J. Family Reunion over the 4th

Brandon and I outside of the new teepee.


This thing can sleep 20!


Elora, Alan, Jason (Katie's fiancee), Katie, Jonah, and Brandon in the teepee.


Archery.


74th Annual Oakley Rodeo (I don't know why the soft feature is on on my camera).


Just a small part of the gang who went to the rodeo in our matching reunion shirts.


We threw Katie a family bridal shower at the reunion.


The competitors.


Prizes for the winners of the rocket competition.


Brandon's air-rocket "The Garden Gnome".


Breakfast-time.


New campground up on the cabin's grounds.


Elora's new best friend, her great-great uncle Garff.


Elora, Hope, and Scarlett swinging (2nd cousins).

Sweet Pork & Cilantro Lime Rice

It seems everyone has their own version of Costa Vida/Cafe Rio sweet pork recipes. They all involve cola. I've tried two versions that were rather different. The pork recipe is basically the one I got from Lauren, which I liked better just because it was simple, but tasted very similar to the other one I tried. The sauce I like best I got from my Uncle Bart who got it off of someone's blog whose husband's name is Jared. That is all I know. She invented it herself combining several recipes after several attempts at the perfect Cafe Rio sweet pork. She claims hers is even better. It's definitely really good. I didn't like the other one I tried nearly as well (it had ketchup and honey).

3 lb. Pork shoulder roast (pork loin is too lean)
1/2 - 1 can Coke (not diet)
2 cloves or 1 tsp. Garlic
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
1 tsp. Cayenne
3 T. Hot Sauce (El Pato, Cholula, whatever)

Cook in crock pot on low for 6-7 hours.
Drain.
Shred.

In a food processor or blender combine:
1 12 oz. can of Coke (or a little less)
1 can roasted Green Chilies
3/4 small can of Red Enchilada Sauce
1 c. Brown Sugar

Pour over shredded pork. Warm. Enjoy!

When making the pork into a burrito, rice bowl, or salad combine with:
Cilantro Lime Rice
Seasoned Black Beans (undrained)
Diced Tomatoes or Pico de Gallo
Sour Cream
(no cheese, just trust me, it's better without, and I never say that)

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 c. White Rice
1 1/2 c. Chicken Broth
1/2 c. Water
juice from 1/2 of a Lime
1 T. Butter
2 cloves minced Garlic

Boil for one minute. Reduce heat to low. Cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Combine juice from 1 1/2 limes with 2 T. sugar and about 4 T. diced fresh cilantro and stir that into the rice when it's done.
Yum!

I should have taken a picture, but I didn't, so deal with it.

Also, speaking of food, I made a really fantastic chocolate cake (Angela's birthday) this week that you can find here. Oh, and last week I made a fantabulous carrot cake complete with cream cheese frosting (Linda's birthday), but if you want the recipe I'll have to email it to you cause I'm not about to write anymore.

Arkansas

I saw an ad on craigslist last week looking for a dentist in Arkansas paying $45-$125,000 more than what Brandon makes now.
I looked into housing costs there and they are lower than here. It is beautiful there too (I took the above picture on a trip there several years ago).
I have not (yet) convinced my husband to move there, but it is not for lack of trying.

This Morning

Elora slept in an hour and a half later than usual (got up at 8:20) and was almost too cute to bear during breakfast (I made biscuits and gravy to please my hubby who took care of the kids and cleaned up the house last night while I went shoe shopping). Then suddenly I look over at her cause I thought she said, "Boo!" in her cute, tiny little voice (tiny unless she is doing her eardrum-splitting squeal for no reason). Sure enough, she is sitting in her high chair with the biggest smile on her face, covering her eyes with her hands. Then she would say "boo!", wait a full two seconds, and then pull her hands away and giggle. It made breakfast even better. Oh, and the cantalope helped too.

Just Some Stuff

Yesterday Jonah undressed his baby doll (that he hasn't been interested in for basically a year) and then brought it over to me and said, "pee pee, poo poo." We took the doll to the bathroom, he held it over the toilet, we did a few sound effects, and then wiped it with toilet paper and flushed. He then told me to wash her hands, which I did, and then I dried them on a towel. That was the end. It was pretty great.
After spending four days on vacation (more about that in my next post) with Grammy and Papa drinking and talking about and keeping Jonah away from coffee, this morning I told Jonah to get his milk off of the coffee table and now he insists that it is coffee.
After basically a six-month break from almost any reading, I am back into "reading mode." I finished two books that I started months ago and have one more to go on that front. I am beginning Shadow of the Wind this week, which my bookclub is discussing in July. After that, it's on to New Moon.
Elora has done the "headplant" trick for months but in the past couple days has now added in the no-hands aspect. It's pretty cute. To keep Elora from getting too much attention for that, Jonah usually has to do a somersault whenever I cheer for her headplant trick (hopefully I'll get a picture of this on here soon).

More Proof That I'm a Dork

I went to the Kelly Clarkson concert last week, alone. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


Note how close I was to the stage and the faint rainbow in the background. We got rained on a bit and it was worth it!

Krazy Kids

I think of things everyday that I should blog about my kids, but I rarely get around to it. They both love to be outside, they both love baths & showers and sprinklers and being together.
Jonah can count to six. He's getting better and better at his ABCs. He seems smarter everyday. He likes to say "no way" to most any question. He's starting to sing along more words to songs. He is generally just talking a lot more now. He says sentences like, "Ouch. Bad job stairs!" He likes books that are all the same size. He usually has a stack of "matching" books in his bed with him when I check on him at night.
Elora can say several words. She occassionally says "no way" now too. It is hysterical! She is very interested in books, finally. She almost hyperventilates when looking at pictures of animals, especially cats, because she gets so excited. She is finally learning to go downstairs. She is going thru a picky eating phase, I hope it ends soon.

Elora's one-year portraits were taken the first week in June. She fell off a boulder towards the end of the session, neither the photographer's assistant or I were close enough to catch her. It was pretty scary and sad but she was such a champ and cheered up very quickly.


The bruise and bump on her head were virtually gone the second day but the scrape on her nose looked even worse the day after.

California

Sunday, May 17th - The Winninghams picked Brandon and I up from my parent's house in Arizona around 1pm. Had a nice roadtrip to Los Angeles.
Went out to dinner. Stayed the night with Jennifer's oldest family friend, Donovan, at his fabulous downtown LA apartment.

Monday- Went shopping in LA's fashion district. The four of us tried on hats and everyone bought at least one thing. Lunch at a local sandwich shop. Drove around seeing sights with Donovan as tour guide. Dinner at In & Out Burger. Hung around at Hollywood & Highland.
Went and saw the hand and footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre and then watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine inside of it.
It is an incredibly beautiful theatre with ornate carvings, paintings, and detail-work everywhere.
The ladies' bathroom was fabulous.
Lots of people hang out outside of it but not many tourists bother to see a show inside (we were 5 of about 10 people at the show) even though it has one of the best sound systems in the world and is a venue for premiers (the most recent Terminator premiered there the night after we were there, with all the stars in attendance).

Tuesday- Fabulous breakfast at Griddle Cafe in West Hollywood.
Drove around Beverly Hills. Walked around under the Hollywood sign.
Went to the La Brea Tar Pits.
Drove up to Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park (wish we'd had time for a hike there). Fabulous views and great star show. Unimpressive Wolfgang Puck cafe. Italian food for dinner with Donovan and one of his friends. Then to the famous Cinedome Archlight theatre to see the newest Star Trek movie.


Wednesday- Beach day! Started out walking along the water at Venice and then people watching on the boardwalk. I was serenaded by a street musician who skates while playing guitar and wearing a turban. He called himself the Kama Kosmic Krusader and tried to get me to buy one of his T-shirts. I looked him up online and found that he's very well-known and has been in several movies as himself; his real name is Harry Perry. Jennifer got her palm read.
Next stop: Santa Monica Pier. Over-rated but nice. Rode the ferris wheel and relaxed.





Drove up the Pacific Coast Highway and especially enjoyed the 20+ miles of coast and giant homes in Malibu.

Dinner at the well-known Neptune's Net.


Thursday- B and I lounged at the pool while Jenn, Andy, and Donovan went to lunch. B worked out at the apartment gym while I read and showered. Did a downtown walking tour with Donovan
and saw great architechture at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (really cool basement mausoleum and amazing limestone everywhere), the central library, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Had sushi with a bunch of Donovan's friends for dinner. B and I went and saw some improv comedy at IO West and walked the strip before getting a late night snack with our peeps and heading to bed.

I was very pleased with how close together everything seemed in LA, when I had expected it to be much more spread out. Thanks to Donovan we never spent any signifigant time in traffic either. This was not a destination I would have ever chosen to vacation in and despite not having our own hotel room and sleeping on an air mattress, we had a fabulous time. We were sad to miss out on Mexico, but it certainly wasn't in the stars for May and we had a fun and memorable trip:)

Friday- got up at 5am and drove to AZ to relieve my mom of babysitting and be back with our kiddos.

My movie ratings:
X-Men 4 = C+
Star Trek = A

I kind of forgot to do a summary of our child-free trip to California. Maybe I will get around to it later this week. Here is possibly my favorite picture of the trip. B and I walking down Venice Beach, not the crazy boardwalk, the beach.

Hairdo

Note the matching hair clips.

Jonah seems very offended if I style Elora's hair and not his. When I do hers, he always asks for a "haircut" and brings me something to style his hair with.

Last Weekend

We celebrated Elora's birthday again last weekend. This time with the J. family.


Neither of these adorable hairdos even lasted an hour:(










I made the same coconut cake I made for Jonah's first birthday, with the cream cheese frosting. This time instead of a sheet cake, I attempted a layer cake. It was messy-looking but still incredibly delicious.