Friday, December 12, 2008

Kory and Amber...Caramel Recipe

I emailed both of you in response to your comments but I guess those auto reply emails don't make it. So here is the recipe:

2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups karo syrup
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all in heavy duty pot. Bring to boil on med high and cook until it comes together in when dripped into ice water, or to 234 degrees. Some candy thermometers can be inaccurate so I do the ice water method. DO NOT OVERCOOK! When the color starts turning golden start checking. Pour into saran wrapped 9 x 13 pan. Cool and turn out to cut. Wrap in wax paper. They are really good with pecans added to it!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Holiday Time

Time to start the traditions in our house of poppy seed bread making and caramel wrapping. I am ready to bake, bake, bake! I love to have the Christmas tunes on and the tree lit up and bake up a storm. It also helps if it is lightly snowing outside the window. It all adds to the feeling of it all! Mmmmm...I love this time of year. Merry Christmas everyone!

Amy, post the Christmas names...I forgot to tell anyone! Hopefully you still have the paper.

Thanks to Darren and Chad for picking the names this year.

Another Cameron Funny

A while ago Darren had a conversation in the car with the kids. We had just seen a guy holding a sign on a street corner, begging for money. So he told the kids that if they didn't want to beg on a street corner for money or be a garbage man, or a construction worker out in the hot or cold weather (no disrespect) they should never quit school and go to college. Last Saturday evening my parents took our family out to eat at their favorite seafood restaurant. Cameron was sitting across from me and after looking around the place and seeing all the wait staff he says to me, "So...Mom, all these people quit school?"

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Puppy and The Lost Tooth

Cameron lost his first tooth tonight. He and Sarah were playing, and he was the puppy. The puppy was chewing on some clothes and she yanked it out of his mouth really hard and out flew the tooth. Forget about the fact that it wasn't even loose to start with or that it was bleeding, he thought it was the coolest thing that had ever happened to him! He wants to show it to all his friends at school and his teacher! It took him a half hour to find it after it was flung across the room. I guess that means the tooth fairy has to come tonight...crap!

Once when Lauren lost a tooth she got a pack of juicy fruit and 69 cents. Yep, that's what was in the coin tray of the car. Then I told her about the tooth fairy. So the next tooth she lost I kept forgetting and by the 4th night as I put her to bed, she handed me her tooth and said with a sweet look in her eye, "Just take it, Mom."

I looked at his mouth close to make sure all was fine and told him to not lose any more teeth because it made him look too old and I didn't want him to grow up too fast. He said he wanted to live fast and die so that he could be with Jesus. Uuuuhhh...what? This isn't the first time he has talked like this. I said, "Why? What is it going to be like?" He said, "Warm and cozy." I think he is right. Times like this I think I need to hug and kiss and love more often and not "cry over spilled milk" so much. We never know what will happen in life! But I'm sure Cameron will be here for lots of years to come giving me grief and helping me realize I need to chill out!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Team Becky

Today was the funeral service for Duane Scott Summers. It was a beautiful service that was very well attended. I was glad I could be there. Becky and I met when we moved here 5 years ago. She is a saintly mother and a great friend. She has such great common sense and looks at life with great perspective. We have carpooled kids, served in primary together, and are visiting teaching partners. This weekend there will be a benefit for their family at our ward building. We will be selling baked goods and having a bi-ward parking lot sale and all the the proceeds will go to the Summers family. There has also been a fund set up if anyone wishes to donate. Please click on the team Becky button to do so. Read about their family here.

As her friends and brothers and sisters in the gospel we will ever be by her side to listen, support and love our dear Becky and her 7 "little monkeys".

As a side note, I thought it was so sweet at the viewing last evening, beneath the casket lined up in a row were 7 little stuffed monkey's, representing each of their 7 extraordinary children.

Monday, November 10, 2008

To my Dear Friend Becky,

I just heard of Duane's passing. Oh, how I wish the world could stop for a moment in sweet remembrance of your dear husband. All the demands of life are so pale in comparison to your sweetheart leaving this life. I pray your heart will be able to bear what emotions will come...what you have already been enduring. Please know of my love for you and my prayers on your behalf. I and many others will still be here long after the funeral is over and life returns to normal for so many others. Know you have friends who love and care for you and your sweet children. We won't ever grow tired of you talking about your sweet husband, your Superman, Duane.

With love,
Lindsay

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Picture of The Day

The thought of doing this scares the living daylights out of me!
Ismari, while this may bring a smile to you and your sweet hubby's face it puts absolute fear and panic on mine!! Aaaahhhhhh!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Erin's Ab workout and Dog Hating

Because the items in this post were unrelated I was going to call it odds and ends, but then, all I could think of was nuts and butts, and rears and queers which is a punch line to a joke my dad tells and so I just couldn't do it. A select few know that joke...thanks dad!


Lately, Erin will lay with her head up, trying her darnedest to try to do a full on sit-up, like if she tries it just one more time.... she'll be able to do it. One and two and hold and again...



Lauren created some fine artwork this afternoon I thought I would share with you all. She hasn't been influenced at all by my dislike for the canine species. Our neighbor's have 4 little dogs and one chased her the other day so she did some journaling to work through her fear. I laughed so hard when I saw the flower drooping because of the smelly poop! Maybe I'll have her enter it in our school's Reflections contest. Think it would win...the theme is "WOW", which isn't what I'm thinking when I see their dog's poop in our yard. I'm thinking, "Where is that pellet gun?"

My Birfday and more Halloween

I woke up filthy, stinkin, rich on my birthday this year! Darren was expecting some extra $ this month from some trainings he had done. Now, we all know that we spend what we make, but after the baby we are still trying to pay off a few bills. I said, "Whenever you finally do get this money, can I just roll around on the bed with it for a while before it vanishes?" So I woke up to
100 dollar bills on my bed to "roll around in". Heck, the bills can wait, I'm going shopping! He made me breakfast too and we got to spend the day together driving to OKC and back. It was a great day! Thanks for all the birthday wishes from so many of you! Enjoy the pics below...
Money, money, money, money........Moooonnneeeeyyyy!
Trick or treating

Sometimes I think I would never have anything to write about if I didn't have Cameron. That kid has some great material for blogging. He takes the cake again with this one...As he walked away from a house while trick-or-treating he yells back to me, "Mom..... that lady smokes!" And I mean the kind of yell that he would use to tell me the house is on fire! The lady is behind her truck smoking a cigarette, talking on her cell phone, and handing out candy to kids. Talk about multi-tasking! I just moved on quietly and hoped she hadn't seen which mom he screamed it to. So I guess we need to have the talk about why we don't publically humiliate people for smoking just because we don't do it.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Happy Halloween





80's aerobic queens

Hanz and Franz







Strike a pose, there's nothin' to it...Vogue!



The Witch, the Batman and the Eeyore



Bunny Love

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Camera Happy





Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch


Cameron came home yesterday with a note saying his lunch account was overdue. I was perplexed because the kid hasn't bought lunch once so far this school year. Today Lauren says, "I know why Cameron brought home that letter about his lunch account. He's eating breakfast in the morning and I told him he couldn't and he said it was okay because it was free."

Aah Hah! I go to Cameron and ask, "Do you want to tell me what you've been doing at school in the morning? "Working hard in my class" was his response. I said, "No, before class...have you been eating breakfast there?" "Yes" he says but has no idea that he is eating on credit nor that I would find out. So he eats here and then eats again as soon as he gets to school and is still skinny as a rail. I guess he needs alot more food but is just too ADD to sit still and eat long enough for his tummy to tell him he's full. He says it was great because he got to eat cocoa puffs with chocolate milk on them. So good to know that our school cafeteria is dedicated to sugaring up our youngsters before a full days work! No wonder I don't let him eat breakfast at school!!!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Leelou Blogs

This is a site that has some of the neatest blog backgrounds and is also where you can find some pretty cool LDS blinkies ~ for FREE!

Check it out next week to see about the giveaways, new backgrounds, and other new, fun stuff!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

8 is Great!

Tagged by Ismari

8 TV Shows I Love To Watch

1. Fox News
2. The Office
3. Survivorman
4. Planet Earth (Discovery)
5. Seinfeld re-runs
6. Law and Order
7. Paula Home Cooking (Food Network)
8. UFC Fight Night (I know it is totally redneck - Darren has taught Cameron what an arm bar and a rear naked choke hold are)
9. American Idol
10. Bachelor and Bachelorette (just to make fun of...mostly)

8 Things that happened to me yesterday

1. Can't remember so I'll do today...Got kids ready and took them to Target for pictures.
2. Went to Sam's and ate lunch with kids there...they're favorite!
3. Drove home with the sunroof open and windows down singing Coldplay.
4. Swept and mopped kitchen floor.
5. Vacuumed living room.
6. Weed-eated hopefully for the last time this season and swept back patio off.
7. Made fruit salad and scrambled eggs with cheese for dinner and served with last night's tamale pie.
8. Nursed baby and watched Fox News while Darren took kids to school park to play.
9. Made popcorn and watched part the new Indiana Jones movie...so dumb!
10. Watched home videos and wondered how my kids got so big and wondered why I haven't videoed anything for a whole year!

8 Favorite Places to Eat

1. Ted's
2. Fish Daddy's
3. Abuelo's
4. Pei Wei
5. Panera
6. I Hop
7. Outback (#1 pick)
8. Johnny Carrino's
9. PF Chang's
10. Steak and Shake

8 Things I am looking forward to

1. Fall Break being over - I'm out of summer mode and having all kids home all the time!
2. Halloween - my birthday!
3. Candy from kids trick-or-treating bags
4. Thanksgiving and Christmas time
5. Some snow - no ICE!
6. Hot chocolate from QT
7. The rest of BYU Football season - too bad about TCU
8. Lauren being able to babysit in 3 years or so
9. Losing all baby weight and firming up again - wait...does that happen after the 4th baby?
10. Seeing which lesser of two evils wins the Presidential Election

8 Things on my wish list

1. New clothes & shoes
2. More patience so I could go all day and just think of how much I love my kids and not how they just filthed up my clean house!
3. A maid
4. A fenced yard
5. New neighbors on both sides, preferably ones without multiple loud dogs and would it hurt if they were friendly and didn't bring cops and trouble into the neighborhood???????
6. All new make-up and hair product
7. My head of hair before I lost half of it down the shower drain after the baby
8. A freezer stocked with Bluebell Ice cream
9. Grocery prices to fall
10. To go on another cruise someday

8 People I tag

1. Lisa
2. Holly
3. Jen H.
4. Sally
5. Becky
6. Dana
7. Kristin
8. Amy B.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Handbag Giveaway

This is the handbag I hope I win.

They'll give one away for the next 24 hours to promote their new business. Check it out.

My Super Saturday Project



Check me out!



Check out my cute new apron I made today at our Souper Saturday event at church....yeah, I know, you likey! I was so happy I finished it, but not without the help from my good friend Joni...Thanks, Joni! The link to her website is Modern Myrtle where you can order your own along with several other vintage-esque goodies! I feel like I really need to bake now...time for some cinnamon rolls...yum! This recipe is the best cinnamon roll recipe ever! It's from my friend, Paula Deen, Food Network star. Try it out!



Dough:
1/4-ounce package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour


Filling:
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional


Glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 6 tablespoons hot water


Directions


Heat oven to 350 degrees F.


In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.
Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.
Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.


P.S. I add cream cheese to the icing cuz I like it like that!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

GO BYU!


This I thought was too funny as I searched for a BYU image...




GO BYU!
BYU vs UTAH STATE FRIDAY NIGHT @ 7 p.m.

Aquarium Adventure


Darren is out of town this entire week in Utah and the free coupons to the aquarium the kids earned for summer reading at the library were about to expire! So we took a trip to see some sharks Tuesday evening. We got to pet sting rays, they are very slimy by the way, and see lots of real sharks in a tank over our heads and around us! It was cool! There were also, moray eels, beavers, otters, and of course, Nemo was there with Dori! We were done after and hour and a half. I can't imagine spending the 60 $ it would have cost us all to get in without the coupons for an hour of fish watching. Fish are fish, man! It was worth the 15 dollars it cost just for me, for all of us to go though! Then to Braum's for ice cream! Can't beat it. What a fun night.

Shark Tank

Fearsome Foursome

Ward Campout 2008

Lauren and her friends busting out a karaoke tune
3 month old baby's weren't meant to camp
Lauren, Sarah and Gwenny
You gotta problem Dude?


Wow! I don't know if I have ever expended this amount of energy in less than 24 hours before. It was a lot of work to pack, hook up boat, set up tent, lay out beds, have loads of fun singing karaoke, roast s'mores, get very limited sleep, stand up swaying baby after nursing for 45 minutes in middle of night so as not to wake fellow campers, get up, dress kids, eat breakfast, have more fun, take down camp, pack back up, and deal with very fussy baby! But it was all part of the experience! I sang Material Girl with some girlfriends and we rocked it out. We better get good at the camping thing though since Darren is the new Young Men's President in our ward. He was released from our Bishopric a couple weeks ago and then received the YM calling. The only thing I really gained was a husband to help wrangle kids in sacrament meeting, for which I am very grateful! This is a whole new ball game for him. So we may find ourselves on more campouts to come. Goodness knows, he needs the practice! Amy, tell Chad to get Darren a Philmont belt! Maybe he can pick his name this Christmas.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Where Did You Hear That?


I knew the day was coming. It was just a matter of time. And I knew who would bring it up too. Tonight at dinner Cameron asked, "Mom, is fu** a bad word?"

Mom: Uuuuuuhhhhh, Yeah. Where did you hear that?

Cameron: From my friend at the bus stop this morning. He said "Oh, Fu**!"

Mom: Well, we never say that word. It is used by people who can't express themselves in a smart way. In other words, it makes you sound really dumb, so never, never say that.

Cameron: Why? What does it mean?

Mom: It means whoever says it sounds like an idiot, so that's why we don't say it.

Cameron: Oh, okay.


Let's hope this was explanation enough. And that Sunday Sarah doesn't blurt it out at church saying just how bad of a word it is. Aaaaaahhhhh!


First Giggles


I didn't quite get it on video but today Erin chuckled her first real laugh at me. It was so cute! She is growing too fast and I find myself wishing I could shrink her back down so she doesn't get so big so fast. Maybe I could visit the Willy Wonka factory and put her through the same gadget that shrank Mike T.V. Think it could work? Today she proved that although she is making milestones, she is still capable of crying non-stop and going all day without a real nap: sleeping longer than 10 minutes without me holding her. Despite her wailings I am enjoying her and loving her coos and squeals. Oh baby, you really are the last one :(

Just Like Grandma Used to...

I thought of my Grandma Crowther today. When Grandpa died a year and a half ago, I inherited grandma's Pyrex glass nesting bowls and her bread pans. So today, I made her banana bread and mixed it in her bowls and then baked it in her bread pans, just like she would have done. It was neat as I realized I was going through the motions much like she would have done years ago. I miss her.

Saturday, September 13, 2008