Thief or Not Thief?

We went shopping last night to buy Tyler a suit for all the interviews and we learned a new trait of Annie....she loves to take things and run. She would grab anything that was at her level and make this taunting laugh and then run. It was actually quite funny to watch. I don't think the store employee's were that amused but at least we were! Their lack of amusement probably came from the fact that Hallie and Annie were playing hide n seek in their hundred dollars suit racks!!!! We ended up getting Tyler a really nice suit and he looked awesome in it! I will take a picture when we get it back. We went with the non traditional color of brown.
I loved this picture of Tyler and Hallie. They both are such focused people when they are working on something. They are cutting Hallie's toenails (yes Jef I have trained Tyler very well) They sat like this for about 5 minutes, plus you can see Annie's little finger pointing at what they are doing. She loves to be apart of everything!

Passing of a Prophet

I know that I have lived through a couple Prophets passing but this is the one that will be in my memory forever. It seems like President Hinckley grew up with me. He was put in as Prophet of the church when I was in 9th grade and now 10 years after I have graduated he passes away. I think we could easily put his name in the scripture Alma 48:17, If all men were like unto Gordon B. Hinckley what a world this would be. He has left us with an example that we can forever look to. Last night on the news they gave a comment by Larry King. He said he thought Gordon B. Hinckley to be one of the only religious men that he interviewed to never doubt his belief in God. What a testimony he has left to the world. I hope that I can live my life like that.
I always wondered what the day would be like that I heard that our Prophet had died. I guess it was a lot different then what I imagined. When I heard the news I smiled and thought of him with his sweet wife. He lived a great life and was ready to go. We love you President Hinckley and will always try to mirror your example.

Update #3...

I am guessing that you already know what I am going to post on just by the name of this post. I hope you are not getting tired of the updates cause I am not tired of giving them. Tyler got an interview in Las Vegas on the 4th of March. We will take any interview that we are offered and are very excited for this one. We would only be a short drive from family, that doesn't even seem fathomable!
Tyler's Mom came up this week and surprised us with a small makeover of our apartment! She gave us a new rug for our front room and pillows for our couch. When I first saw the rug I wasn't sure but now I love it and am excited for the color change. It really makes our house feel like a new home! She also gave us her old bed cover and lamps. Hallie was quite excited about this one. She kept saying "Mom I love your new bed and Oh, it is beautiful!" I think she might have a little interior decorating in her. How could she not with both her Grandma's having the talent! I tried to take pictures of the front room but the bedroom will have to stay off limits for now (I haven't made the bed yet!) I have found that the best way to buy furniture is to buy neutral colors then you can always change the colors you put with it and have a brand new look! Anyway, We love it and are so thankful for the wonderful family that we have. We could not have made it through these last 3 years without your help. And that includes both our families. If I even began to mention all the help that they have given us it would take another hour to write it down. You truly are angels in our life and we love you all!

The Crash

OK, so turn it up good so you can hear what Bree is saying... I should have made subtitles. Anydangway, I had fun with this one. Hope you like it.

Entertainment for kids...

Inside Entertainment for children

According to Julie Huntington

*Making houses or trains out of cardboard boxes (you can get free ones at your grocery store)

*Making forts with couch cushions and blankets

*Going for long drives

*Going to the mall and walking around before it opens with all of the old people (I was the only one there under 60, I swear!)

*Going to the dollar movie in the middle of the day

*Going to Sears to ride the free toy and eat the free popcorn!

*Going to Petsmart so Jane can see the cats

*Making smores in the oven out of marshmallows, nilla wafers and chocolate chips

*Letting the kids go in the garage and play in the car

*Homemade (or real) play dough

*Bring the bikes into the house and let them ride them in the kitchen.

*Getting lots of toys and let them play in the bathtub or shower in the middle of the day. *Painting fingernails

*Getting a big blanket out and having a sack lunch picnic in the living room (I also do this when I just cleaned the kitchen and don't want a mess or more dishes to do!)

*Or what we usually do is pop popcorn and watch way more movies than we should.

According to Jef Huntington

* Play your child's favorite DVD in repeat mode
* Tag ball (similar to dodge ball)
* Father ignores children and surfs the internet
* Any activity that involves the parent chasing the child
* Video games

I loved this comment that Julie Huntington put on her blog in answer to one of her friends. The Question was: How do you entertain your kids during the cold winter days? Here is what Julie said and then her husband added a couple for the husbands. These are great ideas and I am sure they will come in handy for me this winter. I am going crazy being inside all the time. Good thing we only have a couple months left!!!

Update #2

Tyler just got his second interview invite to Arizona. He goes on the 15th of February. I think Tyler is a little surprised that he has heard back from two schools. I guess he thought the odds of two interviews from only 6 applications was not a possibility. Good think his wife has all the confidence in the world in him. He is going to do great and I know we will go to wonderful school. The one thing about the school in Arizona is that you are only actually there for 1 year and then you have the choice of 11 different schools to finish at. 3 of the schools are in Arizona and then you have choices of Hawaii, New York, Washington, California, Alabama, S. Caroline, Oregon, or Ohio. It would be interesting to see what we ended up doing with this school.
I tried taking some pictures of the girls on Sunday but I have learned a great lesson: Kids don't do what you want them to do when you want them to do it. But I guess that is why pictures of kids turn out so cute. Annie was more interested in the cap to my lens then she was in me taking pictures of her.
Hallie was into the posing but always seemed to move at the moment I took the picture. And just to let you know, Hallie did all the posing on her own. When I walked in the playroom with my camera she smiled and layed down on the floor to pose. The first one of Hallie the flash was on so it left some over exposed spot on her cheeks but I thought her face was so cute in it that I still had to show you.

Happy Trogday Everyone!

I know that a few of you know, but I need to let this one ring from the hills!

Five years ago, Strongbad changed the dragon art world by drawing the Mighty Burninator.

You must all see this:

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

And for the special day that it is:

http://www.homestarrunner.com/trogday08.html

P.S. My wife went to the doctors today. She's ok, but be nice.

Bree cooks Spaghetti

Here it finally is, took long enough huh? I forgot to mention that I put 2 bay leaves in with the meat as it is browning. I don't put in as much dried onion as Bree does in this video either. Those and the aforementioned differences are the only ones I can think of. There are also a few in the video itself. Ask about anything that is not clear.

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishing. I am excited to get the ball rolling here.

We should be putting up our best of 2007 list next time.

Update...

I promised updates on Tyler's medical school process so here goes. He has completed all of his secondary applications and has heard back from his first school. He goes to interview at KCOM in Kirksville, Missouri on February 8th. He is beyond excited and nervous. I think it is finally hitting him that his dreams are starting to happen. We are so proud of him and know that he will do a great job in the interview. Who wouldn't love talking to Tyler?
His Dad will be flying out with him and then they will stay for a day or two after to go visit Nauvoo. Yes, it is only 1 hour and 40 minutes away from Kirksville. This should be a plus for getting people to come visit (if we end up going there)! But I just learned that the town doesn't even have a Target- what am I going to do? How does a world with Bree and no shopping exist? This will be interesting.

Hooray!

Since we live in student housing, technically we have to move out when we graduate. They usually give you one additional semester to move out but we needed two additional semesters. The people at the office have been known to be heartless and kick people out even when they have no where to go. I got lucky and talked to one of them who does have a heart and after a couple months of emailing back and forth she finally gave in and gave us the extension that we need. Now we don't have to be out of our apartment until the end of August! I am just so glad that we don't have to pack and move twice and that Tyler can keep working at his job until we leave for Medical school. So I am letting you all know because I am so excited and relieved that we get to stay!

Happy New Year

This is getting harder and harder to post. Winter time we really don't do much but stay inside and keep warm, so we don't have a lot to update on. We did just get back from St. George again. Tyler's brother Corey got married so we made a quick trip there and back. Hallie and Annie did pretty good considering we spent a majority of the time in the car. And they loved staying with Madie and Lexi. Thanks Janae and Kerry for letting us barge in on you and barge out so quick. It was nice to go and enjoy the warm weather. We actually wore short sleeve shirts the whole time. It really makes me hope that we go to Medical School somewhere warm, but of course we will go where ever we get accepted.
By the way, Tyler has completed all of his secondary applications and we are just waiting to hear back from them. It usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to process the application so hopefully in February we will be interviewing.
I hope you all have a great New Year! We definitively will and we will keep you updated as usual. Here are a couple of pictures from last year (2007) at this same time (January).

Food #2

Ok, so I see the things that are wanted here on the blog, and since I am the only one to post anymore... anywhere, (except the Millers, Huntingtons and Langs, keep it up guys, and this is a call to repentance for the rest of you...) I will provide. Here is the much anticipated and longed after spaghetti sauce recipe mingled with pictures from various things.

Now keep in mind, this is done off the seat of the pants. This is a guide much more than a recipe, so go ahead and ask for clarification or just stop by and see how it is done. OOOoooooo, maybe I will make a movie of us making it tonight. That would be fun. Look forward to that in combination with what I will write.

Wow, as Bree and I talk about this we are finding out how different we cook this action. This is good, cause I think once you get the right ingredients, you can't really screw it up. so we will proceed here with how I cook it, then we will film Bree cooking hers tonight and you can decide what you like. And just to be sure, will mail you results and you can judge. Just kidding, you have to come here to get our food. Moving on.

Start with the burger. I am of the persuasion that the meat should carry most of the flavor of the sauce. Therefore the majority of the seasonings are going in here, and don't be scared cause there is nothing worse than a bland hunk of meat in a bite of food.

About 3/4 or 1 lb. of meat goes into a usual batch of sauce for us, and this will make a bunch for leftovers. I add about 1 tablespoon of each of the following spices right in the meat:

Basil
Parsley
Oregano
Marjoram
Dried onions (maybe a bit more of these, but not much.)
I also add a very small amount of Thyme like 4 or five little pieces of the stuff (it is way potent) and about the same of Fennel. I pour on the garlic salt at this point too. Lots of it. Probably about 2 teaspoons which doesn't seem like too much, but put on more than you think would be necessary. Garlic is the distinguishing flavor between good and great.
I also splash a little olive oil down, and do not drain the meat. This is about flavor here people, not the absolute healthiness of the meal. I cook it until the meat is done.

I then pour in about 5 little cans of tomato sauce (western family cause it's cheap), and one can of the petite diced tomatoes for chunk factor. I drain the can of diced. To this I add about 7 cut up mushrooms and all the above spices again minus the Thyme and Fennel until there are a lot of green flecks floating in the red sea. You can add a whole ton of the basil without going wrong too. I add about 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar too. This is another seasoning that makes a huge difference and even if you hate vinegar and mushrooms and garlic, you HAVE GOT to add them, pick around the mushrooms if you want, but they are more than essential. (Unless you have some kind of allergy... I don't want death.). Let this simmer for as long as you can. The longer the better, but it is good even without any time really.

So I think that is it. If I think of anything different I will make mention of it in the movie. So watch it. As if I have to insist on that... I know you all love 'em.

And Jon and Amy fell asleep on our couch the other night. We had to wake them this way. Comedic G-O-L-D.

Warner Life

Another video for your viewing enjoyment. Sorry it isn't food related, cause that was unexpectedly popular. But it was fun to make. Food stuff soon.

A Post Just for Cuca

Pancakes

1 and 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

mix it all together, should be watery not thick. I cook mine at a little over 300 on our skillet. Flip them when the bubbles pop and stay popped.

And these are our frames. We love them.