Help on a snow day

It snowed quite a bit this season which was such a blessing because last year was very dry which was not good for our water.

This is an example of the incredible spiritual maturity of my son.  Derek takes care of me, but he does it out of love for me.  He doesn't simply do the jobs he does when he helps me because they need to be done, he does it most of all because he loves me.  While it seems that I am painting Derek out to be perfect I know that he still has room to grow in many ways, however, he is so much higher than most kids his age and even adults in his motivations.  Our motivation for why we do things are so incredibly important.  

Derek's wonderful, happy friend, Nick (and of course, Koda) are out helping him as well.  I am grateful for Derek's help, but most of all for the whole package, for his help and his Christ like understanding and motivation of why we help eachother.

Thank you Derek.

Derek's developing talents

One of the many benefits of being a mother is being able to watch a tiny wonderful human develop into an amazing person.  It is like opening a treasure box every day to find new treasures.  It is exciting and awe inspiring.  I love that this young man is my son.  It is an amazing adventure of new discoveries to be with him.

Just this week, I was away over night for work and Derek shared with me that he got "bored" and decided to "transpose" one of his favorite new songs from the new Star Wars movie.  The song is, "Rey's Theme".  I loved how he spent his time.

I come from a family that has extreme musical talent from my mother and her side.  One is a professional opera singer and travels the world and has been a guest tenor soloist with the Mormon Tabernacle choir singing Handle's Messiah for Easter just a couple of years ago.  That same cousin also played the cello for the Chicago Symphony.

I wonder what Derek's future holds in store for him.  Most important about him though is that he has courage and is kind.  He loves our Heavenly Father and our Saviour Jesus Christ.  He also loves his family. He also demonstrates on a regular basis a high moral compass and a very strong power for discernment between what is right and what is wrong and what is evil and that which is of the Spirit.

I love you Derek and I am so humbled and honored to be your mother.

Derek and Sam at the new Provo Temple

The Young Men and Young Women of our Ward went to the open house for the new Provo Temple this evening.  I pleaded with Derek to get a picture for me.  (He is SO tired of pictures, I think I have gone overboard in that area in his life - sorry son I say sheepishly)

Derek says that this is his new favorite Temple.  He said it was beautiful.  It is so important that we flood our lives with not only good experiences but great experiences and to have spiritual experiences be of paramount importance in frequency in our lives.  I have tried to adopt this principle in the lives of my kids.  I pray that each of my kids will remember the spiritual experiences and great experiences we have shared together and those they have had on their own and with others.  That can provide a shield and protection, a type of bubble wrap and soft, peaceful, safe place to remember when there are trials in their lives which we all have and must go through.  As we have been told the road to discipleship is not for the faint of heart.  (That was a quote from a former Prophet, it is paraphrased and I can't remember which right now)

Star Wars!!!!!!

Okay, this was not our first time going, but, it was our second time.  The first time Hannah, Derek and I went with the whole Schmule family.  It was fabulous!

This time we had Adrienne come with us as well as Sam and Nick.  We went to the movie and then went out to Hires Big H restraunt for dinner to discuss our theories of what will come in the next movies.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  I am so grateful to be able to have such great times together!

We LOVE Star Wars!

Fun Dinner Together

 It is always great to be able to spend time together.  We had a great dinner together.  This was from an old recipe book I got from my Mom and Dad from their bookstore, The Family Tree.  The recipe was called Beef Parmesan from the recipe book, Lion House Recipes published way back in 1980.





This was the price tag for the Lion House Recipes book from back in 1990!  History, I love it.  I have to say though that I have grown to love history as I have gotten older.  Memories have become more that mere memories, they have become precious treasures.




Every moment we get to be together has been so meaningful and wonderful.  I hope that the kids will continue in sharing time together.

Recipe: Scalloped Potato and ground beef casserole recipe

 I found a new recipe on Pinterest.  It has kind of a boring name and I'm not usually very creative but I will try.  Maybe in a couple months I will think of a better name for it.

This was a recipe that Derek loved.

TOTAL TIME

INGREDIENTSNutrition

SERVINGS 8UNITS US

• 1 1⁄2lbs ground beef (or use bulk Italian sausage meat, can increase the ground beef slightly)
• 1medium onion, chopped
• 1small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)
• 4garlic cloves, finely chopped (or to taste)
• 1⁄2teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes (adjust to taste) (optional)
• 1teaspoon seasoning salt (or to taste) or 1⁄2 teaspoon white salt(or to taste)
• 1⁄2teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 5 -6russet potatoes (peeled and sliced thinly, or use as many as desired)
• 2cups shredded cheddar cheese (or to taste)

• SAUCE

• 2(10 3/4 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted (using any other flavor of soup will not be as good)
• 1small onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
• 3⁄4light cream
• 1⁄2cup sour cream
• 1⁄4cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1teaspoon garlic powder
• 1⁄2teaspoon seasoning salt
• fresh ground black pepper (to taste)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a skillet cook the ground beef with onion, bell pepper and chili flakes (if using) until no longer pink; drain fat over a colander.
2. Return to pan and add in garlic, season salt and black pepper; cook stirring with a wooden spoon until the meat is lightly browned (I usually add in about 1-2 tablespoons bacon fat that I keep frozen in my freezer to the meat while browning for added flavor and it also helps to brown the meat) set aside.
3. For the sauce; in a medium bowl mix together the undiluted soup with onion, milk, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, seasoned salt and black pepper to taste; mix well to combine.
4. In a greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish or a large oval casserole dish, alternately layer the sliced potatoes on bottom of the baking dish, then soup mixture (I like to sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top of the soup mixture) then the ground beef mixture on top.
5. Since this is a large casserole I strongly suggest to place the baking dish on a jelly-roll sheet in case of any spills.
6. Bake covered with foil for about 1 hour at 350 degrees F.
7. Uncover and continue baking for another 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (baking time will vary depending on the thickness of your sliced potatoes).
8. Remove from oven then sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese; return to oven for 4-5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

***I used sausage and next time will subsitute the green peppers with corn.  Derek likes corn a lot better.  ****I also cut the potatoes in scaloped size and cooked them in boiling water for about 10 minutes so the baking didn't take so long and I knew that everything would be cooked.    So I ended up baking for only about 20 minutes.  Derek doesn't like too much sauce but I LOVE sauce so we just dish his portion up with less sauce***

Dinner party with friends

T
This is Derek's group of friends that come over often.  They are a great group of kids.
The bottom on the left in a red shirt is Brandon, then Shylee, then over to the right is Derek, Nick, Edward and Leia.

We had breakfast for dinner.  I made about 20 pancakes, used 20 eggs for scrambled eggs, a container and a half of bacon and a whole package of hashbrowns.  They also downed 2 1/2 containers of orange juice.  They are so so sweet.  I LOVE that they love my cooking, even when it's quite simple they still are so appreciative.

After the dinner they sat around just talking and laughing for a long time.  It was great  to listen to.  Then they had a game that they wanted to play that needed 6 decks of card.  We piled EVERYONE into my car and I took them to Wal-Mart and they all went in together and got the cards and then we drove home.  They wanted me to play with them.  I love that, that they want me to play with them.  It was a great game.  I think Shylee called it "Hand and Foot" it was quite an invloved card game.  We will have to play it again.

My Warrior

Feeling quite sentimental for my Hannah.  I put her first painting she did back in Iowa with the amazingly talented Aunt Kelly as her teacher up on my wall so that I could see it every day.  It is quite soothing to me.

Hannah has so much talent and so much drive.  I pray that she continues in her quest for her talents both in art and leadership.  She has always been driven.  I remember very well as a baby and little girl, one time in particular, learning how to roll over.  She yelled and yelled with quite the war cry as she was determined and would not quite to roll over.  She was quite pleased to put it mildly after her task/quest was accomplished.  She let out more war cries to let the world know of her amazing accomplishment.

I love to watch her, what ever she does, as she continues in her way of a warrior of right and truth.  I love you my little warrior.

Hannah's 19th birthday

This is Hannah and Derek inside of her work (as I have mentioned she is a CNA at a local nursing home).  Derek dropped the flowers and card and balloons for her on her birthday.  She was so touched she teared up.   I am SO glad that we could do that for her.  It is so important to let the people you know they are special. I sure do love her so so much!  I am so proud of her.  She works so hard.  She has accomplished so much all on her own despite so much hardship.

Well, Hannah had to work on her birthday so we had to celebrate the following Saturday.  What a wonderful evening!  Adrienne came out from BYU and we played on our new PlayStation the new Star Wars Battlefront together and went to our family restaurant, Tios for dinner.  We talked about the new Star Wars movie almost the whole night.  It was so much fun to get together and laugh and have a great time.

I unfortunately have been very sick for a week so Derek went in and picked out and bought the card, flowers and balloons for Hannah.  He did such a great job of picking out beautiful flowers and colorful balloons.  The card was awesome also.

 I was so sad I couldn't even go in to deliver it to her.  This sickness has really kicked my ...  Derek is so sweet and kind.




It was great to be able to celebrate her birthday twice.  I REALLY miss being able to celebrate in our home though.





This is Derek, Nick, and beauty (Hannah)  Hannah considers Nick (and Sam Schmuhl) her brother also.  Both Derek and Hannah have said that they would like to invite Sam and Nick to our family reunions when they get older.

Fun water tasting contest!

Derek had his friends over tonight.  The love bottled water.  We have been talking about having a challenge to see who could taste each blindly and then name correctly the brand of water they had tried.  It was a fun silly contest.  So glad for these fun kids!