Sunday Photoshoot

In honor of Greta's 2 month mark and the fact that I had matching Sunday dresses for the girls I decided to do a little photo shoot. All Saturday night I had beautiful visions of the cute pictures we would take. The visions were oh so grand! Then to my pleasant surprise, we made great time on getting ready for 9:00 church and we had 10 minutes to spare. That's enough time for a few photos right? And with their fresh clean looks and happy dispositions good pictures were going to be easy! My grand visions were quickly deflated. . . cooperation wasn't super high, the lighting not the best and Tessa's anxiousness to get to church took its toll. . . every single picture was blurry. After church and naps I went for round 2. I knew this session couldn't include Tess because she was so grumpy and I would have to put her hairdo back in; two bad omens. So Greta got the stage to herself. (which was actually my original plan since I try to photograph every month anyway, but then the matching dress dreams took over. . . )Greta posing solo lasted, oh, maybe a minute when Tess demanded that she be included. And much to my surprise, she was actually a bit cooperative.So I got the great idea to put her hairdo back in. . . .my grand visions resurfaced. . . should have known better as cooperation lasted 30ish seconds!A bribe was put on the table: 'I'll play a game with you if you look at the camera and hold Greta' (as an aside, treats rarely work as an incentive for Tess, but tell her you'll play something with her and she's all over it.)After a few shots I noticed I did a terrible job on her right pigtail. . . oh well, fixing it would cause more issues. . . just had to go with it.It wasn't long until I was losing Tess again and naturally that was when Greta started grinning.
Just as we were all running out of steam, I pushed my luck one more time. . . I ran to my room to throw on something a bit matchy so I could join them. . . Threw in a few more bribes and then it was really time to end.260 pictures. . . maybe 4 'good' ones. . . . a great story to tell. . . .100% worth it!

Spring Break

Quick (& belated) spring break recordings in a (sort of) photo journalistic style. . .

Went to Preston.

Had an Easter Party. . .dyed eggs. Had an egg hunt.Had a Cookie Contest (which tells you what I was up to the week before. . .5 batches of cookies takes a lot out of you!)Had a Birthday Party for my dad.Played a little basketball.
Checked out Grandma's vintage typewriter.Washed Grandma Bingham's windows.Raked Grandma's seed pods.Removed leaves from Grandma's flower beds.Enjoyed a little time with Grandma.Things we did that missed documentation by the camera:
Had an egg hunt and many tea parties with Grandma & Grandpa Waddoups.
Worked on school projects.
Worked on Eagle Project paper work.
Finished up final requirements on 4 merit badges.
Went to BYU Museum of Art.
Went out to lunch.
Worked towards 40 hours of drive time on a driver's permit. (not even close!)
Flew a kite.
Mended a large stack of clothes.
Tom went skiing.
Cache went to Lagoon.
Enjoyed a needed break from routine.
I love spring break.

Dear Ward Members. . .

I'm sorry that previous to yesterday I hadn't discussed with Tess that playing hide and go seek in Sacrament meeting is inappropriate. I'm sorry that I was occupied in my own thoughts that when she ducked her head on the back of the bench and started counting. . . one, two, three, four, five. . . . I did not anticipate the "ready or not, here my come" or the popping up and shouting "My found you!"

Then I'm sorry that I giggled. I promise, I have the highest respect for the sacrament and don't want to disturb it for anyone.

Maybe I can blame it on our cute neighbor boys sitting behind us who are so nice to let Tess come and play in their back yard that she thought it was playtime again. Or maybe it was because she couldn't resist that all 5 of them were dressed in coordinating green. . .oh wait, they're always so cute and coordinated! Or maybe I just need to take responsibility and work harder at keeping that girl reverent. . . . Dear ward members, we'll try harder.

Where are you Spring?

Be still capris and short sleeve shirts
. . .your time will come. . .
today we get to enjoy this beauty even though we've been wishing for beauty in the form of
GREEN
{and I'll try calm my anxiousness for breaking in my new double stroller}.

Cafe Rio, Move Over!

As promised, here is the recipe for the Pork Barbacoa Salad. While it is not one you are going to whip out in a half hour or so, it is worth every minute of preparation. The meat and rice can be used on quesadillas, in burritos etc. Do yourself a yummy favor and buy the uncooked tortillas (in the refrigerated section at the grocery store) instead of the regular tortillas. Then if you want to step it up, add some pico de gallo and guacamole. MMmmmm. . . I'm salivating just typing it up.

Pork
3-4 lb. pork roast (too much more and you'll need more sauce)
21 oz Rootbeer
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Cook roast in crock pot covered half way in water until tender. (I did mine over night for a lunch meal.) 4 hours before eating drain liquid from roast, remove any fat and make sauce:
Pour chipotles into a metal strainer over a metal or glass bowl (adobo sauce stains plastic, so unless you want a yucky mess, avoid plastic). Pour some of the rootbeer into the chili can to rinse out remaining sauce and pour that over the chilies to remove the sauce trapped within the chilies.** Add remaining ingredients to sauce bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Tear the roast into 2-3 large pieces and pour the sauce over it. Shred pork with a fork 1-2 hours before serving.

**Note: As is, this sauce has got a quite a bit of a kick. I added two of the chilies into the crock pot then removed before serving. This increased the heat quite a bit. . . but according to my family it was perfect. But I could eat it and love it just as much without that extra kick too.

Cilantro-Lime Rice w/ Black Beans
2 cups uncooked rice
1 tsp butter
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp lime zest
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
Cook in rice cooker, in microwave or on the stove.
When cooked, mix together and add:
2 TBSP lime juice
2 tsp sugar

Stir in:
3 TBSP fresh chopped cilantro
2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained

Note: I found a separate recipe for the black beans, but at this point I was tired of cooking so I just threw the black beans in with the rice. It was just as lovely and I'll definitely go this route again.

Tomatillo Dressing
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
3 tomatillos (remove papery skin)
1 cup mayo
1 cup butter milk
1 cup cilantro (roughly chopped)
1 clove garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
juice from 1 lime

Add all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate.

Note: In hindsight, I would definitely make only half the dressing; it's a very big recipe.

To assemble salad, line a bowl with a tortilla, sprinkle a little shredded cheese (toast or microwave to melt the cheese for Cafe Rio authenticity) add beans and rice, then meat, lettuce, dressing, salsa, guacamole and a sprig of cilantro. Yum. I'll leave you with picture with a bit of a blurry close up. Happy cooking!

Fantastically Fed

Last conference we started a fun tradition of everyone choosing one food item/recipe to eat over conference weekend. Although it is a lot of work for me, it is yummy and fun. And what better way to gather to hear the words of prophets than with another helpful gathering agent: delicious food! We were fantastically fed spiritually and physically. Here is what was on the line up this time:

Greta's pick: Strawberry Margaritas. . .a non alcoholic version of course. . .didn't get a picture of this one so here's the recipe:

1/3 container limeade
1 container frozen strawberries
Blend together with ice until slushy. Add a desired amount of ginger ale over the slush.

Tessa's pick: Fruit Snacks (but hers was a PINK box!)Chandler's pick: Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips (major YUM!)Caleb's pick: Buffalo Shrimp (good, something we'd definitely make again, but not stellar)Cache's pick: Ginger Cookies (Very soft and excellent if you like ginger snaps)Tom's pick: Baked Potato Skins (another major YUM!)My pick: Pork Barbacoa Salad (to say it was aMaZingLy yuMmY does not do it justice. . . I'll have to share the recipe in another post)

Boys Update

Just thought I'd post a little something about what each of the boys have been doing since they have not seen nearly as much blog space as the girls (not that they care. . . but records have to be kept!).

Cache: He is a homework machine. His grades prove it. But that is okay. Some college out there will want him enough to pay his way and I'm good with that. In his spare time this past month (although I think it only took about 2 weeks) he put together this 2000+ piece puzzle. According to him, it is 'the coolest puzzle I own'. Anything more than 500 pieces gives me a headache. I'm not sure where he came from. But I like him a lot so I'll keep him :).
Caleb: Having a social bug in the house is good thing because it means he loves to help with the little ones. . . and what a great help he is. He is such a welcome sight after school because he gives me a break from Tessa. His big thing lately is his 'drink mixer' that he made out of Lego Robotics. Since this version, he has remodeled to have even more features. He's definitely the inventor in the household.Chandler: If this kid is not playing football, he is drawing it (since March Madness has arrived basketball has been added to his repertoire of drawings). His dream in life is to be a uniform designer. . .he is so attentive to details on uniforms. Sometimes when he points out uniform specifics he gets a bewildered look from me because I can barely tell you the colors of a few teams let alone whether they are made by Nike or Under Armour or have 2 or 3 stripes on the sleeve. . . But he definitely has a knack for things like that!

How to Sew on a Merit Badge

I've sewn on my fair share of merit badges in my sojourn of motherhood. . . .as I was catching up on this job the other night I thought it might make a good blog post not only for a record of how I've spent some of my time as a mom, but also as a possible resource for people who don't know how to do it.

Now I am not claiming to be a professional or to know the 'right' way (because there probably *is* a right way and I just don't know it!). But I have come up with a method that works good for me. Here's what I do: put a piece of double sided tape on the badge and adhere it where you want it. This helps to stop slipping so the badge doesn't get turned while placing it on the machine or while taking the first couple of stitches. I use a light brown (khaki) colored thread. If you stitch right along the inside green or gray ridge your thread will show very little. In the beginning I changed thread colors for each badge and it was a HUGE pain, but in trying out other neutral colors, khaki shows the very least. I also don't do any back stitching. I figure I'm not washing the merit badge sash and it's not going to scout camp so they will stay on without that extra step. (Sewing badges onto a uniform, however, is an entirely different story. . . on those, I often go around twice just to make sure it is on good so I won't have to repair anytime soon.) So there you have it. . . (does anyone know a better way besides the glue?)