How to Make a Veggie Arrangement (in Pictures)

Last Christmas my mom gave me a fun carrot peeler.  She learned how to make veggie bouquets at Relief Society, then became veggie connoisseur to me and the granddaughters during our family Christmas party.  She gave us a fun tutorial, then slipped in the secret peeler into our Christmas stash.

I think these pictures are quite self-explanatory.  

The only tips I could give would be this:

• Buy this carrot curler
• Use the right-half of your brain

If I hadn't been in such a hurry, I would have tried to perfect the radish roses a little better.  I also think having mini cookie cutouts to make cleaner shapes with the cucumber would have been nice.

The veggies I used:

• Big real carrots for peeler
• Romaine
• Long wooden Kabob Sticks
• Green Onions to slide over sticks to make flower stems
• Celery to make a support for the flowers
• Olives
• Radishes
• Cucumber
• Green Pepper to hold Ranch Dipping Sauce
• baby carrots for dipping
• cherry tomatoes

Picture tutorial begins now:

Too pretty to eat?  I think not!

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Valentine's Day and Boys Beware

The blah factor of winter always gets an uplift in February.  Just as I was contemplating a fun toy or goodie to make for the kids school Valentine's, the kids started coming up and asking: "Mom have you done my Valentine yet?"

It's so fun to make it personal, that I sat right down and started making their Valentine's.

Isaac's obsession with mustaches found a perfect outlet in a mustache trend you can find all over the web.  I'm sure your kid got a similar Valentine in their box.

These Valentine's were designed with ease on www.PicMonkey.com.  I love this picture because when Isaac asked me to take it, he posed himself with his knee up to the side, elbow on the knee, and concentrated Mona Lisa Smile on his face.

We made a hole punch on each side of the heart and we slid a sucker through it.  It almost looked like an arrow shooting through the heart. 

If there was a current catch-phrase that could sum up Isaac right now in his life, it would be this:  I'm STARVING!  (perpetual snacker and carbohydrate radar at home, abroad, in public or private)

Leif was a little disappointed with his Valentine.  I couldn't help writing a poem to go with our recent tree adventure.  We sliced the picture above and below his mitten so we could squeeze a Valentine pencil into his mitten.

The catch-phrase for Leif right now would be this:  Buckle Up!  

He is such a good boy, is eager to live up to expectations.  He wisely cautions us to follow the rules every single time, without fail, whenever we get in the car.

Chloe is at a crossroads in her life.  Instead of passing out Valentine's in her classroom, she participated in a Valentine Etiquette Dance.  We designed her Valentine to pass out to close buddies and family.

We taped it the top of a hot cocoa packet.  It seemed perfect since she's the best farmer helper in the house and we are raising pigs.  This was my first photoshop project, and the hair could have been cleaned up a bit.  The original picture I found on shutterstock.

I personally thought the school etiquette dance was very cute. The perfect age to show an example of asking nicely, accepting with kindness, and learning the two-step instead of an MTV-worthy bump and grind.

All the kids in middle school received a dance card.  There was then a painful couple of days where people had to fill each other's dance cards.

She begged for high heels.  After telling her she wouldn't even be able to walk, twisting her ankle, and other "You'll shoot your eye out!" worthy warnings, I actually broke down when I found a pair of glittery blue heels for $7 at TJ Maxx.  I told myself it was ok since she wasn't boy crazy.  

I was officially my mother- living through the daughter going to the dance young and free.  

So mom, here's the heels.  Do you wish you were sixteen again?

All in all, there was 5 group dances and 5 partner dances where they learned things like the cha-cha, the two step, and the like.

We found a matching blue belt, blue glittery earrings to tie in the outfit with her perfectly pink dress.  

This is the beginning of the end.  Stop growing up!

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Garden Tour: Norma's Weekend Garden

I'm so excited to give my second garden tour on ye olde blog.  Today we will be visiting the garden of a woman who has been drawing house plans on scratch paper since she was about 9.  When I see an empty room waiting for a move, and plan for a dining room, sectional, and buffet table, she will wisely tell me I just have room for ONE of those.  And why is this woman helping me look at empty houses to move into?  It's because she is my mother-in-law (and no I'm not moving).

Ironically, she has never built her own house, but she has put her finishing touches to make it her own.  Several years ago, she did a major overhaul on her yard.  I was so excited with the turnout.  Let's take a look:

(click on the image for a better view)

The veg patch is right off the front yard.  The cedar beds are nearly waist high, making soil drainage excellent, and your back happy.  The day we came to take pictures and have dinner, Norma made a delicious pan of Spaghetti Squash Lasagna, with ingredients right from her garden.  Lovely.

I love the crunch of the pea gravel under my feet.

I call it "The Weekend Garden" because there's been many times when that is the only time Norma is around.  But it is designed to get soaked with the automatic sprinklers and waits for her to return.

Off the back porch are some ready access herbs close to the kitchen.  Baby turns the corner and enters the oasis zone, where many a lovely summer dinners take place.

Gorgeous right?

These pavers are perfect for Rocky Mountain Zone 5.  They have a flexibility so they don't get cracks like a concrete pad is at risk to do in the bitterness of winter.  Trex decking makes the raised eating area low maintenance and timeless.

My two chocolates.

Here's Chloe "acting natural".  Is it working?  See the white garden lights hanging along the fence?  I wished I had been able to stay until dusk, so I could capture my favorite glow-time.  White lights in the garden seem so essential to me now.  Let's take a closer look.

 There's a grassy patch for little mutts to wander...

...and roll.

On the grassy patch is the classic Mormon Staple: The Trampoline.  Here the older boys wrestle, roll, squeeze, steamroll, and trip.  It seriously never ends.

Everyone's happy at this place!

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Shmalad

Because we chose to hire a Certified Nurse Midwife with a Birthing Center over 100 miles from my little valley, I have taken lots of little day trips to The Great Salt Lake. One of the bonuses of these trips, and because I rarely leave home otherwise, has been reconnecting with old friends.



Here's Paula with her latest offspring {insert longing female sigh here}. When I called my old high school buddy Paula and said I'd be in the neighborhood, she offered to make me lunch. "Oh, you're doing your salad thing! My husband made some awesome smoked salmon...does that sound good on a salad?"


"YES" I said truthfully. Though excited, I felt a little guilty.

I hate salad right now. Wait, let me rephrase that...

I ate an entire package of Girl Scout Cookies yesterday, and the thought of rinsing, draining, chopping, & layering fresh greens seems like an undue chore most days.

What with my blogg-y pronouncements of keeping up with the greens until the end of this pregnancy; with my holiday sugar buzz leaving me resolute to walk (not even jog, skip, or run) the 3-mile-loop three times a week during my last trimester; my intent to infuse this child with a love of vegetables in the womb and because I was already on a roll...I'm not sure why I have turned into my own worst enemy. Perhaps I'm finding a reliable scapegoat in these hormones. The truth is, I stuck my middle finger to my green leaf resolution and I feel awesome/horrible about it.

And yet, fix me a salad, especially like the delicious one Paula gave me (with a golden fork no less!) and I'm in heaven. It tastes delicious to me, and deep down I know that I still crave it.



What is up?!

Not only did Paula's visit give me a guilt trip about not keeping my word, it gave me clarity that salad is still a huge part of my future. More importantly, the visit gave me some cute, clean, non-stained hand-me-down baby stuff for the little mutt growing in my gutt. Check it.

Paula is super creative. I had no idea she could sew in high school, but she seriously makes the cutest stuff! Check out her craft blog here.



The outfit and bib she embellished with fabrics from the awesome custom car-seat blanket. The reversible car-seat blanket is in place and waiting for my baby son.

As a bonus of going through bins of baby stuff, I found the doll that was crocheted by my Grandma Anderson. I'm pretty sure every granddaughter received one. I remember her invitation to come and pick a doll, where there was an array of color combinations you could choose from. I used to love to wrap this doll up in her never-to-be-lost blanket.

For now, this little doll, a labor of love, is a place-holder inside the soft, clean, and longing to snuggle my son blanket from Paula.

A little over 3 weeks to go!

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Anderson Talent: Part I

There's something to be said about using your childhood years, even into college, to developing your talents. There's no other time to be quite so focused, and even a little selfish. My ma and pa paid for me to take lessons in piano, clogging, gymnastics, and skiing. Later when I played athletics, they paid for volleyball and basketball camps, which weren't cheap. They also watched every single boring game I ever played in (I think my high scoring game in basketball was 6 points. Woo!)



The lessons and hard work during those years helped me play the piano for congregations throughout The South during my missionary service. The tinkering of a few guitar cords from my buddy Kristi helped me woo The Mister of the House with a simple song. The dad as a wise coach, plus the cost of volleyball camps helped me to play with a State Championship Winning Volleyball Team in High School.

So I remember having the very clear thought when I became a wife and mother, that it was now the time to be the beneficiary of those lessons and that season of "developing talents", and that my progression had ceased. Yet I was to be grateful at the same time. Why would I spend $50 a month on guitar lessons when I could use that money for diapers?

I had a good season of talent building, but the transition to mother would mean all resources would now be poured into my offspring.

This was my take on it for many years. But then my little sissy, a mother of three kids and the wife of an overworked medical student, composed a hymn!

She sent it to me to look at and play through. I was blown away! How dare she progress in the piano department when I had become a martyr to my own kids development!

Yet this hymn was the first of many songs she has composed. I love that she is disciplined enough to sit down and do this. I love the creativity she channels, and I love the message of her music.

Recently, her oh-so-proud mother entered her hymn into a showcase event at BYU-Idaho. Though little sis was thousands of miles away, an auditorium of people sang along to the hymn she composed. It's based on Helaman's Stripling Warriors, and is called "Warrior Families".



Anyone wanting a copy of this music, make a comment here and I'll see if the sis can oblige.

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Why You Want to Move to the Inner-City and Put Your Kids in Public School

So apart from having occasional neighbors that hardly know you think you're a freak for posting your life on the interweb, there is a draw to blogging that keeps you coming back (amidst possible scorn?). It is this: you learn so much about family and friends that you thought you already knew.

In the case of little brother of The Mister of the House, all I knew was that he and his lovely wife were moving far away to teach for a couple of years before settling into Law School. Back in them old 90's, we would have said goodbye, let us know when you're pregnant, and we'll see you at Christmas!



But now thanks to the interweb, and blogs, it's amusing to realize how kids can be clones of their parents when you didn't see it coming (as is the case with little bro-in-law). Or really watching someone come into adulthood since little bro was 14 when I married into the family.

And then there's the realization that as a former student, and English Major, I secretly longed for the teacher that would think I was special, mentor me to greatness, and think I had something to offer the world (although you are never quite sure what that is or was). If you grew up in the 90's, and absorbed the ever-loved movie Dead Poets Societ , you wanted O Captain, My Captain!



And it appears that Jackson & Celeste are El Capitan's to many students in one of the lowest performing public schools in the nation. As part of the Teach for America Program, they have been sent into schools with high drop-out and poverty rates, and from what I can tell, they are making a huge difference.

That is why I couldn't help sharing Jackson's (little bro) recent take on the Gettysburg Address. I'm pretty sure my mom has already shared it with all of her friends. It's inspiring to all levels of learners and teachers.

Enjoy!


Round 2 is below:


Keep up the good work Jack and Les!

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