Visit to Temple Square

From 02-14-09

We enjoyed a visit to the Church History Museum with our friends the Elggrens, followed by a walk (or should I say run) around Temple Square. In the picture we have Audrey, Truman, Lincoln, Will and Jefferson. McKinley and little Harrison are in the stroller behaving themselves. At the museum they had the equivalent of a new born care area in the hospital and the kids played doctor to the babies for at least an hour. Apparently they think doctors do a lot of diaper and onesie changing. It was really fun to watch and now Truman wants to be a doctor when he grows up instead of a clown, an improvement I think.

Visits from Russian Grandparents

On Jan 26th my parents came to visit for a few days. For some reason we never remember to photograph much of these occasions, but we sure do enjoy them! We got to celebrate Libbi's birthday at the sledding hill followed by a bday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Doxey and the Murri's.



Mom and Dad left that Friday, but Dad came back the day Brian headed to Cancun, so it was nice to have him and the girls around over the weekend. I got to play some games, or should I say win some games, against Dad, watch movies in the basement and we even got a baby sitter so we could do dinner and a movie in Provo once Brian was home. Thanks for the visit and we miss you already!

Bacon Explosion

I (Brian) am having a fun time making food for the EQ party tonight. I thought it would be fun to blog the experience. Here are some pictures and instructions if you want to be a little crazy. Be careful, you will love this more than you hate the 2 lbs you will gain from it.



Needs:
2lb bacon
2lb Sausage
BBQ Sauce
BBQ Seasoning
Artichoke Hearts (Optional)
Stuffed Olives (Optional)



Step 1:







Weave bacon pieces together as shown here. It should usually take about 10 pieces of
bacon to make a square weave. I did this by laying each of the 5 vertical pieces side by side and then added the horizontal row piece by piece. I would fold back the vertical pieces in turn to get the weave.



Sprinkle with BBQ Seasoning once done.



Step 2:







Smash Sausages together into one big ball. Spread the sausage onto the bacon and out to the sides of the weaved square.



Cut up Artichoke, Olives, or grate cheese and put on top of the Sausage Layer.



Step 3:







Cook the remaining bacon you didn't use in the weave. Dice it up and put it on top of the sausage layer as well.



Drizzle BBQ sauce.



Step 4:







This is rolled up in two parts. First roll up the sausage layer from back to front. Squeeze the sausage ends to keep the good stuff inside. Second, roll the bacon around your just made sausage roll going from forward to back. Pinch the ends to keep it all inside.



Step 5:







Garnish if you want. We do this so we can tell which one is which when we get it out of our smoker. Here are the 3 rolls we made: Artichoke, Olive and Cheese.



Step 6: Crock Pot/Smoke







Smoking it is a lot more fun than crock potting it. The reasons aren't quite clear but it is true. I smoke ours any where from 2 to 3 hours depending on how thick the meat is or how many I have in there. I use hickory chips.



If you don't have a smoker then it will fit in your crock pot. Just jam it in there. This isn't pretty food. Just really good.



Like all crock pot food you can do it forever. There is enough grease in the bacon and sausage so very little water is needed. Just keep the lid on and let it go for at least 2.5 hours. The longer you can keep it in there, the better.



Step 7:







Look at it. Look how cool it is. Then take pictures of it.



Step 8:



Cut it up like a yule log and eat it. If you like BBQ sauce then go for it as well. I don't think it needs it.

Another "Remodel"

January Journal

McKinley wore pigtails for the first time today. It took 6 elastics to get all the tiny hair in, but she looked gorgeous. She wears shoes at all time and her new favorite activity is taking her own dirty diaper to the garbage in the garage. Once I change her I yell "Stink Bomb!" and start counting down from 10. One of the boys runs in and tries to get to the garage with the diaper before I finish. The other day, McKinley picked up her diaper and said "nine, eight..." and headed to the garage. I guess the boys are relieved of their duties.



Jefferson has been much more pleasant lately. He can still be opinionated, but he will actually consider options I give him. I praise a lot for this change and he is very proud to be good and happy. He likes to help make dinner and plays quietly when the boys are not around. He and McKinley find each other hilarious. She refers to him as JJ pretty clearly.





Truman loves climbing the snow mountains and will go over there alone and stare across the fence at the schoolyard. I imagine he is either trying to catch a glimpse of Lincoln, or dreaming of his kindergarten conquests next year. He loves PB and J no crust and smiles all the time, unless he is crying (thanks to Lincoln).



Lincoln is constantly looking to invent something - crafts out of garbage, imaginary games for his siblings to join in, or the best clubhouse ever. He loves to pretend he is part of a movie he has just watched. Holes is a recent favorite. He asked for an orange jumpsuit when his bday comes in October.





Brian and I do crosswords for fun, or watch the latest thing netflix sent us on ClearPlay. We also have a good time making fruit smoothies since we are treat free for a while. My favorite is vanilla yogurt, a little milk and frozen mixed berries. Sometimes I add 1/3 a banana when I am feeling crazy.



January is quiet so I am cleaning out everything for Baby #5. Recent good finds: a missing Backyardigans DVD, and $60 worth of gift cards I finally checked the balances on. And today I did 7 loads of laundry - ok, tomorrow I will fold them.

Something more...

Here are some pictures we have taken over the last few weeks.

Across the street from us is a church parking lot and a few days ago a
snowplow went into the parking lot and pushed up these huge mounds of snow.
Easily 15 to 20 feet high. The boys had to climb them and here are some pictures
of them doing so.

 

Truman wants to be a clown when he grows up. He admits as much. The other day
he threw a ball under a raised leg of his and tried to catch it. Good news: He
had to dive for the ball and made a pretty impressive outstretched catch; bad
news: his dive was halted by his head hitting the side of a bookshelf. Luckily
we didn't have to take him in for stitches but we were less than a few
millimeters of skin away from doing so. He can expect a full recovery.

 

So, McKinley got a BYU cheerleading outfit for Christmas (Thanks
Katie!).  She also got a little pony. Jefferson got some batman PJs.

 

Family Photo

Some of Janelle's Wedding Photo's.

We had a good time at Janelle's wedding yesterday. She looked beautiful. It was really fun and really pretty. Things were very well done and the reception was really nice. Her dress and cake matched very well. It was unique and fitting of Janelle. Here are some pictures to prove it.

Here is our Christmas Card for the Year!

My husband is so creative!

What we have been up to...

So, Brian and I have entered the world of facebooking. Hence the reason we have been neglecting our blog. 'Facebooking' is really fun and we suggest you join us if you haven't already!





Here are some pictures we took yesterday of little McKinley. You can see more in the album if you click on one of the pictures.