10-10-10

This week I discovered chocolate-covered peanut butter bars. They're my kryptonite. I'm never allowed to make them again.


Aside from that, it was a pretty uneventful week. However, we've had little thunderstorms all week, and one in particular turned into a hail storm, which was pretty fun to see. :)


Yesterday was the most eventful. It was our Relief Society's Super Saturday. The first few hours were a bunch of crafts, none of which really interested me, so I didn't stick around for that. However, I did come in time for the cupcake demo, which was pretty fun. I also coordinated the soups and rolls, and even brought a pot of creamy carrot ginger soup, since I was afraid we'd be shy one pot (we weren't and I took almost all of it home - lol!). And, of course, since I'm on the committee I helped with set up and take down. :)

While we were eating our soup, one of the sisters gave a "re-purposing demo." She's an amazing seamstress, and was cutting up (freehand) old sweaters to turn them into cute clothes for her grandkids while she was talking to us. Then she showed this old printer paper box that she'd covered with coordinating scrapbook paper, and cut out the word "RIBBON" on it. That was plenty crafty and creative for me, but she also attached a dowel inside to put through the spools of ribbon, and she was going to put grommets on one side to pull the ribbon through, so you won't even have to open the box. She also used an old leather belt and somehow (I have to assume magic) turned them into snazzy-looking handles on the sides. How does she think of these things??? I was very impressed. :)

Right after that, I finally went to see Tyson's friend Raylene and got my hair trimmed. I've been too scarred since having it butchered last November (Raylene fixed it for me then, too), to have scissors go near it again. :P She also straightened it for me, which has been really fun - I can wear hats and cool headbands and have them look good! :)


Hm . . . yep. I think that's it!

General Conference Weekend! :D

It has been sunny and in the 80s all week here in "Zion." ;) Before you get too jealous, though, it rained briefly tonight and we're supposed to have scattered thunderstorms all this week, with highs ending up all the way in the low 60s by Saturday. Yeah, I don't think I want to move back to Michigan anytime soon. ;)

Monday the big thing was finally using Wednesday's berries and making blackberry and tripleberry pies. I was having a "bad pie crust day," so they weren't too cute, but they tasted the same. :) I also made pinwheels out of the leftover dough - Thanks, Jeremy, for that useful and tasty little tip!


That night I also made beans and rice for the second time. Yeah, I know, "Beans and rice. Woo-hoo." But this recipe is GOOD, and I sprinkle just a little cheese on top of mine and I love it! Tyson and I decided to try incorporating it on a regular basis, since it's a really inexpensive meal and it's so healthy. Definitely a good idea. :)


Tuesday was uneventful once again. I tried a new recipe of farfalle pasta with cream cheese, asparagus, mushrooms, and walnuts. Sounded great, but it was just "fine." Edible, but nothing exciting.

Here's an insight into my little psyche: Wednesday morning I dreamed that Remick was shot and killed. Dad and I caught the culprit and were keeping him until authorities arrived. I tried talking to him, but didn't get anywhere because I was being too nice. Then dad was going to "go all Jack Bauer on him," if you will. That thought was too disturbing, so even though I was trying to leave having to watch it, my brain changed the scene. Connie was suddenly there and the perpetrator was a fluffy white puppy! LOL. She stayed with me and the puppy, still waiting for the authorities, and I realized how soft and adorable and sweet it was. Then I realized that Remick "really" was dead. I reeled as agonizing grief and pain and loss instantly washed over me. And then I woke up. Sheesh!

After that lovely start, I went grocery shopping, and then made chocolate covered cherry brownies to bring to the block party that night. After they cooled and I could take them out and reuse the pan, I tried a recipe for "Easy Apple Cake." Sorry, but peeling, coring, and dicing three apples does not count as easy. :P It also had chopped walnuts and dates, which I bought that way - no extra chopping! After you bake the cake, you skewer it repeatedly. Then you bring brown sugar, butter, and milk just to a boil and pour it over the cake and let it sit and soak in. Oh, yeah. It's as good as it sounds. :D And it was too hot to take when the block party started, so we ended up eating it all by ourselves. Oops!


For the block party, we sat on a front lawn and basically just ate and chatted with our neighbors. Nothing fancy, but it was nice to see and talk with the wonderful people we have around us. :)

Thursday and Friday were both pretty uneventful.

And yesterday and today was General Conference! :) There were so many wonderful and inspiring talks, I can't wait until I can read them again. ('Specially 'cause I was going on five hours of sleep yesterday. ;P) One of my favorite quotes was given by Elder Richard G. Scott: "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day." I've got to put that on my wall. :)

After Saturday's Conference sessions, Tyson and I caught the end of the Wolverines-Hoosiers game. It was AWESOME!!! Go Blue!! Then he and his dad and his brother Parker went to the Priesthood session - and brought home doughnuts afterward. :D And today was just more wonderful Conference. :)

Molly Mormon Week: Canning, Cooking and Relief Society

This week was pretty full. On Monday I made two pints of raspberry preserves and four pints of peach butter - and even canned them all by myself. (I am so proud!) I also made tasty little peach muffins (They were especially good with some peach butter on them!), but I waited for Caleen to get home before I started on the pear butter. Coring, peeling and chopping peaches should never be a one-person job! :) So, we made the four pints of pear butter together - which tastes surprisingly like applesauce. :) Not surprisingly, I didn't get much else done that day. ;P


Tuesday was pretty normal. The biggest thing I did that day was pick three eggplants from the garden; peel, slice, bread, and bake them. Then I layered them in a 9"x13" dish smothered with Prego and mozzarella and parmesan for a big "family style" eggplant parmesan. It's one of my favorite dishes, and it uses more eggplant than any other recipe I know. :D


Wednesday Caleen and I picked blackberries and raspberries again. We started earlier in the evening, and the yellow jackets were more alert this time, but became almost comatose as the evening waned. So interesting! It was really a lovely evening, too, with a warm sun, cool wind, mountains on one side, and a farm-filled valley on the other.

Thursday I tried a new pasta dish with sage, tomatoes, and cannellini beans. Unfortunately, I cooked it too long and it got somewhat burnt. I was pretty sad until I tasted one of the more burnt parts. The tomatoes had magically become tangy sun-dried tomatoes, and their skins, as well as the beans', had become caramelized. Sweet! We ate a decent dinner after all!

Friday I tried to make something special for dinner. I baked Lion House rolls, roasted butternut squash, and prepared phyllo-wrapped asparagus. The rolls turned out prettier than they have yet - which isn't say much! LOL! The squash was a flop, since it just wouldn't get soft. However, I wrangled the speed-thawed, canola-sprayed and parmesan-sprinkled phyllo dough around the asparagus, baked it, and LOVED it! (Yummy food dance!) It's now one of my new favorite things! Thank you Paula Deen! :D


Yesterday Tyson went to an Ultimate Frisbee tournament up in Logan. He left at 5:30 in the morning, and didn't get home until some time in the evening, then found the energy to go to a friend's house and watch the recorded BYU football game! :) I think he may have overexerted himself, though, because he's feeling a little under the weather today. :(

It was also the Relief Society General Meeting broadcast from the conference center in Salt Lake. Our ward was given tickets, so a dozen of us met at 3:30 and drove up in two vehicles together. After the broadcast, we ate dinner together at the Olive Garden. I finally got home around 11pm, but I had so much fun spending time talking and laughing with the sisters. :)

Not much has happened today. We went over to the Dixons' house and they explained to us everything about being ward historians. Then I went to the first choir practice since the summer. Now I'm going to see if I can squeeze in some blackberry pie-making tonight.

Oh, I did want to share last week that I came down from the stand during sacrament meeting to sit next to Tyson. Little Sammy Webster - who we used to have in Nursery with us until we split it by age - was sitting with her family right across the aisle from us. Out of the blue she toddled over and gave me a big sweet hug. It just made my day!! :D

Head Shots

I'm starting to do more portraiture in my spare time and I've started with my wife and family, since they'll do anything I want, lol. Just a few for now, but there's more to come!

Mice, yellow jackets and aphids

My days are filled with working on Tyson's website (www.architecturelinked.com), cooking dinners, doing dishes, running errands, working out, practicing the guitar, and the other necessities of life. Here are some semi-adventures I've had this past week.

Monday I started my day by running some errands, starting in Orem and working my way back south: WinCo, Best in Music, Robert's Crafts, and then Deseret Industries. WinCo is a fairly new store in half a dozen states out west. They don't take credit cards, which helps them to have wonderfully low prices. It's a good half hour north of us, but I'm going to have to get up there more often. Anyway, I bought a few bulk foods there, and when I came home I went down into the cold storage to add my bags to the cardboard box-full that I keep on a plastic 5-gallon drum. As I picked up some of the older bags, I noticed that they kept spilling. Finally I saw it: a hole chewed in the bag. I took my box upstairs and discovered that mice (I think) had chewed through about half my bags - and had totally emptied my bag of golden flax seed. Apparently that was there favorite! So, before I filled my hungry belly with lunch, I spent about an hour moving foods into glass and plastic jars. We've opened the food storage door so that the cats can go in, and I've kept my box in a corner on the counter top upstairs since. :P

Tuesday was pretty uneventful.

Wednesday evening Caleen and I went berry picking. There were yellow jackets hanging out all over the raspberry bushes, and we had to be careful to pick berries instead of bugs. The really cool part, though, was it appeared that the yellow jackets had held an Ann Arbor-esque "hash bash" before we arrived, because they were SO mellow. We could pick right next to where they were perched, shaking the branch in the process, and they just stayed put. We even accidentally knocked a few to the ground, and they just stayed there looking confused. We have an appointment to go picking again this Wednesday, so let's hope they're still so calm! :)

Thursday I was making broccoli casserole for dinner, and went out to the garden to see if there was any fresh broccoli I could use. At first I was excited, because there was a lot of fresh broccoli, but then I realized that it was infected with tiny gray bugs. The very same bugs I unwittingly munched with some organic broccoli many years ago. Spew!!! Seeing them again really gave me the willies! Thankfully I had bought enough broccoli from the store, so I used that instead. :)

Friday night I made chickpea patties with tahini yogurt sauce and steamed artichokes just for Tyson and for myself for dinner. Afterward I scouted out a Martha Stewart recipe for raspberry scones. I doubled the sugar, and my dough turned out too soft and sticky, but I feel it worked out for the best. The scones were perfectly moist and slightly sweet, and made a good Saturday breakfast, too. :)


Yesterday Caleen went on a canning spree. Her mother came over, and the two of us peeled pears and peaches while Caleen hurried around doing everything else necessary to can them. I think she ended up with roughly 12 quarts of each. But she didn't stop there, later she made three quarts of a roasted garlic Roma tomato sauce, and roughly a dozen half-pints of tripleberry freezer jam. With what's left we still want to make raspberry preserves, and pear and peach butters. (Side note: I have discovered that I LOOOVE fruit butters!)


Today I was sustained in church as a member of the Enrichment meeting committee. That plus ward chorister, plus activities committee member, plus a ward historian makes four callings! I thought that in Utah there were so many active church members that I'd have to beg for just one calling! I guess not! :)

So, I've realized how often I encountered vermin this week. I hope reading about them didn't BUG you! Ha ha . . . ha . . . yeah.

Another Week

Last Wednesday Rem came over and hung out and we made mom's "Tofu Fudge Chew" cookie recipe. Because I had thought the recipe called for more than 1/2 lb of tofu, I bought 2 1/2 lbs . . and we decided to use it all. So, we quintupled the recipe. That's a LOT of cookies! We used 15 cups of flour!!! There's still a large container of dough in the fridge that's in the garage. :P I think the sisters I visit teach are going to get some plates of chocolate cookies soon. :)

The next evening my left knee suddenly swelled and got super stiff. I've been hobbling around for days as it has slowly gone down. It made Nursery on Sunday an extra adventure, too! Best of all, my left knee is my "good" knee. LOL! At least, this appears to be exactly what happened to my right knee in October 2008. So I think that if I can just be still long enough, it will heal . . . yeah, I know that's a pretty big "if." ;)

On Friday Mike and Caleen took all their kids and families to the rodeo here in Spanish Fork. They took us last year, too, and it is surprisingly fun. :D The bull riding still makes me nervous!

Yesterday I went to the Bella Natal birthing center in Orem. (No news yet, just want to be prepared and informed.) They have two beautiful rooms with waiting areas and kitchen areas and bathrooms with huge pipe-less jetted bath tubs! I really like the midwife who spoke with me, too. All three of them work together interchangeably, so you'll get to know all three, and you're guaranteed someone you know well will be able to be at your birth, which I really liked. However, she also said that if labor stalls (for, say, 6 hours, she said) they would come to a "mutual decision" with the mother to send her to the nearby hospital and induce her labor. I know they wouldn't make me go, but I'd hate to have that kind of pressure when I'm already exhausted and frustrated. What do you moms think?

And once again, I'm proud of myself in the culinary department. Monday I made french bread from scratch, then heated some minced garlic and herbs in olive oil and made it into garlic bread. Yummy! Also, last night I made my first pesto from scratch - I even cut the basil from the garden - and my first granola from scratch. I'm so happy when new recipes work out! :D

Weekly Emails

I'm going to start copying my weekly family emails here in case anyone still looks here and would like to know what's been going on in our lives. ;)

So, the big news for this week is that I, Rem, and Amelia bought our plane tickets to come out to Michigan next month. We all take the same flight out on Wednesday the 18th and land around 2:30 that day. Rem and Amelia then stay for a week, and I stay for two (Woo-hoo!). We are all so excited for Drey and Joanne's wedding!

Tyson applied for two jobs this week: one in Seattle and one in Kansas City. He has a phone interview on the 19th with the firm in Seattle. I do NOT like rain and clouds. :P I DO love the sunny dry weather here in Utah. :D Nevertheless, I pray that he gets the job. It would allow him to get in all his hours towards becoming certified, and he could maybe move up in the company, too, since it's an architecture firm and not just a construction firm. :)

I finally used my gift card from Brett and Ricky and bought the new Lion House Bakery book. They have so many yummy recipes I want to try! I originally checked it out from the library and tried the french bread, and that turned out great. :) I just took orange rolls out of the oven, too, and am waiting for them to cool off to top them with glaze. They actually look quite awkward and oddly shaped, but I think they'll taste good, even if they're ugly. :D

Friday morning I woke up early from a dream that Tyson had been killed and I was completely distraught and trying to tell my dad the news. I wasn't able to spit the words out, when I awoke feeling as if I'd been punched in the gut. Bleh! I was so grateful to be awake! Where do these dreams come from? :P

Friday evening we had dinner in Salt Lake with Chris Schwartz, a friend from the Hill Street ward who grew up in Terre Haute. He's a quirky guy, and we had a great time. :) Then Saturday evening was the ward progressive dinner. We and several other couples had appetizers at one family's house, dinner at another, and then we all coalesced into 3 (I think) larger groups for a potluck dessert. The home we were at for dessert had a volleyball net up and Rockband set up outside. Tyson played both volleyball and then drums, and I just sang and played drums. :) As we were leaving, a sister told me that I should be in a band. I laughed and told her I'd love to, if only I could play an instrument! LOL! (I love Beatles Rockband!!)

Nothing really happened of note in Nursery yesterday, but it often does, so I'll have to keep sending emails to share the adventures as they come. :)

That's all I can think of right now. I hope I didn't bore you all to too much, 'cause I'm gonna try to do it again next week. :D