Gluten Free

For those of you unaware, Justin was diagnosed with Gluten Intolerance a few months back. Which means he basically can't eat anything! Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration , but gluten is in a lot of things, and in practically ever baked item. If it has wheat in it at all it's off limits.
Since his diagnosis, I have tried to make sure that I take his allergy into consideration. Replacing flour with cornstarch when thickening a gravy, breading his chicken with gluten free breadcrumbs, making a small pan of "lasagna" with gluten free pasta just for him. You may wonder way I don't just put us all on a gluten free diet, and that's because it's expensive! Gluten free mixes, breadcrumbs, flours, etc are very pricey. Plus I love bread - you might say I am a carbohydrate addict! :)
Anyway, I haven't really done much in the baking area when it comes to gluten free stuff. But I have started to try and build up my store of Gluten free flours in the hopes of one day baking something that might be somewhat edible. Again, for those who have never had to go gluten free, some of the items aren't the best tasting. (the first gluten free bread we tried was so bad- I don't think the birds would have eaten it)
Luckily, Justin has found a small bakery that specializes in GF items, but they are very expensive. And they try to cater to every allergy- so they stay away from dairy, soy, etc. Which pretty much limits what they can provide. I guess, what I am trying to say is I finally took the plunge and made my first baked gluten free item. (My first recipe was a Pumpkin Chocolate Bread- recipe to be posted next) I didn't go looking for a GF recipe for this item, I just decided to make the original recipe but swap out the flour with a All Purpose GF flour blend I purchased (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Glour Blend). And I must say, it turned out well. From there I went a little crazy with the baking- in the past two weeks I made GF Soft pretzels, Strawberry Cake, and Banana Chocolate Chip Bread. These 3 recipes I made with a flour blend I purchased online- Jules GF Flour and am very impressed thus far. I will post all the recipes for those in case anyone wants them. Some of the recipes started out GF and some didn't. And some were much better than others - the verdict is still out on the strawberry bread/cake.

Hills Park

Today we went to Hills Park. I hadn't been to this park in ages, maybe not since Highschool. This is actually the park we went and hung out at after Prom, so it has been awhile. And sadly, I am not sure I will take the kids back. But they had fun while they were there, and it brought back some fun memories for Mom.

Location: Major Cross Streets - Rampart and Hillpointe Drive.

Amenities:

• Playground Equipment
• Bench Seating for parents next to the Playground equipment, semi-covered
• Tennis Courts x2
• Sand Volleyball court
• Covered Individual Picnic Tables w/ grills
• Larger covered group area that looks like it can be reserved
• 2 small game tables with 2 seats each- (for games like chess)
• Swing set - 2 kiddie swings, 2 big kid swings
• One hoop Basketball court
• Grassy areas, but nothing flat
• Bathroom with water fountain
  

Downfalls

• Playground equipment is not covered, only has one slide, and is not all connected. You have to get off one level and either run around the outside, or climb a ladder up to the top level.
  
• Dirt under the playground equipment
• Playground equipment geared towards older kids, have to be able to climb ladders as that is really the only way around.
  
• No parking for the park, surrounded by schools on both sides, not sure where you would park during the week

We Think Your "Cereal"sly Awesome!

So for valentines day, I took an idea I saw on Pinterest and tweaked it a little bit. And for those of you not on Pinterest, get on Pinterest. it is awesome!

For Little Man's preschool class we bought small boxes of cereal and cereal marshmallow bars and wrapped them up in some cute valentine day tissue paper (that I got on clearance at target). We attached a red spoon to the outside with ribbon and then placed them in personalized plastic bowls that I made. I am not sure how long the names will stay on the bowls as I just used a paint pen, but they turned out really cute.So at least for the presentation of the gift it was exactly what i was going for. to finish it off I added a homemade heart gift tag with our saying to the bow. Here is a shot of the final product-

My Life is Pretty Boring...

So I have really tried to come up with things to post on the blog, but have realized my life is pretty boring! I go to work, come home, hang out with my boys, plan for the next day, sleep and then do it all over again. It's pretty exciting, let me tell you! :) But I love it and wouldn't trade it for the world!

2011 is now 2012!

Hello 2012! There are so many things I would like to do, but I am never much for resolutions. they just never seem to stick, or maybe becuase other things become more of a priority as time goes by. I mean who wouldn't like to lose another 5 pounds- I think that is on 99% of our "lists". (Heck, my number is a little bit higher than 5 but we are getting there!)

As I think back over the years I am amazed by some numbers that I see-

I have been out of highschool 17 years. (ouch!)
I have been teaching for 13 years (still seems weird)
I have been married for 10 years, 11 this summer
My little man is 4 years old.

Those numbers astound me. Maybe I am the only one who used to think a year was such a long stretch of time. But the older I get, the faster they fly by. I mean, my little man will be starting Kindergarten in the fall! Saying it makes it sound like it is a far way off as we are in the middle of winter (or at least they say we are- although the temperature outside doesn't reflect that at all!) But I know that this school year is going to be over in a blink of an eye and the summer will fade away just as quickly. There will be tons of things between now and then, it just seems like I can't get enough of what really matters.

I guess I am just excited about what this new year is going to bring, but a little sad at the same time. Once the time is gone, you can never get it back

Merry Christmas 2011

Wow! Where did 2011 go? The past 6 months have been a blur and I haven't posted anything about it! I have decided I can no longer just keep hoping to go back and catch up, it's not going to happen. So I would rather start anew and at least return to the world of blogging for record keeping purposes if nothing else. Anyway, enough of that...

We had a great Christmas! Lincoln is getting to that fun age where the magic of Christmas really is something spectacular! Lincoln and Mabry had a awesome time decorating the tree- I mean who doesn't need 5+ ornaments on each of the lower branches!
Lincoln and I also had fun decorating Gingerbread houses with the Terry's. Rachel had her own "Terry Village"!
Santa came for a visit to our house! It was awesome. I think Lincoln was in shock but he quickly warmed up to his unexpected guest. Santa brought him presents and knew quite a bit about him, so it was easy to warm up to the man in red.

I was able to get quite a few of my nativities up for display, not quite as many as my Mom or my sister have up in their houses, but enough that I was able to enjoy the fact that I do have a collection.

Lincoln had a blast being spoiled on Christmas. He had so many presents, he really didn't know where to start. He pretty much got everything he asked for from Santa- except for his last minute request for another DS. :) He said his Daddy needed one to play with! But I don't even think he remembered that request after opening all the fun things he did get!


I think a few of his favorite things are the treasure box from his Aunt Christina (even though we probably aren't going to let him play with it- as it has actual "teasure" inside.) His Mario Cart indoor race track and cars- he loves ot watch them go round and round the track. His "lifesize" Mario Kart racer from Nana Fe, and his EazyRoller form Nana Lac.

Camping..Or Maybe Not

The weather has been so not normal for Vegas, it's been almost on the pleasant side, and that's saying a lot for the start of June in this town. I am not sure if it was this unique weather or just the need to start our summer a little early, but we planned an impromptu camping trip this past weekend. We had grand ideas of spending time outdoors, enjoying the beautiful weather, hiking, cooking in the Dutch oven, and just being unplugged for awhile. At first we were going to go over to Bryce Canyon, but we got out of town later than we wanted on Friday Afternoon and decided we needed to head somewhere closer, so we opted for Cedar Mountain. And it was beautiful, but as you can see, maybe not quite ready for camping!


It might go without saying, but we turned around and went back down into Cedar City and found a hotel. Lincoln was a little confused at first, and kept asking where the camping was. But once we ran by Walmart and picked up a swimsuit and some floaties, he pretty much was in love with the "o"tel. (He keeps asking when we get to go back!)