friday flashbacks.

Not sure if I have posted this picture yet.

Gregg Simons {year?}

Truman.

Playing in Grandma Quinn's play bin.

{there pictures were taken over 4th of July but I still wanted to post them}

fair.

I wanted to share some of the sights of the Wasatch County fair.

friday flashbacks.

My cousin Jalessa got married last weekend.

Here is a picture of her parents {my aunt and uncle} on their wedding day.

Not sure what month or year??

peek-a-boo.

bat.

Okay, these pictures need to be explained.  A little after midnight last night a bat flew into our master bedroom through our open deck door.  Gregg woke me up and asked what I thought we should do.  I told him I just wanted to sleep!

From our bed we watched the bat fly back and forth over our heads trying to decide what to do.  At one point Gregg thought it flew out of our bedroom and down the hall.  He jumped out of bed and slammed our bedroom door shut.  Gregg tried to Google "what to do when there is a bat in your bedroom".  It flew out of our room. We turned out the lights and tried to go to bed.

My mind started to wonder - I started to worry about Truman getting attacked and Nate turning into Edward.  Then I started to think about the bat pooping all over my house.  Then I heard it again right over my head! I screamed and Gregg flipped on the lamp to see the bat flying over our heads again.  We both screamed and hid under the sheets (no joke).  We got up the guts to run into the bathroom and shut the door.  Once safely behind the bathroom door we started to deliberate.

  

We decided to try and get the bat out.  We started throwing things at it, making noises, etc {the first picture shows what a mess our room was from throwing things at the bat}.  It was very comical.  At 2:30 AM I decided that we needed more help.  I ran upstairs and woke up a very delirious Nate.  Once he saw the commotion of the bat flying around and us chasing it he jumped right in.  First he grabbed our sheets and tried to barricade it.  That didn't work, the minute the bat started to fly toward him he hid under the sheets.  Finally we decided to take the screen off our window and try to get it to fly out the window (since it would not go near the door).  

That didn't work.  The bat kept flying back and forth in the bedroom.  Finally Nate started to chase it with an orange Home Depot bucket.  He ended up catching the bat mid-air in the bucket.  Once he did, he went out on our deck and chucked the entire bucket as hard as he could.  I hid safely behind the bedroom door taking pictures the entire time.  It was seriously the most comical thing I have witnessed in a long time.  

Our heart rates were so high after all the commotion that non of us could get back to sleep.  So at 3:00 AM we turned on Batman Returns.  We were seriously creeped out by the opening bat scene!

Chicken-patty pockets

Emeril’s chicken-patty pockets

1 pound chicken

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup plain breadcrumbs

¼ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup chopped parsley

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon coarse salt

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon coriander

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pita pockets, for serving

Lettuce, for serving

Minted Yogurt Sauce (below)

Heat broiler, with rack in highest position.  In a large bowl, combine chicken, ess whites, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, garlic, salt and spices and mix until well blended.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil.  Divide chicken mixtures into 8 portions and place on sheet.  Shape each into an oval patty and use your hand to flatten slightly.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil.

Broil until lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  Flip and cook until cooked through, about 4 minutes.  Serve in pita pocket with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and Minted Yogurt sauce.

Minted Yogurt Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves

1 tablespoon lime juice

Season with salt and pepper

stir-fry.

Beef, snap pea, and asparagus stir-fry

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 pounds NY strip steak

Course salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 bunch asparagus (cut in 2 inch lengths)

6 ounces snap peas

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon peeled minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves

Rice

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar and sugar.  Season steak with salt.  In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over high.  Cook steak, undisturbed, until brown on one side, 2 minutes.  Flip and cook until cooked through , 30 seconds.  Transfer to a bowl.

Add asparagus, snap peas, garlic, and ginger to skillet.  Cook, stirring constantly (add a little water if pan get too dark), until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.  Add soy mixture and cook about 10 seconds.  Remove skillet from heat and stir in lemon juice and basil.  Toss steak with vegetables; serve  with rice and lemon wedges.

mac n' cheese

Mediterranean Macaroni and Cheese

¼ cup butter

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives (optional)

½ teaspoon dried oregano

8 ounces elbow macaroni

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ cup flour

2 cups whole milk

8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Set a large pot of salted water to boil and butter an 80inch square backing dish.  In a small bowl combine tomatoes, olives and oregano.

Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package instructions; drain pasta and return to pot.  Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium.  Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute.  Add flour and cook, stirring constantly.  Whisk in milk and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium; simmer, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens, 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in 4 ounces of feta.  Stir in tomato mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour mixture over pasta; stir to combine.

Pour pasta mixture into dish and top with remaining feta.  Bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese begins to brown, 20-30 minutes.

Balsamic-Glazed Chicken

Balsamic-Glazed Chicken Tenders

1 orange

2/3 cups cinnamon applesauce

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon cardamom or ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 pound of chicken

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Fresh thyme sprigs

Finely shred peel from orange, set aside.  Juice orange.  In medium sauce pan combine applesauce, vinegar, cardamom, juice from the orange and ½ teaspoon salt and pepper.  Bring to boiling over high heat.  Reduce heat to low.  Cook, uncovered stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add chicken; cook until golden brown on bottom, about 4 minutes.  Then turn the chicken and add ½ cup of the applesauce mixture to skillet.  Cook 2 to 3 minutes more or until chicken is cooked.

To serve, top chicken with some of the applesauce mixtures, orange peel, and fresh thyme.

idaho.

We made a quick weekday trip to Idaho to see this cute couple get married.
That is my cousin Jaleesa and her husband Logan {he got home from his mission 4 weeks ago!}

Truman and Nate in their summer suits after the rain hit at the reception {always a ball in hand}.

Truman playing with dolls and balls at G.Grandma Araves.

Truman with his tall {6'6"} Great Grandpa Arave.  For some reason Truman always wanted my grandpa to pick him up!

stampin'

Last weekend I attended Stampin' Up convention with my parents {my dad sneaks me in every year}.  Nate came for a day to see what it was all about - he made several cards, good job Nate!

hopkinsons

In between our family reunion, trek and Nate's triathlon my mom and I watched my older sister four kids so she could go backpacking with her husband.  I really wanted a cute picture of Jean and Truman, but it just wasn't happening.  This is the best I could do!

We took the kids fishing at the Midway pond {is that it's real name}?  Enoch actually caught a fish.  It was very eventful as you can imagine.  Quinn wanted nothing to do with fishing, she was more interested in feeding the ducks donuts {she fed them 12} - but once we caught a fish she was right there in the action.  Thanks to Grandma Quinn and her awesome fishing skills we got the fish off the hook {actually we ended up just cutting the line}. Quinn threw the fish back in the pond but it was too late, he had already died, so we had to 'fish' it back out!  It was rather funny.  The kids were so proud of the fish.  That night Papa Hopkinson cleaned it and fried it up for everyone to try.

The classic "fish" shot.

After our fishing adventures we played at the park!

After fishing and the park we went swimming.  Phew, what an exhausting day!

And, I think I am caught up on our blog...for now.
We have a couple more busy weeks and then maybe it will calm down!