CHARITY'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

3 Whole Eggs

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 3/4 Cups Sugar

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

2 Cups Grated Zucchini

3 Cups Flour

Preheat oven to 350

Mix ingredients together in the order shown above. Mixing well between each ingredient.

Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Pour equal amounts of the mixture into each loaf pan.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the center is done.

CANNED MILD SALSA

*This recipe uses fresh tomatoes from your garden, that is why I love it so much*

Makes about 6 Quart

24 Whole medium tomatoes
2 Bell Peppers
1 Red Pepper
5 Jalapeno Peppers
1 1/2 White Onion
1 Red Onion
12 oz Tomato Paste
1 Cup White Vinegar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Salt
4 Tablespoons Cilantro
3 Cloves of Garlic (Minced)

• The tomatoes need to be skinned. You do this by boiling water in a large pot and then putting the tomatoes in the boiling water for 20-30 seconds. Place them in ice water afterwards. Then you can peel them.
• Cut all of the peppers and remove the seeds. If you don't remove the jalapeno seeds your salsa will not be mild.
• In a food processor or chopper, chop the bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, garlic and the tomatoes. They can be chopped by hand, but the food processor is easier. Also I don't like my salsa really chunky, so the food processor works better for me. If you want chunkier salsa you can chop half of the vegetables by hand.
• Put all ingredients into a large pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 25 minutes. This process boils off some of the liquid from the tomatoes.
• Place the lids and rings into a small pot with water and bring the water to a boil. This will get the lids soft so they will seal better. Leave them in the hot water until you place them on the jars.
• Also, start your water bath (canner) water on the burner at this time. It takes a while to get the water boiling.
• Pour the salsa into jars, leaving an inch of air at the top of the jar.
• Wipe the rim of the jars with a wet cloth to get any drips off and then seal them with the lids, making sure you screw them on tight.
• Place the jars into a water bath and bring the water to a boil again. The water in the bath needs to be at least an inch above the jars. Boil the salsa for 20 minuets for quart sized jars or 15 minutes for pint sized jars.
• Take the bottles out of the canner and place them on a towel. they will seal as the jars cool. You know they are sealed by pressing down on the lid of the jar. If it doesn't pop when you push on it then they are sealed.
  

GRILLED PORK CHOPS

This is a great recipe for pork chops. I use the thicker boneless ones that are about as big as your fist.

4 Pork Chops
1/3 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/8 Cup Oil
1 tsp Minced Garlic
2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Mix all ingredients (except Pork Chops) together in a bowl. Add the Pork, cover and marinate for 1-2 hours. Grill and enjoy! Do not over cook the meat.

MAKING A QUILT

This weekend was mommy/daughter activity weekend.

I love mommy/daughter activities.

My beautiful daughter wanted a new summer blanket for her bed. Apparently the feather comforter and duvet were too hot...go figure!

So a month ago we chose some fabrics and then have spent the weeks since choosing a design, deciding it wasn't "cool" and then choosing again.

.

On Saturday we got started and finished the top of the blanket. However, we had not decided what to put on the back.

Today we finished the blanket and it is pretty darn cute.

Now if she would only clean her room!

GOOD MORNING

Hello my pretty! Do you know how much you brighten my day.


You sure look beautiful this morning with your bright yellow head and playful disposition.



And look, you brought me some friends today. They are pretty cute too.


But tell me something. Why is the mother of your children looking so very dull and boring.

It just isn't fair!

DANCE COMPETITION

Emmi has been dancing since she was 4, and doing competition dance since she was 6. She is planning on taking next year off of competition so I am making sure I take video and pictures to record this year.
Here are some pictures from the last few competitions.

They had three team dances and one show routine. Today their dance "Light a Match" won three awards: !st Place/Platinum, Best Choreography & Overall Best Intermediate/Professional Dance.

They did wonderful. Only two more dance competitions to go!

THEY'RE BAAAAAAAACK

All is right in my world today.

I looked out my kitchen window while rinsing out my cereal bowl.... and saw this:

It just makes everything right. My 5 male yellow headed blackbirds managed to find my home again. I hope they missed me as much as I missed them. I won't see the females for a month or more...I think that is because they are sitting on the nests...who knows. But my yellow-headed beauties will now greet me morning and night until the end of July.

It brightened my day.

EASTER WEEKEND

(This snow-bunny was found hopping around Salt Lake City)

It has been a fun Easter weekend. Filled with family, fun and lots of food (of the sugary variety).

It was very VERY cold though!

Friday night it hailed!

Saturday my sister, BIL and I took the kids to Hill Air Force Base for the Easter hunt. I think we got hypothermia, but the kids had fun. (if you look close you will see remnants of the hail storm from the night before...there should never be frost on your Easter eggs...that is just sooo wrong)

Saturday afternoon was Great Grandma's Easter party. Lots of cousins showed up. It was a ton of fun!

(Brayden & Taiton)

(Mindy and Briella)

(Zach, Kylee, Emmi, Reece, Taiton and his friend)

(Averie and Joey)

(Kylee and Averie)

(Emmi)

Then today we did the hunting egg thing, colored eggs, microwaved a peep and then took a long nap. It has been a relaxing and wonderful day!

WEEKEND IN SAINT GEORGE/ ZION

This weekend Emmi had a dance competition in Saint George. I'm not a Saint George lover, but I do have to say this is one of the best trips I've made that direction.
We headed out on Friday around 2, got into Saint George around 6:30, checked into the hotel and then headed out to find some food.

Yes, we know what is most important....food!

We ate at Brick Oven Pizza, at the end of the St George Boulevard. Yummmy! While we were eating a balloon lady came around and made Emmi "bunny ears". It was quite the fun dinner.



After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed...I was so very tired from driving.

The next morning we were up early for the dance competition. Emmi had three team dances (Jazz, Lyrical, Jazz) and a show routine.

They placed first in all of the dances. Two of the dances were "high gold". I was so very proud of her, but the best part was that they had fun!

After dancing Emmi decided she wanted to swim for a bit.



Then we went on a tour of St George. I've been to the place many times but except for when I was like 14 and went with Janet Dodd and her sister, I really haven't done anything while I was there. So I decided to find the roads that took you to the top of the red rocks and take the roads that lead out of the city to the fun spots. I never found the road that took you to the volcanoes and the dunes, but that is okay....

I found THIS!

Now tell me that doesn't look like a face.... hahahahaha, I love it!

and we found these up on the top of one of the bluffs.

We had a blast that day just driving around and finding all sorts of cool stuff, mostly in the color reddish-orange, but since it isn't a common color up north we enjoyed finding new red rocks.

The next morning we were SUPPOSED TO eat breakfast, hop in the car and just come home. But at breakfast this morning one of the other families was talking about driving through Zion and Emmi decided SHE wanted to drive though Zion too. So I bought a map, called my mom and then took the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way home.

But had we taken the normal route, we would have missed all of this!

(Look, she is sad because we were leaving)

Our 4.5 hour drive took 8.5 hours and 50 extra miles...not to mention the $25 freaking TAX they charge you to drive through the park, but it sure was beautiful. It was worth the extra time, even if I am extremely tired right now because of it.

We stopped at my parents on the way home and Emmi decided to show us how tired she was from the trip.

What a great weekend!

Now I'm off to bed.

Visit to the Mountains

Last weekend one of my coworkers got married. After the ceremony Emmi and I decided to drive to the top of 9th street in Ogden and see the mountains. It was cold out, but the snow topped mountains were hard to resist. They looked so beautiful.

Emmi went exploring at the trail-head. She noticed lots of signs of foot traffic, and not just of the human variety. She decided that she wanted to live at the bottom of a mountain and then said she was cold.


I agreed. It was really windy and cold out.

We couldn't help but take some pictures. (Okay, so we took lots of pictures)

While I really hate the cold winters in Utah, it sure does make for some breathtaking scenery.

Enjoy!

(P.S. I love my new camera and I really really love my new zoom lens!)