Joy!

Honestly, where does time go? I must be getting old (wink, wink)! It only seems like last week I posted, but the date says August 31! Oh well, I could give you tons of excuses, like building a garage, having a new grandbaby, participating in a couple of craft fairs, putting a daughter in college and running a business, but I won't go there.

Instead, I wanted to tell you I broke out my joy earrings! Now I got these earrings about 20 years ago, from avon, and I love them. They are gold and have a big bow, and 3 bell shapes hanging below it with the letters, J, O, Y! They make me happy when I wear them! Little kids love them too! So yesterday I wore them to church! It must be holiday time!

This year we are drawing names to do for Christmas! Seems strange, because I basically have my 7 grandkids and Gene and my drawn name to buy for. Chelsea is heading to Pocatello after Christmas, so hers will be moving her down there for school.

Instead, I am going to concentrate on Christmas goodies! I have been searching for yummy recipes all over and I have found quite a few. Today I am going to a couple from my cousin's daughter, Rebecca Olsen Vest. She shared these recipes on her blog http://barryandrebecca.blogspot.com/ (which is a really cute blog, by the way)! I hope she doesn't mind me sharing! The pictures alone made my mouth water and I must admit that I am stopping at the store on the way home to pick up rolos and pretzels to try those out! So enjoy!



Oreo Balls

1 package Oreos
1 pkg cream cheese, warm or room temp
Semi-sweet chocolate (baking bar or chips)
White chocolate (baking bar or chips)
1 large ziplock bag
1 small ziplock bag

Place wax paper on jelly roll pan (baking sheet with sides).

In a large bag, crush most of the oreos. Pour into large mixing bowl. Mix in cream cheese.

Melt chocolate in separate bowls, using the microwave or double boilera technique. For microwave, place chocoalte into bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave for 15 seconds. Stir, Repeat 15 seconds and stir until chocolate is smooth and melted.

Form a small ball and dip in semi-sweet chocolate, using a spoon, and set on wax paper. You can also dip in the white chocolate and then drizzle with the semi-sweet chocolate.

Pour white chocolate in small ziplock bag to be used as drizzle. Cut small hole in one corner of bag and drizzle the white chocolate over dipped balls.

Let cool. To speed up cooling time, place in refrigerator to set chocolate.




Rolo Turtles

Pretzels, mini or square
Rolos
Pecans, Whole (almonds or Cashews work too_

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Place the pretzels on the cookie sheet and top with one Rolo each. Bake for three minutes (not any longer or you'll have a mess). Let cool!

Off to find more recipes! Wait til you see what I have for tomorrow!

Chris

tick...tock....tick.....tock......

How did I miss July and almost August? I tell you, sometimes I don't know where the time goes! I must be getting old! So here is the quick version! We went camping on the 4th of July in Teton Valley and went to the Glen Beck show, and watched the fireworks and it was wonderful! I slaved in the yard and the garden, which has struggled because of the weather, then got drowned by raspberries! I canned lots of jam! Then my baby, Chelsea (or Chelser-selzer as I call her sometimes) turned 18. Also, Chelsea decided she needed a new car and wouldn't let the subject alone. In the end she bought a Honda Civic (2001) for $3200, a pretty good deal, but then after we put it on the insurance and paid for the license and sales tax, the computer malfunctioned and 2 weeks and $400 later, it was running again! But it really is a cute car and her sister-in-law, Christy, made her the cutest Fox sticker for the back window. My dad also had a bout with pnuemonia, again, and gave us a scare! But he is okay now. August brought the Finn Family reunion, which was lots of fun, even with the gail force wind that roared in on Friday night, followed by buckets of rain! We ended up in the trailer, watching The Time Travelers Wife on the computer. But the rest of the weekend was great! Then back to the yard and garden, where I have onions and peppers and my beans are finally blossoming! Last week, Chelsea started her first day of college at ISU-IF campus, my brother Sean went into the hospital with kidney failure (type 1 diabetes), Bailey (our granddaughter) turned 6, I had a pack meeting at my house where I let 8 and 9 year old boys start a fire ( and put it out), and my hubby had another birthday on Sunday. Everyone came and we celebrated Gene and Bailey's birthday together ( I baked a chocolate and carrot cake) and made homemade pizza! This week is a little quieter and I am learning to be an empty-nester. Not liking it yet, but learning to adapt. I am currently crocheting like a madwoman, making hotpads for a craft fair I am doing with my daughter in law in November. Oh and did I mention we are getting a grandbaby in November? Number 7.

So there you have it! Two months on the fly! I am in the flow again, so I should be here on a more regular basis. Matter of fact I am working on some cute stuff I want to share with you! I am really excited! And I get to go to a crop with Express the Moment at the end of September! That always gets my creative juices flowing!

Chris!

From time to time......

I like to share recipes! I love to find new recipes! Yesterday we had dinner for the entire family for Father's Day! It was nice! I made ribs and chicken drumsticks, in a special rub, slow cooked in the oven and smothered in barbeque sauce. Then of course we had to have corn on the cob and baked beans with it! And dinner wouldn't be the same without Tiffany's potato salad! To top it off I tried a new recipe from Betty Crocker (http://www.bettycrocker.com/?WT.dcsvid=MjA5NjQ1OTEyMwS2&rvrin=C28C686C-0A83-DC11-920E-00110A5B41E6&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_BC_06_17_2010_Non-GmailYahooControl) for dessert, Key Lime Poke Cake! Can I say it was soooo easy and sooooo good? It was!

Here is the recipe:

Cake
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 eggs

Key Lime Filling
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
4 drops yellow food color
1 drop green food color

Frosting
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
2 teaspoons grated lime peel

Garnish, If Desired
Fresh strawberries
Key lime slices
Lemon leaves
1. Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal or glass pan (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. With handle of wooden spoon (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter), poke holes almost to bottom of cake every 1/2 inch, wiping spoon handle occasionally to reduce sticking.
4. In medium bowl, stir together filling ingredients (mixture will thicken). Pour over cake; spread evenly over surface, working back and forth to fill holes. (Some filling should remain on top of cake.) Refrigerate 1 hour.
5. Spread frosting over cake; sprinkle with lime peel. Garnish with strawberries, lime slices and lemon leaves. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.



The only thing I did different was instead of the frosting, we topped it with Cool Whip! Let me say again, it is super yummy!

Have a yummy day!

Chris

Some days.......

Okay, so I am sooooooo slow, but I actually went to a crop last month, Express the Moment's to be exact, and I got some layouts done! I have been in a serious freeze this past year, where I have convinced myself that I will never make perfect, publishworthy layouts and so I don't even try! But slowly, in the past few weeks, I have begun to feel a thaw. Okay, so I will never be a trendsetter, or an award winning designer! The important thing is to record history for my family! So that someday they won't be facing an entire dresser of photos (yes my mom left behind an entire dresser, stuffed) with no idea who, what, when, where, or why! So you will have to put up with my mediocre attempts at our family history because it is important that I get it done!

Here are a couple of entries for 2009! This was Chelsea's senior picture, that she put in her yearbook. I took the pictures for her, in our corn patch. Then she took the one she liked best and played with it in photoshop until she got this black and white photo with the guitar in color! I love it! We make a good team!
Last fall the colors were so awesome! The pictures on the left page are from my yard. We had all kinds of yellows and oranges! Then the right page shows our resident turkey herd, across the dry bed from our place! The warm sun drew them out that day! I have such fun photographing them! They are a hoot! Anyways, I loved this paper and so the page just fell together! I also loved the title of the page and the play on words: this perfect {fall} day! The play is that is can read this {fall} or perfect day! or this perfect day! or this {fall} day or {fall} day, they all fit!

I am also trying to get back to using my food storage in my menu! I kind of get out of the habit and use alot of fast food when we are in tax season. Anyways, last night I made honey mustard porkchops (mix 1 C honey and 3 Tbl mustard, glaze porkchops and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours) and cornbread (I shared the recipe last year, uses powdered eggs and powdered buttermilk and it is awesome) and the vegetable was frozen carrots I made from our garden last fall! It was all so yummy! So easy too!

Hope you have a productive day!

Chris

Let Me Introduce myself.......

Okay, so you thought I went away, huh? I know, I have not been a good blogger at all! Life just gets in the way sometimes, you know? Anyways, it was the usual suspects: first tax season that gets longer each year. Then, because life gets boring, we decided that 6 days after tax season ended, we needed to go to Denver with 160 high school orchestra, band and choir students! This is Chelsea's senior year and we decided we needed to be a chaparone at least once before we became empty nesters! It was a lot of fun, but I tell you what, they kept us running (and I do mean literally!) So in pictures, because they say it so much better, here is what the last month looked like!
Recognise the skyline? Only Denver looks like this! This was taken from the parking lot of the Denver Aquarium! Cool place! Some of the other places we went were Buffalo Bills grave (up a long and winding road!), Red Rock ampitheatre (takes your breath away literally!), The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (interesting experience), the 16th Street Mall (electric busses) and Elitch Gardens and Theme park (just an observer) We were rained on, blown around and even got snowed in an extra night! But the kids were so totally awesome!

This is part of the orchestra kids after they received their 1st place trophy! This is the tenth year Rigby has placed 1st at a competition!

This was the last night of the trip and this was the first picture we got to take of Chelsea! The only time we saw her was on the busses.

I was totally exhausted when I got home, but I must say it was a trip I will never forget!

We came back to Chelsea's graduation preparations! I forgot how much goes into that! Where have the 17 years gone?

17 years ago this was Chelsea at about 3 weeks old, on Charlie Girl's back! I think this started her love affair with animals! If I had a dime for every picture I have of Chelsea holding a kitten, a puppy, or even a raccoon, I would be a millionaire!

14 years ago, this was my oldest daughter, Tiffany's graduation day! I had made her that dress, and she was getting ready for the ceremony (see her cap and gown on the cedar chest) and she and Chelsea were dancing around the family room and I snapped this picture! This has become one of those pictures you wear in your heart and this is how I like to think of my girls!

Now here is my rennaisance girl, in one of her senior pics! I took the picture and she photoshopped it to turn it into this black and white with her guitar. That is the real color of her electric guitar.

This is one of my favorite pics of Chelsea, taken my her friend M'Lynn, last fall. Sometimes she wears her goofy spirit on her face, and I love it!

This is another that M'lyn took! This is in the drybed of the Snake River, that runs behind our house! Again it caught that spunk that is only Chelsea!

This is that picture we finally settled on for her graduation announcements. She and I snuck out onto the train bridge at the Jefferson/Madison county line and took these pics last fall!

On next Wednesday, at 2:00 pm, at the Hart Auditorium, my baby will graduate from high school with high honors! She is accepted to ISU this fall, where she is studying Radiographic Science, to become an ultrasound technician.

Today was her first day out of school. She came to work with me, played on her brand new laptop, then we went shopping and ended up at Red Robin's for lunch! It was a wonderful afternoon, spending grown-up time with my daughter! I hope for tons more like it!

Goodnight, ya all!

Chris

Oh my..........

Bad, bad blogger! I don't have no fun these days! The past 2 weeks have been a blur, but the office is now whipped into shape, the W-2's are done, and we are rollin' doing taxes! This year is going to be interesting with new twists in the EITC rules and the Homebuyer's Credit! Already ran into a problem with that today! Oh well!

My cubscout pack had their pinewood derby last night! It was so much fun! I haven't taken any pics of my car yet, but I will tomorrow, I promise, and then post them! It is pink and says "It's a girl thing" on it! My boys loved it! I had six boys and more parents than I have ever seen there last night! It was awesome! I learned so much and know what I will and won't do next year (if I am still in the job), but the important thing is that the boys loved it and had a blast! Conner and Bailey came too and they had even made cars with their dad. I thought back to how derby's were always so traumatic when my boys were little. I hated them, because we never did well. Matter of fact I used that as a reason why the bishop shouldn't consider me as cubmaster, but he didn't listen! I am glad now, because even though Sister Scott's pink bomb looked great, it came in lastand I was thrilled! I told them I was going for style, not substance! :) Everyone loved the eyelashes on her too!

Tomorrow is the Sabbath. This time of year it truly becomes my day of rest! I love going to church, but I also love my afternoon nap! At 51 it is when I recharge my batteries for the next week!

Here's to restful reflections!

Chris

And so it begins............

Alas, it is January and Tax Season is upon us. When I was a kid, I used to hate January because that was when I didn't have parents anymore. They would dash off to do taxes and we wouldn't see them but for a few moments at night. I swore I would NEVER be a tax accountant when I grew up.

When I was about 23 I was a stay at home mom with 3 kids 3 and under and needed to make money that didn't mean I needed a babysitter. Mom and dad invited Gene and I to come do tax returns through their office. So we did. I didn't want my kids being raised by babysitters, so we traded nights doing taxes. Gene went out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I did them Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then we hired a babysitter on Saturday. And we have stuck to this for 31 years of raising kids! Now Chelsea is 17, but we still do it, so one of us is home every night!

I found out I was pretty good at doing taxes! I enjoyed helping people keep from paying so much to the IRS, especially when the laws were there to help them keep from doing that! So it began. For 16 years we worked for them. We got our first computer in 1984 and it was my job to learn to run it! It was a dual floppy, 5 1/2 inch, drive. By 1990 we were up to a 80 MB hard drive and I didn't think we would ever ever fill that! I spent most of my time keying in everyone else's returns that had been entered on data sheets.

In 1999 my mom was forced into retirement by MS and Gene and I bought the business from my parents. We also made the leap to actually doing the returns right on the computer, minus the data sheets. This was such a leap! At first Gene and I shared a laptop ( for about 3 years) and then we bought a new one. Now Gene and I can be found most nights playing away or working on our own individual laptops!

This year marks the 28th year we have been preparing taxes! I can't believe it! I found out that I actually do like doing taxes, although I don't always like the hours doing it! We are kind of like farmers. It is feast or famine. We have to "make Hay" while the sunshines, in other words, when we are in tax season it is long days and sometimes long nights. But the plus side is that when tax season is over, my time is mine to do with what I want, like play in my garden, scrapbook, camp, or whatever! Besides, it helps the winters go faster and since I am not a fan of winter, that is okay with me!

So if you live in Southeastern Idaho and need a good accountant, I can do that!

Chris

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Took the last 6 weeks off for family and Christmas, but I am back! I needed a break and hope you all had a wonderful Holiday! I will be posting about it over the next few weeks?

What are you doing today? We invited all our family who wants to come for Prime Rib, garlic mashed red potatoes and tons of steamed broccoli! Yum! It is snowing and is gorgeous! We now have 3 4-wheelers so that is what we will be playing with today! Grandpa has a huge sled we hook up behind one and we can pull all the grandkids in it! I can't wait!

Hope you have a great day and see you tomorrow!

Chris