The View from our house

We have had more snow than we have had in several years, but we have had less fog than usual. One afternoon, we watched it roll it and Brynn was able to take these great pictures through her bedroom window. It makes us love being here even more when we get to see sights like these.

Question of the Day

This is Ken and Rulon tackling the 'question of the day'. When we were in Hawaii last year, that became one of the favorite parts of the trip. Most of the questions were gospel related, but I think we covered lots of different subjects. Since we had no agenda, we spent lots of time asking and researching questions. I even asked my dad and brothers some of the questions - like why we never saw the moon while we were there....

What a great two weeks we had with them.

Family Favorite Recipies Au Gratin Potatoes

I tried these last Sunday and they were wonderful! I decided to put some of our favorites on the blog so the kids will know where they can find them.

This came from the Oct. 2006 Better Homes and Gardens magazine:

6 med. potatoes, peeled if desired and thinly sliced
1/2 c chopped onion
2 large cloves garlic (1 tsp garlic powder for those who don't have garlic)
2 T olive or cooking oil
1/4 c flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 c milk
1 c shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Cook potatoes in lightly salted boiling water for 5 mins. Drain and set aside.

For sauce, in a saucepan cook onion and garlic in hot oil over med. heat until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat.

In greased baking dish, layer 1/2 potatoes. Pour half the sauce over the potatoes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. (We added grated swiss and some colby jack too). Add rest of potatoes, remaining sauce.

Bake, covered for 35 mins. for large dish and 20 mins for small dishes. Uncover, top with remaining cheeses. Bake 35 mins more until potatoes are tender and top is golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Fun in the Sun!

This week Ken and a long-time co-worker had a trade show in St. George to go to, so they took the wives along for a short get-away. Tuesday afternoon the guys got the booth ready for the show the next morning, we checked into the motel and went to see Vantage Point. We aren't much for seeing movies, but enjoyed this one (if you can get past the Ground Hog Day syndrome during the show).

But, all good things must come to an end.... the sump pump had stopped working and the basement was flooding. Brooke was the lucky one in charge of going and getting another sump pumg, Justin was working on getting the old one to work, and the girls were in charge of sucking up the water that was coming into the food storage room.

Since there was nothing we could do about it since we are away from home, we taught Dave and Marilyn how to play Hand and Foot (basically Canasta) and headed over to Dairy Queen for a midnight (ok, 9 pm) treat. The next day the guys went to the show and we went to the outlet mall!!! Woohoo - warm weather, no where to go, time to shop, and a short list of things I wanted to find while I was there. So...I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that the baby came out smelling like a rose and the rest of my list, not so good. We found a Taipan Trading Company and I have a new list for that store too! But, I'm thinkin' my most major accomplishment was that Marilyn found a perfect dress for me for Brooke's wedding (and accessories too.)

Wednesday night we went to the temple for a session and then ate there after (one of my favorite places for a cheap good dinner.) Then, back to the hotel for cards (and coached Brynn on sump pump and sucking up more water from the food storage room).

It was nice to spend time with good friends and my best friend, Ken. But, all good things must come to an end - and we got back home to more........water in the basement and the sump pump needed some attention.

From the Beginning...

For the last few weeks, I've had a desire to stat my own family blog. I don't know why, maybe it's so I can print off my pages and glue them into my journal instead of handwriting my history. Maybe it's because I have gotten the bug to start reading many of our ancestor's histories and I realize how important it is to have a record of ours.

We have so many fun things happening in our family this year, I thought this would be a great way to share them with our friends and family. I asked for a new camera for Valentine's Day so I could start adding pictures to the blog.

Yesterday we celebrated my daughter-in-law, Amber's birthday - she is the second of the quad's to turn 24 this year. Last Sunday we celebrated Justin's. Justin is Brooke's fiance`. I affectionately call Justin, Amber, Chase and Carson (Brynn's boyfriend) the 'quads' since they were all born the same year, just a few months apart.

Right now we are lucky enough to have everyone either home or c lose by. Chase moved home during his job change and is now working for a new company in Salt Lake. He's currently in Brynn's room, because he moved home first and Ken is busy framing a new bedroom for him. Brynn is home while she student teaches at the local high school. She is teacing Biology, Floriculture, Animal Science and Agriculture Biology. She will 'walk' in May and move back to Logan when she's done. She's living in the game room - with a blanket for a door - and no noise buffer from our crazy house. We hope to get her moved back into her own room once Chase's room is done. Brooke is getting ready for her wedding in May to Justin. I hope we are close to being ready, but I know we'll forget something..... Drew and Amber live down the street - they are house sitting for a couple in our ward who are on a mission til November. They hope to start building their house soon - especially with Ella due to arrive in April.