Archive | April, 2011

Dinner in Catalina

25 Apr

Last night, all of the Peterson kids (minus Jordan, he was working), Lydia and I headed up to Catalina to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson’s house to see Brian MacDonald (SP?). Let me see if I can explain the family ties…Jordan’s Dad is cousin to Brian’s wife. Simple enough? It was neat to see a professional chef in a home setting. We all enjoyed his culinary expertise and stories. I was quite thrilled to find out that he had attended the Culinary Institute of America. We had a lovely evening up in the Catalina Mountains, with a very wonderful dinner, thanks to Aunt Becky, Grandma and Grandpa Peterson, and Brian.

Brian cooking at the stove.

 

Sauteed Zucchinni.

Beautiful color!

Grace assembling a taco.

Austin denying the disappearance of the other taco. (just kidding πŸ˜€ )

 

Chloe caught in the act of snitchin’.

Hadassah, Lydia and Lilliana relaxing.

Lydia the Arabian Princess. πŸ˜€

Until the next blog!

Martha

Easter

24 Apr

Lydia on Easter πŸ™‚

Martha

4/23/2011

23 Apr

So Friday, I went shopping with Lydia and Lilliana (As I have done shopping by myself, but it is easier and makes for a happier baby when there is an assistant.) We went to Food City, Arizona’s Mexican grocery chain, and a really good place to get inexpensive produce. Sunflower (Also another stop on the grocery trip) does give them a run for their money on some items, but other than that, you can hardly compete with them. It is usually very flavorful food as well (some of the best cantaloupes that I have ever eaten!) Lilliana and I were walking around in the produce, picking out some mangos and avocados, and I decided to go look at the lettuce. As I was headed towards where it was, I saw a man reach up to pull a produce bag off the roll that they had above the produce. He pulled down, and he must have pulled so quickly that he let go on the bottom because suddenly the bag sprang out of his hand and went rolling back up, winding itself back onto the roll of bags. He was startled, just looking at it, and I started laughing out loud. He heard me, and turned around and started laughing himself. He said “Did you see that?!” I laughed and said “Yes!” He said “I almost thought it was a Venetian blind there for a moment!” He ended up getting his bag off, and I had a humorous moment to brighten the day. πŸ˜€

It was later that day, I was whirling about the kitchen trying to get things done so that I could start on Β making a Chocolate Mint dessert as well as boiling a dozen eggs for the Baby Meet and Greet the next day. We had 5 out of the 7 couples from the Bradley class getting together at Richard and Rebecca Hoy’sΒ home (they also were one of the couples). We were going to finally get to see all of the babies! Hadassah was over and we were talking about something, and it was a fast paced conversation, and I knew I was keeping her from doing something, and I was trying to do something, and so at one point in the conversation, I turned to Lydia who was in her swing, and said “Lydia, tell mommy to stop talking and to move!” Clear as a bell, Lydia said “MO!” Hadassah and I burst out laughing, amazed that Lydia would say something at such a random time. I doubt that she actually knew what she was doing, but who knows…maybe she did! Regardless, it was amazing!

The dessert ended up turning out fairly well, though Jordan made the comment that the filling tasted like toothpaste. He likes mint stuff, but next time I’m going to use Peppermint extract instead of just Mint extract, as that has both Peppermint and Spearmint. I like peppermint over spearmint. The recipe was like a rich, gooey brownie with a mint filling and a chocolate topping. Really good! Then I made deviled eggs, one of my favorites (and Jordan’s). I picked out Lydia’s outfit, and then matched me and Jordan to her. He didn’t realize it until we were walking out the door to go to their house. I was tickled. πŸ˜€

When we got there, we were the first people to arrive, and we weren’t sure if it was the right address, but right after we pulled up, two of the other couples pulled up. We all got out and started admiring each other’s babies, while secretly proud of our own. Rebecca opened the door, and we got to see her baby. They were all SOOO Cute!

The oldest, Jackson, was born on in the beginning of December.

Β The next two,Β Nickoli and Charlotte, shared a birthday of December 22.

Β Lincoln was January 24.

Β The last was Lydia on January 28. All of us sat around and swapped stories of how our births went, and the various quirks of our babies. Swaddling, tummy time, nursing and labor were just parts of the conversation. We talked over lunch, and before everyone went home, they arranged the babies in a circle and took pictures over head.

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Β Five random different couples, tied together through our offspring. We may never see each other again, but I’m quite sure we’ll never forget each other! Thank you, Richard, Rebecca and Jackson for such a wonderful time!

Next edition coming up soon!

Martha

Off to the Fair…

21 Apr

Working on shower and baby thank you’s has been a bit more of a challenge than I thought. Almost done with the shower Thank you’s. Now I just have to do all of the other ones, as well as devising a system to help us keep track of which ones has been given/mailed out, so that we don’t miss anyone. It may seem like a lot of work, and taking too long, but who wants to be the one who didn’t get thanked? :-/

I finally got to go to a fair and see the quilts. I have been wanting to do that for several years now, and it was quite a nice little outing for Jordan and I and Lydia. Jordan went to Sierra Vista for a job walk with the boss, and so I stayed with the boss’s wife until Jordan and the boss got back, and then we all left to go to the fair. We were ahead of everyone else, which was fine by me. We could go at our own pace. We went and saw some old vehicles, a shark show (swimming with the sharks…it was kinda neat actually.) They had this rather large shark tank built right into a semi trailer. I was admiring the wrap job done on the trailer, but as I decided that taking the camera in with me was too much stuff (diaper bag, purse, etc), I have no pictures to show you. My favorite part was before the diver went into the tank, he had a volunteer (young boy around 12 years old) come up and demonstrate how well made the tank was, and that the glass was strong. Before the boy demonstrated, the diver (Which had a bit of an Australian accent, or so I thought), said “Now, if the glass WERE to break, DON”T PANIC! The sharks will go everywhere, and while they are on the ground, reach down, pick it up, hold it TIGHTLY as it will be flopping around, and head as quickly as you can to the sting ray aquarium and GENTLY put them in, but don’t disturb the stingrays!”

After that, he told the boy to pound as hard as he could on the glass…UH OH, before you do, hey…that shark right there was eyeing you! πŸ˜€Β  Okay go ahead and pound! Right as the boy started banging, they played a soundtrack of glass breaking, and a small hole right below where he was banging started spraying the audience. You should have seen that boy dive under the audience railing! πŸ˜€ The guy pulled him back and said “Hey hey! It’s leaking. You gotta stop it!” Finally after a few humored comments (Such as “I hope you’ve got a strong arm..cuz we got a long show”), he asked for some chewing gum, and all of the little kids in the audience that had chewing gum were frantically waving their hands. They plugged up the “leak” with the chewing gum, and started back on with the show. It was very funny, but the guy said, “I’m sure you all in the back find this more humorous than all of the people in the front” (who all got wet.) πŸ˜€

So after that we walked around, found the quilts and home arts, as well as a few people we knew. After talking with them for a bit, we moved on, entertaining Lydia and admiring the quilts. I’ve wanted to try to enter a quilt into the fair, but later I told Jordan “I don’t know whether to be intimidated, or inspired.” There were some very nice quilts, and I am not an expert quilter yet. Ha! I’m not really even a quilter. I’ve got a list of about a dozen quilts to make, and I’m still trying to figure out how to run a house, much less add a few quilts into the mix! Sorry, Sarah and Jonathan. Your quilt may be a 5 year anniversary present! :-/

After that, we decided to see the sheep, goats, chickens, and whatever other livestock that they had there. Lydia decided she didn’t want any of it (According to Jordan. :p) We saw this HUGE turkey there. It was so big it could hardly walk. The thing looked like it had been pumped up with air! Definitely not your grocery store turkey. This would take a VERY large oven to bake it. I don’t think that it would fit into most ovens that I have seen. It is more like roasted turkey on a spit over a fire pit (with a walnut in it’s beak. :D)

Then, finally deciding to leave (because I was tired) we started heading out when I spied some cute little dresses at a booth. I think it was Native American items, and so I just stepped closer to take a look. As I did, a man stepped out and started showing me the dresses, taking one down, and I said “How much?”.

“Tirty-Five.” (English wasn’t his first language.)

“Okay, thank you.” I started to walk away. It was a bit too much, and I wasn’t planning on buying anyways.

“You want?” He offered the dress.

“No thank you. I have to save my nickels for next year.”

“I can do twenny five.”

“No thank you, I have to save my nickels for next year.”

“How about twenny?”

“I didn’t bring any cash with me.” (Jordan had it all. :P)

“We take credit card.” (Please make sure those are hispanic R’s when you read that. :p)

I shook my head. “I really don’t want to do that. Thank you though.”

He looked at me incredulously, dress in hand. “You woodn’t even take it for TEN?!”

I was humored at this point. I hadn’t even TRIED to haggle him down! I said “No thank you…but thank you.” and we walked away. Well…it started naggling at me. Most dresses are a good price at $10. So I asked Jordan and he was okay with it, so I counted out the quarters, and I had $10. I told JOrdan, “I’m going to go offer him $8.” Jordan said, “Aw…don’t haggle with him.” (he was feeling pity for the guy.) So I decided not to.

I walked back to the booth, and saw the guy, and asked him…”Still ten?”

He shook his head. “I changed my mind.”

I asked him, “what did you change it to?”

“Twenny five.”

I said “I have $10, but I don’t have $25. Thank you” and walked away, as I didn’t even HAVE $25, so it was okay to walk away. Needless to say, it has kind of naggled at me that I didn’t get the dress right then when he offered it at $10, or that I didn’t even counter offer for $8, (Saying that I had found $8 to buy it with.) I do remember my Dad telling me that you can really do some haggling as long as you are willing to walk away from whatever you are haggling over.

So, somewhat disappointed now, Jordan and I left, and he decided to console me with Costco pizza (which is his favorite :p), and this Mocha Cappuccino drink by Bolthouse Farms sold in Walmart. It is a rich, chocolatey drink with a mild coffee flavor…and Jordan and I both THOROUGHLY enjoy it! That helped…and I had to have Jordan tell me that I could make a dress like that, and even prettier. πŸ˜€ Yes…I had to have my ego soothed after that. πŸ˜€

So those were my adventures at the fair. Jordan offered to buy me ice cream while we were there, and I knew he was trying to do it to be sweet because I was getting tired, hot, and trying to find a place to try to nurse Lydia because she was a little cranky, but Jordan and I tell each other that we could buy a whole quart, or half gallon at the prices that they charge for ice cream at various places, so I did turn him down, but took him up on the pizza and the drink! πŸ˜€ Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and had a lot of memories.

Developments on Lydia…she has been making razzing noises back at the ones that I do at her. They are SO CUTE! πŸ˜€ That, and the other day, she lifted her head up so high that she got top heavy and tipped over. It isn’t the first time that she rolled over, but it is definitely the most memorable. πŸ˜€ I was in the shower watching her on the towel on the floor (because she had an exploding diaper which got all over her, me and the couch cover, all which had to be washed), and she was looking at me, and raised up higher and higher until she just wobbled over. She didn’t hit the toilet, for which I was very thankful! She is getting stronger and stronger every day, and she loves to be raised up into a sitting position by holding her hands. She pulls and I help, and she absolutely loves that!

Okay…back to Thank yous! She is still sleeping at the moment (best as I can tell, she is silent). Gonna go tip-toe in there to check on her, and then I’ll be back to my gratefulness session. Tell you what…after so many, you really realize what it means to be thankful, and in realizing how much people have done for you. It’s been good. πŸ™‚ A tip: when Princess Diana of Wales was asked out to an engagement (dinner, lunch, etc) she had a pre-addressed envelope with a blank thank you sitting on her desk for when she got back so that she could immediately pen a thank you and have it sent off right away.Β I know…I’m working on it. πŸ˜€

Martha

New pictures of Lydia

6 Apr

Lydia has been “Social smiling”. She has the most beautiful dimples ever! πŸ™‚ I didn’t think being a mother was going to be so rewarding (as well as this much work!!) It is a challenge at times, but even cherries have pits, strawberries have hulls, apples have seeds, and watermelon…wait…you can get seedless watermelons now! πŸ˜€

I’m working on getting a few of the photos from our honeymoon up on Picasa…so as soon as I do, I will post the link (or a slideshow) of them for you to see.

Here are new photos of Lydia. A few of them are older, but some I just took this morning. Some are a little blurry, but I had to upload them anyways! πŸ™‚ Some very special photos that are in there are ones of her being held by Brother Paul Cain. I will treasure those photos. I hope you enjoy all of the photos, as much as I’ve enjoyed taking them. Sorry…this is the only link that I Have for the moment…

https://picasaweb.google.com/thedenimchef/LydiaAndVariousOtherPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCKOHt56orcqdRg#

Also…new developments in the kitchen. I’ve been working on trying a few new recipes. A few years ago my Mom gave me a cookbook put together by the Yingst family up in Ohio for the matriarch of the family, Sister Viola Yingst. It was a very well done cookbook, and just last night I tried the recipe “Chicken Tetrazzini II”, except I used ham instead of chicken, so it was Ham Tetrazzini. It turned out good, and Jordan seemed to enjoy it thoroughly! Also, a couple weeks ago I made English Muffins from scratch…homemade whole wheat with honey! They turned out really well as well (gonna keep the recipe!), especially when scrambling an egg, melting cheese on top, and putting it all together. I called it my Egg and cheese McMartha, in honor of my dad. πŸ˜€ (He likes to call me McMartha.) Anyone who wants to try making English Muffins, let me know and I’ll share the recipe with you! Just leave a comment with your email address. They are pretty good!

Well…back to the laundry (TONS), dishes, and Thank you’s. πŸ™‚ Until Next time…

Martha

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