chicken feeder

i had to post this picture because this is totally something my dad has thought of.

black bean enchilada recipe

ok sandra gave me this recipe and i have to admit i was a little apprehensive because my family are all meat eaters, but even avery ate it and didn't complain, so that is a good sign.

bag of black beans (just put them in the crockpot and keep them covered with water until they are cooked)
sautee an onion with green peppers and if you want it hot you could add jalapenos. i added a red pepper too because i had it and some cauliflower. i am going to make them again tonight with broccoli too and see how that goes.
i just put a few black beans in each tortilla with the sauteed vegetables and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese and filled the pan up. then i poured rosaritas enchilada sauce over the top (you can use whatever enchilada sauce that you like. i also sprinkled the rest of the beans over the top which wasn't that many and put a little more cheese on top (i have been trying to use cheese sparingly because of its fat and calorie content and i find that my family doesn't complain as long as there is a little bit of cheese and they are getting about half the calories). bake in the oven on 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and then serve. it was a hit at our house. thanks sandra. enjoy.

update

ok, i guess i need to give everybody an update on what is going on in our lives. blake was off from thanksgiving to right after christmas. this was kind of hard for me because as you all know he works a weird schedule where he is gone a lot so for him to save all his time off for the end of the year and take it all at one time was pretty hard on my routine. i know your thinking, what did he interrupt, biking or running, but really just the everyday chores turn into work when you are having to report. he actually wasn't that bad. he roped a lot and spent a lot of time at cowboy christmas with my dad. brady and him took a trip to somewhere in utah to buy a sprayer for the field. we looked at a lot of old junky farm equipment (i'll come back to this). we played in the snow. we argued. we christmas shopped. anyway, for the most part, it was an eventful month and the kids enjoyed having their dad around more. he is constantly telling me that he has to retrain them every time he has some days off because i let them get away with too much stuff, but anyone who knows me knows that this is not the case, i just pick my battles. anna and avery got nintendo ds's for christmas and avery and blake just a few days ago stormed the castle in mario brothers. i don't know what their going to do at night now. anna hasn't really played hers that much, she would rather be absorbed in a book (she stayed home sick today and in fact right now is absorbed in "where the red fern grows"). she informed me that if i didn't cry when i read it, i think i was in the 6th grade, that my heart was made of stone. she is fun. i haven't been up to much besides the routine stuff. kolby said that i am going to be the aunt that everybody remembers as always being on a diet and into the newest exercise craze and as a whole i am ok with this. i don't know why i am constantly, "battling the bulge," but it seems to be one of my trials in this life. i will have to keep you informed as to how this is going. right now, i am on a healthy binge, but i am always waiting for the inevitable to creep back into my life and challenge my good options with the bad ones a.k.a. pepsi. this really isn't a healthy perspective, but thats another trial and another discussion. back to the junky farm equipment: we were looking at this old 1970s bailer with my dad when blake exclaims very excitedly, "clean 1-owner." i couldn't help but giggle even though i was trying my best to not enjoy myself. but that clean 1-owner bailer now sits in our back yard and you have never seen somebody so proud as blake when he brought it home. he actually pulled it right up to the back porch so that anybody who wanted to come take a peak wouldn't need a flashlight. his birthday was just a few days later and one by one the group of party-goers got paraded out to the backyard to ooh and aah over the new piece of john deere equipment. he says he is going to have it painted and detailed, i laughed at that too. anyway, things are going good and i will try to be better about updating this blog and posting some good recipes that i have tried and tested.

the golden child

anna and avery were playing over at emily's house and i told them that when they sat down to dinner, that they needed to come home. after the kids came home, the phone rang and it was emily telling me what a good girl i have. she said that anna was watching tv and didn't notice that they had sat down to dinner and when she noticed she got right up and started putting on her boots so that she could come home. emily and kyle were trying to talk her into staying and finishing her show, but she was insistent that her mother told her to come home as soon as they sat down to dinner and so that is what she did. emily said that she felt a little bad because they were trying to get her to disobey, but it didn't work. we have always wondered why we were given her. she is such a precious gift and way more than we deserve. i am really worried about the teenage years because she has to rebel sometime, right?

the golden rule

avery: i know what the "golden rule is, do you?"
mom: yeah
avery: do you want me to tell you
mom: yeah
avery: do unto others as you would have other do unto you (this is where it gets scary). like, if they kick you, kick them and if you punch them, they will punch you.
mom: that isn't what the golden rule means, it means treat them like you would want to be treated. like, when your nice to them, they are nice to you.
avery: thats what i meant mom. what if your nice to them and they are still mean to you?
mom: you only have control over yourself.

he's a genius.