Well this is pretty much the worst photo ever, but we were too excited to dig in to worry about picture quality! Aaaaand this is the only photo we have. Awesome. Anyway, Thanksgiving was lovely. We had our local missionaries over to attempt to stand in for their own mothers and families. I'm sure it wasn't the same (well and one of them is from Canada so it would be pretty hard to compare), but we had a lovely day just the same. No tragedies or even funny stories from the day to share... just a nice, simple Thanksgiving. I sure missed being with family though.
Monday, November 30, 2009
thanksgiving was full of thanks, as usual
Posted by Carrie at 8:20 AM 10 comments
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Knives sharpened, new flatware arrived(!), whole nutmeg ready to be grated into delicious oblivion...
Ready, Set, Cook!
Posted by Carrie at 7:41 AM 7 comments
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
very very first
Moments ago, Benson grabbed a pen from the pen holder, tore off the lid, and proceeded to sound out and spell his first word. I'm so shocked and amazed and proud and excited! I was quietly folding laundry on the couch, listening to his sounding out, and wondering if he was actually going to do it. And the cute part? He was adding "family" to our big family list of things we are thankful for. It's already on there 3 times, but I guess we are really thankful for each other.
Posted by Carrie at 1:25 PM 8 comments
Friday, November 20, 2009
F16
That little clip was Ben doing a barrel roll in an F16. Uh, wow. Ben was rewarded a flight for being Airman of the Year at his guard unit. What a crazy cool experience for all of us! We got to stand right on the runway when he took off, and even narrowly escaped the jet wash blow over. So so so cool. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Oh and we are really proud of Ben for not puking or passing out, even while doing loop-de-loops, barrel rolls, and drop offs at 8.5 G's (that's a lot).
Posted by Carrie at 9:50 AM 18 comments
Monday, November 16, 2009
if you can't say somefin nice,
then don't say nuffin at all.
Which is the reason for the extreme lack of posting right now. I'm having a hard time learning some important lessons about charity, but I'll come back when I learn to be less like Lamen and Lemuel, and more like Nephi.
Posted by Carrie at 11:26 AM 8 comments
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
preschool farewell
It has been the best of times, and the worst of times. I love time alone with Banks, and Benson loves to play with the legos at school. But I hate how there are really really mean kids at Benson's school who punch him and steal his toys. And most recently, I hate how he's taken these habits and brought them into our formerly peaceful home, kicking his brother (and the dog!) and calling everyone names. Yesterday we preformed an experiment to see if we could find my sweet and loving Benson again, and lo and behold, one day out of school and he's back. And so, without further ado, Benson's preschool experience is coming to an end. Today I am making caramels to put in monogramed mugs to say thanks and farewell to his teachers and tomorrow we will deliver them with the bad news.
And I feel so much better. What I've learned from this experience: trust my instincts. Mother's hearts just know.
Posted by Carrie at 8:56 AM 11 comments
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
food!
One of my internet friends put together a food/recipe blog a few months ago and asked me to contribute. I was so excited! And then I never posted anything because I'm a rat. But I really enjoyed reading all of the yummy recipes that others contributed. Anway, I finally posted something over there so I thought I'd post a link here so you can check out THE BEST FOOD I'VE EVER EATEN. It's true. If you need something to wow your amazing chef mother-in-law or your boss, this is the recipe for you. Check it out here, and while you are there definitely browse the other recipes and get some inspiration for cooking this week. (added below for book printing- ct)
Chicken with Morels by Ina Garten
Ingredients:
1 - ounce dried morels, soaked for
30 minutes in 3 cups very hot
water
6 boneless, skinless chicken
breasts
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
1/4 cup clarified butter
1/3 cup chopped shallots (2 large)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3
cloves)
1 cup Madeira wine
1 cup
(8 ounces) creme fraiche
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed
lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Lift the morels carefully from the hot water in order to leave
any grit behind in the liquid. Rinse a few times to be sure all
the grittiness is gone. Discard the liquid and dry the morels lightly
with paper towels. Set aside.
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge
them in flour and shake off the excess. Heat half the clarified
butter in a large saute pan and cook the chicken in 2 batches
over medium-low heat until browned on both sides, 8 to 10
minutes. Remove to an ovenproof casserole.
Add the rest of the clarified butter to the pan along with the
shallots, drained morels, and garlic. Saute over medium heat
for 2 minutes, tossing and stirring constantly. Pour the Madeira
into the pan and reduce the liquid by half over high heat, 2 to 4
minutes. Add the creme fraiche, cream, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon
salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil until the mixture starts to
thicken, 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken and
bake for 12 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through. To
make ahead, refrigerate the chicken and sauce in the casserole
and reheat slowly on top of the stove.
Posted by Carrie at 7:24 AM 0 comments
Labels: recipes
Monday, November 2, 2009
trickrtreat
Halloween was great fun. The kiddies had a great time trick or treating, and they've already forgotten about their candy! Score.
We didn't get a good shot of Benson's turtle shell (he is a Ninja Turtle, also known as a "minja turtle" around these parts) but trust me, it was awesome. And we tried to convince Banks to be another turtle but he wanted no part in it. We ended up having to wrestle him into the Superman costume, because he is very extremely two some days.
Best part of the night: Some of the teenage boys at our church made a little "haunted stage" at our church. Benson went through it not once, but twice, and screamed and cried both times. It wasn't funny the first time, but the fact that he freaked out the second time after insisting he wanted to go through again did make us chuckle a bit.
Hope all of your Halloweens were as fun as ours!
Posted by Carrie at 8:15 PM 6 comments