giveaway on the SSC site

Yeah!! I just joined the Secret Stitch Etsy site. I made 3 bath aprons, if your wondering what that is - basically an apparatus to keep you dry while your kids get clean & then use it to dry them off once they finish. You can see them if you look to the right (red, blue, and cream towelish looking aprons) aren't they pretty? Okay so to celebrate I'm giving away this kids apron that I made on the SSC site and Christie is giving away a lime colored apron she made adult sized. You can't enter the giveaway here - You have to go to the SSC page and leave a comment. I hope you win!!

kids lovin' on dad

to my first bff

I remember the first time Paige told me I was her best friend. She was about 2 years old and it melted my heart. I thought to myself, I am so lucky to be her first bff. I know it won't last and she will move on, but for this moment I will love every minute of it.


So, I thought I would take a moment to recognize my first bff, my dad. He will always be my hero no matter how old I get. His spirit has never aged (it still thinks it's 20-ish) while his body is looking more 60-ish. I am proud of the man he is and hope that my son will turn out just as great (this picture was taken on my 1st birthday, my dad was 34).

Happy Jason Day

This was my last pday in the mission field. Jason had already been home for 4 months. He was back touring with his family. My father-in-law asked me to come home and date his son while we were at the Colleseo. Good times... if they only knew what the next 10 years would bring them, ha, ha, ha)
This was Jason and I in the mission field (I apologize for the irreverence of the picture - what do you do when your twenty something in a foreign country and living like nuns - you get your kicks where you can)
This was the twenty year old I fell for ... what a smokin hot guy, even if he was a missionary.

This is Jason in our first apartment getting ready to move to AZ.

My crazy, wonderful, amazing trophy husband. I love him more and more as time goes by and I'm constantly reminding myself just how good I have it with him. Happy Father's Day to a guy who makes me laugh daily (and never reads this blog - so he never knows how "crazy" I am for him) Sei Grande!

Barbacoa Pork & Cilantro Rice

I've made this a few times now and every time it gets rave reviews. I think it's supposed to be true to Cafe Rio, but only having been there a few times I can not tell you truthfully... regardless it's mighty tasty (I got this recipe & pictures from Heidikins) - I've made this two different ways... a) super-spicy-so-you-need-a-sour-cream-chaser-to-wash-it-down-with AND b) yummy-with-a-pleasant-kick-to-it-so-your-kids-and-overly-picky-brother-in-law-will-love-it. I prefer it the second way.

Barbacoa Pork (Cafe Rio style)

4 to 8 pound pork loin or roast

21 oz. Dr. Pepper

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

3 cloves of garlic, minced

7 oz. can chipotle chiles in adobe sauce

6 oz. red taco sauce (medium or mild)

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. cumin

Directions for pork: Cut your pork in about 4 or 5 large chunks. Fill the crock pot half way with water. Cook in the crock pot on low for 10 to 12 hours. After your pork is nice and tender, drain the water from it. Add the sauce, put the pork back in the crock pot for 4 to 6 hours. It will literally fall apart when you are ready to serve it.

directions for the sauce: Let the brown & white sugars dissolve in a bowl with the Dr. Pepper. Add the garlic, taco sauce, dry mustard, and cumin. IF WANT IT YUMMY WITH A LITTLE KICK: put the entire can of chipotle adobe sauce in with the Dr. Pepper mixture. Then either strain it as you pour it onto the pork or scoop out the huge chiles. IF YOU WANT IT KICKIN' SPICY: Leave the chilies in while you cook it for the last 4 to 6 hours and scoop them out when your ready to serve it.

Below is the recipe for the cilantro rice. If you want the recipe for the Cafe Rio Tomatillo dressing or a recipe for pico de gallo click here.

Cilantro Rice (Cafe Rio style)

3 cups water

4 tsp chicken bullion

1 tsp cumin

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 of a yellow onion

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1 can (4oz.) green chilles

3/4 tsp salt

1 Tbs. butter

3 cups Jasmine rice (or reg. rice - not 5 minute rice), uncooked

Directions: Get you water boiling, add the cumin, salt, and bullion to the water. I put the garlic and onion in the food processor so they were chopped up fine. Chop up your cilantro, add it and the remaining ingredients. Turn the heat down to simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until rice is done. 

Happy Eating!! My brother in law could not say enough good about it and swears it's better than the overly popular Cafe Rio. That's pretty amazing coming from Matt (who is so picky he eats a total of 10 food items)

because he is James

Today we went swimming with some friends and James wanted to go to the lazy river. I couldn't go with him because I was holding Abbey, he grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the lazy river, when I told him we couldn't go because of Abbey, he said, "Mom, you are ruining my life" "I didn't know you had 'a life', James" He shook his head and said again, "you are ruining my life" (where does he hear these things? I think Nickelodeon plays too many tween shows during James prime TV watching hours) 

Our washer is broke. It has been for a few days now. Clothes are starting to pile up. We are wearing things that went out of style a long time ago due to lack of clean clothes (don't fret Sears is coming over tomorrow)

Tonight James is getting ready for bed and I told him he had a choice 1) a pair of underwear with a hole in them OR 2) dirty underwear. He was really stressed out over the choice and when he responded "I just don't know, Mom" I couldn't help but bust up - then he replied "Your making a fool of me" (yeah, I think my kids watch too much TV)

making dolls with dolls

I had some innocent victims over today. Sometimes it's just nice to play with other peoples kids instead of your own. My cousins kids were left up to my care and we had us some good times. 

I thought they would love the pool.They liked the pool... the whole 15 minutes they were in it. Then they liked the snacks and sitting on their towels in the shade chatting. I think they are still too young to check out the hoard of teenage life guards (who blew their whistles like mad and dove in to get James out quick as he strayed to close to the rope, while I was chatting up other moms not paying attention to anything much at all. yes, still going for worst mom of the year 3rd year in a row now.)

When we got back we decided to make dolls, like glamtastic Raggedy Ann dolls. These took 6 hours longer then we anticipated. Thank goodness for hot glue guns or they might still be over here working away like Santa's elves on Christmas Eve.

This is Macey's Annie doll. All she needed was a pill box hat and fly-esque sunglasses and she would have been a mini Jackie O. The cocktail dress and satin bow is just so demure and adorable.

This is Asia's doll - a bit more sass and check out those ballet inspired Mary Janes. I love the shaggy bangs.

Kristen showed up after five to pick them up, but they conspired against that and used all their persuasive powers to convince us they had to finish them tonight. I had amnesia and for some reason only thought we had another hour or two worth of work left. About 4 hours later Sara came by to take them home.

You have to admit - it was time well spent. And I didn't make them for them or design them at all. This was definitely a team project.... go team glam Annie doll! You girls are too much fun and can come back any time.