I Think

I think that Jr. Mints and White Cheddar Cheezits should be non-fat non-caloric.
I think that toilet paper should not cost $10 for "a double roll" pack of 12 and that's at Walmart.
I think that Deseret Book should send out a notice when they decide to close stores in Las Vegas. (They have closed 2 now without notifying me. Could they do that after Mother's Day?)
I think Cub Scouts should be banned and illegal.
I think that there should be a rule that mother's of boys do not have to be the scout leader EVER!
I think that mothers of young children should not have to be in the nursery.
I think that if your child has a cough when their happens to be a current pandemic of Swine Flu you should not send them to school.
I think that white girls should not talk about "my girls".
I think that skinny people should not be on exercise videos.
I think that peach Crystal Light is better than water.
I think that I would be a mean drunk.
I think that some people ought to drive their kids places and actually pick them up too.
I think "the morning" should be at 10:00am.
I think that Wednesday ought to be at the end of the week.
I think that boys hair shouldn't grow so fast.
I think that bad stuff should only happen to mean people.
I think stupid people ought to have to wear a sign.
I think that when someone asks you how you are you should be able to tell them" not so great but hey thanks for asking and by the way do you have some lemon juice you could squirt in my eye?"
I think dirt should be banned.
I think that there shouldn't be lines at wedding receptions and viewings at funerals.
I think nice people should get stars on their foreheads.
I think pedicures should last for longer than 2 weeks.
I think that everyone should look in the mirror before they leave the house.
I think I am tired and have a headache.
I think I am done telling you what I think.

The Best Chicken Recipe In The World

Have any thoughts for dinner and feeling like celebrating Seis De Mayo? I found this recipe yesterday at noon and thought it would be a good Cinco De Mayo dinner. It is the pork recipe for Cafe Rio but as I am not a fan of pork-nothing to do with Swine Flu either-I used chicken breasts. I sort of combined 2 recipes-the pork from Cafe Rio and the chicken from Bajio. We ate it on the uncooked tortilla shells-that we cooked-the kids loved it! It was quite tasty and definitely in the keep section of the recipe box. So for your dining pleasure here it is. (Keep in mind that I pulled the chicken out of the freezer at exactly 12:00 and defrosted it in the microwave so this can be done even if your chicken is frozen solid!)

4-5 boneless chicken breasts (this fed my family for one night with a little leftover for salad today. I would probably add 2 more pieces of chicken just to have more leftovers because it was so yummy!)
1 cup Salsa any kind
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 ts Chili Powder
1 can Sprite
Salt and Pepper

Put chicken in crockpot and season with salt and pepper. Put in salsa, brown sugar and sprinkle chili powder. Dump in Sprite. Cook on high for 4-5 hours turning chicken occasionally. Remove chicken and shred. Return to crockpot and let cook for another 30-45 minutes. Serve on salad or with tortilla shells. I bet you could freeze leftovers of this too!
If you want to spice it up add a can of green chiles or more chili powder. Hole! (that would be O-lay but I don't know how to do that little thing over the e) Happy Seis de Mayo!

Thankful Thursday

I have not posted Thankful Thursday for a while but today I thought it was a good idea. Today was the Special Olympics Unified Track and Field day. Caleb and Cayden both went and competed for our school. I wa quite surprised that Cayden participated because the first thing that he said when he woke up was "I don't want to go to the Olympics." He was fussing about it all morning bu then when we got there he ran the 100 meter dash (so did Caleb) and they both did the javelin throw. When it came time to do the 50 meter dash Cayden flat out refused to do it. They did not make him of course so he sat out but atleast he did the other 2 events. So now why I am thankful. I have gone with my boys the last few years and I always drive my car because I am not a fan of the school bus. We got there earlier than the school bus so we had to wait a few minutes. As we were waiting I saw lots of different schools coming in with their kids. This event is for handicapped kids-whether it is mental or physical-and also some non-handicapped from their schools. I saw a few kids in wheelchairs and one that had to wear a helmet to protect their head. I also saw a blind boy with the stick being helped by one of his classmates. The first race we saw of the day there was a little girl probably 4th grade with Down Syndrome who ran her little heart out even though she came in last. I just had this overwhelming sense of gratitude that my kids can see, and run and play even though they have their own struggles. Cayden was asked by the modified PE teacher to participate in these games and she wanted Caleb to come and help with moral support. Cayden almost needs modified PE but they have not tested him yet to see if he qualifies. Even though he has his developmental delays and struggles so much in school he still is progressing and retaining which some of those kids may never do. There is a thought that says if everyone laid out all their problems and struggles on a table that we would most likely want to take our own back and not someone elses. I did not get good pics of the races and I missed Caleb's 50 meter all together because it was just utter chaos on that last race and they did not go in the order they were supposed to but the kids had a good time. I am also thankful that I can go with my kids for these things.

Ode to My Kitchen Aide

The Adams household suffered a terrible loss Sunday evening when their (who am I kidding I am the only one who loved this little piece of heaven disguised in steel and black enamel!) beloved Kitchen Aide unexpectedly suffered a major heart attack Sunday evening. (sniff sniff) We have been through many ups (the bread actually rising) and many downs (many failed attempts at bread). I have enjoyed experimenting with you dear Kitchen Aide on banana muffins and the age old debate as to which is the best kind of chocolate chip cookie-the thin and crispy or the chewy and gooey. I will sorely miss our pizza dough making days when I tried valiantly to keep you from throwing yourself off the counter onto the floor. Alas, I could not save you this time though even though I salvaged the cinnamon rolls by borrowing a Bosch. (Is Bosch a bad word to say around the Kitchen Aide) You had a short life of a little over 3 years-maybe 4- can't quite remember but don't fret even though your memory will still hover over us like the wafting scent of broken zucchini muffins that lingers throughout my house, you will soon be replaced by your 6 quart capacity brother who dang well better not kick the bucket after a measly 4 years! (Um I think I am a little bitter about the demise of my trusty sidekick) Love you my traitorous Kitchen Aid! RIP! Anyone have a Kohl's coupon?
P.S. The Zuchinni Bread recipe does not work well when trying to make muffins. Still tasty though while mostly crumbs and bits and pieces. Any thoughts on how to turn that recipe into a muffin recipe? They were really flat and stuck to the pan like crazy even though I sprayed it with Pam.

Parable of the Purple Bunny and Other Stories Starring Cayden

Cayden has done some pretty amazing things in the last week or so. Easter Sunday was our Fast Sunday because of Conference. We were sitting on out bench and Cayden was sitting by Don who was sitting by me. He leans over and says to me
Cayden "Mom, you go up there."
Mom "Go up where?"
Cayden 'Go up and bear your testimony.'
Mom "Why?"
Cayden "You have a testimony."
Well how do you not go after that? I thought that was pretty sweet!

This Sunday morning we had another experience with him. He had gotten 2 of those bendy plastic rabbit toys at school and one of them was missing. He had been playing with them all week and so he was looking all over the place trying to find the purple one. He even brought in a book that was purple so that he could make sure that I knew what color we were looking for. He was outside for 20 minutes, then he was under beds, upstairs, looking in the bathtubs etc. He was pretty sure they were around the trampoline but we looked 3 times and they weren't there. I was trying to get ready for church and had wet hair so I told him we would find it after I got ready for church. A few minutes later he comes in with Connor and tells me that he said a prayer to find his toy. So now what? Do I have enough faith to believe that the Lord will help this little boy find a silly plastic toy? When he came in and told me that he said a prayer he said "Ok mom, go outside." I said "Sweetie I don't think that they are out there because we already looked." He said "But I said a prayer!" quite emphatically! I said I know honey and we will find them." But he just knew that they were outside and that because he said his prayer they would be found. I still was not ready for church but we went back outside. They were still not there. At first we thought that they may have been run over by the lawn mower but as there were no body parts laying around the backyard we had to keep looking. If you know how my house works, it is usually me who does the locating of missing shoes, lunchboxes, Ipods, plastic bunnies etc. I knew that I had to help look and that it may be that the spirit would tell me where those toys were. Sure enough-after I was finally ready and I went to help him look-and get him dressed for church-the boys were looking in different places that I told them to look and then I remembered that they had all been to Overton in the Suburban and that was the last that I had seen the runaway rabbit. I said to Caleb-go look in the Suburban. Rabbit Found! We said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for helping us find them and I thanked him in my heart for answering a sweet little boy's prayer. I'm sure that there were bigger and more important prayers being said that day and the missing bunny was not one of the top ten pressing matters at the moment but it was important to this little boy and important to his mom that his prayer was answered! I did have the faith to believe that even if that rabbit had been chopped up by the lawn mower, Heavenly Father could put it back together for my child. I even told Don that while I was rushing to get ready for church so that bunny hunt could start in earnest. I am so grateful for these sweet learning and humbling moments where the spirit testifies of the truth and gladdens my heart.

One more-Tonight Cayden said the whole dinner prayer on his own from start to finish. He has never wanted to say it all by himself and so he says "Dear Heavenly Father, and then a little quieter to me with one eye open he'll say "Help me" then I will say something and he will repeat it after me. If I pause at all he will say "help me". Tonight we told him that he could do it all by himself and that he knew what to say. It was such a sweet prayer. He thanked Heavenly Father that dad can work and that mom can make us dinner. He was so proud of himself and we were too. It is a huge milestone that he will do it on his own. We knew that he could and tried to get him to before but he just never would. He always says We thank thee "dor" this "dood"-because he has such a hard time with certain letters. I am so glad that he is progressing. It takes him much longer to do certain things but he is doing them-we just have to give him the time that he needs. He wanted to say all the prayers the rest of the night! Silly Boy! These are the reasons I am a mom and I have not run screaming off into the desert.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Kevin Bessey, Cody Adams and Sterling Waite-these boys are all in our ward.

The tat!

The last week of March the Moapa Valley High School put on the play "A Dark and Stormy Night". Cody is not actually in the theater class but a lot of his friends are and they needed someone else so the teacher asked him to be in the play. He only had a few lines and those were at the very end of the play but they were the pivotal lines and he did great! He was a Portuguese sailor turned nurse named Euphemio Porter. He sounded like Indigo Montoya from Princess Bride. He even had a tattoo painted on every night. One night it said "Mom", one night it said "Team Monson" and the last night it said"Marissa"-one of the girls in the play. Here he is at the end of the play. The play was great and really quite funny! The kids that were cast in the different parts were perfect and they all did a really good job! Cody has decided that he wants to be in theater next year.

Don's Departure Day 1

Ok so after my lovely vacation you would think that I would be all rested and rejuvenated and ready to take on my life again. Uh no,not so much. Today Don left for 1 solid week-yes folks 6 whole nights and 7 whole days. I barely made it through this day-ok I am typing this after telling my kids to go to bed for the hundrenth time and I hear the peaceful sounds of slamming doors, running feet, and screaming-whether they are fighting or laughing I don't really care at this point. Not to mention the fact that Cayden fell and scraped his knees up pretty good tonight clomping around the neighborhood in Caleb's size 17 cowboy boots so I have very large bed bug to keep me company tonight. On the bright side I only have 6 whole days to go before Don gets home. Do you ever feel like on the days that you are trying the hardest that they suck the most? I won't even go into detail about my level of frustration at my kids, myself, the wind-aaarrrggghhh, and my neck pain. I even read my scriptures AND said my prayers, AND read the Relief Society lesson-although it wasn't the right one but I get points for trying right? Plus I was ready for church before the kids got up, I made a lovely breakfast and all the while had the Mo-tabs softly serenading us the back ground. Sometimes like today I wonder why I even bother. So now that I have complained and whined to all those of you who are my dearest friends I will tell you what I am going to do about it.
1.I made 72 mini cupcakes with frosting AND sprinkles. The boys even delivered some to the neighbors-service should perk me right up right?
2. I have eaten about 10 of said mini cupcakes and will probably go sneak another one (who am I kidding here at least 3 more) before I turn out the light.
3. We had frozen pizza for dinner.
4. I am going to watch another cheesy episode of Beauty and the Beast-remember that from forever ago-Vincent my hero!
5. I am going to say my prayers.
5. I am going to take a muscle relaxer.
and last but not least probably one of the more important things I will do is I will start my 21 Days Closer to Christ book because it is exactly 21 days before Easter. I have wanted to do this for a few years but I always remember like the day before Easter and the experiment would not be very effective if I crammed 21 days into 24 hours. So for those of you who had a sucky day like me, run to Deseret Book tomorrow and grab a copy of 21 Days Closer to Christ or wait until next Sunday after seeing if you can find the 14 Day Walk With Christ that is floating around on the internet, make yourself sick on mini cupcakes-they aren't as fattening as the big ones, watch a cheesy episode of some dumb TV show, take a pill and say your prayers hoping that tomorrow will be better. Deep breath hmmm-I feel a tad bit better and to think that I was seriously considering calling my therapist tomorrow. Another bonus-by ranting to all of you I just saved myself $100. Thanks a million!