Going through my pictures

I was just going through my pictures and found this sunset I wanted to share... I took this on my drive from Arkansas to Indiana in January. Shhh... Don't tell anyone though. I probably shouldn't be driving and taking pictures at the same time...

And then these were from the return to Salt Lake from Indy...

Again - I shouldn't be taking pictures while I am driving... Shhhhhh

My camera battery had died on the way back RIGHT at St. Louis. So these are on the camera phone.

These are at one of my favorite restaraunts in the midwest. Steak and Shake...

What a goofy face... Aren't they adorable???

My First 5k

Some of you know that I started running in the fall. Well - I am a total wuss when it comes to cold. Heck - anyone who knows me would be like, "What? Monica - Run? Those 2 words don't go in the same sentence!!"

Anyway, once the weather got to below 35 or so in the mornings I stopped. I keep saying that I will start again when it's warmer. I hope that I do! I really felt stronger when I was running. I could actually catch my daughter (who is a natural born runner) when she would take off at the park. I actually had abs - not of steel... but abs none the less. Anyway - I just felt really good.

So I was thinking about my lack of motivation to get out running again. Not that I am going to be going right now. I mean come on - there is still snow and ice on the ground! But I decided that I needed something to motivate me.

I registered Scott and myself in the SLC 5k that is coming up in April. I AM SO SCARED! Even at my best I could only run down our street, around the corner and to the house that was for sale with the big flag pole. I couldn't tell you how far that is... I just know that I would try to make it to that house. And now - I am $66 committed to start running again. I just hope there aren't any April showers that day!

I don't know that I will EVER want to run a marathon - but maybe a half. I don't know. I guess anything is possible!!!

Well... anything is possible as long as Scott is pushing the jogging stroller. I will be lucky to get MY OWN sorry butt across the finish line - let alone 2 cute baby butts!!!

Amazing Fajitas

A friend of mine made Olive Garden's Zuppa something soup earlier this week and I loved it and wanted the recipe. She sent me the link to this website that has copy cat recipes.

We LOVE fajitas... and on this list was Chili's Chicken Fajitas. I have to admit, I used to make dang good fajitas - but now I make AMAZING fajitas. :) This recipe is a keeper!

Fajitas like Chili's®

1/4 cup lime juice
3 Tbls. olive oil OR vegetable oil - divided
4 cloves garlic - crushed
3 tsp. soy sauce - divided
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. boned, skinned chicken breasts OR skirt steak
2 Tbls. water
1/2 tsp. lime juice
1 dash salt
1 dash black pepper
1 lrg. Spanish onion - sliced thin
1/2 med. green bell pepper - seeded, sliced thin
1/2 med. red bell pepper - seeded, sliced thin
1/2 med. yellow bell pepper - seeded, sliced thin

-Combine 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 Tbls. oil, garlic, 2 tsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. salt, liquid smoke, cayenne pepper, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper in a sealable plastic container, add chicken/steak to container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight (preferred).
-Combine water, 1 tsp. soy sauce, 1/2 tsp. lime juice, and a dash of salt and pepper; set aside.
-Grill meat over a medium-high flame for 4-5 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
-Cut meat into thin strips; set aside and keep warm.
-In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook onion and peppers in remaining 1 Tbls. oil until brown; remove from heat; pour reserved liquid mixture over onions and peppers.
-Toss together meat, onions, and peppers.

Notes: Serve with warm tortillas, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. When I make this, I make sure to marinade at least overnight; the taste from the marinade is so good, I like to make it stronger. Also, I steam the peppers and onions rather than sauté them, as it cooks them evenly and retains their color perfectly.

I made a few changes...

• I used garlic powder - my garlic heads were moldy.
• I had the chicken cut into strips before putting it in the marinade.
• After I cooked the meat I pulled it out of the pan and left the marinade; boiled it and then added the veggies to steam in the chicken marinade as the recipe note suggests.
• I had the chicken sitting in the marinade for about 30 hours. Not on purpose. It just turned out that we didn't make them last night.
• I used a red onion cause that's what I had in the house.
• I added a lot more peppers - cause I love 'em.

Now personally - having formally been vegetarian - I would love these with just the veggies. What I love about fajitas is that I don't have to have any meat in mine if I don't want! And the husband is still happy cause he gets his carnivorous desires taken care of! :) See - everyone is happy!

If you want to link to this awesome website: http://recipes.robbiehaf.com/C/64.htm Here you go!

My tummy is full and I am going to enjoy a Sunday afternoon nap!

Gross

Ok. My kids are almost done with the coughing all over everything thing in our house and wiping their sweet, adorable noses all over my clothes. I am on a mission to de-germ our home. I have been using Lysol wipes on all the door knobs, table, counters and our banister to the basement.

The banister to the basement. This is so disgusting. I have gone over the banister 4 times now...

The first time....


The second time...


The third time...


The fourth time...

I am not sure that I would be considered a Germ-o-phobe... But I tell you what... this is grossing me out. Seriously.

I haven't ever heard this Weird Al Song.... But it's very appropriate for today's post.

Postmaster General

Remember when I told you how I tried to shovel the road so the postman can get to our mailbox?? Well - we got lots of hate letters last year from him.

This year it looks like they are going straight for the jugular....

This is what I came outside to when I got the mail.

Wet mail.

Not that I can blame the poor guy. I mean I just can't keep up with the snow and the stinking, flipping, horrible snow plows!!!!

This morning I looked out our back window and saw the sun shining and our back street neighbor's roof.

Oh what I would have given to see the people on the roof that made these tracks! I would have LOVED to gotten those pictures!

And the song for today - ya I don't know. I just wanted to hear some Culture Club....


Side bar: I am on Facebook for high school reunion purposes (yes it's true... 20 years) and one of my fellow graduates saw the pictures of yesterday's storm on there and asked how long we get off school for a storm like that. I had to laugh. Having lived in Utah for the past 12 years I don't know that I can count on more than 1 hand the number of times school has been closed for weather. I mostly grew up in Maryland and I tell ya - we got out of school CONSTANTLY in the winter... Oh well.

Winter Wonderland/Sickness

With 102.5 degree temperatures, midnight trips to Wee Care, screaming for hours on end and many sleepless nights in a row I am about at my wits end. We have been really sick around our house for about 5 days now. I am just grateful that I haven't gotten sick yet. I would like to have healthy kids before I get this wonderful germ.

Aren't those cheeks just sad??

Today we woke to lots and lots of snow. It started sometime in the night and hasn't stopped yet (4 pm). Dallin and I went out and tried to snow blow. But apparently I am lacking in the ability to get a snow blower to work... So we shoveled.

The thing about shoveling at this point in the season is that we have these HUGE mountains on either side of our driveway. So in order to clear the snow OFF the driveway you have to throw it on top of these enormous mountains. My 5 year old is really tall for his age. But here he posed for me.

Don't you love the boots?? I love that kid! I figure that since I am a fair weathered runner that this is my punishment of getting a workout.

Maggie was upset that she couldn't come out and help since she was only in a diaper. I told her to go get some clothes on and this is what she came out in.

Not gonna fly, baby... She got to stay in.

When we went out to take the pictures of Dallin in front of the snow mountains this is what I saw. How discouraging is that??

Didn't I just shovel????!!!

Here are some pictures of our backyard.

Won't it be nice when we can use this again??

And I can't wait to get this set up...

This was a 1 this afternoon.


This is at 4 this afternoon...

I'm thinking the birds aren't thrilled with us right now.

I just liked this picture...

This is what greeted me when I came in from shoveling. YAE!! She is finally sleeping!

Why can't she do this at night?

Dallin's Green Belt!

Scott stayed home from work this morning to attend a very important event for Dallin. He had his belt test and he advanced to his green belt in Tiny Tigers Karate (3-5 yr olds). This means he only has one more belt and then he will advance to the 6 yr old class called Little Dragons.


It was so fun to see him today. This was the first time that he tested with his kamas.

Don't ya love the tongue sticking out??? He's gonna bite it off one of these days...

When Sensei Jeff was giving him his green belt he says, "You have come a loooong way, Dallin. The first day you came into our dojo you wanted to be called Luke Skywalker. Now you could kick Luke Skywalker's butt!" It was so funny because I had totally forgotten that!

Our very first day when Sensei Shelly asked Dallin his name he said, "Luke." Just like his name really was. She said, "Well Luke, it is nice to meet you." I had to intervine and tell her his name was really Dallin... He just was wanting to be Luke Skywalker...

Anyway - Congrats little buddy! I love you!

My DVD is skipping!

We are having a cold day and I had a chicken carcass in the fridge. So I decided to make a pot of chicken noodle soup for dinner. I put on a show for Maggie. I am in the kitchen cutting and cooking and singing along to the movie...

If you know my daughter - you will be able to guess what show it is...


Mamma Mia! of course!! So I am having a grand time singing in the kitchen (except for when the movie skips... I am going to have to buy another one. It's only been 2 months!!!). I got to a stopping point and went into the living room and this is what I found...

I thought it was a little quiet. It's 5:20 pm. Should I wake my sleeping baby?? I think maybe not. Like her snow boots and skirt??? She is tons more opinionated about her clothing that Dallin EVER was!!!!!

And so... are the days... of our lives....

You ever had a day that just... well - it's just a day?? That would be today. We have had beautiful weather. The snow was almost melted... The kids were playing outside... Then this morning came.

Of course it's a busy morning. I have a job interview for some part time work, Dallin had karate and then I had to take the van in to see what it would be worth as a trade in. So I get up earlier than I have gotten up in a while to get ready. Scott comes in and says that it snowed. He goes out and shovels my side of the driveway before work.

I get in my heels and skirt and it is snowing. I mean coming down hard! Drop the kids at a friend's house. Go back to get Dallin. Barely get to karate. Go to the dealer. Get home. Finally, I pull into the driveway and my garage door doesn't go up. This isn't good.

So I figured out how to open the garage door pulling this red thing...


I got the door open and the van got stuck in the driveway...

Great....

I decided I had better change and get a fire going so we don't freeze. So I tromp out to the side of the house...


Get the wood brought into the garage....

Sorry Scott... It's not as neat as you would do it.

And then see a power company truck. I guess he was looking to see if lights were on.

They weren't....

So I get the fire going....

And think - this could be a fun day! No computer - No tv - No game cube! I even thought we could make mac and cheese on top of our fireplace stove!

Next it's time to dig out the van so I can get it into the garage... but before that I decided to give my kid a camera... He gets into taking pictures!




This one was Maggie's picture...

My kids and I are in the front yard shoveling and shoveling and shoveling. There haven't been any snowplows go down our street. So I am not cussing yet since my hard work isn't being negated by their throwing it BACK on my driveway.

We have in the past gotten hate mail from the postmaster general.... He says we don't keep our mailbox clear enough for the mailman truck to get to it. So I figure after the 1 hour spent on HALF of the driveway I would try to dig out the mailbox...

Didn't happen....

When we got back in, the power was back on and the kids wanted to watch a movie!!!! Heaven forbid the power be out for 3 hours so they can't have electronics on!!!!

So they had a picnic in the basement and watched Atlantis....

Despite how much I HATE snow - It really is beautiful!

I love how it clings to the branches of the trees!

And hangs off our bird bath...

Happy snow day everyone!!

Bed Pics

Since I really don't have that much to blog about - or maybe I am just so sleep deprived that I don't have the energy to blog about anything - I am going to post a few cute pics..

This was Maggie the other night. She was mad that we put her to bed. She was crying and knocking on her door. We have a knob protector on it so she can't open her door from the inside. Scott and I were talking and quite suddenly she stopped crying and knocking. We looked at each other and wondered if we ought to check. We did - and this is what we saw...

This is an older picture of Dallin. Last summer I believe. HE WAS NOT TIRED!! He stated very clearly that he was NOT going to take a nap... This is what I found.

Have a good week!

Hair and other stuff

My friend Lasca is very good about doing hair. Her daughter's hair is always done just right. My daughter's hair on the other hand.... Well - let's just say I cut it so I could actually get it brushed.

She straightened Maggie's hair yesterday and it was ADORABLE!!! So we did it again today.

Isn't it great??

She is such a poser!

Then the other stuff:

Today during the sacrament at church, Dallin leans over to me and says, "Mom - farts and burps are made from bubbles!" Needless to say - I have not sufficiently taught my son to be thinking of Jesus during the sacrament....

Then while he was drawing on his whiteboard during church he asked me what he should draw. I said a house. He drew and narrated for me... "That's the roof. That's the bricks. The house kind of looks like a sandwich. Sorry." Then he was drawing the windows and he says, "The windows look like a sandwich too." Do you think I need to feed my kid before church???