Something to be thankful for September 2017

Sept 1: Got the house sprayed for bugs.  We've been seeing too many spiders lately (plus a dead mouse that I haven't mentioned) Ew!
Sept 2: Frank and I spent the day just doing stuff that needed to be done.  He spent the entire day outside doing a variety of yard projects and I got the entire house cleaned!  It's really been falling apart since I started working so I'm really glad to get it back in shape before the next week begins. I even cleaned up/organized Carter's room and the guest room so now it's ready for people to visit again. Come on over!
Sept 3: I know I'm a bit of a broken record about this but today I am thankful that it's a 3 day weekend and I don't have work tomorrow! ha!
Sept 4: A day off!  Made a huge batch of chili.  HUGE.
Sept 5:Walking in the evening with Frank.
Sept 6: My group at work won the August contest for working out, drinking water and also our stats for calls.  We got a pizza party and a $20 gift card each. Woo Hoo!
Sept 7:Frank got sick today.  He is rarely sick and when he is, he rarely lets it stop him. This time he was laying in bed, moaning and groaning and was having a hard time keeping his blood sugar up.  It was hard to see.  But I am so thankful that he was able to manage his blood sugar and that he's doing better now.
Sept 8: Frank and I had a lazy evening at home since he's still feeling under the weather. I'm thankful he's on the mend and that we could just relax together.
Sept 9:Carter came home for the weekend (for my Mom's birthday party)and it's been so fun to have him here.  ALSO big news...Austin and Katy got married today!  He hasn't sent me any pictures yet so I am anxiously waiting for some.  I'm thankful he and Katy found each other, they are very cute together.
Sept 10: Today is my mom's 80th birthday! I'm thankful to have had such a great mom and I'm thankful to live close to her now.
Sept 11: I can't help but be thankful for first responders on this day...for brave people everywhere, for people who overcome loss, for people who put other's lives ahead of their own.
Sept 12: I spent the evening at Thanksgiving Point gardens and it was a lovely evening with the women from church.
Sept 13:I'm thankful for the amazing quacasalsa that I buy at the grocery store (fresh salsa combined with guacamole)  It is literally the thing I think about as I drive home every day.  It's a yummy treat for myself after a day of work.
Sept 14: I'm thankful that Frank fixed dinner tonight!
Sept 15: I'm grateful for the food truck that came to work today. ha! I ate a really yummy and warm baked potato and it was amazing on this cool, rainy day.
Sept 16: I'm grateful for Frank's bountiful garden today as I made another huge batch of chili, prepped green beans and processed lots of tomatoes.
Sept 17:I got to hear Corey talk in church and then Frank also talked.  It was a nice Sunday.
Sept 18:We bought tickets for Branden and Amber to come for Christmas!
Sept 19: Apparently today was international talk like a pirate day.  Ha! I love dumb holidays and I should really get serious about celebrating them.
Sept 20:Taco day at work and I brought my garden tomatoes.  It was super yummy.
Sept 21: This morning's sunrise was SO AMAZING. I wanted to take a picture but I was driving to work. There were clouds over the mountain and the sun turned them orange and then there were rays of light coming through. Just breath taking.  I'm thankful I saw that today.
Sept 22: Frank and I made an attempt to be social and invited a couple out for dinner with us.  They had a family emergency at the last minute.  So I invited two more couples, both of which couldn't go. Why is this my thankful post for the day? Because, astoundingly, we still went out! Go us!  We have become real homebodies lately so I was proud of us.
Sept 23: Carter came home for the weekend. Yay!
Sept 24: It feels like fall (almost winter) today.  I brought out my winter clothes and enjoyed an afternoon relaxing with Frank and eating delicious gluten free zucchini bread that I made.
Sept 25: We got invited to dinner at a neighbor's house.  We had a nice time and even played some ping pong and scrabble.
Sept 26:I got to talk to my son, Branden, on the phone today.  We don't talk often enough but I always love it when we do.
Sept 27: My visiting teachers came today and I talked their ears off.  I guess I need friends.  ha! But I enjoyed it!
Sept 28: Carter sent me the nicest text today.  Thanking me for sacrificing (by going to work full time) for him.  It was pretty much the best thing ever.  I've also been texting Ryan more lately and I love it.
Sept 29: Payday!
Sept 30: Carter came home unexpectedly and we had a lovely day of watching conference as a family!

Back in the day...

When I went to college, my family lived in New Mexico.
It was about an 8-10 hour drive to get home and I didn't have a car, so I didn't come home that often.  A few times I came home for special occasions or when someone I knew was driving down that way.  What did I do when I came home?
Visited my friends, went to parties, hung out at friend's houses.
I vaguely remember my mother mentioning once that it would be nice to see me when I came home since I spent all of my time with my friends...but I don't think she made a major issue of it.
And I certainly gave it no thought.

Now, I have a kid in college and he will occasionally come home for the weekend.  But I know he isn't coming home to see me.  He comes home when his girlfriend has some time off work or when he has a friend to see.  I don't begrudge him this but it sure takes me back.
And suddenly I am in my mom's shoes.  Poor Mom.

I'm going to try not to make a major issue of it. Ha!

Grandma's dishes

I finally got around to putting out my Grandma's glassware on the shelves in my eating area. I love the old glassware so much and some of these pieces really bring back memories for me.

We drank out of these glasses regularly, they were grandma's normal glasses from what I remember...although she also had some plastic glasses for daily use, but when we ate dinner, these are the ones that went on the table.

The fancier ones were for special occasions. I remember using them a few times as well...and I didn't get to visit my grandma all that often over the years as we usually lived far away. But I guess our visits were considered special occasions.

The small ones were for ice cream.

I vividly remember eating a single scoop of chocolate ice cream in these dishes. Even at the time, I loved these dishes so much.

Remember when we used to have a single scoop of ice cream in a nice dish and that was dessert?

Now I think everyone would look at me like I was crazy if I offered them this.  The guys in my house want a big ol' bowl full of ice cream, not a little scoop!

A few of the pieces were in Grandma's china cabinet and I don't remember ever using them.  But I remember loving to looking her china cabinet at all of her glassware.

Some of the pieces are also finds from garage sales.  I just got the jar this year.

So even though they weren't my Grandma's dishes, they were someone's grandma's dishes and they give me that same nostalgic feeling.

One of the bowls was my Grandma's and my mom had it for years. 

Whenever my mom comes over she always notices it and says, "I used to have a bowl just like that!" and I have to tell her that it is her bowl.   

She is always glad it has a good home.

Guacasalsa

I bought this product on a whim one day while grocery shopping...it is a container of fresh salsa with guacamole at the bottom.  It looked yummy to me so I bought it.

(Here is what it looks like after I've eaten some of it...it's full when you buy it.)

Anyway, buying that little tub of heaven was the beginning of a big problem for me.

I am obsessed!

Honesly, it's not that cheap.  It's like 6 bucks for that little tub!

(It went on sale one week for 5 bucks and I was ecstatic.)

Whenever I grocery shop I go in saying to myself "I don't need the salsa this week. I will skip it.  It's too expensive"

And then by the time I leave the store I'm  saying "Oh, what the heck, just one more time"

I mean, in the scheme of treats, this one is pretty healthy right?

This little tub is the thing I think about as I drive home from work every day.

It's my treat to myself for making it through another day.

Even though I arrive home at dinner time, I have a spoonful of this stuff with a few chips before I start thinking about dinner.

It's just my favorite thing.

Because I'm obsessed with the guacasalsa, I have started testing out all the different varieties of chips to see which ones are the best.

Can they hold up under the pressure of dipping or do they break?

(so annoying)

Are they salty enough?

Is round better than triangle?

Here is my current bag:

So far the round shape is winning and these chips are fairly heavy duty so no breakage.

Anyway, the other day I went in to get some medication at the pharmacy that is inside my grocery store so I grabbed a tub on my way over.  The pharmacist sees me holding it and asks me if it's good.  She has been intrigued but never bought it yet.

I told her "Just don't ever buy it.  That way you won't become obsessed like me"

We laughed about that and then she's like

"what chips do you eat with it?"

So i tell her about my quest for the perfect chip.

She responds by getting kind of excited and telling me that they have the most amazing chips in the store and I HAVE TO try them.

She logged out of her computer and left the pharmacy to show me the chips!

ha!!!

I seriously need to become friends with this person.

We walked all over the store looking for this chip.

She asked some of the store workers and when they didn't know where to find them she said (in a joking but snarky tone) "Well, thanks for nothing!" 

Seriously, it's the most fun I've had in a grocery.
I'm not sure I have ever had fun in a grocery store before actually...what's fun about grocery shopping?
But this time was fun!

She saw another worker and asked her about the chips and this worker knew where they were...

so all three of us go over to find them.

We are talking about the guacasalsa and the quest for the perfect chip and we were all laughing.

It was a little crazy but fun.

We found the chip and I bought a bag to try so we shall see how they hold up to the competition.

_____

I've been eating really healthy lately and I've given up gluten (90%...had cake at my mom's birthday for instance but don't eat it most days) and I'm mostly sugar free as well.

This little chip/salsa habit I'm starting doesn't seem like a good idea long term.

I'm wondering if I would like it just as much if I had, say, crunchy veggies to dip into it.

I'm going to give it a try.

I don't feel the same excitement when thinking about dipping a carrot as I do a salty chip but my 50 year old body will probably thank me.

It better.

Mom turns 80!

On Sunday, September 10th, we had a little family party to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday.  It was really fun for everyone.

 Diane decorated her house with balloons and streamers and she made two cakes as well.

They were AMAZING and she may be asked to make all of our future cakes from now on.

We have all been watching The Great British Baking Show lately and it's affecting our cooking...

she went all out and we were all impressed and delighted!

I brought an apple pie made by a neighbor as a little nod to the absence of my oldest brother Darryl.  Apple pie was always his favorite and he had it for his birthday instead of a cake.

We ate delicious food together and enjoyed Diane's wonderful yard and the company of family and friends.

After dinner, we had singing and cake and ice cream and took some family pictures

All the kids who could come:

Kids and spouses:

(hopefully someone has a decent picture because I sure don't!)

Greg, being Greg.

Oh wait, maybe this picture is decent:

Mom posed with her cakes before we dug in:

Singing:

Blowing out the candles!

We skyped with my sister Danielle who lives in Alabama.

We missed having her  and her family there as well as my brother David and his family that lives in CA.

That's an awesome picture of both of us. 

You're welcome.

For her present, we gave my mom a book of letters filled with memories from family members.

We read each of ours to her as well as the ones written by her brothers.

The book has lots more

It was really great to sit in a big family circle and read these letters and reminisce about what a great mom we have.

Of course there was crying and laughing involved.

I'm thankful for my mom.

Happy 80th Birthday!

A little update

I am having trouble coming up with blog ideas because my days are all so much the same now.  I guess that was true before as well but now they really are exactly the same.  But I do have a bit of a life after 5:00 so here's an update.

This is what was waiting for me this weekend:

Lots and lots of produce.

(I'm not even showing you the huge box of green beans that Frank put in the refrigerator.)

Yesterday I made a second huge pot of chili.  I made one earlier in the month that completely filled my canning pot (which is a very very large pot) but it was more of a soup than a thick chili.  It was a new recipe and, though it was tasty, it wasn't really chili.

  

I decided to use the latest tomatoes from the garden to make a more traditional chili.  I tripled the batch to use as many of the garden tomatoes as possible but it wasn't as much as I thought it would be...so I added a second triple batch.

I really wanted to get all of the tomatoes processed in some way.  There are more out in the garden so I don't need these sitting on my counter for another week!

I wish I had counted how many tomatoes I skinned, seeded and chopped today but it was a whole lot.

The chili recipe used about 100 tomatoes!

and then I skinned, seeded and chopped the rest for freezing and I will use them to make either tomato sauce of some kind (maybe spaghetti sauce) or another batch of chili.

I was tired and sticky and so done with the kitchen by the time I stopped.

(I found another 1/2 box of tomatoes that I hadn't noticed but I just could not bring myself to deal with them so I will try to force myself to do it Monday...maybe)

I also cleaned and snapped all of the green beans for freezing.

The only thing I still haven't dealt with is the zucchini.

Oh, the zucchini.

While I was working in the kitchen and watching The Great British Baking Show as I worked, Frank was outside working on his big project:

Chopping and stacking all the wood from the two trees we took down.

He has gone out every single evening for quite awhile now and spent time splitting the wood. We like joke about how the pioneers had to do this all the time since they needed wood for everything and how buff they must have been, because it's hard work splitting wood!  He likes to try to harass me into doing it too because, you know, pioneer women probably did it...but I am not easily moved from my perch on the couch in the evening. ha!

Anyway, once we were both done, Frank came inside and was asking what we should have for dinner.

I wasn't about to cook anything

and he was tired from all of his physical labor...

so he made himself a peanut butter sandwich.

I opted for a few chips with my newest food obsession

guacasalsa.

I think I will give it it's own blog post. 

That's how much I love it.

It was only after we were done eating that Frank was like:

WHY DIDN'T WE EAT CHILI FOR DINNER??

HA!

We have a humongous pot of chili simmering on the stove and neither of us even thought of it!

It's just the big project of the day, not an actual meal in our minds I guess.

We had a good laugh over that.

We will be eating chili today though, I guarantee!

Peaches

I bought a big box of peaches from a local farm stand this last week.  I usually love their peaches and was super excited to: eat lots, take some to work for snacks, freeze the rest.

They were unusually hard...the peaches from this place are usually ready-to-eat or close to, so that was disappointing.  We set them out to ripen.

and the just stayed hard...

and stayed hard...

and then kind of got soft but not in the right way.

So I decided that I had to just peel and freeze them because they were just going to rot at this rate.

I spent a SUPER frustrating few hours peeling these peaches.  Even with blanching, the peels did not come off!  Ugh! I had to peel each and every peach and I wanted to throw something.

In order to help me be less frustrated, Frank took some of the peaches and made a peach cobbler right then and there.  Not gonna lie, it was yummy.  So that's good! Points for Frank too.

But quite a few of the peaches were weirdly hard.  Some were on the way to rotten.  None were what I would call perfectly ripe.

I got them all sliced up and frozen but it was the worst.

As you may recall, we planted a peach tree this year.  It is tiny and cute but we aren't allowed to get any fruit from it for 3 years.  If it makes fruit, you are supposed to pick it off so that they tree will expend it's energy making roots for the first few years.

Anyway, our little tree was sneaky (and we were not as observant as we should have been) and it formed a peach that was hidden from easy view.  When Frank found it, it was nearly ripe so he decided to just leave it.

Today he picked the peach and it was beautiful. So beautiful.

It had the exact right feeling of softness when squeezed. It was perfectly ripe.

I cut it open.  I peeled it. (The peel slipped right off without blanching even)

and we ate it.

It was so delicious!

I will be one happy camper in a couple of years when I can pick my own peaches!

Something to be thankful for: August 2017

Aug 1: I had a pretty fun day at work.  Training is fun and easy but I'm nervous for the real thing. I put dinner in the crockpot in the morning and we had an awesome dinner of chicken, rice/quinoa, broccoli and fresh corn from the garden.
Aug 2: I got to leave work at 4 :-D
Aug 3: I got paired with a guy from work for training that is SO MUCH like my son Branden.  It was fun hanging out with him.
Aug 4: Apparently everything is about work now because it is my life. :-(  But honestly, I have so much to be thankful for, even at work.  I enjoy the little outdoor space where I go to eat my lunch. The people are very nice and helpful. And Frank is nice to me and tries to help me relax when I get home. He knows its a big transition for me and being very kind about it and I really appreciate it!
Aug 5: Frank installed the ceiling fan in our room!  It has been bare wires for some time now so this is a huge improvement. ha! I also found an All American canner at garage sales today so that was awesome!

Aug 6: I'm thankful that I could have a relaxing Sunday that included church, reading and playing cards with my little family.  Only a couple of weeks away from Carter going off to college so we are enjoying our time together.

Aug 7: I'm thankful for family scripture time each night.

Aug 8: I'm thankful for our comfy couch in the front room...the perfect place to veg after work for a few minutes every evening! ha!

Aug 9: I've started eating lunch with another girl and work and we've been walking around during our lunch break as well.  It's been a great thing to move a bit and have someone to talk to :-)

Aug 10: We got to go to Sundance to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  It was a fun night out with several other couples in the neighborhood!

Aug 11: Frank is in Oregon visiting his parents and attending Hannah and Steven's wedding reception.  I'm so glad he could go and be of help to his parents!

Aug 12: Got some things done around the house and then sat on the couch and watched too much tv. It. was. awesome.

Aug 13: Evening at Doneen's eating great food and talking to family.  Couldn't be better.

Aug 14: Carter and I enjoyed the evening together.  He fixed dinner so yay for that!

Aug 15: Delicious peaches from the local farm stand.  I can never get enough.

Aug 16: Branden and Amber's go fund me for a service dog for Kaylee is going well, so that is a blessing!

Aug 17:A lovely session at the temple followed by dinner with my old friend Eliza and her daughters.  I love seeing old friends!

Aug 18:Botox day...which also meant that I had a half day at work.  So that was awesome.  Then I went to visit my friend Annavon who is visiting Utah for a short time.  I loved hanging out with her, Lindsey and Mike for a few hours!

Aug 19: I cut and shredded about 10-12 zucchini today (I didn't count but there was a whole counter full).  I like it when I can accomplish something useful during the day.  Sometimes housework feels never ending and like it just gets messed up right after doing it, but this kind of work feels like preparing something for future use and I like that feeling.

Aug 20: A decent lesson in Sunday School...sometimes with teenagers that's the best you can ask for!

Aug 21: I got to go out and see the eclipse during work.  It wasn't a totality here but it was still cool!

Aug 22: I forgot to write on this day...so I will say that I am thankful for the gorgeous world!  I am often struck by the beauty of this earth and God's love for me when I see it.

Aug 23: Today was great! We picked up Rachel Morey from the airport and took her to the MTC, we moved Carter into his college apartment, and I got to visit the Peterson's briefly. (The day started out iffy with us finding out that Harley was having surgery but it all went well so that was a blessing as well!)

Aug 24: I survived work :-D

Aug 25: It's Friday!  I've never loved Fridays like I do now that I'm a working woman. HA!

Aug 26:We impulsively took a trip to Bryce Canyon.  Gorgeous and so fun! 

Aug 27: A lovely short hike at the Bryce Canyon area followed by a safe ride home.

Aug 28:I forgot to write on this day.  Oops.  I blame work (someday I will stop complaining about work, I promise).  I am thankful for the fact that Carter had a great first day at college! He loves his Japanese class.

Aug 29: Thankful for texts from my kids!

Aug 30:Finally got my hair done.  I needed it so badly.  Gray is gone for a couple of weeks at least. ha!

Aug 31:Dinner with the Van Brederodes from Pennsylvania days...so much fun to see them!