Come What May and Love It

A restaurant in Idaho Falls use to have a menu item that was one of my favorites, Lettuce Wraps. They changed the menu and I can not get them anymore. I was craving them a few months ago. I decided to do a search and find them. I was happy when I found it click here . I made it for my family and it was a hit. The one exception was we are not fans of the peanut sauce. We love, love love the sesame sauce. I do not make the stir fry sauce. I double the sesame ginger sauce (which is basically the same thing) and use that in place of the stir fry sauce. I made it again this last weekend and the whole family was saying how it hit the spot. I also put chow mein noodles on the table to eat with it. Oh and it is so messy you NEED napkins but that is 1/2 the fun. Leif does not love the mess so he just makes it into a salad. That is okay because in the end it all tastes the same.

JEREMY'S EGG Jeremy was born with a twisted body, a slow mind and a chronic, terminal illness that had been slowly killing him all his young life. Still, his parents had tried to give him as normal a life as possible and had sent him to St. Theresa's Elementary School. Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy irritated his teacher. One day, she called his parents and asked them to come to St. Theresa's for a consultation. As the Forrester's sat quietly in the empty classroom, Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five-year gap between his age and that of the other students!" Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue...

I was born early on a Sunday morning May 3rd, in R. I. I was born in the year of the tiger. On the morning I was born, my parents were both asleep, when they found out that I was coming. After my parents got to the hospital, they found out that there were problems so the doctor would have to operate for me to be born. The doctor said that I almost did not live. Then when the doctor saw me for the first time he could not believe how small I was. I was only 3lbs 9oz. I was 20 inches long and so skinny I had no fat anywhere on my body. My parents picked out my name 4 years before I was born. Their bishop’s name was H. They liked his name. My middle name is Thomas. It is my grandparent’s last name. H means fire, and Thomas is twin, so I am a fire twin. During my blessing when I was about 1 ½ months old, I cried the whole time. My aunt told my mom that if I cried that meant I would grow up to be a singer, and she was right. My Dad is a great guy, he has been in the military since he w...

When Leif was told he was leaving for Iraq, we had a 6 day notice. It was a whirl wind and he was gone. 4 days after he left it was valentines day. I did everything I could to avoid the fact that it was valentines day until I walked into Broulims and everything was red and pink. It was depressing. The best part of the day that I will never forget, was my neighbor invited my family and I to dinner. She gave up dinner with her husband or a nice little meal with her children so she could include me and my 3 children. Dinner was so yummy that we have used that recipe many many times. In fact it has become one of our favorite meals. Prudence Pennywise (click here) is one of my favorite web sites. In this meal there is Orange chicken, what our family has started calling Chinese Spaghetti, and yummy broccoli. The sauce on this is a little strong so we just add 2x as much broccoli and it is all good. Thanks To my friend and her family for a day that really meant a lot to me.

The first letter I got from H said "My mom's heart feels mine". It is so true. Everytime he feels joy I feel joy. Everytime his heart feels sad I feel it. Through his 12 years of life, he has had some real trials. He has been bullied and picked on and he would not stick up for himself. He had an experience last year that gave him a little more self confidence and he now has some good friends so for the last year or two the bullying is not what it use to be. That being said, yesterday I got a call from a Dad that told me my son had hit his son. I was so sad to hear that, but I knew I had to get to the bottom of it. I am not the kind of mom that thinks my kids are perfect or have the attitude "not my kid". I went to Hayden and asked him what had happened. He proceded to tell me that Kid #1 got out a piece of paper. Kid #2 wadded up the paper and threw it out the window. #1 got out another paper and #2 did it again. H asked #2 to stop and it just kept going on. aft...

I have had homemade cinnamon rolls that were delicious. But I have never been able to make them. I would try and they would be dry or it would be too thick. There is a perfection to a cinnamon roll. Kinna crazy but some of the best cinnamon rolls in my town are sold at the school. Their cinnamon rolls are delicious! People make orders by the dozen. I was on the quest for the perfect roll. A lady in my neighborhood taught a youth group how to make the perfect cinnamon roll. My daughters brought a sample and the recipe home. They were perfection. I wanted to try to make them. Of course when we went to make the perfect cinnamon roll my daughter had lost the paper with the recipe on it. A few years went by and I still yearned for the perfect homemade roll. I remember the recipe from the neighbor had potato flakes in it so I went online and googled Cinnamon rolls and potato flakes. I found it at www.cooks.com and tried it once and they were good but I decided to make some changes. Here is ...

Example: Arise and shine forth by keeping the sabbath day holy that thy light may be a beacon unto the world Self worth: It is great if a woman stays at home she should not feel feel less valued for staying at home with her children. But at the same time she should not feel guilty if she has to work out side of the home to contribute to the household income. Service: When I am generous to his children in need, he is generous to me. Home: The husband is the head of the home but the wife is the heart of the home. Individual worth: Teach each boy or girl that they are made in Gods image and that they are sons and daughters of him. Choices: Desires shape our priorities,and Our choices shape our actions. Service: Small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Our small and simple act will accumulate to bigger service. Missionary work: we should always preach the gospel every day and if necessary use words. :) Service: Often in serving others, we will find answers to our own praye...

mmm French Toast. I have become real bad about breakfast. I think the kids are just as happy eating a bowl of cereal. Why should I go through the effort of getting up every morning to cook for them. I know my husband would like them to have a full breakfast of eggs, a slice of ham, some sort of fruit and a muffin. Nah I will sleep in. However there are rare occasions that I look forward to breakfast. This morning is one of those mornings. I am making French Toast. Not just regular french toast! I like to put a little twist to it. In the mix I add a little orange juice and some orange zest. After I place the french toast on the heat source, I sprinkle the one side with cinnamon. I forgot to do this to a few of the slices this morning and My kids say this makes a huge difference. I also make my own syrup. My family is so use to my syrup, they cannot stand the store bought syrup. D says she can taste the preservatives in it. My homemade syrup 1 c sugar 1 c brown sugar 1 c water. Bring the...

I think My family gets tired of my april fools pranks but I like them, so they will continue. Pranks from this year #1 Green food coloring in the milk. When Leif got it out, he smelled it, tasted it and said, haha food coloring. :( fail. #2 yogurt with part of an apricot put in the shape of a fried egg. H looked at it and used a fork to pick it up and exclaimed "what is wrong with it?" #3 fingernail polish bottle opened and spilled on wax paper to dry overnight. I will place on the new carpet and chew D out for it. #4 place a note on L's apartment door that says there are 12 pictures placed in the apartment and a special message on one. In reality there is no note and only 11 pictures. :) The best from the past, need a raisin and fly swatter. Act like you are hunting down a fly. Swat at it and exclaim "Got it" bend over and pit the "fly" (raisin) in your mouth. - got some eww grose and MOM! need newspapers and shredded paper. Go to a closed door. (I di...