South Dakota

Another delayed post......

For fall break we took a road trip to South Dakota to visit Tom's sister and her family. They were great and we had a lot of fun with their cute kids, but overall, the vacation itself was a little bit of a disaster. In Rawlins, WY (about half way) we found out we had left Jace's bag at home, including all his diapers, clothes, shoes, etc... So we had to stop and get him all new stuff. When we got to Rapid City, within minutes of being at the McLaw's house, Dallan started having some serious trouble breathing. Fortunately we had found a cheap hotel and didn't have to sleep at their house. We couldn't figure out what he was having a reaction to but it got pretty scary a couple times and I had to get him a prescription breathing treatment. As soon as we got back home he was fine, but he's had a few small episodes since. I'm worried it's something that he might have to deal with throughout his life (asthma??). We still can't figure out the cause, but the two other times, he's started to get it while we were in Walmart. Weird.

Then, the second to last day, Tom got really sick to his stomach, which I think might have been food poisoning from a restaurant, and he was miserable all night.

We've had quite a busy year and gone on 3 long road trips (Vegas, Texas, and South Dakota) The kids have been amazing during all the long rides, especially Jace. The next trip I'm hoping will be to California. :o)

Halloween thru Christmas

Halloween pics....yes, I know they are a few months too late. :o)
Jace did NOT like getting in his costume, but after we let him run around in the leaves for a while he decided it wasn't so bad.
Dallan was a doctor, but, because he's Dallan he had to spice it up a little. He wore the Sombrero to the Halloween Carnival so people would know he was a Mexican doctor. :o) Derek wanted to be Harry Potter really bad, so I ordered a cape online and he looked really cute. He is reading Harry Potter and I have to ground him from taking it to school so he doesn't read through recess. I was very pleased the other day when he came home and told me that he had spent recess pretending to be a brain sucking alien like the other boys. :o)

Spinach and Carrot Smoothie??

So my favorite Christmas gift this year was a Ninja personal blender that Tom got me. Since I am not a fan of raw vegetables, I have for a while been making a smoothie that I drink every morning, and I actually think it tastes pretty good. My kids like it too. I am lucky to live in Brigham because we have great friends and neighbors that give us free fruit that I can freeze and use all year!!

Here is my basic recipe for one serving:

small handful of fresh spinach (I use bagged baby spinach)
3 baby carrots
a cup or so of frozen peaches
4-6 frozen raspberries
1/4 green apple, chopped (galas or braeburns are good too)
1/2 cup (approx.) orange juice
milk (maybe 1/2 cup - 1 cup?)
small section of a banana (optional)

I don't add any sugar at all. And sometimes it's a little tart, so I add just a small amount of banana and it's perfect. The key I think is to have a good blender and let it blend long enough so you can't even tell the spinach is there. I also think the O.J. is vital. At first I didn't add it, and it wasn't nearly as good.

I even told my kids there was spinach in it and they still wanted more, they couldn't even tell. And the raspberries make it a nice pink color so it doesn't look green.

I think if you were a yogurt person that might be good too, but as I'm not, I haven't tried it.