Keepin the fire going

One of my favorite things about winter is those days that I get to stay home all day and keep the house warm with our woodburning stove. It's not so much that I have to stay at home to "tend the fire", because once it gets going you just add a real beefy log and then turn it down and it will burn all day. I just like how the house feels on those days. I love the radient feel of the heat.....and so do the kids. They will often ask me to build a fire (apparently I am better at it than their Eagle Scout Dad...or they are all just used to asking me to do everything;o)

Yesterday I had a fire going and the the kids came home from school and flopped on the couch and all stretched their toes towards the source of heat. "Aahhhhhh."

Then they had a great time roasting marshmallows.

I even got ambitious and made dinner and dessert in the dutch ovens. I have to go to girls camp this year, so I figured I should practice. When the fire was all coals I just put the dutch oven right into the wood stove and left it there. When the meatloaf I made for dinner was done I just stuck in the peach cobbler. Both turned out great.

I haven't had allot of practice so I was surprised that things weren't raw/burnt.

Does anyone have a really good dutch oven recipe they want to share?

What's that in your ear?

Today I scheduled Natalie's next ear surgury for Feb. 6th. This will be the 6th ear surgury for her. All the rest of them had to do with her ear drums. This one will involve removing the pearl-like growths in her ear canals. It will not be as invasive as the others, and she won't have too much recovery time. It's just really wierd...and she has them in both ears!

First Game

Karl had his first city-league basketball game last night. This year the city decided to let the boys start playing in first grade, instead of the usual third grade. He was so excited he was jumping up and down practically the whole time during the game. I wish I had that kind of expendable energy!

It was a little painful for Paul to watch, because he coaches Erik's comp and city team (much more experienced 6th graders). I thought it was so cute to see such little boys out there trying to play the game.

Tag I'm IT

I got tagged. This one really made me think. I actually had to get out the scrapbook to see what I was up to.
Here goes:
5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

• I was pregnant with Natalie (which meant feeling like I had the flu and throwing up at least half a dozen times a day for six months)
• I had long hair, and then cut it really short
• 1999 was the year Erik' s appendix burst and he spent 2 weeks in the hospital
• I was in the Nursury at church (where I could easily sit and snack on crackers to keep from being sick)
• I got a newer better camera that year

5 things on my to-do list today:

• Pay off Nicole's braces
• shop for Toilets, bathtubs, and tile for the upstairs bath (did you know that there are toilets out there that cost as much as a jaccuzzi tub?)
• Clean up after having the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers luncheon at my house yesterday.
• RELAX
• Get a hug from my husband and kids

5 snacks that I LOVE are:

• Gummy bears (I'm addicted)
• horehound candy
• nuts
• popcorn
• eclairs

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• Go to Europe with Paul
• Donate to the Church
• Send the kids to college and then around the world
• Have a maid
• Have liposuction

I now Tag Deena and Shannon

Christmas Break in Moab

We had a great Christmas.....the kids woke up about 7:00am and wanted me to make a fire in the family room before they started opening presents. Paul always makes everyone wait until he is showered and dressed before we start. Of course, there were LOTS of LEGO's. The family got all the rest of the Nancy Drew games that we didn't have. We also got a Hardy Boys game too. The kids all like to play them together.

Paul's friend Jorg from Germany sent a box full of gifts for the whole family. Every gift was perfect for the recepient.

My mom did a great job in making Aprons for everyone. Now there will be no excuses for not helping me in the kitchen.

The big family gift this year was a trip to Moab. We went with our Friends Shawn and Shar and their two kids. We found that it was less expensive to rent a condo for the six of us than to get two rooms at a motel. It was so nice. The condo was new and everything was super clean. Paul and I had our own master suite. The girls had a room with a queen bed and the boys had another with two twins. The kids all shared a bathroom. We could have fit two more people on the hide-a-bed sofa in the loft if we needed to. I also liked having a full sized kitchen stocked with pots, pans, and dishes. We cooked or packed a lunch for nearly all of our meals.

The most exciting thing about the trip was the Jeeping. We had never done anything like that before. The friends we went with got into jeeping a year or so ago and finally convinced us that it would be a fun family trip.

It was cold and there was snow on the ground, but the Jeep really could go just about anywhere you wanted it to. Who needs a snowmobile?