Christmas 2009

Okay, sick or not, here I go.

We had a fabulous time in California this year. We left last Monday (the 21st) after Jeremy got off work. We were planning on leaving Tuesday morning, but there was supposed to be a huge storm, so we decided to leave Monday night and drive to Elko where Jeremy's aunt and uncle live (very convenient). So we had a very foggy yet safe drive Monday night and then we drove the rest of the way on Tuesday. The first couple hours were pretty snowy, but after that it was all blue skies. I don't think we could have timed it any better.

So we spent from Tuesday afternoon until Christmas morning with Jeremy's family. It was fun to stay in their new big house and get to visit with them. Jeremy's sister and her 3 kids and Jeremy's grandma also live there so we had a fun time with everyone. We played some games, went to the park, hung some pictures, went caroling, and ate lots of delicious food. Christmas morning we got up bright and early and had fun seeing what Santa brought everyone. It was fun to have our first Christmas with Eli! He didn't quite know what to do with everything, but he had a fun time playing with boxes and wrapping paper.

Then we headed over to my parents house (only 15 min. away). They didn't have any young kids over there, so even though we got there at about 10:30am, they were just barely up and ready to start exchanging gifts. So that worked out perfectly! We had fun having our second Christmas with them along with Heidi and my brother Steve who was home from his Air Force training. That day we played Monopoly (dad won), ate more yummy food and watched Elf that night.

Saturday we went down to visit my wonderful 90 year-old grandma in Modesto. I'm so glad we had a nice visit with her. I don't know how much longer she'll be around, but I hope it's a long time! We sang and played the piano for her and took her to lunch. She is a fabulous pianist and organist herself and taught piano for years and years. Now she lives in an assisted living center, but she was able to move her grand piano into one of the main areas, so every time we visit we share some music with her. (I forgot my camera that day, so if you want to see pictures, click here). Then on Sunday, my mom and I sang in church with Heidi accompanying us and we spent the rest of the day chatting and playing games.

I decided to do a slideshow since I have a lot of pictures:

That was our Christmas! We got a lot of wonderful gifts and hope everyone enjoyed what we gave them. It was nice to get a break from the cold and snow, but at the same time it's nice to be back home. We have zero exciting plans for tonight and we're happy about it. :) We're both still sick so we'll probably just curl up on the couch, watch a movie, and then go to bed early. Yea!

We're back!

We had a wonderful trip to warm California and we made it back safely last night. Unfortunately, we are both sick. Jeremy woke up sick on Christmas day and I woke up sick this morning (well, several times early this morning; yea for traveling with a baby). So I will put up pictures and give the full scoop on our trip later. But we had a great time with both of our families and are happy to be back home. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Tasty.....Sunday?

First off, I am feeling very inspired and uplifted after an amazing Sacrament Meeting. I went into today being more relaxed than usual for a Christmas Sunday (all you other LDS musicians know that Christmas Sunday is usually pretty busy). My choir only sang two songs (we sang one last week too) and there was only one other musical number, which was the primary. But it was so great. We had three short speakers (Jeremy was one of them) and the whole spirit of the meeting was wonderful. It was nice to not be so busy and stressed and I was able to enjoy everything a lot more. I was so pleased with my choir. We sang a simple but beautiful arrangement of "Away in a Manger" and then Mack Wilberg's arrangement of "The First Nowell" (that is the correct spelling in this version). Having been the choir director in this ward for about a year and a half now, my choir has become so musical and unified. It's so great. I was so overwhelmed in the last verse of "The First Nowell" when it says "And let us all with one accord sing praises to our heavenly Lord. That hath made heav'n and earth of nought, and with his blood mankind hath bought. Nowell, nowell.." The choir was so unified and their were just singing their hearts out and I loved every minute of it. Of course I was all teary-eyed and so were they, but somehow we managed to keep singing and it was just beautiful. Ahhh. I am fulfilled.

So, onto the treats. If you're like me, you're already on sugar overload, so you probably don't need any more recipes for sweets, but you can come back and look at this next year if you want. :) I have been baking a lot to take treats to visiting teachees, neighbors and the ward choir. In the last 5 days I have made pumpkin bread, Hello-Dollies (like 7-layer bars), snowball cookies, fudge, and English toffee. These are some of my very very favorite Christmasy treats. The great thing about all of these, well most of them, is that they are really easy and don't use too many different bowls/pans. (I hate that. If it wasn't for the dishes, I could cook and bake all day long). So, I thought I would go ahead and put all of these recipes. I know. Crazy. But I didn't post a recipe last week because I was traveling, this week I was a slacker, and next week we'll be traveling again, so there you go. Use them if you'd like; if not, I will just have them on here for my posterity. :)
Pumpkin Bread (from my Aunt Marilyn)

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. canned pumpkin
1 1/4 c. oil
1 c. chopped nuts

Mix together first 5 ingredients. Then add the rest. Bake in 2 loaf pans at 350 degrees for 1 hr. 15 min. (I told you it was easy).

Hello-Dollies (I think from my Grandma Astle?)

1 cube butter, melted
1 c. graham cracker crumbs (I usually end up using 1 1/2-2)
1 c. shredded coconut
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. chocolate chips
1 12-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Mix together butter and graham cracker crumbs and press into a 9x13 pan. Add the rest of the ingredients with the sweetened condensed milk last, on the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let stand 10-15 min. Cut while still warm. (Easy again).

Snowball Cookies (from my mother-in-law, Debbie Nowland)

These are so pecan-y and crumbly and delicious. Love them!

1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. finely chopped pecans

Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Blend in rest of ingredients. Refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours. (Dough will be a little dry. Don't be alarmed). Roll (or squeeze/form) dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Roll in additional powdered sugar while they are still warm. Cook on cooling rack. (Again, easy).

FUDGE (Grandma Astle)

Now it starts to get harder...

4 c. sugar
2 cubes butter
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
32 large marshmallows
2 heaping cups chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped nuts (optional for you, essential for me)

Boil sugar, butter, and milk over medium heat. Stir constantly until it gets to a soft ball stage (use a candy thermometer, it will get to 240 degrees; it takes awhile). Pull off heat. Stir in marshmallows until melted. Add rest. Stir only until chips melt. Pour onto 9x13 pan and beat with a spoon until it is all even. Put in the refrigerator to set. (My grandma says to pour it out onto a marble slab and beat it to form it and then wrap it in small rolls in plastic wrap, but I tried this for my first batch and it didn't work so well. I found that putting it into a pan was a lot easier and then you could just cut it into little pieces. That's my two cents).

English Toffee (Debbie Nowland)
1/2 lb. butter
1 c. sugar
1 T. water
chopped almonds
3-4 large hershey bars or chocolate chips

Melt butter. Add sugar and water. Stir constantly and boil until 300 degrees is reached or it is the color of peanut butter. Pour toffee into foil lined cookie sheet. Place hershey bars on toffee and let melt. Spread and sprinkle with nuts.

We made this for the first time last year and it was a success on the very first try. This year...not as great. I don't know what we did wrong, but the butter started to separate right at the end, so there was all this extra butter when we went to pour it out. It still tasted great (well, 2 of the 3 batches we tried), but it was weird. I'm sure my mother-in-law knows what we did wrong. So, I'm definitely no expert, but maybe you'll have beginner's luck like we did last year. :)

Oh, and I couldn't end this ridiculously long post with out putting up a couple pictures of Eli from our ward Christmas party last night. Santa came and Eli got to sit on his lap. So cute!

Crazy birds, part deux

Remember this post a year ago? Well, apparently it's a yearly thing. These birds are insane! Last time there were enough to fill one lawn, this year they were EVERYWHERE! I was too creeped out to go outside, but I snapped a few pictures through the windows.
And then they flew away.
Yeah, creepy.

So I know I've been MIA lately, but in the words of my friend Becca, "seriously, who has time to blog faithfully in December?" We have been busy busy lately. I went to California last week to help Jeremy's family prepare to move. It was fun to see Eli with all four of his grandparents and it was nice to visit and help out. This week has been eventful too. Jeremy had a Christmas party last night for all the executives and department managers at his company. It was at a really nice Italian restaurant in Salt Lake. It was fun to meet more people that he works with along with their spouses. And the food was DELICIOUS! Our great friends David & Kristin babysat Eli for us. Thank you!

I've also been baking up a storm! I'm planning on putting up the recipes to my goodies sometime soon. Next on the list: ward Christmas party tomorrow night, Christmas program at church on Sunday, laundry and packing on Monday, and then we drive to California on Tuesday! We're getting really excited for Christmas! Hope you are too. :)

Weather

So Eli and I are flying to Sacramento tomorrow. Jeremy's family is moving (not far, just a few minutes away) and they have been busy busy so I thought it would be a good time to go out and help and bring them some Eli joy. :) I've also been looking forward to some warmer weather. It has been ridiculously cold here lately. It hasn't been above freezing in a week and won't be for another week. For example, the high today is supposed to be 26 with a low of 19. Tomorrow: 23 with a low of 14. And snow. So I think what a great time it is to be going to California! Then I get onto facebook this morning (I know, silly) and see all these people's comments about SNOW IN SACRAMENTO! What? Really? Yep. Supposedly it's snowing in Sacramento. Right now. Crazy. Luckily I think that's just for today. I can only remember seeing snow there once in my life. I was a Junior in high school and it was during Chemistry. Everyone rushed out and it lasted for maybe 3 minutes, and of course it didn't stick. So anyway, I checked the weather forcast and luckily it will still be a break from the freezing temperatures. Highs are in the upper 40s and tomorrow is actually mostly sunny! (That's going to seem sooo warm!) So maybe I can actually go outside this week :)....if my flight is able to take off. All that snow in Sacramento is coming hard here tonight and tomorrow. So wish me luck...

(I'm excited to be going but also sad. It's the first time Jeremy has been apart from Eli since he was born. :( They're going to miss each other. And of course I'm going to miss Jeremy tons too.)

Christmas time is here...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I tried to blog about this yesterday, but it wasn't loading my pictures. So I decided to finish it this morning. It turns out that it's almost an exact clone of my sister Amy's post, so if you'd just like to look at hers, go over to my blog roll on the right. :)

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We were in Nampa, ID from last Tuesday night until Sunday. Oh my goodness, our Thanksgiving feast was AMAZING! We spent a lot of the day Wednesday cooking. We made 6 pies with 4 different types of crusts: 2 pumpkin, blackberry, pecan, raspberry cream, and apple. Yum! And the dinner was amazing. We tried some recipes we hadn't tried before and everything turned out so great: turkey, stuffing, rolls, potatoes, gravy, spinach gratin, fruit salad, green salad, sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn, homemade cranberry sauce, and homemade jam. (I hope I didn't forget anything).

Amy has a great kitchen for lots of cooks!Mom and her beautiful rising rolls:Heidi, Jeremy and Seth ready to EAT!After the feast:Playing Christmas duets in our PJs one morning:
Also, on Thanksgiving day we got a call from Jeremy's brother Jonathan announcing his ENGAGEMENT!!! Woohoo! He and his lovely fiance Shannon are getting married on May 29! Congratulations Jon!
So it was really fun spending time with our family and relaxing. We watched lots of weird alien movies and shows. Haha. It was kind of weird and I'm not sure how we got on that, but they were fun. We watched Invasion, The X-Files movie, and the first four episodes of the new show V (so good!). We also got some separate girl/boy bonding time. Friday morning all the men went shooting. They felt very rugged and manly when they got home. :) Then that afternoon, all the girls went to see New Moon. I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it! It was way better than the first movie (which wasn't very hard to do) and it was fun to have some girl time.

All the girls (Brenna didn't go see the movie):We enjoyed great leftovers all weekend and just had a lot of fun being together. It was a miracle our little family escaped healthy though. All of Amy's kids were either recovering from being sick, or just getting sick and then Rob started feeling sick and Heidi got super sick. Bummer. :( But so far we're still okay!

Bishop Astle being very studious:On Sunday, Amy and I sang "O Divine Redeemer" in her ward with Heidi accompanying us. Here we are holding our babies and practicing:
One of my favorite things about the weekend was seeing Eli and his cute cousin Russell together. They're only 5 1/2 months apart and they were so cute together! Russell just starting to walk, so he was able to come over and steal Eli's toys away, but they still got along okay. :) And we got lots of cute pictures. Here are way too many pictures, but they're so cute!
It was a great time! We came home Sunday night and had a ward choir rehearsal. Then on Monday night we went and got our Christmas tree! More to come on that later...

Pecan Pie...

...a day late.I know Thanksgiving is over, but some people make pecan pie at Christmas too. This one is a major winner! It is made with real maple syrup instead of corn syrup, but it doesn't taste mapley at all. It just tastes GOOD. Here's the recipe:

Unbeatable Pecan Pie

Crust:

1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortening, chilled
ice water to form a dough

Filling:

2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans*
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. real maple syrup
1/2 c. white sugar
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt

In a bowl, mix together flour and 1/2 tsp. salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in shortening until the chunks are about the size of peas. Ad ice water slowly, a little at a time, to form a dough. Don't knead, just gently bring together. Shape dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough out to fit the size of a 9-inch pie plate. Fit dough in and crimp the edges. (I put it back in the fridge at this point or stick it outside or in the garage if you live in a cold state like me :)

In a heavy skillet, melt 2 Tbsp. butter over low heat. Add nuts and stir for about 5 minutes, or until nuts begin to color. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Mix together beaten egg, maple syrup, sugar, 1/3 c. melted butter, vanilla, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir in nuts. Pour filling into crust. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until filling is set. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool.

*I've made this recipe several times and just realized that I've never chopped the pecans. Oh well! It tasted great! Recipe from allrecipes.com

Chinese Chicken Salad

I decided it was time to take a break from laundry, cleaning, and packing. This week's recipe is for easy, light, and delicious Chinese Chicken Salad. I thought it would be good to post something lighter before everyone eats their weight in turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes this week. I love this salad. I just kind of throw everything in, so the amounts will vary depending on what you like, but the dressing is measured and very easy. Here you go!

Chinese Chicken Salad

lettuce (I usually use iceberg)
chopped celery
chopped green onions
slivered almonds
mandarin oranges (I just use a can)
cooked chicken, chopped
crunchy chow mein noodles

Dressing:

1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 T. sugar
1 T. soy sauce
2 T. rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. sesame oil*
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Mix together. Toss with salad just before serving. Yum!

*If you don't have it, you can use a little bit of creamy peanut butter. Sounds weird, but it tastes pretty good. Of course, sesame oil is best.

Family

We had a really nice weekend. Friday night, Jeremy's brother Jon and his girlfriend Shannon came up for dinner and games. We played Monopoly and it was really fun! Jon smoked us all, but that's kind of the way it works in that game. Someone always dominates. Anyway, so we had a great time eating, playing, and visiting with them. Then on Saturday we went to get our first ever family pictures! It was exciting, frustrating, and rewarding. Exciting because it was our first time. Frustrating because we scheduled it for 3:40 (perfect time after the nap and feeding) and didn't get in until 5:00!!! Ugh! We got there right on time and they were on the 3:00 people and then the 3:20 people went in a little before 4:00. So I thought, okay, we won't have to wait too much longer. They're probably trying to catch up. Nope! There were so many people there it was ridiculous. They had people scheduled for 3:50 and 4:00, 4:20, and on. Why they schedule people only 10-20 minutes apart when it takes 30-60 minutes is BEYOND me.

But anyway...it all worked out*. They ended up giving us 3 free sheets of photos since we had to wait so long, so I guess that kind of made up for it. I just felt bad for all the rest of the people. Everyone was there with a bunch of (cranky) kids and it was just very poorly run. But we got really cute pictures! We should get them back in about a week or so. We didn't pay the $5 to have access to them online this time, so I can't share the little minis with you, but oh well. I do have a picture of Eli in his handsome outfit though.
So then after we got home from the pictures, my sis Heidi and her 2 roomies came up for dinner and then we put Eli to bed and they watched him so Jeremy and I could go on a date! Woohoo! We went to the temple and then we went to Mimi's for dessert. It was great! Thanks Heidi!

That was our weekend. We're really excited for Thanksgiving! We leave to go up to Boise (Nampa) on Tuesday evening and we are READY TO PARTY!!! It'll be a blast. And to end this post, here is a cute video of Eli laughing for your enjoyment :) (Please ignore my behind and my laughing; that's embarrassing).

*I should add that it's not like we're paying an arm and a leg for pictures, so I shouldn't complain. We went to JC Penney where we always get coupons and it ended up being $12 total: for the sitting fee, an 8x10, 6 5x7s, and 12 3.5x5s. Yeah. Pretty awesome deal. When we got Eli's pictures last time we got 2 8x10s, 2 5x7s, 4 3.5x5s and 16 wallets for $7.99. So my complaining about poor service is over...

Creamy White Chili and Cornbread

I know I missed last week, so I thought I better do a double-wammy today. This soup comes from the "My Kitchen Cafe" blog. She has a lot of tasty recipes and this one was definitely a winner! (She also happens to be my brother-in-law's cousin). It has a little bit of a kick to it and it has tons of flavor. I've made it twice now and it was delicious both times. I also found a yummy cornbread recipe from Martha Stewart to go with it. Both were really easy and super delicious. (My picture is lame, but it really is good). Yum!

Creamy White Chili

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2" cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 (15oz.) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 (4 oz.) cans green chiles (I did one)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Makes about 6 servings. (Or 4 if you're really hungry).

Cornbread

1/2 c. butter
2/3 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Melt butter. Stir in sugar. Add eggs quickly and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into other mixture. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Bake in greased 8x8 pan at 375 degrees for 30-40 min.

My Stud Husband and Other Random Thoughts

Yes, my husband is amazing. I love him for many reasons, but one of them is that smart engineering mind of his. :) Our Altima recently started having some problems. It started randomly dying, but it wasn't the alternator, which we replaced a few years ago. Anyway, it totally died as Jeremy was going to work a few weeks ago, so we had to get it towed to a mechanic (which luckily our insurance covered). They couldn't figure out what was wrong, so Jeremy got a friend to help him tow it behind his friend's truck to the dealer. They said it needed a new ignition switch (or cylinder or something like that, I obviously know nothing about cars) and said it was going to be like $600 dollars or something. Well, Jeremy said "pshh, I can fix that" even though he had never done it before.

So he got that same friend to tow it back to our house ($0) and I checked out the "Nissan Altima Repair Manual" from the library (also $0) and sure enough, Jeremy figured it out. We found the part online for FORTY dollars (can you believe dealerships?) and Jeremy got to work figuring it out. I love this man! He is his father's son. :) So last Saturday he finished it and it only took him a few hours altogether. He had to get a couple other little tools, but all in all I think it only cost us about $65 rather than $600 (of course, plus the $100 the dealership charged for telling us what was wrong; lame). I love saving money! I am all about figuring stuff out on my own and shopping around and around to save a dime, so I am glad my hubby is the same way. We took it to get the state safety & emissions inspection yesterday to renew our registration and the guy said everything looks great and nothing is wrong. Woohoo! Thanks Jeremy for being such a handyman!Some other random thoughts I've had the past couple days:

• I wasn't really feeling in the Christmas mood yet, even though I usually get really excited for it way too early. Anyway, so I wasn't really feeling it until we were at the mall of all places last night. Everything was so decked out (at least at JC Penney, which was the only place we went) and they had Christmas music playing and it was so festive! So now I'm ready.
• My ward choir was AMAZING today! I am so proud (or pleased, I should say) of them. We sang the beautiful "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" arr. by Mack Wilberg and they did so well. Their sound was more blended than I've heard in awhile and they had beautiful dynamics and vowels and most importantly a beautiful spirit. I had 2 fabulous ladies play the flute with it too and it was so beautiful! I got a lot of compliments, so I hope we can live up to that with our Christmas music!
• I'm so excited for THANKSGIVING! We are going to my sister Amy's house up in Nampa, ID and I'm really excited. I know I was talking about Christmas and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but I love Thanksgiving. I was telling Jeremy yesterday that it's one of the best holidays ever because you get the amazing food, you get days off, you usually get together with other people (friends/family) but you don't have the stress of buying gifts. Gifts really stress me out because I am so not a gift person. I'd be fine if everyone agreed not to do gifts ever, but I know a lot of people are really into gifts, so I get stressed making sure I give thoughtful enough gifts because I don't naturally think much about them! Ahh! It's rough.

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind lately. I know I said I would be a better blogger and then I went over a week with nada, so I really will try to improve this week. We're doing great though! Thanks for reading...

Way Behind

I am way behind on blogging. I don't know what happened. But I have a lot to catch up on! I'm just going to blog about it all. You can take a few days to read it if you need to. We'll start with last week. My mom came into town on last Monday afternoon (yes, way back in October). Eli and I picked her up from the airport and then we had dinner and family night and watched Dancing with the Stars. :) Then on Tuesday, Eli had his 6-month check-up on his 6-month birthday! It was a cold an snowy day, but we made it and it was successful. He weighs (or weighed last Tuesday) 18 lbs. 6 oz. (67th perc.) and he is 27.4 in. long (82nd perc.). He was a little smaller in the percentiles this time for height and weight but his head size was bigger. Haha! His head is 18.1 in. around which puts him in the 96th percentile. All those brains. :)

So then we spent the rest of the day cooking and chatting. Heidi came up for dinner that night and we had a good time eating, doing her laundry, practicing for her concerto, watching So You Think You Can Dance, talking, and planning her schedule for next semester. Jeremy had bishopric stuff that night so it was fun to have some girl bonding. Then on Wednesday, my mom, Eli, and I went out to lunch with my grandparents at Sweet Tomatoes. Yummmm. Then they went down to Provo to watch Heidi's rehearsal and I went home and put Eli to bed. That night I drove down to Provo to meet my mom for the Kings Singers concert (which I already blogged about). Again, it was so good! We went out to ice cream with Heidi and 2 of her roommates after and then came back home.

Thursday we went over to my grandparents' house for lunch along with 3 of my aunts (dad's sister and 2 sister-in-laws). That was fun to have some more girl time along with Eli and Grandpa. :) Then that afternoon we dressed Eli in his cute pumpkin costume and went into Jeremy's work. Every year before/on Halloween they tell the employees to bring their kids in for trick-or-treating. Of course Eli didn't trick-or-treat, but it was still fun to go around and meet some more people I hadn't met and give my mom the full tour. That night my mom went down to Provo again to watch Heidi's basketball game. Friday was the last day she was here. I don't think we did much that day, but we enjoyed chatting again and then I took her to the airport that afternoon.Then Saturday was Halloween! We had a ward trunk-or-treat/lunch that day, which was very fun. That night we just stayed home and passed out candy to the cute kiddos. We got about 20 kids, which probably doesn't sound like a lot to some of you, but it's a pretty good number for our neighborhood. Since then we haven't been up to anything terribly exciting. Jeremy just started playing basketball on Wednesday nights with our stake and I've been having lots of fun with Eli. It's been beautiful weather this week so it's been fun to go on walks together and enjoy the sunshine. Eli is getting so big! He now can sit up by himself for quite awhile. I always sit him up on the bed while I get ready and he just entertains himself like such a big boy. His favorite toys are cell phones and paper; yep, just a piece of paper. And right now he's playing with the TV remote, so I guess that's up there with the cell phone. He has 2 teeth on the bottom now (boy was that fun), and he eats rice cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, apples, and as of yesterday peas. Oh how lovely are those diapers now. Eck. He is also experimenting much more with his voice. He makes the most interesting sounds sometimes ranging from low grunts to high squeals and he definitely keeps us entertained.I took these a few days ago. The pillows are to help him, but even now he doesn't really need them. Oh, and yes his hair continues to stick straight up and is definitely the most talked about thing when we meet new people ("Look at that hair!" "Do you style it that way?" etc....)
So that's the update finally! I'll be better from now on. I hope you're all well! Congrats if you made it through all that...

Tasty Tuesday: Oatmeal Pancakes & Maple Syrup

My sister Amy makes these pancakes a lot, and up until a few weeks ago I had never made them. I don't know WHAT I was thinking! They are so delicious, and I have made them at least 5 times since then. :) What you do is make a dry mix (it makes 10 cups of mix) and then store it in a ziploc bag or something, and then every time you want to make pancakes, you just use some of the mix along with 3 other ingredients and it's so EASY! I love it. They have a great flavor with oats, cinnamon, whole wheat flour, etc. I also love how hearty they are. As a nursing mommy I often get hungry not too long after eating a meal, but these stay with me longer than any other breakfast food. And they're delicious!

To go along with these pancakes, of course you need maple syrup. Here's the dilemma in our family with store-bought maple syrup. You either get pancake syrup which is basically flavored corn syrup - which is not only very bad for you, but Jeremy is also allergic to corn syrup. OR, you pay an arm and a leg for pure maple syrup. SO...we make our own. Jeremy's family always did this growing up, and again I had never made it myself until I made this pancakes for the first time. And it is DELICIOUS! And easy. And it makes plenty so you can store it in the fridge and not have to make it every time. So without further ado, I bring you the recipes...

Oatmeal Pancakes

Mix

4 c. old fashioned oats
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. instant nonfat dry milk
3 T. baking powder
2 T. cinnamon
5 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients together well. Store in a sealed gallon-size plastic storage bag or airtight container. Yield: 10 cups of pancake mix.

Pancakes:

2 eggs
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 c. pancake mix
1 c. water

To make pancakes, beat eggs in a large bowl. Gradually beat in oil. Alternately add pancake mix and water to mixture. Blend well. Cook. Yield: about 10-12 pancakes.

**These take some practice to cook, because they're much denser than normal pancakes. Just don't have the pan too hot and keep checking them.

Maple Syrup

2 c. sugar
1 c. water
1/2 tsp. Maple flavoring

Bring sugar and water to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Add 1/2 tsp. maple flavoring.

I told you it was easy! I just store my extra in a jar in the fridge and heat it up for the next use. Yum!!! If you want another delicious syrup recipe, go here.

Happy Halloween!!!

The Kings Singers

I have a lot to blog about, but I'll start with The Kings Singers. My mom and I went to the concert down at BYU last night and it was AMAZING! I got to see them a couple years ago with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but for some reason I enjoyed it even more this time. Maybe because it was a smaller venue, I don't know. Anyway, everything was really entertaining and their blend is just incredible. From the very first sound the baritones made, I was just so excited! Sometimes I forget how much I love good music, and then I am reminded loud and clear. I used to have so many amazing musical experiences everyday at BYU and now they are very rare. I love my ward choir, but you know...I don't need to explain. The concert was so great though and I had such a fun time. Jeremy watched Eli (thank you honey!) and as I was driving on the freeway to meet my mom down in Provo, I was trying to remember the last time I went out like this by MYSELF. I couldn't remember. It was pretty exciting. After the concert I got to meet a couple of the singers and then of course I spent forever talking to all my old choir friends. It was so fun! Then my mom, Heidi, and 2 of her roommates and I all went out for ice cream. We didn't get home until 11:45! I can't remember the last time I was up that late because I was out partying, not up with Eli. :) It was kind of exciting. And Eli was a sweetheart and slept amazingly well last night, so I don't even feel dead today. Yea!!! Anyway, here are some pictures from last night:

I felt like a little teeny-bopper wanting to get pictures with all of them. :) These are the only two I saw after, but supposedly they all (all 6 of them) came out to the lobby after to sign CDs and meet people. They were very nice. Above: Heidi and I with Timothy Wayne-Wright, countertenor. Below: Heidi and I with Christopher Gabbitas, baritone.
Then my mom and her 2 youngest. :) Heidi looked so cute. Her roommate Brianna curled her hair and she looked like a babe! BYU Singers sang 3 songs with the Kings Singers, so that was fun. It was mostly just the KS, but the BYU Singers and Concert Choir have a concert in 2 weeks that we're going to, so that will be fun to see more of them. And Heidi is accompanying 4 of the songs! Woohoo! Go Heid!

More posts to come - Eli's checkup, what my mom and I have been up to, etc., etc...

Tasty Tuesday

Honey Lime EnchiladasOkay, this pictures does not do this justice, but these are seriously the best enchiladas I've ever had. I found this recipe about 2 weeks ago and I've made them THREE TIMES already. Every time I make them, Jeremy acts like Bob on "What About Bob". "Mmmm, these are soooo good". Yes, they really are that good. Anyway, I found the recipe on The Sisters' Cafe blog. As usual I will put up the recipe and add my little notes in italics. You have to try these. They are so tasty!

Honey Lime Enchiladas

1.5 lbs. chicken or pork, cooked and shredded (I've only done chicken, but I'm sure pork would be great; I always cook about 3 chicken breasts in the crockpot for awhile and then it shreds really easily)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 10 oz. cans green enchilada sauce (I usually do half of a 28 oz. can and then freeze the other half; or do a 14 oz. can if you can find it)
Equal parts mozzarella & cheddar cheese, grated (I did monterey jack one time)
8-10 flour tortillas

After chicken/pork is cooked and shredded, combine with honey, lime juice, chili & garlic powder. Let "marinate" in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Grease a 9x13 pan and pour a little bit of the enchilada sauce to coat the bottom of the pan. Fill your tortillas with chicken mixture and a little cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle more cheese on top (don't be stingy). Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then turn on the broiler for a couple minutes so it gets nice and brown. Take out of the oven and DEVOUR!!!

Seriously, the flavor with the honey and lime is just so tasty! I also managed to find an enchilada sauce that was more natural (not loaded with all sorts of icky preservatives and stuff), but of course I threw out the can and can't remember the name of the brand. So next time I get it at the store I'll let you know. I like to avoid processed stuff if I can. I also like the tortillas at Costco that you cook yourself. They're nice and thin and delicious. Anyway, these are amazing! I hope you make them soon. :)

***Also, my mom is here. Yay! We had these last night and she loved them! She got here yesterday and will be here until Friday. Heidi has a concert at BYU with the Kings Singers on Wednesday, so we're excited for that. Eli is also SIX MONTHS today! We have his check-up in an hour, so I'll be sure to post his stats sometime soon. Thanks for reading!