Mini Rick's College Reunion

On Sunday we got together with a bunch of my Ricks College friends. Thanks to Nancy for getting us all together and thanks to Tony and his wife for hosting us and the crazy kids. We (okay I can't speak for everyone, but I) had a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone and to spend time catching up. I certainly do not want to let so many years pass before we see each other again. So I will be calling everyone to hang out again soon.
Here is a picture of us:

Tony, Rick, Jen, Audrey, Nancy, Steve (Barf)

To those of you who were unable to make it to this little reunion, please know that we thought about you and we miss you all.

For this little get together, I made my friend Tanyas always popular Corn Salsa. Some folks wanted the recipe, so here it is:

1 can of corn (drained)

1 can of black eyed peas (drained and rinsed)

1 bunch of green onion (sliced and chopped)

1 bunch of cilantro (chopped)

3 tomatoes (chopped)

2 avacados (chopped)

1 package of Good Seasonings Italian Dressing (made according to package directions)

Mix all ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips.

Weekend Fun

On Saturday we met some of our friends (Chris, Melia, and newlyweds Casey and Stacey) at Park City. We spent a few hours visiting with them. Unfortunatly Melia was sick, but she was a trooper. We went and did the Alpine Slides and Coaster. It was fun. With the slide you take a relaxing lift ride up the mountain, and then ride in a sled thing down a track. I am a total chicken when it comes to "scary" things, so I was nervous, but with no reason. It is so not scarey, but it was fun. The coaster was even more fun. You get pulled up the mountain (along a track) in a cart. Once you start going down the hill the cart gets going pretty fast, at times it felt that your little cart would fall off the track. The rides are a bit pricey but we had a great time, so it was worth it.

We also have made a lot of progress on the basement. We are done painting, and carpet should be installed Tuesday or Wednesday. I am very excited for the basement to be done and the layer of dust in the rest of the house to go away. It's going to be a good week.

Where the heck is Wade?

I am a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance, but I am a bit disappointed that there have been no Wade Robson routines (except the group number). Him and Shane Sparks were my favorite choreographers from last year and now it seems as if they are not a regular part of the show. Someone please tell me that you know something different, because without Wade's routines the show is just not the same.

We're Having a Fun Filled Week

This week there is a big celebration going on in one of our neighboring towns, so last night we took the kids the carnival. It's a tradition, we go every year and this year because of construction it was crazy, cramped and crowded, but the kids love it sooo....

The boys rode the Ferris Wheel for the first time. Notice mom is not with them. I am terrified of that sort of thing. Noah even got in on the fun and enjoyed himself.

This week the boys have had swimming lessons. It has been a bit cool, but their surviving. They go through next week as well and it is suppose to be much warmer, so that will be good for them.

Today we went to something called Fun-o-Rama. It was a park filled with big inflatables, face painting, hair coloring, magic show, rides, etc. The kids had a blast and it sure made the day go faster. Tommorrow they have a arts and crafts thing, where the kids can go and do crafts for free. We go every year and the kids love it. Yes, it is tiring being a mom but keeping them entertained sure beats yelling at them to behave and quit whinning, fighting or whatever it may be.

Also this week, our sheetrockers have finished mudding, taping, and texturing. My friend Byron is here as I type doing our finish work and we are hoping to be painting by Saturday (or at least priming). Things go a lot faster when we are not doing it ourselves.

Dinner for Dessert

Tonight the Young Men at church are having a fundraiser dinner and the leaders and Young Men were suppose to make a dessert to be auctioned off. Since Kevin works with the YM, he (or me) had to come up with something fun. This is what we went with. I have made the hamburger cake before, but I never knew what to use for the cheese. So I turned to the internet for help. I found one person who said she melted starbursts to make the cheese, so I decided to give that a try. The melting didn't work, but softening and rolling them out did, and I will say it looks just like a slice a cheddar cheese. I also put crushed oreo around the patty part to give it more dimension and I made onions out of white gum drops. I also found the idea for the fries online, they are made of sugar cookie dough and I used my Pampered Cheff crinkle cutter to give it that look. I wish I wouldn't have squirt the frosting ketchup over the fries, I like how it looked better without, but o-well, it is done.

Dessert For Dinner

The other day I was watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 and they were talking about how once a summer they let their kids have Ice Cream for dinner and it something they love and talk about all year. So I thought I would give it a try as a reward for a little Summer Reading program I have going with the kids.
So last night we had banana splits for dinner (doesn't the banana make it healthy). Yummy, and of course the kids loved it. I also made Kevin stop at Wendy's on the way home from work, so at least the grown ups wouldn't go into sugar shock.

What a Big Boy

After 15 1/2 months, Noah has finally decided that he wants to walk. I was starting to wonder if this day would ever come, he really had no desire to even try. For awhile I thought it was great, when they start walking they start getting into more trouble, but then the weather got nice and he was crawling all around outside and ruining all of his clothes. That is when I decided this boy has got to get walking, and a month later here we go...

Rosemary Bread

I found this recipe on a friends blog. She had made a loaf of bread and I decided to try to make rolls out of the recipe, and they were yummy. Nothing beat warm rolls out of the oven (okay I can probably think of a few things that beat that). Here is the recipe if you would like to try them:

Rosemary Rolls
1 pkg dry yeast (or 1 1/2 T.)
2 T. finely snipped Rosemary
1 c. warm water
3/4 c. sugar or honey (I used sugar)
1 tsp table salt
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. unbleached flour (approximately)
kosher salt
1/8 to 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast and 1 T. Rosemary over the warm water.Let stand, about 10 minutes. Mix in sugar, table salt and whole wheat flour. Gradually beat in enough white flour to make a stiff dough. Knead for about 10 minutes, adding more flour, if necessary. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover and let rise until doubled, about one hour. Punch down. Turn out and knead about 10 strokes. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and then form dough into small 3/4 inch balls. Put 3 balls into each muffin cup. Brush top of rolls with melted butter and sprinkle with 1/2 T. of remaining Rosemary. Let rise until doubled, about one hour. Brush loaf again with butter and sprinkle with remaining Rosemary and some kosher salt. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes. Let cool (a little bit) on a rack. This made a dozen rolls and one small braided loaf.

Thanks to the Dyer Family for the recipe.

Body for Life is Done

Yes, I have completed my 12 week Body for Life Challenge and I am happy to say it was a success, but boy am I glad it is done. I had a goal to lose 8lbs. and I lost 11lbs, so yeah. Not only did I lose weight but it also taught me a thing or two about exercise and diet that I hope I will carry with me, but I will not be on a diet any longer, it's not my thing. I will keep exercising because I like it (sort of).

Rock Band Weekend

On Wednesday we finally got Rock Band. Kevin decided we "needed" a Playstation 3 because of the Blue Ray DVD player, and so since we were getting Playstation then of course we needed to get Rock Band. We have had a lot of fun playing and our little 6 year old is becoming quite the drummer. On Thursday we were "rocking" and my friend came over to do a bid for our basement and he had to call us when he got to the door because we could not hear the doorbell. Sorry about that Byron.

We had friends over both Friday and Saturday night to play and had a great time. Tanner got a little crush on ours friends 11 year old daughter, she was really good at the drums and he thought that was so cool. So anyway, we had tons of fun rocking and if anyone else would like to join us for a night of Rock Band, let us know, we are always looking for people to come join the fun.

On Saturday, I tried a new recipe. Cheesecake Factory Oreo Cheesecake. Again, I found it on copykat.com. Here it is if you care. I have been wanting to try out my new mini springform pans, so I did. Since I only have 4 of the pans, I also made a 7 inch cheeesecake as well. In the recipe it says to wait 24 hours to eat it,( honestly who can save a cheesecake in their fridge without eating it for 24 hours) I did not have that long, but it still tasted good enough for me. I did eat another piece today and it was a bit better, so maybe it is good to wait the 24 hours. I am not a huge Oreo cheesecake fan, I totally prefer chocolate, strawberry, or pumpkin, but cheesecake however; anyway you slice it is a favorite of mine. So if you like Oreo cheesecake, give this a try, it was easy to make.