The Secret Garden

When we went to Tyler and Nicole's for Thanksgiving, Nicole sent me back with a bunch of wonderful books to read. She was an elementary school teacher so she had some good ones. I just finished "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is a fabulous book and I was especially impressed by some words of wisdom offered by the author at the end of the book.





"In each new century since the beginning of the world wonderful things have been discovered. In the last century more amazing things were found out than in any century before. In this new century hundreds of things still more astounding will be brought to light. At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts--just mere thoughts---are as powerful as electric batteries--as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let is stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live."

What food for thought! (No pun intended) She goes on to say this:

"Much more surprising things can happen to any one who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place."

"Where you tend a rose, my lad, A thistle cannot grow."



I thought these were such profound, yet simple statements. We have the ability to change our lives if we but stay positive and think good thoughts! This is definitely a recommended read, especially for children.

Thanksgiving In Pittsburgh!

So we had the privilege of going to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. Derek's cousin, Tyler, is going to dental school at Pitt. His wife, Nicole and their beautiful baby, Caleb, treated us real well on our vacation!


What the boys did most of the time - played X-box!



Derek playing with Caleb. He is the cutest thing ever!


Caleb taking a bath in the sink. He had such a fun time!


Steeler's Stadium. I have never seen a city so obsessed with a sports team. There are Steelers purses, baby clothes, car seats, couch covers, door mats, you name it!


View of downtown. There are bridges everywhere.


Happy cousins smooshed in the back seat with Caleb!


Tyler and Nicole looking at the Macy's windows.


My first time in a Macy's at Christmas time. It was so cool!


Precious Caleb playing with his toys.


Derek and Tyler cooking the turkey.


Our beautiful table set by Nicole.


Most beautiful baby ever!

Tyler and Nicole took us to the strip, a sweet shopping area with fresh foods, souvenirs, trinkets, and anything else you could want. We had gyros!

Thank you so much Tyler and Nicole for letting us relax and enjoy your company!

Chocolate School

Derek has the daunting task of getting payed to attend Chocolate School for three days. He's learning all sorts of fun facts about chocolate including its origins and the complete process from cocoa bean to candy bar. Yesterday he came home with all kinds of delicious treats that he made himself. A master chocolatiere came and showed them how to make chocolate dipped goodies. I have to say, Derek did a superb job. He even wrapped the treats in cellophane and tied them with a bow. Today he taste tested a bunch of different chocolate liqueurs from all over the world. He said some were incredible and some were pretty wretched. Needless to say, I am extremely jealous, but Derek has been good about teaching me what he's learning and bringing me home samples.












I don't know if you can tell but those chocolate dipped strawberries are sitting in little chocolate cups. Derek made those by blowing up mini balloons and then dipped them in chocolate. After the chocolate hardened he took off the balloon. Derek hand dipped all of the pretzel sticks and strawberries and even decorated them. YGB!

Derek has been working so many hours and dealing with stressful people so I'm glad he's been able to take this time off and enjoy himself at work!

Boo Boos

The last week has been a series of unfortunate events for my poor skin. It all started out while I was peeling apples. I've got this great apple corer and peeler but I couldn't get the core off. I was trying to push with all my might when my fingers slipped and my pinky went through the slicer. I don't have a picture but it looked bad. It bled forever and was sensitive for days. But now it's almost completely healed. Our bodies are truly remarkable.



The next accident I had happened at about 9:30pm last Friday night. We were in bed and Derek had just turned out his light. Of course, I was almost asleep when I had the sudden urge to go to the bathroom. I've walked to the restroom hundreds of times in the dark before in the middle of the night. I must have been so tired and out of it though because I ran smack dab into the wall. And it wasn't a flat wall, it was a corner. My mouth went numb for a few seconds and Derek asked in panic if I was ok after hearing the thud. Of course I couldn't talk because I couldn't feel my mouth. When I turned on the light in the bathroom I noticed a big ole blood blister already full on my lip. We couldn't believe how fast it formed. Thankfully I didn't have anywhere to go for the next couple of days because it was General Conference and we could stay home and watch that on the internet. The blood blister stayed full the next day and I could feel my pulse in it. Eventually the blood leaked out little by little. By Sunday the blister had dried up and I could peel off the bloody scab. Again, I couldn't believe how fast my body healed itself. Here is a picture after all the blood had dried up.



The last injuries I have inflicted on myself have been burns. I burned my arm on the top of the oven while pulling stuff out and just yesterday I burned my forearm on a hot cookie sheet.





I'm not looking for sympathy here. I just think it's ridiculous how clumsy I am. I am constantly banging my head on something or scraping my leg against the corner of our bed (which hurts extremely bad and leaves a big bruise). A while ago I dropped the bucket of laundry detergent on my head which was on top of our stacked washer and dryer. Sometimes I don't think I use a very big portion of my brain. Hopefully I'll be more careful with my future kids! Yikes!

Canning with Carrie

I have always felt like a crappy Mormon woman because I don't know how to do a lot of the domestic basics, like can. Carrie, on the other hand, is an incredible homemaker and an expert canner. A couple weeks ago we went apple picking at the Masonic Village and got tons of apples and really unique looking pumpkins and gourds. With my crazy work schedule we finally got around to canning applesauce yesterday and I couldn't believe how easy it was. It is rather time consuming though, but went much faster and was much more enjoyable with a good friend.



Since we didn't have a nifty applesauce maker we started out by pealing and de-coring all the apples. Then we boiled the apples for about 30 minutes until they were soft. Carrie has a sweet immersion blender so that's what we used to blend the apples into applesauce. We tasted the applesauce and it was delicious. We didn't even need to add any cinnamon. I forgot to say that we used Golden Delicious and Fuji apples picked straight from the trees. When I made applesauce before in Canada they like to add maple syrup. MMMmmmmm Good!




I didn't know a thing about canning but apparently it's an art. You must make sure that none of the jars have sharp or uneven edges around the mouth because then it won't seal properly. Each item you can also has a specific amount of space that you must leave at the top. For applesauce it's 1/2 inch. There can't be any applesauce residue on the mouth of the jar because then again the lid won't seal. You also have to boil the lids before putting them on the filled jars. There is a neat tool used to get the lids out of the hot water with a magnet on the end of it. Then you simply screw on the outer ring.

Ravenna had fun playing in the apple boxes.


After the cans are full you put them in boiling water for 20 minutes. Carrie has all the gadgets needed to can. Like a water basket for all the cans and jar tongs to take them out of the hot water. Like I said, she's a pro at this.

I definitely want to start canning! It was so easy and so fun! Thanks Carrie for a great morning.

I've also made an apple crisp and an apple pie with the Granny Smith's that I picked. When I pulled this pie out of the oven, Derek and I both looked at its beauty in amazement. I know it's not very humble of me, but it is pretty perfect looking.

NYC Baby!

So a few weekends ago we had the fabulous opportunity to go to New York City and stay with our fantastic friends Lisa and Tag.  They were so good to us.  It was neat to stay in their flat and get the real New York experience.  We got there late Friday night and toured all day Saturday.  We were exhausted but had a great time.

Lisa recommended that we take the free Statin Island Ferry because it goes right past The Statue of Liberty instead of waiting in all the lines to take an expensive boat ride out there.

 Us on the ferry and our view of NYC.

On Wall Street where Derek's gonna work someday...just kidding.

Tons of people were taking pictures of the back of the bull while touching certain parts of its anatomy, but Derek and I decided to take a more conventional photo. It was funny because after the lady took this picture for us Derek asked if she wanted one with her and her husband and she said, "No he's too big, he won't fit in the picture."

 Ground Zero. We walked around the whole area that's blocked off and it was huge. It was so humbling to be there and feel the enormity of this tragedy.

 

Memorial Wall at Ground Zero.

 Derek at The Restaurant from Seinfeld which was right by Lisa and Tag's house.

 Grand Central Station is gorgeous.

Times Square was packed.

At the M&M store.  Derek gets 40% off for being a Mars employee...heck yea!  Derek really wanted me to take a picture with him next to this thuper cool jacket covered in diamonds and rhinestones.  Maybe I'll get it for his birthday.

 We spent the last part of our day in Central Park.  We were super pooped after all of our walking around so we took time some to relax in the shade.  I thought it was hilarious how people came to the park in their bikinis to tan.  But then Derek pointed out to me that most people in New York probably don't have backyards or neighborhood pools to go to.

Central park is huge.  We probably walked through about a third of it.  We saw lots of funny entertainers, people doing odd things, and

.....well......these guys.  There was a blocked off area with a DJ in the middle and all these people roller skate dancing around. 

The guy in the middle was my favorite.  He was wearing super short shorts, a breathe right strip, a little tank top, and those 50's style roller skates.  He was totally in his own world.  The guy without a shirt on was totally wearing MC Hammer pants with matching wrist warmers.

Other cool stuff we saw.

We really enjoyed our time in New York City.   Thank you so, so much Lisa and Tag.