MFLT

Soon after we moved to this house, I was sitting in church and a new lady walked in. Out of no where, I thought, *there's my friend* which was weird cause I never met her before. I later chatted with her and her name was Laura T. We became fast friends. She is so funny and clever and so fun to be with. Shes a great cook and she sews and has farm animals on their land. Her husband is just as funny. We were walking buddies for awhile.
When I would speak of Laura to others, like my sisters or my husband, I would call her "my-friend-Laura-T" because if I just said Laura they would think I meant a different Laura in the family. Soon "my-friend-laura-t." became "MFLT". She lives close by but I don't see her often, in fact only a few times a year. When we do see each other, it's like we are still close buds.
This past Sunday, MFLT and fam came to our meetings for a missionary welcome home. It was so good to see her. She gave me some good news too. She has become a quilter! she hosts a quilting night every week at her home, and she invited me to come too. I am so happy about it. It's just what I need to get my piecing act together. Something else to look forward to.

what's for dinner tonight?

What are we having for dinner? I get asked that at least twice a day , sometimes more then once from the same kid. Meal planning is such a pain, and certainly there is an easier answer. How do you do it?
Tonight we are having a family favorite Creamy Italian Chicken.

* 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
* 1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
* 1/3 cup water
* 1 package (8 ozs.) cream cheese, softened
* 1 can (10 3/4 ozs.) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

* Hot cooked rice or noodles

Preparation:
Place the chicken breast halves in a slow cooker. Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese and soup until blended. Stir in mushrooms. Pour cream cheese mixture over chicken. Cook 1 to 3 hours longer or until chicken juices run clear. Serve Italian chicken with rice or hot cooked noodles.
Serves 4.

I'm doubling the batch so I can serve it again Wednesday or Thursday, I'm sneaky like that.

Tuesday- Soft shell tacos
Wednesday- speghetti
Thursday- Leftovers
Friday date night
Saturday- Pizza, always pizza

This place takes on a whole new meaning

Now that I have a grandbaby coming

Lacrosse lacrosse lacrosse

We've been involved in lacrosse for about 4 years. There is a spring season and fall season. Aub and I were calculating which we have seen more of, ballet recitals and shows, or lacrosse. We think lacrosse will take the lead soon. 8 seasons (some seasons with both sons playing) 10 games a season vs. 20 years (sometimes with 3 daughters dancing) 2 shows a year. Joseph actually got his first penalty yesterday for "aggressive play". Right.... He also started a dog pileup where he ended up on the bottom. I usually dread going to the games for some reason, but really enjoy myself once I am there. It's great when the weather and sunlight are agreeable.

It's pi day

3.14 is pi day. Did you know that? Thanks to Mrs Lambert, we know.* Pi* as in math pi. I haven't had a lot of experience with pi. I married into the serious math, you know the math you're forced to learn but by the time you need it again, it is long forgotton? Nonetheless, with a brainy husband and kids "pi" day has come to my attention in recent years. (Mrs Lambert, our favorite math teacher
made a thing of this day. Her birthday is on pi day too. She is an excellent math teacher btw.) At my suggestion, AJ made a pie in honor of pi day. She made lemon meringue pie from scratch :). It is tasty!! Nice and lemony. Since she made enough for two pie crusts I made a chocolate chip pie for tomorrow. We, as saturday tradition goes, had pizza tonight. Remember when the flintstones used to call it pizza pie? So here are my three ies for pi day. Happy 3.14 day

My Zupas favorites

We are getting a new zupas near by so I'll post a few of my favorite
things to get there. The drink options are great even if the ice is
marginal. Here's what I do-

A fun addition to the drink

I pump in a few squirts to flavor my drink.

The Thai salad

I get it without the chicken, extra nuts and add in mandarine oranges.

What I am reading

Here's the book I am reading. I finished one by the same author last
week. The author is an lds man and mostly writes kinda mystery
stories. I'm not big into mysteries because I get lost in all the
characters, but this one has my interest. Though the guy is lds, and
most of his characters are also, the book really isnt churchy. The
two I've read are set in Utah.

Books are so great as a distraction. When David is watching
sports, or worse, the news, I can check my brain out by reading. Love
it love it love it! Do you have any suggestions for books?

Stage makeup

Ds came home with stage makeup on. I took a few pictures and he almost
look like a drawing. I thought it was pretty cool.

Cinderella once again

Kim was asked to be Cinderella for a birthday party nearby. She looked
so beautiful. She has played the role of Cinderella many times,
usually dressed in a tutu. All the little girls were dressed as
princesses too. There was a prince charming there, but he got little
attention. I guess that attention will come at a teenage girl birthday
party. Poor fella

My guitar

A few years ago, maybe 7, David gave me a guitar for my birthday. I loved it and took a few classes. Those classes were not exactly what I was looking and eventually the guitar became a little noticed friend.

Fast forward to February 09.

I was talking to my friend Ellen. She's taught me several things, like how to piece a quilt and how to keep stats at a lacrosse game.
She told me she was taking guitar lessons and told me the name of the teacher.

So I'm now taking lessons again and loving it. In order to catch up with the teachers beginners class, she taught me privately twice a week for two weeks. Each lesson of packed with new stuff. She teaches chords, strumming and picking. In picking and strumming can be done in many different rhythms. I would walk out of the lesson thinking there was no way I could master the new picking or strumming. I guess I'm doing okay cause I am now in the group lessons. Thankfully this will allow more time to master each assignment really well before learning new techniques.

I can play several songs and always have one in my head. Sometimes its Songs I don't even know, like "for baby" by John Denver, or Jamaica farewell. Last Sunday I played edelvies while aub sang for my parents. She sounded so beautiful. I can do "surfin safari" pretty well and " feeling groovy" is a good one too. The teacher sometimes plays the real song from a cd and we play with it. She and I played along with "achy breaky heart" it was very fun. Watching her play is mesmerizing to me. She has been playing since she was a little girl. Her mom developed a course for byu and she teaches from that. It's really all very amazing and a fun part of my life these days.