband beat her to death.

That's 3 people within a block in 2..5 years.

I didn't know this man's family very well. But 10 years ago, his 17 year old son finished a shift at a pizza store, then went to the park and hung himself from a tree. That was sad, sad, sad.

That happened just after we got split from their ward, when this man was just put in the bishopric.

Forget about waiting for a second mission call. . .

trying to get my 17 yr old out the door, ready and packed for swim state,
is enough to give me a CORONARY!

He was half an hour late for Calculus.
He didn't do his Humanities homework that was due last night.
He forgot to eat breakfast.
He forgot deodorant.
He almost forgot to take his swim suit and goggles.
He left his "to do on the bus" stuff packed in his "put under the bus in the storage bin" bag.
He lost the spare keys to his car that I need to drive tomorrow.

Breathe, just breathe.

PS forget about breathing! Koby's call did NOT come today.
Now back to holding my breath. . .

True to form...

my ward will be re-aligned again!

That has got to be around 11 or 12 in the 20 years we have lived here.

There was 1 ward south of the river when we moved here.

On Sunday, there will be 12 wards in our stake,
and I don't know how many are in the other stakes
that are out here.

We still will not be getting our friends from our neighborhood back in our ward. We were split away from the oldest part of our neighborhood 2 years ago, and we are all still wanting to be rejoined with them. They are assigned to go to the other chapel to hear the news, that's why I am confident they aren't going to be put back with us.

We do know that our bishop will be released.
He will be in Africa picking up his missionary when he is released from his 7 years of being bishop.
So, he bore his testimony today since he will be gone.

Lemony lemon brownies?

okay, got my recipe. now all I need is some LEMONS!






Lemony Lemon Brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup flour
2 eggs, large
2 tbsps lemon zest
2 tbsps lemon juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the tart lemon glaze:
4 tbsps lemon juice
8 tsps lemon zest
1 rounded cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease an 8×8 inch baking dish with butter and set aside.

3. Zest and juice two lemons and set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the flour, sugar, salt, and softened butter until combined.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined.
6. Pour it into the flour mixture and beat for 2 mins at medium speed until smooth and creamy.

7. Pour into baking dish and bake for 23-25 mins, should turn golden around the edges.

8. Allow to cool completely before glazing. Do not overbake, or the bars will dry.

9. Filter the powdered sugar and whisk with lemon zest and juice.

10. Spread 1/2 the glaze over the brownies with a rubber spatula and let glaze set.

11. Spread 1/2 the glaze over the bars, and let it set (not harden like most).

12. Cut into bars and serve.

To cover or to not to cover. . .

Do I cover up the preschooler in the  morning so she will be warm and possibly sleep longer?

OR

Do I leave her uncovered so will be chilly when she wakes up, then she will come climb on my lap and snuggle with me to get warm?

HOLY SMOKES!

A summer ago, our house filled up with smoke.

It wasn't a fire, and we never figured out for sure what caused it (that's a terrifying thought in and of itself,) but we knew it was a plastic burn -a plastic melt, of some kind.

We suspect it might be a wire to a bathroom fan, but we still don't know. The fire dept. even came and looked around with their heat vision camera and couldn't find any hot spots.

Yesterday, Koby came home and declared that our house smelled like something was burning.
Yep, it smelled like that same burn from a a summer ago.

I ran upstairs and checked the bathroom. No smoke. I checked the bedrooms. No smoke.

I could smell it when he mentioned it, but it was the worst in the entryway.

I couldn't find anything, but there was no smoke, so I forgot about it till later that afternoon.

We have a relative staying in the casita, and he mentioned that his power was off to several things in the casita. He could hear clicking like something was powering on and off.

Hubby started searching around, and found a power box on the outside wall of my bedroom was scorched. He opened it up to discover today's culprit.

The whole switch inside the box was melted. The wires had fried so bad they were severed.

YIKERS!

The smell was in the front of the house and the melted thing was as far away from the front as it could get- in the back of the house.

Hubby was able to replace the melted part and wire.

But, I am serious about getting a fire safe, now!

Me and Murphy! I am so used to him and his law; I live by it.

Saturday.
Couldn't get to sleep last night till 2 am., and I had to get up early with lots of things to do.

The Schedule:

Koby and Kash swim meet at 9 a.m.

Kort's basketball game at 10 a.m.

Go to Wal-mart for milk and birthday presents.

Go to Home Depot to buy parts for a shower.

Go to Lowe's to buy parts for a shower since HD didn't have what we needed.

Kauri's birthday party at 12 p.m.

Kinzie's basketball game at 2 p.m.

Kauri's basketball game at 4 p.m.

Kash's gamers party at 4:30 p.m.

Koby leaving for pictures for Senior Ball at 4:30.

Kinzie's birthday party at 7 p.m. (across town).
Kash's stake dance at 8:30.

I was already short on time, and needed to get to work on the corsage, but we had to stop
at the stores.

Milk has gone up 33% since Christmas.
Now if I could

just convince my kids to stop drinking it for every thirst quench,
so that we don't use 1.5 gallons a day.

HomeDepot had the vinyl flooring we needed, 

but their only roll had slices through it 5 layers deep.

Lowe's claimed they didn't even have any, 

but I found some there, and it was too little, so we had to buy 2 of them.

I didn't have time for the 1 store,

let alone all 3 of them.

Didn't make it home in time to get the gift to Kauri and give her a ride, so

Kinz had to walk her to it.

The Corsage:

It is not
rocket science to tie a corsage ribbon,

so WHY CAN'T I DO IT?!!!
Strike One.

I gave up

on the ribbon and went to work on the bracelet.

The bracelet was lost!
Strike Two.

I gave up 

on the bracelet and went to work on the flower

and baby's breath.

My floral tape was missing!
Strike Three!

I was sooooo out of time.

I spent the next hour searching my craft storage area for the floral tape and bracelet.

Kinzie and I couldn't find them.
Lost time = Strike Four.

While I was looking, I accidentally pulled out the plug to the only light source to the craft corner.
Strike Five.
The plug is behind my ginormous headboard and would take a miracle to fix it,
so instead, I had a meltdown.

Hubby was busy doing his own project fixing a shower, so

he was unavailable.

Out of desperation, I called him. He dropped everything and went the 10 miles to

go get me some floral tape.

He was already on his way to the store when we realized Kinz had to be to her game in

10 minutes,
Strike Six.
so he had to come back and get her and drop her off.

Which meant that I would be late to see her game. pffffft.
Strike Seven.

Finally got to Kinz's game,

but when we got home I only had a half an hour to put the corsage together

before going to Kauri's game.
I would have had longer if she had found a ride like I requested her to do, but didn't happen.

I got the corsage all put together and was attaching it to the bracelet with wire,

and the wire SLICED the rose right off of its stem at the base of the flower!!!
Strike Eight, Nine, and Ten!

OMH

Now what am I supposed to do?

I tried hot glue like everyone uses on you tube, but

it wouldn't work for me, cause I didn't have time to wait for it to get super hot.

?

?

?

I tried it one more time since the glue had time to heat up while I tried to figure out what to do,
 and we won't know if it worked till

later tonight.

I strung a ribbon through the bracelet because the bracelet is too big

for Allisyn's wrist, and she can tie it on so it won't flop around.

Then Kauri and I were late for Kauri's game.
Strike: ?, I lost track. then she got a jammed thumb and couldn't play most the game.

I wanted to find Koby to take pictures of him and his date,

but he didn't know where he was,

BUT

he called me right back to let me know he forgot he had the

salad assignment.
Strike: I lost track plus 1.

Now, it's 5:30, and Costco will be closed before I can get there

to get more lettuce for me to eat tomorrow.

I had to

give every last shred (haha, get it?) to the dates.

I had to cut it all up, make dressing, and find containers to put it all in.

(That reminds me of a funny meme I saw:

Tupperware?

More like TupperWHERE?!

WHERE THE FREAK IS THE FREAKING LID!

Hahahaha)

Then, we couldn't find Koby's picture session.

He left his phone in the car.

They ended up being a mile away from where he said they would be.

It was so dark by now that my

snapshot of them will not turn out!
Strike: whatever plus 2.

She had her dress custom made in Mexico and

shipped to her.

I hate that I could not do justice with a picture in the dark.

(most of their fellow daters were an hour late to pictures, so they

had to take them after dark. : (

Then, we no longer had time to go on a date before Kinzie had to be somewhere.
Yep, another strike.

We had to go clear across town to get Kinz at home and take her back to where

we had just been, to get her to her bday party.

That reminds me. 

There is a bridge approved and okay'd to start any day now that will be so close to my house that
"clear across town" will only be a couple of miles away.

YAY

YAY

YAY

just not today.

I was gonna give myself a break from my Saturday night addiction on account of
eating too much Christmas Junk,
but if I was going to be anywhere near tolerable to live with,
I HAD TO HAVE IT!

So, I caved and got my Durango's small pork salad in a hard shell
with black beans, lime rice, cilantro, sour cream, guacamole and extra pico and Cholula sauce.

Okay, I am back to my bipolar personality number 1 for a few hours.  : )

and then we get a phone call from Kash, who has a ride to the dance, but now needs
us to come get him at his party and give him a ride home to finish his chores before he can go to the dance, but
the friend's parents somehow can't give him a ride a mile up the street to his house.
So, we have to leave Durango's with my meal half eaten

: (

and drive clear across town to get Kash and take him home then drive him clear in the freak across town to the dance. Strike whatever.

And there you have a day in the life of me.
Phew.

Thank goodness I had a picture turn out!!!

Koby and Allisyn.

Koby's girlfriend, Allisyn, made his boutonniere.

Kyson and Courtney stunting

If only I had taken bathroom pics.. . . . .

maybe I could be cool enough to have pics like this. . . . .

Aunt Ada

I am posting this for my family records. This is my grandmother's younger sister.

I was told she was mistakenly left of the obit by the paper, but no one works weekend to fix the error before the funeral. I think another sister was left off as well.

There's a lot of info here about my own grandmother's history.

(I wrote this to the paper Sunday night of the viewing:)

My grandmother's sister passed away and she was left off the obituary. I believe another sister was left off as well. I think it might be The spectrum's fault it was left off. It's only fair that you print a corrected one in the paper, and maybe even apologize to my 96 year old grandmother. She has always taken your paper.

Obit was for Ada Alldredge.

Sisters left off are Myrtle and Pearl.

Thank you.


Ada Helen Nelson Alldredge (1921 - 2014)

Ada Helen Nelson Alldredge 

St. George

Heaven gained one amazing, sweet, energetic angel. Our beautiful mother, Ada Helen Nelson Alldredge left this life January 9, 2014 and went on to be with our Dad .

She was born October 27, 1921 in her Grandma James' house in Ramah, New Mexico, to James Mark and Nellie Mariah James Nelson. She is seventh in a family of twelve children. She married Verl I Alldredge June 21, 1940 in the St. George LDS Temple. They were the parents of eight children.

Her father, being a lumber man, moved the family to the mountains in New Mexico during the summer to work in the logging camp and back to town, Bluewater, New Mexico in the fall for school. Their summers in the mountains were a fun time for the children playing in the hills. With such a large family, she learned early to work and help out. As a teenager she pieced quilts for fun when work was done. Quilting became a lifelong love. She served as quilt chairman in the Relief Society for 5 ½ years. They made a quilt a month, plus a satin quilt for each bride from the ward.

Mom's life was that of devotion to Dad, her children and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She served for 28 years as a volunteer in the St. George Temple. She served in the Primary and even when she thought she was too old, she was called to be the Secretary in the Primary. The Relief Society was her love, serving there for many years in different positions including President. She was always a Visiting Teacher until her illness in 2010. These last three years she kept busy making hot pot holders, dish clothes, dollies for grand and great-granddaughters and scarves for a humanitarian project - close to 200 scarves. She couldn't stand sitting idle.

During her lifetime, Mom had many serious illnesses that could have taken her life, but she was a fighter and outlived everyone's expectations making it to 92. We called her our "ever-ready bunny" because what ever health problem she had, even when we didn't think she could get better, she did! One of the more serious problems was lung cancer in 1963. She had a lung removed, then she developed diabetes due to the steroids she took to help her breathe. She determined that she wanted to live to help raise her family and be there for Dad. And she did. In 2010, she had a fall that we didn't think she would recover from, but she has battled back for 3 ½ years and even with this last downturn in her health, she was fighting to get better to take care of her family. 

We are grateful to have had our Mom with us for so many years, for her example and for her fighting spirit that showed us not to give up when things get tough. 

She is survived by four daughters; Darlene (Gale) Larsen, Elma Jean (Jay deceased) May, Evonne (Burton) Johnson and Nancy (David) Thompson; four sons: Jerry (Gerri), Michael (Cindy), Dennis (Rae Ann) and Alan (Rinda); 52 grandchildren; 129 great-grandchildren; and 2 great-great-children. She is also survived by her brother, Bennie (Kathy) Nelson; sister-in-law, Maxine Nelson; and a brother-in-law, Bill Bundy. She was preceded in death by the love of her life, our Dad, Verl; her parents; brothers: Joseph (infant), Mark, Heber and Robert Nelson; sisters: Mary (infant), Marvia Goodwin, Eliza Bundy and Reba Burgess; two granddaughters; two great-granddaughters; and one great grandson.

As a family, we would like to express our thanks to Dr. Rignell, for his kind and loving care of our mother over many years, and to Southern Utah Hospice, Bob, Natalie, Leah, Laura and Debbie. So appreciate your being there anytime we needed help and advice.

Funeral Services will be Monday, January 13, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at the Main Street LDS Chapel, 166 South Main Street, St. George, Utah. Visitations will be Sunday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Metcalf Mortuary, 288 West St. George Blvd. and Monday, at the Chapel from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., prior to services. Interment will be in the St. George City Cemetery.

-  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thespectrum/obituary.aspx?n=ada-alldredge&pid=169011018&fhid=4514#sthash.pvgMVAtp.dpuf

Senior Stampede!

Let the games begin!

Since the age was changed for missionaries, the church will forever be overwhelmed by 6 to 9 months' worth of freshly turned (or soon to turn) 18-year-olds that will be graduating high school and racing to get their mission papers turned in by Jan. 23. (The rule is that you can turn them in 4 months before you are able to leave for a mission which is 18 years old and graduated. Graduation is on May 22nd.)

Gone are the days that there are a handful of people a month turning the necessary age for a mission and putting in the papers randomly.

Everyone from late Kindergarten starters (boys AND girls who turned 18 before their Senior year started) to late May and June birthdays will be scrambling to get to their Bishops in the next 2 weeks to get their mission papers started and turned in.

Right now in my current ward (my ward has changed 11 times in 21 years while living in the same house), there are 16 missionaries out. Half of them are girls.

By the end of May, I expect to be financing 10% of the 20 missionaries from my ward!

Get it?

Kyson got trampled by the age change and the Senior Stampede from last year, and it would have set his schooling and his only scholarship off by a whole year to get home mid November had he turned them in last year.

Not only were all the freshly turning 19 year old boys and freshly turning 21 year old girls putting in their paperwork one year ago, but also ALL the girls already 19 and 20 and, it seems, every male high school senior. There's not that many beds for all those interested at once, so that put departure dates 6 months out for a lot of kids.

Kyson is now determined to beat the Senior Stampede to the MTC. His schooling is done May 7ish. 

Koby, despite my anxious pleas to not to, won't be far behind.

They gotta do what they gotta do, but I am not fond of them making me grow up.

Let the internet paperworking/Bishop interviewing/girl heart-breaking games begin!

I don't know what to think.

It feels not real.
It feels like it's a fictional story.

The blessing in this for the family is that they did not have to make the decision.
Her husband did not have to make this decision.
I would not want to have to make that decision in a situation like this!

I will miss seeing her and chatting with her in stores as we try to keep our families fed.

I will miss all her crazy stories about all the stuff that her family has gone through in this life.

I will miss her even though I never see her much.

She passed away on her own today at about 4:54 p.m.

She was just one of those crazy, fun, real, 'this is how I am, take it or leave it' people.

I will miss her.

Christmas In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2013!

WAIT. WAIT. WAIT.

Kyson is NOT READY!