when rauland is in charge of thanksgiving

Rauland has always been so excited for the day that he got to plan and prepare our very own Thanksgiving meal.  And boy, did he go all out! 

ON THE MENU:
turkey (yes, he cooked it with bacon)
homemade stuffing
mashed potatoes and fancy gravy
menan corn
macaroni (with homemade pasta)
rhodes rolls
apple pie & pecan pie (both made from scratch)

I didn't have to prepare a single element of the meal, he had it all completely under control.  He even did most of his dishes as he cooked.

After dinner, as per our agreement, he and the girls took a much deserved nap while I tidied up the house.  Everything was cooked, eaten, and cleaned by 3pm.

Rauland really enjoyed making this meal (but not as much as I enjoyed eating it).  He's even told me that I may never need to learn how to cook a turkey, because he'd love to do it himself, whenever possible.

DEAL.

a good laugh is better than steak, anyway

Last night Rauland was recipe surfing on Pinterest, when he thought to look up Steak Au Jus, except he spelt it "Au Joue".  Understandable mistake.  So in looking for this:

he found this:

We couldn't compose ourselves.  My goodness.  THAT CAT!

our little family

a real man

Rauland had to write a letter to the editor for a class assignment.  I really enjoyed what he wrote (and it was published in the school paper), so I thought I'd keep it here for future reflection:

My dad gave me all the instruction I needed to become a real man.  He worked me long, hard days, took me to serve others, fulfilled his priesthood responsibilities, and provided for our family.  Sadly, even at 27, I haven't fully applied what he taught me.  With pell grants I have subsidized my responsibility of providing, when additional work was an option - difficult, but an option.  I watch TV when I could interact with my kids.  I find it difficult focusing for long, hard work/ study hours.  It occurred to me that I didn't seem to be as much of a man as I should be.  I have noticed this seems to be a fairly common occurrence among men.  At varying levels, we are disconnecting from our responsibilities through entertainment, entitlements, and subsidies.

I recently re-committed to all things manly: hard work, selflessness, providing, and spiritual development.  It's time to trade those skinny jeans for work pants.  Call of Duty for the fulfillment of priesthood duties.  The walking Dead for a purposeful stride.  Excess loans for additional work.

You males who feel you need a swift kick in the pants to recommit to becoming a real man, like I did, feel free to use my experience as the boot.

I married good

Yesterday afternoon I was was in my room watching the girls. The next thing I knew it was dark out, I could hear giggling in the next room, and two and a half hours had passed. My sweet, sweet husband found that I had fallen asleep and turned out the lights, herded the kids out of the room, shut the door, and played with them while I rested.

 I married good, and I'm writing this down so that I never ever ever ever forget it.

a recipe... or two

Rauland loves trying new recipes.  He's very ambitious about it.  If you're jealous, I understand.  

A few weeks ago for my birthday he splurged and made steak and potatoes.

And the picture doesn't even do it justice.  A few hours before dinner we saw an irresistible appetizer on the Food Network, we call it Bacon Wrapped Prawns, so he made that too.

They're unbelievable.  With jalepenos, and bacon,

... and pepper-jack cheese, and, well you can CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE.

I will say though, there were way too many for the two of us, you may half, or maybe even quarter the recipe.  Oh, you'll love this one.

And yes, I promised two recipes.  Tonight we had burgers and onion rings.

And thank heavens for allrecipes.com for this one.

The onioin rings are so fresh and crispy, and the dipping sauce is just like the Awesome Blossom sauce.

Go ahead, CLICK HERE TO GET THE ONION RINGS RECIPE.

I know, I couldn't have possibly shared two more unhealthy recipes.  But the way I see it, that's what the end of the year is for.  Eat up, because come January we're all going to be dieting.

fly high

Lenny loves playing with her dad.

To learn more about the sweater dress that she is wearing visit my website, www.readjame.com or click on the linked picture below:

LINGER

The other night we were hanging out in our room, Rauland giving Lenny her bottle, me watching.  I began singing "Linger" by the Cranberries.  It's one of those songs that plants itself into your head and anchors there.

"You know I'm such a fool for you.
You got me wrapped around your finge-e-e-e-e-r.
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to - Do you have to - Do you have to let it linger?"

Being the classy and mature man that Rauland is, he started giggling - you know, in a manly way, of course.  I got quiet, anticipating that he was going to mumble something to himself, and I wanted in on his joke.

"That song is funny. It sounds like they're holding hands and then he farts or something."

And there you have it, just one more glimpse into the mind of Rauland.

The beginning of the five minute version is funny but the middle requires to much editing to bother.

Excessive Formal Education = This Guy

I found this from Tyler

G.O.A.T.

1. The Who
2. Pink Floyd
3. Led Zepplin
4. Eric Clapton (includes Cream)
5. ELP
6. Yes
7. Rush
8. CCR
9. The Doors
10. Jimi Hendrix

MOMENTS LIKE THESE

YOU KNOW IT'S HOT WHEN...

Your husband takes a nap in the hallway, underneath the swamp cooler.

GOING DOWN! GOING DOWN!

This is one of those "you had to be there" moments, I'm sure, but I'm writing about it so that I never forget it.

About ten minutes ago I was sitting on the bean bag wasting time and I heard a shuffle behind me and suddenly Rauland was shouting "GOING DOWN! GOING DOWN!" I turned, expecting to see that something was falling off of his desk, but rather got the pleasure of watching him cling to his drafting table with panic on his face. This was immediately followed by a silly grin as he explained that he almost fell down. Who takes the time to exclaim that they are going down? I would have just screamed.

Needless to say I laughed. I laughed uncontrollably. In fact, I was just now able to finally compose myself enough to type this story up. Rauland says he's never seen me laugh this hard before.

Like I said, probably one of those "you had to be there" moments.

!

PREFACE: You english wahoo’s out there are going to cringe at this post. I am not very good at english, so there are a lot of grammatical errors. You will also be peeved, most likely, because this post is about how I dont like a certain punctuation mark. 

So what is the deal with the exclamation point(!), it is like a punctuation drug, and a very addictive one at that. Once you start using it, that’s it, you can kiss any chance of composing an even kill piece of writing goodbye, forever.

Sure, it starts off innocent, like placing it at the end of a sentence, where appropriate, e.g., Nancy Pelosi is a Goon!  or, I am out of TP! Appropriate uses of an exclamation point? Yes! (Whoa, see what I mean, I just subconsciously threw that exclamation point in there after Yes, you have got to be careful.)

But like I said, once you start using the exclamation point it starts creeping into places where it doesn’t belong, e.g., This grass is green! or, I have plenty TP! This dang punctuation mark has even made it into the wonderful world of mathematics, which cheeses me off--my guess as to why the ! symbol is used in mathematics is because some math whiz, who spent his whole life trying to derive a proof for his mathematical theorem, had this one step in his proof that was long, and a pain in the butt. So naturally, he decided to shorten that step by creating a symbol. What what better way to express your distain for that step then by letting an ! represent it. Anyway, back to what I was talking about earlier.

Finally, you have those crazy yahoos who are so completely addicted to this dreadful exclamation point that they frequently put more that one of these things after a word or sentence, e.g., I just ate mashed potatoes!!!!! Come on, I know mashed potatoes are great but do they deserve 5 exclamation points?

Women seem to be particularly addicted to the exclamation point. What’s with that? Kind of like how rich white people prefer snorting cocaine and blacks like to smoke it; or how large numbers of the chinese used to be addicted to opium, and men love booze. Lets face it, women love the exclamation point. 

So what’s my point (did you catch my pun)? It’s not much of one, just that we should avoid exclamation points like we avoid open sewer lines, and put an end to this incessant exclaiming, that’s all.

Dilbert = My Dad....Exactly

P.D.A.

I miss you Rauland.

WRISTS.

I hate wrists. I have this horrible fear that anybody touching my wrists will burst my veins (even saying this is making me squirm). My wristaphobia brings endless joy to my tormenting husband.

Yes, it's I Love Stacie with blood gushing out. SICKENING. And yet oddly sweet. In his explanation of his cruel artwork he claimed, "My love for you runs deep through my veins".

Yuck.

PIZZA AND FRIES

We were going to have a memorable night.  Pizza and french fries, that's what we ate for dinner while we watched "The Jungle Book".  We felt so cool - and then I promptly fell asleep on the couch.  

YUP... I'm that much fun!

Paper or Plastic

DISCLAIMER: I didn't like proof reading this thing, so don't judge me. Also, good luck getting through it and understanding it.

Why do you grocery shop where you do? I always assumed people purchase goods based on whoever has the best bargain. Recently I’ve realized that notion is far from full-proof (whoa). Apparently Tyler shops at Kohler’s over Wal Mart because of the impressive musical playlists on the intercom there. And speaking of Wal Mart, the inhabitants of Highland/Cedar Hills, UT refuse to shop at the Wal Mart in their town purely out of spite. When I first heard these reasons of why people prefer/refuse to shop in one place I had a good laugh, both reasons seemed slightly frivolous yet extremely funny.

Yesterday I joined this league of lame-brained individuals. Here’s the story, I needed a bundle of cilantro and a Hot Pocket, so I went to Kohler’s (which Stacie likes to call Broulims). Kohler’s is by far the closet place for us to get stuff. My reason for shopping there was strictly economical, you know, to save gas. I was standing in the check out line when my life changed forever, (like when you order the pork salad at Cafe Rio, whatever). The defining moment was when the bagger girl asked if I wanted “paper or plastic”, wait a minute, I thought an extermination order had been placed on all paper bags for years now. Once I gained my composure I said “paper”, she acted startled, I believe, because I was the first person to ask for paper in years, there is also the slight possibility that I shouted “paper” on accident, which could have contributed to the bagger girls startled reaction. 

Now, in my opinion, Kohler’s is infinitely better than Wal Mart, it ranks up there with any grocery store in Longview; what’s so special about Longview grocery stores? They still offer paper bags that’s what. I’m sure when push comes to shove though I will shop at whichever store has the best prices; money talks and paper bags don’t, yet they are both made out of the same stuff, which is curious. Yeah I prefer to shop at Kohler’s now solely because the bagger girl offered me paper, I’m not ashamed; in fact I am keeping the bag.

P.S. Many people might be wondering why I am so obsessed with paper bags? First, as Clayton always tells me, I’m “from Washington” and secondly, my dad worked at a paper mill for 18 years. It’s in my blood to love paper bags (sorry if that grossed you out Stacie).