St. Paddy's

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, I tell my girls the story about how the leprechaun visited me in my second grade classroom. My class and I went to the library and came back to a wonderful surprise! There was a window open and little green paper footprints all around the room. Glitter and treats were on our desks! It was magical! A leprechaun visited our class! I was filled with happy excitement and will never forget that day. This is why every year on St. Patrick's Day, a leprechaun comes to visit my girls leaving them with treats and goodies. He knows me from my second grade class.

I usually start this special day with green eggs and ham for breakfast. Some years I get more creative and cook green hash-browns, pancakes, and milk but I will admit I got a tad lazy this year and just cooked green scrambled eggs with bits of ham lunch meat in it. The girls loved it anyway of course.

Later on I noticed that Danelle's bedroom window was left open! I asked Danelle why she opened her window, and she said she didn't. I told her to go investigate and sure enough that sneaky leprechaun left Danelle and Kaitlyn mugs of prizes and green bubbles! They were so excited to try on their green wigs and glasses and see what candy they got. We got another leprechaun visit at our door with green sandwich cookies too. :)

Danelle wanted to go leprechaun hunting for her date that afternoon, but we settled on seeing WE BOUGHT A ZOO because it was raining. Still wanting to celebrate, we picked up a Little Caesars Hot and Ready Pizza and bread sticks and came home to party. The Little Caesars was so friendly, the girls each got a balloon with a Little Caesars logo to make our party complete. Later that night when Shayne and Danelle were teasing each other, Danelle's top front right tooth came out!!! It was a wonderful day.

Cooking Happy

Ok, I give... I like cooking. I mean, I am starting to LIKE cooking. I have been cooking new recipes all year. We've had some sensational dishes, and some NOT SO GREAT. It's been a worthwhile adventure for me, and I feel so appreciated by my family for making the extra effort. It also passes the time when I need it. Plus, there is just something about having restaurant quality food from home sometimes. I feel like I should be on my own cooking show :)

Here are a few I cooked last week, all from my trusty CAMPBELL'S RECIPE COLLECTION cookbook.

Hearty Chicken and Noodle Casserole.
My family wasn't too excited about this dinner. I guess it didn't sound like anything special, but this meal SURPRISED us all! It was the perfect all in one meal. Danelle had two helpings and even Kaitlyn ate this meal well. Don't underestimate your noodle casseroles!!! They might surprise you.

Rosemary Chicken an Roasted Vegetables.
I wanted to make something tasty, pretty, and impressive for my company Friday night. Danny and Uurtsaikh (my brother and sister in law) were coming over for dinner. I had never roasted a chicken before, but I think it turned out as everything I hoped it would. It had a very nice subtle flavor to the chicken, and the veggies (red potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots) cooked well. This was also a very healthy meal so I didn't feel as guilty taking second helpings. ;)

Tonight - Roast Pork with Green Apples and Golden Squash. I have been trying to cook more with chicken and pork (the other white meat) lately to stay on a healthier diet. This recipe appealed to me because I have never cooked a dinner with apples before, and I am a squash lover. I had some trouble finding whole pork tenderloins though, so I settled for pork tenderloin steaks - luckily they worked. My favorite part of this meal had to have been the apples. They were very sweet, and reminded me of the fried apples they serve at Cracker Barrel.

This week I am thinking about letting Shayne help me with grilling Barbecued Pork Spareribs. I also think I will try the Savory Pot Roast and Tuna Noodle Casserole (since my last noodle casserole turned out so well). Look at me... Liking cooking :) How about that?

Brighter Tomorrow

Danelle was mad at me the other day. In her mind, she was fully justified wanting whatever it was from the store at the time so when I told her (like always), "Danelle, we don't have money for that right now," she had enough! She finally asked, "well, when will we not be poor?"

"Danelle," I answered, "Money isn't everything." I explained all the things we do have compared to others and how lucky we really are. We have so much to be thankful for! We have everything we NEED. We have enough money to meet our needs, clothes on our back, a nice home with heat and water, and a bright future ahead of us - especially now that Shayne is about to graduate college.

It seems like forever ago that Shayne decided to go back to school. We had been through a lot of rough patches financially to finally make that decision. Shayne had been working as a salesman with unstable paychecks, and we had just lost our home in Cedar Hills (not my proudest admission). Life was harder than ever at that point. We wanted another baby so badly but ran into infertility probelms, and it seemed like NOTHING was going our way. I was upset with where our life was going. Our marriage and faith was being tested and I was starting to lose hope of anything changing.

Then Shayne started to talk about going back to school. All the sudden, we were caught in a long dark tunnel with a light at the end! I urged him to take the plunge and KNEW that although it would be hard, we would be SO BLESSED for him going to school.

Shayne started in fall 2008 at Steven's-Henager College in Provo going into Health Care Administration with an emphasis in biotechnology. In 2009, reality of the importance of his degree hit when his job at the time closed it's doors leaving former workers unemployed. The economy had taken a dive and employers had now hundreds of applicants wanting the same job. If you didn't have a bachelors degree you were among the first to be weeded out. We realized even if he didn't want to go into his field, just having a bachelors degree in anything put him ahead of the game. We looked forward to job security.

It's now 2012. It's been a LONG road, but I could always take whatever difficulty we came across KNOWING that one day it would be better! Well, that day is coming fast because Shayne just got his graduation date and time. June 21st at 6:00 p.m. I will be watching my husband graduate! I have never been more proud of any of his accomplishments. We have stuck it out and are better and more in love than ever knowing we did it as a team.

I am so grateful to him for the sacrifices I know he made to go back to school. I love him dearly and can't wait for the day the girls and I will be his cheerleaders when he walks on that stage. It's going to be HUGE and he deserves it.

WAY TO GO SHAYNE! :) Almost there.