Good-byes

My parents left yesterday and returned home, almost exactly nine weeks to the day after arriving here in Denver. We are really going to miss them! I will miss having someone around all the time to help with Katelee and household chores. With Gerald's busy schedule, I already feel lonelier and miss having adults to talk with. Katelee will miss having someone to show-off for all the time and being spoiled rotten constantly. :) We really did enjoy having them here.

Several of you have asked about my dad's health: the disease is attacking the new kidney pretty aggressively, but the doctors have done their best to slow it down. Now there are not very many other options left to try; it's uncertain just how much time he has until he'll need regular dialysis again. But for now, things are fairly well and he has a good attitude about the situation.

Before they left, we had a little surprise birthday party for my dad, who's birthday is this upcoming weekend. We got him a german chocolate cake, his favorite. (I didn't have time to make it due to the very short notice of their leaving.) When we got the cake out that night, Katelee pointed to the coconut portion of the frosting and announced, "I don't want any of the German, I only want the chocolate." Ha ha ha ha!

This picture isn't very good, but it's the only one I got of him blowing out the candles.

My wonderful parents.

Katelee took this picture - pretty good, girl!

The girls.

Katelee truly loves her grandparents.

We miss you already, mom and dad! We are glad for you that you are finally safely back home and can sleep in your own bed. ;) Thank you for your support and love and all the fun we had while you were here. You can come stay with us anytime! We hope to see you again soon!

A Week Ago Today

We are going to the park this morning to enjoy the almost 80 degree weather. In celebration of the moodiness of spring, I thought I'd share these pictures we took exactly one week ago.

Katelee and Gerald played outside and built a snow Easter bunny. Isn't it cute?

Katelee insisted I show the bunny tail she personally created:

After the snow plows came through, we took this picture to show just how much snow there was.

Happy Spring!

Are you having fun getting ready for Easter?

Adoption Update

Our home study on Saturday morning went well! Our case worker, Wendy, showed up at 8:00. We gave her a thorough tour of our house. Then Katelee had a little 'interview' with Wendy. Luckily, Katelee woke up cheerful and talkative, and was her usual cute self. Wendy asked her questions about her life, what she likes to do, how she feels about adoption, how she feels about being a big sister, what happens when she is punished, what she is punished for, and what she does with her mommy and daddy. Katelee talked away and gave adorable, perfect answers to everything. Then Gerald and I each had to meet with Wendy individually for about an hour. This section of the home study is jokingly called the 'Drug, Sex, and Rock and Roll,' portion of the interview. I think you get the idea of some of the things we discuss. Lots of fun! ;) Seriously, we feel that everything went well and it is nice to have it done.

We were completely overwhelmed, however, to learn of all the things we still need to do before getting approved. I tell you, the paperwork is endless. Endless! Still, we are happy that things are moving forward. If our fingerprints come back on time, and if we dedicate some serious hours and effort to finishing all the paperwork, we are looking at being officially approved sometime around mid-May! Hooray!

Adoption Home Study

Just wanted to mention that tomorrow morning is our adoption home study.

We are very excited!

We've spent some time getting ready to meet the government requirements by rearranging a bit. Today we're house cleaning. And tomorrow will be the big 3-4 hour event!

Wish us luck.

Curtains for Katelee

I've been wanting to decorate Katelee's room for awhile, but haven't been able to make up my mind exactly which direction I wanted to go. However, I wanted to make her curtains while my mom was here. So, earlier this week my mom and I had a lot of fun going to the fabric store store to choose material. I LOVE shopping at the fabric store. It just makes me happy.

Here are how the curtains turned out; Katelee really likes having them up in her room and I love the color they add to the space:

I'm happy with how well they matched her bedding and I especially love the sparkles in the green fabric. Can you see the sparkles?

Now that I've finally put up some curtains, it's time to tackle the wall decorations. So, calling all my crafty and creative friends: What would you do with this wall?

Supplies I already have on hand: a lot of leftover white bead board from Katelee's bed, some extra fabric from the curtains, ribbon, paper, paint . . . and I'm willing to spend a small amount of money. Any brilliant ideas?

Another Great Movie Deal

This is for the Toy Story 1 & 2 DVD's. Go to the Disney website here to get $20 in coupons. You have to enter the UPC codes in order to get the coupons. Here they are:

Toy Story - 786936151053

Toy Story 2 - 786936151060

I've been told that Toys R Us has the best price of $21.99 each or $33.98 for both. With the coupon they are only $6.99 each. But Wal-Mart will 'match' any other store's price, so you could get the same deal there.

Variety is the Spice of Life

I am a person who likes variety. I avoid cooking the same meal twice in a month - too much repetition makes me hate the food. I don't like wearing the same clothes too often. And I have to find new things to do each day to avoid getting mildly depressed. :) In other words, variety makes life interesting and makes me happy. Which is why the weather this past week was AWESOME!!!

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, the temperatures here hit 70. We played outside in our short sleeves and sandals. Wednesday evening Katelee and I took a picnic dinner to the park. We were there until 7:30 p.m. It was still very warm that late in the evening - no jackets for us! It felt like June.

Thursday when we went to get the mail from the mailbox, we put on our jackets. It was chilly with a good spring breeze blowing; much more like spring than summer.

Then Friday morning we woke up to winter:

SNOW DAY!

We bundled up and went to play for awhile in the snow. It was too powdery for building, but we stomped out our names in the snow and Katelee used the hill as a slide.

Saturday was chilly, but sunny. Sunday was beautiful again. In the evening we went to the temple grounds for a walk. We wore light jackets and basked in the sunshine. The snow was mostly gone.

And THAT is why I adore Denver weather.

________________________

I'm not kidding when I say that one of the things that has made me happiest with this move is the improvement in weather. Before I moved, I had a short conversation with an acquaintance in the hallway at church. She asked where we were moving, and when I told her she exclaimed, "Denver! My husband got a job offer in Denver, but I told him no way! It's soooo cold and the weather is awful. I would never move to Denver, not in a million years."

Now that I know better, I want to call up that friend and tell her that Denver winters are a million times better than Utah winters! :) It's not fair that Denver gets such a bad rap. I've only spent one winter here so far, but from asking around it seems that this has been fairly typical of Denver winters. I know some years are worse than others, but some things that I have enjoyed about winter this year are:

The sun shines. Almost always. I can bear anything as long as the sun is shining! :)

The variety - yes, we get huge storms, but then the snow is all gone again within days and we are playing at the park again.

Snow that covers the ugly ground. When we do get snow, it's usually enough to cover the ground and make everything look beautiful.

Snow days. When it snows, who wants to go anywhere? In Utah, when I was a teacher, I can't remember school ever being cancelled for snow. Out here, there are snow days whenever a big storm comes in! When the huge storms hit, everyone stays inside, plays games, drinks hot cocoa and enjoys the day off. Then the snow melts the next day and life is back to normal. Beautiful.

No inversion.

Overall, fairly mild temperatures.

So, have I convinced you yet? Move to Denver! The weather is great. :)

Meal of the Month - Sweet Pork Salads

I haven't posted a meal of the month in awhile, but want to get back into doing that! This is my favorite meal to make for company because it's so yummy! :) I usually serve these salads in the disposable salad tins (you can buy these at the grocery store near the other disposable dishes) with a warm tortilla on the bottom (I like buying the raw kind you can fry yourself). Then you top the salad with lettuce, rice, pork, black beans, salsa, guacamole, Mexican shredded cheese, chip strips (find these near the croutons) and tomatillo dressing. Gerald also likes sour cream on his. Sometimes I add fresh tomatoes - whatever sounds good to you! Below are the recipes for the other ingredients:

Jennifer’s Sweet Pork

• 3 lb. Pork roast (butt or shoulder)
• 1 c. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 T. dried minced onions

Cook all ingredients in a crock-pot all day. One hour before serving, remove roast and shred it, dump out cooking juices. Put shredded pork back into crock-pot and add:

• 1 c. dark brown sugar
• 1 c. red enchilada sauce

Serve hot on the salad or in tortillas, burritos, stuffed quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos - whatever you want! Top with lettuce, tomatoes, beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, taco sauce, or your other favorite Mexican toppings.

Lime Rice

• 4 T. butter
• 2 1/2 c. rice
• 4 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• juice of 4 small limes
• 4 T. chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

Mix everything in a rice cooker and cook until done. (Or in a pot on the stove top.)

Guacamole

• 2 avocadoes
• 1 clove garlic, chopped or pressed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 T. cilantro
• 1 T. fresh lime juice

To make it even more luxurious add:

• Hot green chili to taste (optional)
• 1 onion (optional) the onion flavor can overwhelm the guacamole
• 1 tomato (optional, but makes it look really pretty)

Peel and mash the avocadoes. Add the garlic and salt. Add the cilantro and limejuice and other ingredients. Mix well. Eat right away. Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly on to the guacamole and refrigerate.

Green Tomatillo Dressing

Puree together in a blender:

• about 1 cup of fresh cilantro
• 3 tomatillos, peeled of outer shell & quartered
• 1 clove garlic, peeled of outer shell
• 1 jalapeno pepper*, optional (I'm not a huge spicy food fan, but my understanding is that the smaller the pepper, the more spicy it is. I used a large green jalapeno).

Then add:

• 1 pouch Hidden Valley Ranch Buttermilk style dressing
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup buttermilk, depending on desired thickness
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/8 up to 1/2 teaspoon Cheyenne pepper, depending on desired kick.

Blend again until smooth. Refrigerate several hours before serving. *For extra kick, bottled hot jalapenos may be added prior to the puree step in addition or as a substitute to the fresh one.

My sister Melissa’s Famous Salsa

• 1 gallon diced canned tomatoes
• 1 medium white onion
• 1/2 to 3/4 bunch of cilantro
• 1 jar sliced jalapenos (don’t use the whole jar – these determine the hotness of the salsa, so add them to taste.)
• salt to taste
• 1 –2 cloves garlic to equal 1 tablespoon

Chop the onion, cilantro, jalapenos, and garlic. Put everything together in a blender or food processor and pulse to desires thickness. If you like it chunky, only blend half of it.

A Day at the Zoo

Denver has a great zoo, and we spent a fun day there last Saturday with my parents, Tyler and his girlfriend Taylor. The weather was gorgeous! Here are some pictures we took of the day.

How does your hand compare to a polar bear?

Look at those peacock feathers!

I love how the middle giraffe is looking right at the camera!

Chocolate ice cream - messy but delicious!

Katelee carried her camera around all day and had a great time taking her own pictures at the zoo.

Say cheese, hippo!

Look at me, mom!

So tall!

Watching the penguins.

The cutest animal at the zoo!

Watching elephants with grandma.

Drop dead gorgeous.

Katelee's favorite animals at the zoo were the penguins and the giraffes. We had a great day!

GREAT DEAL!

Click here to print a $10 off coupon for Disney's Princess and the Frog new movie. The coupon says $10 off Blu-Ray combo pack, which makes the combo pack about $20 at Wal-Mart or Target. However, the coupon also works for just the DVD, despite saying Blu-Ray on it. I took it in to Wal-Mart tonight, and used it to buy the Princess and the Frog DVD for $5.97. Can't beat that!

By the way, I did this same thing when Snow White came out before Christmas . . . I should have shared it then, also. But it makes me think that Disney always offers these coupons if we know to go looking for them.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is a weird holiday for me. I don't decorate for it. We don't really talk about it coming up. Usually, I (hopefully!) remember the morning of to put on green clothes and maybe die some food green. :)

This year, as is becoming our tradition, I made our usual green eggs and ham for breakfast.

Katelee did not eat any. Neither did my parents. We tried to encourage my mom to try them, with persuasive arguments such as "Would you eat them in a box?" or "Would you eat them with a fox?" She said she did not like green eggs and ham, so I guess there were more for Gerald, Tyler, Taylor and I.

As a result of my somewhat misguided traditions, we spend more time on St. Patrick's day talking about Dr. Suess and Sam-I-Am than about St. Patrick or leprechauns. I'm not sure Katelee even knows about leprechauns!

I've heard some fun traditions today from music class students, such as leprechauns who clean up bedrooms or dye the milk green... Do you have any fun traditions? What do you do with your kids on St. Patrick's Day?

Please share! :)

Disney on Ice

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Katelee.

Who went to Disney on Ice with her parents and her grandma. At the show, she saw a beautiful castle:

Katelee loved the show. She clapped, yelled, and bounced along with all her might. And when things got a little scary, she had her handsome daddy to save her. (Can you tell she's hugging his arm?)

Katelee's parents let her choose one thing to buy at the event, and Katelee chose a Jessie the Cowgirl hat, complete with red yarn braid. Doesn't she look awesome?

And they all lived happily ever after.

P.S. I'm not kidding when I say Katelee joined right in the show. She shouted things at the characters, gasped when the princesses appeared, and clapped and cheered with the best of them. Favorite quotes from the evening: "Run, Nemo, RUN!!!" and "Hun Shu, just TALK to Mulan!!"

A Few Recent Cakes

This is the architect's desk cake I made for Gerald's class presentation. I loved how it turned out! The paper, square, compass and pencils are all made from fondant.

I made this race car cake for a friend's little boy. I think it turned out fun! The birthday boy was very cute and couldn't stop smiling when he saw it. :) Of course, the cars aren't edible, but everything else is, even the grass.

This Past Week

I know I used to blog almost daily, and my frequency has slowed down a lot lately! Here is a quick update on what we've been up to this past week:

Katelee - Katelee has learned two new sight words: 'a' and 'it'. She loves to search for these words in books and read them aloud when we come to them. :) We've had some nice weather, and Katelee has enjoyed riding her scooter and new bike, and playing at the park where she especially loves to swing really high. She had her four-year-old well check, and she is growing well and doing great. Her two favorite activities lately have been either pretending to be a kitty cat or building a 'fort,' which means taking all the cushions off the couch and jumping all over them. :) She loves having her grandpa and grandma here, and is going to have serious withdrawals whenever they have to return home!

Gerald - Gerald's school schedule is organized in such a way that he will have some weeks with time to spare and other weeks that he barely sleeps. This is a 'barely sleep' week. Last night he worked all night long at campus. He slept for about an hour this morning and returned to school. It is now 12:30 at night, and he is still working hard on campus. I honestly don't know how he can even function. The presentation he is preparing for is tomorrow, so hopefully he'll be able to crash a bit this weekend. At least he's not alone; practically his entire class stays all night long together. Still, it's not healthy and I really hate it when he's gone. His professors have the attitude of, 'Well, that's grad school for you.' But I think it's wrong and wish there was something that could be done about it. He is currently looking around for a job for this summer when he has a break from classes. If you know anyone in the Denver area who might know of a job, let us know! :)

Jennifer - It's been a particularly busy time for my calling. I taught the Relief Society lesson on Sunday about using the atonement more fully in our lives. Although I always try to use the spirit in my lesson/talk preparation, I felt particularly blessed as I was preparing this lesson. Several times (once while lying in bed in the middle of the night and once while walking down the hall at the hospital, etc.) I had very distinct impressions come to me that I was prompted to write down. I am recording this because I want to remember how the Lord can bless me when I am seeking his help, and how He can use me to help others. It was really thrilling to see how all the different ideas and impressions I had received came together in the lesson; the ideas came from the Lord, not from me. I have a strengthened testimony of the spirit in my life.

Tuesday night was also our Relief Society birthday celebration. I am currently the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society in our ward, and we have no enrichment leader (what is that calling called now that we don't call it enrichment anymore?) and no enrichment committee. I can call upon anyone in the ward to help, if they are willing, but it's not their calling. In the end it's completely up to me! Luckily, many people are willing to help and I definitely used all their talents! I wasn't even stressed on Tuesday; everything came together so nicely. I took my camera to take a picture, but felt foolish when it came down to it because I really could take no credit for how everything turned out. Two amazingly talented sisters decorated the room, and it was seriously stunning! We had a dinner (a big salad bar and rolls with white almond sheet cake for dessert), which was prepared by another group of sisters. All I had to do was buy the food and then I decorated each slice of cake with a little flower. Dinner was followed by a program. The program did take me quite a bit of work, because we felt strongly that we should have a program celebrating both the Relief Society and temples, since we are focusing on temples as our theme for this year. I searched and could find nothing that fit this description, so I wrote the program myself. Because I wish someone had shared something like this online, I decided to post the program I wrote on MormonShare, so that someone else might be able to use it. Here is the link if you are interested. The program turned out really nice; a variety of sisters in our ward read the different parts. I loved the way the 'readers' added so much personality and depth to the script. Overall, I think it was a wonderful evening, thanks to so many people being willing to help!

As always, I've also been keeping busy being a wife and mom, hanging out with my parents (I love having them here!), teaching piano lessons and preschool music classes, and making cakes. I made Gerald an architecture cake tonight for a special occasion at school tomorrow - I'll have to post a picture soon.

Looking forward to tomorrow night: We bought Katelee tickets to 'Disney on Ice' as part of her birthday. It is surprisingly affordable if you get the cheapest seats. She has been really looking forward to it, and we are all excited to go!

Pictures of a Four-Year-Old

I'm finally posting some pictures of Katelee's birthday!

The balloons:

The smiles:

The new birthday banner I made with my mom's cricut. I'm in love. My mom (and her cricut) definitely need to live closer. :)

The castle cake:

Katelee had a very specific order: It had to be chocolate and it had to be a castle. :)

The heart-shaped ice cubes:

(The girls really loved these!)

The anticipation:

The friends:

The wishes:

The yumminess:

The freeze dancing:

(What's a party without freeze dancing?)

The new bike:

I'm quite proud of this project. I got his used bike for free from Craigslist. Gerald and I bought it a new seat cover and a princess basket (surprisingly inexpensive!), gave it a paint fix-up and a good scrubbing and I think it looks great. Katelee is perfectly happy with her new bike. :)

The opening of presents:

Thank you, Petty's, for cleaning out your unused toys right before Katelee's birthday.

She LOVES your gifts! :)

This is what Katelee did when Gerald said, "Hold up your present and smile." Ha ha ha!

The beautiful BIG girl: