Stuffed Zucchini

My parents have a garden this year and are growing zucchini. They had one that grew a little too big and my mom told me the big ones were good for stuffing and bakin in the oven. So I took the large zucchini to try my hand at stuffing it.

First I cut it in half and then in half length wise. After I cut them I thought I should have left it whole and cut thick slices and then hallowed out the middle of them. Then they would stand up and be cute little zucchini rings. That would have been fun.





















I decided to use Italian sausage to stuff the zucchini.

















And tomato paste.
















Instant brown rice and equal parts water

















Sauteed onions and a green pepper (not shown)
















Mix, mix, mix.















Fill the cut zucchini with sausage mixture


















Bake covered 375 30-45 minutes. Till sausage is cooked and zucchini is soft.


Next time I'll probably oil, salt and pepper the zucchini before filling them.
Yum!

Stuffed French Toast

These have become a tradition at our house for Christmas.

I buy premade crescent rolls, or leftover ones I've made from those tubes. I cut a slit down the middle of one side, not cutting all the way through.


Then I spread softened cream cheese In there. Nice and thick! I've used flavored whipped cream cheese like you put on bagels. I've used softened cream cheese mixed with a bit of powdered sugar. Just depends on what mood I'm in and what I have on hand.


Next, I dip the stuffed crescent rolls in french toast batter and put them on the griddle. When I make french toast batter I usually just put an egg or two in a bowl and beat it then add some cinnamon, nutmeg if I'm feeling like nutmeg that day (it's not my favorite) and milk to thin it out. Sometimes I add brown sugar or 100% pure maple syrup.

Yum! I like them with 100% maple syrup, powdered sugar, or buttermilk syrup.

Chalk Festival

We went to the chalk art festival in Salt Lake last Friday. We decided to ride Trax. Isaac loves trains and we thought it would be fun. Plus parking was a nightmare up at the Gateway.

Here we are on the train. Ethan was sitting next to me.


























The awesome art!

Fathers Day Video from The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints

Happy Anniversary, TJ

Today is TJ and my anniversary. We have been married for 10 years! We have experienced many things together in these 10 years that we've been married (and 12 9 months together). We've had ups and downs, good times and bad. I am very grateful that all these experiences have been with him, he truly is my best friend. The things we've experience have just brought us closer.

Thank you for everything, TJ! I love you!

Terrible Fatal Accident

This accident happened on Sunday morning near Payson, Utah. A baby was sitting on the lap of it's mother and was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene. This is such a sad thing to happen, but I think we can learn from the mistake these parents made.

It helps me remember why I insist on using car seats. I am a stubborn car seat user. I remember when I first had Audrey and people (my parents and grandparents mostly) complained about me strapping her in her car seat so tightly. My grandparents would say things like "We never put our kids in car seats and they are just fine". But I didn't budge. I know how important it is to use car seats, no matter what. Even if your baby is screaming, don't hold them while in a moving vehicle! A baby won't die from screaming in a car seat, but they could die if you get in an accident and they are on your lap.

Using a car seat isn't always enough though. For a car seat to be effective, it must be installed correctly. Car seats come with instruction manuals with all the information to install and use the car seat correctly. Here are some car seat safety tips:

1. Buy the right car seat for your child's size and age
   
2. Read the manual before installing the seat
3. Infants 0-12 months and smaller than 20lbs MUST be rear facing. Some safety experts recommend keeping babies rear facing till 35lbs. http://www.childrestraintsafety.com/rear-facing.html
   
4. Make sure the harness is buckled snugly around your child. Keep the straps over your child's shoulder. The harness should be adjusted so you can slip only one finger underneath the straps at your child's chest.
   
5. Place the chest clip at armpit level. I see a lot of babies with the chest clip down by their stomach.
   

Here are some car seat references:

• http://www.parents.com/baby/gear/car-seats/6-car-seat-safety-tips/
• http://www.aap.org/family/Carseatguide.htm
• http://www2.nsc.org/traf/sbc/sbcchild.htm
• http://www.iihs.org/laws/ChildRestraint.aspx

Protect your most precious cargo and put your child in a car seat!

So Bad at Blogging

I started this post earlier this year. Thought I might as well post it.

I have been so horrible at blogging for the last little while. I've had a lot going on in my head. We had a busy time from about October on. Sometimes when there is a lot going on I can't seem to function. When there is so much to do, sometimes I do nothing. It seems like when I have a big event coming up, it is hard to focus on anything else other than that event. It occupies my mind to where I can't really think about anything else.

Audrey was baptized on January 3rd. It was nice. She's been excited about getting baptized for a long time. I think she started talking about it when she was about 3 years old. I can't believe she is already 8.

Isaac turned 1 year old. I already posted about that, but he just amazes me and wears me out! He is constantly climbing! Right now as I type he is standing on his toy drumb and reaching things up on the higher shelves of the entertainment center. Nothing is safe! He has started to pull the chairs out from under the table and climb up on them and then onto the table. He has a ride on tractor he got for his birthday. This had to be taken away because he used it as a step stool to reach things on the counter in the kitchen. He pushes it into the kitchen, stands up on it, and pulls whatever he can off the counter. It's cute though, when he stands up on it, he raises his hands above his head and makes a sound like "yay". As if to say, "Tadum! Look at me!" He loves to throw things and can throw far. He was throwing things at Audrey in the tub the other night and almost hit her in the head. It hit the wall around the tub and made a loud "thud", you could tell it was a hard throw. That would have hurt had it hit her. He loves going outside. We took him out when it was warm on Saturday. He was climbing up on the swing set and walking all over the yard picking things up and throwing them. Whenever I go to secure something he's getting into he goes and starts getting into something else.

TJ and I will have been married for 10 years this April. I can't believe how fast the time goes by. We dated for about 2 and 9 months before we got married. We have been together for over 12 years! For our 10th anniversary we decided to go on a cruise. This was quite a big thing for both of us. It was the first time I would fly. I am almost 30 years old and I've never flown! I know, I can hardly believe it myself. I was always so terrified about it. My sister came to stay with the kids so they could still go to school while we were gone. I was worried about leaving them, especially Isaac. I wondered when he would decide I was never coming back.

We left on our trip on January 31 at 4:15AM. We drove to Diamond Parking and boarded a shuttle to take us to the airport. It was pretty empty so early in the morning. Our plane was to leave at 8:15. We were at the airport at about 6:00am. After arriving at the terminal I layed my head on TJ's lap and took a nap. At 7:45 they started boarding the plane. I was so nervous. I was a little surprised at how un-scary it really was. I was calm and even decided to look out the window. The plane made a circle north over the Great Salt Lake and then flew east over the Salt Lake valley and the Wasatch Mountains. I loved looking at the mountains from this vantage point. They were so pretty all covered in snow. I looked out the window most of the time we were in the air. It turned from snow covered mountains, to snow covered hills, to snowy plains, then green plains.

We arrived at the Dallas airport and had to sit on the runway and wait for another plane. As we are waiting TJ and I realize how close we are to needing to board our connecting flight to Miami. The time is ticking away and all we can do is sit and wait. We finally go to the terminal and get off the plane. We had to run to the other terminal. We were the last ones to board the flight to Miami. They were almost ready to give away our seats to some standby passengers.

We flew over the ocean for most of our flight. It was so pretty and blue. It almost looked like we were upside down and the water was the sky. Miami airport was so crowded. After we got our luggage we weren't sure where to catch the shuttle to the hotel. We finally asked someone and found out we had to go up one level. We went up and just as we got up there, there was a shuttle just getting ready to leave. We got on it and headed to our hotel. The hotel was nice. After getting settled in we went to the restaraunt that was in the connecting hotel. On the menu in the lobby there was normal food like sandwhiches and hamburgers. When we got the restaurant the menu was a whole lot fancier and a whole lot more expensive than we expected. TJ and I considered leaving or something. We decided to go ahead and eat. TJ got some salmon and I got some shrimp and black bean salsa.

After dinner we just went back to our room and watched TV then went to bed. The next day we left the hotel on a shuttle to the Miami Port around 1:00pm. We arrived at the port and started the process of boarding the ship. After boarding the ship, we went to our room and got settled. Then we went to find the Windjammer Cafe', the buffet restaurant on the ship. We got some food and found a place to sit down by the windows. It was really busy and hard to find a seat. I really wanted to sit by the windows so we could see the ocean while we ate. There was so much food, all different kinds. I can't even really remember what I ate. After we ate, we went back to our room to get our life jackets for the safety drill. It was kind of funny to see everyone in their life jackets. There are muster stations where everyone from a certain area gather. They make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be and then the drill is over. It took awhile to get back to the room to put our life jackets back in the closet. After putting our life jackets back, we went to the top deck to watch us leave port. We were the 5th ship out. There were 2 Carnival ships and 2 Princess ships.

I can't even really remember what else we did that day. I kept a journal though, so when I post pictures I'll write about it later. I remember we went to a show in the theater. There is a 3 story theater on the ship. It was amazing. We had eaten lunch so late that we weren't hungry at our main seating dinner time. We decided to eat later at the buffet.

On our cruise we spent a lot of time in the hot tub. We tried to go to all the shows. There was an ice skating show. Can you believe an ice skating rink on a cruise ship? It was pretty cool. The skaters were great and I was amazed because it was a pretty rocky night that night. The waters were rough.

The food was good. We tried many different desserts every night. There is a pizza place on the promenade that was really good. One of the waiters there would come and ask if we wanted anything else. We would tell him we were fine and didn't want anything. He would come back a few minutes later with more pizza or dessert for us. It was funny.

All the employees on the ship were really nice. They were always concerned if you had everything you needed and if they could do anything for you. The ship was really big. We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring.