My ABC's

I have been tagged twice now for this, so I guess I'd better do it. Here goes...

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Jason. But my moms and sisters run a close second.
C-Cake or Pie: Cake. My mom's good old gooey butter cake is a favorite.
D- Day of Choice: Any day I get to sleep in.
E- Essential Item: Cell phone. I even carry it around the house in my back pocket. One time I forgot and dropped it in the toliet.
F- Favorite Color: Red. But I have to say it changes.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi Bears.
H- Hometown: Rockville, MD Even though Centerville, UT was good to me in my late teens.
I- Indulgence(s): A Mormon Mixer. Diet coke topped off with a little Mountain Dew.
J- January or July: Okay, hello. July. All you Rockville groupies don't remember our ward trips to Rehoboth beach? I love hot weather.
K-Kids: 3
L-Life is incomplete without: family and diet coke
M- Marriage Date: August 20, 1996
N- Number of Siblings: 4
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples with peanut butter of course
P- Phobias or Fears: too many to list but driving with my husband at the wheel makes me slightly anxious and anything ever happening to my kids
Q- Quote(s): "If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."
R- Reason To Smile: Too many to list but mainly that I am incredibly blessed
S- Season: Spring
T- Tag Six: I think most of the people I would tag have already done this
U- Unknown Fact About Me: Mostly I'd like to keep them unknown but I worked as an orthodontic assistant for almost a year and still substitute every so often.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I'm a meat and potatoes kind of girl.
W- Worst Habit: I'm a nail biter (but that's the least of my problems)
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I don't really care for either, thanks. I have yet to have an ultrasound to find out the sex of our children before they were born!
Y- Your Favorite Food: Peanut butter, and definitely if its in any kind of dessert.
Z: Zodiac: Gemini

Cheese Broccoli Soup

I've actually had some luck with a couple new recipes lately, so I thought I would post one. I don't have a picture, mainly because we didn't have any leftovers!

Cheese Broccoli Soup

4 cups cubed potatoes (I used frozen)
1 onion, chopped
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups chopped celery
3 cups cut up broccoli (I used frozen florets)

Boil all veggies but broccoli in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli and boil for 10 more minutes. DO NOT DRAIN!

Sauce:
1/2 cup margarine
3 T. flour
2 cups milk
1 pound Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. pepper
3 chicken bouillon cubes (or 3 t. granules)

In saucepan, melt margarine. Stir in flour. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Add cheese and other ingredients. Mix until smooth. Add to undrained veggies and heat together but do not boil.

I halved the recipe but still used 2 cups water to boil the veggies. If making the full recipe, you may want to consider adding more water to boil veggies in.

Worth the Wait

On Friday afternoon Lauren, Nate, my dad and I made our way down to the Conference Center in Salt Lake for Pres. Hinckley's viewing. Luckily for me, my mom stayed home with Luke because nearly 4 hours later we finally made our way past the casket. We waited 45 minutes to get into the building, another hour weaving through lines, an hour and an half sitting in the conference center and another 30 minutes making our way up the escalators to the top of the building. And after all that, all I can say is that it was so worth the wait.

President Hinckley

I have been really touched by my children lately in their reaction to the passing of President Hinckley. When I told Lauren that he had died she wanted to know if his address was in the ward directory so we could take his family cookies. And Nathan came home from preschool on Tuesday and told us that they had said a prayer for President Hinckley because his teacher knew him too. Wondering how they got away with that I asked Nate who wanted to say the prayer. He said "I did!" And when I asked him who said it he said "I did!" He said that he hoped he was happy now that he was with his wife. I am so glad that my children have learned a love and appreciation for a living prophet despite my many, many shortcomings. I will miss him dearly too.

Bunny Hill to Black Diamond

Well, it's been a while since I've posted because we've been without our computer for almost a month! But amidst the blizzard we had on Monday, DHL delivered our new computer and Jason set it up that night! We've had a great month, with lots of snow and fun activities. The most memorable activity was our trip to Wolf Mountain. The kids had a day off from school so Jason met us at the "resort" late that afternoon. We decided to put the kids in a lesson, since I have only skied once when I was fifteen! I spent most of my time on the bunny hill with them, but did venture to the neighboring lift hill a few times. Once the lesson was over Lauren was so anxious to go on a bigger hill. My sister and brother-in-law and some of their kids had come along with us as well. My sister offered to take Lauren on the bigger hill with Jason and I following along. (Jason was on a snowboard and couldn't accompany Lauren on skiis.) We quickly headed to the lift and got right on. We were looking down the mountain toward the bunny hill to wave at Nathan when we realized we couldn't see him anywhere. We searched the entire ride up the lift. My sister and Lauren, who were just behind us, said her husband called and couldn't find Nate. Shortly after this, we heard the whimpering cries of a boy calling for his mother not too far behind us. Much to our shock and amazement, Nathan was riding the lift by himself. To say he was a little freaked out is an understatement. Now, here we all were at the top of the mountain not knowing what to do with him. Luckily, a man approached us and offered to take Nathan down for us. I fell four times coming down that hill. I was so distraught about Nathan being on that lift, completely scared and not knowing how he was going to get off. I had totally lost my concentration. When we later asked Nate how he got on the lift, he replied, "I tried to follow you and then that boy just swooped me up and put me on the lift." He has sworn off skiing for a little while, but I think we'll talk him into going again before long. Lauren, however, loved it and wants to know when she gets to go again!!

Who Needs a Spoon?

Happy New Year!

2007 was a really great year. I'm a little sad to see it end! Some of my favorite memories of this past year ...

Jason's graduation from residency

Family trip to Disney World

Moving back into our Centerville home

Jason getting a good job...then getting a better one six months later (way to go honey!)

New furniture and appliances (who knew I could get so excited over a dishwasher!)

Watching Luke grow

Being near family

Reconnecting with friends

South Davis Rec Center opens with year round swimming!

Jason's family coming to Utah for Ian's MTC farewell

Karen getting married!

Our anniversary trip to Cancun

Seeing Brian Regan and Josh Groban in concert

Lots of weekend exursions with Jay

Park City for Thanksgiving

Lauren starts going to school all day (need I say more?)

Watching Nate turn into quite the little sports fan (wonder where he gets that??)

Starting a blog (is this a good thing or a bad thing?)

Super Walmart opens in Centerville (I'm in heaven as Lauren would say!)

Reading the last Harry Potter and Twilight Series

And so much more....

One thing that has definitely not been part of this past year is scrapbooking! I hate to say I haven't done a thing since Luke was born. I'm not big on new years resolutions because I just tend to disappoint myself when I don't get them done, but getting back on track with my scrapbooking (in some form or another) is a goal of mine this year. This was the first page I completed in Luke's 1 year book. I'm not even going in order! Maybe now that I've got one page done I'll get to another...before next year that is. Happy New Year!