Dancers Workshop Recital!

I can' t believe its been over a month since my last post. Morgan had her big Ballet Recital earlier this month, at the same time the boys were all gone on an office fishing trip. So it ended up being a girl's weekend. It started with Pictures on Tuesday.

Then Dress Rehearsal in Anchorage Thursday. It was a long day for the littler girls, starting at 3pm, and not getting done till almost 8pm. Morgan was exhausted.

As chaperones, we were in charge of our girls dressing room. Keeping them organized, looking cute, and entertaining them for 5 hours each night.

They were pretty good about entertaining themselves most of the time.

Opening night flowers from grandma and mom!

I chaperoned Saturday night all by myself, and these girls were in rare form!

After their amazing performance! They did so good.

Final Bow!

The next weekend was the dance companies end of the year BBQ. We played badminton, had hot dogs, hot air balloons, and Morgan got her face painted.

Why do I have a dog again?

I have tons of pictures I should be posting from the kids end of the year school activities. But, I don't have time to go through and edit photos right now. So instead, I get to tell you about our dog. This is at times a source of contention in our family. You see, when Matt and I bought or first home, my SIL found a black lab in a Walmart parking lot, free, and brought it home to us. I thought, great! Free dog, black lab, great with kids, still a puppy, totally trainable, win win win! Wrong, wrong, wrong! During that first year, as we had Chandler, and then Gabe 17 months later, I soon discovered something about myself. I am not a dog person. This was a surprise to me, since I grew up with dogs, we always had animals around our house. I can't remember a time growing up when we didn't have some kind of animal in our house.

However, there is a difference between being a kid with a dog, and being a mom with a dog. The hair, the green fog that inevitably comes with them cozying up to you while you sit to watch tv at night, and in my case, with our lovely dog, it also includes burping and farting like a teenage boy.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. Cupcakes. Ya see, about a year ago, I was on a cupcake baking trip, and was always baking in the kitchen. One day, I finished baking 2 dozen cupcakes, had just taken them out of the oven, and set them out on the counter to cool. I went about my business, getting ready for a childs birthday party. I came up from doing the laundry, and went to the kitchen to frost my cupcakes. They were ALL gone. I scratched my head, wondering if I'd put them someplace, and forgot them. No. Then my thoughts went to my children. Who was most likely to eat the cupcakes? I went in search of Chandler, who has a major sweet tooth. After he insisted it wasn't him, and I had quized the other kids, searched the garbages for wrappers, I was no closer to finding them. Then I looked down at the dog, who was laying on his favorite rug in the kitchen. Light-bulb! The crazy thing was, there were no wrappers, no crumbs, no evidence. It was like Never ending Story. If there had been crumbs, that would be something, but this, this was nothing! (in my best rock man voice) Since then, I have tried to be careful, but when I'm in a hurry, and forget to cover them, or leave them too close to the edge of the counter, (our dog is VERY tall, and stands at eye level with the counters in my kitchen) I am left with nothing.

Yesterday, was such a day. I was baking cupcakes for Morgan's unbirthday at school. (the plyte of a summer birthday child) I placed 1 dozen cupcakes on one counter, and 1/2 doz on the other. I noticed Bear eyeing them, so I pointed to the 1/2 dozen, and in my very authoritative voice, said "no! leave it! " (leave it is his command for paws off, cease and desist, do not enter!) Apparently I neglected to give him the same warning for the 1 doz cupcakes on the other counter, because 15 minutes later, after I returned from picking up one of the kids, they were all gone. The nothingness had made it way into my kitchen again.

THIS................................................

PLUS THIS............................

EQUALS one unhappy mama!

So why do I have a dog? Well, besides the fact that my family keeps bringing new ones in just as I manage to rid us of the old one.....

these guys absolutely love him!

Impromptu Photo Shoot...

I needed a shot of Morgan today, to enter the Mila Bonita Photo contest to win $50 in free product. (Who wouldn't want that, right?) So we grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. Which one is your fav?



I LOVE this one, except she's missing half her teeth. She LOVES this one, because she's missing half her teeth. Not very glamorous, but VERY Morgan.

Sweet, demure, Morgan.

This was the shot that made the entry. I originally bought this head band for me, but Morgan has commandeered it for herself. Check out those eyelashes and rosy complexion!

She looks SO grown up in this picture!

Kenai Fjords 5th Grade Trip

When I was in 5th grade, I think we went on a field trip to....the zoo? maybe. Anyone from
Mr. Shelly's class at Johnson Elementary remember? Well, Chandler's class went on a Kenai Fjords cruise. It was great. We left about 6am, got to Seward at around 9:30, and took off. The kids were all handed booklets, and the first half of the trip was in a classroom type setting. The views were absolutely breathtaking.

Classroom #1, was on top deck, they learned about plankton. (don't you love their 'classroom'?)

Then they learned how they would collect the different types of plankton.

Dragging the net at Thumb's Cove

Check out the cup of plankton we collected! (nasty hu?)

Chandler looking through the microscope at his zoo plankton

One of many wild life sightings. Steller Sea Lions basking in the sunshine and conserving energy.

We ran out to the front deck in time to catch shots of a pod of Killer Whales.

If you look closely, you can see the whale on the far left spouting. There were a couple calves in this group, at least one big bull, and of course the wise grandmother of the group. (she's the brains behind the group)

We tried getting some shots of the spots and dorsal fin which identify each animal.

What could be better then seeing a pod of Orca's on an Alaskan Cruise? Well, Humpback Whales are very shy and elusive this time of year, so how lucky were we to get these shots?

He just kind of kept rolling through the water, and floating quite close to the surface.

We watched him for about 5 minutes, then we rolled through one more time, and slowly dove down to the depths, and we said good bye.

Is it Spring Yet?

The past week, while Matt's been down in Utah for school, the kids and I have enjoyed beautiful days with 50 degrees and sunshine, and all our snow melting. And since we have Stake Conference next Sunday, we wore our "Easter" Sunday outfits today. Dang, I have some good look'in kids! Enjoy!

End of Week 1 of NO GROCERY SHOPPING!

I'm afraid I was a little spoiled this weekend, and didn't have to deal with cooking dinner Friday or Saturday from our food storage. With Matt leaving, we went had to have a night out Friday, so we did a date night where we indulged in a little Prime Rib and Stuffed Prawns. Then last night, Matt went to the Priesthood session of Conference with Chandler, Jeff, and Matt's dad Shelby, and instead of the men going out on their own afterwards, Shelby told the kids and I to pick a restaurant and meet them there after the session for a dinner (that I did NOT have to cook!) Yeah me! Dinner tonight was quick and easy. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Luckily, I had just enough bread, the last of the butter, and a new brick of cheese. (And LOTS of canned tomato soup, since my kids LOVE to take it in thermoses to school for their lunches) And for dessert? Homemade Oreo Cookies. Yummmm. 1 package of Devils Food Cake Mix 2 Eggs 1Cube Butter. (called for shortening, but I'm all out...add that to my list of things I need to have more of) Scoop into small uniformed balls, and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. I had leftover cream cheese frosting from my Fruit Pizza earlier this week, so I didn't even have to make that. For the mint ones, I just added a little peppermint extract, and green food coloring. Easy, and the kids loved them!

Lessons Learned

I. Need. Potatoes. Real, dried, frozen shredded. Anything would have worked today as I was scrambling to find something for a breakfast casserole for my Mila Bonita Party tomorrow. http://www.milabonita.blogspot.com/ Check it out! Lindsay is SO talented and has THE cutest things for little girls, babies, and girly girls who need that extra little accessory. Dinner tonight? Welllll, that's another story. I had a piano student at 5:15, and during that small 30 minute space of time, my two youngest went through the kitchen and ransacked it. You name it, they ate it. Fresh Rice Crispy Treats I had just made to put in lunches this week, Cheezit Crackers (ya, the ones in the cook containers from Monday's post) banana's, banana bread I'd just baked. And since apparently Chandler did the same ransacking at Grandma's house while he was over there today, I am on strike tonight, and no dinner will be served. Hey, don't look at me like that. These kids made out like bandits in a bakery tonight. Do you think they're revolting against my salads?

Oriental Chicken Salad

It was SOOO hard to be at Walmart today picking up a canister for my flour (since it had a crack and was leaking) and to not pick up any food. Matt and I passed by an end cap that had lunch goodies piled high (on sale....of course) and had to totally resist the temptation to grab 1/2 a doz to bring home for kids lunches. Dinner tonight? Well, again, really hard not to just drive through someplace on the way home from picking up Morgan from ballet after a 10 hour work day for Matt and I. BUT, we resisted, and we came home instead and made Oriental Chicken Salad.

Now, this is my mom's recipe, but I didn't have everything, so it was just kind of what's in my fridge tonight, plus what I borrowed from grandma)

Salad:

1/2 head of cabbage (chopped in thin slices)

1 head Romain lettuce (chopped also)

2 carrots shredded

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

handful of cran raisins (I love these in everything! and usually have at least 2 Costco sized bags on hand in our food storage)

5-6 breaded chicken paddies, heated, and sliced (I like mine a little crunchy, crispy)

Dressing:

3 tbsp. Honey

1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar

1/4 cup mayo

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/8 tsp sesame oil

2 Week Challenge!

We were challenged in church yesterday, to go 2 weeks without going to the grocery store. To live off of what we have in our pantry/food storage for 2 weeks. Luckily, I had made my bi-monthly trip to Costco the weekend before. But I actually didn't buy that much. Now, our family may have a different idea of food storage than others. I have the usual #10 cans with macaroni, spaghetti, dried fruits, and what not, from the cannery. But I also have everyday food that I KNOW my family will eat. I try to keep at least 3 months of it on hand, and we rotate through. So along with the challenge, I wanted to bare all when it comes to my food storage. Kind of like the "what's in your purse" tag. Well, here's what's in my pantry/fridges. This is our top drawer, where I keep most of my "diet" food. My frozen fruit, weight watchers Popsicles, and skinny cow ice cream.

Lovely, yummy halibut from our charter last year. Boy have we gone through this stuff. I can't wait for Matt and the boys to catch some more this June on their charter down in Homer.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my fridge? The wonderful owner of Allen & Petersen (Kenny Petersen) made us an offer on this beauty that we could not refuse. (price of delivery) It has a veggie drawer, meat drawer, soda drawer, and my favorite misc. drawer. We don't always keep "soda's" in this other drawer. Its usually mostly slim fast, protein shakes, vitamin waters, water bottles. It just so happens the kids (and I do mean Matt) caught me at a weak moment, and the sodas were on sale, so I grabbed some.

Ok, so here's my dirty fridge. But considering we have to live off this for 2 weeks, I'm glad for once its so full! I have a 2nd fridge out in the garage, and love it! We tend to have A LOT of fresh stuff at our house, and its so nice to have the extra storage for that. During Christmas and party times, its nice to have a place to put the extra food. salmon, salmon, salmon. Actually, we're running pretty low, and can't wait for fishing season to start so we can fill our freezers with awesome fresh Alaskan Salmon!

Our isle of Food storage is 2 shelves, facing 2 others, and right now is piled high. The kids came out last week after a Costco run and helped me organize and sort through everything.

The small pantry cupboard I had them build next to my fridge. Its narrow, but perfect for the everyday stuff we use.

Here's 2 of 4 of our "food storage" shelves in our garage. The crate is chocked full of granola bars and cracker packages the kids can grab for lunches or a quick snack. My kids are BIG Pasta Roni and Rice fans.

Matt gives me a hard time about how much Mayo I store. But come on! You can do so much with it! And you gotta have EVOO to do any cooking with!

Luckily, we have enough marshmallows and baking items to get us through a Christmas season. Plenty of after school chocolate chip cookies to be had at our house!

So, what's did we eat the first day of our challenge? I forgot to take a picture, but we had crusted halibut, baked potatoes, and green salad. If you ask my kids, green salad is pretty much a given for every meal. I don't know why. Dinner just seams incomplete without a nice green Romain salad with sweet peppers, celery, feta crumbles and cran raistins. LOVE IT!

Dinner tonight? Well, I had to work till 2, then come home and work on this blog, soooooo, enchiladas and salad it is!!! Pictures to follow. We were told to try and keep a journal for the two weeks of how our challenge went. What things we ran out of, new recipes we had to try, and things that went wrong. I will do my best to journal through my blog.