Eggs Florentine

So this is what I had for dinner.


Garlic, sliced
Mexican Squash (or Zucchini or yellow squash)
Handful of spinach leaves
Green Onion Stalk
Green Bell Pepper, sliced
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
2 eggs

I sliced up some garlic, Mexican squash, green onion, bell pepper and added a handful of spinach to a frying pan.  I topped it all with some olive oil and sea salt.  I turned up the heat to medium and sauteed a little while I added 2 eggs on top.  I stir everything up while it cooked.  Then when it was done, I served it up all nice and pretty on a plate.  I suppose you could add cheese or serve it with toast.  But I ate it as is.  Best of all it was ready in 10 minutes or less.

Low Calorie Chicken and Veggie Alfredo

This post is going to be very unpolished, just written as I was trying to remember what I cooked tonight.




This is a great low calorie meal. I made this only for me, but I could definitely increase the portions and make enough for the whole family. I try out things on myself and then if I like it, we can make it for everyone. 

Chicken & Veggie Alfredo

Assorted Veggies chopped in bite size pieces (broccoli, cauliflower, Mexican (green) onion, zucchini, and yellow squash) I did 2-3 cups just for me =)

Frozen, yet previously cooked chicken breast (5 oz) (I cook all my chicken breast in advance and then freeze individual portion sizes)

Walden Farms Alfredo Sauce

Assorted spices (garlic powder/salt, sea salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, cayenne – this was a mistake but turned out well. I accidently poured some over my veggies and chicken in the pan and then rinsed it all out, but a small residue stayed and added a bit of a kick.)

Olive Oil

Miracle Noodle/Shirataki Noodles



Chop all your veggies. Reheat the chicken. Once the chicken is warm, slice into bite-sized pieces, unless you have a really good knife that will let you cut frozen cooked chicken. Place about a teaspoon or so of olive oil in the pan and add veggies and pre-cooked chicken. Season with spices. Once the chicken and veggies are done, top with Alfredo sauce, about 1-2 tbls, just enough to coat the food, not overwhelm it.

Shiritaki noodles, just need to be drained and rinsed and dried. I decided to toss them in the same pan as the chicken and veggies (on one side) to just heat them a bit, but it’s not required. Shiritaki noodles don’t have much flavor and will pick up the flavor from the food it’s served with. Shiritaki/miracle noodles as I learned from googling it are noodles made from plant fibers (yam flour) and have no calories and less than 1 g of carbs per serving. Compare that to the 20g per serving on regular noodles.

Top the noodles with the Chicken and Veggie Alfredo. Add a salad on the side (half the plate) topped with your favorite Walden Farms dressing.

The only calories from this meal come from the salad, veggies, chicken and the olive oil. Seriously, Walden Farms – zero, miracle noodles – zero.

BBQ Chicken Fajita Salad

I have been gone, I know.  Did you know I moved?  I digress.  I made myself dinner tonight and I loved it.  I have affectionately named it BBQ Chicken Fajita Salad.  Call it what you like but it's rather easy to make. 
1 T (or so) Olive Oil
Sea Salt
3-5 oz already cooked chicken breast (I have some cooked and frozen in the freezer and heat as I need it)
1 bell pepper (I used green but you can use all colors if you want), sliced
6 mushrooms (average size - nothing special), sliced
Salad/Lettuce/Spinach
BBQ sauce - I use Walden Farms

Make your salad however you like.  I only had lettuce and spinach.  Set aside on a plate. 
In a small pan add olive oil and sea salt.  Turn on medium heat and add chopped veggies.  Joe was chopping onions for something and I grabbed a pinch of onions.  Saute' until soft but still crunchy (peppers and onions.) 
Add chicken to pan and add about 1 T (more or less) of BBQ sauce on top.  Cook and break chicken into bite sized pieces while it's heating.  The goal here is to brown it and create BBQ looking marks with the cooked sauce.
Top salad with chicken and veggies and enjoy.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Sea World 2010

The first video from Sea World is Joseph's narration of the Penguin Encounter. It's quite refreshing to hear his perspective on things.



The next video is very short and is of the Beluga Whales.


The next ones are various photos from Sea World (including Shamu.)

I've  had this post in draft for a while.  I was waiting until I had all the videos put together.  Sea World was pretty fun.  We went on Atlantis 3 times.  I went on the other water ride once, but Joseph went on it twice.  They have this high tech dryers that will help dry you off for $5.  I did not use them, but another couple was done and told Joseph he could go in and use the rest of their time.  We watched a couple shows (Shamu; Sesame Street; and Seal, Sea Lion, Otter.)   I took photos of the fish in the aquarium there but did not compile them into a video.  

Birds, Sea Lions and the Ocean

Here are some photos Joseph took from the boat of the animals we saw.  I took maybe one or two, but Joseph took the majority of them.  I forgot to mention that we also saw the movie Oceans while on our trip.  Based on the ear flaps the animals are either sea lions or fur seals.

Trawling on the Ocean Odyssey

After breakfast, we went to the pier to take a ride on the Ocean Odyssey.  After a quick safety demonstration we left the pier and headed out into the Pacific Ocean.  I have never been on a boat in the ocean before. They had the children help set out the net (otter trawl.)  Then a couple minutes later, we all pulled on the rope to bring the net up.  Then the children sat around and learned about some of the animals that were caught.  Duplicate animals were tossed back into the ocean.  Joseph took some great photos of the animals, due to the release form, I can only post the photos without other children in them, so enjoy the video below.

The Otter Trawl

**ps stay tuned for what else we saw on the boat in the next blog....

Breakfast at Sharkey's

As part of the Oceanography trip we ate breakfast and dinner on Tuesday at Sharkey's.  It's a bait, tackle, kayak rental and food place on the pier.  The breakfast was continental style with eggs, bacon, pancakes and muffins, etc.  It was really good.  While on the pier, Joseph took pictures of the various birds he saw, fish that people on the pier had caught, animals in the tanks, and many other things.  I put together a little video of his photos, but since I don't have a photo release, I can't publish them as they have other people in them.  So please leave a comment and I can email you the video.

Oceanography Trip

Joseph and I went on an Oceanography trip this week.  The trip was a field trip as part of a school club.  The school hired Project Exploration.  They put on trips all the time for schools.  All year we've been attending the Oceanography club learning about the oceans and sea animals.  We left for California early Monday morning and upon arrival in San Diego we went to Coronado Beach to create sand animals and then we went to Seaport Village for dinner and to walk around.  Afterwards we went to the movies and saw the new Disney movie Oceans.  Then we headed to our hotel to sleep as Tuesday we were getting up bright and early for a busy day. These are Joseph's videos of his visit to Seaport Village.

Coronado Bridge

Seaport Village Part 1

Christmas Gift Shoppe

Seaport Village Part 2

Did you know hair gets darker when it's wet.

Sam loves his purple eyes.  They really are blue with a ring of violet around the pupil.  But if you tell him they are blue he will either yell at you "MY EYES ARE NOT BLUE THEY ARE PURPLE!" or he will respond calmly, "Well actually... they are purple."

He loves his BLONDE hair.  Mom's hair is brown.  Dad's hair is brown.  Adam's hair is blonde.  Joseph's hair is almost brown.  Josh's hair is brown.  When he takes a bath and his hair turns brown he gets upset that his hair isn't blonde.  The other day, he ran into the bathroom while his hair was still wet, and upset said "it's still brown."  About an hour later he ran into the bathroom and got very exicted, "My hair is blonde again!!"

Three-yeear-olds, crazy temperaments and funny attitudes.

Give Aways

A whole lot of my blog buddies (I read their blogs whether I know them personally or not) are having give-aways.  This will be your one-stop shop linking to those give-aways.

My cool friend at My Frugal Lifestyle is having a give away of some really snazzy designer purses that another blogger she knows makes!!  I like the Bella Blue style.  The designer is LauraOh! Designs.  Read her other posts this week as it's give away week all week!!

My really cool author friend Sarah M Eden, you might remember me being interviewed in her blog, is having a give-away and drops random clues on her blog.  She recently had one of her books released and it is on sale now at Deseret Books.  In fact, it's in the top ten!!  Way to go Sarah!  Read the latest clue here.

If you live in Utah (I don't) and want to attend the Utah Valley Women's Expo, you can get free tickets here.  And while you are at the expo enter the give-away for the wheat grinder.  You can read more about it on the same link.

Good luck.

Disney Volunteers

Last year Disney had the promotion where you could go to Disneyland (or World) on your birthday for free.  I registered the whole family, however the only convenient option was for Joe and me to go for our birthdays and anniversary.  I bought 2 discounted 2-day park hopper passes online so we could each go every day.  On my birthday I used my free pass and Joe used his first day ticket.  On our anniversary we both used our tickets at both parks, and on his birthday I used the last day of my ticket and he used his free pass.  Since our birthdays are 2 days apart and our anniversary is right in the middle it makes celebrating easy.  This was Joe’s first visit to Disneyland and both of our first visit to California Adventure.

This year Disney’s promotion made it possible for the entire family to go all at once.  The only problem was actually trying to get registered for it.  Everyone was trying to register for the promotion.  We were able to finally get accepted to volunteer somewhere and I was excited about that.  I have heard there are volunteer vacations that people can do but I don’t know much about them.  I remember reading a brief article once about them in LDS Living magazine.   So I was excited that that with this promotion, the kids could earn their ticket and go.  All but Sam were eligible

The first appointment that I set up only would take adults.  I would have done it but it while partially while I was at work so Joe got to take it.  It was working at a bake sale for a retirement community fundraiser event.  He had fun.  They even fed him.  I should have done this job.  What I got to do with the boys (Adam, Joseph and Joshua) is yard work.  We brought 3 hibiscus plants.  The boys each planted one.  Then we asked what else we could do.    We went and placed mulch down over a flower garden.  Then we shoveled gravel and moved it from a big gravel pile to another area where they were laying down plastic.  Under that plastic had been weeds, which Joseph had helped weed.  It was fun nonetheless. 

About a week later, we received our vouchers by email.  Now it's time to plan a trip.

Photos

Adam working hard

Joshua posing

Joseph planting
Adam posing

Give Away Winner

I had a give-away but it didn't go over very well.  Maybe next time.  Any how, I kept points in excel and today it gave me a random number and the winner is:














Jana


I'll email you to get your address and mail you the fabulous prize.

Faith

I earned my Beehive, Mia Maid, Laurel and Young Woman Recognition awards while I was a youth.  Due to changes in the current YW program, women can earn the new personal progress medallion by completing the same requirements as the young women AND earn an honor bee charm AND earn another medallion (they have both silver AND gold.)  Our ward has decided to allow and support the Relief Society sisters who are willing to earn the medallions for the first or second (or again third) time.  I decided I would earn them now too.  I've read through the whole book and decided to start with Faith. 

I pray.  I don't pray regularly, but I do pray.  Sometimes it's in the middle of the day and only in my mind, but I need to get back into the habit of praying morning and night.  So I decided to start with the first Faith value.  It requires reading scriptures (and conference talks) about Faith and making a habit of prayer for 3 weeks.  I started Sunday, although I started reading before that, I figured it'd be easier to remember which day I started praying if it were a Sunday.  I've done well, I’ve forgotten to pray a couple mornings and so I prayed when I remembered. 

So here's the point of this message - Ether 12: 6 "...Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."  The majority of this that I am referencing is that you can't receive a witness (testimony) of Faith until after you've been tried.  I've had many trials of my faith.  Not necessarily doubting my testimony but more of doubting things that will come to fruition because I cannot see the future.  I am going through one right now.  My knowledge tells me we won't get a house.  We had planned to buy, but due to a miscommunication, we are going to continue saving for a larger down payment.  We still want a house, so we are looking to rent.  I have faith that we will find something wherever it is best for us to live.  Faith tells me that it'll all work out.  I need to trust in the Lord that he'll do what's ultimately best for me even if it's not what I want. 

   

Home Shopping

So the other day I applied for a mortgage and got pre-qualified.  I was so surprised.  I know it's not a guarantee (yet) but I am really excited that instead of moving into a house to rent we can buy one.  We told our Bishop during tithing settlement last year that we planned to move into a house.  I'm excited.  I hope the loan is approved and we find a house that we like.

Admiration

Have you ever looked at your children with complete admiration?  I secretly check them out while thinking about what handsome men they will be.  I hope their good looks will be surpassed by their good nature.

I was checking out Joshua the other day.  He's so gorgeous.  And he's sweet and an all around good kid. I was admiring him, forgetting all his flaws and mistakes and looking at him for all his goodness.  He demonstrated his goodness today.  His brothers were playing a game and he knows they can be rather competitive and he wanted to play too.  He told them he wanted to play but just for fun, they didn't need to keep his score.  He was showing his peace-making skills.

Sam was sleeping.  I love to look at my boys when they are sleeping.  They are so peaceful and it's the only time they aren't trying to drive anyone crazy!  I was noticing how much (as always) Sam looks like Joe.  His personality is a lot like mine, but he looks like Joe.  I admire him when out of the blue he'll say "I love you," "you have pretty green eyes," or "you're awesome."  He gets his affirmations from his dad.  I admire his willingness to show unconditional love and express his love for others.

Adam is going to be such a great man.  He's still learning and growing.  He can be very sensitive to some things and I attribute that to teen hormones, but that sensitivity shows me his softer side.  He is really good at remembering to open my door and let ladies enter first.  I was thinking about that today how he can be chivalrous and I hope he finds a girl that appreciate that.  I look at him and admire how mature he wants to be.  Although he wants to grow up quickly, at this time he's still happy to be my little boy. (don't tell him I said that!)

Joseph is a momma's boy (they all are actually, but he's more so.)  He wants to do everything for me.  I admire him for his servitude.  We went to a wedding reception the other day and Joseph was in the kitchen helping them dish and serve cake and various foods.  He was so well-behaved.  Joseph has ALWAYS been a good helper and getting him to help out is actually the best way to get him to behave.  His teachers at church  let him get the classroom ready and pick up the chalk and eraser from the library.  When he helps, he feels needed.  I admire his service to others.  He is the first one to fall asleep and I stare at him praying that he'll have friends and success in his life.

I feel like I can understand how Heavenly Father and Jesus felt when they created man and saw that it was good!!!  I feel joy in my posterity when I look at my children with admiration.

Get Your Face On!

So there was this party called Get Your Face On.  I read about it here and then it linked to here.  I read about it on the date the party was actually supposed to happen, so I obviously didn't make the deadline.  However, I liked the idea so much I decided to have my own party.  So here's me getting my face on.  Now, my dear friends, it's your turn.  Post it on your blog, link it back to this post and leave a comment so I can see yours too.  I've decided to have a giveaway to get people interested in doing this too (see below.) I don't always have personal entries on my blog, but I hope to add more do-it-yourself type entries as well.  I wear make-up when I go to work, sometimes when I go to church and occasionally on days off.  I like to let my skin rest so I don't wear it every day. So here goes:

My before and after shots (some of the coloring is due to lighting, but I took the shots from the same place in my bathroom):

How I do it.  These are my make-up brushes.  I've labeled them so I can reference them by number later.  This set of brushes came with my starter kit from Simply Karen.  It is a mineral make-up company.  I purchased their Allure Collection to get started.  It came with everything but lip products.  Now you'll see as I go through this that not all my make-up is mineral make-up.   

  

1) Foundation Buffer Brush

2) Perfect Coverage Concealer Brush

3) Multipurpose Powder Brush

4) Dual Ended Shadow & Blender Brush (large side)

5) Dual Ended Shadow & Blender Brush (small side)

   

So I start by applying my foundation (right) all over my face with brush #1.  I gather enough foundation on my brush, tap off the extra and apply all over.  Then I use brush #2 to apply a slightly yellower foundation (mineral foundation) around my eyes, alongside my nose and on any blemishes I might have.  

Next I apply blush (left) with brush #3.  You can see there are chunks of blush in the container.  Before I used the mineral I was using another blush which broke, so I put it into the top of the mineral container.  I keep cotton balls in each container to prevent spilling.  Most of the blush I actually use is mineral residue still on the cotton ball.  I tap it into the lid and swirl the brush around the lid, tap to remove excess and apply along my cheek bones. 

After my blush, I move up to my eyes.  I first use eye liner.  My current product is from Yves Rocher and is green.  Since it is green, I am using green shadow, too. The green really makes my eyes look green too.  I line the top almost all the way and try to get a little off to the side.  Then, I line the bottom about halfway.  I use my little finger to smudge or the smudger on pencil to blend the lines so they aren't too harsh.

Next I apply (with brush #4) a light eyeshadow all over my eye lids.  If I want to highlight the arch on my eyebrows, then I will use a very light (white, silver, cream) color right below the brow.  Then I apply a darker shadow (with brush #5) diagonally from the inside corner of my eye to the outer edge of my eye brow and then straight down to my crease.   I also use whatever is left on brush #5 and follow my eye liner (top and bottom) to seal my eye liner, which prevents smudging.  I finish off with mascara on top and bottom lashes.  I only apply one coat for daytime, however I will add a second coat if I am going out or dressing up.  I prefer smudge-proof over waterproof.

Lastly, I line my lips and fill them in with color.  I like darker cool colors on my lips.  I always keep a tube of lipstick in my purse.  Currently I line my lips with Artistry's Wine Liner.  My lipstick in my make-up box is Lancome and in my purse is L'Oreal.

Are you ready to "Get Your Face On?"  I am having a give-away.  This give-away goes until 3/31.  So you have until then to do any of these things.  I'll hold the drawing the beginning of April.  I don't have the exact prize picked out yet, but it will be make-up.  Good luck!  If you are a boy, you are more than welcome, to still post photos of your routine.  Here are the rules:

Sink Bath

When the boys were babies I often bathed them in the sink or bathed with them in the tub.  I am not sure how much they enjoyed it.  Sam loves to take a bath and will often jump in the shower with anyone willing (or even not so willing) to allow him to join.  He even gets upset if we weren't planning on bathing and he wants to.  He doesn't like to be cleaned with soap or shampoo.  He just really enjoys playing in the water.  He often plays in the sink with the water washing his hands, filling up cups and pouring them out, typical toddler/preschooler water play.  Today, we heard Sam in the bathroom giggling and making all sorts of noise.    We were so surprised to find him like this:

Silly Sam!!

Braces

Joshua went to the orthodontist today and got braces.  He chose green and gold for St Patty's Day.  His next appointment is right after so it was fitting to have those colors now.  He is so excited to get braces.

How rude!

I came out to my car this morning and saw the front passenger door was unlocked and slightly opened.  I guess it was left unlocked last night.  Any way, the would-be thief stole my Sandisk Sansa mp3 player full of conference, church, other religious, and downright awesome music (but it needed to be charged,) $2 that belongs to my kids from recycling cans, and a shiny blue small notebook we use to track car repairs, gas mileage, etc.  Sounds like a kid got into my car and took stuff.  Bad kid.  I filed a police report, but nothing will probably come of it.

Interview

It's official:  I have a new friend.  I was interviewed by my friend and author Sarah M Eden.  Check out the interview here.  She is having a contest on her site, so you'll need to leave a comment.

Canning & Year's Supply.

Lately I have been canning.  My parents got me a pressure canner for Christmas because Katie Forsberg taught 2 canning classes at church and got me excited about canning.  I always wanted to learn.  My friend Madeline used to do it all the time, but I thought it was this horrible process.  I suppose it could be if you have to cut up a bunch of fruit and spend all day doing it.  But I haven't had that experience yet so for me it is very easy, refreshing, exciting and rewarding.  Since Christmas I have canned beans, ground beef, chicken (twice,) made my own spaghetti sauce and canned it, and am planning to do another batch of ground beef tonight.  Joe loves how easy it is to have prepared meats available to use.  No worry about freezer burn or food spoilage.  I love it!!  I want to make some fruit juice jelly next.
Also I have been working on our year's supply.  I highly recommend using this site and signing up for their baby steps.  I am a little behind but I am in the process of assembling our 72-hour kits.  Joe has also made me a can rotation shelf for the kitchen island and I am excited to use it.  The plans were off this site too, but since Joe has awesome carpenter skills, he made a custom one that would fit our shelves (length and height.)
So canning is actually helping us build our year's supply even more.  I can about 6-7 quart jars at a time and we maybe use 1 or 2 per week (total.)

Oh NO!

I haven't blogged in a while.  I have all these things I wanted to blog about, but I got too busy to write them down.  I wanted to blog about going to Magic Mountain with Adam, Joseph's birthday and things we've been doing since.  Oh well, we are still alive.

Remembering Adam's Birth

Since Adam recently had a birthday I decided to share our experience about that day with you. 

I was due January 8, 1997. My mom went to California for two weeks during Christmas and made me promise that Adam wouldn’t be born until she came back (12-28.) I told her I’d do my best but couldn’t guarantee anything.


I was working while I was pregnant with Adam. I had Cigna insurance so I didn’t have a steady doctor, as they were designed where you would have any of their OB doctors. On Friday, December 27th I went in for my 38 week visit and asked the doctor if he’d release me from work early. I have this terrible fear of going into labor in public (work, church, etc) and would have preferred to spend my last 2 weeks at home relaxed, not stressed. He said he couldn’t do that because there was no medical reason to release me from work. So I was bummed that I’d have to go to work on Monday and be worried for 2 more weeks.

It was right after Christmas (28th) so I took the tree down and packed up the Christmas decorations. I decided I might as well pack my bag for the hospital. The lists mothers are given to prepare for the hospital trip are outrageous. The baby is not going to need 5 pairs of clothes for a 1-2 day stay. Most hospitals are pretty generous with diapers, formula, clothes and blankets to use while there. The more children I’ve had the less I’ve taken to the hospital. My mom was also coming home that day so I was getting everything out the way so we could spend time together over the New Year’s holiday.

That night at about 7-8 at night I was laying on our guest room bed reading a book when I moved my leg and heard a pop. You know the sound you get when your hip joint pops. That was the sound. Being very pregnant I had to go to the bathroom too. So as soon as I passed the carpeted hall and hit the tile floor my water broke. Everywhere!! I started screaming for help. I wasn’t sure if my water had broken or if I wet my pants a whole lot. I was new to this whole experience. I called Cigna’s nurse line and was told since I wasn’t having contractions I could stay home until I did.

Meanwhile, my parents were at the airport about to come home and after they checked in the airline announced that they’ve over-sold the plane and were looking for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for a trip home the next day and 2 vouchers good for a flight anywhere in the US. My parents were having such a good time and I hadn’t paged them yet so they volunteered. No sooner had they accepted the offer when I paged my mom’s cell phone. She called me back a couple of minutes later. I told her what happened and that we weren’t going to the hospital yet. My mom was about to have dinner and would check on me later. I took a bath, which is something you should NOT do if your water has broken, but it was very relaxing. My mom called me back and told me to go to the hospital because women in our family have babies very quickly. It was better to go too early than too late. My mom went back to the airline and told them she needed an earlier flight than the one they had given her because I was in labor. She worked out the flight issue while I headed to the hospital.

On the way we stopped by a new Burger King®. The lights were on and people were inside, but they hadn’t had their grand opening yet. I was so mad that I couldn’t have a Whopper®, that I have never eaten at that Burger King® and I tell the story every time I pass it. I wasn’t upset that they hadn’t opened yet, but that they had their lights on and that was misleading and I was in labor and wanted a Whopper®. Moving on, I went to the hospital knowing I wouldn’t be able to eat food again until after Adam was born.

We arrive at Desert Samaritan (Banner Desert) right after midnight. They were about to send me home (no contractions) when I told them I thought my water had broken. They did the fern test and admitted me. I really wanted to be brave and rough it (no drugs) but after 2 am I was so tired and couldn’t sleep through the contractions I was having, so I asked for something to help me sleep. I was given a shot of Demerol® in my i.v. Then the room started to spin and every thing looked fuzzy and I suppose I fell asleep because I don’t remember anything until 6 am when a strong contraction woke me up. The nurse came in after I buzzed her and I decided to have an epidural so that I could continue to sleep. I was not able to get much sleep because it took awhile for the anesthesiologist to arrive perform the procedure.

After the epidural, the doctors determined that I was not progressing as fast as they would have liked so they spiked my i.v. with Pitocin®. Eventually I was ready to deliver Adam. However, in the meantime, some other lady who had several children already was also ready to deliver so they asked me to stop pushing (hold him in) while they helped her. After the doctor was done with her, I was able to start pushing and at 11:28am on Sunday, December 29, 1996, Michael Adam Allred was born.

The nurse took him and performed all the vitals and measurements. He weighed 8 pounds and 6.5 ounces. He was 20 inches long. About an hour after he was born they allowed visitors in the room. My parents had arrived at the hospital at that moment too. They had come directly from the airport after catching the first flight. My mom took him and instantly claimed him as her own. To this day, they are very close.

Those who came to visit during our hospital stay were Jason & Krista Meeks, Randy & Angela Judd, my parents – Gordon & Wanda Simeona, John & Carolyn Wallace, Neal & Penny (Jonovich) Wallace (they are no longer married so I listed her maiden name) & their children (Wesley, Shayla & Shawna.) If I left someone out I apologize.

Ironically, the doctor that came to release me from the hospital and provide my doctor’s note from work was the same doctor that I had seen on Friday. I asked him if he was surprised to see me. So I didn’t have to go to work on Monday after all. I only stayed one day in the hospital so I was released on Monday. We brought him home and he’s looked the same ever since.

What we did in 2009

So I've never done a Christmas Letter and I used to be so good at sending out cards. I actually do have a box of cards that I can use to send out. However, I've become lazy and haven't done it. So this year I am writing a New Year letter of what we accomplished last year. So if you don't care to read it, then you can move onto another of my blog entries instead.

Joe – He fixed the green car (Dodge intrepid) so now it works and Victoria can drive it to work. He went to Disneyland (and CA Adventure) for the first time for his and Victoria's birthdays and anniversary. He works in the Junior Nursery in the ward.

Victoria – She learned to make pumpkin desserts out of fresh (not canned) pumpkins. She went to Disneyland, CA Adventure and Magic Mountain this year. She also works in the nursery in the ward. She learned seasonal loan products (RVs, boats, etc) at work. She's been with USAA 2 years now and her 401k now is completely vested.

Adam – He received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained a Deacon by his Papa. He serves as the second counselor in the Deacon's Quorum. He played softball for his school earlier this year (7^th grade.) He made the football team again for this school year (8^th) and made the basketball team (8th,) all that practicing with the scouts paid off. He went to camp Geronimo for the first time. He went to Magic Mountain to celebrate his entrance into teenager-hood. He got glasses. He got to play with the Ironwood marching band during halftime of an Ironwood Football game. He went to the temple for the first time with the youth. He got stitches earlier in the year when he collided with a fence at school and it cut his leg.

Joseph – He earned his Webelos and Arrow of light. He is in his 2^nd year of home schooling through AZ Virtual Academy. He is in 5^th grade. He started taking medication. He got glasses. He almost met a rattlesnake. He has recently started reading books and really enjoys them. He went to Day Camp during the summer.

Joshua – He turned 8 and had a fun Army party. He got baptized along with his best friend Aaron on the 4^th of July. He got glasses too. He earned his Bobcat (with help from Aaron's mom, too.) He is in 3rd grade and his teacher at school is one of the counselors in the Primary so he sees her almost every day. He loves his teacher. He got to go to Cub Scout Day Camp for the first time.

Sam – He had surgery. He spent his last year in nursery and will be joining the ranks of Sunbeams. He was potty-trained and had a big boy party. He turned three. He fell in love with Lydia (Aaron's baby sister.) He loves to talk and tell stories and his language has improved since we started blogging although he still can't pronounce eses (S.) He kissed a chick. He dislocated his elbow once when Joshua and he were playing.

I am sure there is more and find that as I blog more I'll have a better record for 2010. Happy 2010!!

Easy Salsa Mix

My sister (in-law) Rebecca (and Chad and family) gave us a couple of items for Christmas this year. One was a jar of salsa mix and the ingredients to make it. There was also a jar of Ranch dressing mix. I've written down the recipes before and have them in a notebook, but decided posting it here would be best. Since I've only tried the Salsa, I am only posting that now.

Easy Salsa Mix

1 C Dried Cilantro

¼ C Garlic Powder

½ C Dried Minced Onion

¼ C Dried Sweet Pepper Flakes

1 T Salt

1 T Pepper (optional - if you like it hot)

Combine all ingredients, mix well. Store in airtight container.

Use 1-2 T of mix with a can of Rotel® (or generic) Tomatoes and Chilis. Let refrigerate to blend flavors. Serve as you would any salsa.