Holiday musings

We had a great time with everyone home for the holidays! Today we dropped Camille off at the airport after doing some wedding dress shopping with Michelle. Today's funniest moment came when we found a new bridal shop and sent Nicole out to see if it was open and to read the notes on the door. Nicole burst out laughing and brought the notes to us to read! They were from two angry customers who wanted service according to the posted hours. The customers were really mad. For sure we will not go back to that shop! Two years ago this week we were doing the same - wedding planning for two upcoming weddings. It is such a good feeling to have everyone home and enjoying each other.
I love all the traditions of Christmas and have thoroughly enjoyed all the music, and new CD's. I love that my family enjoys the traditions we have done over the years and some of the new ones. I think the stocking shopping for one person is great fun -- and it takes a ton of pressure off me! Everyone is so creative in their use of $20. This is the first year we had everything wrapped before the Christmas Eve Dinner began -- many thanks to Clyde! He kind of got stuck on one or two rolls of paper, but I was not about to complain since I was so thankful for his help! This year instead of a fancy dessert for the dinner, we just had our favorite traditional cookies that we make anyway. Perfect for a small taste of sweetness. Hello Dollies were my mom's favorite, Pomander Balls are a cookie we have made since the children could roll a ball, and ginger cookies we started about 16 years ago - learned from Pattie Shumway. We did not have small children for a nativity, but we had Tom and Linda and Mikey Draper and Emily's twin sister Melody and husband Jonny and baby Julia as our guests. Jill and Nathan also came. I love guests on Christmas Eve for dinner. I have had basically the same menu and dinner for all of my 54 years! My parents always hosted the Christmas eve dinner with relatives and it just makes Christmas seem so special to begin with a big dinner party. Once I moved away from home, it became important to me to continue the tradition and I am glad we were able to do it all these years!
In a few days we will put it all away and start our task of eating more healthy and doing more exercise. It has been such a sweet experience - in taste and emotionally.

Christmasfied and snow!

Saturday was a busy day. It snowed! Looks beautiful but was very wet and made the roads dangerous in the afternoon. I stayed in all afternoon making funeral potatoes for 150 -- Michelle was supposed to help, but she was downstairs throwing up all day. This was for her ward 'break the fast' -- we were trying to save money. I learned a few tricks and felt like a caterer. Thank goodness I did not have to cook them all! In the evening Erin, Janice, Clyde (between football watching), Michelle and Cisco decorated the house. Pictures are posted.

Janice goes to ER

So out of nowhere, no special stressful event, no physical activity, my heart started racing about 10:30 pm Friday night. Racing. 190 beats per minute!. Kind of makes one feel tired real fast. After talking to our neighbor nurse - she suggested if it didn't slow down soon that I should go to the ER. Clyde took me about 11:45 pm. Always go to the Orem Community Hospital if you need ER in Utah County -- they got me right in. Heart was still registering 195 beats per minute -- called superventricular trachycardia. SVT. This is where there is a kind of short circuit in the electrical system and the beats are taken over by the short circuit instead of the longer powerful beat of the ventricle. After an EKG, the Dr. told me he wanted to give me shot that normally works super fast to stop the short circuit and gets the heart beating normally. One warning he had to tell me - I was going to feel like I was dying for about 5 - 10 seconds but it would pass! He hoped it would only take one time! I started watching the clock to feel just how long 5 - 10 seconds was. Pretty long if you feel loss of any control, heartbeat, breath, etc! So he gave me the shot and sure enough I felt this sudden warmth, sinking heart, loss of feeling in my hands and no control. It passed quickly just like he said, although it took a few minutes to metabolize the entire chemical out of my body. The heart rate dropped incredibly quickly and was back to 40 - 90. Still not ideal and a bit too irregular, but so much improved. The second EKG was much better! They wanted to keep track of the rhythm and take some blood work. So even though I was feeling much better I still had to stay unto 2:40 am! I was pretty tired, but glad that most of the labs came back fine. They gave me a beta blocker to try for a while and suggested I see a cardiologist. I had told them this has happened to me before, but never had any treatment for it and usually it takes 2 - 3 hours to go away on it's own. We slept til 9 am and also had some naps on Saturday.
Clyde gave his football ticket to our cousin Chuck and we (I) watched the game on tv. Clyde could not bear to watch it until he heard that BYU won! Clyde bought a new pre lit tree and Nicole, Casey, and Camille helped to decorate. Michelle was helping Cisco finish his paper for school. We had Mimi's Corn Chowder for dinner, and I forgot to turn the oven back on to cook the breadsticks -- so we had them long after the chowder was eaten! I am for sure going to bed early tonight - have to go to 9 am Ward Council for Pattie who is out of town, teach the RS lesson at 11 am, and start my second dose of beta blocker - which will reportedly make me feel tired and lousy for a week! How's that for an exciting start to a new year just after my birthday passed? Will keep you posted on any developments etc.

Halloween fun

Here are some great costumes that happened at our house during the Halloween week.
Erin Dressed Nicole as a Pirate, and then just happened to have her own Indian costume on hand to go with Nicole to her party!

Michelle and Cisco dressed as a banana and a gorilla!

Recipe Club

We have this little Enrichment activity group that meets monthly to share and sample recipes. Tonight we shared soup recipes. I made Mimi's Corn Chowder (which I had never made before!) and it was really tasty and quick. It was fun to taste other soups: Pumpkin soup, Potato Basil, Paula Dean's Creamy Chicken soup, Russian borscht, Chicken Tortellini Soup and Roasted Carrot soup. The pumpkin soup was surprisingly good. I have recipes so if you want me to send you any just let me know. I told the group how I used to serve soup even in Hawaii by making breadsticks to always go with the soup. Funny thing is, I can't recall what soup I made when we lived there. I think I got into broccoli soup and chicken soup after we moved back to Utah. Any memories KC, Camille, Nicole? I think we ate a lot of a campbell's bean with bacon soup when the kids were young -- but I don't think that was the one I made the breadsticks for.

Glad to be home

Sunday I went to SLC to participate in a conference for work. Clyde came with me and listened to a speech by Robert Kirby. Kirby is the humor columnist for the Tribune and he had some great stories about humor and people in general. After that we enjoyed finger foods and great music and fiddling from the musical group "Lincoln Highway". Apparently they are BYU alums. We were the last to leave and just enjoyed visiting with many of the BYU workers were there. We went to bed around 11 and I was asleep with my trusty ear plugs (great for sleeping in strange noisy places) when I heard a lot of laughing and talking around midnight. I thought some people were in the parking lot, but after Clyde woke me, we discovered there was a huge group of people in the room next to us -- speaking in a different language and being very noisy! The scary thing was that they tried to open the door between our rooms at least four times! I finally called the front desk and they sent security so it got quiet about 15 minutes later.
Clyde went home on Monday and I manned the booth I was assigned to. It was right in front of a door to the outside that did not close well so I had to buy a little blanket to cover my legs to keep me a bit warm. Clyde told me he did not sleep well because he was cold with out me! We sleep - cuddle!
Tuesday night was a 5 course dinner at the Train Depot in SLC. Clyde came up and met me there. It took a long time to serve 200+ people and 5 courses no less!. They started about 7:50 pm and the last food was served after 9:30. For some reason the meal did not agree with me and I was up at least three times in the night trying to feel better. Then my boss called my cell at 7 am, when we were both enjoying some good sleep! It felt so good to get home on Wednesday and get in our own bed again! I did discover a great place for lunch and breakfast in SLC: Paradise bakery on 400s and 600 E. Wonderful muffins, cookies, and delicious sandwiches and fire roasted tomato soup. It makes me more determined to try that recipe from Nordstroms now.
We are both glad to be home. Wed night I vegged and went to bed early. Ahhh!

The Detox Diet

Michelle went to a Dr. who put her on a detox diet and lots of supplements to see if it would improve her symptoms of Fibromyalgia. I am doing the diet with her for support. First two weeks are chicken, turkey and fish, all veggies except white potatoes, and all nuts except peanuts. We started on the 12th. She loves hard boiled eggs, and I make sauteed veggies and egg omelets for breakfast.
I have had to be creative to keep interest and taste in the food she can eat. We had salmon on Sunday with roasted veggies ( asparagus, red pepper, mushroom, zucchini), salad with CafeRio dressing. For tuna salad I chopped up radishes, red onion, snow peas, celery, slice of avocado, and added sprouts and 3 T cafe Rio dressing. We ate these in lettuce leaf wraps. Michelle loved it and so did I! Monday I made a chili without beans and used ground turkey. Clyde ate two bowls and the next day he said "that was turkey?!" Lots of seasonings, onion, celery, garlic, red and green peppers, and seasoned tomatoes. Michelle liked it a lot.We liked it so much that Erin made a recipe today to take to work!
I have the Grill Mates Hamburger seasoning by McCormick and I think it helps with turkey.
Tonight I made Turkey Burgers and I really liked them. Here's the recipe:
Seasoned Turkey Burgers

• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey breast
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (I substituted ½ t. Grill Mates hamburger seasoning by McCormick)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 egg, lightly beaten (optional)
• ¼ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 6 hamburger buns, split

1. In a large bowl, mix the turkey with the onion soup mix, pepper, garlic powder, soy sauce, and egg. Refrigerate the mixture about 10 minutes, then form into 6 patties.
2. Preheat the grill for medium-high heat. Pour olive oil in the skillet.
3. makes 7 patties, cook till kind of crisp on one side, then turn over. OR Lightly oil the grill grate. Place the patties on the grill. Cook for 20 minutes, turning once, or until well done. The inside of the burgers will look whitish in color when cooked through. Serve on buns.

all recipes.com Made for Michelle’s detox diet. Very yummy. NO complaints from Clyde!

Wish us more success!!

favorite salmon

Here's my latest Salmon experiment:
drizzle lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with dried basil
shake on some garlic powder, and onion salt.
squeeze good amount of lime juice on each piece
sprinkle with good amount of Italian bread crumbs.
bake at 400 for 15 - 20 minutes, depending how thick your pieces are.

Delicious and low fat!

Learn anywhere

What do you don while spending 2 - 3 hours in the ER when you are there as the support person? Read Magazines!!
Here's some good stuff I learned:
new online recipe posting, blog or email system: smilebox.com/familyfun
(See my test below)
new website by Disney: family.com full of resources, ideas, recipes etc.
24 hour preschool online: sproutonline.com
Teddy grahams now come in Oatmeal flavor!
goodhousekeeping.com is the new online version of the magazine. checkout the Soup diet and all the interesting recipe related blogs and 30 minute organizing site.
There is a new kind of rechargeable battery called Eneloop by Sanyo - good for tons more photos on your camera.
interesting website: duringdinner.com with stories of families who try to make dinner time a great place to be for families - conversation etc.
In Good Housekeeping magazine I read a great story about an Ethiopian man who endeavors to provide books and libraries for children in Ethiopia -- very inspiring and touching.
Down time can be enriching!

testing Smilebox.com online personal recipe book

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Clyde's Trials

We had a busy week - Tuesday Temple, Wed a shower and a ward party, Thursday the BYU Spectacular.
Wed evening I waited for Clyde to return from his night class before I left for the baby shower and he was to attend the ward party. At 6:50 pm he walks in and tells me his lower back really hurts and he thinks he has another kidney stone!
He has had two before, usually the pain begins in the middle of the night and we end up at the ER getting pain shots by IV. This time, he took some pain relievers he had left over from gall bladder surgery last summer. I went to the shower in Cedar Hills for Jill Jackson Smith. At 8:15 he called and said he had talked to his doctor and he told him to take more pain relievers. 7 minutes later Clyde calls and wants to go to Urgent care. I was 25 minutes away! Clyde called Tom Draper, who kindly took him to a nearby urgent care and I met Clyde there. Two pain shots later, he was home and in bed by 10 pm. We were hoping for pain relief through the night. It was kind of a rough night with Clyde getting up a lot since he had been drinking so much water and the pain was back about 4 pm. More pain pills and about 6 am Clyde passed a very small stone.
He feels ok to go teach his Thursday 8 am class, came home for a three hour nap, and then back to teach a 3 pm class. Kind of achy still in the back, handled by Advil. We met Grant and Mary for dinner and the BYU spectacular and got home at 10 pm. Friday Clyde had more back pan in the am so he took the heavy duty pain pills - found out his urologist is out of the office for a month! Friday was a really bad day, pain and such. He did not eat much and spent the evening nauseated -- got to sleep about 2:30 am.
Saturday the back pain is getting sharp again so it seems another kidney stone is present. We finally went to the ER since we knew we would get blood and urine tests and probably a CT scan. The general doctor on Friday was booked and only offered to call in more pan pills! After 2 1/2 hours, we learned that Clyde still had a kidney stone about 2mm in size and about to pass to the bladder, and on. We are Still waiting for it to pass -- still drinking tons of water, still taking Advil and not too much of the heavy duty pain pills. Got to watch the BYU game at home on the TV -- this was ok because it RAINED! Looking forward to going to bed early tonight, hoping the stone will pass soon and this trial will be over!!! One thing we learned at the ER: the Advil bottle says no more than six pills in 24 hours, but in the hospital they regularly prescribe 16 pills ( 4 every 4 hours) over a 24 hour period. Good to know for severe pain.

Week of dinners

Last week was a week of dinner parties - hosted by me! Monday Sept 10 we held a Salmon Bake at our home/ back yard for some of Clyde's colleagues and their children. Clyde was really worried about the children, but we put out the bean bag toss game and some balls and they entertained each other really well. A spouse of one of the professors had brought back 70 pounds of alaskan salmon and they wanted to share and party. Clyde offered our house and my cooking skills to bake some salmon. Someone brought some ready for the grill l(Lime cilantro marinade), one person fried salmon with flour and lemon juice, and I baked two types. I used Emily's honey dijon recipe under the broiler, and found another marinade using maple syrup, soy sauce and garlic. They both were big hits. We ended the night with the best yet fresh peach ice cream. Clyde added lots more peaches and more cream, less milk. One person at the party could not believe how good it tasted and said their homemade peach ice cream was not good at all. She told me they used skim milk! Good ice cream is all about the butterfat!
Thursday night was the Grad Studies dinner for 1000 students and I am the one in charge. We had 1106 RSVP, but we always reduce our dinner count from past experience -- but it still a worry that we will feed all who come. My day started at 6 am, picking up the ticket raffle drum and then setting up the info fair with 29 booths for the 300+ students who would come through. My new student worker said he had never seen anyone so calm for being over such a big event! The dinner went well and we only had 39 empty seats! Whew! I was home by 8:39 pm and in my pj's before 9! Very tiring day, but very successful.
On Sunday we hosted Cousins Dinner for 11 or 12. Roast beef, peas, mashed potatoes, Rhodes rolls, garden tomatoes and double chocolate bundt cake for dessert. All standard fare but so appreciated by the college crowd. We had a few new faces: Caitlin Earnest (new freshman from Washington state), Nathan (Jill's son) and Cisco (Michelle's boyfriend). Next month we hope to have Dean Duke's son also. I was quite exhausted most days of last week.

What got into me?

Today I went to the grocery store. We didn't need a lot, but are hosting a salmon bake on Monday and making Clyde's famous fresh peach ice cream. Today I seemed to purchase a bunch of new products! I'm usually not looking for new stuff, but a lot of new items seemed to catch my eye today. Here's the list:

• Barilla "Plus" pasta, which boasts 17 grams protein per 1 cup dry pasta. It is made from whole grains
• Kellogg's All-Bran crackers - multi grain 20% daily fiber in one serving!
• Two containers of gourmet rice pudding from Pudding on the Rice restaurant - Raspberry and Ebony / Ivory flavors. Michelle keeps telling me to go there, but when I saw these I thought this would be an easy way to try it out.
• Two packages of Stacks of Cookies from the store entry - freshly made Peanut and Double chocolate -- for our party on Monday?
• 1 bottle of Dassani water Plus, with Vitamin E and zinc --maybe for Michelle since she has cold symptoms
• Zatarin's Tuna Cake mix, ( add two cans tuna and mayo and water). I have been making tuna patties for dinner sometimes when it is just the two of us.
• Box of instant sweet mashed potatoes -- could this taste anywhere near the real thing?
• 1 jar Smart Balance chunky natural peanut butter with 1000 mg of Omega-3

And one new item I bought a few weeks ago that I now love - Triscuits crackers: Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil seasoning. Tastes great with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. Low fat but yummy. Wish me luck on the Salmon Bake. I plan to use Emily's Honey Dijon recipe, and a very highly rated Maple/soy sauce/garlic one I found on allrecipes.com.

32 years!

We went on a fun trip to Star Valley Wyoming and Jackson Hole Wyoming for a few days in late August. Our friends David and Kathryn invited us to their newly purchased 30 yr old cabin on a golf course in a very beautiful part of Star Valley. It was so peaceful and we saw a truy gorgeous sunset reflected on a small pond, as well as deer on the course. The next day we woke to fog and it was really cool to see it rising and burn off teh golf course. We drove to Jackson Hole that day and made a point of returning to a photo spot at the Jackson Hole ski resort where we had our picture taken 32 years ago that very same week after I had accepted Clyde's proposal of marriage. We took another photo and I'll post it here, if I can figure it out. We really wanted to go see Jenny Lake, where we had had our encounter with a moose at night 32 years ago, but the park wanted to charge us $25 and we only had 15 minutes before we had to return to our Cowboy chuckwagon Dinner and show. It was so fun to see the Tetons again!