EL MEXSAL

Nic, this one's for you. Tonight Dad and I went to dinner with Brad and Tara. Of course we went to the usual dive, I mean restaurant.  Yup, El Mexsal.  When we walked in the music was unusually LOUD, then we saw why.

A guy singing Mexican karaoke. Can you see him way back there in the corner?  Back there by the CD's that are for sale.  It was awesome, well not really. It was loud and annoying and funny. About half way through our meal the music for the next song starts, we all get little smirks on our faces, was this the song we thought it was going to be? It sure was, we all started to laugh. Here's a sample of the song for you.

Did you enjoy that as much as Dad, Brad, Tara, and I did? I bet you did. Honestly, it made my night.

Here's a picture of what I ordered, it was my usual, the #33, a chicken enchilada and a chicken taco. It was delicious.

Brad took these pictures for me with his Droid and since he'd never taken pictures with his phone before he took an experimental picture of me with it. I have a stupid look on my face cause I didn't know he was taking a picture, but this is just for you :)

We'll definitely have to go to El Mexsal as soon as you get back home!!  It's your little "something" to look forward to.

WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR DINNER TONIGHT?

I don't know about you all, but I absolutely hate cooking dinner on Saturdays. It's hard enough coming up with ideas Sunday - Thursday and I just don't have it in me to think of what to make on Saturdays. So we usually pick something up from somewhere. Well, today when we were skyping with Nic she said that In N Out was sounding so good to her. So in her honor that's what we did.  This post is for you Nic. We'll have to put this on our list of things you want for dinner when you get home.

WHAT A HOTTIE

 So Erica has us girls all hooked on the new/old TV show, Little House on the Prairie. You can watch Little House on the Hallmark Channel from 1:00-4:00p.m., that's a lot of Little House.  When Nicole was home the month of January waiting to go to Russia she really got into the viewing schedule with Erica.  Lunch time is also at 1:00 so Erica and Nic would eat their lunch on the couch while they watched Little House (true confession, I like to do this too.) The first time the girls all saw Charles (Michael Landon) they were drooling. Steph especially likes the hair of the guys in the show. I've said to her "I know, right, 70's hair is totally awesome."  So here are some pictures for you to enjoy. I wanted them all to be pictures I took from the TV but because of  scheduling conflicts there was never a good episode with the guys I needed pictures of so, sigh, I had to get most of them off the internet. Here we go.

The Girls #1 hottie of choice, especially because of the hair.



Next we have Albert, a young lad that Charles and Caroline adopted. A cute kid but he does make some bad choices. When he's a teenager and the family moves to the big city he starts running with the wrong crowd and gets addicted to Morphine. Who'd a thought.  Did you see that episode Nic? But he does have nice hair. I know this might seem a little creepy cause he's so young here but it's the only picture we could find of his nice hair. Sooooo...

And here we have Almanzo. He married Laura and for some unknown reason she calls him "manly" weird hunh. I guess we just need to see the episode where she gives him that nickname.  He also calls Laura, "Beth" all I can figure is that's her middle name.  Whatever, he has nice hair. 

Personally I just love Harriet Oleson. She makes the show interesting and so funny.  She's mean, rude, and arrogant, but ya gotta love her.

And now for my personal bit of random information about Little House on the Prairie, and Nic, you're just going to LOVE this. Can you imagine my surprise and delight when in one episode Charles and Caroline are in bed doing this;

I know right. Who ever would have logically thought that they actually had popcorn out on the prairie. But when you think about it it does makes sense.  I mean why not, they did have corn.  Maybe I could have been a pioneer after all. JK!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Happy Valentines Day every one. I should have posted these pictures maybe last week but I figure today was the last day that it would be acceptable.  I really like to decorate for the holidays and have little vignettes in different places around the house.  Here's what we have for this year.

This is the bulletin board in the hall. I'm so glad Ethan and Kylie made us a calandar for Christmas this year. The bulletin board is a perfect place to keep it so we can see it throughout the year.  Maybe it will motivate me to keep the bulletin board updated for each season/holiday.
                                                                                           



These are not Christmas trees, they have Valentine decorations on them. Then of course we have our snowman display because it still is winter after all.



This is one of my favorite spots in the kitchen.  I love to make wall hangings and hang them on the wall here.

New this year is my kitchen table/chandelier display.

Also new this year is the paper garland on the fireplace.  It was so easy, I might have to make one for all the holidays.

This post was specifically to help Nicole feel at home and remember what Valentines Day is like, since they don't really celebrate it in Russia.  I love you my sweet family. xoxoxo



CHRISTMAS 2010

It's time to finally put last years (2010) Christmas pictures on.  Sorry this is so late.  In the afternoon on Christmas Eve we decided to Skype with Brit, Shared and the kids and watch them open presents from us and them watch us open the presents from them.  Since we were skyping I don't have any pictures of this, but we loved our presents and it was fun watching the kids, they love to open presents.  In the evening we went to Bountiful to spend time with my Dad.  I made some chicken noodle soup and Dad/Grandpa made a beef, bean, veggie stew in the crockpot.  He's turning into a pretty good little cooker.  We ate soup and rolls and then we watched a movie, White Christmas or I think it's also called Holiday Inn.  I really like that movie and my Dad had never seen it before and he really liked it, it has Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in it.  During the movie we ate a rich chocolate cake that we got at Costco.  Grandpa even brought the Christmas tree up from the storage room to make it feel a little more Christmasey in his house.  When we left his house we drove home on our traditional Christmas Eve route, down State Street of Salt Lake City.  When my Mom was still alive we always went to Mom and Dads house for Christmas Eve and then we'd come home through Salt Lake on State Street, the kids loved it.  So that was Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning everyone got up bright and early cause they were so excited.  Just kidding.  I think I woke up first and I even had time to shower and put make-up on before everyone got up.  Anyway, this year we drew names again to give gifts to each other, we actually made gifts for each other. 

Steve gave to Steph this year, he bought some gerbera daisies in Steph's favorite color and then took an up close picture of one and then had it printed on Canvas at Costco.  It really turned out great.  What a fantastic idea.  She really liked it.



Steph gave to Nicole.  She crocheted a scarf for Nic to take to Russia and made her a mini photo album with pictures of the family that she could take to Russia.

I gave to Erica.  I made her a canvas thingy something (I don't know what to call it) that she could hang in her room, it has the name of her blog on it.

Nicole gave to me.  She cross stictched a little wall hanging that says; Enjoy Not Endure and Don't Forget To Laugh.  I love it.  And she thought of and did this craft all by herself!!

And Erica gave to Steve this year.  She made him little snack bags with his favorite cookie/candy to put in his lunch and she also made little thought words strips telling him why she loves him and appreciates him.  Very touching.  Parents love things like that.

And here are some more fun Christmas pictures taken during the present opening, I won't try to explain them.

And that was Christmas 2010.  I'm sad it is over, I love December and the feeling of love and excitment and anticipation.  At least it's only about 10 1/2 months away.

NICOLE IS GONE

I have a LOT of catching up to do, I still need to put Christmas pictures on, but first things first.  Nicole left 2 days ago, on January 25th, for Russia, she'll be back home on June 1st.  In her honor I thought I'd post some pictures of her that I haven't used before ( I think I haven't used them before.)  Hey Nic, notice how I put the period inside the thingys, I seriously can't remember what those are called, is that right or is the rule only for quotation marks?  Anyway, we're all going to miss her but we're so excited for her to have this wonderful experience.  I'm going to try to blog a lot (hmmm, we'll see if it really happens) so she'll know what's going on around here.

            I'm not even going to try to explain this picture, just know this, it's totally a Nic thing to do.

             (I better not show the pictures of Erica and Steph doing similar things with the Jonas boys)



See if you notice a theme in the next pictures.

I think she likes to be in charge of lighting candles on the birthday cakes, how 'bout you?

And lastly, a cute picture of Nic, Ethan, and Steph.

We love you Nic.

CAKE STAND

I was going to post this picture of my cake stand that I LOVE LOVE LOVE, but I forgot, so here it is.  The problem is, it feels necessary to always have something yummy on it.  And thus, the doughnuts.

One of my other favorite things is this leaf table runner I bought at Tai Pan.  I love Fall and Fall colors and I just had to have this.  So now I want a heart shaped one for Valentines Day, but I don't want to make one.  Brit... just kidding, I'll figure something out.

For my Christmas neighbor goodies this year I decided to make these muffins.

  Oh baby, these are my new favorite muffin, so moist and packed full of yummy flavors.  Practically everyone that we gave them to told me later how yummy they were. 

Eggnog Cranberry White Chocolate Muffins

2¼ C  flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 C plus 2 tbsp. granulated sugar, divided
2 large eggs
¾ C eggnog
5 1/3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. almond extract
1½ C coarsely chopped cranberries
1 C white chocolate chips

Streusel Topping:
½ C sugar
½ C all-purpose flour
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, slightly softened
½ C chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400° F.  Line 14-16 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a bowl,  add together the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to combine.  In a large bowl, add together 1 cup of sugar, eggs, eggnog, melted butter and almond extract.  Stir until well combined.   Add in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Do not over mix.
Chop the cranberries.  I used my mini food processor and just pulsed a few times. Toss the chopped cranberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and fold into the batter along with the white chocolate chips.  Fill the prepared muffin liners 2/3 full.

Streusel topping:
Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter.  Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or a fork until a coarse, crumbly mixture forms.  Add nuts if using.  Sprinkle the mixture  on top of the muffin batter.

Bake for about 18-22 minutes, or a until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.