Housing updates....

Our house is still on the market, and we are still looking for a house.  We have had several people look at our house.  Of those 3 or 4 were "very interested."  Even with their high levels of interest, we haven't received any offers on our house.  We are still pretty optimistic though.  People keep looking, and everybody tells us first time homes are where the market is still moving.  Our house hasn't been on the market that long and we average ~2 people looking at it per week.  I think we are still in pretty good shape to be selling it.

We have looked at 50 or so houses.  We found one early on that was exactly what we were looking for, but it was bank owned.  Because of that they wouldn't accept an offer from us until our house was under contract.  It has since sold to somebody else (closes on Heather's birthday).  Of all the other ones we looked at, we haven't found exactly what we wanted.  We have even looked a little at building.  We will keep looking until something looks and feels right for us.  Not sure when that will be, but I am optimistic that it will happen eventually.....  If you know somebody who is selling a house in the Logan area (preferably somebody who is losing money when they sell it.) :), let us know.  We are interested.

Pics....

Since I don't have too much exciting to say (other than I single handedly killed 233 servers at work today....), I figured I would show some pics of my kids.

Underachiever.....

So, I said once a week, I missed it already.... But I do have this cool video to waste your time with today.

I should post more.....

I decided that as an Oct 29'th resolution (new year's resolutions are overrated), I am going to try to post to this blog at least once a week. This means that sometimes you will get deep meaningful posts from me, but more often than not, you will probably get useless time-wasters like this:






His name is Remi Gallard. He is French, he can kick a soccer ball pretty dang good, and does other humorous thing (not all are considered polite or kosher). If you are bored, it is worth a look on youtube....

Houses

Matt and are selling our house. We have listed our house and have made an offer on another house. We have been working hard to get our house ready to show, I think we are finally done painting, and are finally ready to show it. There is another house in our neighborhood that just sold, and it was only on the Market for 5 days so we are hoping that our house will also sell quickly. Since Matt is in the Bishopric we have decided not to tell the neighbors or have a sign at our house, in case things don't work out. The house we made an offer on in is Nibley ( about 1 mile south and a little bit west of our current house) The house is bank owned so our Realtor tells us not to get to excited because banks tend to do their own thing. Be we are hopeful. The house is lovely and a lot bigger the the house we are currently in. We will keep you posted when we have more to tell.

Buzzwords/word spoken...

I saw this picture and thought it was really interesting....

Top two from each side:
Republicans: God Taxes.
Democrats: Change McCain.

Long, random comments by Matt

I have talked with Heather and also with one of the other guys in the bishopric several times about how parents are terrified of letting children fail. The discussion with 2 points made in my mind: 1) We don't let our kids make mistakes/fail enough. 2) When they do fail, we don't let our kids see/feel the consequences of the mistakes/failure.

Parents have a hard time letting their kids do things for fear they might get hurt, or they might not be successful at it, or somebody might kidnap them, or they might be around bad influences, or they might dump the whole gallon of milk on the floor instead of some into the bowl (not that this has _ever_ happened at my house), etc.

Today I saw an article that made me think about this a little more. Some lady left her 9 year old in New York City to get home by himself (on purpose).

With Heather the discussion leads to a parenting strategy called "Love and Logic". We took a class on it, and it makes a lot of sense. I just need to use it more. One of the examples they give is: let your kids mess up by buying the $10 junky toy car at the museum, then learn the hard way that quality matters when it breaks 20 minutes later. The other option is having them spend $5,000 for a piece of junk car when they are 19 and learn the _really_ hard way that quality matters.

With the guy in the bishopric, it leads to the end results. We talk about kids that have been shielded from the consequences of their choices a lot in their lives. Their parents bail them out every time there is a consequence. We talk about the lack of responsibility in these kids' lives, and how effects it is going to have on them long term. My favorite story about this is one I heard about a guy who missed work 1 too many times. The company attendance policy dictated that he face disciplinary action for missing work too many times. His mom called work to tell them that he was sick and it should be an excused absence. She fully expected to take the consequences away. She expected him to get off the hook because it always worked in High School. The funny part is, the guy was 30 (or something like that), and didn't even live at home.

I think it is a fine line to draw, but one I see myself erring too far on the side of caution. I am going to try to do more to empower my kids and let them learn from mistakes. We need to let kids make mistakes and fail on the little things so when the big things come up, they have already learned the hard way. My parents did an awesome job of this. I am not sure I did a great job at learning the lessons, but they let me make the mistakes and were there to help me when I needed it.

Easter in Logan

We thought we would share some of our Easter pictures with everybody (only a week late...).

New toy....

We added a new (to us) toy today. We decieded that since we borrow somebody's truck at least once a month and often 2-3 times per month, it was probably time for us to get a new truck. So, the Escort is available if anybody wants a cheap car. :)

This is what I will be driving now:

Daily Humor.....

I saw this and thought I would share it with everybody for thier enjoyment.....

Noah's favorite part about grocery shopping....

Noah wanted to share his favorite part about going to the grocery store with everybody.



They have cart's just his size....

Pita Bread and New Year's Resolutions

Heather has been posting recipies and stuff to various family blogs. I devided to duplicate all of them here. These next posts are not necessarily in order, but you get the idea.....

Someone recently challenged us to post our New Years Resolutions. One of ours (did I say ours I really meant to say mine, I just include Matt to be polite) is to eat healthier. Consequently this month I have tried some new recipes and thought you might be interested in them.

The first one is for Pita Bread. Now I have heard from several people that pita bread is easy but I have never tried it before. This recipe was pretty straightforward. I must admit that I cheated and dumped everything in the bread maker and put it on the dough cycle. It worked great. But I am sure that if you follow the directions and do it in a mixer then it will be equally successful. One warning the dough is pretty thick so be gentle with you mixer. This turned out GREAT I was very surprised. It even has pockets in the middle. One thing I would recommend is to use parchment or Pam (I was sadly out of both and they stuck a little bit). We had these with Falafel, which I thought was awesome but the family was not so sure about. I added to much parsley to it and it turned the inside green, I thought it was kind of like eating Martians but the family did not appreciate my humor.

Pita Bread

Recipe from Familyfun.com


Think of all the things you can use this for: hummus, paninis, wraps, quesadillas, and the list goes on and on.

1 tbsp. active dry yeast 2 cups warm water 1 tbsp. honey 2 tsp. salt 6 cups flour

Step 1
Dissolve the yeast in the water and stir in the honey. Add the salt and then the flour, 1 cup at a time. Stir until you can't mix the dough anymore. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is elastic.

Step 2
Place the dough in a buttered bowl, turn to coat all sides, and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it is doubled in size, about 2 hours. Punch it down and roll into 10 balls. Let the balls rest for 15 minutes, then shape them into 7 inch rounds.

Step 3
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and bake the rounds on a cookie sheet set on the lowest rack in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. This pita will be thicker than the ones you find at the grocery store. Wrap them in a cloth napkin until ready to serve. Makes 10 rounds.

"Savory Pancakes" or if you really love you husband "Porkchops"

I made my second healthy recipe today. Sadly this is one that I also really really like and my family is a little hesitant about. Okay so Noah said “I HATE THAT!!!” and Matt asked “Now how am I supposed to eat this?”

Crystal actually recommended this recipe to me a while ago and I think it is a keeper. My family will get used to it I am sure. So why do I like it so much. Well it is really easy and fast. And I think it tastes great. I eat it with sour cream to dip in and it reminds me of potato logs from Car Quick. Mmmmmmmmm potato logs! Anyway we had them with turkey sausage.

Okay so I have to admit before I give you the recipe that I warped it. I have pancake mix that is already made up all you have to do is add water and I used that. I just made it up like normal and added the vegetables. Today I used Zucchini that I had frozen from my garden and sweet potatoes. I also used onions instead of scallions. Who ever has scallions? Not me. I am not even totally sure my grocery store sells them. Anyway here is the recipe I hope that you enjoy it. But if you end up not making it you can always tell your husband you were going to make it but you made pork chops instead and he will love you all the more.

Savory Pancakes
--Recipe from Familyfun.com

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini
2 small scallions, diced
Vegetable oil
Sour cream and salsa (optional)


Easy to make and customize, these tasty treats are perfect any time of day. Kids love these roll-ups because they're tasty, and parents love them because they're nutritious.

Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper.

Step 2
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and milk, then stir in the carrots, zucchini, and scallions. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

Step 3
Place a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, spoon the batter into the pan, about 1/3 cup per pancake, and cook the pancakes for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Add more oil to the pan as needed.

Step 4
Remove the pancakes from the pan. Once they're cool enough to touch, roll them up and use a toothpick to secure each one if needed.

Step 5
Serve the pancakes warm with a side of sour cream and salsa, if desired. Makes 5 rolls.

Popcorn Cookies

Popcorn Cookies

There is a girl in my ward who is a health NUT. Don’t get me wrong I think she is great but she is all about eating healthy and exercising a lot. Well a little while ago we had an Enrichment were everyone was supposed to bring a treat to share. She brought popcorn cookies. They were excellent. But the best part was they were extremely healthy, chuck full of popcorn, wheat germ and other dry fruit. Now I love cookies and with this new eating healthy thing I am on a quest to find a healthy cookie that tastes good.

Unfortunately when I made them they were not as good. I do think they have potential though. I am going to call Jen and ask her what I did wrong. I also think I am going to use less butter and maybe add some apple sauce.

Power Packed Popcorn Cookies

From: www.popcorn.org

---

¼ cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted wheat germ
½ cup oatmeal
½ cup flaked coconut
3 cups popped popcorn
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries or other dried fruit, chopped
½ cup sunflower seeds or chopped nuts, optional

• Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly spray baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, soda and salt; set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar together and add egg and vanilla; mix well. Stir in flour mixture and wheat germ and oatmeal until well blended. Add coconut, popcorn, raisins and sunflower seeds, if desired, and mix until well blended.
• Drop by rounded teaspoons onto baking sheet, allowing 2 inches between cookies to allow for spreading. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on pan 5 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Jello Salad

As you know I have been posting healthy recipes that my family is trying this year. I know that this one sounds not very healthy. But for a dessert (Yes you read that right Jell-O does NOT count as a fruit serving even though we call it salad it is not!) it is pretty healthy especially if you use the sugar free Jell-O and the low calorie cool whip.

I do have to say that I don’t usually like Jell-O. I particularly don’t like Jell-O salad with stuff in it. But this is really good. It is kind of tangy and I think that is why I like it. Give it a try.

Becky’s Jell-O Salad

1 box lemon COOK pudding and ingredients to make

1 box any flavor jell-O (we really like green)

1 package cool whip

1. Make pudding according to package directions. Leave out the sugar.
2. Dissolve Jell-o in boiling water (if you want a thicker salad leave out ½ cup water)
3. Wisk together and let set up.
4. Top with cool whip.
5. If you want to be an overachiever add some lemon pudding to the cool whip before topping.

Today's funny moment.....

I use google's customized homepage all the time. If you haven't seen it, or don't use it, you should. It aggregates a whole bunch of information into one webpage. I have all kinds of things on mine like slashdot, The Onion, CNN, quote of the day and like 30 other things (including this blog). Today I found quite the combination.......

A few of our favorite things....

Our Favorite Things:
1. The Letter Factory Movie--Noah loves this and he is learning his letters and sounds.
2. Tiny Spicy Chicken--MMMM what more can I say

Tiny Spicy Chicken

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast- cut into 1” cubes

garlic salt

2 beaten eggs

cornstarch

SAUCE

1 -2 tsp Samball Fresh Chili paste

1¹/2 cups sugar

³/4 cup ketchup

3 tsp soy sauce

dash salt

³/4 cup chicken broth

6 T brown sugar

³/4 cup white vinegar

Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt, and let sit for 1 hour in the refrigerator. After the hour, dip chicken into beaten eggs and then coat with cornstarch. Brown chicken in fryer until golden brown. Put the chicken into greased 9 x 13 pan.

Mix sauce ingredients in saucepan. Cook only until sugars are dissolved. Pour over chicken.

Bake chicken @ 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes, turning the chicken every 15 minutes.

• When you pour the sauce over the chicken, it will be very liquidy. The sauce thickens as it cooks, making a nice coating over the chicken.

3. Home canned Peaches--Gracie Loves peaches, she will eat an entire bottle if you let her.
4. Going to the Zoo--Willow park zoo now has monkeys
5. Going to the fun park--we love to go and play in the soft play. It is more adult friendly then Macdonald's and only $2.00 for our entire family.
6. Going to Grandma's house (isn't that everyones favorite)
7. Eli Stone-the new TV show. We watched it last night and it was excellent. It kind of reminded us of Joan. Check it out.
By the way Jack Bristow is in the show and Matt told me this new joke. If Jack Bower, Jack Bristow and Churck Norris were in a fight who would win??? I'm not sure but everyone would end up shot in the knee with a round house kick to the head.


What are you favorite things? I challenge everyone to post a list of their favorite things.

I might as well do _something_ at work....

The other day at work I was looking up at my webcam trying to decide if I could do something more productive with it (since I use it like twice a year). I decided I could share my window with anybody in the world and create yet another useless webcam..... If you get bored and want to see what Logan looks like right now, check it out. It has some refresh issues. It needs help, but it works (kind-of).

After putting one hardly used item to work, I thought I would expand on my experiences. There is a weather station that sits on the desk of the guy next to me. It has a USB output hanging out. I wondered what I could do, so I played. This is the result.

Enjoy your piece of Logan. Just be glad you aren't here freezing with me.....

Waste your day away.....

Somebody sent this picture to me today...... I thought everybody else might enjoy finding bands. The Comments will have the answers, so don't look there unless you want spoilers......

Identify as many bands as you can in this picture.
(click for high resolution version)