0 So exciting!

I have to share some fabulous news! My sister, Maren, is now a "fashion consultant" for ModBe clothing! Click HERE if you have no idea I'm taking about. I HATE going to parties where you feel like you have to buy something so a friend can get 'free' stuff, BUT this is only party...I mean "boutique"... that I like attending. In fact, I might -gasp- have Maren do a party at my house.

I L-O-V-E the swim suits. They are the best I've even had. MODEST, CUTE, & HIGH QUALITY! I got one two years ago and wore it TEN-times more than any other suit I've ever had. If you know us, you know we go to the lake EVERY week, usually more than once. Between wakeboarding & the kiddie pool my suit sees a lot of sun. Here is a picture of the one I got this year. DARLING! {Thanks Hayley} Too bad it snowed today...YES, tomorrow is MAY . At least that gives me a bit longer to procrastinate loosing the 'baby fat, right?.

If you want to order anything I can hook you up with my sister. She's started a blog just for this: http://modbefashionmom.blogspot.com/

8 Well hidden?

So, tonight while I was giving the final exam to my stat 1040 class I officially changed my blog to private (a few hours ahead of my May 1st deadline).
CONGRATULATIONS!
The fact that you're reading this is evidence that you got my invitation & figured out how to accept...something I've been worried about.
What do you think?
Was it a pain to get here?
Am I going to regret this?

3 Walk Along!

Kylie is on the verge of walking, but it may be a while before she chooses to. That's how she was crawling.

6 A few of my favorite things

I aspire to be a great chef, but must admit that macaroni & cheese graces my table all too often. (please say I'm not alone?) Tonight, however, I whipped up a wonderful meal of just meat & potatoes. I'm loving my new electric pressure cooker (see previous posts). Tonight I cooked the pork ribs on the 'brown' setting for a few min & then added a bottle of the best Famous Dave's Sweet & Zesty BBQ sauce & set to 'pressure' for only 20 min. Then, since they were still runny, I popped them into my wonderful stone baking dish (best B-day gift ever!) for a little baking while I decided what side dish to make.

I'm an Idaho girl through & through, so I grabbed a couple spuds I pilfered from the monster cellars on my last trip to Rexburg. I chopped them up (skins & all) & cooked them with a cup of water in the pressure cooker (what else) for 8 min on 'pressure'. After draining them I even mashed them by hand with a little butter & milk in the cooker itself. Gotta love making only 2 dirty dishes! So in just over a half hour I had fluffy-smashed-spuds & fall-off-the-bone-BBQ-ribs. The only additions to make a great meal: fat-free sour cream & a cold diet Pepsi. WHAT A MEAL! I hope it re-heats well for Nate when he gets home in a few hours.


P.S.- Did I mention I L-O-V-E my electric pressure cooker?

9 Attention Readers

After much thought & debate I have decided to make my blog private. I love keeping in touch & sharing with all of you, but don't want any evil strangers to have any information to lure my children away with. So, if you want to visit after this month (May 1st) then comment on this post or email me. I'd be glad to let you keep viewing (family & friends -old & new), I just want to keep my kids safe from predators.

1 Time for bed...where is Allie?

Yesterday was a gorgeous day! We had a high of 77 degrees! I took the girls to the park, played outside, & worked in my flower beds. Good thing we enjoyed the moment because it is SNOWING today.


When I went to read Allie her bedtime story, I couldn't find her. She was out enjoying the warm evening in her 'new' (hand-me-down) nightgown. What a sweet girl!

PS - I actually made the gown for my niece...well I made about a dozen for Christmas gifts a few years ago, but didn't keep one for Allie who was only a few months old at the time. The pattern is one that my grandmother made for my mom & my mom made for my sisters and I when we were little.

5 Merry Christmas to me!

THE PITCH: The Deni Pressure Cooker is safe and simple to use. Cook fork tender stew in 30 minutes, roasts in under an hour, and fruits and vegetables in minutes. Put the ingredients in the pot, set the timer, and enjoy a delicious home cooked meal. Brown your meat in the cooking pot before cooking under pressure to make cooking time even faster. The Deni Pressure Cooker combines steam, heat, and pressure while retaining the nutrients and flavor of the food. The removable five quart non-stick cooking pot provides even heat distribution while the outer housing remains cool to the touch.

THE SALE: My generous In-Laws gave me a GIFT certificate to a local specialty cooking store, "Kitchen Kneads", for Christmas. Since this is a VERY UN-kid friendly store, I've only been in it a few times so I decided I'd better buy something last Saturday when Nate was home watching the girls. It turned in to quite a hard thing to do. I had decided that I didn't want to get several little things, but use the opportunity to get ONE nice something that I wouldn't have bought myself otherwise. After several times around the store with a great saleswoman (actually a grown up high school student I taught years ago!), she sold me on this new appliance. The TIME-factor was the main selling point for me, but it all sounds so GOOD.

THE MEAL: Tonight was my first time pressure cooking anything. I set it to BROWN & seared my 4 pound lump of pot roast right in the cooker. I then added my sliced onion. SLICK! When they had started to cook I added 2 chopped potatos, 4 sliced carrots, a packet of dry onion soup mix, & 3 cups of water. I set it to 'hi' pressure for 55 min & pressed START. At first it sounded like a ROCKET getting ready to lift off, but as soon as pressure was reached it went nearly SILENT. I'd read when trying a new recipe, start with less time than you think the food will need, since you can always add time. Tonight I added 10 min & then 10 min more...I wanted my meat nice & tender.

THE VERDICT: NICE! Next time I'll go with less water and an initially 65 min, but everything was TENDER & full of FLAVOR. It was plenty tender for Kylie to MUNCH. There was plenty of juicy GRAVY- my favorite part. Nate loves roast, especially on a roll with cheese the next day. YUMMY! Clean up was EASY, too. I can see myself using this every week.

THE FUTURE: Now I want to try EVERYTHING in my pressure cooker & can't wait to take the class on using it in June. I need a rack so I can steam all kinds of VEGGIES & a bowl so I can make STICKY RICE. It even comes with a recipe for making DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE in 20 min...gotta get a 7-8 in spring form pan for that. It has a 'crockpot' setting, but with the ability to delay cooking by up to 8 hours - why? Oh, what fun we will have!

6 Call me paranoid

I'm going to blame my frequent anxiety attacks the past few weeks on the premise that I'm swamped. Go ahead, feel free to laugh. - I'm trying to.

An Example:

Last night we went swimming at the Sky View pool for family home evening. It was a family affair with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle, Aunt, and 4 cousins. The girls had a blast! Kylie is a born swimmer. Allie even went off the diving board FIVE times...with Nate dropping her in against her will each time. But hey, at least she was okay with it (until the last second) & wasn't traumatized too much, as she wanted to go again after each time. I even suppressed my intense fear of heights to jump off a few times. {I don't want my girls to follow in my fearful footsteps.}

Anyway, I digress. When we got home Allie tried to go to the bathroom before bed, but screamed that "my pee-pee's are hurting me"! All evening, all night, & all morning she would proclaim she had to go (every 5 min), but scream & cry...and not be able to go. I immediately determined she had a UTI and whisked her to the doctor this morning quickly before teaching my USU class. Nate followed us into town 1/2 hr later to retrieve Allie so I could teach. All morning I had tried to get a urine sample, but there was none to be had. However, the smart doctor got Allie to go with the small promise of THREE suckers. My smart little girl hopped right up & filled the 'catcher' without one tear or twinge. Hum, my diagnosis was crushed. Most likely cause of pain: chlorine irritation. Hum, sorry Nate. Lesson learned: don't jump to conclusions. Relax.

My motto for the year: To everything there is a season.