Canvas Transfers

I am pleased to announce that I am finally able to do canvas transfers!!

In order to do the transfer properly I needed a specific type of foam and canvas that I had been trying to get since October! I finally got it and was able to complete an order that someone was waiting for this whole time. It was really nice to be able to finish it. I also did one of our family pictures and I think they both turned out great. I love the look. It makes any poster or photograph look like it has been painted on a canvas.

This picture of the picture isn't good quality so it is hard to see how good it really looks but it gives you an idea. You can kind of see what the texture is like where the reflection is. Anyway I just wanted to share my exciting news. Let me know if anyone wants one!

Cafe Rio Pork and Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

Many of you are lucky enough to live by a Cafe Rio but for those of us who aren't I may have found the next best thing. The recipe's! My friend Elizabeth's sister, Billie, posted them on her blog and I wanted to pass them on. It could never replace the original since I don't know how to recreate the tortillas, rice and beans which are definitely a big part of why Cafe Rio is so good. I made the pork and dressing last night and we had them burrito style for dinner and then for lunch I made a salad with the left over. So Yummy!

Here are the recipe how I got it:

CAFE RIO PORK

6 lbs. pork (Shoulder)
1 16 oz. bottle of salsa
1 can of coke
2 c. brown sugar

Here is how I changed it:

3 lb pork roast (because that is what I had in my freezer, it fed 6 adults and 2 kids)
1 16 oz. bottle of salsa
1 can of coke
1 c. brown sugar (it made it plenty sweet)

Place pork in crock pot with and fill it 1/2 way up the pork with water
Cook on high for 5 hours. Drain off water. Cut pork into thirds. Mix together sauce ingredients and put on top of pork. Cook an additional 3 hours on high. Shred pork with forks. Leave it on low until ready to serve.

Billie cooked hers in a pot and skipped the water step. She just put everything in a large pot and cooked it in the oven for several hours at 325. I skipped the water step too. I put all the ingredients in a crock pot and cooked it on high for 4-5 hours and then shredded the pork and finished cooking it on low for an hour so it could soak up the juice.

CREAMY TOMATILLO SALAD DRESSING

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Buttermilk Dressing
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. mayo
3 tomatillos
2 cloves of garlic
1 c. fresh cilantro
½ tsp cayenne pepper (brad would have liked more)

Blend all ingredients in the blender. Refrigerate.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

I don't think there is a person who has aided in the growth of my personal testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints more then our late Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. He passed away this evening and as I am a little saddened for myself and will miss hearing his testimony and words I can't help but feel peace and happiness knowing that he is happy because I know there isn't anywhere he would rather be then in the presence of our Father in Heaven, our Savior Jesus Christ and his lovely wife Marjorie. My heart is full tonight and as I said our evening prayer with my girls I felt the spirit once again confirm to me that he was a true Prophet, that he was called of God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. I am thankful for my membership in this church, for the continued revelation we receive and for a latter day prophet to guide us.

qghB1ogIriP8

I just have to let out some frustration. I HATE (yes, I meant to use a very strong word there) the word verification things on blogs when you leave comments! I can never get it right on the first time and sometimes it seriously takes 5 different letter combinations before I get it. Or more! I never know if it is a q or a g or a capital I or lowercase l or an R or a K or a B or an 8 or a j or an i. And some of them are all squished together and I can't tell where the letters end and begin. The italicized thing doesn't help either. Sometimes I think "oh phew, this is an easy one there is no way I won't get it" and then it still makes me do it over! I can't stand it. I think I am done leaving comments on anyone with that option on the blog. Not only do they make it hacker proof, or what ever it is there for, it makes it Jenni proof too. I don't have it on my blog and I never get any spam random comments so what is it for? Does anyone else have this problem? I mentioned this to Elizabeth one day and she looked at me like I was crazy. Am I crazy???

P.S I Love You

I just went to this movie last night with some friends and I lOVED it. It is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. It is one I could watch over and over again. I don't know what else to say but it was really good and you need to go see it if you haven't already.

McCall

We went to McCall last weekend with some of our best friends and had a blast. We drove up Friday night and then got up Saterday for a great day of skiing, hot tubbing and eating. It was a really good ski day with beautiful weather and great snow. It was just what I needed because lately I have been questioning my love of skiing. I don't get to go very often now and when I do go it just isn't that great. Whether it is because I can't ski like I used to or it is too cold or the snow stinks I just haven't had much fun doing it. Skiing the past 9 years of my life just hasn't lived up to the good old days in high school skiing three times a week in the winter until now. Just when I was contemplating giving up I had a great ski day and it reminded me why I love the sport so much. Besides the beautiful weather and great snow it was also with the perfect company.

Thanks so much for such a wonderful weekend!!





What? Is there a rule you can't have manners when you are eating in a ski lodge?

Look at all the snow!

*thanks for the pictures Elizabeth!

Ayden sayings of the day and Alex's news.

Ayden finally earned her Island princes Barbie and had been playing with it non stop. She is very worried every time Alex comes near her because she is afraid Alex will take it way from her. That's right, Ayden is scared of Alex. Alex has become pretty tough from dealing with all the beatings from Ayden over the past 21 months and she can certainly stand on her own. Today I overheard Ayden talking to Alex and she told her "Don't touch my Barbie Alex because I put poison on it and if you touch it you will get hurt, okay?" Like Alex understood that but it sure cracked me up.

Tonight when we were putting her to bed she said "Mom, I don't think this is a good idea." I said "what isn't a good idea?" she replied "It is not a good idea to put me to bed, it is a bad idea." I assured her that it was a VERY good idea and said "good night". After a while she came out of her room and after putting her back in bed she said "I just don't like bed time." I told her that I love bedtime because I get to relax and close my eyes and that I think it feels so good. She then said "does Dad like bedtime?" I said "yes" and she added "Alex likes bedtime, she always cries when she has to wake up." To that I laughed and then she said "well, I guess I just like playing too much."

Aren't you all happy you got to see this picture?

Some other news in our house is that Alex had her ear tube surgery on Monday after having 4 ear infections with in 2 months not to mention the other 8 or so she has had in her short little life. It was very successful and the doctor said she will be much happier being able to hear now the she drained all the puss, rinsed her canal out and placed the tubes. The doctor said that before the surgery it sounded like we were all talking underwater to her. Maybe that is why she sounds like she is talking under water to us. We hope it will help with her speech and make her an even happier child. It was a different experience with Alex then it was with Ayden. Ayden was a year older so it was easy to explain to her that she couldn't eat because the "doctor said so." That was enough for her to be strong. Alex on the other hand could not understand why I would not give her some milk. It was hard to see her frustration but even harder to control her tantrums in the waiting room for an hour by myself. It was also hard seeing her scream as the doctor and nurse carried her down the hallway to the surgery. The nice thing about the whole process is that the surgery only took five minutes and then they brought her back to me while she was still out and I got to hold her in my arms until she woke up. There is something about seeing your own child knocked out that is a little disturbing yet she looked so peaceful at the same time. I am glad it went well and I hope this will make life easier on all of us especially Alex. I just love my little Alex. I am so blessed to have her in my life.

PIZZA!

One of my Christmas gifts from Brad this year was a pizza stone. I really wanted one and I was so excited to get it. I have been told how much better they make pizza but I didn't really think I made pizza enough to justify buying one until recently after having a bunch of homemade pizza flops. I used it for the first time today and it made the best pizza! The crust was perfect and it made the pizza so good. I threw on some ingredients that I had and I ended up really liking it. Here is the recipe in case anyone wants to try it out but I must say it will only be good if you use a pizza stone. If you don't already have one I highly recommend getting one.

Prosciutto and Artichoke White Pizza

3-4 canned artichoke hearts chopped
1/8 pound of prosciutto ham torn into pieces
6-7 small slices of brie cheese
8 oz or less shredded mozzarella cheese
olive oil
thyme
garlic salt

Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Roll out your favorite pizza dough and pour 1-2 table spoons of olive oil on dough. Spread it around and sprinkle a little but of garlic salt on it (fresh pressed garlic would be even better). Sprinkle a little more then half of the cheese on pizza. Put the rest of the ingredients on and then top with the rest of the cheese and a little bit of thyme. Some parmesan reggiano would also be really good to sprinkle on the top.
Turn oven down to 475 degrees and sprinkle corn meal onto the stone. Place pizza (or slide pizza) onto your pizza stone and cook for 10 minutes.

Ayden, Ayden, Ayden...

Oh boy, Ayden has been on one lately. Actually when isn't she on one? It is so hard because most of the time when she is naughty I think it is hilarious and let me tell you it is hard to discipline with a smile on my face. I feel like I am totally encouraging it. Anyway, I just wanted to write down a couple of stories from the past few weeks for the future. At least this way they will be recorded and when I read them in 10 years or so it will finally be okay for me to laugh.

-On our drive home from vacation Ayden was really tired in the car and we were just praying she would fall asleep. Finally Brad said "why don't you just take a quick nap in the car and then when we get home you can stay up for a little bit. If you don't take a nap in the car you will have to go to bed right when we get home." Ayden replied, "no Dad, here is the deal, if I take a nap in the car then I have to go to bed once we get home but If I stay awake then I don't have to go to bed when we get home." What the? How does a three year old have that kind of logic?

-First of all, Ayden has a happy jar/sad jar and when she is good or does something nice we put a candy in the happy jar and if she is naughty we put one from the happy jar into the sad jar and when she fills up the happy jar she gets the Island Princess Barbie. This has been working pretty well but one day while in Park City Brad and I went skiing and got a babysitter for the girls. The baby sitter told us when we got home that she asked Ayden to help her clean up some toys when they were done playing and she told the baby sitter "no". So the baby sitter said "come on Ayden you need to help me put these toys away" and Ayden said "no, you clean it up by yourself and just take some candy out of my good jar, okay?"

-One afternoon Ayden wanted the pink sippy cup that Alex had. After throwing a fit about it Brad put her in time out on a chair in my parents room and explained that it doesn't matter what color of cup you get and that she is not aloud to act that way. Thirty minutes when by and Brad forgot about her. Usually the whole time she is in time out she is crying or talking and begging to get out so it is not hard to forget she is there but this time she was quiet. Brad went into the room to see if she was still there and saw her laying on the chair with her hands up behind her head with a very serious look on her face. From the corner of her eyes she looked at him and said "I've been waiting for you Dad, and I still want the pink cup." Brad broke out into laughter and with the same serious tone she said, "why are you laughing dad, what is so silly?"

-Sometimes when I get laughing really hard I snort. I know it is embarrassing, but Ayden thinks it is really funny. So sometimes when she is laughing really hard she purposely snorts really loud at the end. One time we were at a christmas music concert and she kept doing it really loud. I was trying so hard to stop her but my body was shaking so hard and I couldn't breath from laughing. I am sure all the proper people around me where thinking about what a bad mom I was but it was funny.

-Speaking of being a bad mom, Ayden confirmed that I am one because this is the conversation I had with her when I was putting her to bed last night:

Ayden- "When can I be a grown up like you and Dad?"

Me- "Every year you get a little bit older and then someday you will be as old as we are and you will be a mommy just like me."

Ayden- "No! I don't want to be a mommy like you. I want to be a hard worker like my Dad. I want to be just like him not you!"

This isn't the first time she has said things to me like this. I know I shouldn't get my feelings hurt and I really don't but it is kinda sad.

Christmas Morning and some random pictures

Christmas morning was great and I believe everyone was happy. It was really funny seeing the difference in Ayden and Alex. Once Ayden opened one present she quickly hurried on to the next. Alex would open one and play with it for 20 min or so and then we would give her another one to open. Alex was still playing with her first present (the drum) when Ayden finished opening all of her presents. The funniest part of the morning was when Ayden was finished with her presents I asked her if there was anything Santa forgot to bring her. That is when she thought about it a second and then before I could say anything else tears sprung to her eyes and she cried "he forgot my three little dress ups!" I quickly "found" one more present for her that we "forgot" and when she opened it she was really happy. (see the video of her excitement opening it at the bottom of post)

Ayden was excited to get surfs up from Grandma Marsha.

Here is Alex on toy #1

20 minutes later onto toy #2

And another 20 minutes later toy #3. We just opened the rest for her pretty much.

I just wanted to through these cute pictures of Hillary with us and then with my parents.

On New Years eve we went to Buca Di Beppo in SLC to celebrate my brothers birthday.

In 2007

I thought I would take a break from the holiday vacation posts and post this jibjab video. This is hilarious, a little crude, but hilarious.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was actually spread out between two nights for us. My Brother Taylor and his family spent the actual New Years Eve and Christmas morning with my sister in laws family so Sunday night we did the nativity with the kids and then had a really yummy fondue dinner with the adults after the kiddos were in bed. On Monday we went tubing, some went to the torch light parade and after a visit from Santa the grandkids opened the traditional P.J's before bedtime.

She was an adorable little wise man but she wasn't that into it...

being a camel, however was the greatest!
Axel the donkey and Alex the camel.

Ayden made one adorable Mary.

Look how sweet and motherly she is.

Janelle the angel.

And lo the angel of the Lord came upon them... and they were sore afraid. I played one good looking Shepard, don't ya think?

Mmmmm...cheese. I LOVE cheese and fondue (my Dad's fondue to be more precise) is one of the greatest things to do with cheese. This will forever be a tradition if I have anything to do with it.



On actual Christmas Eve we went sledding, I mean TUBING, as Ayden will correct you at Gorgoza park.

Every Christmas Eve a man in my parents ward dresses up like Santa and visits all the families. Ayden and Janelle thought it was the greatest thing in the world but Alex was terrified.

Santa said the Mom's and Dad's needed a picture with him too.

Ayden's First Ski Trip

Also while I was in NY Brad took Ayden skiing for her first time. I have mixed feelings about it because I am really happy they got to do that together and get some father, daughter bonding time but at the same time I can't believe I wasn't there! I have always dreamed about the first time taking my kids skiing. Oh well. It was okay because it was a great experience for her and she LOVED it. That is the most important thing because now she will be willing to go again. She called me after she went and I could just tell how proud she was of herself. She said very enthusiastically "Mom I went skiing and my daddy made sure I didn't fall." She told me all about the chair lift and the bar that came down like a seat belt. The other night she was even pretending she was skiing and would sit of Brad's lap like he was the chairlift and make his arms the bar and then when she got to the "top" she would run around the house and say she was skiing. The day was also special because she got to do it with her cousin Janelle too. They experienced their first day skiing together.

I love this picture of Brad showing her how to put her skis on.
My Brother Kyle, his daughter Janelle, Ayden and Brad getting ready to ride the lift. I hear they didn't even have to slow the lift down.

They both look so happy.

WEEEEEE!

She has the proudest little look in this picture. I love it!