This is a picture that Brigham, my five year old took! I sent it to Modwalls, the company that sells the tile and they said they loved it! They thought it looked like a real ad. They also said they may use it on their website and will pay me for it! It cracks me up that they want to possibly buy a picture my 5 year old took! ha ha! Seriously though, he probably takes some of the best pictures I have. I sent them another one that was just of the tile work and they said they may use one or both. Cool....

The Rexburg Temple Open House

Our primary went to the Rexburg Temple open house on Tuesday. Can you imagine taking a whole primary? They were exceptionally good kids. I was impressed. I took Brigham and Laci in my car. Laci was very nervous to go. It took a lot of convincing that she wouldn't actually see Jesus and the Holy Ghost. I'm not one to be overly excited about craftsmanship, type of wood, stonework, etc. but this temple was BEAUTIFUL. The chandelier in the Celestial room was beyond description. I'd heard talk about it but thought yeah, yeah whatever. It really is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Mom, when you come in the summer we should do a session there. You've got to see it. I tried to take a picture of the kids outside but my camera battery died. I was able to get just enough juice to get this picture taken as we were leaving.

Open For Business

Laci decided she needed a more official establishment.

Going Private

Hi everyone that is here. I decided to take my blog private. It is fun thinking that old friends could find my blog but in the world today it's probably not a good idea to broadcast so much information about your childrens doings and whereabouts. Thanks for joining! Lillian

still being sneaky!

I have had continued success with the sneaky chef recipes. Yesterday I made homemade macaroni and cheese that the kids LOVED and ate the entire batch. Today I was short on time so I made a quick recipe called crunchy elbows. Both of these recipes had lots of nutrition in them and my kids ate them like they were the greatest thing. They also suddenly think I'm a great cook. I went to the store today and stocked up on wheat germ and a bunch of other things so I'll have at least most things I need on hand. I found a pasta (Ronzoni brand) that tastes just like standard white pasta but it has 3x's the fiber and calcium equivalent to a glass of milk. It's called Smart Taste. It cost about $2 for a box, so a little pricey, but it makes even a simple meal more nutritious. I'm telling you, you've got to check out this book! I am so excited to try the baked chocolate donut recipe. It has spinach and blueberries hidden in it!

The Sneaky Chef

I've become very fed up with my kids unwillingness (mostly Brigham) to eat healthy food. I mean to the point that I've wanted to yell and cry out of frustration. It's not just healthy food though, it's hard to get Brigham to think anything sounds good.
I'd heard about the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld that disguises healthy ingredients in recipes on Oprah. I was intrigued. I did the research and ended up buying a different but similar book called "The Sneaky Chef" by Missy Lapine. It was about $14 on Amazon.
I LOVE this book! I have gone from feeling hopeless that my kids were ever going to have good nutrition to literally smiling at meal time with pride! Seriously, in the last two days my kids have had cauliflower, zuchinni, sweet potato, carrots, white kidney beans, wheat germ multiple times, whole wheat flour, bran cereal, and they didn't even know it! Tonight we had breaded chicken strips that had 5 of the above mentioned ingredients! They loved it! I was holding back the laughs as Brigham raved about how delicious the chicken was. We even made Chocolate chip cookies that used whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and the white kidney beans (pureed)! Brigham ate 3 big cookies until he was stuffed! It made my day. :)
If anyone reading this is interested go to thesneakychef.com to check it out and buy the book at Amazon for a great price.

Hooray! The snow pants finally arrived in the mail. A whole new world has opened up for the kids. Play in the snow? It's actually fun! Yes, even I broke out my snow pants from my North Dakota days and made snow angels in 12 inches of untouched snow in our backyard. Brigham stayed out until almost dark. I cannot believe it, but properly dressed, tons of snow can be a recipe for tons of fun! Who knew it? Apparently everybody but me.... By the way, as you can see in the picture my Christmas reindeer will probably be on my lawn until spring. Note to self: Do not set up lawn ornaments where snow will pile 4 feet high.

EASY BAKE OVEN

Mom, now you can see we're finally using the Easy Bake oven!

I finally got the 100 watt light bulb so we fired up the oven the kids recieved for Christmas. The kids thought it was really fun. We made yellow cake with choco frosting and sugar cookies. The bottom picture is of Brigham waiting for his cookies to bake while Laci's already eating her cake. They are very small so one cake is one serving. They tasted pretty good! At least a lot better than the cake I remember from Marta's easy bake oven days.

GHOST HUNTERS

I didn't type anything last night because I was busy watching Ghost Hunters on the
SCi Fi channel. I LOVE that show. They go looking for real ghosts at supposedly haunted locations or homes where homeowners have contacted them. It is really good entertainment. I never wanted to believe in ghosts until Nephi told me stories from his Brazilian mission. They had some pretty freaky stuff happen to them! I never thought I'd had any experiences until the other day when I realized something that happened to me as a teenager may have been supernatural. It was night and I was driving home from Burger King. I was driving down Mesquite Boulevard when all of a sudden someone was whistling a tune in my ear. I mean RIGHT IN MY EAR! I was freaked out and immediately tried to "debunk" it by thinking I may have passed someone on the street whistling, but this did not fade away. It was a real tune loud and clear and did not fade. I can still hear it..... I was SCARED. I drove around town trying to stay under street lights thinking there was a murderer in my back seat but when I finally got the courage to go home there was no one there of course. I always wondered about that experience but now I like to think of it as my own little supernatural experience... :) Think what you will ....

January 8, 2008

I am going to try to type a little something everyday as a way to journal. Not too private since this is pretty public but something that helps capture our lives.
Hmm. I am bored with winter. The snow keeps coming, not a lot everyday but enough that it just feels relentless. I'm always afraid to voice my annoyance too much because I'm always aware that voicing something gives it more power. A few weeks ago I was thinking about how much I was enjoying the snow and how beautiful it was and how I must becoming a real Idahoan. Well, we had a big storm and the snow got thick and it stayed. How rude! I love it when it comes and melts in a couple days but it has really overstayed its welcome. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to live in the desert again, I've had my fill of the heat, but the winters here are LONGGGGG! So apparently I can't be satisfied. Where would I be happy? San Diego? too crowded and expensive, Denver? winter there too... Salt Lake? winter, crowded, expensive. I think I'd better stay where I am and have an attitude adjustment. This is why I never want to go anywhere in the summer. We have beautiful summers and we earn them! I don't want to waste it by not being here!
I ordered some snow pants for my kids so they can finally get outside and play. Poor kids, it takes me awhile to figure out what they need for cold.
Marta is visiting at the first of February. It is so nice to have something fun to look forward to. We plan to eat a lot!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy in general, just bored with the monotomy of winter. January is notoriously the hardest month of the year for everyone because it feels like an endless month. Enough about the weather............:)