Silence

As a mother of 2 little boys, I fear silence. If I'm downstairs and it gets really quiet upstairs, usually its a bad sign. It could be soap all over the bathroom, cheerios all over the living room floor, all the contents of my closet emptied out on the floor, BBQ grill filled with crayons.. or so many other things. Every once in a while, I hear silence and fearing the worst I head upstairs and find this:

Just a sweet little boy reading a book.. (sigh)

Moab

Here's a few pictures from our little jaunt to Moab (or MoLab as Josh calls it).

That little dot is Josh & I under Delicate Arch. We hope to make this little hike every year since it is the spot where Russ & I got engaged.

Sand Dune Arch is the best place for kids. Its barely 1/2 mile round trip and its a huge natural sandbox. I took the boys there while Russ was working. We're still cleaning sand out of all the clothes/shoes/carseats.

Josh making sand angels at Sand Dune Arch

Here's a comparison-- above picture is 2008, below is March 2007. My babies are getting too big. Oh, and Neil's innocent smile is deceptive in the above photo. He wailed and screamed and hit me most of the way down from the Delicate Arch.

The singing debut

I think my boy is destined to be a star..

Spring

I have crocus blooming in my flower beds, yay!

I just need to know why it is still so cold outside.

The Fire Station

We visited the local fire station for Joshua's preschool. The boys were so awe struck, they could not be bothered with posing for a picture. This was the best I could do..

Recipe of the Week II: A twist on morning oatmeal

I found this recipe in the food section of the Deseret News yesterday. I made about 1/3 of the original amount just to try it out & it made about 2 servings. It was quite tasty & I'll look forward to eating it even more when its warm outside and I can top it with fresh summer berries and peaches. Today I topped it with a handful of frozen blueberries and pecans.

SWISS OATS 'N' FRUIT
3 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned- I prefer old fasioned)
2 1/2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds

6 cups any variety of fresh or dried fruit: sliced banana; strawberries, blueberries; raspberries; apple; raisins; dried cranberries; dried cherries; dried chopped apricots

Stir together first four ingredients in a large bowl and allow to soak in refrigerator, covered, at least 4 hours or overnight. In the morning, add fruit and nuts to oat mixture and gently mix together. Serves 8. — Jan Judd, Heber City

Recipe of the Week: Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Its been a wile since I posted a "recipe of the week." This got such rave reviews by Russ that I had to share. I was reminded of this Rachael Ray recipe while reading Christy's blog. Its super easy to make and tasty if you don't mind a little spice. This is the photo from the food network website.

Chicken:
4 pieces, 6 ounces each, boneless, skinless chicken breast seasoned with salt & pepper
1 teaspoon sweet paprika, 1 /3 palm full
1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/3 palm full
A drizzle extra-virgin olive oil

Sauce for chicken:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup, 4 ounces, cayenne pepper sauce, preferred brand Frank's Red Hot

Blue Cheese Spread:

2 cups sour cream
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 pound blue cheese, crumbled Small

For Serving:

lettuce of choice
red onion, thinly sliced
4 sandwich rolls

8 ribs celery, cut into sticks
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into sticks


Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and chili powder. Drizzle breast with a little extra virgin olive oil to coat. Pan grill chicken breasts 5 minutes on each side.


Heat a metal or oven safe glass bowl over low heat and melt butter in the bowl. Add hot sauce to the butter and combine. When the chicken breasts are done, remove from pan and add to the bowl and coat evenly with hot sauce mixture.


Place chicken breasts on bun bottoms and top with crisp lettuce. Combine sour cream, scallions and blue cheese and slather bun tops with blue cheese sour cream. Affix bun tops on sandwiches and serve with remaining sauce for dipping your veggies. Arrange Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches on dinner plates with red onion, celery and carrot sticks.

My notes: I made the blue cheese spread and vegetable sticks ahead of time. I cut up the chicken pieces into strips before cooking. They cooked up really fast. For the kiddies, I made a chicken sandwich with the pan cooked chicken before dipping in hot sauce.