Feliz Cumpleaños

Awhile back and for two years in a row, I had the chance to speak in church on Father's Day. My assignment was, of course, to speak about Father's. In my research I found some pretty remarkable facts about some of the world's best fathers. Take for example the Emperor Penguin: Once an egg is laid, the father emperor penguin has the responsibility of protecting it. The father stands out in the freezing Antarctic wind and holds the eggs on his feet until they hatch. During this time the father penguin doesn't leave the eggs for anything, not even to eat and it can take up to sixty days for one of those things to hatch! That's a dedicated dad!

Take a look at this guy. . . 

That's right, he's my dad, and he has all the dedication that any emperor penguin ever had!

He loves his family and would do anything to provide for and protect them. Ever since we were just kids, he has been giving us advice to keep us safe and to keep us out of uncomfortable situations. I'm going to post some of that advice, so please know that this is your lucky day and you are getting these words of wisdom for free:

* Watch out for crazies!

*Don't sniff perfume in parking lots!

*Look in your car before you get in!

*Trust no one!

* Signal in plenty of time!

I could keep going, but just know that he is filled with wisdom and I have taken great heed to those phrases throughout the years.

Today (even though this will show on the 27th, I am really posting on December 26th) is my dad's birthday. What a great day for a birthday, right?! 

He was born at 12:33 am on December 26th missing Christmas by just 33 minutes.

My dad loves horses and farming and chocolate. I told you earlier that he has the dedication of an emperor penguin and that applies to all aspects of his life. He is able to do hard things, and tells us sometimes that we give up too easy!

I look up to him so much, and am forever grateful to have him as my dad!

Happy Birthday Herman, I hope your day was a great one!

-Maria

Five Years Old?!

I realize that this day is pretty much over, but I didn't want it to wrap up without writing a post for one of the most special people in my life. Madison is my first and only niece, my friend, and the person who seems to like me no matter what. She hugs me and tells me she loves me for no reason at all, and I'm sure she'll never outgrow that practice! ;) <--- wink

 Maddie loves anything with a screen and buttons and can operate any electronic device she can get her hands on! She also loves coloring, writing her name, singing, saying words that start with the letter M and she wants to be able to read so bad!

Madison and I seem to have a lot in common with exception to the fact that she requested the classic hot dog dinner to be eaten on the day of her birthday party!

I love Madison so much and am grateful to be her aunt!

Happy Birthday Chicken Lips! I hope your day was mmmmmmarvelous!

-Auntie M

Birthday Buddies

I have a journal that I used to write in about three times every year. I got the journal from my family when I turned 8 years old. The very first journal entry was written on November 20, 1993, the day before my eighth birthday. I explain how my friends came over for a surprise party and how my grandpa had a surprise party also. And now, a small glimpse back 20 years: "We had lots of fun at both parteys. At my party I opint presintse and at my grandpase partey he opend presintse to." Please take some time to admire the wonderful spelling and in depth descriptions of such a wonderful day. While I have never been very consistent with the journal writing, I always made sure to write about my birthdays over the years and what a special day it was. One thing that makes my birthday more special than any other Birthday is that I get to share it with this guy:

  The worlds biggest trickster! The man who with just two words "Hot Foot" could send people scrambling, scurrying and trampling each other into the carpet to avoid being the victim lucky person who gets the flaming match wedged between their bare toes! The man who took the opportunity during a 6 hour road trip to convince me that he could plug his camp trailer in to a current bush and power it for the whole weekend! 

He is not only a trickster, though, he is also a person who has so much knowledge. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, if I'm stumped and can't figure it out, he is a person I can always go to and he always seems to have the right answers! He is a problem solver!

 He loves strawberries, Dachshunds, wood working, leather working, farming, Christmas, all holidays, family and most of all granny bird aka. Little Chicken.

Us November 21 people have so much in common, and if I have to have things in common with someone I'm glad it's him!

Thanks for sharing your Birthday with me for the last 28 years! I hope your day is a great one and I'm looking forward to our annual Birthday pizza party!

-Rosie

     

I know what you're thinking. . . It's hard to tell which picture is the most recent. 

                                                                                                                                   

Happy B-Day Ethel

When our family all gets together, we like to play games. One of the best games we have is Hilarium. Hilarium is a game of mass confusion. Everyone gets a handful of cards. There are two of each card and your job is to find who has the matches to each of your cards. The cards say something like, "Aerobics Instructor" and you have to act out what is on your card at the same time everyone else is acting out what is on their cards. It's wild, it's crazy, it's completely ridiculous and the perfect game to play when someone is coming to meet the family for the first time. . . Right? Well, that's exactly what happened when my brother brought a girl home to meet us for the first time. Heather withstood the trial by Hilarium and glided across the kitchen floor as a figure skater with pure ease and made one of the best Hilarium bull riders this family has ever witnessed! 

Heather became my sister in law, and sometimes I wonder if I am supposed to call her by her real name or by her gladiator name "Beautimus-Maximus" that was so affectionately given to her by my brother. (I was given the name Gluteus-Maximus... I see a problem here!) 

Heather is the only person I know who can make it through a massive throng of screaming teenagers trying to shove their way into a theater to see Twilight, 1 month before having a baby, and without even spilling the cheese to her soft pretzel! AMAZING! 

Heather is a good person and I look forward to the day when we jump in our Biscayne, scarves and cat eyed sunglasses on head, and make our way to the Grand Canyon. We're not going to drive off, we are just going to look around and then drive to the closest place there is to get a shake. 

Happy Birthday to my only sister-in-law and the only horse shoe partner I've ever had. . . Ethel!

-Maude

Chelsea Leigh

Twenty four years ago I met this girl:

I don't remember that day very well as I was only fours years old, but I'm sure I loved her from day one! She was the new kid on the block, I knew nothing about her and I had know idea that this baby was going to grow into the girl who, as a child, could entertain herself for hours playing toys, reading books and doing puzzles. The kid who would watch t.v. all day if she could, whose face was so animated during t.v. watching that anybody else around could guess whether it was a happy or sad scene just by watching her facial expressions.

She is the girl who loves frogs, holds snakes and dissects her fried eggs at the breakfast table while other people are trying to eat! She's a cat lover, Trent lover, Mt. Dew lover, and used to be a spaghetti lover until a recent bad experience with a sausage! (I probably should have put Trent first on that list)

This is the girl who couldn't pronounce her L's and used W's instead and who has one of the softest hearts around despite the fact that she once tricked me into putting my finger in a box so she could bite it!

Happy Birthday to the first sister I ever had, "Chewsea Wee"!!

I hope your day was great, you deserve it!


-Shifu

Granny Bird's Birthday

I have a grandma who is too special to just be called grandma, and so I choose to call her Granny Bird. She doesn't always seem to love this name, but I think it's, for sure, growing on her. . . How could it not?! This name is hers for two reasons:

1. Something I think of when I think of my grandma is good food. Many of our family traditions and gatherings are centered around the kitchen and some of the best food a person could ask for. Our own iron chef behind much of the delightful delicacies is my Granny Bird. What does this have to do with the name? Well, her kitchen, where many feasts and parties have taken place over the years, is decorated with roosters. Grandma told me it is good luck to have a rooster (decorative, not real) in the kitchen.

2. The topic of chickens brings me to reason two: Some chickens are extremely protective of the things they love most, their chicks! I know that my grandma is always there for me. She is compassionate and giving and always willing to take a person under her wing if they are in need.

(I know you're hanging out with grandma Grimes today

so here's a pic. for both of you cool chicks!)

Happy Birthday to the lady who has never missed any of my Birthdays, who doesn't like her picture taken, who loves flowers, big sunglasses, and driving fast, and who can wrap a gift prettier than anyone I know!

I hope your day is the best day ever, you deserve it!

- Mandie

Delicioso Guacamole

One of the first songs I learned to play as a sixth grade trumpet player was The Mexican Hat Dance. Ever since then, there has been a taste bud in the back right side of my mouth that requires me to feed it Mexican food once in awhile! One thing, however, that I have always disliked is guacamole! Actually, I had never even tasted it, or even smelled it for that matter, but I convinced myself that it was disgusting and therefore there was no need to even be in the same room with it! Julie told me once, (or probably several times when she was trying to get me to try cottage cheese) that everyone's taste buds change every seven years, and since I believe everything she tells me, I decided to take my brand new taste buds for a test drive! Experience #1: Guacamole! Not just any guacamole, Dean's Guacamole!

I realize this is not the most flattering picture of this scrumptious dip, but I couldn't stop eating it long enough to get a glamour shot of it!
This guacamole does not have huge chunks of avocado in it, and to be honest, I haven't read the ingredients to see if it is even real avocados it's made out of. The container says "Dean's Guacamole Flavor" and that's the only reason I'm questioning the authenticity of its origins. Now, back to the chunks. I'm grateful that it is a creamy dip and not a chunky dip because I did try a small piece of avocado once and I was not a fan. This dip does have pieces of tomato in it, but the texture of a tomato is not one that gags and chokes me up. The flavor is really great. I have tried it on a taco and on a fajita, both were good, but this guacamole really shines when it is simply placed on a tortilla chip! One crunch of the guacamole coated chip and I suddenly became uncontrollable! I wanted to sing Feliz Navidad (because that is the only Spanish I know) and dance around in my sombrero while shaking a maraca! Unfortunately I was unable to do that, because I don't own a sombrero or a maraca, but in my mind, that's what I was doing!

See the crazed look in my eye, I was overcome by the guacamole!

For months, the only place I could find that sold this one of a kind guacamole was Main Street Market in Ferron. They still have it, but just a few days ago I was at Stewarts in Castle Dale and I began a full fledged run to the end of the aisle and turned in to the roller derby queen throwing elbows and jumping over people after I spied Deans Guacamole sitting on the shelf like a lovely green angel!
I don't know what fresh made, real guacamole tastes like or if a true guacamole eater would enjoy this product, but I sure do and would definitely recommend it to every person on planet earth!

Guacamole de Dean es tan delicioso. Ve a buscar el suyo hoy!

-Mandie

 

Happy Birthday Sugar Gut

Three years ago, we found out that my niece was going to be a big sister! Everyone put their guesses in as to what kind of baby we would be welcoming in to the family... Boy or Girl? The day finally came to put all guesses aside, and find out from the pros what the little bundle would be. We found out that another girl was on the way! How exciting!

Fast forward to delivery day. . . IT'S A BOY! Wait, what?! Our minds were boggled as we thought about the pink clothes, flowered blankets, and frilly little nursery set the new baby boy would be coming home to!

Our little Porter has proved that he is most definitely tough enough to wear pink and sleep in pink! Three years has made him into a fun loving, sugar loving, rambunctious, sweet, wild little boy. I'm proud to be an aunt to this little nephew of mine, and wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy Birthday to you, Sugar!

- Auntie M

Disruptions Are For the Birds... Or Not

I looked out the window this morning and found a million blackbirds making themselves at home out in the yard. They were everywhere! I watched about 5 minutes of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" a couple of years ago, and that 5 minutes was enough for me to realize that movie and swarms of birds is not really my thing! I wasn't going to go outside, but I was happy to let Winston go out into the flock!
Some of you know Winston, some of you don't. Winston is the worlds biggest chicken among dogs. He is afraid of everything and had no idea what awaited him in the great outdoors this morning.

It started with just one little bird. 

Once Winston realized he had feathered strangers in his territory, he suddenly became the bravest dog in the world! He chased the bird, and then he chased a group of birds and then he found the flock, and the flock was not scared! 

Had Winston been a real dog, he could have easily sprung into action and one of the birds could have met a drool covered fate. However, today was the birds' lucky day, and they got the best of the "predator" in the grass. They are probably still laughing!

I learned a lot from the birds vs. Winston scenario. Most importantly I learned that as I sit atop my post in life, I need to be ready to react when acted upon. Winston was not very stealthy and surely the birds heard him coming, but the things that are sent to disrupt my life usually hit when I am least expecting them! They come quietly, but forcefully! I am learning that I cannot sit and just wait for the disruption to leave, that just doesn't happen! 

-Mandie 

   

I'm Still Here

For someone who doesn't like change much, I sure do love Fall! Fall is all about change! Today was the first day of Autumn and the air felt instantly cooler, the leaves looked brighter, the wind blew harder and I was happy... Not that I'm only happy one season out of the four, but this one is the best!

For some reason it is usually about this time of year that I get the hankering to go buy something, and I don't mean a candy bar or a new shirt (well, maybe a shirt), but I mean buy something like a new car! Every car I have ever bought was bought during September or October. I am, however, resisting the temptation this year and am saving up for something more reasonable, like a house!

The last few years of my life, I have made very few changes. About twelve years ago, I was a sophomore in High School. For one of my classes I was given the assignment to write a paper about what my life would be like in ten years. Those ten years have been here and gone and my sophomore ideas never came to fruition. Somewhere between the dream of living in a high rise in New York and having a pet fish to keep me company, I found myself clinging to dry, old, boring, uneventful Emery County. Pretty much everyone thinks I'm crazy for choosing to be here, but this is where almost everything is that I've found to be important to me. Where else would I be able to get dressed in the morning and find a scorpion on the pants I just put on!

Or order food and have it come home in a customized food box like this:

Or get my mail from a place like this:

This place has given me some of my greatest opportunities, learning moments and experiences that I would in no way have had somewhere else

These things and the people I find myself surrounded by everyday mean everything to me, and they make me believe that anything is possible, including flying pigs!

Change is absolutely necessary! If it weren't for change, we would all still be sitting around with diaper rash! (I don't know why I think to say some of these things). Sorry I don't have a picture to go with that last statement, so I will wrap this up with a lovely Clawson sunset!

Mandie was here, and she has never left!

-Mandie

Shoulda Hada V-8

People do strange things in the name of health. Whether it be slurping down a raw egg smoothie, eating grass (like a goat), or completely cutting maple donuts out of their diets. It's madness! I admire people who are able to eat all healthy foods and exercise so much that they could crack a coconut open with their abs. After last week's S'more Cake review, I think it's safe to say I am not one of those people. I do think I need to be more healthy and was very excited when I spotted a new flavor of V-8 Splash.
I love juice. I especially love grape juice!

And now for my review:

Refreshing! I don't know what I was expecting, but this "Grape Blend" juice tastes different than any other breakfast juice I have ever laid taste-buds on! It tastes almost exactly like a Grape Jolly Rancher. Some people don't like the vegetable V-8 drinks and worry that when they drink the fruit V-8 that it will have an overwhelming hint of celery or tomato. That is definitely not the case here, only fruity flavors! 

The bottle is designed so you can easily hold it with one hand which frees the other hand to steady the cup you are pouring the juice into which saves you from an extremely sticky kitchen floor! 

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see exactly what all was in this tasty juice. Was there tomato juice? Onion juice? So, I flipped the ol' bottle around and in-fact found that there was hardly any juice at all! That's right "Contains 5% juice." WHAT?! I have watched the V-8 commercials where the person drinks something super sugary and later in the day conks themselves in the head because they "Shoulda hada V-8!" I was so proud of myself for choosing such a healthy brand, only to find that I had been duped! 

So, to all those worried that your breakfast is going to taste like vegetables, don't fret! The only vegetable juice in this drink is the High Fructose Corn Syrup (and reconstructed sweet potato juice)! Perhaps the Jolly Rancher flavor should have been my first hint that this was not the most natural of juices. 

While it is not as healthy as I was expecting it to be, it really did taste good, and I plan on drinking the rest of it and will probably buy more of the V-8 Splash products, the Tropical one is very good and contains 10% juice. But if you are looking for something 100% juice, perhaps you should stick with Juicy Juice! 

Cheers!

-Mandie

Have S'more (Cake)

I have been keeping my eyes peeled for things that I could try out and review. I had my mind made up and my product picked out until yesterday when I made my daily stop at the bank. Earlier in the week, I stopped in and the girls there shared with me a picture of a S'mores cake they had been drooling over. I agreed that it looked quite tasty and encouraged them to make it and then give me a piece. Nobody ever does what I ask them to do, so I was super surprised when I walked in to the bank with a growling stomach, and walked out with a heaping plate of S'mores Cake. What?! Luckiest day ever? I think so!

I am not a traditional S'more eater for these few, simple reasons:
1. I don't want to be sitting out in the forest with chocolate and marshmallow stickiness smeared from my face to my elbows. That's called bear bait!
2. I always manage to burn my marshmallow until it is completely unrecognizable. You don't even have to try and peel it off the stick, you just touch it and it disintegrates!
3. Every time I try to eat a s'more, the first bite I take breaks the graham cracker in half and I end up eating the s'more off of my jeans. Gross!

But s'mores cake is an idea I could get behind! Here is my review:

I am not normally a huge cake fan, mostly because I think it is to dry and it gags my throat, but this cake was not dry at all! It didn't even need the inch of frosting that I would normally slather on a cake. This actually tasted very s'more like, right down to the "roasted over the fire" marshmallow taste. It was delicious!
I was grateful to have a plate and a fork because, in true s'more fashion, this is a sticky treat and at one point I'm pretty sure I had to just stuff the entire marshmallow topping in my mouth and eat the cake separately (be thankful you didn't witness that!) If it would have been safe to close my eyes, I would have been able to picture a peaceful mountain sunset, hear the crackle of my campfire, smell the smoke and sing a nice round of "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" while chewing on my piece of s'more.

Those are real Marshmallows!

I didn't make this, and have to give a shout out to Carmen at Zions for whipping up this delightful dessert. . . A banker AND a baker! I'm pretty sure the recipe came from a Pampered Chef book and I have searched the world wide web over trying to find it, but having no success turned to Pinterest. Here is the link to the closest looking recipe I could find:

http://www.ihearteating.com/2013/06/14/smores-cake/

And also a link to Carmen's Pampered Chef site to which you can go and find many more recipes and products:

http://new.pamperedchef.com/pws/carmenhumphrey

I highly recommend this dessert to all you bakers out there!

Also, a thanks to Teresa for scooping up such a generous helping and to Ann and Connie for not making me stay there to eat it. ;)

So, if you saw me at the bank today and it looked like I had cake in my teeth, it's because I did!

All gone

-Mandie

Your Two Cents

I recently found out that a lot of VIP's have been trying to leave comments on my blog posts. For this, I am grateful because I love knowing what people think of my thoughts! However, these VIP's typed their entire comments, clicked publish and never saw the comment again, and neither did I. So I would like to let all interested parties know how to go about fixing this little problem.

Step 1. At the bottom of what I have posted is a box to leave comments. Just type your comment.

Step 2. Below the comment box is a drop-down box that lets you choose whether or not you want to leave your name. The most simple option is to click on Name/URL.

Step 3.  Type in whatever name you want to appear on your comment. Don't worry about the URL box, you can leave it blank.

Step 4. Click continue and then click publish!

Now get out there and get commenting! I love hearing from everyone! If you don't want to put your real name, you don't have to! :)

-Mandie

P.S. If you are on the home screen and can see more than one blog post, you will not see the comment box. At the bottom of each post, it will say how many comments that post has. Just click on that and then the comment box will appear, as if by magic, and you can type in your two cents!

The Youngest Among Us

Every family needs a youngest. Someone who gets called the baby for the rest of their lives, who always has to go last when playing anything "oldest to youngest", who has to stay home alone (or with the parents...whatevs) while all the big kids go to school or swimming lessons, and who gets to do whatever they want as they grow up because the above mentioned parents have already said "No!" so many times through the years that they decided to try a different approach with the youngest and just let her have everything, go everywhere and do whatever she wants! If I had known this was the case, I might have opted to be the youngest instead of the second born. . . There's nothing glamorous about being the second born!

Anyway, our family welcomed our youngest into the clan 21 years ago today! That's right, the youngest among us is now an adult! Well, numerically . . .

And now, for the audiences viewing pleasure, here is our baby, our Cindy Lou, Lil' Red, Hoot Owl, Little Bare, Droozel, Alps, Clairee:

Happy 21st birthday to you, Clairee!

Love,

Ouiser

-Mandie