Arizona

I recently went down to Scottsdale to get some sunshine and warmth and it was wonderful!! Dan was working down there for two weeks so at the prodding of some friends (who graciously volunteered to watch our kiddos), I went down for a few days.

I flew out on Friday since Ellie's spelling bee was Thursday evening. I dropped the kids off at a friends and then another friend brought me to the airport. I only took a carry-on with me because I wasn't about to pay to check a bag so since I'd already printed my boarding pass, check-in was fairly easy. My first flight was quite uneventful and short. Did you know that the record for the flight from Rochester to Minneapolis is 12 minutes!?! The flight attendant announced overhead that the record was held by the pilot flying our plane. We didn't get there quite as quickly but it was still a short flight. My flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix wasn't nearly as short. It seemed to drag on forever. When I had boarded the plane I was quite excited to get there. But I was really, really hot on the plane and by the time we got to Phoenix I had the worst headache and was just so glad to get off the plane--not probably what Dan was looking for. Plus, all I heard from the people behind me were complaints about not being upgraded to first class anymore and how it was so much worse to sit in coach. Be happy you are on the plane, people. And if you want first class, pay for it! Sorry, vent over. We went back to the hotel room and I took some Tylenol, had a shower and got some fresh air. I felt much better.

After I'd returned to normal, we went out for supper at The White Chocolate Grill. It was delicious!!!! If you ever eat there, you have to order the Israeli Couscous as a side. It was so, so good. I'm going to have to find a copycat recipe somewhere if I can.

Saturday morning we woke up early, went to Paradise Bakery for a morning snack. They have something called Paradise Oatmeal that was really good and something I intend to recreate at home. It was steel-cut oats served on top of an oatmeal-raisin bowl (yeah, I know, that part isn't so good for you) with sliced strawberries and bananas.

After our snack, we went back to the hotel, changed clothes and went for a run. We asked the guy at the front desk if there were any biking or running trails nearby and he gave us directions to a place about 15 minutes away. Ummmm, I'm not sure what kind of running he was thinking we were going to do. The directions were for a small mountain and the trail was uneven and rocky. It wasn't really what we had in mind nor did we have enough time since we had somewhere to be at 10:30. There was a paved trail about a 1/2 mile back so we went there instead. :-)

On the first day that Dan was there, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was going to the airport to pick up her brother and his wife. Her brother (Wayne) was Dan's college roommate and we hadn't seen them since our wedding (I don't think, anyway, a really long time) so I sent Cheri a message that Dan was in town. So we went for brunch there on Saturday. We had a great time eating, laughing and reminiscing over college days. And we got to meet Wayne's wife and Cheri's husband and darling kids, all whom we'd not met before.

Here are some pics from Saturday morning:
















After brunch we went back to the hotel to figure out what we were going to do for the rest of the day and where we were going to eat supper (the most important part you know). Dan had said a few months ago that when he got a new job, we could both go and get a massage. Seeing as how this seemed to be a great time to do that (and he's been at his job for three months now and we still hadn't gotten them), we set up appointments for massages. They were good but I think the last lady I went to here was better so we'll stick to her from now on.

For supper we went to Oregano's. The weather was beautiful and we sat outside on the patio. We ordered some cheesy garlic bread for an appetizer and then ordered a stuffed pizza. However, what they don't tell you on the menu is that the stuffed pizza is stuffed with mostly cheese!!!!!! So after having cheese on our appetizer, we had cheese for our main dish. I could only eat one piece and scraped half of the cheese off. The flavor was good but I'm guessing they put 2 pounds of cheese on one small pizza!!!! If we go there again, I'm definitely ordering the whole wheat pizza crust instead.

Sunday morning we went to Covenant Community Church which was only three miles from our hotel. Cheri's husband Ryan is the worship leader and piano player there. It was an amazing service!!! Ryan is a really, really good piano player (sings well too) and did a great job leading the service. The pastor there gave a great sermon and the people were very friendly. Dan will be going back there the next time he's there over a weekend.

After church we headed over to Dan's cousin's house for lunch. We had a delicious meal, had a good time talking, and Dan got his kid fix by holding Julia (their 16-month-old) for quite awhile. After lunch we spent some time outside in the sun hearing stories about scorpions in the summer and large spiders. It made me glad we didn't live there (although the year-round garage-saling makes it tempting).

Monday was another wonderful day. Dan had to go to work which left me to do whatever I wanted to do (within walking distance). There were a few shops about a mile away that I wanted to browse so I walked there. I browsed The Container Store (one Ellie would love I'm sure given her penchant for organizing) and Whole Foods. I really wish we had a Whole Foods here--their deli area looked really, really good and I probably could have eaten every meal there. After that I walked over to the Paradise Bakery, got a cup of coffee and sat outside to read for a few hours. It was so nice to be able to sit in the sun for awhile. My cheeks even got a little pink--who'd have thought that would happen in January!?

Tuesday morning I packed up and came home. My flight home went much quicker as I wasn't nearly so hot although we did have quite a bit of turbulence. I even flew home with one of my co-workers who happened to be in Phoenix with her two kids the same time I was. She sat next to a ninety-year-old lady who goes to Hawaii by herself every year!!! I hope that's what I'm doing when I am that old.

Anyway, this has gotten really long and for that I apologize. Thanks Gar and Beth for watching the kids over the weekend and thanks Jay and Emily for watching the kids the rest of the time and everything else!!!!!

I'm ready for another vacation.

Spelling Bee

Last week Ellie was in the SE MN homeschool spelling bee. When the announcement first came out a few months ago about who could participate and when it would be, Ellie asked if she could participate. So she got the booklet that contained spelling words to study and off she went. She's studied off and on for the last few months, mostly in the last 2 weeks. She didn't get anywhere near through the whole list of study words.

When she went in to the spelling bee, she knew that she wasn't going to be the top winner (the age range was for grades 5-8), but she didn't want to be out in the first round. There were eleven spellers total and they first did a practice round where you couldn't get out even if you spelled the word incorrectly. Her practice round word was reckless. However, she spelled it incorrectly. Thankfully she wasn't out, but it did unnerve her a little. The first actual round her word was algebra which she spelled correctly. She also spelled the second round word panzer correctly. Unfortunately she spelled the third round word gestapo incorrectly. She spelled it gostoppo. Overall, she was happy with how she did, but she said she'll be studying a little more diligently next year.

The winning words were ones that I had never heard of before: flibbertigibbet and some other word I'd never heard of before.

Here she is:

My new purse!!

I am going to Phoenix soon and when I started thinking about what I was going to take on the plane, I decided that I wanted a purse. Now before I made this one, I didn't own a purse. Haven't, in fact, owned a purse for probably over 10 years, if ever. Usually I just take my wallet with me, and except for the last year or so, I've always had a diaper bag along. When I was carrying a diaper bag I never wanted a purse because I figured a diaper bag and a kid was enough to keep track of and I figured if I added a purse to the mix, I'd definitely lose something!

So I started looking online at Etsy to find myself something. I knew I didn't want a regular purse because, well, they are boring. And I wasn't about to sell any of my children so I could afford something like a Coach purse (what's the big deal with those anyway?), so I found a few on Etsy that I liked. Problem was, they were a little more than I was willing to spend, and seeing that I only started looking for purses on Sunday, there was no way it would arrive before I left.

So I decided I would just make one. I had seen some wonderful fabrics online and knew that my local Hancock or JoAnn wouldn't carry those, I went to Ginny's Fine Fabrics & Support Group. Yep, that is really the name of the shop. I had been looking at Amy Butler fabric and according to the online locator, Ginny's carried some of her fabrics. I put all the kids in the van and we went there.

The shop was wonderful!! Most of what she carries is better suited toward weddings, etc but she does carry some Amy Butler. When I went in she asked me what I was looking for. I told her and she began to pull out some fabrics for me to look at. Then I asked for some contrasting fabric to go with a couple of the ones I had picked out and then some matching ribbon. It was a full service shop and I loved it!!! I was glad I didn't have to go all over the store (not that it is huge) trying to find things on my own. And I'm definitely going back when I want some cool ribbon. After I had picked out the fabric I asked her about thread. She went and got the matching thread for me and showed me two different types of magnetic closures. She recommended the sew-on one because the ones that you punch through the fabric have a tendency to tear the fabric since the magnet is often stronger than the fabric.

My total spent at the store was more than I anticipated, but that was because I bought more fabric than I needed which I knew would happen. But I had no pattern and I didn't want to buy too little. Now I have extra and Ellie and Kara are asking for their own bags. And now I want to make myself some more. I've even been searching for fabrics online. :-)

Here is what I made. The top fabric is Kaffe Fasset. I'm not sure what the bottom fabric is. I still need to sew on the magnetic closure.


Here is a pic of the inside.

My newest favorite recipe

I made this recipe for the first time over Christmas while at my parents' house. When we all (my siblings families, my parents and our family) get together, we meal plan in advance and all contribute something. I had been looking for a recipe that was allergen-free since my niece has recently been diagnosed with several allergies, and the first place I looked was this blog. I have used it many times when making a meal for a friend of mine that has several allergies including gluten and have never been disappointed in any of the recipes. Little did I know that this recipe would be so absolutely scrumptious!!!! I'd make it again today but I'm out of the ingredients and considering that I left my wallet in the car that Dan has in Mankato today and that the wind chill is currently -50, I won't be making a run to the grocery store. :-(

Roasted Vegetable Magic
This makes a very large batch so either you'll have lots of leftovers or you can cut the recipe in half.
Roasting sauce:
6 T olive oil
3/4 cup Dijon mustard--I like the stone ground kind
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (could also use marjoram or thyme)

Vegetable mix:
4-5 small red potatoes, quartered
4-5 small yukon gold potatoes, quartered
1 head broccoli, chopped
1 zucchini, cut into half-moons
1 yellow squash, cut into half-moons
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
6 carrots, sliced
Sea salt or kosher salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Mix vegetables in large roasting pan. Whisk roasting sauce in small bowl and pour over vegetables. Stir vegetables until coated. Roast in oven for about an hour stirring once or twice. Enjoy!!

Kara's meal

A few months ago we decided to let Ellie take a turn once a month cooking a meal for supper. We did this for a couple of months and then it sort of fell by the wayside. So this month we decided to pick it up again. When I told Ellie she needed to plan her meal, Kara piped up saying she also wanted to do a meal. So I told her to pick something out. Her menu was:

Ham 'n' Cheese Omelet Roll
Parmesan Baked Potatoes
Chocolate Malted Cookies

Here are some pics of Kara making her meal and the finished product (minus the cookies, we didn't get a pic of those).

She chopped all the potatoes herself.

Get Well Table

Kara was running a fever today so hasn't been feeling so great. Ellie, in her thoughfulness, set up this table for Kara so that she would have everything she needed while she lay on the couch. Note the medicine, the "garbage can," and the note pad and note box.