2014 Blue Jeans Week 12

What a crazy week!  It was spring break, and it didn't go exactly as we had planned.  My mom had surgery and a pacemaker put in which we were not planning on at all.  Thankfully she is home now and recovering and all will be fine--but crazy!  My kids were gone 3 days with my sister which was a nice break for everyone.  Here is a look at our week. . .

This cute sister missionary from our church is so wonderful!  She has been in our area over 6 months and is leaving, and we love, love, love her sooo much!  

Miss E is the queen of scarf knitting.  This was one of her spring break projects.

We got to spend the day with these cute sister missionaries from our church.  We went out the lunch and so enjoyed being with them!  It was their day "off" and the kids had so much fun with them!

Our traditional "green" dinner for St. Patrick's day.

Needed treats for spring break and all the extra kids we had over to play, so we made muddy buddies a few times.  Yum!  Mr J and Miss E were good at making them.

A new movie always makes things more fun.  Frozen is finally out and we got it in the mail the day it came out.  Thank you Amazon :) Love that movie!!!

So the kids went to my sisters for a few days, and the weather was nice so I finally got to get some flower beds cleaned out.  Spring is coming! Yeah!!

Went to pick up the kids from my sister and brother-in-law's house on Saturday.  The kids had a great time!  They spoiled them rotten.  Lots of fun!

Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon and have a great week!!

Friday thoughts

Some random Friday thoughts. . .

My weekly bathroom mirror inspirational quote.  I like this one. 

I read this book this week.  It is the last in a trilogy by Jean Ferris.

This is the first book in the trilogy.  It is a fun princess mixed-up fairy tale.  I like those kind of books.  My 11-year-old Miss E read all 3 of them last week and really liked them.

You just never know what to expect from life.  I am a planner and like to have things go the way I plan.  Sometimes life just doesn't work that way.  This week is spring break.  Per tradition, my kids always spend part of spring break with my youngest sister and her husband.  They spoil them rotten and have a blast.  They all love it.  I love it too.  No kids for 3 days is a nice spring break for me as well I admit.  This week was looking to go great.  Monday was fun day with friends over, Tuesday was another fun day with lots of friends over.  Ben came home and we had 5 extra kids running around.  Wednesday morning my kids left with my sister.  Wednesday aftenoon I also got a call from my dad that my mom was not feeling well and they were sending her to the big city to the heart hospital. Uh, what?  Where did that come from?  My mom is extremely healthy, exercises, eats right.  What is wrong with her heart?  Well, Wednesday night we found out they were going to put a pacemaker in.  Really?  Her heart rate was so low, and then so irregular for whatever reason they had to put one in.  So the surgery went well, they got it in, and she is recovering, but then we find out they clipped the top of her lung when they put it in.  It should heal itself and re-inflate but it hasn't yet.  If it doesn't to that by tomorrow they will have to go back in and fix it.  Crazy.  Just Crazy.  Life is very fragile.  You can plan all you want, but we really aren't in control.  It makes you grateful for the moments when you are calm, at peace, and you need to enjoy those moments--and even enjoy the crazy moments because life is that--the calm, peace, and the crazy all together.  I know my mom is going to be okay.  This will get fixed and she will be home soon and feel much better after she is healed.  I am grateful for caring, attentive doctors who know what to do.  And I am especially grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves us, watches over us, hears our prayers, and has a bigger plan for us than we do.  

Enjoy your weekend whatever it may bring!

What's up Wednesday--overnight breakfast casserole

You may not know that Ben teaches an early morning scripture study class--we call it seminary--for the high school kids in our church.  He has 4 kids including Miss A.  They meet every morning there is school at 6:10 a.m. in our basement.  This is his second year teaching, and he does a great job!  When he first started teaching last year he decided on Fridays they would have breakfast for the class.  Because of this, I keep my eye out for easy, yummy breakfast recipes.  Overnight casseroles that you make the night before and just put in the oven in the morning are the best, and the seminary kids love them.  I tried this new one a few weeks ago, and they all really liked it.  I like that you can either bake right away or it can wait overnight.  Nice.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole

4 English muffins, split

1 lb pork sausage

8 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 drained 4 oz can green chilies

softened butter to spread on English muffins

Pam spray a 9x13 pan.  Spread butter on each muffin half and place buttered side up in 9x13 pan.  

Brown sausage and cook until done.  Drain

Spoon sausage over each muffin half.

In a bowl whisk eggs and sour cream, then stir in drained chilies.  Pour over sausage and muffins.  Sprinkle top with cheese.  

Refrigerate overnight or bake right away.  350 degrees uncovered for about 30 minutes or until eggs are set.  Enjoy!

2014 Blue Jeans Week 11

We had a fun week!  Lots of band stuff, and our boys basketball team made it to the state tournament for the first time in over 30 years!  We went and cheered them on.  The pep band was there and was awesome!  It was a fun week, so take a look. . .

Sunday afternoon was gorgeous, and Ben read to the kids on the front porch. Spring is coming!!!  Yeah!

League middle school band was tonight.  We went for the concert.  The kids did a great job.  This picture shows all 6 schools playing together.

I love, love, love strawberry freezer jam.  It is the only kind of jam/jelly I like and have grown up on.  Strawberries are finally getting cheap enough that I could justify making some jam today.  I usually make 4-5 batches which last us about a year.  

Had a big Wal-mart stock up trip today.  

I got to take these cute girls to the state boys basketball tournament.  We had fun!

And Miss O and Miss E were playing in the pep band for the big game.  

The band sounded absolutely awesome!  Sadly, our boys lost their first game, but they played really well, and we were proud of them!!!  

Saturday I got to go with this group of great kids to the city to the temple.  It was a neat day!

Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon and have a great week!

Friday thoughts

Some random Friday thoughts. . .

My weekly bathroom mirror inspirational quote.  Love everything from Jeffrey R. Holland!

So if you have followed my blog long you know I love, love, love Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  And I have made several new recipes from her site this past week that I wanted to share.

We had these Caramel Crunch Bars for dessert when we had company last week.  They were so good and easy to make.  They look like a homemade kit kat, and are divine!  Yum!  

Last night we had ham and these Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes and we had the missionaries over for dinner, and one of the elders said, 'Man, I love these.  My mom makes them, but yours are way better! (pause)  But don't tell her I said that."  Ha!  So, that is a pretty good recommendation right there.  They are very good.

I have always loved broccoli cheese soup, but my family hasn't really liked the recipes I have tried of it, but then I found one on Mel's and made it.  Everyone--even my broccoli hating son--loved it.  Broccoli Cheese soup here

On her website she has an awesome "Menu" button and has weekly menu plans which are awesome!

Trying to plan things for our St. Patrick's dinner Monday.  We always do a green everything dinner--green food coloring is my favorite friend on this day.  This is last year's dinner with some friends and our sister missionaries.  We usually have green mashed potatoes with green chicken gravy, green salad, green jello, broccoli, and green lime sherbet punch with green cookies for dessert.  Anything green pretty much works.  

Both Ben and I are reading the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen.  We both finished The False Prince and are currently trying to share and read at the same time the 2nd book called The Runaway King  which isn't working out extremely well, but my goal is to finish it before him so I can read the 3rd one The Shadow Throne first :)  These are an exciting adventure that you really don't know what will come next.  I am impressed with Nielsen's writing, and would highly recommend them, just make sure you don't have to share your copy with anyone else while you read them :)

So looking forward to spring break which starts end of school today!  So looking forward to getting Frozen in the mail Tuesday to finally see it!  All the kids have seen it, but Ben and I are probably the last parents on earth who haven't :)  

Have a great weekend!

What's up Wednesday--homemade spaghetti sauce

I have been extremely blessed in my life with an awesome mom.  This awesome mom never used canned spaghetti sauce--never (that I can remember anyway).  She always used this recipe which was her aunt's, so it is my great aunt's recipe, and it is great!  Now I admit, I have used canned spaghetti sauce a time or two in my kitchen, but nobody enjoys it very much.  They like the real stuff, as do I.  And really, making homemade is not much harder than frying your hamburger and opening a can to dump in with it.  You just open a few more cans and add spices, and let it simmer, then utter perfection!  This sauce is thick, which I love, and freezes easily.  When I make it, I usually double it so I can freeze half for another day.  Perfect.  Served with garlic bread, a salad, and fresh fruit, I think it is my favorite meal ever.  Total comfort food for me.  I usually make this in the crock pot.  There is no set time to cook it, just set it on low in the morning, and eat it for dinner.  I have made it at noon, and cooked on low for just a few hours.  One time I made it and cooked it on high for just 3 hours.  I have also done it on the stove top, but I really prefer my crock pot.  You can do whatever you prefer.  Enjoy!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Brown 1 lb hamburger with 2 chopped onions and 2 minced garlic cloves.  Drain.

In crock pot add

1/2 cup water

1 bay leaf

2 tsp brown sugar

1/8 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

2 cans (14.5oz each) stewed tomatoes blended up so smooth

2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste

1/2 can of black olives, sliced--optional

1 can sliced mushrooms--also optional

Stir all together and then add meat and stir.  Add 1 tsp dried parsley

Cook on low for several hours until ready to serve. 

If you do this on the stove top, just increase the water to one cup and then simmer covered on the stove for one hour.  

Enjoy!

2014 Blue Jeans Week 10

Looking at the pictures for this week, it looks like the week of Mr J :)  He did have a busy week and seemed to be where I had my camera.  There is a photo that shows evidence of his sisters in there too.  We survived the time change, which I do not like at all, and are just going to try and make it through this next week because then it is spring break!  Yeah!  We are all ready for a break!  This past week was a pretty good one, take a look. . .

They were doing an Olympic reading challenge at school.  Mr J worked very, very hard and earned a gold medal from his librarian which also happens to be his Nana.  Lucky kid!  Way to go Mr J!

Mr J got an award for winning in the Farm Bureau safety poster contest.  He got $15 for his prize and that money was so burning a whole in his pocket.  He wanted to go to the store right after the award, but I made him wait just one day before he could spend it. 

And what did he spend his prize money on?  A new Lego set.  He loves those 3 in 1 sets.  Tonight after we got home from the store Ben helped him put it together.

Spring is the season of music competitions, and we have a piano competition coming up next month.  Mr J got his competition piece and has been working very hard to learn it.  

This was a shot of the kids' bathroom right after they left for school this morning.  Evidence of 2 teenage girls and 1 pre-teen girl getting ready for school.  Needless to say, we had some discussions about this mess when they got home, and that their Mom is not a maid.  Even though it sure feels like that sometimes.   Anyone else relate to this???

Friday the elementary got out of school at 1/2 a day, so I just had Mr J with me.  We met some friends at the park and enjoyed a few hours there before the girls were done with school, and we picked them up.

Saturday night was a relaxing one, but we were missing the older girls--babysitting and band were their obligations, so the rest of us enjoyed a movie--Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 which was pretty cute.  Popcorn and movie nights on the weekends are the best!

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great one and come back soon!