Loveking Birthday Boy

A good bday for the Loveking...Rockband marathon, 3lbs. of peanut M&Ms, lots of Pepsi, no Saturday work. And lots of love from the fam..
Dean loves playing catch with Jim
Burke loves Jim because he takes him places
Jamie loves watching AI with him
Nelson loves Jim because he kids around and is funny
A few reasons I love Jim...he makes life fun, he encourages me to do the things I love to do, he is completely trustworthy, and he always helps people. So I guess we'll keep him. Happy Birthday Jimbo!

Two must-share recipes

I share so I am not the only one getting fatter by the day. The first is chocolate popcorn. My niece, let's call her Satana, made this for my fam a few years ago and it is totally addicting and easy. Pop two bags of lite-butter microwave popcorn. Empty both bags WITH NO KERNELS into a huge bowl. Melt one bag of white chocolate chips and pour over popcorn. Stir til coated. Pour out onto counter or cookie sheet. Drizzle with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. Let dry (30 minutes-ish). Then try not to eat the whole thing in 5 minutes. Your stomach will hurt. I'm just guessing.
The next one is more time consuming but worth the effort. It is one of my favorite salads from my sister-in-law, Janet. And it's a salad. Everyone knows salads are good for you. I make the dressing and almonds in the morning and throw the salad together just before serving.

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
2T lemon juice
1t salt
1/2t dry mustard
2 cloves garlic, pressed thru garlic press

Almonds:
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
Mix butter and brown sugar in small pan til bubbly. Add almonds. Cook one minute. Spread on cookie sheet and broil for 1-3 minutes til browned (watch carefully). Cool. Break apart. DO NOT start snacking on this...it will gone before you realize what you've done!
Salad:
Spinach
Red leaf lettuce
Romaine lettuce
1 red onion, sliced
2 green onions, chopped
1 pint strawberries, sliced
Place all lettuce, spinach, and onions in large bowl. Add strawberries and almonds last. Pour dressing on just before serving. Great as a side, or sometimes I add sliced, cooked chicken and serve it as a main dish at chick events.
Enjoy!

Thawing out

I took Burke and Dean to Utah for a little vacation while they are off track. They had tons of fun in the snow. They thought they would be funny and throw snowballs and Grandpa while he cleared the driveway, but the funny thing was when grandpa turned the snow-blower on them and pelted them with snow. No pic...I got outta the way for that.

We also saw lots of friends and family. The boys loved hanging out with their 2nd cousins and swimming even though it was freezing outside. Utah has these amazing indoor rec centers and we spent hours at them.

Of course we had to pick up some Krispy Kreme...more than once. Did you know the drive-thru in Provo is open 24 hours?! Lucky.

And one of my favorite things was snow-shoeing. Its basically hiking in the snow, but man, it was so amazingly beautiful....and peaceful, when I went with Carl without the kids:)

Thanks everyone who let us stay and added to our fun while we were there! Hanging with family, seeing old friends, eating Indian food, the Banff Film Fest, the temple, BYU...it was a blast!

Bike rat

Nelson spends most of his free time screwing around on his bike. This weekend I thought I should check out his moves. He was totally mortified to have his mommy at the bike park taking pictures until he saw himself in all his glory! Now he's telling me where he wants me to stand next time and his friends are asking if I got any shots of them. I knew he would appreciate me one day!

Last year of unaccountabilty!

Baby Deano

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

Happy 7th Birthday Dean! You keep us laughing and brighten our lives! We love you!

Diet schmiet!

So I was gonna start that New Year's diet the Monday after our lunch....but...oh, whatever...I'm over it! I love you guys! If you can imagine...this pic was even worse in color...sorry I'm posting it!!! Time for lunch again soon...so we can take a better pic:)

Back in the saddle

Hard to beat getting rid of a brain tumor, but finally getting rid of that nasty brown tooth comes pretty close! He was hoping the Tooth Fairy would give him more for that nasty thing...but I think he was lucky to get anything at all! Things are pretty much back to normal for Dean. I have been going to school with him for the past three weeks. Very Billy Madisonish. I'm gradually cutting back my time in class each week and hope to completely stop next week. I sub in for his teacher's assignments like yard duty and I've found that my true calling in life is crossing guard. Who would have guessed? Something about the cool stop sign. Every time I lift it I want to break out into Stop! in the name of love! I can also run three copiers at the same time while laminating sight words and making bulletin boards...not something I like teachers to see me doing! I prefer to remain one of those seemingly incapable parents, but now my cover is blown! Ten years of blending in down the drain!