52 Days til Spring......

Just in case you were wondering

Eggnog Rum Cake

Here is my good friend Jenn Gardner's recipe for the Eggnog Rum Cake that I got multiple requests for:

Eggnog Rum Cake

1 yellow cake mix (dry)

1 large box vanilla pudding (instant)

1/4 c sour cream

3 eggs

1/2 c oil

1 c eggnog (pumpkin spice eggnog is yummy)

1/2 c sliced almonds

Mix together. Batter will be VERY thick! Spray bundt pan very well. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of sliced almonds in the bottom of the pan if desired. Then spoon batter in and even it up. Bake @ 350 degrees for 45 min. or til it pulls away from the side of the pan.

` cube butter, melted

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp rum extract

1/4 c water

Pour over cake and let sit for atleast 10 minutes, it can sit for up to an hour. Then invert on a serving plate. VOILA! Enjoy!

It was so tasty that I took Jenn's advice and froze 1 cup baggies of eggnog so that I can make this throughout the year. SUPER Delish!

What's in YOUR cart?

My cute friend Stephanie posted on facebook how she enjoys peeking into strangers carts at the grocery store. She said that she enjoys trying to imagine what they will be making with the ingredients. She also wants to see if what they have is better than what she herself has picked out. I like to see how healthy people shop. I too, like to secretly compare what is in someone elses cart as opposed to mine. At the beginning I always feel good, like whoever sees my cart is gonna think I am a good momma because of all of the fresh fruits and veggies I have in my cart. I only feel this way because I always start at the fresh produce in the store and that is all that has had a chance to make it into my cart. By the end though my true nature is more revealed. There is usually some frozen items, comfort food and usually some sort of gummy treat. Well, while I was at the store today with Cincess I started thinking about this facebook post of Steph's.

I thought it would be fun to take a picture of my cart at the checkout and post it on my blog for all to see. I in turn would love to see your full carts next time you venture out to shop. I am fairly proud of what I have to show today. In case you are wondering, NO, I didn't censor what I bought. Since the picture doesn''t show everything, I added a list of all of my carts contents. Some of my usuals didn't make it into my cart today because of budget constraints and or those darned New Years Resolutions

• 8 lb bag of oranges
• Cottage Cheese
• Bottle of Fruit Fresh
• 2 lbs of extra lean ground beef
• 3 gallons of 1% milk
• 2 sticks of Secret deodorant
• 4.5 lbs of yams
• Bone-in spiral half ham
• Bananas
• 2 Hostess fruit pies (they barely made it past my resolutions...."it's the weekend" was my rationale. Wondering why only two? I forgot I had 4 of them at home in the pantry....that way we each get one. )
• 1 lb of mild cheddar cheese
• 2 bags of brown sugar
• 1 bag of shredded mozzarella
• bag of string cheese
• bag of shredded parmesan cheese
• Dole frozen juice concentrate, the really good stuff. I got 2 orange/peach/ mango, 2 orange/strawberry/banana, and 2 pineapple/orange
• Western Family Yogurt, for the kids, in a variety of flavors
• Dannon Lite & Fit Yogurt for me (60 calories ea. Resolutions prevailed in this choice)
• 1 lb bag of tomatoes on the vine (cannot WAIT to get my own out of the garden!)
• 2 frozen bags of Chicken fries
• 1 bag of frozen sweet potato fries
• 1 bag of Rold Gold 'Honey Mustard' pretzels
• 1 bag of Baked Scoop Tostidas ("It's the weekend" and "I REALLY want some home canned Salsa, WHAT? That's healthy......plus they are BAKED, right?" was the prevailing rationale here.)
• 1 bag of Baked Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles (These are for Nate, again they ARE baked......so even if he is forced to share.........)
• 1 bag of adult cat food
• 2 bags of malt o meal cereal
• Country Time Lemonade powder
• Country Time Pink Lemonade powder
• Home canning jar lids both wide and regular (time to start getting prepared! YAY!)
• 2 Jello Vanilla Instant pudding (Egg Nog Rum Cake, it is to die for,,,,,What? It's the weekend!)
• 1 Box of Huggies size 4 (please let it be our last one!)
• 24 can case of Spaghettios

So, there you have it. I hope you found this fun and will accept the challenge to show me

What Is In Your Cart!

No judgement......unless it's better than mine! :)

School is in Session

At our Primary's "Meet Your Teacher" breakfast this month we also had a Teacher Training. During that time some of the Primary kids hung out in the Nursery room. Ladybug wanted to help take care of the little ones. Those little kids didn't know what they were in for. The room was quickly transformed into a classroom and she began teaching "Easy Math". She was in heaven......the jury is still out on whether they were. Thanks kids for being such great sports and letting her fulfill her "lifelong" dream of being a teacher.

Confessions.....

My friend Megan had this on her blog today and invited everyone to play along. I don't normally share with everyone the inner workings of my crazy side but here goes.

• I like being tall. I am not one of those women who hunch over and try to be shorter than I actually am. If anything I go the other way......how many times have you seen me in anything other than a heel?
• I have a shoe/jewelry/purse fetish.
• I was born a blonde but I am a redhead at heart.
• I exercise because I am afraid of what will happen if I don't.
• Being unattractive to Nate scares me.
• I am not as strong as I may sometimes let on. I got a lot of comments about how "strong" I was when Nate got diagnosed with Cancer, but I am a closet crier.
• Just the thought of nursing a baby makes me nauseous. The longest I made it nursing was 6 weeks.
• I am NOT crafty - crafty women sometimes intimidate me. Sure I do the occasional scrapbooking type craft but beyond that.......NADA!
• I can't stand shaggy hair on boys!
• I can't stand white shoes with dark nylons.
• Sometimes being friends with other women scares me. I have no desire to be friends with "pot-stirrers". When I meet someone new I have to spend a lot of time observing them in different situations, or wait to see if my "mean girl radar" goes off because of them. It takes me a long time to shift from friendly acquaintance to FRIEND.
• People that don't live with me think I have this amazing will power when it comes to food. Not so, I am an emotional eater and once the kids go to bed no food in the house is safe. I have much better restraint in the light of day. There is a lot of truth to the statement "I run so I can eat."
• I get angry when I see people driving around with their kids not in car seats.
• I fantasize about my yard during the winter months.
• Sometimes by the end of September I could rototill it all in just so I don't have to work on it one more day.
• I don't like animals in my house. I like cats the most, but at my house I want them outside too. I don't hate animals, I just don't LOVE them and I don't want to LIVE with them. I don't enjoy being covered in hair, or being jumped on, or having my clothes torn, or having pee/poop in my house or on my lawn. If I wanted dog poop all over my yard I would get my own dog. For the record I do have a cat, she is 15 years old, I occasionally let her in to snuggle and she likes to take naps under the christmas tree. Once she is gone we are planning on getting two kittens from the same litter. So, I am NOT an animal hater.
• I am terrified of snakes. I can't even look at them on tv or in a picture in a book.
• I am a meaner mom than I thought that I would be.
• I am extremely self-conscious of my teeth. I am struggling with the fact that in a matter of weeks I will be a toothless hillbilly. Even though it is temporary and necessary with my braces I will constantly be fighting the urge to hibernate and to not smile or talk in public.
• I cannot dance. I have the dancing ability of a 2x4.
• I cannot sleep on Christmas Eve. I am so worried that I will not hear the kids getting up and I will miss the first look on their faces when they see that Santa came.
• I am a real woman with a real working body. I sweat when I get overheated. When I have stomach issues I will pass gas or burp. This doesn't mean I don't have manners and go around doing it just because I can but yes, it does happen. Also, I sneeze like a normal person. I am not one of those girls who sneezes and you don't hear anything come out of them. How do they hold it all in like that without blowing out their brains in the process?

Well, there you have it. Atleast what I will admit to.

Would you like that boiled or burned?

The kids have been on a hard boiled egg kick lately. This morning around 9:45 am I started boiling them some more. I then got busy doing other things, paying bills, nagging the kids to get their chores done, had an impromptu visit from my mom, checked my email, you get the idea. Fast forward to 11:20 am. I walk back into the kitchen, and WHAT is that smell????

I rush over to the forgotten eggs and voila! The water had evaporated, some of the eggs shells had cracked and they were all burned. What are ya gonna do?

LOVE her Words of Wisdom

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt umder my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

- Marjorie Pay Hinckley

My friend posted this on her facebook page today and I loved it. It was the reminder and the kick in the pants that I needed today to forget myself and get on with life again.

Girl in A Whirl

About a year ago I was given a copy of this poem. It came to my mind today because of all of the running around and juggling of everything that I have to do. I always feel like I have my hands in 15 different pots at the same time......anyway, I hope you enjoy and I am sure you will be able to relate.

The Girl in a Whirl

by Dr. Sue (a.k.a. Vickie Gunther)

Look at me, look at me, look at me now!

You could do what I do

If you only knew how.

I study the scriptures an hour each day,

I bake,

I upholster,

I scrub,

and I pray.

I always keep all of the commandments completely;

I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.

I help in their classrooms!

I sew all they wear!

I drive them to practice!

I cut all their hair!

I memorize names of all the General Authorities;

I focus on things to be done by priorities.

I play the piano!

I bless with my talents!

My toilets all sparkle!

My checkbooks all balance!

Every week every child gets a one-on-one date;

I attend all my meetings (On time! Never late!)

I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,

But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all.

I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished;

Our t-shirts are ironed!

My toenails are polished!

Our Family Home Evenings are always delightful;

The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.

I do geneology faithfully, too.

It's easy to do all the things that I do!

I rise each day early, refreshed and awake,

I know all the names of each youth in my stake!

I read to my children!

I help all my neighbors!

I bless the community, too, with my labors.

I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;

My Visiting Teaching is done the first day!

( I also go do it for someone who missed hers.

It's the least I can do for my cherished ward sisters.)

I chart resolutions and check off each goal;

I seek each "lost lamb" on my Primary roll.

I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.

But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all!

I write in my journal!

I sing in the choir!

Each day, I write "Thank you's" to those I admire.

My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!

My kid's get straight A's!

And their bedrooms are clean!

I have a home business to help make some money;

I always look beautifully groomed for my honey.

I go to the Temple atleast once a week;

I change the car's tires!

I fix the sink's leak!

I grind my own wheat and I bake all our bread;

I have all of our meals planned out six months ahead.

I make sure I rotate our two year's supply;

My shopping for Christmas is done by July!

These things are not hard;

'tis good if you do them;

You can if you try!

Just set goals and pursue them!

It's easy to do all the things that I do!

If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!

"It's easy!" she said

and then she dropped dead.

Vanity

All my life I have had terrible teeth. I have always been self conscious of them. I was one of the unfortunate few in my family that didn't have all of my permanent teeth come in, because of that I have always had too much space on top and too little space on the bottom. While in the sixth grade I got braces on the top just to pull my top teeth together. They then put a permanent brace behind my front teeth to keep them from seperating again.

Fast forward about 9 years, Nate and I were dating when we got into a a pretty bad accident.
Long story short, while the car was rolling our heads made contact with each other and I sustained major dental damage. Once the car stopped rolling I could feel the permanent brace they had put in almost ten years earlier lying on my tongue. I was taken to the dentist later that day where they cemented my top row of teeth together for the next ten days. Due to the trauma they sustained a couple of my front teeth died. They eventually turned dark and I had veneers placed over the top of them. Even with the veneers they still look darker than the rest of my teeth. I have always hated that. Nate and I looked into getting me braces years ago but the prospect of having to wear braces for 4 years and the cost just didn't work at the time.

Then last year I got serious about getting braces. I was finally so beyond sick of my teeth I looked into getting them again. I was liking what I had to hear, not 4 years but around 2 instead. Although I wasn't terribly excited about being a thirtysomething with four kids while wearing braces I was ready to finally feel good about my smile. Some of my treatment was a little hard to swallow but I knew it would be worth it in the end. So in January 2009 I bit the bullet and had THREE teeth extracted.......ouch! Two molars on the bottom and the little tooth on the top right side next to my front tooth. The top one was the most difficult to part with. I will admit I am vain enough to not want to be missing one of my top front teeth. Luckily they were able to create a false tooth that connected to my braces. Every time I go in for an adjustment they just shave it down a bit while they close up the space. We are getting to where the tooth is getting too tiny to hold a bracket, and while the space is considerably smaller it is still quite noticible when my tooth is off. My days are numbered with it and fairly soon I will actually be a toothless hillbilly. NOT looking forward to it but it is a necessary evil. No turning back now though.

Prior to getting my braces on Nate was feeling bad about all that I would have to go thru and he graciously agreed to getting braces on himself to support me. I fell in love with him all over again for being so self sacrificing. Although once they were on he told me that if he had had any idea what he was going to go thru with them he would have told me "Sorry, dear, you're on your own." What a trooper. Imagine my surprise when 6 months into the deal Tiny Man got braces on his top front teeth as well. I now had my own braces support group! I loved it! It was much easier running around with half the family in braces than being the only one, and a grown up at that, with braces. Although I will admit there are a HUGE amount of adults that are sporting braces lately! LOVE IT!

Well, the Monday after Christmas Tiny Man got his braces off! He is only done with phase one and in a couple of years he will be wearing a full set. Two days later on Wednesday, after only 13 months of wearing braces Nate was able to get his off too! While I am very excited for them it is difficult losing my support group, especially with the knowledge that my hillbilly days are coming soon. I am so grateful for the men in my life and the support they have given to me this last year, even if it is just to ease my vanity burden. My continuing mantra for the next year will be "It will be worth it, it will be worth it, it will be worth it....." Wish me luck!

Twelve Years and Counting

Nathaniel and Ronda Mills

January 9th, 1998

Bountiful Utah Temple