This is one of my family's favorites. Great for Sunday as I start it in the morning and when we come back from church our house smells so good. This recipe came from my friend Angie though I think its just the lipton onion recipe that comes on the package. It is my favorite and easiest way to make a pot roast. If we don't eat just straight leftovers we make really good sandwiches the next day.

1 pot roast
Salt and pepper
1 Cream of mushroom soup
1 Can water
1 Lipton onion soup mix package

Sprinkle pot roast with salt and pepper. Sear all sides in a pan with a little bit of oil. Put into crockpot. Stir together soup, water and soup mix. Pour over top. Cook on low all day or on high for half the day. After you remove the roast you can thicken the sauce with a bit of flour if you want or just use it straight as gravy. I will serve this with noodles, potatoes or roasted vegies to soak up the sauces.

Dear Family,

This week there hasn't been anything big happening or crazy schedules and everything has just flowed. Which doesn't mean that Robyn wasn't crabby A LOT, or that kids didn't disagree, just that everything was just normal and regular and I loved it. Having some crazier weeks really makes you appreciate the routine, easier weeks!

Monday the kids were out of school for a teacher training day. We spent the morning shopping for new shoes for kids and shirts for Spencer. There should be a sport labeled shopping with kids. Awards given out for that mom who can help 3 kids at once who all need help finding their size right now! Or for that mom trying to explain why kids don't get to buy $30 shirts or for not going into shock when Spencer's shoes cost as much as mine. But everyone left happy with their new finds. Allison joined Jeremy for her birthday lunch at Chinese Gourmet. She was in heaven when she realized that they had noodles and shrimp - her two favorite foods.

Allison after eating a full bowl of shrimp!

Allison went to her fist Activity Days meeting. Didn't realize how nervous she was about it till Robyn and I walked to meet her afterwards. She was beaming saying that she knew all the girls in there already. They learned how to braid and ate licorice. She loved it. Rest of the week was full of piano, gymnastics, school choir and playing with friends whenever possible. She is deep into the Harry Potter books and is on volume 5 now. Whenever you see her, her nose is buried in her book. She was the very important student for her class this week so she got to bring in her hamster Storm for show and tell, make a poster of pictures of herself etc.

Spencer went to a local pumpkin patch/play zone called Hee Haws with cub scouts and came home very happy and dirty. He has been playing a lot this week with a group of neighborhood boys in games that involved a lot of rolling/jumping around. He started a new piano book this week - Hanon Junior that he thought was cool.



Robyn is refusing to go to sleep lately - hence the often crabby Robyn. She loves, loves, loves her preschool and we all hear the songs and stories from Miss Suzanne over and over again. She was so excited to have homework this week - a matching game. We hung up her birdie pictures in her room Friday. I was going to just hang them to the wall, Christina gave me a great idea on how to do it. But then I saw Robyn climbing a chair to draw on the papers on the bulletin board and I had an inkling of what would happen to those prints! So I found some frameless frames that worked great.




Taylor's teacher is working to find ways to slow down his seizures. It seems like the florescent bulbs are bothering him so he is wearing sunglasses at school to see if that helps. He always has more seizures at school than at home.

Jeremy had 3 photo shoots this week plus one photo group event. So he is keeping busy! He hung up an 8 foot bat with glowing eyes in our big window over our front door which the kids all thought was very cool. Yesterday he braced himself with a smile on his face and we went for this amazing 4 mile hike up in Provo Canyon, just past Sundance, up to Stewart Falls. It was a beautiful hike even at our 45 minute mile pace! But Robyn made it the whole way except for a 5 minute carry up one hill. Jeremy got some beautiful pictures we will post. Made me realize how out of shape we are as a family as all but Robyn were tired out and sore afterward. We hiked through gorgeous yellow aspen trees and overlooked the whole canyon full of red and yellow oak trees. Afterward the kids all had to recuperate with hot chocolate and trader joe's chocolate dunkers.



I cleaned out our vegetable garden this week and took a truck load of tomato plants etc to the green waste dump. It was the week of apples. We had Katherine's delicious apple pancakes with cinnamon butter. Taylor ate 4 of them and would have kept going except I thought his stomach would explode! We canned some more apple pie filling and made apple crisp. Allison commented that we were going a bit overboard on apples. I learned that I really like oatmeal with apple crisp sprinkled on top!

So just a regular, wonderful type of week. Everyone healthy, happy more often that sad. Love to you all, Heather






Our afternoon of general conference.

Dear Friends and Family,

I hab a cobe. Not bad enough to lay me out but enough to keep the tissues going and to be glad for the weekend to curl up on a couch and watch conference. I was reading some cleaning hints that said if the mom was super clean than the kids would be clean by association. Made me think about conference and how when I try to can apples or sew some project while listening my kids go a bit wild. So I tried this time sitting down with pen and paper to take notes. Good thing conference reminds you to be nice to your children so often as it was more an exercise in frustration so far. But...kids have done tons better than years before. It might help that if they write down what each apostle says they get a coupon for a no jobs day to use when they want. Highly motivating. Robyn on the other hand keeps stomping around that she is done watching TV and that I need to turn it off. She was excited for around 30 minutes Saturday morning scribbling all over her conference packet but then the thrill was gone.

Saturday night we had our semi-annual priesthood party. 2 of my friends and their kids were able to make it. So we all pigged out on home made cafe rio salads and fresh apple cake and kids played and splashed around in the hot tub a lot. It was wonderful just to visit and catch up. I realized that we have now been friends for 11 years. A lot has happened in that time and babies we helped with are now old!

Monday and Tuesday were the last days of indian summer. Wednesday the temperatures dropped 30 degrees, vegies froze over night and we broke out the warm clothes and hot chocolate! It was an abrupt change for us. I had to hide all of Robyn's summer clothes as to remove temptation. Monday Allison had a great birthday. She brought brownies into her class for snack time, had gymnastics and then had a family dinner along with Jason and Kelly's family. Allison had macaroni and cheese, watermelon and a homemade ice cream cake. The cake looked great but I had a moment of humility after tasting it. Coldstone must use a special type of cake or perhaps I needed to let it defrost longer. Will have to experiment a bit. Allison went to bed a very happy and tired 8 year old girl. This afternoon her new activity day leaders came to introduce themselves and give her a calendar. Her first activity is this week about which she is very excited.

Tuesday I ignored the jungle as Robyn referred to our yard, the laundry room I literally could not close the door on and the piles of clutter everywhere or the bathroom where Allison blew a bloody nose that misted over the entire room and went to the temple. Seems like temple mornings are always tough but then things always seem to fall into place afterwards. I managed to mow our entire yard in 1 hour that afternoon before the storm hit - a small miracle to me as it usually takes me much longer.

The kids helped me pick our last apple tree of Braeburns. They thought getting up on the ladder was just the best thing and jockeyed for the opportunity. Since the temperatures were cold and the dark was coming I think I ran the operation a little militaristic but they all had smiles on their face. Ran inside afterwards for quick showers to warm up and to eat apples and caramel dip. Canned apple pie filling that turned out really good. You can see the recipe at:
http://kathi-mygarden.blogspot.com/2007/10/making-apple-pie-filling-to-can.html
Cleaned out most of the garden and made salsa too. Hard to believe that summer is over.

Had my annual dental appointment this week and for the FIRST time in 5 years I had nothing wrong. It just made the rest of my week! My friend Brenda who watched Robyn for me asked what root canal or crown I was going in for this time. My mouth has just been going down hill the last couple of years.

Jeremy had a busy week with church meetings and then our family shoot and then he shot a corporate event up in SLC. This week is full of photo stuff for him as well. Tis the season for fall shoots for christmas cards. And then Friday with a friend he met at a previous photo gig he went to the BYU football game. So there hasn't been much alone time for the two of us. So last night after we kicked kids into their beds and cleaned up the chaos we stayed up late watching The Proposal. Kids even allowed us to sleep in to make up for the late night which I greatly appreciated.

Went to parent teacher conferences this week for Spencer and Allison. Allison is doing great although a little too absorbed in her books that she doesn't hear the end of quiet time. She got her schedule for her choir and is excited for her assembly, concert and then performance up at Temple Square in December. Spencer is doing awesome on all his school work. And he has had no behavior problems this year. We are all a little concerned how he chooses to sit and read during recess instead of trying to play with other kids. He isn't that great at sports which is what most of the boys do. Of course it is a self-perpetuating problem as you don't get better by not doing. So we and his teacher are trying to encourage him to put the book down and interact. See how he does. I wonder if I pushed too hard as after talking to him about it the next few days he tried harder to do stuff with other kids but also lost it a lot more with me. Worst he has been for awhile. But right now he and Allison are giggling in his room over some game so life can't be too bad.

Robyn had a field trip this week to the fire station. She loves, loves, loves preschool. She gets so excited when it is her day to be line leader or bring the snack or show and tell etc. She tell us in detail each thing that happened that day to her. Right now she is trying to imitate Allison's afternoon project that involved glue and popsicle sticks. Not sure what she is actually making but it is requiring all her attention.

Taylor spent the day pooped out, refusing to eat or drink and just laid by the fire with some blankets. Rocky joined him seeking protection from the thunder storms - what a wuss. Taylor decided to perk up and drink some chocolate milk though so he must be feeling better.

Kids are out of school tomorrow so we are going shoe shopping and Allison is having her birthday lunch with Jeremy. I am looking forward to not getting up before 6! Love to you all, Heather




Robyn and Luke playing house.



Spencer's fort











The cute cousins Garion and Kayla

Mom - Bet you thought I forgot! Had some old bananas to make banana bread this weekend. I usually do 1/2 whole wheat but did 100% white flour this time and kids thought it tasted like cake. I like diced up apricots mixed in but my kids prefer mini-chocolate chips. This is courtesy of the test kitchen cookbook but its our favorite.

Banana Bread - One 9 inch loaf
2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe bananas mashed ( 1 1/2 c)
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs beaten
1/4 c plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract
opt: 1 1/4 c walnuts toasted and chopped or diced apricots or chocolate chips or combo of all

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2. Whisk all the dry ingredients together. Whisk the bananas and liquids together. Combine. Mix in optional ingredients.
3. Pour into pan. Cook until golden brown about 55 minutes.
4. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before un-molding onto a wire rack to cool for at least 1 hour.

Allison asked for macaroni and cheese for her birthday dinner. She prefers the fake in a box kind but this will do in a pinch for her. And as the fake cheese makes me gag, and I like the home made kind - this is what she gets. Mimi, I don't remember which recipe I made when you were here but they taste very similar, just one can be made ahead of time and one can't.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese - This makes 8 huge servings so I usually make 2 8x8 pans and freeze one.

8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter
2 c breadcrumbs (or ritz crumbs are good too)
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dry mustard, dissolved in 1 tsp water
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
6 Tbsp flour
3 1/2 c whole milk (I usually do skim but you can taste the difference)
1 3/4 c chicken broth
1 lb Colby cheese, shredded, 4 c
8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 c)
Pepper

Toss breadcrumbs with 2 Tbsp butter.
Cook macaroni in salted water till tender but firm. Drain.
In pot you cooked the macaroni in, melt the remaining 6 Tbsp butter. Stir in garlic, mustard and cayenne. Cook 30 sec. till fragrant.
Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute till golden. Whisk in the milk and broth. Bring to a simmer. Cook 6 minutes till slightly thickened.
Off heat, stir in the cheeses till melted. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in macaroni breaking up any clumps.
Pour into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Can freeze or refrigerate now and later cook thawed 10 min. longer. Or cook for 25-30 minutes till golden.

Stove-top Macaroni and Cheese - makes 4 large servings
8 oz macaroni (2 c)
2 large eggs
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk (have to use evaporated milk)
1 tsp dry mustard, dissolved in 1 tsp water
1/4 tsp Tabasco
Pepper
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick( butter
12 oz cheddar (or Jack or Colby) cheese, shredded (3 c)

Cook macaroni in salt water till tender but still firm. Drain. Return to pot.
Mix the eggs, half of the Tabasco, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
In pasta cooking pot melt the butter. Stir in the egg mixture and half of the cheddar. Over low heat gradually stir in the remaining milk and cheddar until hot and creamy about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

We went Tuesday night to have our pictures taken by a photographer friend of Jeremy's. Despite the horrific wind that started when we got there and the just about to storm mist - the pictures were AWESOME. Here is just a taste - more to follow. Heather

This made my night. Not sure if it was the smell of the meatloaf cooking or just happy to be back home or thinking my voice was funny. But Taylor was happy!