gluten free tag-a-longs

This time of year kills me, literally. It seems every grocery store I go to, has the girls in green pushing their cookies. Of course, they don't have to push too hard, those are some great tasting cookies! Being a Celiac, I usually pass, but over the past few years my family has pressed, and we usually end up with a box or two of Thin Mints.

That got me wondering, if I could make a gluten-free version of these cookies. All of my attempts at Thins Mints have failed, but finally, last night I made a delicious batch of Tag-a-longs. You know the cookie, chocolate, peanut butter, and a shortbread. My official taste-testers said it tasted just like the original, so I thought I would post my results. They don't look exactly like them, but they did taste yummy! I think I'll go hide them in the nether-regions of my freezer!

Pho-tastic!

Tonight I made homemade Pho for the first time! I was introduced to this noodle-meat-veggie-broth-concoction several years ago by my friend Tanya. It is traditionally a Vietnamese dish topped with mint and basil. It is so delicious...and you don't feel like you've eaten a brick for dinner...lol.. I didn't have all the ingredients needed for it, so I made a scaled down version.

I basically put leftover shredded meat, noodles and veggies in bowls and ladled hot broth over it. As Rachel ray says Yum-o. If you like the sound of this, there are several recipes out there, or make it easy on yourself, and find your local Vietnamese restaurant and try it!

Life goes on

Been pretty tame here, not much to report- except running kids to school 3X a day(will be so glad for next year, only 2X a day) helping my brother with his yard sale, and keeping up with church stuff. I got a new calling at church, Enrichment Leader. I'm not sure why the asked me. I'm sure there are much more talented people who could do this, especially in the Valley. Anyhow have any good suggestions? lol..I'm in the process of getting my Committee together, and have 2 sisters called so far. I'm finally a visiting teacher, and my partner and I are heading out tomorrow morning to meet our sisters.

Still out house hunting, we did make an offer and it was accepted. Supposed to close next month. We will see how it all works out.

This week is the big DCWV sale(that's scrapbook speak) in Provo. Derek found this warehouse sale last year when he was out here for his Mission reunion.He came home with a ton of paper for me(he had to check and extra bag!) Derek's sister, Dara and I are planning on hitting it this week. I must keep myself in check! I haven't scrapped since Ferncliff(Nov 09) Wait! I did make a gift for someone involving my supplies. She might read this blog, so I can't say what!

Derek is working this week, so we wont see much of him. That's okay, I have a tendency to let the housework slide when he is home. It's so much more fun to go and "play" on his weeks off.
till next time....

Albion, Idaho

Last weekend we went to Idaho for a MTC reunion of sorts. These Elders all trained in the MTC, and served in the Okiyama Japan Mission 1989-91'. 5 Elders and thier families made it, and we had such a blast. Not only did we stay up too late talking, playing games, and looking at old mission photos, and cracking up, but even our children were kept busy.

There was so much to do. I was a little skeptical as we drove up, because Albion is in the middle of NOWHERE! The closest big town, is Burley, and it was 25 minutes away. We settled in our very nice room, complete with our own bathroom. The renovated building(Miller Hall) is just gorgeous. All the exposed brick and original hardwood floors, it was just beautiful . The Mortensens did a great job restoring it.

The Hall had a great room, with an updated kitchen, a nice laundry room, with front loading washers and dryers, and up on the third floor- the huge game room, complete with monster sacs, a ping-pong table, large screen TV, and Foosball.

Outside, the kids were kept busy riding the banana bikes(these were way fun, even I rode them quite a bit the 3rd day, playing outside among the many animals roaming free, Emu's, chickens, turkeys, guineas, and peacocks. We also went up to the Mortensens' house, and saw other animals, goats, another emu,(Jake even sat on the back of it) pigeons, and such. The kids gathered the eggs from the turkeys and chickens, and we made omelets out of them on Saturday morning. Those turkey eggs are tough to crack!

We also toured the rest of the campus, which contained 4 other buildings that will be renovated in the future. The former gym, will become a reception center, complete with Bride and Groom areas and a large gymnasium that will become the reception area. This building will also have a commercial kitchen that will cater also. During October, the 3 other vacant buildings become Haunted Houses. For 15$ you get to go though 3 houses. We were able to go through one that was still set up from last Halloween. Derek's former mission companion, Troy, even turned the lights and music on for us so we could get the full effect.He had fun hiding and jumping out and scaring us....lol..that is where I go the Renesmee' picture I posted on Facebook.

Our last evening we all piled into the car and drove about 25 minutes near Rock Springs, where there were hot springs. Wow, was that water hot! It was weird to be outside looking at snow covered mountains, and not be cold.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. We did not bring clothes with us, so we had to borrow clothing and try to make do with what we had. Derek found a DI and bought a complete outfit, shoes even, for 20$. Some of our activities:
me on the little 110 dirt bike

playing horseshoes

Our accommodations:

the hallway to our room

the nice kitchen and part of the great room(I was standing in the middle of the great room)

This was the girls dormitory, when this was a college.

This is Miller Hall where we stayed.

This is the Auditorium. It was really cool inside. Great big stage, with an orchestra pit, balcony, and even the old chairs will still inside. Most of my pictures didn't turn out in this building because of low light.

Some of the architecture on the buildings were really cool. This was on one of the buildings they use as a Haunted House.

It was a great weekend. Made some new friends, and next year is already in the planning stages. Awesome!

spring nonsense

Here a few pics from today, April 6th, 2010.

.

Easter

Woke up to 2 inches of snow this morning. It was nice to see everything covered in fresh white snow. I thought what a great metaphor for our lives.
I love Spring. It's my favorite season. I love how all the flowers and grass are coming back from the harsh winter weather. Mentally, I always feel better in the Spring.

Since we have moved, I have been battling some major depression. I thought it was because of the move and the change in my day-to-day routine . Now I realize that it was something more.
I seem to have lost my focus since I got here. I spent so much time trying to make everything right for my husband and kids, I kind of forgot the stuff I should be doing for myself.
I've have time to reflect and get to the root of the problem. My Scripture study has fallen off , and certainly I seem to be praying less. Good thing my children are on the ball, because more often that not, they remind me.
After watching 3 sessions of conference, Ive decided that I really can't be casual any longer. I don't want my spouse and children to suffer for my bad decisions.
Guess you could say my sins are sins of omission. Nevertheless, they are still sins.
So on the Easter morning, I feel the need of a re-birth. I know the Savior lives, he died for me, and can make all my sins forgiven, even the small ones. So I'm actively applying the Atonement in my life, which is a pretty personal thing, but I think others of you are having the same difficulties too. Hang in there, I know it will all be worth it someday.

fitting in?

I don't know when it happened, but I'm not a stranger here anymore. People in the neighborhood and ward are remembering my name, and young children are referring to me as Lyda's mom. I even had a calling extended to me last Sunday! Don't get me wrong, some days I'm still ready to head back to the South. Utah is such an interesting mix of people. lol

Yesterday was a nice day. I let the kids go out to play in the cul-de-sac and I didn't see them for almost 2 hours. Don't worry- I did hang out on the porch, so I could hear if someone needed me. I caught up on a book I'm reading The Girl Who Could Fly. I'm supposed to be reading The Princess Bride for our Ward book club, but I cant seem to get into it. I was hoping for more of the same today, but the weather was horrible! 75 mile wind gusts, and so much dirt and dust in the air, I could not see the mountains! If you have looked at my blog recently, you have seen some mountain pictures that were taken from my yard. I kid you not, I could not see them at all! Just a dull brown filled the sky, and I have no idea where the sun was.
It was a really weird feeling, and with all that dust in the air, my allergies were going haywire. Poor Kate she was having problems too, so she stayed home, and inside.
I thought Arkansas had weird weather!

cute boy and misc. thoughts...

My children are growing way too fast. Lydia is about to turn 12 an enter Young Women's this year, my baby Kate is in Kindergarten, and Jake just celebrated his 3rd birthday. Derek snapped this picture yesterday.Doesn't he look like a little man and when did I get an almost teen? It seems my children wake up in the morning, and they look like they have grown overnight! Is it this Utah air, or is just the realization that time marches on, whether you want it too or not?

Yesterday I got an opportunity to see some of my dear friends from Arkansas, the Moll Family and Rhea Smith. I cannot tell you how good I felt see my old friends. I still miss Arkansas terribly. I love the slower pace of life, the friendliness of the people, and the overall beauty of the landscape there. If I could I would go back in a heartbeat....but alas, we are committed here for another 10 months. Don't get me wrong Utah has beauty of it own. Consider this...

This was taken out our back door.

Guess I'm still adjusting to it all....

spring

I am seeing signs of life in Utah. So far it been a boring wasteland of brown scrubby bushes, and dead mums in my flower beds. Since we are in a rental, I'm not sure what the former tenants planted, but was pleasantly surprised to discovered these peeking out of the ground.

So glad things are starting to bloom here. Maybe Utah's not so bad after all....

birthday boy

We had a small party at the house with our family. The Whites, Thueson's, and Harrison's were able to make it. We had fun decorating the house earlier in the day, and even used window markers for a Happy Birthday wish.

After everyone one arrived, we opened presents and had some cake. Jacob got a couple of books(yea!) some mini Tonka trucks, bubbles, cars, and a radio flyer wagon.

the booty...

Here is my big boy blowing out his candles...

his cake(I was lazy this year, and got it from Macey's)



and finally the kids enjoying the wagon before it got too dark.

The adults and teens rounded out the night with Rockband, while the littles slept the party off.

I still don't know how they slept through all that noise.

I know you had a Happy Birthday Jake!

mini vacation

Gotta love Charter Schools. The girls had a whole week off (march break) so we headed down to visit some friends in Hurricane. Derek was off also, so it seemed like a perfect way to spend it!

Hurricane is down in Southern Utah, and is known for it's warm climate. Retired people usually have winter homes in this area, but this year its seems to be anything but warm. They have been slammed with so much snow this year!
Driving down, we were in a snow storm(around the Cedar City area), but we made it just fine. The people traveling on I-15 the next day weren't so lucky. A car got sandwiched between two semis, and one person was killed. The Interstate was shut down for 5 hours while they cleared the wreckage.
Anyhow, we were able to stay with the Cahoons in their new house. It is beautiful. We even had our own MIL suite to stay in(thanks Ciera for letting us use your space!) Christen and I had fun running around St George and making crafts. Believe it or not, we didn't even scrapbook! Here is a picture of us on the last day. Who would have known, that 10 years ago in Conway, we formed a friendship that we still enjoy today?

Lydia and Graden had fun getting to know each other again.

Kate stayed busy down in the game room, complete with a ping-pong table, pinball machine, the Wii, and a cute little room complete with dress up outfits.

It was a nice break form the norm...wonder what we will do for Spring Break next month?

Cup O' Grease

Please don't call scan on me. I'm a terrible mother. I suppose I could keep my house a little cleaner, make sure I throw stuff out when I need to.

Today Jacob was complaining of being thirsty. I was semi-ignoring him. I look up and find him taking a long swig of this...

immediately followed by these words" Yucky water Mommy!"

Valentines Day

It was a pretty quiet day here for V-day, since it was Sunday. I did make a nice valentine dinner of Gnocchi, with home made sauce, sauteed edamame, and bread sticks.

We also invited Curtis, my nephew, over for dinner and a movie.

Hope we didn't bore him to death. lol.. love you Curt.

This is how the kids spent thier evening..watching the Olympics in thier favorite spot- Mom and Dad's bed.

The adults watched "Couples Retreat", it was pretty funny. I even made a red-velvet cake, my first gluten-free attempt with this type of cake. I always shied away from it because, you add a bottle of red food coloring to it! I didn't have the food coloring, but I did have some red paste left from my cake decorating days. It worked just fine.

Just wanted to tell everyone how grateful I am to have you in my life, even if we are miles apart this Valentines Day.

a me day, well sorta...

This week is Derek's week off, and I have really needed some time away from the house, so I went up to Salt Lake. I met up with Julie Nooner (most of you know her family from Morrilton)
It was so nice to see a familiar face. She gave me a tour of the Skin Institute were she completed her degree in Aesthetics. It was a really cool place, and I cannot wait to go back and get some procedures done. Since the students do the work, the cost is about half of what it would be in a regular spa.
After my tour we went to Pei Wei, and had some lunch. It was so nice just to sit and talk and be like a normal person for a while(well, as normal as I can be!) Thanks Julie for a great day!

After our visit, I went into Taylorsville to check out a Gluten Free store called Against the Grain. I have never seen so many gluten-free products in one place! They had just a a delivery of gluten free decorated sugar-cookies from a nearby bakery. I just couldn't resist taking some home. They even sold whole pies. Only in a place like Utah, could a store like this thrive.
I think they should name it Gluten Free Heaven. Oh, by the way the cookie was heavenly :)

little things mean alot

Okay, moving half way across the country is tough!
I'm having such a hard time adjusting. I find myself going to Walmart just for the Southern vibe, and believe me, there are rednecks in Utah too! Ive decided I've got to pick myself up and go on.
We are not going back, even though yesterday while heading south on I-15, I thought to myself
"I can keep on this Freeway and in 2 days I will be back in AR!"
How pathetic am I!
So, Ive got to start being more positive about this experience. So I'm going to share a few "likes"

Okay the first. I love this thing! It has THE best water pressure. It's great for waking you up in the morning!


2nd, we have grass in our yard, not a tree in sight!(no leaves to rake this fall- yahoo!)


3rd we have a garage. If any of you have lived here, you know scraping windows every morning can be a chore!



4th our church is literally one house down. I was standing in our front yard. You can see the steeple-only one house stands between us.



5th-okay I know your saying, "she loves a door?" Our last house did not have a door on the Master bath, so you always had someone walking in on you. I was even more excited when I found out the door even locks! Heaven!



ust random thoughts, from my random mind...

where are my pants?

I was sitting in my room on the computer, when Jacob came running in and shouting something (At 2.5 years sometimes he's really hard to understand.)
Anyhow, he runs in the room and says"where my pants?" about 3 times.
I finally looked up at him and found this.
Apparently the girls had gone to play outside, and he knew he needed pants on to join them..lol

Our rental

A few of you have asked about our rental here in SF. It was quite the transition from a 3100 sf feet house to a 1200 sf house, let me tell you!
I like the house and am grateful to have a roof over my head, and our rent is actually not that bad for this area. My only beef with this house, is the kitchen. It is a galley kitchen. You walk through it (let me rephrase that) you step through it. It only take about 3 of my steps and you are out the kitchen, into the garage!
there is one area of counterspace that is about 2.5 feet long. I'll share some pictures with you. Dont you love the mini pantry and the counterspace between the fridge and stove? lol...

luncheon with the ladies.

Today was a nice day. Two ladies that live in the cul-de-sac behind us, had 40th birthdays in December, so they all got together and had a luncheon for them. It was quite fun to sit around and listen to the ladies talk, and get to know them better.
Two of the ladies are in the Primary Presidency, and I could clearly see why. They are both very fun, and outgoing. It was nice to take a break from un-packing and cleaning.
The satellite guy and the garage door guy came today to replace the non-working units, so now I have my fav shows back, and I can drive into my garage!
Yea- because the wind is blowing and it's cold today. Tomorrow we are expecting snow. My kids are still amazed that the snow from 2 weeks ago is still on the ground. I keep telling them it's hard and crusty by now, but they just can't wait to get out in it. I'm sure my neighbors think we are strange. Yesterday about half of the Achievement Day girls came over to pick up Lydia for AD. It was quite the group-like 20 girls total! It's nice that the church is only 1 house down from us.

Tonight the Elders Quorum Presidency is coming over to meet us...uh-oh! No, people seem really nice here, sometimes I wonder if its fake...lol..
I still miss Arkansas and my friends, but we are slowly acclimating here.
More later...

first day of school

Well, we made it through the first day. After a confusing drop-off this morning, I think I finally understand the procedure..lol. Lots of rude Utah drivers though, wont go there for now.

Lydia has joined the Drama club. She is really excited, and made a new friend today at school. Also a neighbor girl invited her to a birthday party on Thursday. Tomorrow night is Achievment day from 4:30 to 5:30pm. The AD leader is very nice and there are actually 2 leaders. It cracks me up that there are 2 people for every calling!

Kate enjoyed her first day and is anxious to go back tomorrow. Lydia said one boy kept saying to her" hey Arkansas!" she didnt like it of course. I kept telling her that if he really didint care, he wouldnt say anything.

It hit me today, I now know we are in Utah. Derek was outside shoveling the sidewalk and 3 kids stopped to help him break up the ice/snow combo and shovel it off to the side. They worked for like 30 minutes and got the job done.

we made it

Wow, what an adventure.
We started out Sunday morning about 7am and drove straight through to Santa Rosa, NM. Even with the time change we still didn't arrive until about 8pm, which meant 14 hours on the road. I have to tell you, it about killed me driving that long and not having anyone to switch out on the driving. The caravan pretty much went like this, Derk in the front with the uhaul and trailer, me with the kids in the van, and Damon behind us in Derek's car. We all three had our own vehcile to drive because of a mix up on the moving van..oh well. We made it with absolutely no weather problems, or vehcile problems, except for Derek locking the u-haul keys in it, at Weatherford Oklahoma. He was pretty upset, but since our moving van was new, it was under warranty, and Ford came out and unlocked it for us. It was only about an hour delay, so I was grateful for that. Our second day we drove form Santa Rosa to Moab Utah. I was sick that day with a killer headache, and intestinal problems. In Farmington NM, we stopped for lunch, and I was so sick I just went an laid down in the van. I really felt I couldn't go on, but we did persevere, and made it to Moab. I was so happy to stop, you just don't know! The next day was relatively easy drive of 4 hours, to Spanish Fork. Let me tell you though I-70 is desolate!
So, now we are here in Spanish, day 2 of being in rental house. It's not bad, typical rental, white walls, fairly ugly carpeting, but it could be way worse. It's a very quiet neighborhood, as a matter of fact 7 men showed up form Cambridge Ward to help usmove in. I met my neighbor Sister Evans(cant remember her first name) that's what Ward list are for...lol...everyone was very friendly and helpful. I even found a lady in my Ward who teaches Cello! She plays with the Utah Valley Symphony.
Today we are off to get a fridge( found one for 50$ online,perfect!) and groceries and to take the girls down to the school to have a look around. Then off to take the Uhaul back and get some lunch and check out the local Library.

Will share more later.