Jack-O-Lantern, finally!

Here's the long, not-so-exciting story about our jack-o-lantern: A few weeks ago, we bought 3 pumpkins and put them in front of our house. We were pretty excited to have cool enough weather that jack-o-lanterns would last more than a couple days. That weekend, the pumpkins were taken (we saw evidence of smashing nearby). So, we bought 2 more and decided to keep them in the garage until we were ready to carve them. Well, we originally planned to carve them for FHE last week, but the kids got sick instead, then Scott was out of town. Today we figured was our last chance, since tomorrow is the big day. So, I got the kitchen ready and went to get the pumpkins from the garage. One of them was black and mushy on the top! (Maybe we shouldn't have stored them in the dark garage? the one we used was fine and they were right next to each other.) I had already told Eden and Andrew we would carve and paint pumpkins, and since we only had one left and they can't help a whole lot with carving, we carved, then the kids painted the one pumpkin we had (a $3.88 WalMart special, which essentially cost us $22.76 after everything that happened). If you can't tell, it is supposed to be a ghost.

*disclaimer: I am really not that talented artistically, we used a stencil; and we even bought one of those carving kits last year. The tools really are easier to use than our knives and spoons.*

Recipe Exchange!!! and Stake Conference

Here's the recipe I shared for the latest recipe exchange e-chainmail I got. It's actually from the Garnica's (hope that's ok), but I've switched from cooking them on the stove to using the crockpot method recommended by Mom.

Homemade Refried Beans (not exactly quick, but super-duper easy!)

Put about 1 cup pinto beans (sorted and rinsed) in crock pot. Add water so that the level of the water is 2-3 times as high as the level of the beans. Cook on low 6-7 hours, depending on how soft you like refried beans. Heat enough oil in skillet (mine is 10 or 12 in.) to generously coat the bottom of the skillet. Use slotted spoon to remove beans from crock pot to skillet. Use ladle or spoon to add some of the liquid from the crockpot to the beans. Use masher to mash/stir beans to desired consistency, adding liquid from crockpot as needed. Don't worry about adding too much liquid it will boil off pretty quick. Add salt to taste.

I usually make bean and cheese quesadillas for dinner the first day, then save the leftovers for bean and cheese burritos at lunch, they taste great with green taco sauce! Believe it or not, these have not caused much of a gas problem for our family (I've heard its because they are cooked in plenty of water, for plenty of time).


On another note, the kids and I actually made it all the way through our Stake Conference today, without Scott (he's in Meridian, ID for baby Abigayle's blessing), and it ran 20 minutes over (good thing the kids don't know how to tell time yet!) I only had to take Andrew out once, plus a couple water breaks. But the kids were actually very reverent most of the time!

Photos by Eden

We really haven't done much lately. The kids struggled with some kind of stomach flu most of this past week. So, I was looking through some of our old pictures to find something to post. These are pictures that Eden took during our Utah visit. She was always wanting to take pictures which is why we bought her a camera for her birthday (I have yet to scan any of those in). The first one is at Temple Square and the second one is in front of the apartment building Scott and I lived in when Eden was born. They're a little crooked, but she actually does a good job of getting everyone in the picture.

What a Guy!

Scott is such a great guy! Over the past few days he has done some wonderful little things for me that I really appreciate. On Saturday, he fixed the problem between our computer and printer (they weren't talking to each other, a problem I had already tried a couple times to fix, but Scott was the one to figured it out). On Monday he took the kids out for a drive after FHE to give me a little quite time (Andrew has been throwing fits a lot lately- even in public!!!), and last night he took the kids out to Pizza Hut buffet (kids eat free on Tuesdays) while I enjoyed a 28th OSS spouses' get together with tons of beautiful, yummy food from the hostess Helena. And today the housing office came out with the black-light to inspect our pet odor problem (previous owners had some poorly trained pets); I should have called weeks ago, but kept putting it off. I am just especially thankful for him today and wanted everyone to know. I love you, Scott!

Grandma & Grandpa Olson's Visit

This past week we had Scott's parents visiting. The kids were so excited, and then sad when it was time for them to go home. While loading these, I realized I didn't get very many with us or the grandparents (oops), but here's a little bit of what we did with them.


We went to the airplane museum next to the base. There was a lot of neat things to see. Here, Scott and Andrew are sitting in the cockpit of an F-106 (that's a fighter-jet, and yes, I had to ask Scott what plane it was).

This picture is from the trip through Custer State Park. They didn't see any bison, but they did see the wild burrows, which are actually quite tame. This one stuck his nose in the window when given the opportunity.

These are pictures from a trip to a park near our house. Andrew's Spiderman costume had just arrived (yeah ebay!), and he just had to wear it. He will go down this slide, only if I am watching nearby (it is a little high). Eden was having fun being silly with Grandma.

We also took a picnic to Mt. Rushmore, and then drove by Crazy Horse. Eden and Andrew were so excited to see these mountain goats. Apparently, they are not native to the Black Hills, they got loose from a movie production in the area.

Zucchini Recipes

Elise had the great idea of posting a recipe on her blog when she got the recipe chain e-mail (its hard to follow through on those and I hardly ever get any recipes from them). I thought it was a great idea and said I would post these recipes yesterday, but I didn't. So here they are. For those who don't already know, a friend gave me a HUGE zucchini from her garden, so we've been trying some new recipes this week. Sorry I don't have any pictures or anything.

Mom's Zucchini Bread (a recipe from Allrecipes.com, I used suggestions made by a reviewer)
makes two loaves

3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. applesauce
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
3-4 c. zucchini

1) Grease & flour two 8"x4" loaf pans (I used the foil ones from the grocery store). Preheat oven to 325 F.

2) Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, sugars. Add the dry ingredients, mix well (you're supposed to have already mixed the dry igredients together, but I never do that). Stir in zucchini.

3) Bake 50-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then remove and cool completely.

Zucchini Meat Loaf (from Amanda, who gave me the zucchini; all the suggestions at the end are hers. we all loved it, even the kids!)

2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups shredded zucchini (1 large or 2 small)
1/2 cup bread crumbs*
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef

TOPPING (its yummy!- make twice as much and mix half into the meatloaf)
1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 tsp. yellow mustard

1. Heat oven to 350 F. In large bowl, mix all meat loaf ingredients until well blended**. Press mixture into ungreased 9 1/2 inch deep-dish glass pie plate***. Bake 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix all topping ingredients. (See comments by TOPPING ingredients)

3. Remove meat loaf from oven; pour off drippings. Spread topping over loaf. Return to oven; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until thoroughly cooked in center (meat thermometer reads 160 F). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

* I have found a quick way to get bread crumbs if you don't have them on hand. Take one or two slices of bread and toast them in the toaster. Then place in the refrigerator for a few minutes to cool. Then place in blender to make crumbs.
** I use my kitchenaid mixer to mix my meatloaf. That way I don't have to get my hands all gooey or get raw hamburger under my fingernails. Eeewwww!
*** The Pillsbury cookbook recommends baking the meat loaf in a shallow pie plate because it takes less time than baking it in a loaf shape. Dinner can be on the table more quickly.

All the comments on the meatloaf are Amanda's. Also, she told me to double the topping and add some to the meat loaf before I cooked it, but I forgot. So I still made double and just put it all on top, it is really yummy topping! For the zucchini bread, you can look it up on Allrecipes. com. I just used the substitutions and stuff recommended by MommyFromSeattle, the "altered" recipe is the one I posted.

Making both of these recipes once only used up about half of the shredded zucchini I got from that monster. Amanda told me to shred it and freeze what I didn't need, which I did, before making the meat loaf. So, since I had to thaw it to make the meatloaf, and it was all in one big ziploc, I'll be making more zucchini bread (I hear you can freeze that too).
Note to self: freeze shredded zucchini in smaller, more manageable portions.

Eden is 5! and Hermit Crabs

We weren't going to do a big party for Eden, especially since we had just got back from our big road trip, and her birthday fell on a Sunday this year. But, her friend Aurora (who turned 4 just a few days before Eden turned 5) invited her to do a double birthday, with just our two families. It worked out great, Eden felt like she had a "party" and it didn't really take any work. She got an inexpensive 35mm camera for her birthday, and went through the first roll the same day!

The kids have been wanting a pet for quite a while, so after numerous trips thru the pet store, I relented and said they could have hermit crabs when we got back from our big trip. I had read through the information at the pet store and decided that they couldn't be any more work than the goldfish we had in Hawaii (whether this turns out to be true remains to be seen). So, now we are the proud owners of two very special crabs. The white one is Eden's and the darker one is Andrew's, but they don't have names yet.