Mothers Day Card

Here is the mothers day card, that Scotty made for his mom. He is so thoughtful and good at making cards. He makes me one almost every meaningful holiday: I look forward to these cards. I have a little love note box that I keep them all in. I am having trouble uploading other pics I have from the last couple of weeks. I will figure it out, even if it takes me a minute...

Bud the Best Gardener

Meet Bud, this is my greatest neighbor slash gardener extrodinaire. He has an acre garden full of tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, whatever you can think of, he grows it. Whenever I am outside in the backyard with Isaiah I can usually find Bud out working in his yard. The other day was no exception, he came walking over to me with these huge curious red stalks slung over his shoulder. It was rhubarb. I had never seen rhubarb so big. He gave me a bunch of stalks, being the kind neighbor that he is, and my mind started turning what I could do with it. Maybe rhubarb oatmeal bars, or strawberry/rhubarb jam, or maybe a pie. Any ideas???

Southwestern Corn and Sweet Potato Soup

Admittedly this picture isn't pretty. It was right before we finished all of it, and I wanted a picture. It was such an easy and good dinner, that I had to post it.

This recipe was adapated from the Moosewood Cookbook, low fat favorites. I inherited this cookbook, when we bought our house. The previous owner was an ebay book seller and gave me a bunch of cookbooks. This one was such a find! I probably would have never bought the book because of the name, low fat favorites, sounds cheezy. Anyway, the recipes in it are so flavorful, and good for you, plus they always turn out. This soup recipes jumped at me because it has sweet potatoes in it, I knew it would be good, what is not to love about sweet potatoes. I added millet to get more grains in my diet, and an extra potato for creaminess, both are optional.

1/4 c millet ( optional)

1 C finely chopped onions

2 cloves garlic

1 small chili, seeded and minced

1/4 tsp salt

3-5 C stock, veggie or chicken

2 1/2 tsp cumin

1 md. sweet potato, diced

1 potato diced (optional, it just makes it a little heartier)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped

3 C fresh or frozen corn

salt to taste

lime wedges, finely chopped cilantro leaves

In a heavy bottom pan, toast the millet until golden brown. Add the onions, garlic,chile, and salt to 1 C of the stock simmer for ten minutes until the onions are soft. In a small bowl make a paste with the cumin and a tablespoon of the stock, stir in the pot, and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the sweet potato, and potato (if adding), and the remaining stock ( I added close to five cups of stock because it was too thick, with the added potato and millet) cook another 10 minutes or until soft. Add the bell pepper, and corn and simmer for another 10 minutes or until they are soft. Puree about half of the soup in the blender or food processor and return it to the pot. The soup will be creamy and thick. Add salt to taste and reheat. Garnish as desired.

Greatful To Be a Mama

Isaiah love limes. It is so funny, he always motions for them, and without fail after he tastes it he puckers up, and pulls a face, and then we laugh at him. But he keeps right on eating them.

The other day was rough. Isaiah had three canines coming in, and for the past week it was grumpy city. I can't blame him, teeth ripping through gums, would make me a grumpster to. After a couple of hard mom days (at first I didn't know that he had teeth coming in and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.) I prayed that the Lord would help me with my role as a mother, nuturing and patience specifically. I had the most amazing experience. I walked in his room the next morning, and a powerful feeling came over me just how lucky I was to raise him. I felt the Lord's love for him, and that the Lord had given me the opportunity to learn from him as well as raise him. It made me realize yet again how amazing it is to be a mom. We have the opportunity to strech our characters becoming day by day more like the Saviour. Some days are crazier than others, but it keeps life interesting and ALWAYS entertaining. I heard a quote saying how children laugh three times as much as adults do. In my head I was thinking those adults aren't moms.

Marathon Pics

I am finally getting pictures up of the marathon. I dropped my lap top and broke it, surprise, surprise, and so I am just getting a card reader that works with my other computer. Sorry lap top! Any way here is my friend Amanda, that I have been training with, and I at the finish line. Sadly Scotty didn't know that the setting was on manual instead of automatic and so a lot of the pictures while we were running were washed out.

This is at the finish line. I was glad to be finished.

Here is Isaiah with Sydney,Sydney is Amanda's little girl, they are about the same age and so cute together. Isaiah was loving giving her hugs.

and more hugs.... I might have to watch him when he gets bigger......

I thought this picture was so sweet.

Salt Lake Marathon

This race got the best of me. For the first 20 miles it felt, dare I say effortless, maybe not effortless, but easier than I had though. Me and my friend Amanda were in fifth and sixth place the whole way, out of 1,000 plus woman. At mile 22 I started feeling really low energy wise, I had already taken a gu at mile 20, and was hoping it would kick in.
Mile 23 wasn't pretty, I hit the wall hard, I started slowing way down, and stopped at the mile 24 aid station to get water hoping it would wake me out of the groggy state I was in. I could feel my body shutting down. I tried to take a drink and collapsed, luckily my brother was there and caught me. After a minute I told him that we could keep going and I would walk it out, he let go of me. I collapsed again, at that point he realized I was pretty bad off. So he picked me up and carried me to the grass, the medic came over, and checked my pulse. The medic said that my pulse was threaded. I wanted to keep running. I am sure it sounded absurd, I couldn't even stand on my own. But, I was only 2 miles away!! Finally I felt more stable and tried to stand up only to collapse again. Finally after about 10 minutes of laying there my pulse got back into a normal rythm. The medic said if I could take 10 steps on my own he would let me finish the race. At this point, my time was shot, but I wanted to finish the race. I took a wobbly 10 steps, at which he said that he would bike behind me to the finish to make sure I made it. So on we went, my brother, the medic, and me. It must have been such a funny sight. Me looking like death, my brother in khakis and a polo, and the medic following a close third up the hill. Needless to say we all crossed the finish line. I finished in 3:40, the exact time you need to qualify for Boston.
The funny thing that was my first marathon time, and I was happy about it, but I trained a lot more for this marathon. I learned a lot about myself doing the race though. I learned that I am not a quitter, even if it is painful. I also learned that hard things pass. Nothing is permanent. I also realized how powerful family relationships are, I am grateful for the support of my brother, and Scotty.

(My friend that I ran till mile 22 with took third overall with a 3:16. I am so proud of her!)

When Toddlers Strike

Has anyone experienced this, mom is distracted, and toddler takes advantage. Here is a picture of Isaiah dumping a full thing of baking soda all over the ground. I was unloading food from a cooking class and while my back was turned, Isaiah saw the opportunity strike to pounce on an innocent bag of baking soda. When I turned back around, and saw the white floor, my initial reaction was AAAHHH, but then when I saw how proud of his little art work he was I had to grab the camera and laugh. Little kids have a way of melting you, with their little smiles, I swear if they weren't so cute.

Life has been busy,I have been cooking like a mad woman for Cafe Fresh helping them develop a new gluten free menu! It is a work in progress, but a lot of fun.

My goal for this year is to stay on top of blogging!! It is such a fun record of everyday events that we don't usually take the time to sit down and write, at least some of us, or maybe just me!