But we’ll save those for when I really need to call in a favor. (Wink). (Only one wink because I’m serious.)
Heidi is: funny, smart, a great decorator, a great clothing fashionista, super clean, and always ALWAYS thinking of others.
Oh yeah, and she’s a horse whisperer. (wink).
The thing I like most about Heidi is that she’s good at all the things I strive to be good at. I mean she’s REALLY good at it.
When ever I go to her house, I take stock of how she’s decorated, what she’s wearing, and how she manages her life. Then I go home and try to copy cat.
She’s so much better than me in . . . well, pretty much every facet of life, as I can tell. But here’s the most awesome thing about her: She doesn’t make me feel like she’s better than me. She never talks down to me, or sticks up her nose at me, or huffs in disgust at my appalling lack. She just seems to take other people, people like me, who just aren’t as put together, in stride.
Now, here’s the part that really makes me purr. Totally serious, mentally purr . . .
Heidi calls me Anj.
Yeah? So do about a dozen other people in my life.
I know, but the other dozen people have known me my whole life, or are around people who’ve known me my whole life.
See, Anj is my childhood nickname. A leftover from a sister who couldn’t pronouce An-dree-uh.
But I never introduce myself as Anj. Never done it my whole life. So only people who’ve known me since childhood know the name.
Oh, and Wyatt. Because he’s around my family enough, hears it enough, he’s caught on.
The name conjurs up emotions of childhood – safety, adventure, lack of responsibility – the weight of adulthood gone.
But it’s extra special when Heidi calls me Anj.
Something about being around in-laws – a person doesn’t hardly exist in the in-laws minds pre-meeting you. You don’t have a childhood, a memory, a past. It’s as if you blink into existence the moment you’re introduced. All conversation from that moment forward is about current life: the current children, the current trials, the current stories. Nothing about the time you tied Jared Jensen to a lilac bush and left him in the back school yard after recess, or were the first one to find out when Lady Moonstone had her foal – when walking to church barefoot across the pasture one fine spring morning.
So when Heidi says it, it’s like I suddenly have a full existence. I’m seen as a whole person, separate and unique to my husband and children. It’s one of those little things that Heidi has picked up on. I’m sure she doesn’t realize how sweet it is that she did. She’s just like that you see.
This is my art project for the summer: glass stars.
I cut them out of sheets of various glass that I’ve bought.
Then I piece them together.
Foil, flux, solder, add a wire hook, wa-la! Stars to hang from my windows and trees.
They are very -ahem- organic? eclectic? Okay, so I’m not a perfectionist, and it shows.
But I like them.
They will add magic to our summer.
These are just a few of the stars that I’ve made. I have enough glass to probably make a kajillion. I’m thinking of selling them (at least to recoup the cost of the glass). What do you think?
I made two pillowcase dresses for Olivia for the summer. One is pink eyelet, and the other is white. The pink one was my first, so naturally it took me a bit longer. I made it quite differently from the white one: I used elastic across the top to gather the material, and then used the ribbon sewed to the dress to create ties. I also lined it with a separate white muslin. The white one uses the ribbon through a casing as a sort of tie across the shoulders, and it is lined with it’s own fabric (45″ folded a little less than in half). Very simple. The pink one took me a while longer because it was my first one, and I lined it (so I basically made two). The white one took me about 45 minutes though. Sweet.
Even though I’ve heard the story from Beth, and then again from Alex, Carrie is sitting next to me as I type, so she’s telling this story:
Carrie, Beth and Alex were s’posed to all stay at Danny & Eliza’s house, but at the last minute Beth decided to stay at my parent’s house in St. George. So then Carrie and Alex got up at five am (way to go Super Carrie!) and snuck back over to the house. But the door was locked, so they called Beth and asked her to open it, telling her that Alex needed to get his glasses (which he had cleverly left there the night before) so he could go running with Eliza. His plan was to cover the area where she was sleeping with flowers and slip the ring on her finger without waking her. But since he’d already woken up, he sat there for half an hour waiting for her to go back to sleep. Finally he got too impatient, and even though he knew Beth was only pretending to sleep, he decided to spread the flowers out and put the ring on her finger. And then as he snuck out of the room he heard a little chuckle from her. Then he had Carrie drive him up to the red rocks that overlook the St. George temple. He planned to write “Will you marry me” with rose petals on the top of the cliffs, but the wind wasn’t cooperating, and just blew all the petals away. In the meantime, Carrie drove back to Beth’s and kidnapped her, and stole a pillow case and put it over her head (but she didn’t check to see how see thru it was, apparently it was totally see through). She took her to the red cliffs and made her climb up them bare foot & with a pillow case over her head. She was s’posed to call Alex ahead of time to warn him they were coming, but his phone didn’t get reception so they totally surprised him. Once he saw them and realized it was them, he took Beth and walked her up to where he had set the now-blown-away petals up, overlooking the St. George temple. He got on his knee and asked Beth to be his queen. And she said yes.
And then they decided it was really cold, so they headed back down to the valley.
Aaah! The weather FINALLY warmed up the past few days. I have been SO loving it. Yesterday it got into the low 70’s. I made the kids play outside ALL day. Olivia and Calvin played on their bikes and in the yard while I sewed a sundress for baby Sunshine (more on that later). In the evening we went on a walk to enjoy the company of our friends and neighbors. As we walked home Rick took these pics of us – jumping for joy at the turn of the season!
1 head leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
3 pears – peeled, cored and chopped
5 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled
1 avocado – peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
Directions
In a skillet over medium heat, stir 1/4 cup of sugar together with the pecans. Continue stirring gently until sugar has melted and caramelized the pecans. Carefully transfer nuts onto waxed paper. Allow to cool, and break into pieces.
For the dressing, blend oil, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, mustard, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.
In a large serving bowl, layer lettuce, pears, blue cheese, avocado, and green onions. Pour dressing over salad, sprinkle with pecans, and serve.
A fever yesterday set the evenings tone. Olivia is sick.
Every few hours in the night: Children’s tylenol, cuddles between Wyatt and me. Calvin in, Calvin out. Feed the baby. More tylenol. Check Calvin. Check baby. Check Olivia.
A couch day today. “Just rest.”
But Cal isn’t sick, and the sun was so promising today. So he went out to play. “Mommy, mommy! I found a million ants!” – Sure enough, he has found an ant hill. He sets about to collect them for his tricycle trunk. And then: “Mommy, come see the creature I caught.” Beneath the plastic snow thrower is a big black beetle. Another excellent addition to his trike trunk. Boy. Boy.
And then some drama. Because this would make for a boring post otherwise.
Olivia’s temperature at approximately 3:45: 105.7º -
that can’t be right. Take it again: 105.3º -
not making me feel any better.
Take it again: 105.5º
Call Dr.
Consult.
Take Baby Sunshine in for a visit.
Temperature has gone down (or thermometer read incorrectly).
“Yep. She has a fever. Make sure she get’s plenty of rest and plenty of fluids. Give her tylenol.”
Later that night Olivia and I are on the couch. Daddy and Cal are outside cleaning the garage. Baby Everett is asleep.
“Tell me a story.”
Okay.
One day Olivia and her best friend ______
-CALVIN!
One day Olivia and her best friend Calvin were walking through the _________
-JUNGLE!
And they walked and walked and walked until they came to a _____________
-RAINBOW!
And they ___________
-WANTED TO SLIDE DOWN THE RAINBOW
So they climbed and climbed and climbed to the top of the Rainbow and then slid down the rainbow into the _____________
-OCEAN!
And in the ocean they swam with _________
-FISH
And they grabbed the backs of the fish and swam all the way across the ocean until they met a __________
CRAB
and they had dinner with the crab in the crab’s house which was__________
A SEASHELL
and the seashell was so beautiful, it was pink and purple and green and yellow striped. And they had dinner with the crab in the crab’s house, and they had their favorite food ___________
FISH
Fish and ____________
BROCCOLI
Fish and broccolli. Yummy! And when they were done they rode the fish all the way back across the sea to the beach. And it was raining _____________
SILVER
and they sat in the lovely silver rain and enjoyed the evening. Finally it was time to go home. And Olivia’s mommy asked: Olivia! Where have you been?
ON A BEEVENTURE!
After our story on the couch, Cal came in. He needed a bath. Boys who clean garages need baths. Calvin literally had streaks from the dirt on his face and hands.
One clean little boy and warm cuddles later and Olivia and Cal are off to bed. Olivia shows me the page she colored while Cal was in the bath. There, written neatly across the top is the word “TREE” – I didn’t tell her how to write it. But I’m pretty sure my child is a genius.
Check out my sister, Leslee’s awesome wedding video created by her other awesome sister, Beez, and featuring awesome sister #3, Carrie (along with Beth and Leslee of course).
Beth created this without Leslee’s knowledge, and then added it to the end of their wedding video. It was a huge hit!
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
6 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices ham
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour or bread crumbs
1 teaspoon paprika
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions
Pound chicken breasts to about 1/2 inch thick if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour (breadcrumbs) and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces.
Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add the broth and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.
1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed
cooking spray
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Arrange the asparagus on a baking sheet. Coat with cooking spray, and season with salt and pepper.
Bake asparagus 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until slightly browned. Remove from heat, and stir in soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Pour over the baked asparagus to serve.
So we must live, while these moments are still called today, take part in the pain of this passion play, stretching our youth as we must until we are ashes to dust, until time makes history of us.
Artsy Fartsy
Now I’m on Instagram! {Even More Pictures to Take}
1 head leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
