I'm tagged

1. 4 jobs I've had
Transition program coordinator for Provo school district (special ed)
Childcare at THPRD
cook for 4 ladies with schizophrenia
Camp Easter Seal "Nature Mama"

2. 4 movies I can watch any time
Pride & Prejudice(6 hour)-ditto Merilee & Monique (i'm seeing a pattern here)
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory- ditto Monique
Legally Blonde
Sense & Senseability


3. 4 places I have lived
Coos Bay Oregon
Beaverton Oregon
Goiania Brazil
Fort Dix New jersey


4. 4 TV shows I love
Greys Anatomy
Brothers and Sisters
No Reservations (food network)
Globe trekkers


5. 4 foods I love
cucumbers from the garden with a light sprinkle of salt
Barbecue ribs
cantaloupe
puffy cheetos


6. 4 websites I visit daily
my blog and others
myyahoo
rei.com
my bank account although not every day

.7. 4 places I'd rather be visiting
My sister in Maryland
Brazil
Thailand
Chelly in Vermont

8. 4 people to tag
Mahina
Krista
Mandy
Bridget

In my lovely garden

This year my garden has been incredible. So far the best one I've ever had. My plants are HUGE! I did a bunch of composting over the winter and I don't know if that is why or what but I LOVE IT! I took Sam out (my quaker parrot) to visit the garden and started taking pictures of him in the garden and ended up with a bunch of pictures so I thought I'd share.

Sam with the tomatoes

These are my tomato plants. As you can see they are gigantic. I have 2 cherry, 1 grape, 1 beefsteak, 2 heirloom and 1 persimmon. I also have two volunteer tomato plants that popped up from last year. They are smaller but I think I'm going to get some tomatoes off them as well. I planted the yummiest baby carrots too. Oh yeah there is one volunteer lemon cucumber in this bed as well.

This is my corn. I have planted corn in the past and it didn't do very well. I did some research and found out that I needed at least 4 rows of corn for pollination. So I did one whole bed of corn this year and it's doing great so far.

Here we have broccoli and green beans. The broccoli was a new adventure this year and had been fun to grow. It just keeps growing and growing. We've been eating a lot of broccoli this summer. Sam doesn't complain though because it's his favorite!

MMMM Tomatoes! I can hardly wait until they are ripe. It won't be long.

I finished!!!!!

I've finally finished Harry Potter. I have no idea how my sister read it so quickly. It took me several days. I started this past Saturday and I feel like I've been reading ever since. Although I do know that my days have been filled with doing things for my children. I don't think i've done barely any house cleaning since I started reading. I LOVED the book. It's definitely the best one in the series. Finally everything comes together and you understand so much more. I have some big questions though that my imperfect brain can't grasp. I won't ask them here since I don't want to spoil the book for anyone but if you have finished the book then email me or call me. I especially loved the last sentence in the book. "All is well" AAAAAHHHHHH....... such a great way to end an important chapter in all of our lives. That of Harry Potter!

Low fat Shrimp Linguini

I created this alfredo sauce a long time ago when I wanted to create a healthier alfredo sauce that I didn't feel so bad eating. Tonight I had some shrimp I needed to use so I used this sauce recipe and made up the shrimp part with what I had. It turned out so yummy I had to share.

1 lb. cooked pasta
2 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup skim milk
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 lb. raw shrimp, peeled
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp. pampered chef Jamaican seasoning
1 garlic clove
dash salt

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and stir until becomes thick paste. Do not brown. Add chicken stock, milk and garlic. Using a wire whisk stir mixture until it comes to a full boil. Add salt and pepper. and continue to cook for 1 min. Slowly add cheese, stirring until sauce has consistency of thick malt.

Put shrimp in a small bowl and add 1/2 cup orange juice, jamaican seasoning, crushed garlic and salt. Heat a dash of olive oil in a saute pan. Add entire shrimp mixture, juice and all, into hot saute pan. cook until shrimp turns pink and juice is reduced ( about 3 minutes ).

Combine your cooked pasta with your sauce. Dish up and put shrimp on top.

I normally would use cooked chicken in this recipe. Just substitute whatever you want.

SWEET ANNIVERSARY

It's been quite the ride; being married for 14 years. I am so glad I chose Chris. He is the perfect complement to my sometimes high strung temperament. He calms me when i get stressed out. He helps me see that i need to laugh. We are one of those couples who has to work to find things we are equally interested in. But we have figured out a few over the past fourteen years and we have so much fun doing them together. Rafting, camping, and going to renaissance fairs to name a few. My friend Bridget made a list of things for each of the years she had been married. It inspired me to do my own. Here is to 14 years. I love you Chris.

14 late night runs to taco bell. Who are we kidding? It’s more than that!

13 years of learning how to be parents.

12 times watching “Hocus Pocus” on Halloween.

11 rafting trips together on the McKenzie, Umpqua and Rogue rivers.

10 years of Chris going to school. 5 years at BYU 3 classes away from finishing a degree in Latin American Studies. 5 years at Portland State studying computer science.

9 different homes with 9 different moves. Starting in Utah and ending back home in Oregon.

8 trips to the emergency room. 1 for Chris, 7 for Darilyn

7 wards we’ve been members of – Springville, BYU, Orem, Eugene, Albany, Aloha 2^nd, Hazeldale

6 Harry Potter books that we have shared. (about to be 7)

5 funerals. 3 for my grandparents, 1 for our niece, 1 for a dear friend.

4 trips to Disneyland, 4 Shakespeare plays, 4 visits to Gold and Silver Falls.

3 beautiful blonde girls, 3 adorable nephews

2 Kung fu tournaments that Chris’ won medals at, 2 car accidents

1 trip to Tijuana, 1 trip to Washington D.C., 1 trip to NYC, 1 MONTH TIL’ CHRIS’ GRADUATION!!!!

the glory of glasses

Yesterday morning as I was about to put my contacts in I felt something strange on one of them. A closer look revealed that 1/2 of it was gone! I made it in to see Dr. Linda and get new contacts ordered but I have to wear my glasses for a week. This is turning out to be quite a challenge. I've never worn glasses more than a couple of hours since the 3rd grade! It feels wierd! Yesterday a friend told me to just wear extra eye makeup. So this morning I grabbed that mascara and took off my glasses and realized, "dang, I can't see to do it" so there I was an inch from the mirror trying to put mascara on. Crazy. I guess I should be grateful I even have a pair of glasses. It would have been really bad If I had nothing!

Coos Bay

I've been asked several times since I got home from Coos Bay if I had a good time. I always hesitate with my answer which I know gives the message that it wasn't so great. I did however have a fabulous time. The hesitation comes from the complication of family life. (see blog below). I ended up having an amazing time so I will stop hesitating when asked about my trip.

I loved our trip to the beach - such a beautiful day.

I loved Emma's blanket - see picture above.

I loved canning tuna.

I loved driving down the southern Oregon coast.
This was another beautiful day with blue skies and gentle breezes. You just don't get this on the southern oregon coast. We stopped in Bandon and I couldn't believe how adorable it was. It has changed a lot since I was last there. Very cute shops. I bought an agate windchime for my back patio. Love it.

I loved seeing Makenzie cry - after the testimony meeting she came and found me and hugged me and said she wanted to go home. I don't think she really did. I think she just didn't know what to do with the spirit she was feeling. It's a new thing for her. She doesn't cry alot and I'm pretty sure it just feels uncomfortable to her.

I love the power of prayer. - Makenzie had lost her glasses sometime during the all day hike. Her entire unit had searched for them and an announcement had been made to help find them. No luck. While everyone was in at the fireside I went to Makenzie's Addie (like a cabin) and prayed. I then started looking. I went through everything again in hopes that her friends had missed something. No luck. I said another prayer. I then went down to the river where they had zip lined across at the end of the hike. No luck. I then saw a lone picnic table behind the lodge with a few misc. items on it. I walked over and there all by themselves on the corner of the table were her glasses.

I love the smell of the woods. - The Myrtlewood trees that grown in that region produce this amazing smell. That combined with the dirt creates this rich smell that I miss so much.

I loved getting home and having a clean house and dinner ready - after driving for 7 hours straight to get home I was so grateful that Chris had vacuumed and cleaned the kitchen. Not to mention feeding us! He is the best. I'm so lucky to have him.

I had a great time.

A day at the beach

The past 2 days have been a lot of fun for us. Yesterday we spent 3 hours at the beach. I decided to drive out to a beach that I hadn't been to since high school. I was surprised to find out that it is now managed by the national forest service and there was a $5 fee to go there. It ended up being worth it though because there was hardly anyone there. Probably since all the other beaches you don't have to pay for. It was a really warm sunny day or at least for Coos Bay it was! And there was only a slight breeze. Pretty unusual for the southern Oregon coast. I only had my phone so I took the above picture with it. They had so much fun getting completely wet head to toe and digging holes that they could sit in and disappear in. I mostly laid on a blanket and listened to the surf. It was an incredibly peaceful experience. At one point when the sun started going down it looked like the entire ocean in front of us had been sprinkled with diamonds. Heidi noticed it and said, "ooohh, the ocean is very sparkly."

Today Emma made a blanket. I will post a picture when I can. It's still on my phone and I can't figure out how to get it off. She fell in love with one of those tied fleece blankets while spending a morning at her Great Auntie Pam's house. I told her she could make one so we were off to the fabric store today to pick out her fleece. She worked on it tonight and finished it in a couple of hours. She is so proud of her accomplishment. It turned out beautiful and I love the smile on her face. Emma is very interested in sewing. I hope she can turn out to be a better seamstress than me. She asked me tonight about my years in sewing 4-H. I told her some of the things I had made and we pulled out the patterns for them. (of course my mom still has the patterns :) ) I didn't have the heart to tell Emma though that even after 11 years of sewing 4-H I STILL CAN'T SEW! My sister got that talent.

A couple of days ago my aunt and uncle drove the girls and i out to see the sea lions at cape arago. I hadn't done that in years either. We saw probably a 100 of them laying on a rocky beach. It was way cool. Usually when we come to Coos Bay we stay 2 nights and it is over a Sunday so we don't really get to do very much. It's been nice to have the time to go places that i haven't been to in years.

I canned tuna this week too. The price has gone up this year so I debated about doing it. But my taste buds won that debate. There is nothing better than fresh home canned tuna. Well, maybe a chocolate cheesecake is better but you know what I mean. It's also incredibly satisfying to see those jars lined up on the counter when you are done and thinking, "wow! I did that" I still get a thrill out of it after all the years I've been doing it.

Vacation or test of faith?

I've been down here in Coos Bay for 48 hours now and I am feeling like a crappy mom. I think I've reached that point in the summer when having all three of my children at one time just about puts me over the edge. I have been quite impatient with them. I really have no reason to complain either because I have hardly had all three of them at the same time all summer with all their summer activities. I feel bad that I'm counting down the time when Makenzie will leave for camp in the morning. It's not her either it's not any one of them by themselves but the combination of all three together. It's also the fact that I'm trying so hard to not let them do anything that will upset Ben my stepdad. So I'm basically hypersensitive about every little tiny thing they do. And I have reason to be. Tonight at dinner Makenzie tried to cut off a portion of the roast when she could have just taken a cut piece on the side of the plate. He yelled at her for it. In my quest to protect them from his irrational behavior, I'm acting like this maniac mom. All in all it has gone okay so far. Usually 48 hours is all we can do at my parents house before we need to go home. I think we will make it a little longer. I'm just trying to take one day at time. Well, i'm going to gather my girls around me tonight and have a family prayer. We've been pretty lax on that this summer. Hmmmmm....maybe that's the problem. lol

Fun 4th!!!!

Wow! We had a whirlwind of a day. We woke up early yesterday and drove 2 hours to Harrisburg. When we got there we put the girls on the HART center float and off they went. I barely had time to get sunscreen on them. Chris' parents are on the board for the HART center. It's a community center in Harrisburg for kids to go to after school. The girls love to ride on their float every year in the 4th of July parade.

After the girls were done we took off for Mt. Tom (chris' parent's home) to load up for a river run. Before we left Harrisburg I said, "aren't we going to wait until the parade is OVER?" Harrisburg is a very small rural town and I knew we were blocked in and wondered how we were going to get out of town with the parade still going. Chris' dad didn't seem to think it would be a problem so off he went and we weren't too far behind him. Well, next think I know our Kia Sedona mini van is IN THE PARADE! We had to drive like that for about 6 blocks going at parade speed (which is slow.....dang slow) until we reached the road that would take us out of town. I was so embarrassed. Chris didn't think anything of it nor my father in law. But when I saw my mother in law later she was also embarrassed by the whole thing. Well, it's a funny story now.

We had a great time on the McKenzie river. This was Makenzie's 2nd time and Heidi and Emma's first down this river. There are 2 Class III rapids on this river. Scott skirted Brown's hole with Heidi and Makenzie but Chris, Emma and I took it. It was great. Emma our little daredevil loved the class III's.

After our river run we went to Grandma Ammon's for a barbecue. It was late by then and everyone was really tired. We still had a long drive home so after we ate we said goodbye. I am really looking forward to our annual Indian Mary trip. That will be another fun rafting trip. One the girls love to do.

I had to share this picture. Makenzie took this in the car. The day before she had a lesson on photography at Young Women's. (Thanks Rachael) and then she took this picture. I think it's a beautiful picture of Heidi. Good job Makenzie!

My Mission

I've been putting my mission pictures in a scrapbook. I know it's crazy that it has taken me 15 years to do it. It's been really good for me to do this though. It's made me think about who I was during that time and what I see in myself now. I served in the Brazil Brasilia mission for the first half of my mission and the New Jersey Morristown mission for the 2nd half. Last night I was reading through some letters that my Brazilian companions wrote me. It was interesting to see myself through their eyes again. I definitely feel like I've lost a lot of who that person was. I was such a different person while in Brazil then any other time in my life. I wonder why that is. Was it just the mantle of being a missionary or was it being surrounded by such incredibly humble people that I became that way too? It's interesting to think about. While looking at my pictures I was reminded of the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants. 18:15 "And if it so be that you should labor all your days....and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" No matter how insignificant I feel at times or how little I feel I've accomplished, I have reason to be joyful. I'm really grateful for that.