Fav Fall Recipe

This soup is my own creation and is my go-to recipe this fall.

Pumpkin, Coconut and Rice Soup

A subtle blending of sweet and savory, East and West, yum and yummier. Serve with crusty bread

and a tangy salad.

1-1 ½ cup cooked rice, any kind (I prefer wild or brown, but use whatever's sitting in the fridge)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 T. butter

1 can chicken broth

1 can coconut milk

1 can pumpkin

½ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup brown sugar (or to taste)

½ t. cayenne

juice of one lime

2 t. ground ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. chicken bouillon granules (if needed)

In a large saucepan, saute chopped onion in butter until carmelly. Add broth, coconut milk, and

pumpkin heat to steaming on medium high heat. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add

cilantro, brown sugar, cayenne, lime juice, ginger and cinnamon. Stir and heat another 3 or so

minutes. Blend with an immersion blender or in a blender if desired. Then add the rice and stir

until heated. At this point I do a taste test for flavor as well; add spices or bouillon if soup tastes

bland.

Fall Chez Moi

I love my street in autumn time. Well, I think fall makes everything pretty but it especially adds color and beauty to my litte street out here in the country. I walk Bella along these roads every day and they make me happy. Add the smell of wood fire smoke, the neighing of the horse next door, the placid cows gleaning in the newly-shorn fields all around, and Bella's bat-pig snorts as she snuffles a new scent among the leaves... I love autumn!

 

These bottom three are actually from the Aline Loop up and around Mount Timpanogos in Utah as we came home from the Mormon Arts Foundation Conference in Aspen Grove last weekend. We weren't necessarily there to sightsee and these are taken from the car with my meager photographic skills, but I think that mountain is a sacredly beautiful place. These pics will never do it justice, but it's one of the most beautiful, dramatic scenic drives I've ever been on, in any season. And I've been on a few drives in my time.

Gal's Getaway

One of my best friends in the world is Christy Knight. We met at a time when we both really needed a friend; we were each others' lifelines during the new-mothers-with-small-baby-girls phase. Since then we've kept very much in touch, no matter where I've lived (they've stayed in Salt Lake). She is a deep soul, a kind, creative, talented mother, and one of the best women on the planet.  So when she called me to ask if I would mind accompanying her on a trip to her happy place, Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast, with her other two lifelong best friends (Nicole and Nicolle - I know, funny), it was a no brainer. I was totally in.

 



After flying in to the Portland airport, we stocked up on fruit, cheese, and bread at the Portland farmers market, made a pilgrimage to the Tillamook cheese factory where I discovered a new passion for their caramel butter pecan ice cream, then drove north to Cannon beach. We were right on the coast - here's the view from my bedroom window. Just being there was complete therapy. Add three instant soul mates, great food, no agenda, a massage and daily walks on the beach. Heavenly.

 

Yes, in case you were wondering, this IS the beach where they filmed Goonies. I did my best Sloth impersonation to just honor the moment. "Baby... Ruth!"

Do NOT miss the gingerbread waffles at the Lazy Susan cafe. Oh. My. Word.

Unlike what some girl trips may be, ours was a total husband love fest. We must all be pretty happily married because we were talking about our husbands, in only the most loving ways, most of the time. This is the pic we each sent our other halves while we were away. After exploring the tide pools and petting all the dogs. I do want to come back here with my kids someday - they would have a blast! 

Hiking at Ecola State Park.

 

There were blackberries everywhere; between that and the sunny/cloudy/dappled weather, I had Ireland on my mind much of the time. I ate blackberries for breakfast during a solitary wander one morning and had a little "I love Ireland" moment to myself.

 

And we came back recharged, slightly chubbier, and (for me) talked out since all we did for the four days was eat, talk, mosey, talk some more, sleep, eat again, take a few pictures, talk, admire the view, chat over dinner, read, talk, and take naps. It was lovely.



Milestones at Gram's and Grandpa's

Over Spud Harvest (yes, Idahoans get a week off school while a big chunk of the population helps get the harvest in) we went down to visit Gram and Grandpa, because as Maggie said, "I really need some peace and quiet!" We were only there for four days but we fit a ton in - birthday shopping for Sophie, swimming at the community pool (the climbing wall all to ourselves!), filling their freezer with meals so they don't have to cook for a while, playing with the dogs, riding four wheelers (Maggie's getting better and better as a driver and drove about a mile each way to the Pioneer cemetary), and some firsts. Grandpa got his bb guns out and let the kids take their first crack at shooting coke cans off a log.

Sophie being Sophie did not want to even touch a gun, but after the other two kids had a lot of fun with them she took her turn too.

Maggie's a crack shot - after about a half hour of practicing, she hit four out of five cans off the log in one go. Yes, we're officially rednecks.

 Mag and Grandpa found a big stick that she decided to carve into a walking stick using Grandpa's tools in his Man Cave (aka the 50x70 shed in the back yard).

 Spencer wanted in on the action of course, so Grandpa helped him carve and sand down a stick until it resembled, what else, a dagger, Spencer being Spencer.

And of course the dogs were always eager to join the party! Auntie Bella loves playing with Scotty, Kenzie and Liesl!

When the cat's away...

 ... the mice will play! Or at least go out to frozen yogurt in their wildest outfits. Gary and Spence went on a scout campout a few weeks ago. Sophie was so sad to see her dad go without her - he's been gone a lot this year due to PhD dissertation requirements - that she dissolved into tears. To cheer her up, I let the girls get all gussied up to go on a Crazy Date to Kiwi Loco. Too bad you can't see my leg warmers - they're pretty killer.

Maggie did a practice run for her school's Diva Day outfit and makeup. Pretty scary - I can only hope we survive this girl's teenage years!

Validation

I'm glad, and grateful, that so much of my hard work paid off. This is what one of the moms who went to France with us said about the trip on Facebook:

Jan wrote: "What's two weeks with little sleep, Mass in a cathedral with our youth singing "The Spirit of God," Performances with our team going on stage at 12:43a.m., Sacrament meeting in a bus with two young men from Bolivia and two French women, Sacrament meeting in a room with a drinking party going on outside the windows, Twenty-eight dancers ages 9 - 19, Running through Paris, Running through France! Five women to a dorm room with one bathroom, Washing our clothes in the sink, Not speaking a lick of French, Meeting the most amazing people from around the world, Meeting the most amazing people from Utah & Idaho, Testimony meeting in a parking garage in the basement of our hotel in Barcelona at 11:00 p.m. Feeling the sprit stronger than ever! The best two weeks of my life!!!"

Motherhood Island

Every once in a while, not often, but sometimes, I am a Good Mother. We've been inspired lately reading the book of Nim's Island and last weekend we decided to make our own islands out of salt dough. How fun, inventing our own islands! All I actually did was come up with the idea and help Maggie make the dough, then she, Soph and Spence did the inventing. Here are the results:

Spencer's ended up being a snake that he took outside and lost after he painted it. Oh well.

I just wanted to document the fact that I do cool stuff sometimes. Call it Working Mother Guilt (because ever since we started the Festival Team I have come to the dismal conclusion that I am a working mother now) but I periodically feel like I am an underachieving mother. I haven't taught my kids to speak French (though Gary and I do), they don't have entire chapters of the scriptures memorized (though they do know the articles of faith), and I really hate doing girls' hair nor am I any good at it. So sometimes they leave the house looking like Plain Janes. And I lose my temper sometimes, and we didn't do workbooks and math camps and science experiments all summer to get them ahead, we have yet to memorize the preamble to the Constitution (well, Maggie did), my five year old is not reading chapter books and doing calculus yet, and I don't always cook them warm breakfasts (cereal, anyone?). I have lots of goals, and some good ideas, but many of my best ideas have never actually happened (see the above comments). But sometimes, kids, I do pull through sometimes. Remember that! :-) And hey, we did Princess and Adventure camps this summer too! I get points for that, right?

To give myself some credit, their homework is always done; their clothes are (mostly) clean and so is the house; we do our family prayers, family nights, service projects and scripture study; I am here to greet them when they get home from school to give them hugs and snacks; and we do have rules and chores and family responsibilities. And Gary is here to help with all of the above (well, except the laundry) - plus he makes it all FUN. I'm doing okay. I just know I could do better if I had a few more hours in the day, or extra organizing skills, or less laziness and more energy or something. I guess the only thing we can do is keep trying to improve, right?