I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.........

You may think I am refering to my job at Lynn's Audio Video, but no I am refering to my "real" job as a mother to my 4 wonderful kids.  Today is just one of those days where I walk around the house reminding myself to take deep breaths and muttering to myself "I love my job"  "I love my life"  "I love my children"  "I wish Scott were coming home.......I love my life"  Nothing BAD has happened today just a lot of odd things that have made the day wear on and on.  So let me start with this weekend.  My birthday was on Saturday and I spent most of the day feeling sorry for myself and crying.  Really please don't feel bad, I am over it and there wasn't anything anyone of you wonderful people could do.  It all boils down to one simple thing and I am trying to fix it I swear.  I don't have any friends.  And even though I use that word in the plural form, I really just want 1 good friend, is that so much to ask?  You will all have to agree with me that there is a difference between family friends and friends who don't "have" to be nice to you.  Thank you all for being nice to me, but I just wanted another girl to go to the movie New Moon with me.  I was happy that Scott went, but it was ovious he was tired and wanted to sleep and he was only there for me.  He even took me out to sushi for dinner before hand.  What a great man.  He knew I was sad and there wasn't anything he could do.  You have all heard me say I get sad at times, I miss my friends in Washington.  They didn't have a lot of money but for my birthday we got together for lunch and a girl time at a lunch space, it was great!!  I Guess I just miss that companionship. It also doesn't help that my best friend in Washington makes me sad when she says how much she misses me, I wish I could just jump a plane and rush right up there.

 So I forgot to mention that it is basketball season and we are having our own little struggles with basketball this year.  This is our first year playing at Mt. Crest and let's just say I am less than impressed and basically threw away $100.  That's right you heard me it was $50 a kid for basketball.  But I was all for it if they liked it and it was a good program.  Boy was I let down.  First off Colton's team didn't have a coach.  THe first game came and we were told they had a coach, we get to the game and no coach and only 4 boys, that isn't enough to play.  So a dad and myself decide to coach.  We had another boy show up so we finally had 5 but it was sad.  These are 3rd grade boys and most of them have never played basketball with rules.  Colton has, but he was less than impressed.  He is so grown up sometimes.  He hasn't had a single practice and he did not want to go to his game this last Saturday and I can't say I blame him.  Believe me that lady in charge is getting an earful from me.  Now I come to Bowen.  HE has been playing basketball since 3rd grade.  He is good.  In 4th grade he played on a competative team.  He is tall and talented.  I don't say this being his mom, but it is true.  I put him in the Aggie basketball camp this summer to help him improve and get ready for the fall season.  Well he is on a team that also had no coach, then a dad stepped up who does not know how to play basketball but thought "how hard can it be?"  Well Bowen is teh only kid who has played before so the other boys cannot even pass teh ball correctly.  So we spend the entire game watching them try to pass teh ball and it getting taken away.  Poor Bowen is very discouraged but this is a good lesson is patience and helping others to learn and grow.  It just frustrates me that I spent money on this.  Here are some fuzzy pictures of Bowen.

So here is what we do for entertainment while at Bowen's games.  Mt. Crest has these totally wierd hand rails and they are the perfect size for a 3 year old to climb in or for a 9 year old to get his butt stuck in.  What we would do for entertainment if we didn't have these guys around?

I digress, sorry.  So Saturday, crying, birthday cake (that Mason fed to Titan), sushi, New Moon.  Then Sunday came and Scott went to work.  We ran out of time on Saturday and were unable to get dinner ready for the guys at the station so I went to Wal Mart at 8:30 AM (please don't judge or yell at me) and got the ingredients for their dinner, then I put it all together and rushed the kids off to church.  Right after church we came home and got ready to head to Ogden to finish dinner for the guys.  IT just so happened this was right when the snow storm hit.  Oh well that is how my luck goes.  So I ran the kids to Amber's house to play (Thanks Amber!!!) while I finished up dinner at the station and ate with the guys.  It was a hit.  I made alfredo noodles with baked chicken breasts, green salad, french bread and a chocolate cake triffle (recipe at end of post).  Now it is really snowing.  So I go back to Amber's and grab the kids (Thanks Amber!!!) and we go home.  Luckily the storm had made it to Ogden and had left the canyon and Logan was clear by this time.  The drive home was uneventful.  We got home late and I did not pay attention to the time and made chex mix at 9:00 at night.  What was that about??? so since it takes an hour to bake i was up till 10 cooking.  Oh well.  Today has been odd but it is almost over and I am no longer sad.  RIght now I am a little lonely because Scott is working today so that is 2 full days with him gone.  I have been doing just fine with him gone 1 day at a time, this is my first 48 hour stretch.  I am sure I will survive. 

Sometimes I surprise myself

So yesterday I was making one of my standard dinner's for myself and the kids which was meatloaf and augratin potatoes.  Boring right???  Well I would say in the last 5 years we have really been expanding our foods that we have been including in our meals and adding new flavors.  Needless to say we have had great outcomes with this and now my children....read that again.....my CHILDREN love such things as Indian Food, Chineese Food, ARTICHOKES, and most any kind of peppers be it red, green, orange or red.  I have been loving it!!  We have also become conisures of such flavors as balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes and Umami.  Since you are just dying for my surprising meatloaf recipe I will share it because it turned out to be the BEST I have ever made. 

Ingredients:

Zucchini
Onion
Green Pepper
1 pound Ground Pork
1 1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 large egg
bread crumbs
salt & pepper
1/4 - 1/2 cup catsup
balsamic vinegar

I chopped up some zucchini, green peppers and onions and I cooked them on the stove top in a little olive oil to make them soft, set them aside and let them cool down.

Then you take 1 pound of Ground Pork (this is important) and 1 1/2 pounds of Lean Ground Beef and add the rest of the ingredients:  egg, salt and pepper, 1/4 c catsup 2 tbs balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup bread crumbs.  Mix well with your hands - Yes use your hands.

Now add the cooled vegetables.  It shouldn't be to moist.  If it looks moist and extremely "wet" then add more bread crumbs and make sure you mix them in well so you don't bite into a chunk of crumbs.

So now take your cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper or aluminun foil and plop the entire mixture out onto the sheet and form it into a wide loaf that looks like this.  The only thing I would do different is I would make it shorter and wider so that you get more of teh loaf covered with the glaze you will make.  And this recipe won't make a loaf this big!!

So now for the glaze.  It is an American tradition to put catsup on top of your meatloaf and who am I to mess with tradition?  I only ask that you take your 1/2 cup of catsup and spice it up with 1 tablespoon or more of balsamic vinegar.  When this cooks down it make the yummiest sweet and tangy topping on your meatloaf and with there being some vinegar in the loaf itself it just all comes together like a wonderful choir.

So I spent all my time on my wonderful meatloaf that I will admit to paring it with a box of Augratin potatoes but I have taken time before to make cheesy funeral potatoes or bakes sweet potatoes goes well with this.  I will do artichokes with this also to add in more vegetables and a good dose of fiber.

Let me know what you think.  Try it, your kids will love the flavor and won't know they are eating all those veggies especially if you chop them up small.

I Do It Cause I Should

What am I refering to?  Well blogging.  So I will make another admission to you all out in internet world.  I am a horriable blogger.  I am not referring to the actual blogging part of it, but the "doing" it part.  I have about 10 started journals from my youth until about 2-3 years ago.  I always start them but that is about it.  I like to write, I am just bad about actually doing it.  I feel I need a topic.  I just can't write the same stuff every day, which is where the journal stuff comes into play.  I would like to blog more often but I feel my life is rather ordinary and I don't have much interesting to say so why would anyone be interested?  Why would my posterity be interested in things like "Scott went to work, kids went to school, I went to work, cleaned the house, ran kids to activities......"  see what I mean?  So before I blog I actually spend time thinking of what I should write about.  I then lurke in other blogs to see what they are writing about and maybe get some inspiration.  I will admit this works sometimes.  Mandy is a good source of inspiration.  I will admit I couldn't even make up her story about the primary program, but often times real life is bettern than fiction.  I sometimes wish my life were more interesting but in a good way, not the tragic way it has been for sometime now.

So that brings me to what is going on now which is not much.  This week marked Scott's first 6 day break.  Luckily enough he had an EMS Conference to attend in SLC and I was able to go.  Millville/NIbley paid for the fees to attend and for our hotel room for 3 nights and dinner at PF Changs on Friday night.  I went along and on Thursday I spent the day with Tamy Christmas shopping then Scott and I had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (LOOOOOOVE IT).  On Friday I scored some coupons from Layne Bryant and I hit the Gateway.  I also love shopping there but on a different level.  There are stores there I never get to go into other than when I go there.  There are stores that have great items I would never and could never buy but looking at them are great.  It was very cold and I am glad for my wool peacoat to keep me warm, but I was able to buy clothing that came to over $250 and I only had to pay $110 by the time I used my 25% Friends and Family coupon and then an additional $50 off for spending more than $100.  SO it was one of those shopping trips where I showed Scott how much I saved before I told him how much I spent.  I was excited, he really didn't care.  We then had lunch at the Lionhouse on Temple Square.  It was nice.  I spent some time on Temple Square after lunch while Scott went back to his conference and I watched some couples getting wedding photos, then I wanted to walk back to our hotel but I was soooo frozen that I just took a cab.

We were going to stay on FRiday night but neither one of us were sleeping well in our hotel room and our kids missed us so we came home late friday night.  Saturday was rather uneventful.  It just snowed.  We went grocery shopping and did housework and then caught up on the DVR shows we missed while in SLC.  We will just hang around Sunday because it's Stake Conference and then Monday starts Scott's next 8-day shift.  He is anxious already.  He gets worn our working but he is recovered after 1 day and has nothing to do the rest of the time.  WE will have to find a hobby for him for sure.

So about Thanksgiving.  I am soooo excited for all of you who have decided to attend.  We are up to over 30 people and it will be exciting.  I am "organizing" the entire meal and I would love everyone who is attending and who is ABLE to contribute what they would like.  Please let me know if there is a special dish you would like to bring and I will make sure to put it on the list.  I will be making phone calls this week, but I am just excited that so many of us can get together.  Have a nice weekend and I love you all.

Catchup.....or catsup, however you prefer

So it has been a while and I am not sure why.  I do prefer facebook because it seems simpler and I don't feel compeled to do a long thing.  Here are some pictures from this last week.  I hope you all are ready for the holiday seasons that are upon us.  I know I am. 

As a note, we have moved Thanksgiving Dinner to Grandma Elder's basement.  She is considering it practice for Christmas Party.  So everyone is invited to dinner at Grandma Elder's house for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Please let me know if you plan to attend as I am the Executive Chef for this meal.  I may even get one of those chef's jackets.....or maybe not, but it would be cool (hint hint).  So far our menu will consist of turkey (not cooked by grandma LOL) prime rib, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravey, green bean casserole, 7 layer salad, carrots and a lot more followed by a palethera of pies to include but not limited to pumpkin, lemon meringue, pecan and maybe some creme brulee`  So you are all welcome and like I said just let me know so I can plan and get enough prime rib (for adults only) and make appropriate side dishes.  Oh and if there are any special requests please let me know and I am sure we can fit them in.

So, back to my original purpose my pictures.  Here you go and I hope you like them.

The other night I was checking on everyone to make sure they were in bed and this is what I found.  Bowen & Colton together in Bowen's room along with 1 bulldog and a kitten.  This happens quite often, even though they both have their own room they always end up together.  I guess I just assumed that kids want their own rooms because growing up that was the only thing I wanted was to not share a room with Amber, but in this situation it is the other way around.  THe only thing these boys want is to SHARE a room with each other.

Visiting dad at teh station.  This is Scott's bed.  The kids have sooo many questions.  Do your feet hang over?  Is it comfortable?  Do the other guys snore?  Are you warm enough?  You would think they were his wife, LOL.

Trying on the clothes dad wears when fighting a fire.  Aren't they cute???

How cute is he?  He has a long way to go.  He has now decided he wants to be a firefighter also but in Paris France.  I say go for it!!  I will visit a few times each year.  Guess I should start studying french.

After Scott got called out again we decided to go and visit Amber since she isn't that far.  She was very very excited to see teh kids.

As you can see, while I was happy to see my younger sister she was very very excited to see me.  She sat on my lap and showered me with love.  We can thank Justin for the not so flattering shot of her behind, but I think it is a good picture of myself, so that is why I included it.  Thanks Amber we had a great time and good sushi.

So that was our week.  Let me know about Thanksgiving.