taste of summer

The last few days have been warm... 74º warm... what a change. It has been a winter's dream come true.

We've flown kites,
flown remote control planes,
played on swings,
jumped on a trampoline,
chased imaginary butterflies,
blew bubbles,
played with neighborhood kids,
went for walks,
chased Buckwheat chasing squirrels,
grilled burgers,
played in water,
got a pet goldfish,
crawled in grass,
thrown rocks,
wrestled with goldendoodles,
ate cookies (lots of cookies),
got some sun,

and this morning,
woke up to dense fog from the evaporating water
of the endless fields around us.

Tomorrow we hope for some thunderstorms.

most scrumptious

I know it wasn't that long ago when I posted a recipe for my favorite butter cookies... but here is a sugar cookie recipe that I am now over the moon about. Due to the excessive amount of butter in these cookies, I think the two recipes should nicely exchange names.

Even though I've been trying to eat lighter and less and better and all that, I gave in to Mont's sweet pleas for us to make cookies. I didn't offer chocolate chip cookies, because I knew I would eat them all in two days. So I offered others.. 'Snickerdoodles?' 'Yep!' ... 'Or... Sugar Cookies?' 'Yep! Dos wans'

It was settled.

Searching on the web for a recipe I had seen not too long ago, I decided to give it a try, and thankfully I had grabbed another box of butter squares at the store the day previous.. I needed 5 sticks for this recipe! Don't worry... it makes a lot of cookies, so it spreads out. Or at least this is what I've told myself over and over again.

Without further ado.. here is the recipe for Cutler's Famous Sugar Cookies | Butter Cream Frosting:
Sugar Cookies: 
1 1/2 c butter (3 sticks)
2 c sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
5 c cake flour*

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until blended well. Add dry ingredients and mix. To make dough easier to work with, chill before rolling! Roll to about 1/4 inch thick and form (cut) cookies and bake at 350º for 10 minutes. Cookies are done when top is slightly cracked and no longer looks wet. Edges may brown.

*I didn't have cake flour (that's what I get for baking on a whim), so mine didn't get as fluffy or as crackled as they should... but goodness they were still so soft and tasty! I didn't even mind that they weren't bigger. The taste and texture was still very cake-like and delicious.

Butter Cream Frosting: 
1 c butter (another 2 sticks!)
4-5 c powdered sugar*
milk
1 t vanilla

Beat soft butter and powdered sugar together until smooth. Add a splash of milk and vanilla then blend well. Tint frosting with food color as desired. Decorate with sprinkles immediately after frosting.

*4-5 c really blends down into a small looking amount, but it did go far enough to have extra for me. Next time I'll be more liberal with my frosting and lay it on thicker!

.... go on and make 'em! Just have some people in mind to give them to afterwards... We kept all of them and now I have 7 lbs to go again instead of 5, dang it! But it was so worth it!

eating lighter

I've been trying to eat better lately, really truly. I have about 10 5 lbs left to lose to return to my normal weight, and I don't think DQ Blizzards every week helped me out with that. Since I don't exercise regularly, I knew it was calories that I was going to have cut to see any results. I don't gain much weight by eating normal, I just don't lose any; and I want to lose, so I'm cutting out the junk! (until I made cookies two days ago at Mont's request...)

With 5 lbs gone after a week, I'm wondering why I hadn't done this sooner. Here's what I've been doing (or trying to do before the cookies were made) is this: 

Breakfast:

- eat half of a serving of mini wheats + milk (my reg. 2%) + a piece of 12 grain toast. 

- glass of cold water + vitamin (I need to be better at taking vitamins on a regular basis)

Ab routine: 

I have to face it, this is what needs the work after babies. My arms do heavy lifting all day and my legs get lots of walking. Abs and obliques are where I want to focus more attention. So I do a short 25 minute workout, and the next morning I think I see myself narrowing a bit. 

- cold water (if I expect myself to drink lots of water, it better be cold!)

Lunch: 

- plate of baby spinach + almond slices + craisins + creamy poppyseed dressing. easy, and very tasty. 

- cold water

Alternative Later Lunch: 

- there have been a few days where I push my lunch back to 2 o'clock or so, and eat a bigger lunch of penne pasta + shredded cheese + salt + pepper. Not the lowest in fat, and definitely high in carbs, but if I eat like this, it's the last thing I eat all day. I'm not hungry either. It gives me plenty of energy and I feel really great the next morning. 

-If I want to eat a different 'big lunch' I choose a turkey sandwich with 12 grain bread + feta crumbles + red onion slices + spinach + mustard + tomato slice + salt and pepper. It's a very, very tasty sandwich but doesn't last as long as the pasta. I usually have to have a snack later in the day with that. 

- cold water

Dinner: 

- Cook or steam a vegetable, season with salt + pepper + parmesan, share with Mark, taking more than half! : ) This way I fill up more on veggies, and I feel more satisfied after dinner.

- Whatever we eat for dinner I think of the amount I would normally take and devour in seconds. Think real hard and be honest with myself... it would take up my entire dinner plate. 

- I take a smaller plate, then put 1/2 of my normal portion and take longer to eat it. 

- Eat this smaller dinner at 5:30 or 6:30 at the latest! 

- cold water

- Don't eat anything else all night. If I feel a craving, like Mont's Cheetos still sitting in a cup, I'll take one and put the rest away for the next day. Just one, and I get the taste and curb the craving. 

- cold water

Here was yesterday's lunch.. I chopped off the bottoms of the asparagus, then seasoned with olive oil + garlic powder + salt + pepper + parmesan shreds. 

Then baked at 350º for 12 minutes. It was pretty tasty! I'd never cooked asparagus for myself before, but I'm glad I finally did!

* hardly tips, I know.. more common sense eating. : ) 

bobby pins

This weekend I stepped out of my "down, up, or half-up" comfort zone and tried an up-do I had seen online recently. I am not a girl known for talent with hair, so today when two girls asked how I did it, I was beyond flattered. So, to remember this day always.. I give you... the front view:

And my pride-grin with the back. It's the end of the day, so I hope you grant me the loose strands. : )

 Non-secret Secret: 3 'granny braids' as I've always called them, twisted up into buns plus lots of magical bobby pins.

fresh out

Thorough planning is my mother's forte, while my near misses are what sets me apart. Mark teases me about this often, but when putting together a grocery list, I typically forget one vital ingredient to a meal for people. It's sort of a running joke that I hope trips and falls really soon.

Missing ingredient for enchiladas today was the most necessary of them all: the tortillas.

I quickly texted two neighbors, one right after the other, and when first said she had just used all of hers, and the second neighbor was busy throwing a birthday party for her 5 year old (happy birthday, Coral!), my problem-solving kicked in and thought... I'll just make them!

(because Heaven forbid I ask our guests to bring over the missing ingredient .. which I've done before, but let's not get into that)

Things I learned when doing this were:
First: I really, really like working my hands through flour.. have you ever done it? It feels like how I'd imagine a cloud to feel, so cool and unbelievably smooth and soft. TRY it. I felt like a moron telling Mark how nice it was over and over again! Really, truly, I almost never wanted to stop.

Second thing: the dough balls really just need to be torn from the dough and placed down. At first I was rolling them into individual balls, realizing quickly that they were drying out before I could finish all of them.

Third: cover said dough pieces with plastic wrap so they don't dry too quickly.

Fourth: don't use a tortilla roller, just use an American rolling pin. Mark's Turkish friends gave him one while he was deployed once and my hands felt like I had been clapping too long after just 15 minutes of rolling. (i'm sure you know that burning/itchy feeling after a good long clap at a sports game or play, right?)

Fifth: they were delicious. The first was too thick, the second was cooked too long, but after those two it was smooth sailing.

Sixth: There is something so primitively beautiful about a stack of homemade tortillas. The inner pioneer / frontier woman inside me was so proud. Ya ya.. just work your hands through flour and see if you can avoid the same feelings.

Here's the recipe I used. I substituted the lard (gross.) for shortening (still gross, but it's what I had.) and they turned out wonderful.

in a sea-shell

You know that phrase "in a nutshell" that is used when something long is wrapped up all tidy-like into a shorter version?

Well let's take all of Mont's beach and ocean experiences and put them all nice and tidy, into one little seashell.

It all began when I showed him that if he held the shell up to his ear, he could hear the ocean. Though we keep the shells in his and Emmy's bathroom, somehow this particular shell finds its way into my bag, or our family room, or other similarly unexpected places.

The magic that this seashell holds for Mont is undeniable. He sees it and thinks that he can instantly be transported to the place where there are ocean waves, where there is sand, and sea weed, and fishies, and crabs, and birds, and sharks, and friends, and most importantly Grandma and Tiger (Grandpa) and Pirate Cave.

He holds it out to us and asks us to "Open it?" "Get 'em?" "Get Grandma? Tiger's in der!"

When he realizes I can't open it, he hopefully realizes his one last chance is what might get him his Grandma and Tiger.. He tells me that he's going to "Get 'em?" and then puts his little fingers into the shell and says, "I got 'em!"

The smile on his face tells me that he is on that ocean with his Grandma and Tiger, so I don't say anything.. I just smile and wait for his imagination to come back to me.

our snowy day

 Yesterday I got a text message from a friend that said, "church is cancelled tomorrow. please refrain from doing a happy dance." The only reason why a snow storm cancels church is because our ward boundaries include people 150+ miles away. That's one long drive in windy snowy storms. I bet the pioneers would have gone 10 times their distance if they had heated seats and windows that closed... makes us look wussy!

 So Emmy just did a little happy dance. 

When the snow did fall, when we thought it was done, Mark started to gear up to go shovel. So I grabbed the camera off its nail in the wall, and started to take some pictures (my mom recently asked for some non-saucey-non-iphone pictures - iPhones kill my motivation, they're just too easy!). I am still getting the hang of shooting manual again, but this camera we have now is all back to the basics, which makes it lots of fun, but I have to be fast with the dials to make them clear (like the one above.. not so clear, but it shows off her eyes! and goodness do I love her eyes. They must be a present from my mother, her namesake. Even though I'm adopted. My mom and dad are the only ones with blue eyes in our families!)

So on to the fun:

I am a mean mom and Emmy hasn't been outside a whole lot this winter. Maybe it's because I'm from the desert, maybe it's because it's just plain cold, but I don't know how to dress kids warm enough, and I don't want her to get sick. Mont is wearing two hats and two sweatshirts. Emmy doesn't have actual coats. Emmy has a carseat, and I think she'd just be miserable in there sitting on the driveway watching Mont run around like a free little pony. So instead, she's inside the window saying, "whyyyy!!"

So she found the next best thing.. the blind pulls. Woopie!

Here's my absolute favorite neck in the whole wide world. Oh, I just love to kiss and squeeze her!! 

Mont kept finding the deepest snow to just collapse in, 

thus leading to snow up the sleeves and down the pants, 

so Mark would run him in to warm up. 

but just one look outside, he turned right back around determined to go right back out:

So the process started again for a second time. 

"oh, Mont."

cheap. cold. entertainment. Happy snow day!

butter cookies

I make these cookies about 3 times a year, and whenever I do, we cannot get enough of these rich little things. Granted, everyone has their favorite sugar cookie recipe, but I must proclaim that this one is mine. It's what my mother made for us growing up, and while my icing isn't applied with the same graceful hand, they still are dang tasty. Here's the hopefully-not-secret-recipe:

1/2 c butter
1 c granulated sugar
1 egg
1T lemon juice
1 t vanilla extract
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, lemon juice and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and gradually beat into butter mixture until well blended. Tint with food coloring if desired (while these cookies can stand alone without icing, I do like the colored frosting more than just a colored cookie). Divide dough in half, flattened into a 1" disc and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (about an hour).

Heat oven to 375º. Roll dough on floured surface to 1/8" thick and cut with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet (I always lay down tin foil so I don't have to clean the sheet afterwards). Bake 8 - 10 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Cool.

Icing:
Beat 1.5 c powdered sugar and 1 egg white 3-5 minutes until icing is glossy. Add a few drops of water if icing is too stiff, or more powdered sugar if icing is too thin. Tint with food coloring. Pipe icing using decorator tips or spread and decorate with colored sugar. (I have found that I need to double this recipe to easily ice all the cookies - nothing wrong with laying it on thick!)

6 years ago..

This morning as we were going through our morning routines, we began to think of all we could remember from this day 6 years ago.

Here are some things I remembered:

• My mom nearly having a breakdown while we drove through snow trying to be on time to my hair appointment (she'd been living in Las Vegas for the past 25+ years! snow was scary!)
• The hair stylist pulling my hair tightly back into an insane amount of bobbi pins (which I still use to this day). 
• Mark being late to pick me up from the hotel for our temple sealing; I was so worried we were going to miss the cut off time! Mark hit traffic and all he can remember is that I was 'so mad at him'. ha! Lovely. 
• Waiting in the Salt Lake Temple's Celestial Room looking at all the beautiful woodwork the pioneers carved, and talking to Mark while trying to calm my nerves. I never would have thought I'd be so nervous sitting in such a calm place! I couldn't remember if I ate breakfast; my body doesn't fare so well on an empty stomach.. just ask me about anatomy class in college.
• The marriage ceremony was beautiful. I remember walking in to the ceiling room and seeing sooo many people! I don't think I could look at anyone for too long because I was just overwhelmed and touched that there were so many people there to support us. My mom and dad were the main pullers of the heartstrings. 
• We were lucky enough be married by Mark's Grandpa Benson. 
• I cried afterwards when I hugged my dad. Of course. And then again when I hugged my mom. Of course. 
• For pictures outside, it had just snowed, but the clouds parted and it was sunny for just a while. But it was still pretty cold. After walking around taking pictures while in my white lacy heels, my feet were red and in pain. I started to cry... probably just because I'm a girl. Mark carried me all prince-charming like to the place where I could hobble quickly inside. He still makes fun of me for it, but they really hurt! (I bet you a nickel my dad is rolling his eyes right now!)
• In the parking garage after we changed, I had to wait for Mark to get the car because I felt so sick. When we got in the car, I did get sick. Thankfully we had a little baggie. Nice. Welcome to marriage, Mark!
• The reception was an open house at the Reeders, where his cousins played live music (they're all brilliant musicians, we lucked out!), and we sort of happened into a spot where people lined up and oops! There was a line. 
• Instead of one big cake, we had lots of small cakes, all different kinds for people to choose from. I didn't even get to take a bite of one! ah! 
• After presents and goodbyes we said adios and set off for our new life as newlyweds. The rest is history. 

While today wasn't nearly as eventful, the kids kept me pretty busy laughing and steaming. Mont has this thing where all wrestling and playing turns into him using his feet and legs... essentially kicking everything in sight while he lays on his back. It is driving me crazy. But he also helps me like I wouldn't have believed possible just two months ago. He loads and unloads the dishwasher with me, even puts some things away (if they're within his reach), and can even start it by himself (sort of wish he didn't know how to do this). Emmy has been such a charmer the last few weeks, but the last two days were hard, but I lucked out and got a happy baby again today. She's so considerate. Mark's schedule didn't allow for too much anniversary-ing, but that's okay! As I told him, we always have next year. : )

the spaghetti diaries

One wonderful perk about this new assignment and living on base (combined), is that we get to see a lot more of Mark, including during the day for lunch. Today, he made us spaghetti! 

 (Emmy being a sweet saucy girl and eating her spaghetti with her two little fangs)

(the smile that gets Mark and I laughing every time)

Mont, as always, cried and ran away at the mere mention of trying a new food. In an effort to get him to try new foods, it's either, take one bite, or no this or that... or okay, then you have to eat an entire piece of toast; all of it. It's a wonder he doesn't starve! Thank goodness for cereals and fizzy drinks (Emergen-C mixed with V-8 fusion) and Carnation Instant Breakfast (his 'hot cocoa'). 

So here he is, in all of his toasty glory egging Emmy on for one more AHH!

I really hope he gets tired of toast soon.

We're finally feeling better around here. We had a ferocious cold the last 2 weeks, and finally after a blessing on Sunday, my ears cleared for a few minutes for the first time in 8 days. It's been so fun, let me tell you! But we're all on the mend! Hallelujah.

The sun has also been showing more of it's warm "fire" as Mont calls it, and I'm itchin' for Spring already. So exciting!

Emmy is a full on crawler now and loves to pull herself up and stand whenever / wherever she can. She is really good at avoiding furniture on the way down, thankfully! She also is starting to do the Mowgli crawl (with her knees straight, bum up). She says "Mama" in her crib when she's wanting me, and "Bah-bu" whenever she sees / gets close to Buckwheat. She is a hoot and a half! I hug and kiss her way more than she probably wants me to. Not possible, right??

growing a testimony

Sunday during church, while hip bouncing a restless Emmy in the hallways, my Bishop suggested we 'take care of that interview' while we were both free. In our church, there is a little card that is given to endowed members, meaning those who have been found worthy to go to the temple, and I hadn't had one for several months; you see, mine expired during the process of having a baby, moving twice, and all the craziness that goes along with that. Here's the little process' breakdown:

1. an interview with a member of the bishopric or branch presidency (the leaders of the congregation you attend).
2. a second interview is held with a member of the stake presidency (the leaders of a group of congregations, one of which you attend).
3. when all the questions are answered, conversation is exchanged, and a laugh is had, they fill out a sacred little card, then present it to you.

It is an entrance card, if you will, to being admitted into our temples. It is a very special and sacred opportunity to be admitted into the Lord's house here on Earth.

While in the interview with my stake president, he asked me if I have a testimony. Simple enough of a question - I answered, "yes." Then he asked me what I was doing to help strengthen that testimony. When he asked, Emmy was crawling all over my lap, clawing at my skirt and trying to reach my shoes. I laughed and said something about how I try to get more quiet, calm moments for scripture study.. he laughed too. He understood what I was saying.

I reassured him that however my days or weeks are, in some way or another, my testimony is always growing. Last year was a big year for my testimony of prayer. The sheer power of prayer is immense in its strength, and I learned a bit more about what it means for me to have faith and hope when praying.

This year, as I am now a den mother for a few young scouts, and a mother to two growing children, and a wife to a devoted husband and father, I hope I can have the influence they need. Hopefully through projects and scripture studies, stories, songs, and games, I can help their testimonies grow in some small [or great] way, and have mine strengthen right along with theirs.

photo

hat for a lumberjack

Not sure how, but he thinks he's a 'piwat.' But I say he's a pretty dang cute lumberjack. 

So here he is in "Hook's" hat:

Turns out his thumb is broken (you can see his wrapping in the first picture). I had a facebook status earlier last week saying that we were waiting to hear back from the doc who was waiting to hear back from radiology (the thanks goes to the small town-living). Anyway, we went in on Monday to get it casted, but I asked if we could continue with this removable doc-made splint. She said we could give it a try since it's such a small break, but we will be keeping a close eye on how he treats it, bruising, etc. We're beginning to see just how tough this kid is. He hasn't even had any tylenol for this, and he stopped crying pretty quickly after it happened. He's always getting hurt, and I try to tell myself that it's just partly because he's a boy, and partly because he's a two year old, but now I'm thinking it's because he has a high threshold for pain. I know he didn't get that trait from me... I'm a wimp and a half.

lights out

We were the last house tonight with our Christmas lights on... we had become that one family. Oops! So when Mark came out of the guest bedroom to take a study break, I filled him in all nice-like that it was a little embarrassing to look out at a dark street and a bright yard. ha! He then quickly ran out and unplugged them, I just hadn't the heart for it. Look at that tree! It had taken him some serious hours to get all 29 strands of lights on that thing. Good thing housing isn't privatized here on base quite yet. That would be one expensive power bill!

sisters forever

I love the girl in this picture with me. She has got to be the prettiest, most hilarious, most thoughtful and hard working girl I know. She always has me smiling when I talk to her, or when I hear from her, or whenever she impersonates Mont's way of talking. We haven't always been as close as we are now, but over the last few years of being so called adults, we have become more like the sisters I'm sure my parents always hoped we would become. I love my Tessa so much, I might just fall over.

trouble

Mont likes chocolate as much as I do. I thought I was on a chocolate - love - playing - field of my very own! He can even say it pretty well now. Instead of "shushuck" it's "shockyet." Pre.ty. cute. But troubling. Lots of Christmas chocolates being devoured over in these parts the last two days..

meet and greet at the beach

Here are the last of the photos from the trip.. I just couldn't help myself. 

I don't even know who these kids are in this picture, but they look like they're having loads of fun: 

At Bellows Air Station. Probably the prettiest beach we've found on this island. 

But boy was it windy... speaking of,

Sorry about Mister Fitch in the background. 

 While the above shot is typical for their personalities,
I had to show I got a smile out of them:

Here's the guy that was dressed as Santa that Mont pretty much stalked 

until he said we could take a picture with him. 

He had been stationed there 40 years earlier. What a job!:

Probably when Mont started to run around looking for "Sana Cause." 

His arm is wrenched back like this cause I had a death grip on his arm 

determined to get one picture of him here! Turns out we stayed for a bit longer, 

and this was still the best I could do:

First time for Emmy in the driver's seat. She loved it, 

and couldn't keep her little hands away from the keys. 

Mark had to watch it when turning the steering wheel:

When we parked Emmy and Mont found an Hawaiian r + b channel and started gettin' down. 

Even without music, this is probably how you'll find Emmy: wiggling and jiggling all four limbs at once.

Mont gettin' jiggy wid it:

Still dancing:

Wish they had played this music on the flight back over to the main-land,

we may have been a little more energetic. We. were. beat. 

'Til next time, Hawai'i, Alooooooha!

valley of the temples

Our Christmas day wasn't too orthodox.. maybe next year we'll be more on target. But for this year we were able to explore a bit of Oahu before we headed back on a 9 pm flight. It was a rough trip, so I'm happy that we had this nice day to enjoy a bit of exploring. It started off with my parents at the Byodo-In temple and continued to Bellows Air Station where Mont got to meet a beach going Santa Claus from Arizona.

These koi fish were ginormous!

The details on these buddhist statues are beautiful... Makes me want to put on some jewelry!

I love old wooden chairs and benches, don't you? Not that I'd want to sit on this one, but it sure was interesting to look at.

There was a huge bamboo grove off the beaten trail with so many names, symbols, and other words and letter combinations. When I got up close to them it sounded like there was something heavy climbing around up in the leaves, but when I looked up I only saw them swaying back and forth, creaking and buckling under the sheer weight of their thick boughs. I haven't read over all these etchings, how could I? Look how many there are! Hey Mom! I see an Ethel!

It was a Merry Christmas for us, just two days later.

reminiscent

A couple of years ago when Mark and I had gone to Hawaii, we stopped at the Byodo-In, a Japanese temple where the gardens are magnificent and there is a huge gong-like bell where you are able to swing a log in order to hear the loud, deep chime fill the air with tangible zen. Sounds dreamlike, doesn't it? Like my dad, I probably wouldn't mind being buried there either. ha! Back to the story. While we were there a few years ago, I snapped a close up photo of one of the plants around the waterfall, uploaded it to a public military-lodge computer, made a banner for my blog, then signed out. I lost the picture without even thinking about it. It was gone, and all I had was the photo from my banner, thankfully saved.

Fast forward to this past weekend, I suggested we drive over to see the Byodo-In temple... so I could take another photo.. I didn't even get close to the quality that I had gotten lucky with one time so long ago... so sad. I don't even want to post the old photo here because the comparison makes these look shameful!

However, this was the one closest to target:

Another (my pick from the day):

These colors keep my eyes coming back for more glimpses: