Girl Time

Alex came home on Thursday and left today. On Friday we went to the Sea Grill and had prawns (both of our favorites) and then had manicures and pedicures and did a little shopping. Kelly and family came up on Friday. We went shopping, again, on Saturday and out to lunch. We had planned on a movie but didn't make it. We made lots of food this weekend and lots of goodies. Alex's high school friends came over and spent a lot of time with us too, playing games, laughing and talking. It was great. So much fun. Nothing is better than girl time.

New recipe

Tried a new one tonight off of a blogger site-delish!


CHICKEN, BRIE, AND TOMATO PASTA
2 cooked chicken breasts (on George Foreman or in skillet)
1 Pkg Penne Pasta
1 Pkg Brie cheese
Grape tomatoes (the really small ones in a pkg)
Fresh Basil, thinly chopped
Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Start pasta cooking.
Make “sauce” of ¼ c. olive oil, about 20-30 cut up tomatoes (depending on how many tomatoes you want in it-we like a lot), 3-4 large garlic cloves minced, chopped basil leaves (about 10 leaves). Mix together and let it sit while everything is cooking.
When pasta is done, drain and then add Brie chunks to it to melt the cheese. Add chicken and “sauce” and stir together.
This has a really good, fresh flavor. The cheese cools the pasta down a bit so I micro it a little before serving.

Tagged

What is his name (husband):Lee, sometimes Leeroy

How long have you been together?We will have been married 33 years on December 19th. Wow it is crazy when you start having been together longer than when you were single!

How long did you date? Interesting question. We met on a blind date at BYU and had a great time. It was a set up for two clubs at schoool. Both were dating other people though and didn't date again for another year. I remember standing in line when some girls were rushing our club and a girl said she was Greg Snow's sister who just happened to be Lee's roommate. I got all silly and jumped around and said I had gone out with him once, was now single, and would love to go out with him again. I must have mentioned this to a few people because soon after this the girl he was dating told him she knew someone who had a crush on him. He asked who and she wouldn't tell him at first because she was afraid he'd ask the girl out. Finally she told him. He asked me out and we got married about 14 months later.

How old is he? He will be 56 in December but looks like he's 10 years younger. It's disgusting.
Who eats more? He does but I eat a lot. He loves to tell the story that when he took girl's to get pizza, they'd eat so little he'd just get a medium. When I came along he had to start getting larges because I could match him piece for piece.

Who said I love you first? Him, I probably felt it first but had way too much pride to say it till he did.

Who is taller?Lee

Who sings better?Church songs, me. Cowboy songs, Lee. And he can mimic any singer amazingly.

Who is smarter? Lee would agree that it is me. I am even the technological wizard (and I'm not good) in our house.

Whose temper is worse?Without a doubt, Lee. EVERYONE in the family knows this. It is is one true vice. He is very inpatient and has threatened to blow up computers, tvs, and remote controls. When he loses his keys, you don't want to be around. To his credit though, he is much better now than years ago.

Who does the laundry?Definitely me. Although Lee thinks if he puts a load in he has done it. He doesn't quite do the changing to the dryer and folding that goes along with it much though.

who does the dishes? I do it 90% of the time.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

Who pays the bills?Me-we probably would have had more money through the years if I hadn't though. I am a much bigger spender than Lee. I really believe money is there to create memories with and I love the memories of travel, lunches out, movies with the girls, shopping trips, etc!

Who mows the lawn?Lee. I think I have once ever.

Who cooks dinner?Definitely me. I love to cook since my kids have grown, love to try new recipes and love to eat. I guess that's why I can't lose my extra 10 pounds! Lee is the pancake maker in the family.

Who drives when you are together?Lee, I sleep.

Who is more stubborn?Both of us. It's the reason that years ago if we got in a real fight we could go 3 days without acknowledging one another. Neither of us would talk unless we had to until Lee would finally say, "Well, do you want to be friends again?" We are both better now and don't fight much at all.

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong?Neither of us has been very good about it per the above. When I know I'm wrong I have no problem admitting it to anyone. I guess I just haven't felt I've been wrong as often with Lee. Ha ha!

Whose parents do you see the most? His for most of our married life because they lived here. Now they live in Tennessee and I miss them so much!

Who kissed who first?Definitely Lee. In those days, girls always waited for invitations to dates, phone calls, kisses, etc.

Who proposed? We have no idea!! There was never an official proposal! Isn't that crazy? He brought be home to meet his family and the next thing we knew they were showing us rings and we were planning a wedding! Years later I felt gypped that I didn't have a romantic proposal story.

Who is more sensitive?When we were first married, me. Now, Lee.

Who has more friends? Lee, he is everyone's best friend.

Who has more siblings?Me, I have 4, he has 3.

Who wears the pants in the family?He lets me get away with wearing them for so long and then he puts the hold on things.

Places I've worked: First job was Dairy Queen, waitressed at several places, salesperson at a few stores, sold Avon(can you believe it?), General Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital as an RN

Movies I can watch over and over:Win a date with Tad Hamilton (he's gorgeous!), Gone With The Wind, Count of Monte Cristo, Four Feathers and the camping favorites, Clueless and What About Bob

Places I've lived:Arizona, Utah, California, Missisippi, Florida, Virginia (the last three were when Lee was playing baseball.

!Favorite t.v. shows: Lost, 24, American Idol, America's Next Top Model, Prison Break, Project Runway, Top Chef, Design Star

Places I've been:London, Prague, Switzerland, Paris, Venice, Rome, Florence and other cities in Tuscany(love it), Germany (love Heidelberg), Hawaii, Jamaica, several cities in Mexico, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Austria, New York City and lots of cities in the states I've lived in. Love to travel!

Favorite foods:Chocolate, any dessert, Fish, especially shellfish, and great breads.

Places I'd rather be: Any sunny place or any place where my children and grandchildren are.

Weird things about me: I love to sleep, could take a nap everyday.
I wish I could dance really good.
I like alone time till I get sick of myself.

My all-consuming passion: (I added this) My grandchildren-I can't get enough of them. Love their silly stories, cute smiles and funny actions. My greatest wish is to live near some of them again and see them almost daily. Some of my greatest memories are taking a group of them to a movie, going to a park with them or just listening to them talk to each other. Priceless.

I tag Kalie, Kasey, and Lindsey!

GREAT SALAD

Found a new salad and love it-will post to Internecipes too.

HONEYED PEARS ON GREENS WITH BLUE CHEESE
E T. extra virgin olive oil
4 T. fresh lemon juice
2 T. honey
Dash of salt
2 t. fresh thyme (I didn’t have this so omitted it)
5 c. fresh greens
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
½ c. candied almonds
Combine oil, lemon juice, honey and seasoning. Add pears, while gently stirring, and bring to a rapid boil. Simmer on high for 1 minute. Refrigerate till cool.
Divide greens on 4 plates. Top with pears, including liquid. Add blue cheese and top with almonds.

Christmas

Okay family, let's decide on Christmas plans. Everyone knows I am a bit of a bah-humbug over Christmas because it is so commercialized. I hate that people spend so much time, worry and effort over presents and then spend more than they have and have bills left to pay. I have always wanted it simpler and aim every year in that direction. Last year I mentioned that we should turn outward more and give to a charity or adopt a child through World Vision or something like that. I've been thinking of different scenarios. Here's a couple. Please comment on which you like, if any, or give a different idea. The idea is to make it simpler, happier , and more giving.
#1. Everyone, including dad and I, go into a pool. (Not grandkids though). Each person has one name. Limit is $100.
Dad and I still buy grandkids presents about $40-50 each (until we have more). No more trading names between grandkids to reduce expenses and trouble sending gifts.
Dad and I then give extra $ we would spend on family gifts to adopt a child for the family.

#2. Everyone goes in pool, except grandkids. Limit is $75. Everyone contributes to adopt a child or whatever else is decided on. Cousins still trade gifts.

#3. We continue as we have but decrease amount spent and everyone contributes to charity or child everyone agrees on.

If any of you other people out there have ideas your family uses, please let us know!

Ammon and his grandpa

Isn't this seriously one of the cutest pictures?? Kelly took it this last weekend when they were here. Ammon took a shower with Lee every morning. In this pic he decided he needed pancakes before he needed to get dressed.

I could be very jealous about Ammon's relationship with Lee. I'm not because it is the cutest thing ever. The sun rises and sets on grandpa for that little boy. He is Lee's shadow and it is no wonder. Lee will do whatever Ammon wants to do, all day long. They wrestle, they play with Harley, they wrestle some more, they go to Mick's hot tub and wrestle some more. Of course he sleeps right in between Lee and I every night (I guess I am just lucky to be allowed to stay in my own bed). Lee wakes up early and the first morning Ammon woke up, he turned to talk to Lee and Lee had gone in the other room. Ammon bounded out of bed and started bawling, "Where's my grandpa?" When I go down to visit Kelly and family without Lee then I am okay, even kind of neat to Ammon and he sleeps with me and hangs out with me. When Ammon comes up here and Lee is around I am a nobody to him. Sure, I get an occasional hug or kiss from him when I askbut he is always checking out for Lee out of the corner of his eye.

Cohen is completely different. That is one busy kid, doesn't have too much time for either of us. He is always busy, always hilarious. They've taken the binky away from him except when he sleeps so he'd come by Rylee, steal hers, and immediately lay down like he was sleeping. It was hilarious!!

And Rylee is completely adorable and the BEST baby!

When they got ready to leave, Ammon was really sad about leaving "grandpa". He had to kiss him a couple of extra times and Kelly says he cried a few time on the way home about missing his "grandpa". Really, they have an unusually close relationship. Way cute. I'll be making trips down there by myself. Not that it will do me any good.

HAPPY BELATED LINDSEY!

Poor Linds. She didn't get much of a shout out yesterday. I worked 13 hours the day before so couldn't blog and then planned to blog yesterday but my 4 hour day turned into 7 hours. Tried to blog or e-mail at work when I had a patient but couldn't get on. Didn't have a break until 2:00 to call but it was late in England so I could only leave a message. Sorry Linds, I'll do better next year. Love you tons, miss you tons and am happy I gave birth to you 24 years ago!!!! What a bright light in our lives you've been.