Category: family

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Mother’s Day Getaway~ 3

Day 1 ~Afternoon~

After the glorious breakfast at Kneader’s and our fabulous total foot make-over, we packed up and hit the road for Park City.

The guys booked a weekend stay at a condo in the former Olympic Village

Ooooh–it was a pretty little place with positively everything that we needed for a perfect time.

I’ve always dreamed of going on a vacation or cruise where we has some kind of group room or suite where we could all be together and still have our own space when we needed to. Well this, my friends, was exactly such a place.

The kitchen was enormous and stocked with dishes, silverware and every small and large appliance that you could think of…

and a huge dining room table that seated nearly every one of us at the same time.

This was my room with an incredibly high bed. No kidding, it was so tall and puffy that I had to stand back and jump up on to it. But oh, my goodness—it was soft! I felt like that princess with all the piled up mattresses…and the pea. Except no pea.

I did, however have to bring my own Cheetoes.

It’s fine.

I’m used to it.

Dane is in Texas working so Kortney brought her sweet friend Emily along–who we positively love.

They shared the bunk bed room.

April and Jacob and the kids had the master suite. The kids slept on a mattress in the walk in closet. Lyndi and Nate stayed in a second master suite in the basement. I didn’t get a picture of it or Jillian’s room for some odd reason.

The deck came with a barbeque and a lovely little jacuzzi…

that was a huge hit!

It was an easy place to just make ourselves at home.

That is, before hitting the outlet stores for some major shopping and…

well, I’ll save the rest for tomorrow.

:}

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Mother’s Day Getaway~ 1

Day 1

~Morning~

This year, Mother’s Day was all about doing whatever each of the Mother’s in my life wanted to do–whatever that was. So for little Lyndi, the day started with breakfast at Kneaders, where they were serving…

Strawberry French Toast with whipped cream.

And get this–the sign said, “Moms. Eat. Free.”  Oh, my.

It was a totally adorable set-up with a tent outside and two cute little fellows doing valet parking. Anything to pamper all those moms. There was a line clear out the door, but it moved fast and everyone was happy and chatting the whole time.

I know we made it worth their while because we brought nearly the whole crew with us, whether or not they were mamas yet. And of course, they had to eat too, you know. Hey Miss Chompy–you gonna eat that piece?  :}

I mean, seriously, who can resist Kneaders for Pete’s sake?

Not us. That’s who.

We took a box of…um…extras with us, just for the Heck of it. No, no…I’m not going to eat those all by myself. I can share…if I make up my mind to do it. And get a load of that Chocolate Mousse Bomb. Ho-lee-cow.

Food, folks and fun. Perfect way to start the day–if we do say so ourselves.

Thank you Kneaders–we positively LOVE you!!

Stay tuned for Mother’s Day Getaway~ Day 1 “Afternoon” coming tomorrow.  :}

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Mother’s Day Love

Mother’s Day, in this neck of the woods–was filled with so many wonderful things, from each of those incredible people that I love…with all my heart. First, my darlings–whisked us all away to a vacation home in Park City to spend the weekend–Heavenly!! More about that…soon.

But the other gifts of love seemed to just keep coming.

Flowers–this mother loves flowers, and so they even came in my favorite color.

This gorgeous Willow Tree figurine called “Happiness.” Who wouldn’t be happy with sweet little birdies following you around?

The manuscript of my very first book–retyped into the computer and all ready to publish on Kindle–very soon. I’m SOooo excited!

A beautiful fairy flower wind chime to hang on my bed–because wind chimes sound like fairies to me. And perhaps you already know how I feel about fairies.

A Thor doll. Wow. I’m totally in love with him. Thor. The real one.

Pink mini roses, to go in between the two big bushes outside my bedroom window…as they should, so I can see them every day.

Blueberry everything because blueberry is the best, and a gift card to see the Avengers with someone who hasn’t already seen it…if there is anyone.

Lastly, a Skype call with my sweet faraway boy in Siberia.

There has never been a better day!

What a wonderful world it is to be surrounded by the ones I love, not only because they are mine-mine-mine, but also because they are and have always been my very best and dearest friends. Oh, I am so blessed!

I hope your Mother’s Day was the best kind of beautiful my friends. :}

Thanks April, Jacob, Lyndi, Nate, Jillian, Josh, Dane, Kortney, Emily and Rhen. I love you.

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{ Blessings Remembered }

“Ask yourself, ‘How did God bless me today?’ If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.”

–Henry B. Eyring

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Luscious Cinnamon French Toast

When I was a kid, we didn’t do a lot of sleepovers–mostly because we lived in a shady part of town and nobody actually wanted to drive through it, never mind sleep in it. But now and then, we would spend the night with a close friend or relative. Sadly, I earned the reputation of being a runaway and never really lasting the evening without either calling for my mom to pick me up or running home after everyone else fell asleep.

Yeah, I was a pain.

Some of my anxiety came from being a home-body and getting genuinely homesick, but a lot of it came from worrying about…

breakfast.

I’d had a couple of near-death experiences with some dear friends whose moms made gooey French Toast, eggs over easy or sunny-side up,—which in my vocabulary all meant…raw. We never ate them that way at home and it would always totally freak me out. Oh, I wasn’t a jerk about it or anything, but I was so afraid that I’d betray the fact that uncooked eggs made me gag, and in a sincere desire to not be offensive, I’d lay awake long after everyone else was asleep worrying about it. Then, sometime in the wee hours, I’d claw my way home…figuratively speaking. With that set up—

Over the years, it’s been fun to find and tweak some of the best egg recipes in the universe so that they fit the persnickety egg tastes of my little family. Yes…yes, I passed my raw-ish egg phobia lovingly on to my children. I couldn’t help it. Anyway, we’re particularly proud of our luscious, moist-but-totally-not-raw-or-gooey-inside Cinnamon French Toast. A big key to it’s loveliness lies is the fact that it’s made with 100% whole wheat bread–the rest is probably just, you know, magic.

Heh, heh.

Cinnamon French Toast

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
dash salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cinnamon

12 slices whole wheat bread

Directions:

Whirl everything–except the bread–in the blender until frothy–about 15 seconds. Pour into a low, squatty bowl. Heat griddle and coat with a thin layer of butter.

Place bread slices, one at a time, into the egg mixture for about 2 seconds, then turn the bread over to lightly soak the other side–for 2 seconds.

Remove bread and heat slowly on griddle, until bottom is golden brown, then turn and brown the other side. Remove and stagger-stack on a paper plate–which helps it not “sweat” while waiting to be served. Butter each cooked slice while the new batch is on the griddle. Serve with Buttermilk Syrup to an adoring family.

Store any leftovers in a ziploc bag and reheat in the toaster.

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Luscious Cinnamon French Toast
 
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Ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • dash salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¼ cinnamon
  • 12 slices whole wheat bread
Instructions
  1. Whirl everything--except the bread--in the blender until frothy--about 15 seconds.
  2. Pour into a low, squatty bowl.
  3. Heat griddle and coat with a thin layer of butter.
  4. Place bread slices, one at a time, into the egg mixture for about 2 seconds, then turn the bread over to lightly soak the other side--for 2 seconds.
  5. Remove bread and heat slowly on griddle, until bottom is golden brown, then turn and brown the other side.
  6. Remove and stagger-stack on a paper plate--which helps it not "sweat" while waiting to be served.
  7. Butter each cooked slice while the new batch is on the griddle. Serve with Buttermilk Syrup.
  8. Store any leftovers in a ziploc bag and reheat in the toaster.