WEEDS...

Now I remember why I was thankful when the snow came last fall...

I don't know if we can conquer this acre--and voles ate the bark off of the bottom of some of our poplars.

This is what they do for fun all winter.

(what alot of our grass looked like when the snow left)

That's what we get for buying a home built in an alfalfa field.

But who is complaining?

(okay, I guess I am a little)

...and how was your Friday?

I started out my day calling every windshield replacement shop between here and Idaho Falls. After finding the best deal, I made an appointment and struck out on my errand to fix up our "kid car" (Bethany's coming home, Madi's taking driver's ed, etc.). It only took an hour to get the windshield replaced (I hemmed Madi's easter dress while I was waiting) and things were looking pretty rosy. I then preceded on the Sam's club to replace the tires.

At Sam's club the wait was an hour and a half. Not too bad. I had a piece of pizza and a rootbeer, and then wandered around the store, shopping for this weekend (my mom and dad are coming to visit) and putting things into my cart, then changing my mind and putting them back. I managed to take up the whole hour and 1/2 doing this.

I paid for my groceries, and headed to the credit union to deposit checks from clogging classes. On my way home my phone rang--my kids. As I was hearing about what was going on, I preceded through the stop light at the corner of Hitt and Yellowstone. All of a sudden a rock flew up and smacked my new windshield on the driver's side, leaving a nice dime-size rock chip.

.

A rock chip!!!

In my new windshield!!!

I pulled into the corner gas station, exclaiming about what happened to Seth. I said good bye and turned back around, heading back to the Glass Doctor. They said that I set a new record for visits in one day.

sunny weekend...

The sun has been shining for a couple of days here now...Taylor wore shorts to school (It is supposed to be almost 60 here today--yesterday afterschool her friend Sydney thought it might be fun to run through the sprinkler--brrrrr).

Seth asked us to take him to a concert Friday night at the Colonial Theatre in I.F. for his birthday. We went to see Jake Shimabukuro. He plays the ukelele. This is the video he credits for his discovery. Check it out--he is amazing!

On Sunday after conference, John and I went for a drive up to St. Anthony to check out a little park I wanted to visit and to walk along their greenbelt. Here are a few pictures...

These homes are on the other side of the river from the park. Looks like fun, huh?

The park is on an island.

This is a cascade on one side of it.

It's a veteran's memorial park.

The Henry's Fork in St. Anthony

Today I am being very domestic: I have whole wheat bread and honey wheat bagels (w/cranberries and cashews) rising, and I am attempting to make chocolate chip cookies healthier. I am using all whole wheat flour (I ground white wheat this morning), whole oats (I grind them up in my food processor so they are more like flour), and I am substituting mashed white beans for 1/4 of the fat called for. Last time I made them, I did them just the same, but I didn't try to substitute anything for the shortening. Everyone liked them (even Madi). Hopefully they won't be able to detect the difference this time...

...(a couple of hours later) TA DA!

The cookies taste great, but their texture is different. More cake like--like a pumpkin cookie.
My recipe has 1/2 cup margarine/butter and 1/2 cup shortening. I wonder if I substituted for the margarine/butter instead of the shortening if it would make any difference. They didn't spread out well. I guess this is the result of trying to make cookies good for you.

Not too bad, but you can definitely tell--

no trying to be sneaky about it!

Just to clarify...

I sprained my ankle; it's not broken. I am getting around on it now, although somewhat slowly.
As I am speaking snow is pouring down on us. I think it is 4" thick on our stair railing. I think I'm going to take a picture and show you...shall we sing some more Christmas carols? You can see, we still have our lights up on our house
(It is too hazardous to try to take them down as of yet)--
we could turn them on to really get into the holiday spirit!
(Just kidding--John would kill me!
See his drift boat sitting in the driveway;
he wants to use it.)

Yesterday I subbed at the jr. high and the high school for the band/orchestra teacher. I had to wear flip flops because my foot with the aircast on it wouldn't fit into anything else. And yes, it snowed yesterday too.

I'm just going to have to learn more Easter carols and buy pastel-colored snow boots to match the girl's Easter dresses...

Snap...

(this is a picture of my aircast that I was fitted with last year around this time--at least I am getting a little more use out of it)

...that is the sound my ankle made last night as I missed that last step on my way out into the garage. I had my hands full--a bag of garbage in the left, my purse in the right. It was time to pick up Madi from driver's ed.

Then I was going to run into Broulim's and grab some milk and eggs.

Then get John and Madi off to Scouts and Mutual.

Then finish ironing some stuff.

Then start cleaning up the room Bethany is coming to reside in.

Then finish sewing easter dresses.

Then get ready for clogging lessons for Wednesday afternoon...but now...

I'm grounded.

So I have to cancel substituting for tomorrow and Friday (kindergarten--I don't think so), and Madi will teach my classes this afternoon while I supervise.

Nothing like a little injury to slow down life.

I'm spending my day crawling and hopping from one place to another.

It makes one appreciate carpet.

I'm going to find Taylor's volleyball kneepads...

Happy 19th Birthday, Seth!

I just returned from a birthday lunch date (the Pita Pit in Rexburg) with Seth.

Today my baby boy is 19 years old (and I can still remember distinct details of his birth--ouch!). He was born during the morning session of spring general conference 1990 at St. Luke's Hospital, Boise ID.

He was 3 days past his due date.

He weighed 8 lbs 11oz and was 23 1/2" long. Now he is about 175 lbs and is approx. 6'1" (I'm guessing--no official data),

and is a better son than I deserve.

He is kind and considerate,

smart and talented.

And did I mention handsome?

Here are some photos (last year's)

of my birthday boy. I love you Seth!

Happy Birthday!

Spinach trick...

I have been trying to make our meals a little healthier here and there by using whole grains (helps to rotate your food storage, too!) and vegies in different places than expected.

I like to make homemade pizza.

I use half whole-wheat flour in the dough.

But Taylor (and sometimes Madi) are picky about what goes on top of the dough. For a while, all they wanted on their pizza was cheese and pepperoni

(sound familiar?).

They did let me add pineapple.

.

Kinda cute, huh?

( I like to buy the 4-packs of individual serving size pineapple tidbits--one is just enough for a pizza!)

However, recently I tried adding fresh, chopped spinach right after I put on the sauce--and I think it is a keeper. I was inspired by my friend Sariah's blog about her smoothies (I'll have to admit, I tried putting spinach into some of our fruit smoothies, and she is right--you can't taste the spinach in it--but you have to close your eyes to drink it--unless you're alright with pea-green fruit smoothies!).

So, I have been putting spinach

in places I wouldn't have thought to before.

.The first time I tried it out on pizza, the girls looked at their dinner and exclaimed,
"What did you do

to our pizza!?"
But since they had tasted the pea-green smoothies when we tried that experiment and were okay with them, they gave the pizza a shot! Now I add spinach every time I make it (if I have spinach in my crisper). It really makes for a pretty pizza, with the red sauce, bright colored spinach, pineapple and turkey pepperoni--a cheesy, beautiful kid-friendly creation (at least a friend of my kids!) .

(do you think I could fit any more spinach

into this blog?)

In Eastern Idaho...

...birds fly backward in the spring.
(Yep, it is pretty d a r n windy)

(there, I made sure you didn't think I was cursing...)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Hull family’s Irish Soda Bread (aka Spotted Dog)

3 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat)
1 t baking soda
2 T white sugar
3 T butter, chilled and cut in
1/2 c raisins
1 ¼ c buttermilk or yogurt
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a pie tin. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar.

Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse.

Toss the raisins with the flour mixture until coated. Make a well in the center and add the egg and buttermilk or yogurt, Stir until all of the dry ingredients are absorbed.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few quick turns just to even out the dough. Handle the dough as little as possible.

Pat into a flat circle, and place into the prepared pan. Slash an “X” on the top (to let out the fairies!) Bake the bread for 40 to 45 min. in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden.

Eat with the rest of your yummy

St. Patty's Day meal!

Our busy weekend...and dessert for St. Pat's Day!

This weekend we had our team's first clogging competition and Taylor's first volleyball tournament. Here are some pictures. Since I was busy with making sure everything was okay with my dancers I wasn't able to take "action" shots--and I didn't get a picture of my littlest girls at all! I did make sure John took the camera with him to Taylor's games (I missed them since I was in Pocatello with my cloggers) and he got some great photos!

This is my team, Stampede Storm. They danced to "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree."

This is my team, Stampede Thunder. They danced to "Aisy Waisy."

Here is Taylor at her tourney. She scored points the first time she served!

Here she is strategizing with her team. She is number 8!

Some pretty cool moves! Here is our traditional St. Patty's Day dessert. Sometimes I add a little more rhubarb. And if I don't have rhubarb (I freeze some in the summer now and save it for this occasion), I use pie cherries or some other tart fruit.

Tomorrow will be Irish Soda Bread (Spotted Dog)!