dog allergies

No, none of us are allergic to Maggie. I think she must be allergic to herself. Or maybe she ate a cat or something.



She came in from outside and just couldn't stop sneezing. She sneezed for about 20-30 minutes! It was quite humorous!



Yes, Livia did fall to the floor and bonk her head and she cried. For a long time.

birthday girl

I can't believe my baby is ONE today!



Happy Birthday sweet Livia!

bloomin' roses

I am not exactly the lady next door with a green thumb. Last spring we planted a few rose bushes in our yard... I honestly didn't think I would ever see any roses that weren't already on the bush when we planted them.
But I was wrong!
And I am so surprised at just how wrong I was!
I wouldn't call this a flourishing rose bush.... but it's definitely not DEAD!

Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

When my friend, Karie, saw that I had a bread machine, she sent me this fabulous recipe for caramel cinnamon rolls. The machine mixes the dough up for you so you just set it on the dough setting and it's nice and easy! Well, I gave 'em a try... and they passed my test! So I thought I would share what she so nicely shared!

Caramel Cinnamon Rolls:

Dough:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees f)
1 egg
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons instant powdered milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon instant yeast


Caramel:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup brown sugar

Filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened (for spreading)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions
1. Place water, egg, bread flour, white sugar, powdered milk, salt, 5 tablespoons butter and yeast in bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select DOUGH setting, and turn machine on.
2. Meanwhile; in a small saucepan, melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and ice cream; bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes. Pour caramel into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees c)
4. When machine has finished cycling remove dough from pan and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rectangle. Spread with softened butter and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Crumble 1/2 cup brown sugar over the top. Roll up, and seal edge. Cut into 12 rolls, and place in prepared pan of caramel. allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees c) for approximately 20 to 25, until golden brown.

An easy way to grease a pan is by using a plastic sandwich bag. Put your hand through and wipe the crisco on the pan, then throw away the baggie.










I learned from another friend that an easy way to cut the rolls is to use dental floss. Just place it under the big roll to where you want it cut, and cross the floss on top and pull tight until it cuts through. ( You don't have to tie the floss.)




And drum roll please...

Mmmmm, they were delicious! Thanks Karie!

Go BYU! Get me some sales!

So I wouldn't call myself a true blue BYU football fan. Even when I attended BYU, I never paid much attention to them. (Please don't hate me, it's just not my sport!)
But I will admit I was really rooting them on yesterday! I am glad they made a few touchdowns in the first half because....


Yes, you're right, that's steak. A nice juicy New York steak!

What does this have to do with BYU football, you ask? This:


I didn't know this until yesterday, and maybe this was a special thing for just yesterday, but Ream's had a great sale for every touchdown that BYU made. The sale was a very limited stock, so you had to be fast!
After their second touchdown was where the steaks come in. Regularly they are priced at $8.99/lb. But because I was so fast.... I got my 14 steaks (3 pkgs.) for $3.99/lb! And let me tell ya... they were delish! (We grilled up a couple last night.)

Mmmm Mmmm! Go Cougars!

Happy Belated Labor Day to Me

On Labor Day, we had a great idea... let's grill some steaks! (Very original for Labor Day, I know!) Well, we had that thought a little too late. We wanted our steaks defrosted and marinated and it was already 3 pm. So, we decided to have our steaks on Tuesday night. On Tuesday around noon, I made up some marinade and started the tantalizing soak. When Jason got home from work, he went out to start the grill.

He tried. And he tried. And he tried. Nothing. Nothing but a dinky little flame that couldn't even roast a marshmallow.

We hoped to have better luck on Wednesday night.
We didn't.

This grill has been doing this to us since we got it. The neighbors who it was purchased from (by my parents) didn't take very good care of it. It has never been reliable enough to have a BBQ party with people, because we never knew if it would start.
Frankly, I hate the thing!
And our steaks were still marinating!
So, I put my foot down and said we were buying a new grill.
I did a little internet research and found my grill!

Isn't she a beauty! She can cook up to 24 burgers at one time! But more importantly... she can cook 2 steaks that have been marinating for a good and long time!

Here's a few more of her first photo shoot:


Well, if you must know the steaks turned out absolutely fabulous. Jason even thought they were better than the steaks he had recently at TX Roadhouse and Ruby Tuesday. (He grilled them so he wasn't just trying to flatter me.)

Here is the yummy marinade recipe for those who want to copy us.

Steak Marinade

1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs cider vinegar
2 Tbs wine or water
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Marinate for 6 hours. (Or 54 hours if you want to be like me.)

FHE treat

Last Christmas Leesa gave me a plate for the treat for Family Home Evening. But I always seem to forget to put the treat on this plate! But this is what it says:

This is the night
we've waited for;
Always a TREAT
we have in store!

We love each other
More and more with every
FAMILY NIGHT!

We have a treat almost every Monday night, but last night was especially yummy, so I'll share! Mmmmm!

Is your mouth watering yet? (That's ice cream and cookies.)
Delish!

Jason to the Rescue!

Yesterday we had our monthly Cook Family Party at Deer Creek Reservoir. Jason's brother had rented a boat and some jet skis... the perfect recipe for lots of fun! And we did have fun! We probably would have had more fun for a little longer had the weather cooperated though! When a little storm picked up, we packed up! (But we all wanted to get back in time for the BYU game anyway....) It started sprinkling and the wind was really picking up... not to mention we didn't see much of the sun until we were on the road home!
Poor Livia, her unprepared mother didn't even bring her any pants! So she waited for us to pack up in Grandpa and Grandma's car.

I told Grandpa she was there, but not Grandma... imagine her surprise when she opened the door! Hello!

We did have a little adventure out on the lake. A bunch of us were out on the boat, having fun doing some tubing... and of course all the little boys, Sam, Josh (3) and Andrew (almost 3) wanted a turn too! They loved it! Well, they did the first ride. The second... didn't create the best memories for them. My bro-in-law, Brian and I were on the tube with the three little boys. We started moving nice and slow, but all of a sudden I realized that the front of the tube was being covered with water and starting to sink! Josh was in the middle and started falling over the front, but before he went under the tube, Brian was able to grab him and with Jason's help pull him up on top again. Sam was to Josh's right, and I was right behind Sam. As the water started coming over the top, Sam let go of the handle as it went deeper into the water. My handle was sinking fast too as I let go of it to grab onto Sam. I attempted to grab Josh, but went overboard with Sam before I was any help to Josh. The people on the boat were facing the other direction right when it happened. Then Jason turned to see us in the water, and with lightning speed he dropped his life jacket and dove into the water! (Cindy rated his dive a perfect 10.) In the meantime, I found myself under water with a little 3 year old trying to cling to me in fear. We were both wearing life jackets, so as I tried to surface I was trying to make sure his head was above water. The water was so cold! And since I am not such an awesome swimmer... I wasn't moving too fast to get back to the tube which was now about 15 feet away or so. After Jason's amazing dive, he helped Brian get Josh onto the tube and continued on to rescue Sam and me. I was trying to keep Sam calm since he was really scared. I saw that Jason was coming and told Sam that daddy was coming to save us. Jason got to me pretty fast and took Sam from me and we swam back to the tube and then got back on the boat and got some towels around us. (Keep in mind there was no sun and a storm was just beginning.... we were all very cold.)
Since we were wearing life jackets, I never felt that our lives were in danger, but it was still a scary experience for us... especially Sam. I am lucky to have a husband that didn't need to think twice about jumping into a very cold lake to help us. That was yet another confirmation that he would do anything to protect me and our children.
Earlier that day, he felt a prompting that if anything were to go wrong at the lake, that he needed to just act and not think about it. I'm grateful that I have a husband who not only receives promptings, but acts on them.
He is, and always will be, my own personal hero.

cheese!

Lately Livia has been giving us this silly grin every once in a while. I love it. Especially because she has the funniest set of teeth! It makes me laugh out loud every time she does it! My camera battery was almost dead, so the picture didn't take when I wanted it to, so I didn't quite capture the perfect moment, but this one is a close second, since it makes me laugh too!


Sam has a smile that melts my heart too. He's so sweet.

DI bargains make me happy

I've mentioned before my love for the DI. I love seeing what kinds of bargains they have when I have a chance to go to one.
Last week, Jason and I were making a list of a few things we would like to purchase soon. One of those items was a bread machine. I thought I would start price checking, since we didn't want to spend too much on one.
Last Monday, I was at a friend's house and she mentioned that she bought her bread machine at the DI. So I thought I would check there first!
They had about 4 or 5 of them, ranging in price from $5-$10. Since that was way less than I anticipated spending, I splurged and went with the $10 one, since it looked nicer, had a bigger loaf pan, was a brand I had heard of, and came with the instruction manual! I think it is a pretty good deal! Now I just need to make sure it works! (I need to figure out if I have some dry milk downstairs or if I need to go buy some first.)

Right after I picked out my bread machine, I saw a couple of electric woks for $5 each. My mom has a red wok that she used all the time while I was growing up, so I was really excited to see they had exactly the same one she has. But the red one didn't have the cord with it. But the other one did! (I think I already have the right cord, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't want to take my chances. Tan is nice too though. But I would have preferred the red....)


I'm very excited to use my new purchases. I love the DI!

Yumminess on a plate

Smothered Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 Tbs vegetable oil
8 bacon strips
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C shredded Colby-Jack cheese

Sprinkle chicken with salt and lemon pepper. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil for 13-15 minutes or until juices run clear; remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon to paper towels; drain, reserving 2 Tbs drippings. In the drippings, saute the onion and brown sugar until onion is golden. Place two bacon strips on each chicken breast; top with caramelized onion and cheese.