Our friend Horse (His wife calls him Justin) has been hard at work in our backyard two days this weeks. He's doing the kind of labor that is paid with free food and the satisfaction of a hard day's work. Taylor worked too. He got a back rub. And he paid for the food.

Here is the backyard after Horse pushed all the dirt back with his fancy machine. Our backyard is about 1.5 feet down from our neighbors (way to plan it, builders) so we had a slight hill to deal with. We decided on a rock retaining wall. We got the rocks from a place where someone forgot to put up a no trespassing sign in North Ogden.

Here it is as it is now. I'm going to put a garden and other growing things in the area behind the wall. I've got about 8 feet to work with. I'm excited.
And when I uploaded the pictures I found this beauty. Apparently Claire took her own picture. Apparently she had eaten cinnamon or some other strange thing she's allergic to. And yes I just ended that sentence with a preposition. Is that something you have a problem with? Here's the picture I wrote about:

I WANT ORANGE!

Claire is obsessed with the color orange as of late. She only wants to eat with orange cups and plates. She loves orange clothes and crayons. We do our best to go along with her orange needs. If an orange plate or cup is available, I always give one to her. She usually doesn't say anything in the direction of gratitude for my remembering that she prefers orange; I guess she just expects it.

On occasion there is nothing orange available, and she is presented with another color. This often results in her letting us know "But I wanted ORANGE!" Sometimes the orange plate is even obviously headed her direction and she starts to holler "I want orange!" a little panicked that it may somehow go to Kyle.

It's made me think. How often does God present us with the things we want/need and we offer little gratitude, just expect it. And as soon as we don't get what we feel we're entitled to we start into the whole disappointed, "But I wanted..." How often does he plan wonderful things for us, only for us to constantly remind Him that we somehow innately deserve that gift and more? I try to be grateful, but I think I need to be a little more grateful and a little less demanding.

This also comes into play when Claire asks for things. Sometimes it's inconvenient (get up and get stuff for her knowing that my dinner will not be warm upon return or my cereal will be soggy), sometimes it doesn't make sense (Not THAT cup! and I have to dump her milk into another cup, adding to my dishwasher workload). When these requests come and my first response is to say "No" or "Later" I remind myself of all the ridiculous things I ask Heavenly Father for, and then I get up and fulfill the request, hoping to add Karma to my Heavenly requests.

Weird how parenting is such a great way to learn about God.

cooking

I love to cook. LOVE it. I don't like to cook with my kids around though. Maybe it stems from the fact that when I was a toddler I leaned over a bowl in which my mother was mixing cheesecake---my hair got stuck in the beaters and literally pulled out at the roots. A lot of my hair. 1/4 of my head was bald to the skin. I spent the summer with a comb-over. I still remember the sound of the mixer and my mother screaming. I don't remember the pain though.

Anyway, for whatever reason it bugs me to cook with the kids. Every once in a while when I'm feeling overly generous and willing to test my patience I allow them to cook with me by my choice. I am getting better. The other day they helped me make homemade pizza. It was good, and I didn't freak out.

Last night I made a copy-cat recipe for Sizzler's Malibu Chicken. It's been on TV commercials a lot, and for some reason I just love it. I looked up the recipe and was thrilled that I could cook it from my pantry staples without any special trip to the store. I burned a couple pieces, but even they were delicious. It cooked so quickly and easily. And it was kind of fun. And my kids stayed out of the kitchen.

Here's the recipe if you're at a loss for what to make and don't want to go to the store (For the ham I used the Canadian bacon I keep frozen in my freezer).

Malibu Chicken:

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pound 'em thin)
• 6 slices cooked ham
• 6 slices swiss cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup fine dry breadcrumb
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions

1. Stir egg and 1 tablespoons water together with a fork.

2. Combine flour, salt and pepper and coat each chicken piece, dip into egg mixture and then coat with breadcrumbs making sure to press crumbs in firmly.

3. Heat oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat.

4. Brown chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side.

5. Place browned chicken on cookie sheet or oven proof platter, top each piece with a slice of ham and slice of cheese.

6. Bake at 350 degrees, until cheese melts.

7. For the dipping sauce combine mustard and mayonnaise.

Did you catch me on YouTube?
Do you like the house the picked for me?


I did the interview while I had swine flu (the interviewer had been vaccinated and took the chance). I don't remember it at all, so it was fun to see what I said. We are inside Whitney's house during the interview.