A fun evening with the family

For weeks now I've been trying to pin down a night when we could watch "The Princess and The Frog" as a family and have a fun New Orleans dinner to go with it. We finally got to do that last night. We had jambalaya (thanks to Zatarains)and beignets (thanks to Mom T. and Paula Deen) for dessert. The beignets are tasty little pillows of fried dough, sprinkled in powdered sugar that you dip in chocolate sauce or raspberry jam. They were really good! And the recipe makes a ton.

I don't think I'll ever go to New Orleans, but I've always been interested in the place. Maybe it's the look of the buildings with the wrought-iron balconies, or the look of the trees draped with moss, or it could be simply the descriptions of the food. Then again, it could be that when I think of New Orleans, I also think of Disneyland? Let's just say that I like other people's idea of New Orleans.
Here's the recipe that I stole from my mother-in-law and I think Paula Deen:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup evaporated milk
7 cups bread flour
1/4 cup shortening
Nonstick spray
Oil, for deep-frying
3 cups confectioners' sugar
Directions
Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together. Mix egg mixture to the yeast mixture. In a separate bowl, measure out the bread flour. Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour. Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oil in a deep-fryer (I used a pan since my deep-fryer is on the fritz) to 350 degrees F. They cook really quickly, so keep an eye on them.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares. Deep-fry, flipping constantly, until they become a golden color. Drain on a paper towel, then sift powdered sugar on them and warm up your jam and chocolate sauce.

An embarrassing moment

This morning started out as I had hoped . . . I got to sleep in! Complete bliss, but that didn't last long. I had a plan for this morning. I was going to start some laundry, then shower. I would then clean floors and sit down to watch General Conference. I had time . . . 45 minutes to be exact. Well, I was in the laundry room when I heard some odd knocking sound. I went out to the living room to investigate. 3 of the 4 boys were on the couch, with Nathan missing. What was he doing? Now, as a very relevant side note, I was not dressed at this point. Let's just say I had my underclothes on. What can I say, I had planned on making my trip to the laundry room a quick one. As another side note, in order to get from the side of the house that has the laundry room to the boys room, I have to pass by the front door and the small window by the front door. Just as I start to cross that line of view from the small window, that has no covering, I see the Elders through that window. "Oh, crap did they see me?" I ran straight to the laundry room, while saying a few choice words (none that would make a PG movie a PG-13, but let's just say they would have made a G-rated movie PG). As I booked it to the laundry room, I yelled to Dylan,"The Elders are here!" (Insert a few more choice words). Well, to make a long story short, I was stuck sitting on my dryer while Dylan finished his shower, entertained the Missionaries and then forgot about me. Yes, he forgot about me. I couldn't hear what was going on because the dryer was on, so 45 minutes later Dylan comes in and says,"What are you doing? The Elders left 10 minutes ago." He said that he told the boys to come and get me as he walked the missionaries out. Suffice it to say that I was a little upset. Then as I was getting ready to hop into a quick shower, Dylan Jr. calls into my room and says, "Oh, mom, the Elders left." No kidding, really? Let's just say my morning didn't go as planned.

A Great Easter Egg Coloring Tip

I love my Family Fun magazine. This months issue had a great idea in it to help little ones color their Easter eggs without having to use a spoon or those little wire dipping tools that comes with the kit. Use a wire wisk instead! Just slip the egg between the wires, and your egg is nestled in a safe basket of wires! Less chance of breaking the egg as you dip it into your cup!

Catching up

It has been a really long time since I've posted anything, as you can tell by the partially changed background with the St. Patrick's Day photo and music to match, I haven't had blogging as my #1 priority lately.
So what's been going on? Hmmm . . . Well, we helped Nathan finish his animal report this week. I searched several stores on Saturday looking for a silly Killer Whale figure to use for his habitat. All I could find was a stinkin' plush stuffed Orca. So, I thought, "use what you've got at home." Nathan loves Lego's, so we built it from scratch. I think it turned out pretty neat. Like the way we pulled the legs of a Lego monkey to turn it into a seal? And, the Orca is hinged so that it can bend as it bursts out of the water to catch that seal.

Something else that I have been really busy with is Family History. You know, you'd think it would be easy in this day and age, but all of my relatives seem to be from areas where there isn't a lot that has been put on Ancestry.com or any website for that matter. It can be so discouraging, but I've been able to get so many great stories from my grandma, and I've learned things I never knew about my family. Remember that movie, "Far and Away"? I had relatives who were in that 1889 Oklahoma land run. Another great result is that my family is very interested in their history, especially my dad. It's nice to have some help there.
Last, but not least, the house has been on the market for the past month. I think this is officially our 4th time trying to sell it. I'm ready to be done with it! We only keep doing this because we feel like we need more room, but I've gotten to the point where I've told myself, "I will be happy with either outcome." The Lord knows what is right for our family and I'm very confident that what is right for us will happen. And all of that stuff we've had in storage for over a year now? I can't even remember what is in there, so it's not like we need it immediately. We could probably recycle some of the boys' toys in there as Christmas presents, and they'd be none the wiser!
The boys are all looking forward to Spring break, and so am I! I just love not having that hectic morning schedule to deal with, and to be honest, I love having the boys home. Even when they argue, I just feel better when they are all home. Now, ask me how I feel by the end of next week, and I might just give you another answer!

All I can say is TGIF

Thank goodness it is Friday, because I've had one heck of a week. You know, one of those weeks where you are so sleep deprived by the end of it that you don't know which way is up. I thought I was doing well today. I had Michael ready for school early and as we were headed out to the garage to take him to his afternoon kindergarten class, it dawned on me. "I don't have a car!" How could it not sink in that after dropping Nathan off at school this morning, I took Dylan's car and picked him up at Bingham Toyota because he dropped the minivan off there? How could I not realize that I needed to find some other way to get Michael to school when I kept thinking to myself, "I can't even go shopping because I don't have a car"? So, when I walked him to school, I had to get a tardy slip (which the poor guy was upset about because for some reason he has this fear of being late) and they asked me what the reason was for being late. Should I have said car problems, or brain problems?

It's a Girl!

No, I'm not pregnant. You remember the dog we got months ago? You know, the one we thought was a boy because the breeder said it was? Well, it just dawned on us that Blooregard Q. Kazoo is a girl. That is a heck of a thing.

Now I know . . .

. . . who to keep my eye on. Yesterday afternoon, Dylan and I were getting ready to go to the Temple. I'm putting mascara on as Nathan strolls in and says, "I know what we can do when we're older and you're going to the Temple! We can have a party and have lots of friends over!" I can see it now.

The Proposal

No, this isn't an entry about the Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds movie (which, by the way, I loved!). The 10th of this month marks the 15th anniversary of when Dylan proposed to me. It was a very clever proposal, I must say. You see, Dylan served his mission in Russia, for those of you who didn't know. While he was there, I waited for him. He must have known I was the one, because while he was there he had a special Russian nesting doll made. And, no, this picture isn't the doll. Each doll had a different picture painted on it that depicted a moment from our dating history, i.e. a prom, us at the coast, etc. The final, smallest doll had a picture of the Oakland Temple painted on it. This is what Dylan used to propose to me. When I got down to that last doll, there was the engagement ring around it, and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Soooo romantic! It's a good thing we tried so hard in the beginning to be romantic, because, let's just say it, who has time for romance now? So for those 2 people who read my blog ;) how did your spouse propose to you?

A new and easy recipe . . .

I've been very blog lazy as of late, but here is a new, 3 ingredient recipe that my family really enjoyed.

1 pork tenderloin 2-4 pounds
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 package of onion soup mix

Salt and pepper roast. Mix cranberry sauce and onion soup mix and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Cook roast in oven, or as I like to do, on rotisserie. Baste every 10 minutes with sauce mix for about 30 minutes!

Very easy, very good.

Apparently I'm a bad word.

So, last night I was scolding one of the boys, can't remember which one, and William came up and starting sassing the brother that was being scolded. I told William to please stop and be quiet while I was talking. Well, that did not go over well at all. William then threw his glasses off, took his pajama bottoms off, then, while pointing his finger at me, said, "You're a bad word!"
Now, after giggling a bit at that and after he was dressed again, I started to wonder. Has one of the other boys said that same thing to one of his brothers, or has one of the boys called their brother a bad word in which the other retorted, "That's a bad word" while William was in their presence? Hmmm, this is one answer I don't want to know.