Saturday, November 28, 2009

thanksgiving thankful re-cap

I am grateful for plug-in outlets...because my 1949 home doesn't have any! We have extension cords going everywhere.

I am thankful for Kenzie's prayers "love for Mom, love for toys, love for Julia, love for Gage, love for food, love for primary" -so cute

I am thankful for my rice cooker.

I am thankful for Savers Thrift Store. Love that store

I am thankful for Costco. Again, love that store.

I am thankful for my calling because it makes me cry in despair every week. Humbling to the max. I just want to run and hide when I have to teach...why can't I just be the activities coordinator or the music coordinator or the ward canning specialist???

I am thankful for my siblings. Such great normal fun people. so so lucky to have an awesome family.

I am thankful for calculators, on-line bill pay, e-mail, and Google.

Thanksgiving day I get a call from a family member who will be feeding us dinner. She is complaining because she just got the turkey and it was going to take another 8hours before the Turkey will be finished. I kindly suggested the fast and moist way my mom used to cook the turkey- her response, "oh I would never ruin a turkey like that. That is an awful way to cook a turkey- it would dry it right up- turn it harder than a rock." oh. ok. That's weird because my Mom's turkey was perfect every year.... missing my mom like crazy, tears in my eyes...man I am thankful for humble kind people...and don't mess with my mom's turkeys right now, I'm sensitive.

I am thankful for sunshine

I am thankful for friends who stay true no matter what. They even like me when I can be difficult.

Thankful for the temple.

I am thankful for truth.

Thankful for the scriptures.

I am thankful the family we ate Thanksgiving dinner with started dinner without us and was almost finished when we walked in the door. I was still holding my warm green bean casserole. I was starting to get emotional...but it got worse when no one wanted my green bean casserole...and then it got even more worse when someone took more than 3/4 of my casserole and put it in a tupperware and put it in the fridge and sent me home with an empty dish. I am thankful because never in a million years would I ever do that.

Thankful for Chay's back rub this morning.

Thankful for freedom of speech.

I am thankful for Kenzie's way of articulating her thoughts. "Mom, we are sick. We have a sick bug inside us. But not a Box Elder bug." -so adorable. (Box Elder bugs are a very popular bug down here- invade the house when warm weather comes after it being cold for awhile)

Thankful for Christmas music.

Thankful for hoodies and wool socks.

Thankful I have a jeep and not a handcart.

Thankful for Red Box.

Thankful for middle of the night priesthood blessings.

Thankful for SD cards and digital cameras.

Thankful for Chay's sense of humor.

Around the table on Thanksgiving, the heated topic of Health care reform popped up somehow. It was not me this time. I was not in the mood and plus it was Thanksgiving? Do we really have to bring this up? Plus everyone in the room already knows my "controversial" stand on this issue...so finally a lady in the family said, "Nursing homes are full of elderly who just lay there all day...and especially those who deal with dementia- they lay there like a vegetable and yet our tax dollars pay $6000 a month to take care of them?" I then asked her what she suggested the government should do with these patients if they end up running health care. "They need to be euthanized. It would solve a lot of problems." Happy Thanksgiving to you too. I am thankful for those sweet visits I had with my grandma when she was sick with dementia. I am thankful that I value life. I am thankful God is the One who has laid the foundation for my reasonings.

Thankful for Julia's love for sleep.

Thankful I am a Mormon.

Thankful for water heaters.

I am thankful to be a Tomblin.

I am thankful Mom had cancer, so I can be motivated to be healthier.

I am thankful for Kenzie's reminder yesterday, "Thanksgiving is over, so is tomorrow Christmas-giving?

A lot to be grateful for...there always is.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

not your mamma's green bean casserole

ok so I have never understood the Green Bean Casserole...



I think I had heard about it before I moved down south to Southern Idaho and Utah... and I think Calie (Keith's wife) found a recipe for it once and made the casserole when I was like 18 or something...I remember it was a new experiment for all of us- like eating foreign food for the first time...

but when I finally became a permanent resident of the Wasatch Front and a permanent member of Chay's family, I soon learned the importance of the Green Bean Casserole. This dish is um...well...let's just say you can't have holiday dinners without it. -Not necessarily sacred, but almost equally as important as the Turkey at Thanksgiving...it's a big deal. Ok maybe not as important as the turkey...but probably the mashed potatoes. If a holiday dinner didn't happen to have it (which it never would), someone would most definitely say, "where's the Green Bean Casserole?"

Maybe it's like me and cranberry sauce...In my world, turkey dinners always have to have cranberry sauce...and one time it was missing at Chay's house for Thanksgiving and I said out loud, "Where's the cranberry sauce?" I learned quickly cranberry sauce wasn't as important as I thought it was! But it's so delicious...oh my- especially on turkey sandwiches the next day with miracle whip....

back to the Green Bean Casserole...It is so weird with its string beans, fried french onion things, and cream of mushroom soup concoction. I was never exactly too sure what was so fascinating about this dish...and where was the flavor? It was like a heap of mushy mush...but since I will eat almost anything, I will keep eating and eating it thinking it will eventually get better...and it never does. So confusing why everyone eats it every year. Is it really that good to other people? Or is it just that whole tradition thing?

Well then it happened, I was asked by my dear Mother in Law to make it for the family Thanksgiving dinner last year. I freaked out. I can't claim Green Bean Casserole as my contribution to Thanksgiving Dinner. That is like buying your best friend a gift on clearance only because it was cheap and not because it was meaningful... Or wearing jeans and flip flops to church...can't do it.

So I desperately called Emily. And she saved me- she always does... She had a Green Bean Casserole Recipe believe it or not- with no cream of mushroom soup anywhere to be found. This is the Green Bean Casserole taken to a whole new level...and last night Emily and I decided to re-name it "Not Your Mamma's Green Bean Casserole"

anyway- so this recipe is amazing- to die for!!!! Very good, full of flavor, full of fat, full of love.

Not Your Mamma's Green Bean Casserole

5 cans Fancy cut/ French cut beans
8oz cream cheese
8oz sour cream
1 Pkg Uncle Dans Southern Ranch mix
1 lb shredded Swiss cheese
corn flakes

Mix 5 cans green beans (drained) with ranch mix, sour cream, cream cheese, and half of shredded cheese until smooth. Spread in glass 9X13 baking pan, top with rest of shredded cheese, and then top with crushed corn flakes.

I put the cream cheese, sour cream, ranch pack, half swiss cheese in blender first and then poured and mixed into the green beans. A lot easier to work with!

Bake 350 until bubbly and corn flakes start to brown. (Approximately 30-40 min.)


I am posting this so maybe it's not too late to revolutionize your Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night!!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

6 years

pictures again done by Mrs. Janna Beecher herself.



Today 6 years ago on a very very cold day, I married Chay.

Can you believe it?

Chay. Chay. Chay. What a cool name my husband has.

Chay and I are too much alike in some areas...and so it can be detrimental sometimes...and yet very very fun. Best Friend fun.

We are both a little too carefree or scatter-brained about certain things...which isn't always the best...but we are so great together despite our little la la land moments...We are a cute couple I think.

I am the youngest of my siblings and Chay is the 6th of 8...so before marriage we only had ourselves to worry about pretty much...which makes us now deal with "what about me?" a lot. We are working on it. In hindsight, I love working on it with Chay. I want to work out all life's problems with Chay.



I can't believe I landed him.

I always know at the end of the day when we are laying in bed together talking in the dark, that the person next to me is exactly who I was supposed to marry. And it makes me giddy just thinking about it...



I really really like Chay. I love how easy he is to read...his sense of humor...his obedience...his commitment to his family- His loyalty- his smile.

I didn't see much of Chay this week. He had a big final to study for and so he would come home and eat and then off to the library...wow that was hard for us...I'm a wimp. I like Chay around as much as possible.



Love you Chay...so so much.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

what are you thankful for?

this has put me in the Thanksgiving mood more than anything...love it!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

the julia invite

The photography seen on this post is done by the lovely Janna Beecher. She is my forever friend who also happens to be an amazing photographer.

so I am noticing on a lot of blogs people are writing what they are grateful for this month...don't you love Thanksgiving...so...

I am grateful to be this little girl's mommy...



because she is doing weird things to my normal life...she is stretching me and inviting me to change...when I don't want to. I have been thinking a lot about this girl. She knows exactly how to pull at my weak points and she won't let me get away with anything! If I am on the phone or the computer she will do everything rebellious imaginable. She is my mortal guardian angel who is annoyingly trying to protect me from messing up motherhood and to change so that her life and mine can be more directed toward Christ. I know if I take the Julia invite, I could be such a better person. Julia who are you??? Sometimes I don't want to change. Why can't you just sit and play and obey everything I say??? Why do you throw fits like me? Why do you demand attention like me? Why do you whine and pout about every little thing...like me?

Kenzie kind of floats around like a pure bliss child, helping me clean and singing primary songs. Julia will look at me right in the eyes and spill her milk all over the counter on purpose. After telling her 100 times she is not allowed to play with my make-up, she will go into my room and throw it all over the floor. She spends a lot of time in "time-out" I have resorted to spanking but that is always a bad choice because she will swing right back at me-smacking me in the face out of anger.

Morning times are always interesting. NEVER wake up Julia before she wants to get wake up...because if you do, she will thrash her body against the crib and scream for 20 minutes. If you leave her alone she will get even more mad. If you try to comfort her, again, she will get just as mad. After the tantrum is over...she is actually up for a hug and a kiss- but she just needs that 20 minutes of "why in the heck did you wake me up?" moment before she can handle the day. Is she my daughter??? Oh yes, in every way she is mine.



Don't get me wrong- her lows are equated with beautiful kind cute highs. Julia is very sensitive to others and their feelings. She always gives Kenzie a hug when Kenzie is sad or hurt. She will even cry when Kenzie cries because she wants everyone to be "ok". She is also fun and super playful. I can't wait to see what entertainment she will bring us each day.

In fact she is a puppy. Yes, a puppy. Mostly throughout the day she will bark and pant like a dog on all fours. The other day at the library, Julia walked and barked on all fours down the long corridor entry way of the library. People stared...but what can you do? She wants to be a puppy.



Despite some of the frustrations I feel, I have felt deeply inspired that Julia is here for me. She is here to teach me so much about real love, real heart felt motivation, real letting go of the natural man...

and it is not going to be fun all the time- mostly challenging...because there can't be a moment of complacency with her. It's either a 100% tuned-in mom or its a disaster of a day.

I feel impressed, for Julia's sake, to never skip a beat of daily family scripture study and prayer- to never pass up Family Home Evening for something else of less importance.

and that is going to be hard because I am not perfect in these areas...but I feel like we have a bold yet fragile spirit on our hands whose strength needs to be used for the good...

Oh Julia...I love you so much. I just do. You are taking my heart to new levels and I am willing to deal with it because I am your mommy and Heavenly Father trusted me with you. Just remember please remember when I fail you at times, your Heavenly Father never will.



You are one remarkable special little girl.

It is morning and you are still sleeping. I will not wake you up, but I can't wait for your morning hugs.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

outside play

bubbles...a dollar miracle.






wow what happened to the garden???


I am Gage.




Thursday, November 05, 2009

allo een

so I got a random card from Joette on Halloween. It was perfect.



opens up to:



many of the reasons why I miss Joette...



so Halloween....hmmmm.



Some things I have learned about Halloween...

I think I have decided on my most favorite candy bars. It takes me a while to make decisions...but I think these are final decisions in my life:




and of course



I try to limit sugar from my diet...ahem...but um...not this last week...

now my entire body is achy- swollen fingers, my joints are stiff...water retention- depressed...weight gain...I feel like I am 80 when I get out of bed...oh the joys of MS.

So Mounds, Almond joy, Nut roll, and mint chocolate wonders...you are proof that all that appears lovely isn't so...and self discipline is more of an act of compassion than control.

So anyways...The girls were fairies for halloween. Although no one could really understand that..."Oh look two precious Angels!" or "Oh the cutest little princesses ever!"

Kenzie's rude reply "NO, WE ARE NOT ANGELS, I'M A FAIRY!"





My dear aunt Linda offered to sew their costumes this year. At first I kind of wanted to attempt sewing my girls costumes because that is what a super mommy does...but once I agreed to have my aunt make costumes for them, it really felt nice. I love family...I love family who have time for each other.

This picture makes me laugh...because it was FREEZING at the trunk and treat...and where Kenzie finally said, "I don't need candy. I just need a coat" ...and is Julia flipping some gangster peace sign?



so there was our adventurous halloween...so glad it is OVER. Fun fun...but you know...weird.

I loved Trick or Treating though because Julia would scream and yell at all the old people who came to the door to give her candy...she was afraid of them...oh it was sort of entertaining- probably not for the old people.

our costume...US. Chay and April...oh with a wig. We had fun with this wig...

Love you Chay.