The Wolford's

Adoption Update & Healthy Butter

2012-02-10T16:48:00.001-07:00

Lots of interesting things have been going on around here. Adoption is really one big roller coaster. Even though we're registered with LDS Family Services, we can't really get contacted unless it's from a registered birth mother and with the numbers of couples so high and birth mothers registered with LDS FS so low, it's pretty slim chances we'll be contacted through there. We decided to sign up with a website called Parent Profiles, and boy has that been an experience. Our profile (which basically tells everything about us) is online for the ENTIRE world to see. And yes, there are crazy people out there. We heard about adoption SCAMS and we thought we were prepared, but people are smart and sneaky and we are, let's face it, desperate. There are two different kinds of SCAMS, financial and emotional. Don't worry, we never gave anybody money. But I would say that since September, we have been contacted about 10 times and about 4 of those were crazy people that led us on and got us excited and then after things didn't add up, we found out they were just another scammer. Or the same scammer, 4 times. That happens too, we'll really never know.

BUT, recently we were contacted by someone real. A wonderful birth mother contacted us and we were really excited. Everything was looking great, and we were getting ready to meet her the next day. Then we got a call from her caseworker that she had an ultrasound that day and that she was having TWIN BOYS. Holy cow my heart skipped a beat, but then during the next sentence my heart sank, "She loves you guys, but she's really getting pressure from her family and they are rallying around her to support her. She is considering keeping the twins and wants to talk to you guys on the phone." The first time I talked to her on the phone it was happy & sad. I was really excited to talk to this person we'd been emailing and talking to via the caseworker, but I was sad that she would say she had changed her mind. And she did. It's sad, but we love her, she provided a wonderful experience for us. We got to talk to someone REAL and I made a really great friend. So, we are back to square one. BUT, we have a lot more experience and we're ready for what awaits. We also just started to take the State's Foster-Adopt classes so we can be ready if an older child age 1-4 might be right for us too. We're excited to see what happens!

Now on to a fantastic HEALTHY BUTTER recipe.

This is pretty much genius, but not my idea. I have to give credit to the Hale sisters for thinking this one up and it pretty much rocks my world. Basically, this is a "healthy butter". I hope no one reading this even eats margarine 'cause if you do, can I just say GROSS! Butter, although an animal saturated fat, is a substance your body can recognize and therefore, digest. But, isn't it a total pain to take it out of the fridge and thaw before using?? I almost always try to heat it in the microwave and then end up melting it all and then cursing.

Here, I'm gonna show you how to make butter a little healthier, SPREADABLE right out of the fridge & basically tastes just like butter.

First, take 1 lb. of softened butter & 1 cup of grapeseed or LIGHT olive oil and put it in your mixer.

I have a sweet vintage BOSCH. I call it vintage instead of old, 'cause that makes it seem cooler.

Start a' mixin'. At first it will look yellow & chunky.

Keep mixing.....You'll see it start to come together.

Keep mixing...it's starting to whip together nicely and become fluffy.

You know it's ready when it starts to form peaks and it's white and fluffy.

Put it into a quart container and...

'Voila! Refrigerate right away so it can solidify. It'll be spreadable right from the fridge and you'll get a good dose of healthy fats too!

Spelt Pizza Success!

2011-12-17T21:36:00.009-07:00

I finally made a great spelt pizza! Spelt is THE ORIGINAL WHEAT. It was the staple grain until the end of the 19th century. Our pioneers didn't used the stuff we call wheat. They used spelt, but to them they called it wheat. But with modern farming came people searching for a more efficient grain. Basically they made a hybrid and called it wheat, then called the old stuff Spelt. {This is why I believe in the Word of Wisdom, when it says 'wheat for man', God was talking about what we call today spelt, because it is truly good for every body and can be adapted to 'the weakest of the weak' (D&C 89)} In the 1980s, in Europe, they found that more and more people were not doing well with the wheat and so began farming spelt again and after more demand it is finally available to us again. YAY! But, my first experience with spelt was not so great. After trying to make spelt bread and it turning out like this...

I researched Spelt some more and found out exactly what it is and how to work with it. This is what my favorite grain guy, Chef Brad, says in his cookbook.

A super grain in its own right, nothing can be said bad about spelt except its cost. Because it has to be harvested differently than wheat and the yield is so much smaller, the price is high. For wheat-intolerant people, however, it is well worth the cost. Spelt is a true non-hybrid grain, and spelt flour can be easily substituted for wheat flour in baked goods. Spelt contains the eight essential amino acids. It is about 60% higher in protein than wheat and contains B vitamins, iron, potassium, magnesium, and fiber. This grain with the deliciously light, nutty flavor has been grown and eaten around the world for the last 5,000 years.

Health Benefits are:

People with a range of health issues, including digestive problems, arthritis, Lyme’s disease, migraines, behavioral issues, skin irritations, irritable bowel syndrome, and others report that they feel better eating spelt rather than common wheat.
It is a food that our body recognizes as food, not one that was created for modern conveniences. As we like to say, “Eat spelt, your body will thank you.”
Spelt’s relatively fragile gluten is easily broken apart during the chewing and mixing action which allows the enzymes and acid secreted during the digestive process to work on the surface of the food. During the digestive process, wheat forms a bolus which remains a ball making it harder to digest.

Upon further research I learned that when using Spelt, to remember that the gluten is more fragile than wheat and so mix it in only half the time that you would if you were using wheat in the recipe. THAT'S why my bread looked like that and fell flat. I mixed the begeezes out of that bread so I broke down the gluten. SO SAD. But, I decided to get brave and make some spelt pizza and it turned out freakin' awesome!!!!
Here's my recipe:

1 C. warm water (110 degrees)
1 TBS. honey
2 TBS. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
3 1/4 C. spelt flour, divided.
2 heaping tsp. dry yeast

Mix all ingredients, and half of flour with yeast on top. Mix SLOWLY & gently for about 2 min while adding the rest of the flour. Cover mixing bowl with towel and let rise for 30 min. Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside for 30 min. Roll out pizza on parchment paper and top with sauce, cheese and toppings. Use cutting board (or pizza board if you have one) to transfer pizza to oven. Cook for 10 min. Remove. Let cool 10 min, then enjoy!

The KEY to making pizza is a pizza stone! I found mine for only $7 and it works great. It gets hot enough to make a crispy crust and soft center. With Mr. Engineer here, it kills us to heat the oven to 500 degrees for 30 minutes, but it makes a huge difference in the crust! Look at us vegetarians eating pepperoni, gasp! Granted, the kids and husband haven't had meat in about 2 weeks, so I guess it's okay:) The cheese is part goat milk mozzarella and part regular cheddar.

I encourage you to try Spelt, we buy ours at Preparing Wisely. For a 50 lb. bag, it's $55. So about $1/lb. Wheat in bulk costs about 25 cents/lb. So yes, it is more expensive, but OH the taste is wonderful and it is so much easier to digest and so good for you! We are not wheat intolerant in our home, but I feel we get a lot of wheat as it is with bread and really EVERY packaged product has wheat or some form of it. I think really that is why SO many people now have a wheat intolerance. We decided to bring Spelt into our diets to give our bodies more variety and give our bodies a break from digesting so much of the newer (hybrid) wheat.

I have made pancakes and muffins easy, and I was so excited that my dough rose beautifully! I think I may try bread again. I said may. But if you have not had spelt, you HAVE to try it. The taste will switch you over. Wheat tastes so harsh to me now compared with the light nutty flavor of Spelt. Go on, just try it!

Eating better feels better? What?!

2011-11-13T22:16:00.005-07:00

I just had to report that I have been doing great eating healthy. A high raw diet has SO MANY amazing benefits. I see a major difference in my body. Here is my routine..

Right when I wake up I drink a quart of lemon water. To me, warm tastes better than cold because it feels like a "morning tea".

(This detoxes the body, by flushing out all the waste your body has been working on getting rid of at night. At first it's hard to swallow, but you feel SO good afterward and the best part is you get CLEANED OUT. I'm talking about poop people.)

For breakfast, I make a quart of green juice. Organic celery, cucumber, carrots, green apple, spinach, swiss chard. You don't need a juicer. In fact it's better to blend it in your blender and then strain it through a paint strainer bag (Lowe's $2.00) The reason I juice is because you can get a lot more nutrients if you juice by removing the fiber. Also, in the morning, giving yourself green vegetables is the best thing for you, but your digestion isn't quite ready to work on all that fiber yet. I know, we hear EVERYWHERE that we need oatmeal or some other fiber-rich food so we aren't hungry till lunch. But, actually, we want fast digesting foods so we are clean in and out. That's why so many people are gravitating toward raw diets. I get all my protein, minerals and nutrients in my green juice and again, it CLEANS ME OUT. If I'm hungry before lunch I'll eat fruit, but I am usually not. P.S I'll usually add 1 TBS. of Hemp oil to my juice. It provides me with a good 3-6-9 blend of healthy fats.

At lunch I'll eat raw foods. There are SO MANY amazing raw meals to make. I have been enjoying trying new things, and there are some I am stuck on because I love them SO MUCH. Eating raw is SO much more than salads. If you look online, you might get discouraged with complex dishes, but there are amazing simple ones too. My absolute favorite is asian lettuce wraps. Think Cheesecake factory chicken lettuce wraps without the chicken. SO good, that if I'm out on the town I rush home instead of going out to eat because I am so excited to eat my lettuce wraps. Basically it's shredded carrots, shredded purple cabbage, avocado, bean sprouts & cilantro wrapped in lettuce and dipped in this amazing tahini sauce. Tahini is ground sesame seeds and tastes and looks just like peanut butter. The sauce is a mixture of tahini, garlic, ginger, soy sauce & honey. Seriously, love this dish I think I'm salivating right now just thinking of it.

NOTE: I'm still new at this raw 'till dinner thing so I have been taking it easy, eating the same lunch for a week then trying a new thing the next week. I have been kind of loving soups lately too, so I'll have to try some raw soups this week.

If I'm hungry before dinner I'll eat a LaraBar. If you want to eat healthy, seriously go buy a billion larabars. They are all raw, with simple ingredients yet taste amazing. No soy or bran or anything in it. Dates for sweetness and nuts to provide your body with healthy fats. Just pure raw goodness that your body will love you for.

Dinner is something I am always ready for because after eating raw during the day, I am ready for some good cooked grains and such. I just pick something from my vegetarian recipe book and go for it. We have some definite favorites like vegetarian pot pie, salmon patties & couscous, mango quinoa salad, and spelt/oat pancakes with organic butter, bananas & real maple syrup. Tomorrow I'm going to try orange shrimp with fried brown rice.

Dessert THE ABSOLUTE best thing about eating raw is the desserts. I know your thinking fruit, but no way this is way better. I have made cherry chocolate bomb shakes(organic frozen cherries, cocoa powder, ice, honey, goat milk), cheesecake (did you know if you soak cashews in water for an hour then blend with lemon, honey, coconut oil & vanilla you get cheesecake filling? Slap that on a natural graham cracker crust or a date and nut crust and you are good to go!

I have noticed SUCH a change in my body. My tummy is nice and flat (because of the quick-exit foods), I feel satisfied and NOT deprived. I don't eat anything with sugar or white flour. I cannot believe I just said that sentence. It's really nice to not feel addicted to that junk. One quote I loved from a book I read said,

"If it takes a lab to make, it takes a lab to digest and your body will not bother with it. It will recognize it as toxic and store it with all the other toxins, in your comfy FAT CELLS."

I thought after I did the juice feast I would probably gain weight back, but it has been opposite. I keep losing but I feel like I'm eating a TON of food. No more portion control over here, I eat as much as I want. I have noticed a difference in the inflammation and chronic pain in my body. It's easing up and I feel mostly only pain at night when I'm tired and ready for bed. As far as Thanksgiving goes, I am eating turkey and anything that looks good to me including pies with all kinds of junk in it. Because I am eating so well, I feel confident about letting go for one day.

You will not be sorry for eating a raw, plant-based diet. You will be freed from your addiction to food. If you are worried about transitioning, a good book is The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose. If you are wondering about protein, read The China Study by Dr. Campbell, a scientist who in trying to prove the importance of animal protein found amazing things, and it converted him to a more plant-based diet himself. Just read it, it's awesome.

HalloWazeen

2011-11-13T21:27:00.001-07:00

Halloween is probably one of my favorite holidays. I admit it, I'm a sucker for zombie movies and the like. Every year my family gets together, well except my parents because they're scaredy cats, and we watch a SCARY MOVIE! Last year was Devil, this year was Secret Window. There's a really scary one, Insidious, we want to watch, but even WE have our limits, people.

Lydia in the school parade. She wanted to be a puppy that I'm pretty sure she's been for the last 3 years as you can tell by the length of her pants. Oh well. Seriously her teacher would kill me if she knew I posted this, but I LOVE IT! It's hilarious.

Ethan was a spy/secret agent. Kevin and I laughed and laughed that he was wearing our old bulky phone headset. Just too cute!

Kevin and I foraged around in our halloween box and came up with a referee and I was a little girl turned zombie. While I was doing my makeup the kids just kept staring and staring. They haven't got to the scary fun of halloween yet I guess. I should've done my makeup better, it would have been fun to really scare the kids.

An 'Ode to Peter the Sheep

2011-11-13T18:09:00.003-07:00

It was a sad week last week. Our poor sheep Peter, died. He seemed fine to us (although we've never raised a sheep before), he ate our grass, played with our baby goat and seemed happy and healthy. BUT, now we don't think he was very healthy because, well, he's dead.

One day I noticed how Peter was laying down while grazing. I thought that seemed weird but didn't think anything of it. I reminded myself to go check later that day if he had a thorn or something in his hoof. I got busy and forgot to go check on him and when Kevin got home he told me Peter looked kinda dead. We all ran outside and just couldn't believe it! There he was just laying there dead.

I thought the kids were sad until I looked outside and had to yell for them to stop poking dead Peter with a stick and come eat their dinner. Oh and be sure to wash their hands. eek.

Ok, so normally I'm not sentimental with my animals. I just am not that sad when they die, or I, ahem, sell them. BUT, I felt SO SAD for Peter. I can honestly say he was the nicest sheep I ever met. Granted, he was the only sheep I ever met & we were raising him with plans to butcher him for the meat, but still SO SAD! Even more sad is that I had just finished convincing Kevin to NOT butcher Peter. I mean, I had pretty much done everything except make a Powerpoint presentation to convince Kevin. Sheesh, Peter, then you had to go and die on me!

We were in a hurry to eat dinner and go to parent teacher conferences that night so the burial would have to wait till dark. When we got home, we put the kids to bed and headed out to the "animal graveyard" for the burial with a shovel and a flashlight. We really haven't had that many animals die on us, just Kevin's parents old dog Ginger and Lydia's bunny Toots that our dog Dora "allegedly" killed. Now, Kevin and I don't have a great history of burying animals. It usually consists of Kevin digging a hole while I try to convince him it's entirely too small. And yet again, I was right.

Once we dug the hole, we trudged over to where dead Peter was. And what we realized is...because of natural things that happen to dead animals once their dead and lying there for a couple hours, let me just say the hole we dug was DEFINITELY not big enough.

We went from feeling really sad for Peter to gagging at the grossness of it all to laughing in spite of the situation. It was a crazy night in the dark just the two of us. Well, three. Poor Peter. Poor poor stinky Peter.

*Update* We found out that new lambs can get pneumonia real fast when the weather turns so that's probably what he died from.

Just 2 Dudes hangin' out.

2011-11-13T18:09:00.002-07:00

Got to give a shout out to my 2 new nephews. Cru & Creed are 1 week apart and the cutest little boogers ever. I kind of can't wait till they start fighting over toys, is that wrong?

Legoland!

2011-11-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

I finished my juice feast just in time for our Legoland vacation! It's a good thing too because there was no way I could have juiced on the trip! Since I tend to get motion sick, Kevin convinced me to take some Dramamine and normally I hate taking that stuff, but it worked wonders! It was so nice to not have to drive and not feel sick either. The kids were great on the trip (as always) as long as there are enough snacks! Kevin works hard to find the cheapest hotel with the best reviews and he always finds pretty dang good hotels. We had a good laugh because he got a room with just one bed, sooooo the kids had a campout on the floor, which Ethan said was the, "BEST THING EVER".

Legoland is super fun and not too busy. We had a blast looking at all the lego statues. Look at Hagrid, now that is one sexy beast!

The Juice Feast.

2011-10-10T20:33:00.002-07:00

I embarked on a crazy adventure. One filled with lots and lots of JUICE. Yup, 21 days of straight juice. Let me explain...

It's called a Juice Feast, not to be confused with a Juice FAST. In a fast, you usually restrict calories, a Juice Feast is where you strive to get 1500 calories (or more) of juice. I drank 4 quarts of juice a day. 3 green, 1 fruit. And do you know what?

It was THE HARDEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE.

Wait, let me rephrase that.

It was the hardest thing I HAVE EVER CHOSEN TO DO.

Because a lot of things in life are hard but we can't necessarily choose or control them. This was hard because I was choosing to put my body through it.

The theory behind a juice feast is that if you be sure to FEAST and not FAST, you can effectively shut down your digestive system whilst not starving yourself. When you give your body pure nutrition and let your digestive system rest a little, your body can really go to work to cleanse and heal. It sounds a little crazy, but it's amazing how fast it becomes normal to well, just drink juice for your meals. I get asked a lot if I was hungry. NEVER. I was full, all the time. Of juice, but yes very full and I really didn't want solid food too bad. The absolute worst part was the detoxing from all the junk. YUCK. At only Day 2 I started to feel really sick, like the flu. I was weak, I had a sore throat, headaches, soooo tired. I couldn't believe how bad I felt. But I knew it would get better so I stuck with it and gradually it got better and better by Day 6 I felt totally normal. It was kind of amazing to me that I could really live off of just juices. Mind you I was eating about 10 lbs. or fresh organic produce a day, along with some supplements and raw oils. But still, amazing.

I learned some neat things about my body through the process.

I learned I am tougher than I thought.
I learned that raw organic produce can give me lots of energy.
I learned that sugar and junk had a real, live hold on me and I was addicted.

One thing I really wanted to acquire through this process was a healed body. I truly believe that we can heal our bodies with whole foods. It was hard not to get frustrated that my back & dizzy spells weren't instantly healed. I mean, here I was sacrificing food!(which is basically what living is for, right?) and so I should be better.

I don't know if anybody knows my back story but basically I am dealing with scar tissue & nerve damage from my surgeries. Yeah, note to self, don't get back surgeries. I've had a lot of advice from doctors and it can heal, but it can take time. I am SO SO grateful to this new chiropractor that I've been seeing, because he knew what it was, when everybody other surgeon was shrugging their shoulders at why I still have pain.

After I finished the juice feast and I went back to check on everything he noticed that I have my reflex back in my right leg! Since the last surgery, I've had a "dead" leg. Every doctor tries to hit that leg to get a reflex and until a week ago, there has been nothing. SO, let's celebrate small milestones!

I think the most important thing I've learned is that

Sometimes the small things we do, can bring wonderful changes. But changes can take time.

So, in conclusion, I'm glad I did the Juice Feast. It was a good experience, it was a good thing to do for my body, and it didn't hurt to lose 12 lbs. I am really really enjoying eating better too. I feel free from sugar and the like. I don't crave it but I don't feel like I won't ever have it again. I am looking forward to a piece of Thanksgiving pie for sure. Also, I am proud to announce I am a (mostly) raw vegetarian now! The only animal products I do eat are our own goat milk and eggs & of course yummy seafood. Mostly I try to eat raw yummy foods until dinner, then I'll usually have my grains or cooked foods and maybe for dessert I'll have a raw dessert, which are awesome! The thing I did the most during the feast is research all kinds of recipes. We decided to not purchase meat, but when we are at family gatherings and sometimes going out to eat, the kids & husband will eat meat then(I may eat meat at holidays). That, in our eyes, is eating meat sparingly. We are not choosing to eat less meat because we feel sensitive towards animals. It's because meat, processed food, cow's dairy & sugar are extremely acidic and to the body. I made an awesome recipe book that has about 30 vegetarian dishes if anybody is interested I can email it to you. Here's to eating better!

Peace out & EAT YOUR VEGGIES

Spread the word...

2011-08-24T12:39:00.004-07:00

We are officially certified to adopt!

We are excited for this new chapter in our lives, so tell all your peeps about us so we can bring a new baby to our home!

(and if you like, you can post our button on your blog >>>)

Summer Ends aaaand Back to School

2011-08-12T19:17:00.003-07:00

This summer was filled with movies, ka-rot-tay(karate), piano lessons with Gramascilla, lots of swimming at BOTH grandmas awesome pools and hanging out with pregnant Becky. The summer calendar always works wonders. Every day the kids go to check what we're doing and if there's nothing they just go off in their rooms and imagine away. We got in some good home schooling with music/singing lessons, crafts and math facts. But a lot of it was just lazy days which I LOVE. It's great to see the kids being creative on these days.

One day I gave them 2 kid proof scissors, 3 rolls of tape, and all the boxes in our recycle bin.

PRESENTING......mousy & ratty town

Check out the King's room. But be sure to wipe your feet first.

I ♥ my kids.

We ended the summer with a

Back to School Feast

on the menu was:

rotisserie chicken

garlic mashed potatoes

fresh wheat rolls

steamed veggies

and sparkling mango lemonade to drink

Our theme this year was "Be TRUE"

And of course, no meal/dr. appt/grocery store/restaurant/grandma's house/play date is complete without

Mousy

Ratty

Mousy and Ratty blessed our family with their presence 2 years ago and ever since then have been at the

epicenter of every. single. flippin. playtime.

There have been some sad days where Ratty & Mousy just can't be found, but they always come back to us. Kevin and I find ourselves talking about them in normal everyday conversation. Because they are not just any toy. They are the Woody and Buzz to our little Andy's and without them, well, life just wouldn't be worth living.

My did it!

2011-07-12T16:42:00.003-07:00

So as you know we have 2 goats that we milk every morning. Who am I kidding, I MILK EVERY MORNING. I'm like the little red hen. "Who will help me milk this goat?" Needless to say I get a lot of "Not I's" And then we actually drink the milk! Without pasteurizing it! Shocking, I know. Every day I get a half gallon of milk. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it sure adds up! We probably only drink about a quart a day so we end up with a lot of extra milk. So begins my adventure on the many uses of milk....

YOGURT: To make yogurt you first have to heat it to 180 degrees. Not to really pasteurize it, but to break down the protein molecules so it can be changed into yogurt. Then you put a teeny tiny amount of culture(here's where I buy my culture), which is a powdered form of Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Streptococcus salivarius, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus casei in a quart of milk and then you let it sit for 8 hours at 110 degrees. Some people put it in a crockpot in a cooler to keep it insulated at that temperature, but I bought a Yogotherm. It takes a lot of courage to let milk sit on your counter like that, much less EAT IT! But it does taste like yogurt, really good yogurt in fact. Like McDonald's parfait yogurt. But BETTER. We eat it in a bowl with fruit or granola or honey. Then I bought a this popsicle mold and we make frozen yogurt bars. I use it in my homemade ranch dressing too, recipe here. The coolest thing about making yogurt is keeps on giving. I buy a culture that has enough for about 8 batches of yogurt, but the thing is, when you want to make yogurt again, just use a couple tablespoons of your old yogurt which already has the live bacteria in it. So I still have the rest of the powdered culture in my freezer. So, if your up to making your own yogurt, grab some milk (yes it can be cow's milk I won't hate you) and try it!

SOAP:

Soap ended up being WAY easier than I thought it would be. If you try to search online, you'll find millions of different recipes for soaps. The benefit of using goat's milk is that it is so moisturizing. So I had my milk, but then I realized I needed Lye. Where the heck do you find lye? Well it took me F O R E V E R but I eventually found that Ace Hardware is the only place that caries 100% lye. I was so freaked out of my mind to use it, since if it gets on your skin it burns the bageezes out of it. Eventually, my desire to clean my body with homemade soap overcame my fear and I actually made soap. I used this recipe here. Gotta love Martha Stewart. When you make soap, you have to first freeze the milk because the lye is so hot it'll burn it if you don't. Pretty crazy. I also added some other oils like olive oil and coconut oil then poured it into the molds. Then you have to leave it alone for 3 weeks for saponification. That is when the lye interacts with the air and decides not to burn your skin anymore. I finally got to use it just yesterday my face is already looking so clear! I may be on to something here!

CHEESE:
Cheese is freakin' difficult to make! It takes practice and EXACT measuring and SPECIFIC ingredients and EXACT recipe following skills. I learned through all my research that if I wanted to make cheese my only real option was mozzerella. With any other cheese it has to be aged at 55 degrees for 3 months and I don't know how in the heck I would do that in Arizona, so I decided-a to try-a mozzerella!!! There's a bunch of ingredients you have to buy like rennet, lipase and a mesothermophiliac culture. But after a lot of work, it turns into smooth, shiny and stretchy mozzerella. It makes the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches, but I still love my cheddar cheese so I guess I'll have to give in and buy COW'S milk cheddar cheese every once in a while! *gasp*

ICE CREAM:
When we make ice cream, it's really not ice cream, it's ice milk. Goat's milk is naturally homogenized which means, the cream doesn't separate. So we can't make straight ice CREAM persay, but it sure tastes like it! We use this little handcrank ice cream maker. We're having fun making all kinds of ice cream. The kid's call it goat ice cream, mmmm sounds appetizing!!

So there it is. It's fun to learn how to make things homemade and I like doing something that our ancestors used to do all the time. It makes me really appreciate that they used to it everyday!

I know, I know

2011-06-18T19:28:00.005-07:00

Gosh, why do I not blog more! Here's the skinny on what's been happening in our lives...

I canned strawberry sauce (recipe found here) so we could instantly flavor our yogurt. Goat milk yogurt that is.

One of our chickens tortured and eventually ate a snake.

And then for some reason this happened to one of their eggs.

We finally shaved our sheep dog. (To be fair, we did this back in January, I just forgot to share it.) We were laughing so hard almost peeing our pants.

Then this darling little girl graduated kindergarten! Whew!

Then, this adorable boy turned 8! And Grandma made the ultimate mother huge squid.

And then he got baptized! How could you not love that smile?

And THEN...life wouldn't be normal without some home improvements...

Here's what we've been working on.

A MUD ROOM! Well, not a mud 'room' per say, but an organized area so mom can be happy. This cost us only about 50 bucks because we already had these skinny little cabinets that we didn't know what to do with. I'm so glad we saved them!

Voila'

Remember my old, ugly door? Neither do I 'cause I have this now!

I bought this solid wood knotty alder door from Construction Lots in Phoenix, which has awesome deals on home improvement items. Only $140 for this bad boy, and then I painted it and added molding and yeah, I'm pretty much in love with it.

And Finally...

We got some great family pictures taken! And now, the summer begins and at the end of the summer we will have some exciting news to share!

Lydia's Tangled Birthday

2011-04-11T16:50:00.003-07:00

She's 6! I can't believe it! Here's how we celebrated...and decorated.(How did we survive before google searches for party decor?) I still haven't painted the molding on my new front door.

I used yarn and made a big long mother braid and hung it over the door.

Added a little sign

Stinkin' cute if you ask me.

This banner took more hours than I'd like to admit. But it was fun and adorable.

Tangled cups and napkins

Originally Lydia wanted just hot dogs and pizza. But since my kids don't have any cousins except for Baby Jack, and we needed to please adults, we convinced her to have hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, chips & dip, and this jello. Again, I found this online and it's supposed to look like the boat on the water like in the movie. It was super easy and I think I'll do a lot more party food with jell-o from now on.

I forgot to take pictures of the games, but we played Sheepy, Sheepy go to grass, Hide and seek, and some other game I can't remember the name of. Then we got to open presents!

A coloring book from Todd & Becky

Tangled the movie from GramaScilla and Grandpa 'Scilla! She got a purse too!

It's out of the picture here, but Grandma & Grandpa Daley got her a Webkinz!

A coloring book and puzzle from Great-Grandma Clare!

Pringles!! Ah, our tradition of getting Pringles for your birthday and the joy of not having to share with anyone. I can't wait until my birthday...thanks Jessica!

A bunny from Angie. Are you trying to replace Toots, Angie? Nothing can replace Toots!

The cake! Have I used enough exclamation points ?! I think not!

Took forever to blow out all these candles. 6 is a lot of candles.

Now, I wanted to let go lanterns like in the movie, but that was easier said than done and then we were gonna put lights in the balloons, but that probably isn't allowed for airplanes and such, so we just let go balloons!

What a great birthday, and after we got to watch Tangled all together.

Lydia is such a crazy girl. She loves to eat, but mostly fruit. She hates chocolate and peanut butter! The nerve! She's not a girly girl. She doesn't like dress up or dolls, but she loves to play hard outside and run and pretend. She's great with animals and helps a lot with the goats, chickens and puppies. Peter follows her everywhere and everywhere that Liddy goes, the lamb is sure to go. We love her so much and love her little personality.

Spring, Spring, Spring!

2011-04-03T19:56:00.007-07:00

My sister Tara said our house at springtime reminds her of this song. This video IS pretty spot on. I mean, just the other day, Kevin and I were prancing around in the fields with the goats, so......

Here are some pictures of all the new babies at our house.
(and some pretty cute human kids too.)

Our newest addition, Peter. Peter and the WOLFords. Classic. And no we did not choose his name.

And why did we get a lamb, you ask? Well, because so we can eat him of course! Well, actually we bought him so he would keep our backyard mowed. Mowing our backyard during the summer is a BEAST! It is a myth that goats keep your grass short because goats are browsers, not grazers. They'll eat weeds like nobody's business, but they really hate grass. Sheep on the other hand, they love it and can live off of it. Have you ever watched Pride and Predjudice? How do you think they kept their grass mowed back then? That's right, sheep! And it just so happens that Peter is a Katadin Sheep, which is a meat sheep. Now I'm not sure what lamb tastes like but from the little old lady I bought him from she says it's excellent. So, if all goes well, we will let Peter get big and fat off of our grass all summer and come fall, we just might get up the courage to get us some homemade lamb chops. Stay tuned. Now if only we could get an animal to eat all of our millions of leaves. Hmmmmm I hear pigs like leaves.....

Our 2 baby doelings from Lacey. Poor kids just got disbudded. Which basically means we burned their horns to smithereens. Remember how I said that registered goats have really long, weird names? Well Lacey's real name is Leather and Lace. So FYI in the goat world, you try to name the babies similar to the mothers so you can easily remember which line they came from. We thought we might as well have fun with it. So what names did we choose for these two babies?

Polyester Fabric & Cotton Blend

Here is Angelcake in all her glory. She is a really small doe but right now she is pregnant and SO HUGE! We're thinking maybe 3 or 4 in there, she's already past her due date though so it could be any day now. It's gonna be fun to think of names for the babies. We're thinking Cinnamon Bun, or Rice Krispy Treat. Something to make the AGS registration committee laugh out loud.

And last but not least......PUPPIES!!!!!! It's really amazing how much joy little puppies can bring into your life. We have a blast and love these little guys and gals so much. Our kids spend every minute with them and already have their favorites.

What I need to hear most right now

2011-03-23T19:08:00.001-07:00

"Patience--the ability to put our desires on hold for a time--is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want, and we want it now. Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times, bitter...Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace...patience is far more than simply waiting for something to happen--patience requires actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results don't appear instantly. There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience mean active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can--working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simple enduring, it is enduring well! Patience is a godly attribute that can heal souls, unlock treasures of knowledge and understanding, and transform ordinary men and women into saints and angels. Patience is truly a fruit of the Spirit.

- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

10 Years...Whew! We made it!

2011-03-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

February Around Here

2011-02-27T13:27:00.001-07:00

February started out with a trip to the cabin and fun in the snow.

I am sorry to report that Lydia's poor bunny, Toots, died in a horrific accident. Actually Dora just played with her too rough and she didn't make it. It was a sad day at our house but we buried her next to Ginger so they could be friends. If any more animals die at our house, we'll have to make an official animal graveyard.

The whole time stupid Dora was hiding because she knew she had hurt that bunny!

Valentines Day was fun because Gramscilla got all of us a HUGE gummy bear and the kids ate theirs in about two days. Awesome.

And lastly, we all caught the cold/flu for this season. I'm sure our immune systems were down after all the Valentine's candy and junk and so we are hunkering down here at home and trying to get better. The kids got creative and they wanted me to take a picture of their animals, I'm not quite sure what they were playing.

Funny Farm Experience #2 - The Great Goat Escape

2011-01-17T17:30:00.004-07:00

First off, let me just say we consider ourselves fairly intelligent people. Although after I tell you this story, you might think otherwise...

One thing you probably didn't know about goats is that they are incredible jumpers. Really, incredible! We have found that a slow moving, 80 lb. goat can be very deceiving. . They have great balance and can use a small piece of wood to scale an 8 ft block wall. We know because we got a call once that our goat was in the neighbors yard.

Recently, an addition was made to our goat family, a new pregnant doe named Leather & Lace. That's her whole name. So now we have Leather & Lace and Angelcake. Seriously, why people choose these kinds of names I'll never know. I really should change their names to something more goaty, like Gertrude or Madge. So, one day we looked outside our window and there was Angel on the back porch. We put her back, double checked the gate lock, and the next thing you know, she's on the porch again. Thinking we probably aren't shutting the gate good enough, we do this again............................................................................

about 5 more times.

Then we decided to get serious.

So we stood and watched, and waited, and watched, and waited and got bored and went back to our activites and then not 1 minute later, guess who was on our back porch again?

If you're thinking Angelcake, then you're right.

I marched out there and told her to quit fooling around and get back in her pen.

But then she just stared at me so I grabbed her collar and put her back myself.

Kevin and I decided to set up a camera to 'spy' on the goat.

The kids got to work on their drawings of how the goat is escaping.

These were their predictions:
Ethan's are in Blue and Lydia's in Pink.

She jumps on top of the fence and balances, then jumps over.

The goat really wanting to escape.

She climbs through the bottom of the chicken pen.

She waits until we stop looking at her before she escapes.

She jumps on the igloo and then the goat shelter and then over the fence.

She jumps clear over the fence.

She jumps on top of the feeding station and then over the fence into the canal.

She uses her super powers to stretch her arm out and reach the latch on the top of the chicken pen.

AND THE WINNER IS.......

Kevin!

He was right, she was lifting up a piece of the chicken coop with her nose and sliding through it to get to the yard. Whew! And it only took us about 2 days to figure it out!

Christmas & New Years I think is..... pretty cool.

2011-01-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

-CHRISTMAS EVE-

The festivities started with our Daley traditional dinner of yummy BLT's, Fruit Salads, Pasta Salads, and Guacamole!

Grandpa read the story "Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect".

The most fun of all was the fact that this little guy was here...
and I guess Jessica and Tyler too ;)

We can't get enough of Jack S. Belnap!
(Sorry to Jessica and Tyler that my kids basically mauled little Jack while he was here. They consider a baby a completely foreign object in our house!)

-CHRISTMAS DAY-

The kids have tiny stockings, I still haven't upgraded from baby stockings so they got...
Toothpaste & Toothbrushes!

What!? Santa brought you a bunny!

Pringles! (a daley family tradition!)

Dad got them a huge air hockey table!

Pants!

On to Grandma Daley's for some Sausage Gravy & Biscuits!

And to hold Baby Jack...

( Believe it or not, we actually visit the in-laws too, but I don't have any pictures of our relaxing Christmas Day and party at Pam & Chris's)

Lydia can't get enough of this bunny. I'm not sure if this bunny considers herself lucky for all the love and attention she will get from a sweet little girl, or thinks life will be pretty much torturous and will mainly consist of being dressed into various doll outfits.

-NEW YEARS EVE-

Lienna and Ludmilla! Our beautiful Russian sisters!

Fun Minute to Win It Games

My favorite person in the whole world right now!

Let the Games Begin!

2011-01-09T18:31:00.059-07:00

Ethan's Piano Recital

2011-01-09T17:35:00.001-07:00

This year we decided to start Ethan in piano lessons. He caught on really fast and loves it! His teacher is awesome and gives lots of incentives to keep practicing. Here is his piano debut...

Soccer Fest!

2010-11-28T20:26:00.002-07:00

2 kids +1 team + Dad as the coach = Best Soccer Team of all Time. Need I say more?

Halloweeny

2010-11-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, I shaved my dog to look like a sheep. I am that cool.

Positively Positive

2010-10-02T20:38:00.003-07:00

My camera's still broken and there's not much going on right now anyway, so I thought I'd write about another thing I've been working on. POSITIVITY. I laughed out loud when I saw this picture. I'm seriously gonna make Kevin do this pose with me on our next family pictures.

I feel like I've grown in these past 3 months than in the last 3 years Much of it is attributed to a new Doctor I've been seeing because he has shown me how my physical health can be greatly affected by emotional health. (I could write a whole book on how he's helped me!) For example, he always says "Make it a good day!" because whether or not the day is good depends on how I choose to experience it. So, First I had to focus on overcoming my fears. Then, my next step was positivity. I started repeating over and over again my affirmations. First I felt so weird. All I could picture was
"What about Bob?"

Then I found this video and felt inspired

Really it all comes back to is believing we are of worth and we deserve the best. As a daughter of God I know that He knows my potential but it's up to me to develop it. Positivity can do wonders.

Our minds are amazing and if we tell ourselves we are strong, easy going, have good common sense, then we will have those qualtites. I should also mention that I read that being positive does not ignore reality. A positive person can recognize a negative reality but find something positive in the situation. So anyway, that's what I've been doing lately. Talking to myself. Once you get over the craziness of the whole thing, it really does push all those negative thoughts away and allows you to become the positive person you want to be. Also, here's a video I posted earlier and I love it, so here it goes again.

On second thought...

2010-09-06T01:28:00.006-07:00

No more private blog for me. See, I'm trying this new thing where I avoid being abnormally paranoid. Is there even such a thing as normal paranoid? I know I need to let go of my fears and anxieties...after all isn't this why we were placed on this earth? To overcome them?

Did you know that there is actually NO FEAR and ANXIETY in the world? None. If I asked you to go bring me back some fear or bring me back some anxiety...you couldn't do it.

There are only people thinking fearful thoughts and thinking anxious thoughts.

Wow.

When I first heard that statement, it took a while to process. See, I've been letting my fears and anxieties rule me.

And although I have tried to grow in other areas of my life, I just don't seem to get anywhere because I have this chain tied to my leg and on the other end is a big hunk of fear. Funny thing about fear, it is just a thought but it can literally stop us in our tracks.

I remember when I was in high school I was given a small book of quotes by my YW leaders. I still remember this quote by Marion G. Romney. He said, "Fear is the devil's first and chief tool."

That makes sense because fear can stop us from progressing in this life. And who would want that more than the adversary?

Here's my new favorite quote:

"We should be careful to get out of an
experience only the wisdom that is in it--
and stop there; lest we be like the cat
that sits down on a hot stove lid.
She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again
--and that is well;
but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.

MARK TWAIN

Here's an example of me NOT gaining wisdom from an experience.

I used to enjoy speaking in church. Not love it, but I kind of enjoyed it. I would get nervous but I liked researching a topic and once I stood up I could do all right. After I started getting dizzy and having vertigo spells, I became instantly fearful of ANY situation where I was in charge and any circumstance where I was depended on. I said no immediately to any request. That was all fine in the beginning because I WAS dizzy a lot and felt like I might fall over anytime. I kept thinking when things got better I would resume old ways, but I was still I couldn't get past the fear of what might happen. Even when I was feeling better, I would still avoid doing things because of the fearful thought that I might be dizzy in 3 weeks. I laugh now that I used to think like that, but it's true.

As I talk to more and more people I realize our fears are pretty much the same. They have to do with my children, my health, church obligations, using my talents to help others, and pretty much any negative thing I may or may not experience in the near future. Now, it's not like I sit around all day peeking out my curtains and getting nervous diarrhea before I leave the house. (okay maybe once or twice before some medical procedure- but who doesn't, right?) But it's the little worrying, fearful thoughts that are harming my spirit. I've noticed as I've turned my thoughts over to this:

I have become so much more free. My mind is open and I can push my thoughts away from the "what if's" to peace, acceptance and most of all Trust in the Lord that no matter what, no matter if my absolute worst fears come true, I will be okay.

Summer 2010

2010-08-12T14:29:00.002-07:00

Well this summer has definitely been interesting. I decided since this was the summer before BOTH kids would be in school all day I needed to throw away all my "to do lists" and focus on having fun with the kids. My camera broke on me just before school was out so I didn't get any pictures, but I did snag some pictures of my awesome summer calendar, and I am totally going to do this every year. It really helps when the kids say, "I'm bored, what are we going to do?"

I'm also really proud of myself for sticking to our schedule and doing summer homeschooling. Basically I reviewed spelling words for Ethan and Lydia. Ethan's been driving me bananas because all year he could not seem to remember how to spell trick words. He'd spell "what" like "wot" and "they" like "thay". I decided maybe if I gave him enough motivation he'd learn how to spell. Hallelujah I was right! I set up a "small rewards and big rewards" list. Every day we'd practice 5 words and later in the afternoon we'd do a little test. If he got them right, he'd pick a small reward. Then we did ONE BIG TEST and he picked the Star Wars Lego Game as his reward. Needless to say, after that we ditched any sort of school or schedule and spent all day battling Darth Maul, General Grievous, and Darth Vader. Luckily it was almost the end of summer anyway. With Lydia I finally had to stop teaching her anymore for fear she would surpass the Kindergarten level. Poor Ethan, one day when we were doing a spelling test and he couldn't remember how to spell the word, Lydia leaned over and whispered the correct spelling. Gotta love those two!! Later in the summerI had a bad back flare up. My back hates me. It really does! I am trying of course like I always say, a new thing and we'll see if we can't get a hold of these back issues! It really is quite frustrating and taxing on the family for me to be disabled. I'll tell you one thing about dealing with a chronic illness. It sure does make me grateful for the days I feel healthy and pain free. I only get really depressed by it when I miss out on important events. I was pretty depressed when I was bed ridden the day of meet the teacher night. I really wanted to be there and be involved. I know Kevin could do it, but you know how men are, they just don't remember to ask all the right questions and fill out all the right forms. I was a little better later on in the day so I decided to go and it all turned out okay although I had to walk pretty slow. I am so excited for the kids to enjoy school this year! I know everybody says this, but I can't believe I have a 2nd Grader and Kindergartner!

Night Terrors

2010-07-01T23:13:00.003-07:00

Lately Ethan's been having night terrors. The first time it happened I knew exactly what it was because I remember my little sister, Jessica having night terrors and it freaking me out. It's pretty easy to recognize because basically your child goes crazy. He bolts out of bed, wide-eyed and screaming. He's really confused and there's no consoling him. The worst part is that he doesn't recognize us. When he has a night terror, Ethan is a little more afraid of Kevin than me. The first time it happened I got Ethan out of the night terror pretty quickly because I got him to start talking about squids, his favorite sea animal.

This week has been rough with my back acting up again. Most of the time I don't have back pain or I just have little twinges here or there that I can keep under control. But, about 4-6 times a year I'll get a really bad flare up where I can barely walk and I basically have to lay in bed all day. It is during these times that I always pray that no scary robber tries to break into the house that night or that we have a fire, because well, I just can not move. Well, just as we were getting ready for bed, Kevin woke Ethan up to take him to the bathroom and Ethan just started freaking out.

It is so hard as a parent because while you try to be calm and try to console him, he literally thinks you are killing him. Kevin tried to bring him into me but he jumped back when he saw me like he didn't know who the heck I was. When that didn't work Kevin just tried to hold him and take him back to his room. He desperately screamed all down the hall I couldn't do anything but lay flat in bed while hearing Ethan scream that he's being kidnapped....

The combination of my frustrating back pain and Ethan's sobbing brought me to tears too. It just broke my heart because here I was laying in bed completely helpless. I knew he could snap out of it in 5 mins. but I listening to that was just horrible.

I guess night terrors are pretty common in kids and I know eventually he'll grow out of it. I just hope it's soon!

Oh and P.S Dear Back, please get better and be a good little back like you're supposed to.

The "Animal Area"

2010-05-30T20:12:00.005-07:00

I've been dreaming about this since the day we bought this house and now, a whole year later, it's completed! Well, almost. I wanted to build an animal area at the farthest part of our yard and make it easy to keep our animals. First we had to build up a big pad of dirt to keep it out of our irrigation. Luckily, we are having someone grade down our front yard so we had plenty of dirt to make this pad and a walkway all the way back to it.

Hard to believe but this took hours of planning and searching to find the right people to build it for me. I found a mexican guy to do the concrete, but to give me the good price, I had to order the concrete myself. "How much do I order?" I asked. " One jard." He said. "One Jar?" I asked. After about five more of these exchanges I realized he meant One Yard. We had a good laugh about that he and I.

Kevin says most people build animal shading for the animals, but I had animal shading built for me. This is my milking station in all it's glory. I have everything perfectly set up to keep me out of the irrigation, cover from the rain, and shade from the sun. I found a guy that gave me a great deal on the shading, but he I think he overcharged a little on the fencing. Oh well, live and learn right?

Lydia and I have been working hard on this chicken coop. And when I say that I mean I'VE been working really hard and Lydia's been playing with sticks in the mud. I am so proud of myself that I designed it so Lydia can open the hatch and get eggs every morning.

Here's the other side of the chicken coop. I haven't decided how I want to finish it yet. I was going to leave it open so they could go out and scratch in the little pasture with the goat, but this goat is driving me crazy, she tries to climb up to be with the chickens so I'll probably have to close this up and just leave a little door for them.

My apricots are almost here and I'm so excited because we've never had fruit trees before. They're not quite ripe yet. I have two culprits who like to eat all my apricots. Birds and Lydia. For the birds I've hung old cd's(the glare is supposed to annoy them) and I bought a fake owl and that seems to have kept them away so far. For Lydia, I'm considering an electric fence.

We're trying to take advantage of the 'cool' weather and we've been playing a lot of kick ball.

And finally, wait till you read my upcoming post, "Funny Farm Experience #2 - The snake"

Ethan '"Squidward" Wolford

2010-05-23T16:53:00.004-07:00

1. Our son for some reason is obsessed with squids. All his classmates at school call him squidward, and he LOVES it.
2. When your kids are the ONLY grandkids on either side, there will be an excess of presents.
3. Hosting a birthday party is not as easy as it seems.
4. I have a really sweet 7 year old and I'm so glad he is a part of our family!

Update on the Smoothie Challenge...

2010-05-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

Well, the past 2 weeks have been going pretty dang good. The Smoothies are super easy to make and drink. They taste like fruit and I never taste the spinach no matter how much I add. My sister and I have noticed a big change in our ahem, bowel movements. We go...a lot. But it's not like diarrhea or uncomfortable at all. It's actually a very welcome change and I've felt my stomach is really flat from going 3 times a day. At least I know I'm getting enough fiber in my diet!!!

The raw 'till noon challenge is a little more difficult because I've had to try lots of new recipes and it's just so weird to eat fruits and vegetables for lunch with no breads or meat or cheese. I found that after the first day I really started craving fruits and vegetables and enjoying them. Here are 3 of the recipes I made:

Carrot and Raisin Salad

1 large grated carrot
½ c. raisins
1 apple finely chopped
1 celery stalks, finely chopped
¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped

Dressing:
½ c. yogurt (I used my raw goat yogurt)
¼ c. fresh orange juice
1/8 tsp. salt
(This was absolutely delicious! It was tangy and salty and sweet and I know I'll make it again)

Lettuce Wraps

2 romaine lettuce leafs
1 avocado
¼ c. green pepper
¼ c. mushrooms
¼ c. tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder

Mix together and put in lettuce wraps.
(This tasted really fattening and yummy! I loved it)

'Spaghetti' with Tomato

1 zucchinis grated into spaghetti strings
¼ c. olive oil
3 TBS. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1 garlic clove
2 diced tomatoes
½ tsp. Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp. pepper

Make zucchini spaghetti. Combine everything else and add on top.
(This was the least of my favorites. It was all right I just needed a good piece of garlic bread)

I learned from myself that I can enjoy more fruits and vegetables in my diet. I'm not completely sold on the 'raw' thing because it's so limiting. But I'm definitely gonna eat a combo of regular sandwiches with more fruits and veggies for lunch.

Recipes

2010-04-26T13:20:00.002-07:00

Here are some of the recipes I've been using regularly now.

Granola
10 c. oats (quick or regular)
1 c. oil (we use canola)
1 c. honey
Mix all ingredients really good in a microwaveable bowl, then microwave for 6 min. stopping every 2 min. to stir so it won't burn. Next add 2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 tsp. nutmeg. Mix that all in and pour onto 2 cookie sheets (ungreased). Bake for 10 min at 350 degrees. You really aren't trying to brown it, just cook it a little more. Let cool for an hour or so on your stove/countertop before putting in a container. You can add more things like nuts and raisins, but my kids don't like it so I prefer to add that to my bowl before I eat.

Chef Brad's Bread Recipe
(Chef Brad's method uses the Bosch to build the gluten in your flour so it rises the best. That's why he mixes it for 6 minutes. If you're using a kitchen aid, just cut the recipe in half so it won't be too hard on the motor. I found the secret to making good bread is make sure your water is hot! Like so hot you can't touch it for very long.)

6 c. hot water (110 degrees)
10 c. Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbs. Salt
2/3 c. Oil
2/3 c. Honey
3 Tbs. Yeast
6-8 c. White Flour or Whole Wheat if you're feeling healthy

Makes 5 loaves.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients in Bosch bowl with dough hook, using only half the flour, placing flour in last with yeast on top. Begin mixing, adding enough remaining flour until dough cleans sides of bowl (it may not require all of the flour). Mix 6 minutes or until gluten has developed(you'll know this because it starts to rise in the bowl). Remove from bowl and form into loaves. Cover with light cloth and let rise to double. Bake in oven, dropping temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 20-25 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees.

( Okay here's my take on the recipe. Don't worry that the hot water is gonna kill the yeast because it won't. And don't even measure the flour, just keep mixing until it cleans the sides of the bowl and you're done. Too much will make it tough and dense. Remember, the stickier the dough, the lighter the roll. I'm not sure why he has us start the oven at 400 then drop to 325 degrees. It can really ruin your bread if you forget to drop it down. I think it's to stop the bread from rising. Get a food thermometer so you can see how hot that water really needs to be. Also, it's nice to test if the bread is done. I really cook mine for 30 min. And the best yeast is called saf-instant and I've only found it at Smart n' Final.)

Try out the bread recipe and if you like it, you can buy his recipe book HERE with lots of different breads and pizzas and desserts.

Birthday fun for Everyone! but mostly me!

2010-04-25T15:27:00.004-07:00

I turned the good ol' 29 on the 22nd. It was an okay day, my Mom took me shopping in the morning and bought me a really cute dress, but then I started to get a sinus headache so I went home and sweet Lydia let me sleep all day. I wan't too bummed because we really didn't have anything planned for that day anyway, we were gonna celebrate my birthday on the 2 following days. Earlier that week Priscilla and I went shopping and she got me a stainless steel pot so I can make cheese like a pro. So on Friday The Wolford's came over and brought yummy Chick fil a`. We played with the puppies and played Perpetual Notion which by the way Kevin and I rocked at because we are sooooo good at stretching the truth. It really helps in your marriage if you're like that. ;) Then on Saturday we worked around the house and then Kevin took me to this SRP Steakfry. At first I thought, thanks a heap Kevin for taking me to this lame work party for my birthday. But after the steak dinner they had who else come and perform but JO DEE MESSINA! I love her. I used to blast her CD when I was single and cruisin in my pimped out 2 door Honda Prelude with a subwoofer. It was just like old times! They had this huge stage set up and we ran up right before everyone else when she started and stood right in the 1st row. She said she is coming out with a new album after taking time off to have a baby. She said she has been doing some corporate gigs lately and said everybody just sits at their tables but we were all rocking it! Probably because of all the booze. So anyway, she sang all my favorite songs which I have listed on the side for my ode to jodee so you can listen to the raw power that is Jo Dee Messina. When she sang Lesson in Leavin' I was seriously the only one that knew all the words and she totally held the microphone out and pointed at me! She was THIS close to asking me to get up on stage and do the harmony part. She probably didn't want to make everyone else jealous of me. Her voice was so clear and I am always amazed that some people are so awesome singing live! I just love 'Bring on the Rain' it always makes me cry. She talked about how she was at a really low point in her life when she wrote it. Listen to it, I love it. Tim McGraw does the harmony with her in it they are the best together. Well I could talk and talk about her but basically it was the best birthday and I am so thankful to Kevin for thinking of me and taking me to this.

Back to Health: The 30 day Green Smoothie Challenge

2010-04-19T10:01:00.001-07:00

My sisters and I have decided to embark on an adventure! An adventure full of fruits and most importantly, green leafy vegetables! We found this great site called happyfoody and we are ready to take on the challenge. Before I get to the details of the challenge let me explain my recent healthy eating journey...

For a while I've been pondering on what changes I can do to improve my health without depriving myself. I started out with water. Lots of water. My mother in law and her mother swears by this practice called 'water therapy'. Basically you drink a freakin' LITER of water in the morning before breakfast. Most of you are probably thinking, "bleh". Yep, that's what I thought too. It's supposed to help with pretty much any problem because they say your metabolism slows at night and in the morning you need lots of water to flush out all those toxins. My mother-in-law and her mother are proof that this improves your health because they NEVER get sick. And when I say NEVER, I mean NEVER! So I tried it and it really is hard to drink that much water. Your stomach feels like it's gonna explode! I have done it for about 4 months now and I feel pretty good. I have recently decided to spread it out a bit to help flush out inflammation from my back problems and I also add minerals to my filtered water. So I drink 1 pint in the morning and 1 pint at night.

I have also read recently about how important it is to make our own food and eat whole foods. I found this research right in the middle of my 'coupon craze'. EVERYTHING I was buying was full of stuff I couldn't pronounce. Right about that time there was an episode of Oprah with the director of the documentary Food, Inc. He said we shouldn't eat anything our great grandma wouldn't recognize. His example was those 'go-gurts'. The audience laughed and I did too picturing what my great-grandma would think of a go-gurt. I also started watching some videos of a Dr. Russell Blaylock. He's a neurosurgeon who is out to tell the world of the food industry's plot to put "whatever it takes to make the food taste good" in their packaged foods. One day when I was reading the Word of Wisdom, this verse stood out to me. "Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving you this word of wisdom by revelation."(D&C 89:4) Dr. Blaylock talked about a study they did to prove that eating highly processed foods during pregnancy is bad for the fetus. They have found that the children born seemed normal and healthy but they found that all couldn't get past highschool math. They found that those that are super smart and find the subject of math easy, were raised by mothers who ate a very low amount of processed foods. It's not saying thay normal people are dumb, but just that those that have been fed healthy diets have performed very well in higher math classes. And I don't really believe that processed foods are gonna kill you and I'm not extreme to think that everything has to be organic, because I do believe that God has designed our bodies to be able to flush out things that are harmful, but I do think we should seriously try to cut it down. I love his diet plan because you can seriously have whatever you want, as long as you make it yourself and you know the ingredients in it.

This is what has led me to owning my own milk goat. That way we can drink fresh, raw milk and I can make fresh yogurt and cheese. We also just bought chickens and so hopefully around August we'll get some fresh antibiotic free eggs too. I finally buckled down and forced myself to learn how to make my own wheat bread. I was seriously retarded in the bread making department. I have finally mastered that! It takes me about an hour to make 5 loaves of bread and I make it about every 2 weeks. If anybody wants to learn, call me and I will teach you! We also make our own granola for breakfast. It is the most basic, simple recipe only takes about 15 min. to make and you can add stuff to it or eat it plain. Our kids get two choices for breakfast. Peanut butter toast or granola. Sometimes I'll make eggs too just to change it up a bit. We are lucky to also have some trees in our backyard. We have a Pecan, 2 Apricots, and 1 Pomelo(which is basically a sweet grapefruit). The apricots are almost in season and if I can just get the birds to not eat them maybe I can have somebody come over and teach me how to can. I need Heather to teach me how to can and Amber to teach me how to garden! I really wanted to freeze some pecans this last winter but Kevin and the kids eat them up like crazy there's never enough to store. Okay it may sound like we eat perfectly healthy, but hello we do not! I just cannot stay completely away from processed foods! We love pizza and burgers and fries too much. We decided we would just eat our best during the week, but on the weekend, watch out! We go out to eat Friday and Saturday nights because let's face it, we'd go crazy if we didn't!

The department that we're working on now is fruits and vegetables. Man, it really is hard to get them in our diet every day. And so begins The 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge...

This is a great thing to start right now because it's starting to get hot and nothing sounds better than a smoothie when it gets hot. My sister Tara found this great raw vegan site with this challenge. We all know the benefits of fruits and veg so I'm not gonna go over that but here is basically what goes in the smoothie.

Start with a blender.

Put some ice and water first.

Add fruits a mix of fresh/frozen.

Add greens. Any greens.

Blend all together and enjoy!

Here is what I put in my smoothie today.

Ice, water, frozen strawberries, frozen banana, 1 whole peeled orange.

Blend.

Next I added organic spinach. I normally don't buy organic, but spinach and apples I do. Now, you only have to add one green. Either spinach or collard greens, or swiss chard or beet greens. Spinach is the most mild so that what I chose 'cause I want my kids to drink it.

This is only half of it. This went great with some peanut butter toast! I split the other half and gave it to my kids. I called it the Incredible Hulk Smoothie and they love it.

Some of the testimonies from doing this challenge say that they feel so much better, they have good BM's which we all know we desire, and they lose weight. Some others have taken the, raw till noon challenge too, which is eating a raw diet until noon. There are so many raw recipes out there so my sisters and I are gonna compile a list of lunch ideas to keep us on this too. I think this includes bread too but no meats. Then for dinner you can just cook normally for you and your family. So here I go! Day 1 of the challenge! Wish me luck!

Itty Bitty

2010-04-11T15:58:00.003-07:00

Oh goodness, how time flies! Lydia turned 5 years old today. It is bittersweet because I am so happy to see her get older and all the fun things she is learning, but I miss my baby. Maybe if I had another baby I wouldn't miss it so bad! I always ask her if she could shrink back to a baby for me but she says no so I guess having a 5 year old will have to do! Lydia is the funniest girl, she has such a great personality. She loves music so much and she knows the words to Wicked, Glee and Taylor Swift songs. The best present we could have ever got her was her own MP3 player. She carries that thing around and sings constantly. Even though they usually don't have sunbeams sing a special musical number, she was asked to sing this past year in the Primary Program because she knows all the words so well . She always makes up nicknames for things and she loves to say only the beginning of a word to see if we still understand her. It was pretty cute when she said, "Can I have some more enchies?" (enchiladas) She also does this weird thing when she gets hurt. She doesn't want anybody to look at her or console her or hug her. We just have to pretend we didn't see or else she gets really mad at us. She likes to deal with it on her own and doesn't want to be coddled. She also doesn't like to be teased and if Ethan even tries to tease her she'll yell, "Why did you do THAT!? To be mean? DO you like to be mean Ethan?" He always is speechless and surprised that she calls him on it everytime. You can always count on Lydia to have a tiny plush toy in her hand at all times. Whether she finds them, or they find her I'm not sure, but when we go to a store that is all she wants. The smaller the better and this is also really fun for Mom and Dad because we have spent countless hours searching for "ducky" or "puppy" or that tiny pink heart she ripped off the valentine bear Gramscilla gave her. She's not really afraid of bugs or worms or the dark. She's a good little sister because she'll go with Ethan to turn on a light if he's scared or she'll smash a bug for him. Those two are a good team together because while he is careful and keeps her from taking any big risks, she is brave and helps him with his fears. We love our sweet Lydia and we're so proud to have her in our family.

Funny Farm Experience #1

2010-03-26T14:30:00.005-07:00

So I thought I'd share some funny experiences I've had lately on the farm. First of all, just so you know, goats are weird. I just can't get over the fact that they stare at me so much. I avoid eye contact as much as possible. It's creepy the way they look at you. So judging. Well, throughout this adventure of owning a milking goat, I've found there are some things I was never told, but now I've found out I have to do. To keep a goat in constant milk you have to breed her every year and subsequently raise kids and then hopefully sell them unless you want to have a whole gang of weird goats staring at you. Which I don't. So thus far, it has been easy. She popped out the babies, they run around, she feeds them, and that's that. I thought, hey, this isn't so bad. Plus I'll sell these suckers just like that!(insert snapping finger) Well, I come to find out that before you can sell them you have to tatoo them. What?! Tatoo? Like take my goats to a tatoo shop on Mill Ave? Okay, I'll do it, it's odd, but I'll do it. Luckily I typed in google, "How to tatoo a goat" and I found a kit that you can buy that is essentially a clamp that holds letters and you put ink in it and squeeze on their ear and voila! you have yourself a tatooed goat. So I bought it and waited for my home tatoo kit to come. The day it arrived I read the instructions, practiced on a banana peel to make sure I had the letters in the right order, and then stood in front of a mirror and gave myself a pep talk. "You can do this DaNelle", I said to myself. "It's just a farm animal, it probably doesn't even feel pain." "Don't be such a baby, they're not even that cute!" I was sweating before I even had the first one in the stall. "Chill out DaNelle, don't be such a wuss, it's not like you're slaughtering the thing!" I locked the little kid in the stall and immediately it started freaking out. I prepped the ear and put ink on the clamp and BAM! I squeezed down on that clamp as hard as I could and then heard the loudest scariest scream I've ever heard in my life! I thought for sure my neighbors would come running...WHEW!, but they didn't and shaking, I put the next one in the stall, and then the next one. Take that you staring goats! Now I can say I've successfully tatooed a goat. I never want to do it again. But I'll have to next year, and the next year and so on.

Popcorn Popping

2010-03-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, 2 posts in ONE day!? I must have a lot of time on my hands! Not really, but so many things have happened today that I just had to share.
I love love love this weather and I love where I live. I am so grateful for Kevin's insight to buying a house at the right time and we're so blessed everything worked out for good. It's been a busy day of delivering puppies, milking goats, birthday parties and picking up our newly transmissioned van, but I just had to stop and appreciate this beautiful day. We have popcorn popping on our Apricot Tree!

More puppies!

2010-03-13T11:37:00.001-07:00

Early this morning, Maggie had 5 adorable puppies! There are 3 boys and 2 girls. She did great and we're excited to see their personalities!

Happy Happenings

2010-02-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my cabinets! Yea! They turned out pretty good I think. To save on new hinges, I spray painted the old ones black and I accidently screwed them in too close to the edge and the black is already scraping off :( I'll have to fix that later. I cut wains coating with a scroll saw and used liquid nails to press it into the existing cabinets. Then I painted them cream and stained them. I love it!

And FINALLY, my almost 7 year old lost his first tooth! The tooth behind it was already pushing through, so we pulled it. Poor, sweet, trusting Ethan. Becky and I convinced him we should "floss" it, and even after we pulled and pulled a dozen times, he still let us "floss" again. All of the sudden it popped out and unfortunately his Mom and Aunt are too stupid to realize it was a bad idea to pull a tooth outside. We searched and searched for that dang tooth...

aaaaannnnddd....1 hour later...

(these butt shots are just for you Becky)

We could not find that dang tooth! So we wrote the tooth fairy a note and Ethan was happy with that.

I just wanted to show this super cute jewelry my Mom made. Her and my Aunt Kim are the "look on etsy and say I can make that" type. I love this cute purse jewelry!

This last weekend, Donelle and Caleb were married! They are the cutest and it's so fun to see a new marriage begin. We had so much fun at all the festivities and it was awesome to see all the family and the Porter's! Donelle had the cutest vintage dress and veil

And finally, I have started milking the goat regularly. It was way harder at first. All my family was making fun of me. On the first day I sat down to milk thinking this can't be that hard. Well, it was and I learned that I have weak, puny hands and that breast pumps work on goats too. It took me a good two weeks to get my hands strong enough and now I'm just trying to get faster at it. It's supposed to take only 5-10 min and it still takes me 30 min. Poor Princess, she's not very happy with me tuggin on her for that long. At first, I had a hard time drinking the milk because it was just so weird to milk her and take it inside and drink it. I think I gagged thinking about it. But it's hard NOT to love the milk, it's so creamy and fresh and doesn't taste goaty like you would think. I even dared my little scouts to drink it and they asked for more. No, you greedy little scouts, you can't have my precious milk I worked for. I tried my hand at making cheese for the first time and it's pretty good, a lot like mozzerella. I was told goat cheese was softer like cream cheese, but mine was hard enough to shred. Here is a picture of the glorious cheese.

Little Goaties

2010-01-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

Princess had her little goaties, they are really cute! Jessica was in town and we got to stay up late together out in the rain & cold and watch the birth. It is crazy how fast they get up after they are born. Now, at about 2 weeks old, they are stinkin fast and love to jump on top of their mom and stand on her back, it's really funny! If anybody wants to bring their kids over to play with the goaties, just give me a call!

Christmas is Over

2010-01-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

Ah, I love the holiday season, but I'm also so glad when it's over! Kevin listens to way too much Christmas music, I know you don't think that's possible but it IS! He even listens to it after Christmas. Christmas this year was fun, I think the highlight was making fires in our fireplace every morning. Kevin is so fun around Christmas because he loves to "shop" for the kids. And by shop, I mean frequent Goodwill, Savers and Craigslist. He does seem to find the best toys though, I don't know how he does it. The kids got Zhu Zhu Pets and Pirate Legos and movies and things. Kevin is a kid at heart and can't sleep the night before Christmas, it always makes me laugh. We thought we were being so sneaky for our gifts for each other, but we ended up buying each other THE SAME THING! A toaster oven. So we have 2 really nice toaster ovens. Christmas Day was spent frantically driving back and forth to all the families houses, but that's what makes Christmas fun! Now on to the New Year! A couple days before the New Year Kevin and I decided we needed to paint our house, and we had our good friend Gary Bluth do it. I was going for a gray house with white trim, it's a classic country look, which I love. Here is what I was going for

The first day we painted, the gray I chose looked green,

The second day we tried again, and the paint looked blue...(i was in tears at this point) Mostly because I had wasted so much money on paint. Kevin was so sweet he told me to just try again no matter how much I wasted.

The third day, we finally got it right!

It's kind of a brown gray but I DON'T CARE! At least it's not green or blue or purple! We were so exhausted after doing all the prep work and we are NEVER going to paint our house again!

Now on to the NEW YEAR! Yea! I love the New Year because it makes everything feel different and exciting. I am looking forward to a lot of things. One thing I am so happy about is how good I feel. This past November my Vertigo & Dizziness got even worse and I was feeling really depressed that it's been 4 years and I can't get a diagnosis. I have felt so limited and so alone in my suffering but after a lot of research and talking to family(finding out my great grandma was epileptic) and doctors I was able to get put on a Anti-seizure medication, and I cannot express how good I feel. I just want to cry when I think about it because I had forgotten what it felt like to be normal. I worry about my dependence on this and how over time my body will react to this medication, but I have to live right now and be the healthest I can and leave the rest up to God. Everybody's resolution is to lose weight, but mine is to just be healthy. I've been reading a lot of books and pondering on what the Word of Wisdom really means and I feel like I have found what will help improve my health the best. Maybe later I'll do a whole post on it. I'm so excited for the spring when we can build our big garden and get chickens. And don't forget the goat milk! Life is good and Kevin and I are excited on what this year brings. I can't believe this August Lydia will be in Kindergarten! I hope everybody's Christmas was wonderful and hope you (and me) can stick to our resolutions!

Thanksgiving was a sucess!

2009-11-28T22:49:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I were really excited to have all the Clare's over to our house for Thanksgiving! We were excited to use our backyard now that the weather is nice and cool. The food was awesome of course and we ate way too much. Kevin finished the treehouse just in time and between that and the trampoline and the goat, the kids were totally occupied. We got to play a great volleyball game and got to meet our (soon to be) newest member of the Clare's, Dawnelle Porter! YEA! I hope I spelled her name right! The Porters are an awesome family, The Wolford's know them well and Kevin knows Micah and I remember Nick and Nate from highschool. It's funny how Caleb comes from the Utah Clare's, but falls in love with a Gilbert native. It's so fun to see cousins get married! My uncle Dennis is an amazing photographer. He does family and weddings, but specializes also in sport photography. Here are some pictures I stole from his website.

The kids chillin' in the net on the treehouse.

Sean showing off his wicked volleyball skills.

Lydia, posing.

Lienna was tough, man! She dove for the ball while I watched.

Boche ball.

Grandpa enjoying the scene.

Beautiful Candra with her sexy glasses

Boys and treehouses go perfect together.

Goats and other random things...

2009-11-23T09:09:00.001-07:00

Hello to all my 5 readers out there! Thanks for tuning in to our adventurous life. This month has flown by and here are the events. Well the ox was in the mire and we just HAD to let the kids play in the irrigation on Sunday because it was the last one until spring. The kids stripped off their Sunday clothes and jumped into the water as soon as possible.
Kevin started on the treehouse! YEA!
DAY 1

DAY 5

DAY 10

DAY 25
We didn't realize treehouses take so long to build so we abandoned that for a while and what else!? We started ANOTHER project!

Here I was just about to start to refinish my cabinets, when Kevin walked in and said, "You know, before you do that it would be really cool to vault this ceiling". When I came back inside, this is what I saw.

then this...

then this...

then this.
After all that, Kevin was so tired he decided to take a rest for about a week. Consequently, our house was FREEZING!!!!! Our luck the weather decided to get cold. The good part was that we got to start fires in our fireplace. The bad part was that I am a crappy wood chopper and Kevin would come home to a back porch of half chopped through pieces of wood. It wasn't until later that I realized that I could have just used the power saw. Stupid ax.

After about 2 days of drywall and electrical work and 5 hours of cleanup, we have (almost) finished the ceiling.

Another exciting thing that happened in our life is a big branch was about to fall down so our neighbor let us use his lift and we let the kids have a ride while Kevin sawed the dead branch up. It doesn't take much to excite us. The kids were having a blast while Becky and I were freaking out on the ground.

And finally, what I know you've been waiting for....the arrival of our infamous goat, Princess! I've decided to get a milk goat because of all the health benefits and because it's so important to be self sufficient. You can't get anymore self sufficient that owning a milking goat. But seriously, raw goats milk has so many health benefits, it is composed totally different that cows milk, it has a lot of great properties in it that is good for building up the lining of the stomach, it's easy to digest that even infants can drink it. The fat in the milk is "good cholesterol", it is good for arthritis and degenerative diseases (ie my back), and etc. Also, goat's milk is a complete food and it alone can sustain your life. So if Kevin ever loses his job, we'll be set. With my health issues and Ethan's asthma, I think it's best for our family. I researched the best breeds and we got a Nigerian Dwarf which are known for the best tasting milk, and I know you won't believe me but it tastes just like cows milk. If you don't believe me, come on over and I'll squirt a little in your mouth while I'm milking her.

A Wicked Halloween

2009-11-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween was super fun this year! The best part is dressing up in tons of different costumes. We had trunk or treats, SRP's Halloween carnival, and our own family party.

Here are Ethan and Lydia dressed up as an inventor and a fairy. Ethan was so cute, he made this little invention and called it his candy maker and tried to get kids to guess what it was and if they guessed right they could take one of his candies. Kevin got a badge from work and I put a cover on it with Ethan's picture, it was dang cute if I do say so myself.

Sean and Becky dressed up as Woody and Little Bo Peep. Cause everybody knows Woody really never liked Jessie, he always loved Bo Peep.
Another Costume...a knight
BBall player posing as a model

Ethan's school parade.

Another costume - Harry Potter

We had an unfortunate mishap with a fake pumpkin. Kevin thought you could put a real candle in it. SILLY HUSBAND! He almost burned the house down, because it caught on fire while we were gone trick or treating. Luckily my Mom looked out the window and saved us all!

Ethan's Skull

Lydia's Cat

My throw up pumpkin

And finally I wanted to start November off like my friend Megann. I am thankful for this.

{A messy back porch, a box of chalk, and creative kids.}

and the two lovely hours it kept them busy

Family Photos 2009

2009-10-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sea World & Secret FroYO

2009-10-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

I was really hoping my back would heal fast so we could go on our first trip as a family! ( I mean without grandmas and grandpas and everybody else) I was feeling pretty good so we decided to go for it. I am NOT a good traveler, I get so car sick I make everyone else miserable, so we really haven't taken the kids that many places except the cabin up north. But I decided to bear the ms and it would be worth it for the kids. We all had such a good time and the kids loved it.

Driving to San Diego

The best, sloppiest pizza ever!

Classic picture of Ethan seeing a killer whale the first time.

We are such mean parents, we made the kids sit in the 2nd row of the splash zone, we told the kids it would be really cold, but they said they didn't care....that is, until Ulysses the 9,000 lb whale splashed us! Lydia immediately started to cry and I had to take her out and change her clothes right away. It was really fun though!

The BEACH! Our kids are so deprived, they've never been to a beach before and they loved it! We need to come back here in the summer! By the way, we were really hoping that wasn't a shark in the water back there.

Kevin and the kids tried to make a castle, but it turned out looking like something else... This girl loved swimming, even though it was freezing! Jumping the waves

Kevin always makes fun of me because I love hotels, and I just don't know what it is about them but it's true, I love them. Maybe from being a kid on vacation and it was just exciting to have a T.V right in front of the bed. ah, simple pleasures. Very sneakily, at night Kevin and I would put the kids to bed and.....Kevin would run to the Frozen Yogurt place close to us and we would watch tv and eat it all up, laughing that we didn't have to share with the kids, because they were asleep, and we weren't. MWa hahaha

Recovering.

2009-09-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

I am back. The surgery was...okay I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty upset when I first got to the surgery center because I thought this was going to be like my last surgery and I would just be put under IV sedation, but then they told me they were going to have to actually cut me open so I would need to be intubated. YUCK! I was in tears because, well I've been in surgeries and seen people intubated and let me tell you it's gross and the anestheiologists are really rough! I just couldn't imagine a machine breathing for me. It just seemed too invasive! Plus my sister told me that she once woke up at the end of surgery while they were taking out the tube and she said it was horrible! So those were my fears before we even started.

Of course they give you the calming drugs right away and the next thing I knew I was waking up in post op. I felt good when I woke up. I wasn't nauseous and had a some pain but it was bearable. Then they gave me Percocet and I knew Vicodin makes me sick but I was hoping Percocet wouldn't....but it did. I was so stinking sick I was dry heaving and trying not to rip out my stitches. SOOOOOO horrible.....that is when you think you really would like to die now. They tried to send me home like that but I would have none of that! I told them to hook me back up to an IV and start some Zofran PRONTO! They complied and within 5 min. I felt better. "WAY TO STICK UP FOR YOURSELF", I thought!

I made it home okay and started the healing process, only to discover when I sat up I had a headache that got worse and worse to where I couldn't stand it and then I'd lay back down and instantly it would go away. I knew immediately it was a spinal headache and I knew to lay flat and most likely it would heal on its own. So I did. I layed. I layed and layed all day Monday, all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday...and then I was done. I called in and they said I'd need another MRI to confirm the spinal leak before they could do anything. So my mother in law drove a very unhappy an sick DaNelle all the way to Phoenix to get another MRI and then to the surgeons. Unfortunately the MRI showed NO SPINAL LEAK! "WTFreak!" I thought! I layed at the surgeons office with 3 of them debating what to do. I had all the symptoms of a spinal leak, but the MRI looks fine. What to do, what to do. Finally I said I don't care just treat it like a spinal headache and we'll do something else if that doesn't work. So I was taken over to the surgery center where they inserted a needle all the way to the disk again and injected about 20 cc of my own blood. It was painful because I had needles in my back and in my arm at the same time. I told them I think that was a trick of theirs because my brain didn't know which pain to focus on. I kept thinking, "OUCH my back!, OUCH my arm, OUCH my back!" They also wanted to inject through not only the side, but through my TAILBONE! (YIKES) but lucky for me the blood dispersed perfectly and they could stop after the first injection.

So after all was done I was wheeled into post op and we all held our breaths to see if my headache returned. They slowly raised me up a couple inches at a time and gave me yummy apply juice......and NNOOOOO HEADACHE!!! AH sweet relief! So I headed home again to recover from the procedure. It took me a couple days to recover from that and here I am. I've had a rough week and I'm glad it's over. It's nice to be able to eat sitting up again and love on my kids. It's nice to be in RECOVERY.

Another Surgery

2009-09-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, here I go again...it seems I have another bulging disk. About six months after the last surgery, I started to have a little sciatic pain down my legs. Each time I would over exert myself, it would start to shoot down my leg. UGH! So I finally had another MRI and they found a small bulge (not nearly as bad as before) and on Monday I'm going to have surgery. The surgery is fairly simple, they will cut away part of the disk that is pressing on the nerve, I just hope this will last me longer. I am tired of being in pain, especially right now when it's at its worst. I can barely walk so I've been watching a lot of movies.

I really need to have an artificial disk replacement, but I am trying to hold that off for as long as I can. My body is not cooperating very well! I'm trying to look on the bright side....HEY at least I get to wear a sexy back brace for a month! Dear Disk, please be good and stay where you're supposed to stay!

Wish me luck!

Feeling Settled

2009-09-13T13:50:00.002-07:00

We are so happy in our new house! I love how quiet the street is and how I feel like I'm living in the country. I can't wait for it to get cooler so we can spend a little more time outside. I'm having a blast mowing the lawn, mostly because I love the riding lawn mower, I just think it's fun to ride. I don't even break a sweat because I get in my swimsuit and water myself down with the hose to stay cool. Everytime the grass catcher needs to be emptied I just call for Kevin to do it. He's a great grass catcher emptier. Kevin says I'll get sick of mowing the lawn soon enough but I don't believe him. The ward is great too, although I miss my friends in the Sunny Mesa Ward. I miss going to enrichment and knowing everybody and having so many friends to count on. I know eventually I'll make some friends here but still, it's a little hard going to church and enrichment all by my lonesome. There are still so many little things left to get done around this house, and I'm proud to say I've compiled a very organized list...but that's about it. All the puppies are sold and we even sold Frenchy, the mom. So back down to 2 dogs and 2 kids. Life is good. We have decided to convert our garage into a guest apartment. There's already a bathroom in there and we don't park our cars in the garage because we have so much shade covering our driveway. The plan is to build a shed in the backyard to put all our storage, tools & camping stuff. Then we'll enclose the garage and it'll be small but I think it'll be good for a young couple to rent. About 600 sq ft. I think. We are so crazy to do this after we've just done so much work already, but I think we just like to torture ourselves for fun. Here are some finished pictures of the house. The kitchen I will wait to show, because it looks pretty drab right now.

{Don't you love my glorious RED door?}

{ Our entryway and our 'converted' great room.}

{Hall Bathroom...ugh this needs so much work I can't even think about it. The cabinets still have the Kilz paint on them}

{Lydia's room}

{Ethan's Room}

AND THIS... is the reason we got such a great deal! I honestly thought living by the train tracks would be too loud, but it's not bad at all and definitely worth it. it doesn't come by too much and the kids love it anyway.

I've Decided...

2009-08-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

to go

PRIVATE

I've heard about some people getting pics of their kids put onto some bad websites so I'm going to go private. I used to think that there were so many blogs out there that who would single out our family, but I guess you can never be too careful. Sorry for the inconvenience! If you want to continue reading my blog, just leave a comment and leave your email address. I'll hide the comments so nobody else can see your email address. Thanks a heap!

The Final Task

2009-08-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

AH! Last Saturday we finally got around to the task of grouting our tile. We had to take a picture of the first plop of grout , yeah it doesn't take much to make us laugh. Dad came prepared with all the gear and we were ready to go! We worked from 10 till 2 and mostly had people coming and going during that time except for my AMAZING SISTER BECKY...she worked the whole time and didn't even have to. She must love us...either that or she wanted free pizza. THank you thank you Becky for working hard like a dog and bascially breaking your hand doing it! I've been meaning to take finished pictures of everything but I still need to actually clean the place, so nobody thinks we live in a mess. The puppies are getting to the "really cute but really messy" stage. Only about 3 more weeks and they'll be ready to find their homes! I really am tired of taking care of puppies though and want a break. The problem is we bred Dora with the daddy Jasper about a month ago but we don't know if she's preg or not. Usually I can tell pretty early but she's too muscular and I just can't feel her abdomen very well. The funny thing is one Sunday Rusty brought Jasper over to breed with Dora and I looked out the window and he was interested in Maggie which was weird but I thought maybe he just is a little confused but then I realized later she was in heat at the same time, so she could be pregnant too. The thing is one of them is preg because when they are preg they really crave human food. A couple times we've come home and some dog has gotten into the garbage, we just don't know which one! It's driving us crazy! We keep laughing that we'll just have to wait until one of them pops out a puppy! So that's our lives right now. Ethan starts school tomorrow and is really excited, which makes it easier for me because last year he didn't have a clue as to what was goin on. Lydia and I our going to go on a girl date tomorrow. She is getting so fun to be with! Yesterday Lydia said to me, " Don't think if you have another baby I'm gonna be changing diapers!" Then she ran into her room cause she knew that was sassy talk and I was gonna tickle her good! She must of heard that from a movie or something. Funny girl.

Random pics

2009-07-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

We have been having fun living in our new house! Living in a remodel is kind of frustrating, but we'll get there soon enough. Here's a picture of Lydia, she fell asleep on our current time out chair the little stinker. The puppies are getting bigger and we are excited to see them get older and cuter. Kevin, Becky, Tara, Mom and I went to see Wicked last week. Kevin, Tara and I had already seen it in LA but it was so fun to take Becky and Mom and see their faces, its such an awesome show! We had AMAZING tickets we were 5th Row from the stage! Now that we have spent all our money on the house, it's time to save and live like we were in college. YUCK! Gotta get that savings up! Now we're back to a tiny budget which really forces you to be creative for meals. Last week we made Hot Dog boats. It's the ultimate cheap meal. It's a hot dog, split down the middle with mashed potates and cheese on top. I used to eat it as a kid so I thought it would be fun to make and my kids about freaked out when they saw it. It was too weird for them. Kevin ate it, but then again he eats anything. Has anybody else ever had this before?

Busy Life!

2009-07-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

I don't think our lives could be any more hectic! These last couple of weeks have been crazy. We went to the Clare Reunion in Show Low for the 4th, drove back down and then turned right around to go to the Wolford's Cabin. We stayed there for a couple days and then came back just in time for Frenchy to have her puppies! This was her first litter so I was a little nervous how she would be with the delivery and everything. She was so fast! I heard her whining a little but thought she wasn't far enough along yet, then I looked over and there's a puppy out and she's just licking it! Crazy! She had 3 girls 1 boy and they are so cute and best part is she is being a great mom taking care of them, it makes my job so much easier. I am always worried that one of my dogs is going to abandon her puppies and leave me to do all the feeding, but thankfully she is great. So here we are living in a unpacking disaster and taking care of puppies and my back is out too...that part really stinks because there is so much I need to do but I am forced to lay around like a log. I can't believe the summer is almost over and Ethan will be back in school!

p.s. will everybody quit laughing at my shaved dog please?! It's just not very nice

Warmer...warmer...

2009-07-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

Laaaaaaaaaaaaa! (Imagine music playing) Our Carpet is in! I waited all day for these guys to come install and I was in a pretty bad mood, but alas! they arrived and installed the beautiful carpet. It looks so great and it feels like a real live home! I even started yelling at the kids for rubbing down the new carpet.

The Great Room

Lydia's Room
Ethan's Room
Extra Bedroom
Master Bedroom

Getting There...

2009-06-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Yea! Things are finally coming together! Everybody was so great to come out and help us paint our house. It's so nice to see things getting finished. Here is the front room getting filled with concrete.

Becky and Sean painted Ethan's room, it really helps when you have tall sisters and bil's.

Tara and Brad painted Lydia's room....thank you thank you!

Kevin and Jake started on the tile, it looks really great, I can't wait till it's done!

Here is sad Kevin because he has to work on his Birthday....

We're getting there! Tile and Carpet this week and we are ready to move in!

Happy Birthday KEVIN!!

2009-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

31 things I absolutely LOOOVVVVEEEE about Kevin...

1. He laughs out loud at tv and movies just like his Dad even if he is all by himself.

2. He isn't embarrassed to wear Black socks with sandals

3. He likes to always know the brand of things and then he researches if it's a "good one".

4. He plays basketball religiously.

5. He can never have too many raquetball rackets.

6. He is really brave especially when he smashes his finger or stubs his toe.

7. He loves peanut butter toast.

8. A lot.

9. He drives 55 mph on the freeway so he can get the optimum gas mileage even if he looks totally retarded he doesn't care, he still drives slow.

10. He loves kids cartoons and can watch them for hours.

11. He is really competetive at board games and trys to figure out the strategy really soon and trys to get me on his team so we can win.

12. He never swears, he just says stuff like, "piece of shiznit" or "garbage".

13. His favorite store is a toss up between Savers or Goodwill.

14. He loves me.

15. He always tries to find me something good at a garage sale.

16. He is really kind and wants to always help others.

17. He loves his dog Dora and has taught her how to catch a frisbee.

18. He loves movies and will even watch girlie ones with me.

19. He served on a mission, and was a hard worker even though it was hot and he had diarrhea most of the time.

20. He is really creative and can think of many uses for one thing.

21. He isn't embarrased to get mad at somebody like say Cox or Home Depot lady, you get the idea.

22. He eats super healthy about 90% of the time.

23. He thinks if you use chapstick it will dry out your lips even more. (which is totally not true)

24. He thinks up the cutest nicknames for kids and dogs, ie liddy bitty, shaggy maggy.

25. He makes up funny songs about the dogs and gets the kids to sing them too.

26. He can hum/whistle ONE song all day and not even realize it.

27. He practically aced college without hardly ever studying.

28. If you give him an address, he can tell you exactly which crossroads it's at.

29. He is very helpful with babies.

30. He loves to read but can't seem to get him to read twilight! WTH?

31. He is a genuinely nice, great, fun, happy guy! He cares about his family and loves to spend his time with them!

I LOVE YOU OODLES HUNNY BUNS!

HAPPPY BIIIRRRTHHHDDAAYYY!!!!!

Day 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10......

2009-06-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

It takes a lot longer than we thought to fix up the house. We have been working like crazy to get the house prepped to be painted the first coat of Kilz. We removed all the brick around the fireplace, removed the old appliances & ceiling fans, patched the ceiling where we removed the wall, extended the door frame of the master bath, caulked all baseboards and door frames, then taped off all windows, countertops, fireplace, lights, toilets and baths. We are soooooo tired but, we've been lucky to have free labor from Dad, Sean, Becky, Dave & Priscilla.(Those who haven't given service to us yet, we WILL get you eventually!) We have been mostly blessed with cool weather and happy kids. Here's one of their "inventions". Don't know what it's supposed to do, but it's sure cute.

After the Kilz treatment, we got the vents cleaned so we can turn the AC on finally! Next up is pouring concrete to fill the old "front room", painting doors, cabinets, walls, trim and installing all the flooring....then we will hopefully be done!!!!

Our block wall almost done, this thing I think will have caused us more heck than the entire remodel alone.

MOTHER @&!%#)!

2009-06-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I was stung by a stupid, piece of crap scorpion!!! ARGH! It happened at 7am today and its 2:30 and it's still burning like crazy!!! I cannot believe how bad this hurts. Even though I smashed the stupid, piece of crap scorpion to an oblivion with my cereal bowl, I'm beginning to think that maybe it was a vampire bite because it sure hurts a lot like Bella says in Twilight and the horrible burning sensation is spreading up my leg. Plus my vision seems to be clearer, I am starting to have some odd cravings and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped a couple hours back so......

it's either that

I was just stung by a

stupid, piece of crap scorpion!

Day ONE

2009-06-06T21:17:00.001-07:00

Our HOME finally closed and today was DAY ONE of Demo.

Tearing out wall and carpet

Love the fireplace, Hate the "decorative" tiles around it.
The glorious view from my kitchen sink.
Beautiful shade and future spot of a tree house.

Fruit and nut trees...yummy!

OUR WONDERFUL house, the beginning!

Our Checklist:

Tear out everything!
Build Block Wall to trap the kiddies in.
Kilz/Prime the interior
New carpet, New Tile

MOVE IN!

Later on:

Restain roof to lose the blue
Build animal fencing.
Build Treehouse
Get chickens
Get goat
Get steer
Make garden
Become farmpeople

Tsunami

2009-06-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ethan "Mom, I know what that is! That's a Salami!"

2009-06-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Silly Ethan

2009-05-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

6 years OOOLLLLDDD

2009-05-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Just in case you don't know the #1 RULE of

Ethan's BIRTHDAY PARTY...

(Everybody you can do whatever you want. And I'm not lyin')

Ethan is finally 6!

The day has finally come, on the last day of school Ethan was the last person in class to turn 6 years old! He couldn't stop talking about his swimming party. Good thing the cast came off a couple days before! He got "awesome" transformer pajamas and "cool" pool toys and an "awesome" rocket launcher and even "cooler" Bakugans, not to mention some pretty cool candy. I even went to great lengths to make our own Bakugan pinata. Bakugans are kinda like Pokemon-ish things, but way cooler. Seriously, don't diss the Bakugans until you've tried them. And don't even try to play with them because you will get hooked and start to collect them.

Here is is before t-ball practice, reminds me of the

Brian Regan clip..." Brian! How many outs are there?.... Snow CONE! I want a red snow cone after the game!"

Took us about 2 hours of shopping at Target and Toys R Us when The SCORPION BAKUGAN was at our old friend Walmart all along!

Snorkeling gear that we practically had to sit on him to put them on, but now he won't take them off.

This is the before clip they will show when this video makes it on America's Funniest Home Video!

Sweet Lydia.

Becky and Sean were so nice to wear this for the entire party! Let me tell you, it's not easy to swim and eat hamburgers and cake with these!

We've Moved!!

2009-04-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Kevin's brother purchased our home and we are on the move! Rusty let us pack pretty much everything we own in the garage for a couple months. Kevin was very creative and I had to take a picture because it was just too beautiful not to stop and appreciate it. We are currently living at the Wolford's basement apartment while we're waiting for our new home to close. This is very scary(not living with the Wolfords just buying a new home), but we're excited because we found a house that gives each of us what we need. If any of you know me and Kevin, we are both very stubborn and spend most of our time trying to convince/persuade each other to join the RIGHT SIDE! Our new home has an acre of land(that's me), no bigger than 2500 sq ft to save on utilities(that's Kevin), in a nice quiet neighborhood on a cul de sac(me) and lots of big trees for shade and a tree house(Kevin). So here we are in limbo just itchin' to start our life in a new home.

No more {Ethans'} JUMPING on the BED!

2009-04-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

"Oh no, this is so sad, what a bummer, wow. You were jumping on the bed and fell off? Can't bend your arm? Oh well, go to bed, maybe you'll feel better in the morning"

2009-04-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

A Child's Conversation

2009-04-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

This morning while I was slowly waking up, I heard the kids discuss the following:

Ethan:"Lydia, what are you gonna be when you grow up? I'm gonna be a animal scientist and have a map to know the way back home, and go all over to see animals."

Lydia: "Hmmm, what should I be? An Emergency Worker!"

Ethan: "No, that's a really hard job, you should do something easier like for a girl. You should be a animal scientist like me. "

Lydia: " Okay, I want to be a animal scientist. I want to marry you too!"

Ethan: " NO Lydia, you can't marry me."

Lydia: "Can you marry Mom?"

Ethan: "No, I have to marry some other girl. And you have to marry some other boy and have babies."

Lydia: "But, but I don't want to have babies because I'm afraid it will hurt my bottom!"

Ethan: " Lydia, you just have to push really hard like this..."

Lydia: "NO! I don't want to!"

Ethan: " Then you can't have any babies"

Lydia: "YOU can have my babies"

Ethan: " NO, Lydia, boys have to work and girls have the babies"

Lydia: "Oh, crap."

Puppies

2009-03-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

This litter was quite the experience. Maggie had a VERY LONG LABOR, and then the first was born dead, second was a runt and died a few hours ago, and third had a herniated umblical cord! Becky and I did some minor surgery on that one and she seems like the healthiest one now. The next three born were normal and healthy(sigh). So a total of 6 puppies. 4 Female and 2 Male. Now we have 2 Female and 2 Male. And I am T I R E D. Maggie is going to take a long long hiatus from puppy making. Here are some pictures of the puppies...

This is Maggie wishing she never flirted with that Shih-tzu in the first place.

I'm still laughing that Tyler thought Maggie's leg was a 'curly' puppy, Jessica!

Happy {8th} Anniversary

2009-03-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

Gosh, 8 years...I got married way too young! Thanks Kevin for letting me always choose where we go out to eat, always watching chick flicks with me, planning fun vacations, kissing me every morning, calling me every day just to see how I'm doing, helping me laugh at myself, teaching me to play chess, teaching me how to be frugal, letting me teach you how to spend money, saying I look sexy when I know indeed I do not, waking up and checking the whole house when I hear a scary noise, letting me buy too many dogs, agreeing with me when you know and I know I'm wrong, going to work everyday, thinking up inventions that make me laugh really hard, and just generally having a happy attitude about life. I love you , you manly man you.

Poor Kevin

2009-03-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

My poor Kevin had an accident. His finger got smashed so bad (be prepared for the gory details) it kind of exploded with insides being on the outside. The picture shows the bruises on the front, but I just couldn't show the other side....ITS TOO GROSS! And on top of it all, he thinks he's too cool for stitches! Trust me, he needs stitches. I used to be able to handle seeing gross things like this, but now I get nauseous just thinking about it. Sick. Anyway, I hope you weren't eating while reading this.

{Love & Logic}

2009-03-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

Kevin and I signed up for a {Love & Logic} Class. If any of you don't know what it is, it's a parenting method that's been around for years. It's really cool, except now we realize we have really been doing some things wrong! Kevin is the counting parent, you know.."Ethan stop that!, Ethan...1, 2, 3, 4, 5". It drives me crazy but I'm sure what I do drives Kevin crazy too. I'm the "explain everything" parent. Kind of a "helicopter parent" as they say. Really, it just feeds into arguing and negotiating with your kids about everything. At our first class last night we learned a lot and are excited to pretty much have perfect kids now. The time went by quick with a lot of laughs and it turned out to be a fun date night. We highly recommend it to anyone and everyone! There were parents of all ages there and grandparents too! Check it out, yo! (and quit screamin' at your kids!) www.loveandlogic.com.

Baby Names

2009-03-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

At one of our recent XBOX inspired gatherings, Kevin and I and Tara and Brad were talking about baby names....the Good and the Bad. Here's how the conversation went:

Tara: "Guess what, a girl I know named her kid, 'Klevin' "!

DaNelle: "Clevin?!" (We all laugh) What an ugly name!

Tara: I know, right?

DaNelle: "Yeah, I hate when people give their kids stupid made up names."

Kevin: "...uhhh, like 'DaNelle' "?

DaNelle: "oops" ( We all laugh again)

Thanks Kevin for ruining my hypocritical baby name opinion!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

We have long forgotten what it's like to go out on Valentine's Day by ourselves. Even if we do get a babysitter, the restaurants are so crowded it's not worth it to wait and hour to eat. So instead, right after Ethan got out of school on Friday we went to Buca di Beppo. Yeah, not a good place to take kids. Naked pictures everywhere and for a curious 6 year old, um yeah. But the food was awesome, we had Gnocchi. It's this dish that Kevin loved in Argentina. It's Pasta made from potatoes. Very Very Yummy! You know that full feeling you get but you still want to eat it all because it's so good? That's what we had. I don't know what is wrong with me but I totally spaced that both kids this year would need Valentine's Day cards for their classes! I didn't even spend hours making homemade cards with them! I just bought a pack and I forgot to get candy with it, so they gave only a card to every person in their class. I made a mental note not to be such a ditz next year. I'll over compensate by making 48 HUGE valentines that won't even fit in the shoe box.

The Latest

2009-02-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd catch up on a few things goin' on at the Wolford Ranch. I am shocked how fast January went by! We finally got Ethan's Asthma meds all squared away and he is doing much better and seems to have a lot more energy, just wish we didn't have to put the kid on so many steroids. We're crossing our fingers he'll grow out of it! Lydia is still the same, still eats everything in sight (including dirt), still plays with bugs, still hides her "accident" underwear in various places of the house, still loves to destroy things just for the fun of it. Still cute as ever! Kevin was recently tranferred to the Renewables Plant at SRP. It's where they research new kinds of energy. They support some of the kiosks at Phx Zoo so today we went for free! We rented one of those 4 seater bikes, but they are SUPER hard to ride! Holy Cow, we sure got our workouts for the week with that one, but we had fun! I have been in the process of expanding my business with a new product and am spending my extra time working on my website and getting ready for the big launch! My sis Jessica just bought a vinyl plotter and I'm hoping my new product will do so well, she can take over my current online vinyl shop. I am and will always be a dreamer! Even though my health issues seem to hold me back, I can't help but love doing something all by myself and see it succeed. I know this is the absolute worst time with the economy and all, but I really think my product will sell and hopefully I'm right! I thought maybe this was the year we could try for another little one, but after talking to doctors and praying and all I've come to the realization that my back just might not be able to handle it right now. It's hard but I feel good about it right now and who knows what the future will hold. We may adopt or I may get another surgery or we may just steal one of Tara & Brad's babies when this infertility treatment works and she gets pregnant with quads!
Speaking of pregnant, our little poodle, Maggie is pregnant again! I'm living vicariously through her. This is a pic of one of the puppies from the last litter all grown up. Isn't he the cutest Shih-tzu/Poodle you've ever seen?

A little less stressful...A little more organized

2009-01-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have always balked at the idea of Menu Plans for Dinner. The thought of planning out EACH DAY seemed tedious and besides, I like to have a little spontaneity in my life. But I do also like to organize and once I heard about this idea, I had to try it. Let me explain.

Basically what you do is double your recipes so you only cook about 2-3 times a week.

Some of the rules are you can't let your honey take the leftovers to work. Then he won't feel like eating it for dinner too.

Here's a sample of our week planned out:

SUNDAY:

Dinner w/ Daley's

- Bring Rolls

MONDAY & TUESDAY:

Spaghetti w/ Meatballs

Salad

Broccoli & Carrots

Breadsticks

Brownies for FHE

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY:

Tostadas

Salsa

Beans

Cheese

Lettuce,Tomatoes

Friday:

Eat Out

Saturday:

Eat Out

Friday and Saturday are really more of unplanned nights. Sometimes we go out to eat and sometimes we just fix something really simple.

I have found SO MANY BENEFITS to doing this:

~ It is so NICE on the 2nd day to have dinner waiting for you!

~ Your meal ideas last longer. Kevin and I wrote down about 30 meals we both like and I always refer to that list, I have still not gotten through it yet.

~ You spend more time making nice meals, instead of just throwing something together.

~ Less dishes

I like to plan every week, so every Sunday I sit down and plan it out, looking at what I have and what's on sale that week.

The lady that gave me this idea does her meal plans for 2 weeks and works around all of her kids activities. Really the only DINNER-INTERFERING activity we have is Kevin's Scouts on Tuesdays and that is the night I don't cook so it works out great! I hope you try it out, it sure helps make our life a little less stressful, and a little more organized.

THis is for you Jessica...

2009-01-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

2008 Top Lessons Learned...

2009-01-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

DaNelle's:
1. Enjoy your kids when they're home all day...because you'll miss them more than you think when they start kindergarten.
2. Raising puppies is really hard...but also really hilarious and mostly fun.
3. Getting a wholesale license and filing taxes every month takes practice and lots of advice.
4. Balancing life, kids and work while staying patient and happy is insanely hard.
5. Some people are just born with health tendancies/weaknesses, and sometimes after all that has been done, you just have to learn to live with it and not let it control your life.
6. Each child is different and so we have to be intuitive when it comes to their needs and discipline.

Kevin's:
7. Sell your house before the market totally tanks.
8. Only have 2 dogs.
9. Don't get a membership at L.A. Fitness, when you can go to Val Vista Lakes with your friends for free.
10. Always talk calmly to kids, if that doesn't work, calmly spank them.

Christmas 2008..

2008-12-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

We had fun going to our annual Tent Party at Fred & Jeanette's. We had Chili and cornbread and we always have to have our talent show! My Grandma's this year was dancing around to Neil Diamond Christmas tunes. It was GREAT! All the girls got up and joined in.

Here is Ethan whispering the details of Santa's visit to our house on Christmas Eve. I think Lydia is a little confused.

Santa got Ethan just what he wanted...more Transformers!

Lydia got a kitchen and we have been able to sleep in FINALLY, because she wakes up and proceeds to make breakfast for all of us.

Here is our 3 doggies huddling together to keep warm. 3 dogs, you ask? Yes, I'll explain later..

Woe is me.................

2008-12-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

Ugh, I just have to say sometimes things do NOT go well for me! This morning I was finishing the last minute touches on Lydia's dress, YES I sewed it myself (almost) and I melted, yes MELTED the ribbon on it. A few tears and a call to my Mom later, I managed to fix it somewhat. Then we rushed to get ready for church, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why we are always rushing when our church starts at 1:30. Probably Satan making the clock go faster. Anyway, we finally get to church all cute, the Opening Hymn starts, I am concentrating hard to hold on to the alto part, and..........WHOOSH, the world is spinning and so commences the icky VERTIGO I have struggled with the past 3 years. I really have felt better lately but this was a BAD one. If any of you have experienced it, it is like getting hit by a train. Your body freaks out, it is your natural instinct to flail your arms...kinda like a newborn when startled. Then the nausea and sweating comes, then the lightheadedness and off I am to the car, a perfectly dressed day ruined. Oh well, life goes on. I got to spend a couple hours watching Man from Snowy River although I'm sure it didn't give me the same upliftment as a good 3 hours of church would. Then to top it all off I got a bulging disk again and so here I am limping around and praying, praying my VERTIGO will stay far away from my head. Just had to complain, thanks for listening..

Thank you for the LAUGH.

2008-12-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

Sara you are the bestest friend/neighbor and I love that we can stop by half dressed at each other's houses and give each other a much needed LAUGH!

p.s. If you need a TRAINED, TALENTED Photographer, well here's THE BEST. And she doesn't come dressed like a homeless person, at least not all the time!

A Shower for Shmecky...

2008-12-21T23:21:00.001-07:00

We threw a rockin' shower for my sister Becky who is to be wed soon to Sean Larson. The theme was decided on was really fun, we did sort of a Celebrity theme, basically pretending Becky was some A-list star and you must be really special to be invited to the bash! I'm bummed some of the pictures turned out blurry, and I also took pictures after the party was over but it was decked out and I turned my Family Room into a VIP Room of a club. Tara did the best Drink mixes, Jessica did the awesome games,( one in which we had to pin a kiss on a Jonas brother)Can you believe he came to the party?!!, and Candra made the sweet Desserts and Invitations. It was fun and thanks to all who came and ate all the food and partied!

"I can HEAR now!"

2008-12-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Ethan had to have a surgery on Dec. 13th to have tubes put in his ears. We had his hearing tested earlier this year, and his left ear didn't register, but we thought maybe it was a fluke thing. Well, 2 more negative hearing tests later and a trip to the BEST Otolaryngologist, Dr. Mancuso we decide it's probably just some trapped fluid, so we went ahead with the tube placement to help drain the fluid. It was a lot easier than his Tonsil & Adnoid removal last year and he was the happiest, sweetest boy! That kid cracks me up, I had some pretty funny conversations with him while waiting. When he walked into the recovery room where I was waiting, he exclaimed with a huge smile on his face, " I can HEAR NOW!". Poor kid, I feel bad he's been going through life half-deaf! Hopefully this will cure the problem and he can stop ignoring us when we call his name!! Sorry for the cell phone pic, here he is waiting to go in.

What a hardworkin' MAN!

2008-12-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

I never seem to do a post about my husband, SO here's a shout out to you, HONEY, thanks for all the hard work you do to provide for our family! We LOVE YOU! Don't get stuck in the hole, sweety!

Kevin got to get out of the office for a while and inspect one of SRP's big boilers. Too bad it wasn't "take your son to work day" Ethan would have loved it!

Christmas Carnival!

2008-12-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Every year, SRP has a huge Christmas Carnival for all the employees and their families. WE went last year and this year our kids COULD NOT WAIT for the Christmas Carnival to come. Kevin and the kids had tons of fun riding all the rides and I had fun watching! We ate good Carnival too, like Navajo Tacos and Corn Dogs! Later on, Santa flew down in a helicopter and we even got to inspect the helicopter CLOSE UP. Good thing they had snow to play in 'cause it was getting hot! Overall we had a good time and Ethan drew a cute picture of our fun day...

I was a little nervous about Ethan going on this ride, but he insisted, so I made sure Kevin held on to him TIGHT!

I'm surprised his skinny little body didn't just fly right out!

The pilot had hung his gloves on some hooks on the back of the helicopter, I guess Ethan thought all Helicopters had permanent gloves on it! You can see on the back side he drew the ferris wheel and a line of people. My little artist....so talented.

The Remodel, Completed...

2008-11-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the PUPPIES are all sold and now it is quiet in our house...it's pretty sad, but then we decided we'll definitely do it again, it was an awesome experience! I have been a little OUT OF THE LOOP because day and night we have been remodeling our kitchen. First I painted the cabinets, which was SO MUCH MORE WORK than I EVER THOUGHT! Then we got a new microwave and sink & fixtures and FINALLY replaced the countertops with granite! I am so glad this is all done, it's nice to have out kitchen back again AND I actually took some before and after pictures, so drumroll please....

I need some advice...is that Flourish on the Fridge TOO MUCH? Everyday I wonder if it's a little too distracting, you know? I should probably put a simpler one on there, right?

7 Random Facts about the Kiddos

2008-11-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

(Sorry it took me forever to do this Alissa!)

1. They both think there are ghosts living in the house. Whenever they hear a sound they say,"It's a GHOST!".

2. Ethan is the pickiest eater alive (aside from maybe Alissa's kids) and Lydia eats everything, even non-food things. Ethan has spent many evenings sitting at the table until bedtime, while I have had to call poison control at least 5 times in her life, one just 2 days ago.

3. Ethan NEVER made messes as a baby. I NEVER had to childproof anything because I knew he just wasn't that kind of kid.

4. Both kids have "gone under the knife". Ethan for an endoscopy to rule out Celiac Disease and to remove his tonsils and adnoids. Lydia to remove a penny she swallowed when she was about 2 1/2.

5. While pregnant with Lydia, we didn't find out if she was a boy or girl and when she came out, she was so FAT, that the doctor had to set her down on the table and move those chubby legs to see. It was the longest 15 seconds of my life.

6. Ethan eats just like his uncle Todd, First all the potatoes, then all the chicken, then all the carrots, then all the bread.

7. Our kids have absolutely NO SENSE OF TIME> They will say, "We had Halloween last night", or "Tomorrow is my birthday" and we can't tell them about any exciting event until just the day before or else they'll drive us crazy asking, is Christmas tomorrow?

I tagg:

Jessica & Tyler

These Puppies are READY TO GO!

2008-11-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

Too Much Candy

2008-11-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

This little girl has been driving me crazy following me around all day asking, " Can I have some candy?" "Can I have more?" "MOre, more, more!"

I finally got so sick of her begging, I took the whole bucket of candy and dumped it on her. There you go Lydia.

Double, Double, Toil & Trouble

2008-11-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Something WICKED this way COME!

Our Halloween was rockin' this year!On Thursday, we got to go to SRP's Halloween party where we rode horsies, ate yummy corn dogs, watched a fireshow and tortured the animals in the petting zoo! Halloween was fun too, although my kids really don't last too long, they want to go home and eat it all! Then we had an adult party of our own.

Becky & Sean: Olive Oil & Popeye, Kevin & I: Edward & Bella, Mom: A fluffy witch, Jessica & Tyler: An Underage Chinese Olympian & The Joker, Candra: A Rocker Chick, Brad & Tara: Disco Man & Rosie the Riveter

WhiteTrashville

2008-10-27T15:58:00.001-07:00

I gotta admit, sometimes we do things that are considered "white trash". With a frugal and "inventive" husband like Kevin, I don't think we could avoid it. Right now, we are in the process of remodeling our kitchen. Kevin's cousin is an amazing tile contractor and sent us to shop for our tile at a place where he could get us a discount. Sweet, we thought! Must be a secret warehouse like Imperial Wholesale.

It was a typical Saturday of running around and just being busy. The kids were in their "play clothes", gosh I'm using a lot of quotation marks here, which consists of mismatched/stained/too small/ready to give to D.I. outfits. Kevin and I were nasty at best. We packed the kids into KEVINS car (that thing needs a whole post), because it gets better gas mileage being a Geo Prism. It was our first car we bought when we got married. Let's just say it looks like it shouldn't be allowed on the road. We head off and get to the place and walk in and...it's a super fancy SHOWROOM with all the employees in nice black pants and crisp matching tops. About 4 of them approched us and offered bottled water right away. Kevin and I looked at each other, both thinking, this is gonna be more expensive than we thought. So, we proceed to look at all the colors of the granite and then we notice a kids play room. Wow, pretty nice, so we let the kids play in there with one of the employee's watching them.

It didn't take long to find exactly what we wanted but then one of the employee's came up to me and said, "Your son needs to use the restroom." yeah, I'm sure that's how he said it. Kevin takes Ethan to the bathroom while I order the tile. When we were done and loading our kids in the car, Kevin was laughing and told me what happened in the bathroom...Ethan, for some reason, never done this before, had pooed a little in his underwear. Gross, I know. Kevin tried to clean up the best he could but stuffed toilet paper in his underwear so he would stay clean. Kevin, between laughing, told me that when Ethan walked back into the play room, he told the lady, " I pooped in my underwear, but that's okay, my Dad used all your toilet paper and stuffed it down my pants." HOW EMBARRASSING! We laughed and laughed in the car saying, they must of thought we were the weirdest whitetrash people ever to walk in there!

Here we were,

driving up in an old 95 Geo with a cracked windshield, dressed all dirty and dingy, our kids poopin in their pants, and buying one of the cheaper granite pieces they had. Did I mention that Lydia had a horrible eczema rash on her face?! It's a good story to remember I guess, it'll teach us not to judge anybody too harshly. You never know the circumstances that lead to a little White Trash for the day.

I just have to say...

2008-10-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

Ethan is the sweetest boy ever! I'm sure all you're kids are just like ours at bedtime, you have to stick to the rituals of story, drink, prayers, kiss & a hug. Lydia had fallen asleep the second her head hit the pillow and when I went in the room to give Ethan his kiss & a hug, he said. " You don't have to give Lydia a kiss, Mom, I already did for you." SO SWEET! I love my little Ethan.

Super Saturdays are Super-Stressful

2008-10-19T08:56:00.001-07:00

Designing and providing examples, ordering all the products, cutting all the vinyl, weeding all the vinyl, taping all the vinyl, painting half the metal, organizing all the boxes and boxes, spending all morning at the Super Saturday, craziness, craziness, craziness! After all this , I am DONE DOING SUPER SATURDAYS! They are too much work for this girl! I can't believe I agreed to do this , but I had my sister to help and somehow we got it done. My sweet kids were great and watched a lot of movies! Now it's time to get back to real life!

I blame the GENES.

2008-10-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

THis is what we've been doing the past 3 days at the WOlford Household, yep Ethan and Lydia have the dreaded asthma. At first we just called it "reactive airways disease" because they'd only get it if they caught a cold but after about 5 colds each a year, this can get pretty old! Ethan really has it worse than Lydia. We have him on an everyday steroid to prevent the flare-ups when he gets a cold. They are NOT working. This it the second one, and now we can check that off the list too.
So here we are, up all night coughing and nebulizing, and all day tired and some more coughing. This runs in the Clare family, and only one of my sisters out of the whole bunch has it, so I thought my kids wouldn't have it! I breastfed my kids each for a year so they shouldn't have asthma or obesity, right!? WRONG, those genes push on through! I have pushed the vitamins and have even got the formula down for a great immune boosting shake with a food supplement because they burn so many calories just breathing.
But they still get those colds and with it comes the asthma flare-ups! It's really frustrating because Ethan's already missed 7 days this school year, I even got a letter about it! Well, they'd better grow out of it. Either that or I'm gonna have to start HOMESCHOOLING, eeek!