1st Annual Mushroom Extravaganza

Dear Love and Children,

     When Trey Daug and I were hiking back to the car after our six day adventure we saw lots of people hunting for mushrooms.  When we inquired about it they said it was mushroom season (that would explain the 2,562 mushrooms) and that they were specifically searching for Porcini mushrooms.  Oh my yum!  Porcini's are a gourmet mushroom with a nutty flavor and because they're extremely difficult to grow, fresh ones are very expensive.  

We had to wait a full week after our hike to venture out because life is just too darn busy, but one fateful Sunday we came home from church, changed into our mushroom harvesting gear, and drove to the mountains. 

Because we had seen so many people collecting the previous week and we saw lots of people that Sunday with overflowing bags of Porcini, we were worried the mountain would be wiped clean.  We only had to look for a short time before I found the first mushrooms!  We were pumped.

What a fun scavenger hunt, searching for those tasty treats.  The kids were in heaven and so were Trey and I.  We stopped to have a little snack we had packed and discussed what we should make with our harvest.  So many possibilities!  

Jonas found the biggest one of the day and he thought he was a rockstar, which pretty much, he was.

Before we went on our little adventure Trey had done some research into mushrooms so we would be sure to get the edible variety.  He sent me a link to an article about an author who was out harvesting mushrooms, which he had done hundreds of times before, accidentally took home some poisonous ones that he then cooked and fed to his family.  They had to go to the Emergency Room and horrible lifelong consequences resulted. 

Needless to say, I was a bit worried about our amateur mushroom hunting so once we got our harvest home we triple checked all of them and threw out any questionable ones.  The resulting bounty:

That night Trey made delicious Chicken Marsala with Porcini Mushrooms.

The following night he made Porcini Mushroom Ravioli completely from scratch.

He then topped it with fresh garden tomatoes and basil.  The most delicious meal ever!!!!!  He made so much that we ate it two nights in a row, froze the rest, and then had the Miller family over for a feast and we still had leftovers. 

He gets a little zealous with his cooking sometimes. 

One time he made homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch and we ate it every night for an entire week!  Haha, I love that man.

We still had quite a bit of mushrooms so I dried five trays full in the dehydrator.  The bounty that keeps on giving. We all enjoyed the mushroom process so much that we plan on making it a tradition. 

See you next year my loves, Me 





The ride home

April 12, 2013

Dear Children,
On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again...  Okay, not really, but wow!  Look at this scenery.  The southwest is BEAUTIFUL... expansive skys, red cliffs, plateaus, arches...

I like to squeeze as much out of a vacation as I can.  On the ride home from our Utah trip we stopped at the sand dunes in Moab.  I always wanted to stop there, but no one ever would!  Wah!  Time to take matters into my own hands as the mom and the driver.

The sand felt incredible and we relished every moment.  Oh, how I love these children of mine!

After our time at the sand dunes we were back on the road, but only for a little while before we stopped again.  This time it was to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa Randall.  It was just our luck that Grandma was going out to feed the chickens and gather eggs when we arrived so we joined in the fun.

The kids soon noticed that one of the chickens was getting pecked to death and it had a large open and oozing wound on its back.  Grandma set to work doctoring it up and enlisted Jonas' help.  Jonas, you like to admire animals from afar, but if you ever have to touch one or have them touch you, that makes you extremely uncomfortable.  Grandma, being a no nonsense, get it done, not intimidated by anything kind of lady was a bit troubled (and amused) by your nervousness.

Here she is laughing, but firmly telling you not to worry about a thing.  

And here she is after getting frustrated with you and telling you to stop being afraid and just hold the darn chicken.

You did it!  That's a fine looking patch job ya did there, Dr. Foutz.  Way to go.

Until our next adventure, 

Mama

Utah Valley

April 11, 2013

Dear Children,
What a lovely spring break we had.  No schedule, no soccer, NO HOMEWORK.  Yippee!

I took the four of you to visit Mimi and Brian in Utah by myself.  That's right; four kids, one mom, and a ten hour car ride.  I must say, you did great for the most part.  I have a little bribery trick that works wonders though so I'm sure that helped.  I had a small basket of candy with individually wrapped mini goodies (starburst, smarties) and every hour the basket got passed around.  If you were good then you got to pick a candy.  If not, well then, sorry Charlie.  Our DVD player broke so we had to rely on good ol' books to pass the time.

Jonas was fine with that.  Here's the stack he picked to take.

 Getting closer...

 ...ten hours and we're there!  Woot, just like that!

Mimi and Brian spoiled us rotten.  It seriously felt like Christmas.  I brought home two large Tupperware bins full of gifts.  Whoa, that's a little redonkulous.

They're both really good at playing games or doing crafts, or whatever it is that the kids are interested in.  I got to know Brian's kids better and you guys loved meeting and playing with new cousins.

Jonas LOVED having someone who was willing to play chess or any other kind of board/strategy game with him.  Between Brian and his 15 year old son, Daniel, Jonas was a happy camper.

On our second day we got to spend some time with Aunt Markelle and her little cuties.  We went to a petting zoo and everyone was in Heaven except Jonas.  I may have forced him to pet a Llama.  There may have been tears involved.

Oh, how I wish we lived closer to this Utah family of ours.  It was so good spending time with them.  Before we knew it, three days had past and it was time to say good-bye.

I managed to squeeze a few more drops of fun out on the way home though.

Love, Mama Llama

Ice Skating

January 25, 2013

Dear Children,

     We went Ice Skating in Los Alamos with the Miller's a few days ago and what fun we had!  At first the two littles clung to each other and were inseparable.

Pretty soon they got the hang of it though and were scooting around the ice on their own.

It wasn't long before Sonora was able to keep up with Lucy, the ice skating Queen.  Clara was a bit more timid, afraid she would fall, but she hung in there and had fun.

The Miller's were much better skaters than we were and challenged each other to a race.  This picture was taken right before Aunt Annie ate it on the ice.  Ouch!

It was so fun to be able to hang out with my sista' for a day and chat about life.

Jonas loved ice skating even though he fell about a million times!  He and Eli kept having races.  

At the end of our session Grandma Barb and Grandpa Steve came and we watched a hockey team practice.  We then headed over to the Miller's for a Birthday celebration for Ms. Lucy.

I just love that little town of Los Alamos, it's very picturesque.  The skating rink was tucked into this little canyon that was so pretty!

Love you all,

Mama