Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Duane's Favorite Books

Duane has taken to reading lately. He LOVES it. These are some of his favorite books. He has others, but these are the ones that he brings to me all day every day. He can't get enough of them!






Friday, June 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Duane!



Speaking of needing to catch the blog up, Duane's birthday was two months ago!

Wedding Bells

These are pics from my sisters wedding. She and her new hubby opted to go on a cruise instead of having a whole big reception and such, so there was only family and close friends. She was married last month, I've been meaning to catch up on my blogging.











Yeehaw!

This was taken at a park in Heber. Some family and I met there before going to a place to eat. My stepdad ran the Wasatch Back Relay and my mom wanted to take him out to eat to celebrate. Duane loved this springy horse and hardly minded that it was raining.

Real Men

I have often heard the phrase "real men wear pink" in my lifetime and have often agreed with it. Pastor laughed at me once a while ago when I suggested he buy a pink shirt, so I thought that idea was negative to him. Much to my surprise, we were in one of our favorite places to shop and he picked out a pink shirt. I thought he was doing this to humor me, but when he proceeded to put the item in our basket and on to purchase it, I was really shocked.

Needless to say, I think he looks amazing in his pink shirt. Dare I say it matches his lips?

Good job babe, real men wear pink.

New Recipe I Wanna Try

This was taken from Simply Ming from the Create channel. It looked so yummy that I really wanted to try it. The only problem: I don't have a slow cooker. Maybe I could borrow my mom's. I've been wanting one forever! *cough cough* Pastor . . .

http://www.ming.com/simplyming/recipes/Season6/621_GalangalBraisedPorkOssoBucco.html

Galangal Braised Pork ‘Osso Bucco’


Serves 4

8 pieces pork shank (veal and oxtail would also work)
1 cup rice flour
2 large onions,sliced
1 pound bag organic carrot nubs
4 stalks celery, 1-inch roll cut
6 smashed cloves of garlic
5 slices galangal
3 jalapenos, sliced
1/4 cup naturally brewed soy sauce
2 oranges, halved
2-3 pounds whole new potatoes
water to cover
canola oil to cook
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Coat a stovetop-safe stockpot insert lightly with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Season pork shanks well and dredge in flour. Brown evenly in stockpot insert -- it will take about 8 minutes; set aside. In the same pot coated lightly with oil, saute onions, carrots, celery, garlic, galangal and jalapenos. Deglaze with naturally brewed soy sauce, season, add oranges and cover vegetables with water and taste. Should be well seasoned; add the shanks and more water may need to be added. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3 1/2 hours, adding potatoes in the last hour. Before serving, skim fat from top. Serve family style.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Mermaid or Whale?

This was on a friend's blog and I thought it was too cute not to share:

Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said:

¨THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?¨

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Barren Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they don’t have kids either. Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good gosh, look how smart I am…¨

Hey There Delilah (I'm at the MTC)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Doggie



Duane was lying on the floor drinking his bottle today. The TV was on and he was watching it when a commercial came on. There was a yellow lab in the ad. When Duane saw it, he promptly took his bottle out of his mouth and very distinctly said "doggie." It was such a cute and simple thing. He said it like it's been in his vocabulary forever.

Pastor and I made a big deal and tried to get him to say again, but he didn't want to. We'll just have to wait for that commercial to come back on.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Another Cute Christmas Idea

I was watching the crafty channel on tv (well, I was actually chasing Duane down for a roll of tp) when I saw this. The idea requires a wooden keepsake box like the one shown below, some paint pens and paint, decal stickers, and nine flat, round rocks. The lady used some sort of stencil stickers to decorate the rocks so they could be filled in with any color of choice. She then used a ruler to draw a tic tac toe grid on the box and decorated the box with gel pens. I thought it was cute and simple idea for a gift. The rocks can be stored in the box until ready for a game. :o)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Painting Again

Our friends have the cutest little girl. I asked if I could do a painting of her and they said yes. She is soo adorable.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Cute and Cheap

Christmas is going to be a little tight this year, as I'm sure it will be for many. I was watching an arts and crafts show on tv that had a great idea of making paper mache vases and painting them. I know if I don't post this now, I will forget by Christmas.

This picture is a general idea. I want to do one with the kids hand and/or feet prints on them. It's a great thing to give to grandparents and even great-grandparents.



This was taken from this website.



This vase is also made of paper mache and I think it's very pretty.

This was taken from this website.