Creamy Potato Soup

Ilda, this one's for you!  This is my mom's recipe for Creamed Peas & Potatoes, but since Wayne doesn't like peas, I modified to stuff he does like!

Creamy Potato Soup

Here's what you'll need:

Potatoes (diced)

Onion (chopped or you can use dried)

Salt & Pepper

Italian Seasoning

1 lb Sausage

1 can Evaporated Milk

1 cube Butter

1 can corn (do not drain)

Flour or Corn Starch

Put desired amounts of potatoes, onions, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning in pot.  Cover with water.

Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat.  Stirring occasionally, continue boiling for approximately 10-15 minutes or until tender.

While potatoes are boiling, brown sausage in a skillet. Drain any extra grease. Set aside.

 When potatoes are tender, add entire can of evaporated milk. DO NOT drain any water.

 Add butter, sausage, and corn (do not drain corn).

OPTIONAL: If you need a little more soup, you can add regular milk.

Bring to a rolling boil. Stir often, you don't want to scorch your milk.

Thicken soup to desired thickness using corn starch or flour.  For those that have never thicken soup before, mix corn starch and water to create a pour-able paste. Pour slowly into soup while stirring constantly until you reach your desired thickness.  If you pour it in too fast or without stirring, you will get clumps & lumps. :(

Salt and pepper to taste.  Now you are ready to eat! Yummy!  Total time to make start to finish is approximately 30-45 minutes.

New Camper!!!!!!!

I am sooooo excited! I can hardly contain it!  Wayne is headed down to Salt Lake in the morning to pick up our new camper.  We got word about a week ago that it was done and had been picked up from the factory from a transport company.  Once it got to SLC the salesman was kind enough to send us some pictures.  We also found out that instead of a 2012 the factory made us a 2013! Here's a sneak peek.

The king size bed at the back is for Wayne and I.

And the bunks up front are for the kids.

We can't wait to try it out.  I'm sure the kids will want to sleep in it tomorrow night in the driveway!  We are thinking about taking it out next weekend to try everything out before we hit the hills for the season.

Month in Review

It was mentioned to me today that it has been a while since I've blogged.  Jana, this is for you!!! In an effort to prove that I'm still a blogger, here is the last month of our lives.

I started working for Jeff at Velocity Express in Boise.  I do office work in the mornings and deliveries in the afternoon.  My day goes by really fast and working with Jeff is going really well.  Adjusting to working full time is going a little slower than hoped.  Blogging is just one of the things I'm slacking on.  Laundry, dishes, cleaning, and grocery shopping are also suffering!  Throw in a round of the flu bug for everyone and a weekend trip to Reno and I'm ready for a weekend!

We decided to list our camper last month.  We posted it on craigslist on a Wednesday night.  The next day we got a call on it.  The guy liked it and we made a deal.  It took a couple of weeks for the banks to communicate (the buyer was from Oregon) but it is gone.  Good bye old camper.....

.....Hello new camper!  Well not yet.  It's on order.  It should be done by the end of April.  This is one similar to what we are buying.  I will post pics of it when we actually get it.  We are sooooo excited!

Of course there was a mini craft day at mom's house with mom and Donna.  At which Xander (Kayden) got his first haircut!  It's amazing how haircuts make kids look instantly older!

Then last weekend, we headed to Reno for Ilda's baptism.  Before we left for the weekend, Ellie picked out a card for her and wrote in it.  The card was supposed to say "I'm so happy that you’re making this choice to get baptized." But she misspelled baptized and it read “I’m so happy that you’re making this choice to get bath-toys”!!!!  Love it.  I love my miss Ellie.  She's got a great spirit.

As I mentioned, we had a round of the flu bug go through our house.  Most of us had it the week before we left.  But Wayne was the lucky one to get it while we were there.  He ended up spending most of the weekend in the hotel sleeping, missing the baptism.

The baptism went well.  Ilda is an amazing woman.  I admire her for making the decision to join the church.  Dad and Phil too!  I think I take for granted that I grew up in the church and what it would mean to join the church as an adult.  I am so thankful for the gospel and the blessings it has brought me as a child and with my family now.

I couldn't decide which picture to post.  The first one Ilda looks better.  And in the second the men look better.  You choose.

We had trouble finding Ilda a baptism suit.  The ones they set down for her to try on were from the 70s.  Bell bottoms, big pockets, and a large collar.  Donna and I searched and searched to find her a "normal" looking one so she was more comfortable.  I'm so glad we did.  I wouldn't have wanted to wear the other ones either.

Ellie wanted to wear the dress she wore for her baptism and get a picture with Ilda.

Well, I think this catches me up on my blogging!  Hopefully I can get on a schedule and post on a more regular basis.  I'm hoping that this weekend I can get caught up on my house, which is still currently on the market.  We have decide that it's not necessary that we sell it now that I'm working.  We figured we'd leave it on the market a little bit longer and if nothing happens, pull it off.  It's more that we don't have time to meet with the realtor to take it off the market!

We also officially stopped foster care this week. : (  It was time for us to renew our license and I let our worker know we would not be continuing. I am bummed we are stopping but am soooo thankful for opportunity Wayne gave me to try it.  Maybe at another time in lifves we can pursue it again.  I wish that we would have been able to end it on a better note but that's foster care.  There are wonderful kids and some you struggle with.  I will remember all of them and hold a special place in my heart for each of them.

Jake vs Tree

In the sad, sad story of Jake verses tree, the tree wins.  There's no other way to say it, Jake ran into a tree last Thursday.  I think it's pretty obvious from the picture what part of his body he hit the tree with.  He got a concussion.  He had every symptom, the fixed eyes, blurry vision, slurred speech, headache, etc.  The next morning he said he was feeling better and wanted to go to school.  But it didn't take long before I got a phone call at work.  He said some of his symptoms were returning, so off to the doctor we went.  Doc said as long as he continues to get better, he'll be okay!  Plus, no broken cheek bone.  We made him go home and rest and by the end of the weekend, he was feeling better.  Thank goodness!

This pic was taken a couple days after it happened and doesn't due the swelling justice.  I'm sure he'll have a fantastic black eye soon!

Changes around our place

The new year has brought some changes our way.  Last Friday, X Factor was moved to another home.  His problems proved to be too great for our family to handle.  He was still throwing things at Ellie's face and hurting her.  We were also having great deal of other behavioral problems with him.  It got to the point where we couldn't do anything as a family.  Wayne wasn't coming home after work.  Jake was hiding in his room.  Ellie starting acting out and against him at times.  And I was going crazy.  Once I realized he was having such a negative effect on us as a family, I asked that he be moved.  It was time to put my family first.  It was sad to see him go, but it needed to happen.  I feel good about my decision and it has already proved to be what our family needed.  At this point, we don't plan on taking another placement even though our license doesn't expire until the end of March.  I have mixed emotions about this.  Some days I'm okay with it and others I'm not.

Just after the new year, I accepted a position as an office assistant for a company that does developmental therapies.  It's going okay.  It's very part time, just one full day a week, but right now I am working 2-3 full days a week while the main gal is recovering from having a baby.  The one day a week would have been a nice supplement to foster care, but now that we don't intend to continue that, I need to find more work.  I applied with FedEx this week.  So we'll see what happens there.  I think my current job has great potential and the staff is amazing, but I'm doubtful that the potential will come soon enough.

And as you can see from my previous post, evenings have been busy with hunter's ed.  I'm sooooo happy this was only a two week course.  It was fun to take it with Jake.  It was nice to have that one on one with him.  He is such a great boy.  I can't believe he is 14 now!  That's right.  His birthday was last weekend.

For his birthday, we took him out to eat to the restaurant of his choice.  He chose Primos, the all you can eat pizza buffet.  Afterwards, we went to the RV show and did some dreaming.  We had a good time.

I'm not sure what changes will come next.....hopefully our house selling!

Hunter's Education

Jake and I have been taking hunter's ed the last couple of weeks.  Tonight was our last class and test.  We both passed!!  And they gave us these wonderful orange hats.  I can't say that I'll every use my license for hunting, but thought the class would be good since we like to target shoot.

Jake 98%......Christine 97%
I don't think I'll ever hear the end of this one!

I reached my goal

I reached my goal of growing out my hair to 21" long......and even more importantly, I won the bet with Wayne!

It only took me 18 months.  Not too long since I had a short cut when I started and had at least 3" cut off over that time.  I've already been looking at new haircuts.  I'll post what I end up doing.  I don't plan on going real short again, but maybe something just below the shoulders.

New To Us

Yahoooo! We got a "new to us" washer last night.  Now, I can finally get caught back up on laundry.  We got a great deal on it and it's a front loading!

Shooting

We took the kids south of town on Monday to shoot their new guns.  They loved it!  Wayne and I had fun too.  Wayne got me a .22 pistol for Christmas too.  Now everyone has their own to shoot.

Christmas 2011

Here are some pictures from Christmas this year.  Since Christmas fell on a Sunday, I told the kids they had to be completely ready for church before we opened presents.  It's amazing how fast they got ready!

Wayne making pancakes! Yummmmy!

Every year we have the kids buy a gift for each other.  You can tell Jake did good!

Ellie couldn't go wrong getting Jake a nerf gun!

Our big gifts this year were guns.  Ellie got a pink BB gun.

And Jake got a 22.

The Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is more than just a rule of thumb of where to place subjects when composing a picture, but it goes further than that.  When I was taking a photography class in Colorado, we talked about this.  Part of this discussion was that everything happens in 3s.  And in our family, things happen in 3s, usually bad things.

1st-- December 16th, Candy Day

It was my great grandmother's tradition to make candy every year at Christmas time (caramels, dipped chocolates, peanut brittle, etc).  A few years ago, our extended family got together in honor of Grandma Vera to make her recipes and to pass them down to the current generations.  I really enjoyed this and have made it a tradition of my own.  The day that I had set aside this year to do this, I woke up with a swollen foot and could barely walk.  Thinking it was just a cramp, I tried to rub it out.  But it only got worse!  I took a nice warm shower thinking the hot water would help it.  Nope, I could barely stand on the tile.  So after my attempts to help my foot, more specifically my toe, I couldn't take the pain.  I called the doctor for an appointment.  Turns out I broke my toe.  I don't know how or when but it was broken.  And there's nothing that can be done for a broken toe.  I limped around for a week and am now able to walk somewhat normal.  It still hurts and the doctor said it would take about 4-6 weeks to heal. :(

2nd-- December 24th, Quilts

I was way behind on finishing the kid's rag quilts for Christmas.  I had just finished snipping them and still needed to wash them.  I threw them in the wash.  I had gone up stairs a short time later and I smelled something weird.  I asked Wayne to come help me find it.  Well we did.  It was the washer.  After Wayne completely disassembled it, he came to the conclusion that it was indeed broken.  :(

3rd-- December 25th, Drive Home

We had gone to Christmas dinner with family and on the way Wayne noticed that we were losing tire pressure. No, he's not that good to feel that or does he check that constantly!  The "dummy light" flashed on the dash saying that something was wrong.  Our tire was slowly losing pressure.  We pulled over a truck stop and aired it back up, hoping that we could make it the rest of the way home.  It was cold & dark and we didn't have a flashlight.  So making it home without having to empty the trunk and put the spare on was the best option.  The tire held on the way home!  The next day, nothing was open.  We weren't able to get it fixed until Tuesday. :(

I could probably list more stuff before these and I'm sure more is coming.  Sometimes I feel like we are in 3 sets of 3, not just 3.  Or even 3 years of stuff.  But I know all to well that happiness doesn't come without trial or effort.  If we didn't have rough times, we wouldn't recognize the good times.  I hope that this coming year will bring us some good.  We are making several big changes (like selling our house and moving) and that is sure to bring both good and bad our way.  What a bokeh life!!!

For Sale

Okay, the not-so-secret secret is out.  We officially listed our house today.  Not too big of a deal to us.  Just entering a different time in our life.  It's a little depressing to admit, but we are headed for the teenage years, where our kids are wanting bigger, more expensive things like cell phones and cars!  That's right, Jake can take drivers ed next summer.  Man we're getting old. :(  I don't feel old but in order to accommodate these changes in our lives, we figure some changes financially are coming too.  And we want to be prepared for them.  So here's the first step...selling our house.

Some other upcoming changes in our lives will probably include me stopping foster care and getting a traditional job.  I have realized that my love for children and helping people cannot be forced onto my family.  They have been very supportive with the children we have taken in, but I can tell they don't love it like I do.  So I have been looking for a part time job where I can still be around/help people and children.  I have a couple of options out there and I'm waiting to hear back.  We still need to follow through with our foster care obligations and will help the X Factor as long as we need to, but he will probably be our last placement if I can secure a job in the meantime.

I have always welcomed change in our lives, but this time I'm struggling.  Working outside the home, in an actual workplace, with all new people, scares me.  It's not that I won't enjoy it, it's just not what I'm used to.  I have always found comfort in being at home with my children (and Julie's!).  I keep praying that the right job will come along that will give balance to what I want, what Wayne wants, and what we both need.

What was I thinking....It's almost midnight!

What was I thinking when I decided to start pumpkin bread at 8:30pm.  Let me rewind a bit and maybe we can figure this out together.

I got a call earlier today to remind me of activity days for Ellie tomorrow after school.  The girls are going caroling to some families in the ward.  While on the phone, I was asked to make something for the girls to give one of the families.  I said yes.  I'm always happy to help.

Since this was an "Ellie thing" I wanted her help in making it.  On the phone, she mention it would be an elderly couple.  I decided bread would be the better choice over goodies and pumpkin bread has been sounding good for a while now.  I knew I had to make it today with her since there would not be time after school tomorrow.  So I had Ellie do her homework and take a bath first that way I could get X Factor down for bed before we started.  I wanted to make it special for her without extra little hands interrupting us.

By the time we got started it was 8:30.  I didn't think this through all the way.  I forgot to consider that the bread would have to bake for at least an hour and then cool so I could put it away before I went to bed.  Poor Ellie didn't get to see the end result before I sent her to bed.  But she was thrilled when I told the kids they could eat pumpkin bread for breakfast.

Of course I had to try one while they were hot!  It's been years since I made good (when I say good I mean full of gluten!) pumpkin bread.  My mini loaves only took 30 minutes to cook, but the larger loaves took well over an hour.  There is a bigger one still in the oven when I took this pic.  It took almost an hour and a half.  

So now I'm just sitting here blogging, waiting for them to cool, so I can go to bed.  Even though I wasn't thinking when I started these, I'm glad I took the time to include Ellie.  She has been having a hard time with X Factor and she really needed some one on one time with me.  I love my little Jelly Bean.  She is so sweet.

Close Call

The other night, I was working on one of the many sewing projects I currently have going and my machine quit working. I thought I broke a needle since that was the error that first popped on the screen but when I pulled it out the needle was fine. The machine still wouldn't work.  Then, I thought maybe I had thread stuck.  So I pulled the little plastic piece off the end and checked it out.  Not a thing.  I then checked the bobbin area for the same thing.  Couldn't see anything.  Dollar signs starting popping in my head of how much this was going to cost to fix.  Fancy machines are expensive to fix.

I asked Wayne to come take a look and help oil the proper areas.  Knowing me, I would put oil on the wrong part!  We pulled off some of the exterior covering to see if we could see anything.  Wayne oiled some parts but it still wasn't working.  All I could think of what how much it was going to cost me for a new machine.  I left the room for a little while and left Wayne alone with the machine.  About an hour later he came down stairs and told me he thought he got it working!  I went back up to check it out and this is what I saw.

I have to admit, I was pretty scared.  Yes, Wayne is an amazing auto mechanic, but a sewing machine repair man?  I had my doubts.  But I shouldn't have.  He did get it working.  He did get it back together properly.  Everything works on it.  The dollar signs disappeared.  I got back to sewing that night.

I almost have the kids' Christmas quilts done.  The sewing is done and all I have left is to cut and wash them (they're rag quilts).  Several more projects to go before Christmas.  I hope I can get them all done in time.