Chicken Noodle Soup

Because it's been while since I've posted and we haven't really been doing anything new I thought I would post a recipe.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1/2 bag of wide egg noodles (6oz) cooked and drained
(I use Ronzoni Smart taste. It's high fiber, for those of you counting points, but not gritty like some high fiber pastas)
2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
2 quarts chicken stock or broth* (the boxes are usually 1 quart)
1/2 medium onion chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 1/2 Tbs. chicken flavored bullion

Bring water to a boil and cook noodles. While noodles are cooking add one quart of chicken broth vegetables and bullion to another pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 15-20 min. Drain noodles and add shredded chicken broth and vegetables. Add as much of the remaining chicken broth as desired.

*When doubling the recipe, use the same amount of broth

Never underestimate the power of a penguin

When I was in Jr. High we had to run a mile every Friday. This was honestly the bane of my existence. Running and I are not friends, we never have been and I highly doubt that relationship will ever change. Because I never finished in the required time I got a C in PE. Shameful, I know. I now have a child who will soon be entering the middle school world, and I want to conquer this challenge as well as give her some practice so I came up with a deal for my children. There is a website called club penguin that they are currently obsessed with, but they need a membership to access the best of the games. So I told them when they could run an entire mile I would buy them a six month membership. I figured they would be excellent at motivating me, and the prize I offered was exactly what they wanted. I also figured we would have to do a few training sessions before I would have to pay up. I was wrong. Kaylee, Ashton & Aiden all ran the entire mile. Aiden even finished 1/2 a lap in front of me! So now I have to pay up much sooner than I expected, and think of more motivators so they will still want to go to the track with me.

A sleep over and a prankster

Last week in honor of spring break we had a girl cousin sleep over. There were six girls and lots of fun. There was pizza making, song singing, pillow stuffing, wii playing and movie watching. I of course did not take any pictures (I always forget), but luckily Chris was home long enough to get a couple of pictures and some sing along video. I could only hold out until 1:30 am, but I heard most of the girls stayed up until 3 when the voice of reason came in the form of Emily and the TV was turned off and sleep came. Sugar em up and keep them up late, that equals a successful over nighter right?

I made these pillows and the girls stuffed them. Chris calls me an over achiever, but it honestly seemed really simple in my head. Besides you have to go home with a memento! (Those are their initials in case you wondered)


Sleeping beauties!

April fools was the next morning and our true holiday enthusiast, Kaylee, made sure to research some suitable pranks for the day. She and Ashton put plastic wrap across the boys doorway, which unfortunately stuck to itself which made it a little easier to see. So Aiden put tape (sticky side out) across the girls doorway, but Ashton was not tricked either. The best trick of the day was a rubber band around the trigger on the sprayer in the sink. I turned on the faucet to rinse off the breakfast dishes and was sprayed. I thought it was a good prank, but I thought it would have been funnier if it had happened to someone else. So we decided to do it to Chris when he came home. The kids have heard enough stories of Chris's childhood so they knew he totally deserved it. When he finally came home Kaylee distracted him, while Ashton set up the prank. When they led him to the kitchen, I didn't want him to know something was up so I followed at a distance. I waited in the entrance to the kitchen and watched. Chris was definitely surprised, but the sprayer was pointed wrong so only his hands got wet. But never fear, I being across the room got soaked.

The things I go through just to get a nap!

On Tuesday I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I only had two (the top ones) and there was minimal pain and no swelling. I was actually excited because I knew they would give me drugs to make me sleepy which meant I could sleep all day without guilt, and sleep I did. My children, who usually walk right past Chris to ask me for something, even did really well at leaving me alone. It was glorious! Chris took some video, hoping it would turn out to be you tube worthy, but alas I wasn't any more exciting under the influence than I am in real life.

Because I needed to feel a sense of accomplishment

Not to say that passing out popsicles and playing taxi driver aren't accomplishments on their own, but I've pretty much mastered those aspects of my life so I wanted to move on to something a little more challenging. I have a couple of patterns I got on sale a while ago, so I took Kaylee and Ashton to the fabric store, let them pick out their favorites and got to work. Once you add in the labor I think it would cost less just to buy something from the store, but I was caught up on my cartoons so why not take on a project. Here are the results.

(Why do I always forget to clean off the wall when I take a picture?)

This is the first thing I've sewed that I've kind of loved. They turned out so cute (if I do say so myself). I didn't have time to make a shirt for Ashton, but I think the store bought one worked out just right.

A little Va-cay-shun

My kids have been on track break for a few weeks, so I get very little computer time. Here I am trying to play a little catch-up. At the beginning of the break we tagged along (or invited ourselves) with my brother and his family and headed up to Brian Head for some snow tubing fun. The weather was beautiful and warm enough that we all ended up taking off our coats. Kaylee and Ashton each took a spill in the hill, but they were tough and we all came home with ll our bones in tact.

Ashton seems very excited, Kaylee not so much.

Uncle Brian helping Dalin off the slope

Snow angels

On the way up the mountain Dalin was making a snowman plan. He told me he needed a carrot and some rocks to make a face. I told him that sounded like a good idea, but I didn't have any carrots or rocks.

D: "That's okay, I'll just ask the rabbits for some carrots and the birds can get the rocks for me and I'll go to the button store and ask the button man for some buttons."

Pretty smart, but I didn't want him to be disappointed when none of those things happened so I posed a question to him.

"Well what if the rabbit doesn't want to share his carrots and the birds can't find any rocks and the button store is closed for the day?"

D: (after a thoughtful pause) "Well, I better go see the button man first."
I guess everything else was easier to deal with than hours of operation.

Pirates Cove in St. George. The kids menus turn into pirate hats. CLEVER!

Like I said it was sunny and warm on the mountain. I meant to bring sunblock, but I forgot. The best intentions equal sunburned faces.

We decided to stay in St. George where we could get a less expensive room. We booked our hotel through priceline for $48 a night. We completely scored! We got a suite with a fridge and microwave and two separate rooms. Yes Chris and I got our own room. I thought maybe all the rooms were suites, but I looked into the rooms that were being cleaned as we were on our way down for the free hot breakfast (free breakfast!) and they were regular rooms. Dalin like the room so much that he decided we shouldn't go home. I told him we didn't have any more money to pay for the room, and if he stayed the hotel people would make him clean rooms and make beds. He had no problem with that and made the bed he had been sleeping on as quick as he could. He's too entertaining to leave behind so we crushed his dream and brought him home anyway.

The Escape Plan

Chris was taking the kids to their cousin's house the other day when Dalin said "Dad I didn't get buckled." Their cousin only lives five minutes away and they were already half way there so Chris told him it would be okay for a minute if he just stayed in his seat. This is what Dalin thought of that.

"Oh no, I'm gonna go to jail. Dad you could go home and bring me the cheese sandwiches I left on the table. I know! I will tell the jail man that I need to go potty and he will let me out so I can go home and go potty, but I will stay home and eat popsicles."

Who knew coppers were so easy to fool?

The President of the United States

A couple of weeks ago President Obama was in Henderson. Not only was he in Henderson, he had a town hall meeting at the high school directly behind my house. I didn't go of course because I don't like dealing with crowds, my kids had the day off school and I feel bad asking someone to watch all four of my children and it was broadcast on all of the local stations so why not watch it from the comfort of my own home. My brother and his wife went (he got tickets from my uncle) because as he put it "How often will the President visit the city our uncle is the mayor of?" Good point. I didn't notice a lot of extra traffic on our street, but when I looked out the back window I saw some men on top of the school building. I pointed them out to my kids and they were impressed and had the following conversation.

Kaylee: "Look at those guys in the roof, I think they're with the secret service."

Aiden: "Should we go say hi?"

Ashton: "No way! If they look away for even one second we could all be in trouble!"

This is the view from our back fence. The two black dot in the upper right are the protectors of the universe, or something like that.