Cookin' with Marsha

This is my cute Mom. Right now she looks a little different from this picture. We are celebrating because her hair is finally starting to grow back. She has about a 1/2 inch of hair all over her hear and she looks great!!!

Each year when we go to Hawaii, our favorite place to shop is on the Marine base because you can get AMAZING deals on great clothes. We always come away with some USMC (U.S. Marine Corps) t-shirt or sweat shirt or something. Well, my cute-short haired- Mom was walking around last week with her USMC sweat shirt on and was wig-less. :) Yea Mom! She looked the picture perfect Marine with her short hair and actually had people ask her in awe if she was in the Marines! I need to get a picture of her and post it. You'd be amazed how cute she looks!

Anyway, now to the reason for my post. This is my Mom ( did I already mention that she's cute??) in her kitchen. Her favorite place to be. She is the most amazing cook and loves every second of it. She had her own catering company for years. Unfortunately Julie and I didn't inherit her skill or passion for cooking. (We did inherit the desire to EAT all the yummy things Mom makes but spent most of our growing up years washing all the dishes she messed up!!) She once spent 3 days making a new recipe for dinner. No kidding!! So, Mom gets weekly phone calls from us when some part of our meal is failing or a recipe needs explaining. Usually she is in hysterics as she answers our lame questions. We love her for being our culinary encyclopedia. :) BUT, when we are able to wow her with one of our own recipes, it is a true feeling of euphoria.

Julie ( a.k.a. Wonder woman) wowed us all with an awesome meal. I'm sharing the recipe below. It is a definite keeper. Enjoy!!



Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

4 lbs pork roast
5 (8-oz) cans tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic
3 cups brown sugar
4 tsp. cumin
4 cups Dr. Pepper
4 TBSP molasses
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Cook in crock pot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Shred meat an hour or two before finished and then let finish cooking in sauce. Use this meat in burritos, salads, sandwiches--- whatever!

We did pork salads. We got the flour tortillas at Costco that you cook yourself. Put cooked tortilla on a plate. Pile plenty of lettuce next, then the sweet pork, black beans, lime rice, shredded cheese, tomatoes and Cilantro-Ranch Salad Dressing. The recipe for the lime rice and the dressing is below:


Lime Rice

2 Tbsp. Butter
1 1/4 Cup uncooked rice
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
3/4 tsp salt
1 large lime
2 TBSP chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin

In a skillet, melt butter with rice, add liquid and other ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. (Or if you have a rice cooker, dump it all in the cooker and adjust the liquid according to your cooker's instructions),

Cilantro -Ranch Salad Dressing

1 1/3 cups sour cream
3/4 cups mayonnaise
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
4 TBSP Salsa Verde
2 cloves garlic
1/8 tsp Tabasco
1 lime, juiced

Mix together in food processor or blender


YUM!

Go BEN!!!!

When we were in Provo, the boys wanted to go see the baseball field because they are both planning on playing for BYU. :) I don't know why it was open, but we walked right in and were able to head right down on the field. We probably shouldn't have - but it was "soo cool" according to the guys! They peeked in the dugout and the mysterious "other side of the dugout." (There's actually a huge batting cage in there as well as the locker room!)

They even took a few practice swings with a bat left in the dugout and "ran" the bases - just to get a feel for the field. :)

It must have been lucky because Ben crashed 2 home runs in his game today! Way to go Ben!!! BYU - here we come!!

We love skiing!!

I started learning to ski when I was 6 years old. We were living in Germany at the time. My rather vivid memories are of my Mom and Dad dropping me off at all day ski school where no one spoke a word of English. I hated it. I cried. I hated it. I was furious that they abandoned me!! I hated it. (Poor Julie was only a 6 month old and they left her with some random German nanny! Nice guys!!) My Dad now laughs when I remind him of the torture he put me through. He loves to remind me that I learned to ski in the Alps. No 6 year old cares one whit about that. He and my Mom were in similar classes of their own, learning to ski. Now, in hindsight, I'm so glad that I learned when the distance from my rear to the snow was much closer than it is today. Thanks Dad. I forgive you.

Fast forward to the next time I was living in a land of snow. Utah. BYU. Matt had never had much of an opportunity to ski because he was so involved with basketball and basketball coaches that wouldn't allow him to ski. I think the first time we skied together was Matt's second or third time in his life. I was LOVING it. It was the one and only sport that I could whip him in. Needless to say, the competitive Matt didn't love that so much.

We've had lots of practice since then, but still fondly recall the wipeout of '97. It was one of those falls that you see on tv that makes you grab your eyes and peek through your fingers. Thankfully, it wasn't me. Poor Matt. If only I had video. He managed a triple back flip, double cartwheel, back handspring, and finished it off with a wicked roundoff. All the while he left a trail of glasses, gloves, hat, poles, skies, granola bars, prayers, a scarf, chapstick and a few choice words from the top to the bottom of the mountain. I giggle each time I think of it.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. All of the above feelings were replayed when we took Brett and Ben to Alta for a beautiful day of skiing. Someday they'll thank us.

Happy Easter!

You can see who gets all the attention at our home!

the boys

All 10 cousins!

Easter Sunday in Utah

We started early with Easter baskets in the morning before church. The Easter bunny didn't visit until after we got home. Gotta love 11 am church!!Brik is pumped to get his See's chocolate egg! So is his Dad!

You can imagine the flurry of activity to get all these bodies dressed for church in a hour! But look what turned out . . .



Gracie still doesnt' really "get" the crazy pictures. She likes to strut her stuff on her own! :)

Go girl.

Now home from church, the kids were all ready for the easter egg hunt! The little kiddies were out first and the older crew had to wait a few minutes. They smiled nice for this picture but 3 seconds later I took the next picture! :)



After making sure everyone had an equal amount of eggs the kids started cracking them open. One of the coolest things about this group of cousins is the "Candy-Soda Bet" they are all on. They have almost gone an entire year without candy. There are a few days off (like Halloween, Christmas, Easter and birthdays) but other than that, these kids haven't had a bite of candy or a can of soda all year! (Don't worry, cookies, cake, ice cream and popsicles are still legal and consumed in large quantities at our home.) They get rewarded with a wad of cash if they make it and I'm sure they will. It's a fun thing to do, knowing your cousins in Idaho and Utah are doing the same thing! Way to go guys we are proud of you!!

Guess who eats all of the candy at our house now . . .

Coloring Eggs

Jameson, Brett, Jake and Ben
Savy, Gracie and Jameson

McCall, JJ and Savy

The onlooker . . . maybe next year!

The best part about Utah!

The best part about Utah . . . COUSINS!

Our kids are in heaven when they are with their cousins! The kids just wanted to hang out all day, every day!
The bunk room is often the last to fall asleep . . .
Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D!