Dinner Redemption

My Inspiration from How Sweet It Is:

I laid mine out like a taco bar because I wanted my kids to have control over how much of a single item they took.  

It worked wonderfully!!  I certainly don't claim to be a food photographer, but believe me when I say this was SOOOO yummy--tastes better than my picture looks :)  I have never liked hummus.  I've had the store-bought kind several times, but I disliked it so much that I thought it was out for me forever.  Enter cannellini beans (white kidney beans) and lime juice with roasted garlic (I passed on the cilantro).  CREAMY and a very well-rounded flavor.  I'm converted!  Of course for those who know me, I like to try new foods and enjoy something a little different so that's not saying too much.  The true test: My bean-hater LOVED IT!  *shhh, don't tell him it has beans in it--he won't eat it anymore!*

I also made the creamy feta she has as part of the greek dip.  It was really good for my kids that like feta; Jamie and Ryan didn't care for it.  I think it was too strong of a flavor for them.  I only used 1 jalepeno and it was just spicy enough to be good and not over-powering.  I also used up our goat cheese I bought for something else (that didn't work out, but I can't remember what it was).  I just threw it in in place of some of the feta.  It was creamier than I think the regular dip would have been, but it had a great flavor.

This one is a total SCORE!! and we will be having it again.  We'll probably just do gyros with all of the stuff, the pita chips weren't really a hit.  Now to find the meat...off to Pinterest to find a recipe.

Southwest Egg Rolls from Pinterest

I decided to actually try some of the recipes I've been drooling over on Pinterest.  Here's my inspiration from annies-eats.com:

How they turned out after following the recipe AND the directions (which I almost never do):

Dinner: 

NAILED IT!!!

Do You Remember?

Where were you 10 years ago? What were you doing? How did you hear? What did you do? It's one of those days that you can never forget, like my parents when they heard about JFK or the man on the moon. I will never forget how I felt that day.

The day started with the plan to fast with Jamie about when we should get married. My alarm went off just after 7 a.m. with DJs announcing that all flights had been grounded and something about smoke. I had worked late at the hospital the night before, so my groggy brain couldn't compute what the DJs were talking about. Very shortly there-after Amber, my roommate, called and told me the Trade Towers had been hit in a terrorist attack. !! The only TV we had in the apartment was in another roommate's closet. I rushed in, woke her up and turned on her TV. I was horrified. We tuned in just following the second plane crash. The reports, the smoke, fire, devastation, terrified people, sirens, and destruction; it was so much to take in--I couldn't believe this had happened in my country. We watched for a little while then I called Jamie and told him what had happened. He came over and watched with us. We couldn't believe that this was our own country and that someone had actually done this to our neighbors.

My marriage date seemed so trivial now. I felt almost like I was betraying those people who were suffering so much by even thinking about a happy and exciting event. We spent most of the day feeling completely at a loss, wishing there was something we could do. The only thing we felt like we could do was to pray for the victims, their families, the responders, and the leaders who suddenly had this tragedy to deal with.

There are no words to truly capture how I felt as I watched the cataclysm of that day. Looking back, I am amazed at the many people who sacrificed time, money, resources and even their own lives to help people they had never met. It was a life-altering day.

Catchup

No not the red stuff that my kids think is a vegetable...Just lots of promised pics and a couple posts of life in the fast lane for the Childers Family. We have been on the move (literally) since the end of June and sans internet for a while as well. Check it out and I'll try to post some more pics of our move, house and vacation across the country.

Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day found us enjoying time with my family. On Saturday we went four-wheeling--Nich had to take his new toys out--out on the west side of Utah Lake. It was chilly and rainy for most of the day, but you can't go four-wheeling and not have fun. (warning! Picture overload ahead)

Ryan explaining the finer points of life to his cousin Tyson.

Spencer just chillin'.

Emily Kickin' back

The tie-downs kept getting knocked off the trailer and getting in the dirt...

"Haaaaeeeey" ;) Grandma explains that dirt ruins the tie-downs and that they have to stay up out of the dirt...


Spencer was extra helpful and MADE SURE the tie-downs stayed clean. So funny. Grandpa and Spencer kept having a little war where Gpa would unwrap them and Spencer would come along and get frustrated that someone undid all of his hard work.






Gotta catch up on the good stuff.


The goggles were slightly too big...

On Monday we went to a fun bounce house where the kids had a blast!



Spencer doing a flip. (Have you ever tried taking a picture of a kid doing a flip--inside a bouncey pen? Not the easiest thing I tell you.)


They had a monkey mascot that came to say hi to the kids. Caleb LOVED him and wouldn't leave him alone. It was actually kind of funny because there weren't a lot of kids around so we just let Caleb enjoy being there. Every time the monkey turned around, there was adoring Caleb.

That night brought fun and games--like Quelf. It's a little like Charades, Curses, and Cranium. So much fun but make sure you have tissues on hand because you are gonna laugh until you cry.

"Hear ye, Hear ye..."

We had a great time with my family through out the weekend. It was nice to be able to spend so much time with everybody, especially knowing that our time with them was limited with our move looming on the horizon. Fortunately we got to see them for another great weekend before we took off to Indiana.