What's for dinner?

OK, so if you love Cafe Rio like I do, you will LOVE me tons for passing on these great recipies.

First the meat. This is my favorite meat to do in a Cafe Rio style salad or burrito. And, it is SO easy.

In a crockpot combine:

2-3 chicken breasts or a small pork roast

1 cup of salsa

1 cup of brown sugar

Cook all day until it just falls apart.

Now for the dressing. This is a clone to Cafe Rio. Unlike any I have tasted before.

In a blender combine:

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix

8 oz. can of salsa verde (Green Salsa)

1/2 bunch cilantro ( I use more than what is shown in the picture... I stole that picture from another blog)

2 cloves garlic chopped

1/4 c. mayo

1/4 c. sour cream

1/8 tsp. hot sauce (I used tabasco)

So what to do with all this.

First go to Costco or somewhere and get the fresh tortillas that you bake at home. Then when it is warm put some shredded cheese on it. Lay it on a plate. Put the meat on it. Add some rice, beans, lettuce, pico, guacamole, and top with shredded tortilla chips if you like them. Then pour on some if the dressing and start loving life.

Or make it into a burrito... whatever, it is good either way~

1st grade play

Carson was in a really cute program at school. He was so grown up and did such a great job. We were really proud of him.

Child Abused?

Last night I was getting Coren out of the tub and I noticed that he was COVERED in bruises and various injuries. If someone turned me into child services I might be nervous, HOWEVER anyone that has ever met Coren would be totally on my side. This kid is crazy. I could make a full time job out of following him around making sure that he doesn't do crazy stuff to get hurt. Whenever people are around him they always get nervous at the things he does. It is really pretty crazy.

So, I took some pictures of him. Unfortunately I don't have the best camera, so you can't even see everything, but here are some shots of his banged up body. When I saw him I got a little concerned and asked what happened. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't even know!" That's my Coren.

DISCLAIMER: I do not beat my child. If anything, he beats me!

German Pancakes

Carson came home from school today and said:

"MOM, will you PLEASE make me some German Pancakes. I have been thinking about them all day and I just really have to have some. Oh and Mom, will you sign me up for the Olympics. Pretty please??!!??"

I made him his German Pancakes and told him that the Olympics wasn't going to happen, but I thought that the Special Olympics might be a good alternative. I thought I was pretty funny, but he didn't get it. Oh well.

German Pancakes

Heat oven to 450.

In a 9X13 pan melt 5 Tablespoons butter.

While butter is melting whip 6 eggs till lemon colored and add 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Pour egg mixture into the hot pan with melted butter in it. Bake for 15-20 minutes until eggs are firm.

This will look crazy, but taste delicious!

We top ours with syrup or powdered sugar. Yummy!

Great weekend!

We had the best weekend. I have to say that it has been a very long time since I have laughed so hard and so much. We got the chance to go and spend the weekend at our friends the Snow's Cabin. It was a blast. Our other friends the Woolstenhulmes came up as well. We all lived together in our last neighborhood and we have tons of fun together!

The kids enjoyed tons of sledding while the adults did all kind of fun stuff from games to killer ping pong (this involves beating people with ping pong balls on their backs, sounds weird but it is so fun) x-box for the boys, hanging out and relaxing for the Mom's, hot tubbing, P90X (still feeling that one),an unfortunate bare bum incident for Tonya, a fun dinner in town, great food, some brave people rolling around in the snow in their swim suits, and much more!!!

I hope we do it again soon!!!

My Pets.

When I was a kid I remember sitting on the heat vent in the morning trying to warm up. Now the boys lay on the rug in front of ours. It always reminds me of a dog laying there. So, I tell them that they are my pets.

First Carson lays there and then as soon he gets up Coren goes and takes his spot. Who needs a dog with kids like these?

Countertops!

Yet another do it yourself project at our house. Concrete countertops were a must for the basement. I wanted something totally different than your granite or solid surface. These babies are a fortune to buy, so we decided to take it on ourselves. Luckily Steve is skilled and I am a great cheerleader and helper.

First Steve made a template of the cabinets in the kitchenette and bathroom. Next he built some forms with melamine to pour the concrete into. We used the Buddy Rhodes system so you had special concrete just for this. We chose Bone as our base color. Basically Khaki. Steve mixed the concrete and then brought it down to me. I made balls with the concrete and then pressed it lightly into the form. This made the tops of the countertop kind of have little holes. It is hard to explain.

Then you did lots of other steps and then smoothed the top. The top became the bottom. Make sense? Basically you flip it over when it is dry.

We let the kids each make handprints in the bottom of the tops.
Finally wen it dried we took it out of the forms and lifted it up. It was really scary. We had no idea what we were doing or how it would turn out. I was worried they would just crumble, but they were so strong.
Next we placed these heavy as crap things onto the cabinets. I helped with the bathroom and nearly fell over and Tim helped with the kitchen. I told Steve it was like picking up the sidewalk and just walking around. Really, they were SO heavy!!

Once they were in place I put a paste on them. I used a chocolate color. You put the paste all over it filling in all the holes, and then sand it off.




If you want you can keep sanding them and they get all shiny and perfectly smooth. I wanted a more natural and rugged look. I think I am going to make more of these, I LOVE them.

Entertainment

I left for the afternoon to do lunch and a movie with my Mom and Sister. I can home and and found that Steve had given the boys a glue gun and set them free. They could use anything they found on the floor and a pile of sticks he gave them. This is what they came up with. I LOVE IT!! Had to laugh that they were still in their jammies. Oh well, they had a great time!

Valentines Day Anniversary

WOW, I cannot believe that me and Steve have been married for 8 years! Every year I tease him that he wanted to marry me on Valentines Day so that he could just do one gift. This year he surprised me and gave me one HUGE gift that was the best surprise ever!

A few years ago a guy came door to door selling paintings. I feel in love with one and talked Steve into getting it for me. For the last few years it has been rolled up safely in my closet because I didn't really know what to do with it. I knew I wanted to put it in the basement, but I didn't know how to frame it or anything.

Steve came home from work Friday with a huge gift in his truck. I saw it so he let me have it. I had no idea what it could be because it was so big. I was so excited when I got it open and saw that he had made me this amazing frame. It was far beyond my expectations and made the painting look amazing. I am so excited!!!

I am such a lucky girl!

Sign of the times.

(I thought this picture might get your attention. No it isn't me!)

As I go about my day, rapping in the car with the kids "Shorty got LOW LOW LOW" feeding them junk food and non-organics, driving my not so green vehicle, yelling at them, teasing them, not always being the safest Mom, not always being the most exciting Mom, sometimes being too exciting of a Mom, and so fourth I cannot help but wonder what I am doing now that will seem just CRAZY in 10 or 20 years.

Picture me, Brooke, and Zak cruising around in the back of our old Chevy Citation puffing on a candy cigarette. Brooke is laying on the floor on a bed of pillows, little Zak napping on the back seat unbuckled and unfamiliar with the word car seat, and me sunbathing in the back window. Dad is driving swigging his beer, puffing his real cig, singing to some ZZ Top, and Mom is trying to get us to sing, or at least not fight. After all it was a long drive to DisneyLand. ROAD TRIP!

Certainly not your typical Utah MO-MO family cruising around in the wood paneled station wagon singing I am a Child of God. Glad about that!

Back the day it all seemed so normal (I think. HA HA HA) but now I look back and think, "WOW, what was that?" But here we are. Three kids all alive and well. Pretty well. Sure there is some minor brain damage, but we all made it.

Again, picture this. Brandi and Brooke under the age of 16 taking the car out for a spin. We went everywhere. We got caught lots of times. Lots of times we got away with it. Me, brought home by the cops once, Brooke caught because she and a friend almost dropped the transmission out of the car. I guess they thought you should hurry and put the car in reverse while driving it. Sometimes we would even pass Dad in the old truck driving underage and during school hours. Woops! Meanwhile Zak is lighting the church dumpster on fire. At night Brandi flees the window, threatening Brooke to keep quiet on her way out. Brooke pimps Vegas, Zak puffs the magic dragon and on and on.

My point? I am not even sure. Right now I am just trying to figure out where we found the time for all of this trouble!?! And how our parents didn't kill us.

Oh, that's right my point is this. I think our world is becoming a little too overprotective, it was good to live a little. We all made it. We lived and learned. We look back and laugh at all of the dumb things we did, but who knew better? Who cares? It is kind of funny if you think about it. Soon my kids will be making fun of the things I let them do and wondering how they survived. I just hope that rules and regulations will not stop us from LIVING and experiencing crazy things. I also hope my kids will never do the things we did. I hope my Grandkids do not live in a bubble.

Many people are reading this thinking, "Wow, this explains a lot about Brandi. It is all getting clear to me now." Just wait until Sunday when I pass some candy cigarettes around Bro. Pearson's class. No we will not be puffing the magic dragon. Sorry, maybe next week.

Awww, life. Good times, good times!

Long drive

I have to admit the road trip is not my favorite, but as the kids are getting older it is getting better. Here are the kids singing a song from Pirates of the Caribbean... they are really proud of this one...

Sledding/boarding

We did lots of sledding while we were in McCall. First we went to this big hill where we all had a blast. The kids were loving it, and so were the adults. I however was going down with Coren and couldn't see what was in front of us and we hit this big jump and we hit down hard and I KILLED my tailbone. As soon as we hit I screamed and then we flew over another jump and I landed on it again. The joys of sledding. I didn't take any pictures of that hill because I was too busy sledding.

The next day the kids make a homemade sledding hill at the cabin. They had fun boarding down it. The were all boarding down the other hill which was bigger, but this one was a little steeper. We escaped with only minor injuries.