Christmas Day!

Kids' grades

Kids' concerts

Ward Christmas party

Oct. hike with Dad and the kids

New Years Eve!

Jileigh ready for the New Years Eve Dance

Back of Jileigh's hair that I styled for her

Talon ready for the New Years Eve Dance

H family Christmas dinner

Thanksgiving with my mom and family

We went to my Mom's for Thanksgiving this year.
Wednesday night we arrived at 5:45pm and then I turned around and we to meet up with my GirlFriends! We went to dinner and caught up with each other's lives.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. We had dinner at Jeanette's house.
Friday morning we slept in and then went shopping. We found just what we needed without having to get up early this year. We had lunch a J's and then we made dinner at my mom's. Matt and I made our chili rellenos and I also helped my mom put together a taco bar.
We left Saturday morning so we could get back in time for Jileigh to get to her friend's (Sarah) birthday party.
I really don't travel long distances very well. By then end, most of us felt like our stomachs were turning. My #5 child was the only one to throw up on the way home.

Stitches time

This must be stitches season.

Safia was holding a glass jar when it slipped out of her hands. It shattered and a piece flew into her arm. We had to run her up to the IHC clinic and she had stitches put in it.

December 9 Beau was in the laundry room wanting a dry erase marker. He climbed up on the Laundry room counter and reached across for the marker on the opposite wall above the dry erase board. He slipped and fell hitting his mouth on the rim of the dry erase board and sliced open his mouth. He ended up with 2 internal stitches and 6 stitches on the outside surfaces of his lip. It looks pretty bad and he looks pretty sad.We were able to get' Matt's cousin Dr. Dave to do the stitches. He was careful to realign the lip line. Beau was such a good boy to hold still to get stitched up. 

Update/summary on my ankle

I was in a boot for 6 weeks, then in a cast for 3 weeks. Those x-rays showed that my ankle was 3/4 healed so surgery was not needed. I didn't want my cast off yet, but the doctor insisted it was time. I still couldn't put any weight on it for 2 more weeks and I wore the boot again. Then I could finally put some weight on it again. I bought an awesome ankle brace at Walgreens. It looks like a courset for the foot and ankle with hard plastic down the sides. I still wear it and I will for a long time. I still walk with a limp, but I am trying to consciously not limp and get my whole foot use to having weight on it again. Speaking of weight, I've put about 10 pounds back on. bleh! But I am hoping in the spring and will be able to get back to excercising again.

Halloween 2012

Safia-pioneer, Jaren-Dracula, Beau-spider man, Elody-Blue

Talon and his web

With being injured, I haven't been up being everything a mom should be. In fact I only ended up getting pictures of my younger kids.

We are boring. We stay home, make dinner and watch a movie. Talon made this web with caution tape left over from eagle project so people wouldn't come down our driveway. Pretty clever of him if I say so myself!

http://amysrealfood.blogspot.com/

I have started, well, restarted posting my food and such to a second blog: http://amysrealfood.blogspot.com/

I want to keep this blog to the happening of my kids and the other one to the fun and yummy foods/meals I make.

End of 1st quarter for my High School kids

Talon at his 9th grade 1st quarter choir concert

Jileigh at her 10th grade 1st quarter choir concert

Jileigh and Talon's choir concerts once again! Angelique had her orchestra concert too, but we forgot the camera. My Bad.

Fabulous News!!! Jileigh and Talon BOTH earned straight As for their first quarter!!!!
(Angelique's trimester ends Nov. 9th.)

Jileigh's Grades
Spanish 1  101
Fitness For Life (PE)  97
Chorus  100
Secondary Math 2 Honors  98.16
Health II  95
Human Biology  98.7
Language Arts 10 Honors  101
Seminary (grade not received yet)

Talon's Grades
Language Arts 9  95
Physical Skills (PE)  99
Computer Technology  97
Secondary Math 1  101
Spanish 1  95
Chorus  100
Earth Systems  94

Crazy story: 2 days before the end of the quarter, Talon had a 63% in Earth Systems. Not Cool!  He didn't even know that the list of missing assignments were. So I had a neighbor drive me down to the school and wait for me to talk to Talon's teacher. He handed me 4 assignments, 3 of them Talon hadn't even seen yet and only 2 were listed on Power School. Then he got back another assignment that he hadn't finished that he could finish up. So I spent the next two days after schools helping him stay focused on get these assignments completed, which he did. Then, the last day of school for the quarter, he handed them all in. Then I saw on Power School that this teacher added yet another assignment that Talon didn't know anything about. They were 12 words that had to be unscrambled and then used as vocabulary words to fill in next to a list of definitions. Seriously?! So I, being a very concerned Mother, went to Unscramble.com and quickly figured out the words and TEXTED them to my son! How bad am I!!!  I left a message with the school for Talon to call me, which he did, and told him to go into the bathroom, turn on his phone, and write down the words on a separate piece of paper, which he did. So then Talon went to Earth Systems class. The teacher never said a word about this assignment. So after class Talon went up to him and asked him about it. He pointed to  where they were and told him to just go get it and do it, which he did. He would have been there forever trying to figure out those words if I hadn't have helped him with them. So then that was it. He handed it in and came home. We watched Power School for the next two days as he entered in the scores. When he finished, Talon had an 88%. Ah, Really?! We were a bit bummed. Then we checked it again just for fun Sunday evening. 94%!!!  He gave Talon an extra 50 bonus points for not being Tardy or having used any Hall Passes. Grades were lock! He received straight As!!! What a crazy crazy week! This teacher has to be watched and communicated with!

Sad news for me :(

Yesterday I went in for a 6 week follow-up x-ray of my ankle.  This morning I got an email from my doctor that the x-rays showed "non-union" or in other words failure to heal.  He consulted a orthopedic surgeon and he recommend that I have a cast put on it as soon as possible and then have another follow up x-ray in another 3 weeks. If there still isn't any signs of healing, then surgery.  This made me very sad indeed. I have liked having the freedom of being able to sleep and shower without the boot on. On the other hand, maybe this is what my ankle needs to heal. So then I called my mom. She said that it just dawned on her that comfrey is very helpful with healing bones. I called the lady that we get our milk from and asked her if she has any comfrey. She said she had a small plant and she brought two leaves over to me. I put half of one on my ankle, wrapped some plastic wrap around it and then put my ace bandage over that and put my boot back on. Then a short while later, she came back with a friend and this friend of her bought me a little container of comfrey salve. That was so incredible of this woman who doesn't even know me to do such a service for me. Now I'm not sure if I should go through with a cast or not. I won't have access to my ankle to put the comfrey salve on it after next Tuesday.  Hmmmm.....

 Today Matt took the day off and took the kids up to Zion's for a day hike. They were gone from 11am to 8:30pm. I managed to get dinner in the crock pot, fold a bunch of laundry and push through a few load in the washer and dryer and make bread. They were happy to come home to a yummy hot dinner and warm bread.  Pictures to come in the next post.

Stuffed Anaheim chilies with green tomatillo sauce

chili Rellenos 

We have Anaheim chilies growing beautifully in our garden. I searched for recipes and this is what Matt came up with and we wanted to try it. They were to die for! This is an approximation of the ingredients.

Stuffing:
cream cheese, 1 pkg
shredded cheddar cheese, about 1 1/2 cups
sour cream, 1/2 cup
season to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
cumin powder
chili powder

Anaheim chilies:
Pick fresh from the garden, wash, and grill until skin is black. Peel and removed seeds. Slice down the side. spoon in stuffing and close back up.
Roll in beaten egg. and then in homemade bread crumbs.
Place on stone or baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees until bread crumbs brown and crispy and filling just starts to bubble out.

cooked tomatillo salsa:
tomatillos, about 10
Anaheim chilies, fire roasted, peeled and seeded, about 5
1/2 onion, large diced
2 garlic cloves
salt
pepper
cumin
dash of chili powder
1 T sugar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 lime juice

Puree in a food processor, bring to a boil, remove from heat and then add  1/2 bunch cilantro.

The pond after the forest fire and pouring rains

The guys are trying to unplug the bottom of the pond so it can drain.

Angelique playing the muck

Look muck boots!

Ryan spraying off Sammy

Ben and Julie's Isaiah, Sam and Jayden

Ryan spraying off Sam

Ryan spraying off Isaiah

We went to the cabin for Matt's mom's weekend, which is her birthday weekend. I sat most of the time as I was still recovering from my broken ankle. Weeks previous there was a terrible forest fire just west of the ranch. Fortunately it was contained before it reached the family property. Then there was heavy rainfall. All the ash and debris ran down and the stream and flooded onto the property and into the pond clogging up and making a mess of it.. Matt and his brothers and brothers-in-law work a good portion of the day Friday and Saturday trying to unclog the bottom of the pond where there is a drain and clearing up the debris where the water leads into the pond. In the end, they completed what they set out to do! There still is feet of muck to clean out and the stream flowing through it is really helping.  Saturday night the guys took a break from work to cook.  Their sisters arranged a mock "chop" show. Matt and his 4 brothers each were contestants. They were given a bunch of ingredients but their dish had to include, pork chops, garbanzo beans, mushrooms, and salt and vinegar chips. Matt made a fabulous mushroom sauce to go over the pork chops and then had a salad on the side and added a few garbanzo beans and the chips. HE WON! I really thought we took pictures of it all but I can't find them in my computer. dang. We drove home Sunday morning, got home at 12 noon, all of us showered and we barely made it to church on time at 1pm! The younger children performed in the ward primary program. Matt's mom made it there too to watch them.

Happy 12th Birthday Angelique! Sept 27th

Angelique 's blowing out a random candle.

Angelique and Elody!

 

Angelique wanted a KitKat bar, Nutella, and baby pickles

Easy piano music books

Surprise! It's a fadora!

Doesn't she look fancy!

Angelique with all her brothers and sisters and all her presents.

 

Funny Elody!

We were eating muligrain waffles with mixed berries for dinner on a Sunday night in September. Jileigh caught this funny girl on camera!

Alas, the inevitable sneeking and the haircutting

After I tried to fix the damage

Being on crutches, I ask the kids to put most things away to spare me the hobbling. I asked Elody to put away a pair of scissors that were on the counter in the drawer they belong in, then turned my back. A few minutes later I saw cut hair on the ground. I look at her and freaked out! Beau had cut her hair for her! At least he didn't scalp her.  :)  The next day I bathed her and attempted to even it out. She' still my cutie-pie!

Beau's poor forehead

Beau with his first stitches. Elody wanted in too!

Today the boys were out on the trampoline after school. Talon and Jaren were on the tramp and Beau was on the outside of the net standing on the edge. From what I understand, Talon bumped into Jaren which made Jaren bump into Beau. Beau fell off and face-planted on the rocks. Gashed his head open about 3/4 of an inch. I called his doctor and we were able to get him right in and stitch him up. That was the same time that we received the x-ray results since we have the same doctor, Dr. Dave!  (I do have to say that it is one of our rules that they aren't to sit on the edge on the outside of the netting which Beau was doing. Of course, he isn't going to remember all the rules, but the other boys should have notice and told him not to be there, but they are boys! Rules, what are those?!) Elody insisted on being in the picture too. This 24 hours after his fall.