Recipe run-down

I've been meaning to gather these links up for a while now, but I'm just barely getting to it.  I've found some great recipes in the last few months and thought I would share!
(I'm just linking to them, sorry.)

First, a recipe for Cafe Rio's Pork Salad. We tried this several months ago and really liked it.  The post also has a link to the salad dressing recipe, which is practically the most important part.  The pork was a little time-consuming, but worth it?? You decide.

Second, Reese's Cheesecake Brownies.  Just made these last week and WOW.  That's what pretty much everyone said about them.  I modified the recipe a little bit - I halved the cheesecake part (probably wouldn't do that again), and I cut down on the Reese's pieces quite a bit (I think I would just take them out, although some people really like them).  Also, the chocolate chip/whipping cream mixture turned out a little weird, both times I tried it.  I don't know why.  Bottom line - awesome recipe, I'll be making it again.  Probably many times.

Third, some Key Lime Cheesecake bars.  I made a plain graham cracker crust, since I didn't have the ingredients for his crust, but I'd like to try his sometime.  I also used less lime juice & zest than the recipe called for, and my husband still thought it was a little too tangy.  I thought it was fine.

I had a couple more - as soon as I remember I will add them here.  Check back!

So you want to be an Eddington?

(Re-posted from here.)

There are a few things you should probably know beforehand.

First - musical talent is not required.  This is a widespread myth.  Sure, it wins you major brownie points and admiration (especially while singing around the piano), but just ask the manly in-laws.  If you are an otherwise excellent person, not having musical abilities will not be a deal-breaker.

You know what is a deal-breaker?  High-maintenance lifestyle.  If you are the type of girl who spends $100 every six weeks on a hair appointment 100 miles away, I can tell you right now, you and I will not understand each other.

Also not required: snow sport skills, water sport skills, nunchuck skills, or video game skills.  Phew!
Boggle skills are good, just as long as you don't beat me.

Definitely required: hard work.  I am not joking about this.
Your mother may not have birthed you for the sole purpose of watching you work. (Lucky you!)
Your family may not have spent every single Saturday working together - out in the yard, in the house, painting, growing a garden, feeding animals - in addition to daily chores.  You may not have lived in a house with SEVEN bathrooms, nine bedrooms and no maid.  But hey. You can always learn.

Not appreciated: inappropriate humor.  I know, I know, many of you think Meet the Fockers and Superstar and Dumb and Dumber are hilarious.  But you know what?  We turn it off.  We're funny enough without it.  I bet you are too.

Another thing you should know is that we are serious about our Toyotas.  Oh, how we love Toyotas!
The last four cars my Dad's bought for himself have been Avalons.  Three families now have Siennas.  I fantasized about Priuses before all the celebrities bought them.  And I am telling you, my next car will be a Scion xB.  Yes, I know they are ugly.  Yes, I still want one real bad.

Other things we are serious about:
Cutco
Dan in Real Life
BYU football
BYU everything (But don't worry, we're not all crazy anti-U.  There are plenty of U graduates among us.)
parties
parties with food
parties with ice cream
parties with homemade rootbeer
Muppets from Space
Saturday morning pancakes
homemade syrup
music

 ... and I think that about covers it.

Any questions?

Dino Easter Eggs

I don't think I have dyed Easter eggs since before I left for college.  But I found this darling idea and am now dying (ha) to try it!

How to keep a 10-month-old entertained in the Doctor's office

1.  Read a book.  Several times.

2.  Let him crawl on the waiting room floor until his name is called.

3.  Give him your cell phone to play with.

4.  Bounce him up and down, throw him around, look out the window and up at the fluorescent lights.

5.  Show him all the instruments in the examination room.  (Don't mess with them too much!  The doctor will notice.)

6.  Change his diaper.

7.  Grab a tongue depressor out of the jar; use it as a drumstick/sword/chew toy.

8.  Set him on the doctor's swivel stool and spin him around.  Back and forth, back and forth.

9.  Feed him little snacks.

10.  Put him BACK on the swivel stool, this time on his stomach.  Then he can watch the wheels as he spins.

11. Pull out the cell phone and start taking pictures.

(Hopefully the Doctor has come by now.)

April Fools

I don't recall April Fool's Day being much-observed in our house.  Aside from my annual short-sheeting and a few small pranks, we kept things pretty mellow, didn't we?

Which is not to say we didn't do our fair share of pranks throughout the rest of the year.  (Jordan!)
Between the garbage bagging, ding-dong lying, toilet papering, and prank-calling (I'm sure I'm the only one who did this...), we certainly spread the mischief around.

However, I was just remembering the April Fool's Day when somebody saran wrapped two of our cars together.  Not just any cars, either - the 15-passenger van and the Lebaron!  They did an amazing job, too; I've never seen such good saran wrapping, before or since.
The best part was that they must have done it after we did the paper route, but before we left for school.  That was so awesome.

It's really a shame we never figured out who did it.  I would still like to congratulate them on a job well-done.

(What pranks do you remember?  Was Angie the only one who got "caught?")

St. Patrick's Day meals

Dad and I were talking this morning about the green stuff Mom used to make for us on St. Patrick's Day.  I vividly remember green pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and green milk that (naturally) I was not too excited to drink.

Now my husband LOVES corned beef and cabbage, so we have that for dinner every year.  I like it too, in small quantities.  One year I tried to make some Irish soda bread that ended up hardening and getting thrown away....

Does anyone have favorite St. Patty's Day meals?  That kids actually like to eat?
I'll tell you what, just thinking about that green milk still makes me feel a little funny.

-Rachel

Growing Pains

Originally posted November 3, 2008 here


One week ago, I was pregnant.  It wasn't really a surprise.  The pregnancy test only confirmed what my husband and I had already known for almost three weeks; without ever actually discussing it, Slice and I had both mentioned our suspicions to other people.  
A week ago I was scared and excited; my husband was ecstatic.  I wanted to wait a while before telling people, but didn't have a real reason.  Just a feeling.  So we laughed and planned, and began announcing the pregnancy to family members. 

Two days ago, I wasn't pregnant anymore.  Once again, somehow, it wasn't a surprise.  My husband and I knew - before any confirmation – that the baby I carried was gone.  I didn't want to believe it.
We talked about the origin of life, the miracle we had witnessed in only a month's time.  We learned firsthand of something that we had only read or heard discussed before.  I gained a powerful witness of the connection between Heaven and Earth, the spirits we parents are entrusted with for only a short time.

And I wept.

Three lifetimes ago, I thought I knew a lot about pregnancy, life, mothering.  After all, I'm the fifth of twelve children.  My mother is a fountain of knowledge and love and wisdom.  (Dad too.)  I've done plenty of my own studying as well: Women's History classes, classes on the history of The Family, demographic studies, research papers, personal accounts.  I thought I knew.

But nothing I read, or saw, or knew could have prepared me for that.  After the thinking and the talking came the pain.  THE PAIN.  My poor husband held me as I writhed in bed and cried, bled and cried some more.  I was falling apart.

After only a few weeks of carrying a baby, I felt loss more keenly than I have ever felt it.  Everything else I had experienced—childhood struggles, teenage inferiority complex, high school relationship drama, college 'education'—seemed insignificant.  I had written three journal entries to that baby already…and I had lost a life.

Now I can see how I was gently rehearsed in the art of miscarriage.  I was reading essays only the day before on other women's experiences with it.  My lovely sister went through the same thing just months ago, and my mother did five times.
Deep down I knew that the timing wasn't right; I wasn't ready.  Maybe I needed the experience to convince myself of that, and to be okay with it.

I am okay with it.

There's one more important thing I've learned about the difference between sympathy and empathy.  One person feels bad for you, the other has been there before.  That other person knows what to say, how to comfort you—how to succor you.  There is nothing more beautiful than this succoring…nothing in this world.
-Rachel