I love this salad.  Jeremy thinks its tolerable and my kids dislike it.  It must be a mom thing, as other moms have really liked it as well.  It keeps for a day in the fridge so you can have the leftovers the next day.  I got the recipe originally from neighborfoodblog.


 1 cup bulgur or spelt or faro or even brown rice - any chewy, larger style grain
 2 cups shredded kale
 1 chopped avocado
 1 apple, chopped
 ½ cup chopped pecans
 ¼ cup dried cranberries

 ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

• Juice of 1 orange
• 3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Cook the bulgur or other grain according to directions.  Cool.
2. Chop up the avocado and apple and put it into a big bowl.
3. Add all the vinaigrette ingredients to the bowl and stir all together.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss all together.

Makes 6-8 side servings of 4 main dish servings.

On Monday I got to go with this little cutie on a field trip to the Planetarium.  I had arranged to take the day off several weeks ago and we spent from 8 -2 exploring the cool science exhibits, watching shoes and raiding the food court.  I don't think I could be a 3rd grade teacher unless I had a huge supply of chocolate in my desk!


Robyn's life ended up changing a bit this week.  After several months of praying and fasting (the amount of stress and thought I put into some situations is a little ridiculous - comes with being a mom I guess) I decided to enroll Robyn in our neighborhood school for 4th grade.  The school boundary is actually 2 houses away from us but our entire ward goes to Manilla School.  So I had to go through getting permission from the two principals, of the school we were supposed to go to and the school we wanted to go to.  And then because we weren't within boundaries I was told we could be put on the list for 4th grade but we wouldn't know for sure until school started and they saw if there was room.  BUT they did have room right now in the 3rd grade class if we wanted to switch.  And because of school testing this next week it would be best if we switched now.  So it felt right and we all agreed so Robyn starts a new school tomorrow.  We have been at Lincoln for 6 1/2 years and it felt strange to be done with uniforms and teaching art.

Robyn and Allison continue practicing with their play and got fitted for their costumes this week.  Allison gets to be the Pied Piper of the rats for a scene and received her tap shoes this week.  She has been busy tapping away in the garage with squeals of delight.  We tried to tape her but the squeals and tap dancing disappeared every time someone appeared.


Jeremy helped me take Jasper up to get his rabies shot this weekend.  Jeremy and he have quite a report going - Jeremy playing with Jasper has become the kids' after dinner entertainment.

 
For Christmas, Jason and Kelly gave Jeremy and me a gift card to make some glass flowers at Thanksgiving point.  So Saturday afternoon with Allison in tow we went in for our appointment.  Allison was the only kid who wanted to watch.  Lucky for her, Jeremy decided he wanted to help and take pictures so Allison got to be the main person for his flower.  She was thrilled.  We get to pick them up anytime after tomorrow.  It was a very cool experience to see how glass objects are made and to participate in the process.  While there we looked around at all the stained glass windows they are making for the Rome temple right now.


Since Saturday also included a beehive trip to the temple, cleaning the office, and grocery shopping plus kid stuff - we all collapsed on the couch that night with a movie and ice cream.  Jeremy is the fun person in our house who thinks of things like getting ice cream and is willing to play fetch with Jasper over and over for the kids.

Jeremy and Spencer continue to work on driving.  The gratitude I feel for Jeremy taking on that task cannot be over stated.  Lets leave it at that.  And that the kids think its really funny how I try to go to my happy place when he drives our family around every Saturday.  Deep breathing, closed eyes and prayers are involved.

I am off to read in bed.  Evidently cranky mom made an earlier than usual appearance tonight.

True love is your husband spending his lunch hour running up to SLC to buy you cheesecake on your birthday.  True love is your husband getting up early and getting kids ready for school solo and bringing you breakfast in bed so you can sleep in till 7:20 ON A SCHOOL DAY!  My birthday was awesome.  I ended up having to work a bit extra but it was also a neat experience because I went into it thinking it would be hard and kids were great, and it was fun to teach part of the class while the teacher was gone for training that day.  Awesome friends dropped by or sent messages, Jeremy picked up pizza for dinner and we all got to go to the BYU men's volleyball game that night.  Round it off with Spencer staying up with me to watch Lincoln and it was a super full, and fun day.


This week was New Beginnings for young women.  I am amazed at the work and effort these women put into these events.  They had the whole gym set up like a cruise ship, complete with gangplank and red carpet and life size palm trees.  I spent Wednesday evening cooking cupcakes and Thursday evening setting up and enjoying the event with Allison and Jeremy.  It made for a late night for everyone.  Robyn babysat Taylor for us and did a great job although she scared me by saying she got Taylor out of his chair and into his beanbag so he would be more comfortable.


Allison has had a busy week.  On Monday she stayed after school working on her presentation and then at night went to a space science fair.  Then she had a competition for a club she is in at BYU all day Tuesday.  She and her friend got a silver on their project which means she goes up to state in March.  This involves staying two night in a hotel up there, so she is very excited about that.  Thursday she had an allergic reaction to Macho as she was getting ready for school.  She missed her carpool as she tried to get her eyes to calm down so I drove her to school a little later.  Red eyes, in glasses because she couldn't get her contacts in, puffy face, hives, and tears that made everything worse because she didn't want to go to school looking so horrible.  It was an emotional mess.  Finally after stopping at Walgreens for benadryl, she agreed to go home and sleep it off.  Girls - the drama is totally different than with boys.  Luckily after a day of Benadryl she was fine.  Saturday she went to an engineering fair at BYU with a friend and enjoyed all the nerdy booths and displays.


And on Saturday afternoon I got to take some of our Beehives to our Junior High Play of Bye-Bye Birdie.


Spencer is still plugging away at school, driving and volleyball.  He has been driving us to and from the office every Saturday and then whenever Jeremy will take him out.  Sitting in the back seat while he drives our entire family in the van is like riding a roller coaster.  You are pretty sure everything will be fine but there is a sinking feeling in the bottom of your stomach that at any moment things could go horribly wrong.  We got to go volleyball shoe shopping Saturday.


Jasper continues to entertain our whole family...and poop in our bedroom - what is up with that?!!  This week he learned to chase the chickens up into their coop, and then go hang with them in their laying boxes.  The chickens were not fans.


Last night and today was our Stake Conference.  And it was our traditional Super Bowl Sunday with Jason's family.  He does all these different types of wings and we do the rest.  Good thing this is only once a year.


I am ready to slow things down a bit this week!  And sugar free January is no more!

Monday, our baby turned 9.  Hardly seems possible.  She wanted to have her special breakfast in bed with bacon, eggs and sausage - go snowshoeing with cousins - and eat nachos and ice cream.  So that is just what we did.  Everyone had a fabulous time (minus the hour crying when Allison had to come with us instead of babysitting or the first time snowshoeing grumps of Spencer till he figured things out - but I am getting better at just moving past those moments.)  It was so warm snowshoeing that everyone was shedding layers as we went.  I actually saw a kid ski past us in shorts and a t-shirt!


Thanks to everyone who helped make her special day just that more special.

This week Spencer had volleyball tryouts as that starts up again.  And he also had his Eagle Board of Review where he got his eagle.  He was super nervous about it but did great.  He had his old young man leader come introduce him which I think Spencer really appreciated.


I am so so glad for all of us that he is DONE!  Now just for the court of honor and future scout stuff but the pressure to finish is over.  I had an experience this week with a 15 year old kid at school with bi-polar.  Made me so grateful for Spencer's drugs and that if he had to become sick it was at such a young age.  The alternative would have been a lot worse.  Jeremy brave man that he is has been taking Spencer driving a bunch.  He is in Driver's Ed now and is wanting to get serious about getting his license.  I pray a lot harder now and am grateful for a husband who stays calm and consistent in teaching Spencer.

This week Jasper got a haircut and revealed more of his naughty side as well all get used to training a puppy again.  He looks so much better and his coat feels soft and smells good.  He came home and everyone wanted to cuddle him.  We had a girl nearby cut his hair this time since it was his first time and next time we are going to try to do it.  He might be a pain at times but everyone loves coming home to an eager, excited puppy who showers them with licks.


Somehow the week seems to fly by but really there isn't much to write about.  Jeremy was nice enough to spend our date making young woman flyers for me.  Allison has been busy working on a presentation for a club competition at school and won her class election to become governor.  Robyn and I got to sneak away and watch her cousin Brynn's 2nd grade play.  All those little moments that keep life busy and happy.  Jeremy has been busy working to pull together things for the outdoor expo his company is putting on.  Its coming up fast and its neat to see the billboards he designed up on the freeways.

There is nothing like coming home from the grocery store to find your kids up on the roof being taught by their dad to take down the Christmas lights.  Makes my heart melt and my anxiety level rise!



If you look closely at Allison's mouth you will notice she has a retainer again.  She lost her old retainer a month ago.  So this week we spent two afternoons at the dentist, once getting a mold done for her retainer and one time going back to get the retainer fitted, and then redone and fitted again...it was a long afternoon.  So she is back to speaking with a lisp as her teeth shift around yet again.

This week I spent an afternoon at the ortho with Taylor figuring out what was wrong with his hip.  Right before Christmas he woke up unable to use his left leg.  He was that way for almost a week
 and then very slowly has been improving.  Turns out he had an infection in his hip joint.  But the screws and plates in his hips are all looking good and the infection went away so he is good to do rehab and get back into shape walking wise.  I guess it can happen to people just randomly and usually it just clears up in a week or two.  And usually it doesn't happen again.  So that was all good news.

This week was also Taylor's IEP for the year.  One of his goals is to lift his head when people greet him and shake their hand.  Another of his goals is to push a vacuum.  It is a great task for his balance and walking abilities as you have to shuffle back and forth while holding onto a vibrating handle.  I have been even more impressed with the people who work with Taylor since I have been at his school.  They really do love these kids.  We also got him a yes/no switch to push to communicate.  He definitely knows how to push the buttons but we are working on him doing it meaningfully.

Robyn and Allison had their casting meeting this week.  Allison is a tap dancing rat, a Duloc dancer and a fox.  Robyn is Alice in Wonderland, a sign, and a dancing bird.  They are doing Shrek this year.  They are both super excited about their parts.


Yesterday we went up to the Humane Society and officially adopted Jasper.  Next Saturday we are going to try to cut his hair.  The girls are enjoying styling his hair into mohawks but I think he will see better if his eyebrows get trimmed.  For FHE this week we bought him toys and a bed.  He has a squeaky carrot that he just loves and carries all over the house.  They got him some minature tennis balls to play fetch with.  He is the source of much bickering and happiness in our house.  I even had a mom lecture for FHE about how we don't fight in our family even if we disagree.  Kids got on a roll to explain how they don't fight either...they just disagree, have a different opinion, discuss loudly, debate etc.  They have a large vocabulary at times.


Friday night we got to go on a double date with friends to see the BYU opening mens volleyball game.  Spencer also was there with the teachers.  I split my concentration between the court and watching Spencer trying to dance for the dance off opposite us.  I forgot how much we enjoy watching volleyball games.  They are awesome, short and fast paced.

This week I had two friends bring me dinner for our family.  Our kids were stumped.  What do you mean they are bringing us dinner just because they care for us.  Doesn't there have to be a reason?  I really do know some amazingly loving people.

Meet Robyn's birthday present (that she has to share with the family) - Jasper.  He is a 6 month old puppy Dauschund/Mini-Schnauzer mix - a Minature Schnoxie.  Officially we have him for a week trial to make sure he fits with our family.

Allison and her friend Kaori have been doing a project for school.  They have spent the last two months using $10 to make and sell suckers to benefit the Humane Society in Murray.  This week they spent the $90 they earned to buy supplies and Saturday we went up to deliver them.


While there we of course had to look around and the girls fell in love with Jasper.  So Robyn decided she would much rather have a dog than take a ski lesson for her birthday.

So far he has been a big hit with the kids and has handled Taylor and Macho well.  See how this week goes but so far it looks promising!  I do wonder about our sanity as parents sometimes, but am hoping this will be a good thing for our family and not the straw that broke the camels back!


We have never had such a small dog before.  Jeremy started singing Rat Dog to the Batman theme when he saw him.  Right now he is sleeping in Robyn's room and they have worked out a walking schedule.  Macho is expressing his displeasure.

Going back to school this week was tough for everyone!  Those early mornings just don't get easier and everyone volunteered to go to bed early.  By Saturday morning while doing homework Spencer said his brain just hurt.  Originally I thought I was going to have Thursdays off this semester but after learning that I would have to work longer the other days to compensate I am going back to my original schedule of working every day.  The Holy Ghost was almost having to hit me on the head to remind me how important it is for me to be home when my kids get home.  Good learning experience for me and a reminder of how the little things of listening to kids daily dumps of whines, schedules and homework assignments are truly important no matter what age they are.  The new aide in the class asked me if I left work exhausted as he was so tired every day.  Since he is a single guy and only working right now I thought it was hilarious and told him that no I didn't get to go home and take a nap!  Told him to give it a week or two to build up his endurance.

Taylor had a doctors appointment Thursday with some eye doctors as we continue to prove he is disabled to qualify him for Social Security as he is transitioning to adult services.  They said that although the prescription on his glasses -11 is right for his eyes, they nerves are so shot in his eyes that they doubt it would make any difference in his using his eyes.  So we are going to try not using his glasses for awhile.

Taylor has not been walking for us since right before Christmas.  Something with his left leg is really bothering him.  He is doing better now and doesn't seem to be in pain unless we force him to walk.  But we are seeing the ortho on Tuesday to make sure there isn't anything wrong bone wise.  It makes me grateful for when he can walk as it makes life much easier.

Our oven burner element burned out Friday while cooking pizzas.  It was a little spectacular to watch!  So this week we are going to learn how to replace an element.  I think God was just helping me resist the urge to bake something with sugar!

This week the girls had auditions and Allison had callbacks for their Spring play.  Our house has been full of nerves and Shrek songs sung with lots of enthusiasm.  Listening to Robyn belting it out in the shower had me cracking up this week.

Spencer got to play volleyball for Young Men's activity this week.  He was so excited and his leaders stayed with him afterwards so he could practice.  He was on cloud 9.

Jeremy had a couple of photo shoots this week as he works on different skills and looks.  He is feeling tons better and has been busy tackling the work load that piled up while he was sick.

I seem to have the habit of picking a project to work on at New Year's.  This year I spent the break working on painting our bedroom and bathroom.  Using the kids' shower makes me really appreciate being back to using ours - we have different standards of cleanliness I have decided.  The best part was having to deep clean our room.  The amount of dust and cobwebs that build up is amazing and gross.

Jeremy has been spending the week trying to fight off a cold that will not quit.  Some days are better than others.  On Friday he had a good day and took Spencer to a manly night of Monster Trucks and late night Betos nachos.  Spencer was thrilled for such a testosterone filled night.

The kids all got tickets to the Aquarium in their stocking so I got the chance to take them.  It was super wheelchair friendly and the kids had a great time while it snowed and stormed outside.



We had cousins come spend a few days with us this week now that kids are all better.  We tried to go sledding but only got a few runs in.  We learned that when it is 10 degrees, the sun is behind the mountains and there is a slight wind you need to dress a lot warmer.


We had a movie day on $5 Tuesday.  Spencer, Allison and Jeremy went to see the Hobbit.  Robyn and I went to see Big Hero 6.  Allison even made it a double header as she also went to a movie with a friend.  Suffice it to say that this break we have gotten our fill of TV shows and movie binges.

For New Year's, Allison went with two friends to a friend's cabin for an over night trip.  They played in deep snow and despite lack of sleep and some friend drama had a great time.  I feel bad that I really have no idea on how to parent or advise a teen-age girl.  You think I would be better at it.  We went to classic skating and Allison didn't want to participate so she sat on an bench the whole time watching us.  Not upset or sad, just didn't want to be involved.  Then she comes home and gleefully works on a science project with her friend all afternoon and late into the evening.  She did a project where they measured a person's oxygen levels, temperatures and blood pressure before and after petting a dog.  I didn't think she would find a nursing home that would let her do this but she did.  Glad I bit my tongue as she can always accomplish more than I think is possible.

New Year's at our house involved fondue, Spencer going to a dance, and Robyn trying valiantly to stay awake with her two cousins and running outside at midnight to bang pots and pans.  It also meant the end of sugar in our house for a few weeks.  Although I have currently a daughter making chocolate chip cookies right next to me.  I think this sugar free thing is a solo goal this year - makes me wonder if its truly worth doing!  Especially when the house smells like cookies!

We took one of our rare visits to the vet with Macho.  He had started peeing straight blood all over the place so we knew something was wrong.  Turns out he had a UTI and bladder stones.  The stones will eventually kill him as we are not spending money on surgery but the antibiotics and special food should help clear things up.  Already we are noticing a difference.