Roast Recipe

1 onion (chopped into 1 inch pieces)

1 packet Lipton Onion soup mix

1 can cream of mushroom soup

salt and pepper

Brown both sides of the meat in a little oil.   Salt and pepper each side (about 18 shakes of salt and half the shakes of cracked pepper if you want an exact amt.  hee hee). Add chopped onions around and under meat and saute.  In a bowl, mix onion soup packet and cream of mushroom soup and then fill EMPTY cream of mushroom soup can 2 times full with water and add to the mix.  Pour mix onto roast and leave simmering for at least 5 hours.  The LONGER the better.  Love when the meat falls apart.  Then, if you’d like, you can peel some carrots and place on top of the roast and around it for the last hour.  Use the drippings for some VERY VERY TASTY gravy. 

Chart Update

I have been so impressed with my kids’ behavior since this chart.  They have caught on so quickly and it has become an easy thing for them to say, “Ok Mommy” anytime and every time I ask them to do something.  They used to grunt and sigh for everything!  They have each filled up 2 charts, so have been able to choose 2 things.  Isaac chose to stay up an hour later and then just had Jamba Juice with Daddy this morning.  Kallie and Jaidyn had decided to stay up an hour past bedtime BOTH times.  It’s hard on me… having to make the hour exciting for them with a game and a movie.  Usually when their bedtime comes around, all I want to do is relax and veg or dink around on the computer or read.  But it’s been really nice to have that individual time with each kid.  They have been so grateful and have expressed how special they feel hanging out with me and getting to stay up late like a BIG kid.  “Thank you Mommy, sooooo much, for letting me stay up and for making this chart.  I love it!”  I have also been really surprised by the attitudes of the ones who have to go to bed when the “one” gets to stay up.  They have congratulated the one and told me that it’s ok, ‘cause soon they’ll be getting all THEIR smiley faces.The first night Kallie stayed up, she wanted to play bingo and watch Wall E.  2 nights ago, we watched the Bee Movie and she brought down every Polly thing she had and we played Polly’s together.  I tried to help set up the furniture, but she knew EXACTLY where everything went.

Summer FUN

Ya gotta find ways to survive summers here in the crazy heat and this is one way of doing it.  All Harkin’s Theaters have the Summer Movie Fun program.  You pay $7 and get to watch 10 movies, one a week.  So for the kids and I, total cost:  $35 for an entire summer of movies.  Sweet deal!

Roadtrip to:

Home Sweet

Home

During the week Jaidyn had been begging to see her kindergarten and 1st grade teachers at Westfield Elementary.  We never got a chance to since Monday was Memorial Day.  When we left for our roadtrip home around 6:30am, Jaidyn woke in tears saying how I promised her we’d stop to see them.  So… before heading home, we stopped by her school to take a picture.

A roadtrip is NO ROADTRIP without… BUG JUICE.   My kids know that at the first gas station that has this, they each get one and one treat. 

 Kallie was in no mood for bug juice.  She opted for her favorite gum instead.

This time we took a different route home, the scenic route.  It added 2 or 3 more hours to our trip, but what’s 2 or 3 more hours on top of 10?  We got to enjoy the best stop ever at Fort Zion.  There were all these cute wood shops the kids could go play in and a petting farm and the best knick knacks (paddi-wacks) inside that we’d ever seen.

Jaidyn having a hard time deciding on what to spend her $1 she earned for watching Dagen one day for me while I got ready for the morning.

Jaidyn: “Hmmm.  What should I get mommy, the lucky rabbit’s foot, or the worry stone, or a beaded ring?”We got a bunch of carrots to feed the animals outside.  Pretty cheap, too!  That’s always nice.

After the kids were done feeding the animals and playing in the wood shops, the kids spent their earned $1.  I went in the car with Dagen, the Destroyer, and waited for them to join us.  Isaac and Kallie both spent their dollars on 4 marbles each.

Jaidyn came out looking like this.  This is her “Mommy you’re going to be so proud of me look” or “I have a surprise for you, Mommy look.”  I love love love this face.  It’s my favorite that Jaidyn makes.  Always something good comes after.I was right.  Jaidyn had resisted the “wants” she had in there and decided to save her dollar, which added to her “22 dollars and 95 cents” she’s saved and keeps telling me about.  Jaidyn has always been one to spend whatever money she earns as soon as it’s in her hand, but she has been trying really hard to save for something big.  That something big is still undecided for now. 

Then came the $25 crossing fee… that we did not know about.  I was kind of shocked by how much it was and I was telling Mike, while the kids were listening to my every word.  I love that the kids are starting to understand the concept of money and what things really cost. 

Jaidyn:  “What?  $25 just to drive through here?”

Isaac:  “That’s not a good deal!”

Jaidyn:  “Yeah.  It should be a dollar!”

Isaac:  “It should be no money!”

Me:  “I hear ya!”

We soon found how worth the $25 it was.

The views were AMAZING!  Utah is seriously the MOST BEAUTIFUL place by far!  There was this fun long tunnel that was pitch black forever inside.  The kids tried holding their breaths, but no luck with that, then in the middle Mike opened the windows and we all took turns yelling and listening to our echoes while driving through.  Even Dagen joined in the fun.  Mike also honked the horn a couple times and was joined by the oncoming cars passing by. 

It amazes me how these things are built.

I must have taken a hundred pictures of the views along the way.  I know no ones surprised by that.  Here are just a few of my favs.

 After the tunnel there was a little spot we pulled over at and went on a little nature hike for about 5 minutes and had each kid look for one big rock to bring home. 

This was all Mike’s idea.  He really did a great job making this roadtrip enjoyable for us all.  Good job, baby!

We were all so exhausted when we got back at 8:30pm. 

A

Beautiful

Monday…

Never to be forgotten

Monday morning, the Maxfields made us some delicious crepes with raspberries and whip cream.  Brock ate them his own way.

We then met up at my Grandma Maria Perez’s gravesite.  My Grandma passed away when I was 17 and never went to the funeral and have been meaning to visit her for some time now.  I had lived in Utah for 10 years and it is now that I no longer live in Utah that I finally make it to visit the grave.  How ironic.  We were the first to get there and had no clue where it was at.  So I wrote PEREZ in big letters on some napkins I found in the car and gave one each to Jaidyn, Isaac, and Kallie and told them to look around and see who can find it first.

  I asked the family what her favorite flowers had been and they said, “Aji (ahi),” which is really hot red peppers?  I guess my grandpa said she loved aji and that he would put a ring of ahi around her grave stone after she passed away.  Then they said she loved pink flowers, so I went with those.  Before we could find her grave on our own, the crew showed up and directed us in the OPPOSITE direction we were looking. 

I can’t imagine losing a loved one and the grief and sadness and joy you’d have, especially having to lose your spouse who you have lived with and loved for so long.  It was an experience I’ll never forget seeing my Grandpa standing there blind by his wife’s grave.  I am grateful to know that someday he will be reunited with her in a much better place and have his body and eyes restored to perfection.

 

 

 

We then went to see my brother Jeremy and Leslie and Logan.  Logan was sick and groggy and not himself… poor guy.  We grabbed some food from Quiznos, Pizza Hut, and Pollo Loco and had a feast.   

 We met at the “Fairy Park”, that’s what they used to call this place.  This was Jaidyn and Isaac’s favorite park to go to when we lived in Utah.  Jaidyn says this is her most favorite tree because the inside is hollow and you can look inside and all the way up.  She said there has to be fairies living at this park.  They also loved the creek nearby.  When Kallie was teeny I would lay a huge blanket out under the tree by the creek and let the kids play in their swimsuits in frigid cold water.  The kids didn’t mind the temp of the water though.  And I had shade in the blazing hot weather and enjoyed the light breeze and the noise of the leaves rustling in the breeze.  Very relaxing and enchanting place.  It was nice to see again.

 

 

We all can’t believe how much Logan looks like Isaac.  Even Dagen and Logan look like twins.  We tried to show you a pic of them together, but Logan was not up for it.

We packed things up and then met up with Michael and Angela Maines.  Jeremy and Les joined us and the kids had tournaments playing Wii with Jeremy. 

We have been friends with Michael and Angela since before Jaidyn was born.  Now 4 kids later, they now have 2 kids.  Rand and Vienna are so gorgeous.  I couldn’t get over their big blue eyes.  We had a delicious bbq with a to-die-for view.  Mike and Michael both served missions in Tawaiin and knew each other then.  They then created a business together called Blankdecks.com with skateboards and snowboards.  We built houses together and had gorgeous views from our backyards.  They are still there enjoying it.  We loved going back to our old neighborhood and visiting with our good friends, Michael and Angela.  Utah is such a beautiful place.

 

Jaidyn collected a bunch of these “crown flowers” she found in their backyard.  She asked for a crown and this is what I came up with.  Pretty good, huh.?! 

 Jared and Mindy live right next door and joined us for the reunion.  It was so neat to see Mindy as a mommy.  Bentley Crue is so adorable.  So glad we got to see them.  What cutie parents they are.