Solace's Birthday

Happy Birthday Solace!!

Well, this is days late as I have been having some blogger problems the past few days, but it looks like that frustration is past! So, now I just want to say Happy Birthday to our little Solace! She turned 5 on Saturday, and is just such a great girl, and a big helper! She had a pajama party for her party, and this picture is of her and her brothers right before the party started. (More party pics are coming). So, Solace, We love you and are so happy we could celebrate your 5th birthday together in such a fun way! We love you!!!

Christmas Traditions

Well, I saw this on my friend Anne's blog and had to steal it. As I may have mentioned before, I LOVE these things. I think I might actually steal an answer or 2. Thanks Anne! BTW, feel free to steal this for your own blogs if you happen to be a junkie for these things like myself!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper preferably as nothing is funner than watching your kids rip into it, but often we end up with gift bags as well as mom (me) gets lazy and tired of wrapping.
2. Real tree or artificial? We always had a real one growing up, though my parents now have a fake one. Wes and I have always had a fake one, but I am psyched to have my own house next Christmas so I can totally get a real one and not worry about any apartment rules!
3. Do you like eggnog? Totally, it is awesome!
4. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, 2 or 3 of them.
5. Hardest person to buy for? Spence and Mel are hands down the hardest. So is Wes, and for some reason Solace has been hard this year.
6. Easiest person to buy for? Myself ; ) No really, probably like my mom.
7. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Seriously cannot think of one, but I do remember getting a rice patty baby from China for a birthday once that I did not really appreciate at the time-let's just say I was a bit of a brat, but I have repented of that, and still own that doll, even with her eye ripped out! (So, I'm saying it was the gift I was least grateful for, but not really the worst gift ever. I cannot think of an answer for that, so I am just avoiding the question very stealthily...)
8. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? I love sending out Christmas cards (and I love getting them) though I don't know if they are going to happen this year...
9. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf is awesome, and I like a few of the old stand-bys (White Christmas, and Miracle on 34th Street-the old school one with Natalie Wood as a child)
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I basically do all my shopping the day after Thanksgiving every year, though the sales were disappointing this year so I did not get much and still have a lot of shopping to do.
11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can think of.
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? There are so many foods I associate with this time of year, and that I wait all year to eat. To name a few: pomegranates, peppermint ice cream (the only kind of ice cream I ever really like), Christmas pudding, Hickory Farms cheese balls and beef stick, Honey Baked Ham's turkey... I also always like having fresh grapefruit cut and ready to eat on Christmas morning.
13. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I love colored, but Wes is a white lights guy, and his opinion is much stronger on this one so we generally end up with white.
14. Favorite Christmas song? I LOVE Christmas music in general! But there are quite a few newer versions of old classics that drive me CRAZY! I just love listening to FM 100 forever leading up to Christmas, and am SO happy to have found the all Christmas music station here in Spokane this year! I love riding in my car now (wish I had a radio in the house)!
15 Travel at Christmas or stay home? We always end up traveling to Utah for Christmas with our families. Even the one year we stayed in Omaha, on Christmas morning after all presents were opened, Wes, who was stir crazy from a few days home from school on his break wanted to get in the car and drive to Utah. So, we did.
16. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I have to sing it..."You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner, and Blitzen, but do you recall...the most famous reindeer of all...Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer..."
17. Angel on the tree top or a star? I think an angel, but don't really care either way.
18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One present on Christmas Eve with my family that is always pajamas, and as I recall, Wes's family opens the sibling presents on Christmas eve too (Stef-am I remembering this right?). The rest are on Christmas
19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Traffic, and the busy, busy stores! Also, I hate the people that make it their business to be scrooges the whole season long.
20. Favorite Christmas tradition? I love the Christmas eve Evans family play thing (though it can get long at times), and I love visiting with both families and just being together with family. I appreciate this much much more now that we have lived away so long! It is really the only time our kids get to see the whole family all year long.
21. Up early or sleeping in? Up EARLY!!! I cannot sleep on Christmas Eve, even now as an adult. I hate waiting to go in and see the presents. Usually I am the one waking everyone up at like 6 am (I don't feel I can start waking anyone up earlier than that.)
22. Who hands out the gifts? Always my dad at my parents house.
23. Does Santa wrap your gifts? Yes, unless it was a huge gift, then it was often just hidden behind the tree or under the pianos to be pulled out at the last second.
24. Do you tell the Christmas story? Always on Christmas eve! In a play format (I think my mom wrote it up and we use the same script each year) that is often quite hilarious and often long, but I love it!! It is filled with music, scriptures and fun! It drives most everyone crazy, but like I said, I love it!

Angel's Birthday!

While I am at it, Happy Birthday to Angela! We love you and hope you are LOVING London! Enjoy the day, week, month, year...but especially have a happy birthday!

Little Brenden...or maybe not so little Brenden...

Well, this is really no excuse, but with all the craziness of Thanksgiving and being SOOOO behind on my blog (yes, I still have pis from our fun visit with Anne & Steve), I totally forgot to wish a happy birthday to our little Brenden! Congrats on the big 4 Brenden! It looks like you had a great party and are growing bigger and bigger every day!! Happy Birthday (late) from your aunt Beckee, uncle Wes, and cousins, Solace, Ender and Armour!!

Happy Birthday Melanie!

I know I'm a bit late int he day to get this up, but I wanted to make sure to say Happy Birthday to my sister Melanie! Enjoy this, your last teen year!! :)

BYU/Utah game

Damn. That is all.

Thanksgiving report, aka, Beckee's big whoops...

Well, most of you that read this blog are fully aware of the great Thanksgiving explosion of '03. For those that are not aware, I will shortly recount that before I tell you about my whoops of '07.

Picture this: it is Thanksgiving 2003, Wes, Solace and I have just moved to Omaha a few months before (and as a total side note, we had found out Ender was expected in April on the day we moved in). So there I was in a new place, pregnant and still not really sure of anything for Thanksgiving, as I had never cooked it by myself before. Now, I am a pretty good cook, and have always helped my mom cook, but I just had not done it alone, and of course being the perfectionist I am, was planning to cook each and ever thing my mom had on her list. To add to my excessive strive for the perfect Thanksgiving, I had never cooked a turkey before, ever, and my in-laws we coming into town for the big day. By in-laws I mean Wesley's parent and siblings, and I of course invited a couple from the med school class to come over as well.

Well, as the cooking and the day is moving along, all is well, Everything is going great until I look at the recipe my mom gave me for my Grandma's cranberry dressing, which I thought was a cold dressing. With time winding down, I look at the recipe on last glance and find the there is actually cooking directions on the very bottom of the page that I had not seen. Panicked, I grab out my very last 2 pyrex dishes to try to shovel in the cold dressing and shove it into the already crammed oven with the yams and turkey. I set the pyrex pans on the stove while I opened the fridge and got out the cold stuffing and brought it into the (carpeted) dining room, and set it on the table where Wes and his parents were sitting peeling potatoes for the mashed potatoes. Next, I go back to get my Pyrex dishes, notice the water for the potatoes on the other burner is not yet boiling, and I wonder why as I pick up the pyrex pans I had set on the stove earlier and head toward the cold table where everyone is still peeling potatoes. As I set the pans down on the cold table, they explode. And I mean EXPLODE! Shattering and melting into the carpet, and really just making a disaster carpet. No one was hurt (though there is a funny side note about Wes that I won't go into at this juncture). Basically, for those that don't know, I do not feel heat in my fingers very well evidently. The pyrex pans were actually sitting on the burner that the potato water should have been on because I had turned on the wrong burner. SO when the very, very hot pans hit the very very cold table, we had a massive explosion.

This is the Thanksgiving whoops I will always be remembered for, so I figure that no other mistake I ever make for Thanksgiving after that point can ever be too bad. That being said, enjoy the story of the debacle of Thanksgiving of '07.

Firstly, I must say that my first turkey was good in '03, but Wes was highly disappointed as it did not have the perfect crispy skin he loves. Never has a turkey I made been quite to his liking, and thus, I have not made many turkey's in our marriage. I only like to cook stuff I know the people eating it will LOVE!! So, I have been stressing over this year's turkey for weeks now, and it is no exaggeration to say that I have been studying, nay cramming for this big test for weeks. I have watched hours and hours of Food Network shows to see every cook's take on making the perfect turkey, I have read hundreds and hundreds of recipes and advice online, and I have really just studied for this turkey like it was the freaking boards! So, come Thanksgiving day, I was prepared and ready to go. Convinced by the chefs of food network that the perfect turkey had to have fresh herbs, I had gone and bought some the day before. I had defrosted the turkey in the fridge for days, discovered it was still frozen on Wednesday, and used the water/sink method, and felt good and ready on Thanksgiving morning.

When my alarm went off at 7 am I ignored it a while, then got up to begin the turkey prep. I opened my turkey to discover that overnight in my too cold fridge, it had frozen quite a bit again. SO, I called in reinforcements. Wes then did the bathtub water method for a couple hours, then the mostly thawed turkey was off to be cooked, as we were both really ready to eat before the next day! So, I stuffed the bird with the fresh herbs and an onion and garlic, thinking that a 14 pound turkey really has a lot less room in the bird then the big ones my mom usually makes, but that aside I keep stuffing and get that darn bird in the oven.

Fast forward a few hours, and there I am making the ambrosia (it's basically a fruit salad with mandarin oranges, pineapple, marshmallows, coconut and sour cream-the "food for the Gods" so say the Greeks). I had decided to spruce it up by adding marachino cherries, and I thought I would impress Wes by adding toasted coconuts to the top. So, as I am a disaster at toasting coconut, I of course burned them and caused fire number one in the kitchen.

Later, I picked up the rolls from the counter and placed them in the oven. a few minutes later I noticed smoke billowing from the oven, and open it to see burning paper as I had apparently picked up the pan with a piece of mail stuck to the bottom, thus starting fire #2.

Regardless of these 2 minor fire, I was able to make a fabulous dinner, and I even achieved the perfect crisp skin, yet moist turkey for Wes. When it came out we let it sit, as I learned you must do before cutting and we just admired it. Then I began to unstuff it and saw this cute little tail, and I said "Wes. look, it's the tail." Wes, very confused and interested, came over to see what I was talking about, looked in the cavity and as he pulled the "tail" out said, "Actually, that is the neck. I think we were supposed to take that out." I told him I knew we were supposed to take that out if there was one, but after reading our turkey's packaging, I was under the impression there were no giblets or neck in this one, but apparently there was a neck after all. Which by the way explained the reason it was so hard to stuff. As Wes carved the turkey, he also found the giblet.

Moral of the story? Even with all the mistakes and big problems, we had a GREAT meal, and we managed to learn that you totally can cook a turkey with the giblet bag and neck in it, and it can be awesome!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well, as Solace has been reminding us all morning, today is a special day! We are having a lovely Thanksgiving day meal here at home. As it cooks, and the wonderful smells of turkey and yams and all those great Thanksgiving smells fill our house, I thought I would stop for a minute and blog about my thoughts on this day. First I just want to say that I have never been one to list what I am thankful for, though I do feel thankful for so, so many things in my life. Not the least of which is my amazing husband and great kids.

All the big important stuff aside though, the past few weeks I have been thinking of some of the smaller things I am grateful for that I just don't usually notice, so here is my list of a few things I personally am grateful for:

1-Bank signs that have the time on it-it's amazing how often that comes in handy while you are driving around. All stores should follow suit.
2-A close Walmart
3-Day-after-Thanksgiving sales (though I am quite disappointed this year)
4-Scan buttons on radios
5-Broadway show performances on the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
6-That Wes loves me enough to let me watch the Parade.

That is just a few of the things I have been thinking-I'll type more as I have more time, right now, I am going back to watch the parade! Yipee!

Johnson Grandparents Visit Part 1: Coeur d'Alene aka I am SOO behind!!!!

So a few weeks ago we had a fun filled, packed visit from Wesley's parents. We did a lot of fun stuff, and had a great time! We are so glad Grandma and Grandpa could come see us! Here are some pictures from our stop at Lake Coeur d'Alene (and before you ask, yes, we do take everyone that visits to all the same places. Those are the only ones we really know here...) Enjoy the great shots we got...

At Lake Couer d'Alene (E and I are missing as I am taking the pic and E is refusing to take pics) A with his grandparents.
Those older 2
The older 2 with Grandma.

Everyone but me.
Wes and his sassy bad attitude about all my pictures...
Grandma playing with the kids.
Grandpa and A.
More to come shortly!!!

Tagged again...

I love these things!!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Transferring from the Y to the U
2. Giving my baby brother the permanent nickname of Spencer (His name is actually Stephen Merle E)
3. Taking Xan's Theatre 101 and really causing him stress.
4. Sending every boy I know off around the world to serve missions
5. Beginning to date the Taylorsville boys.

5 things on my To-Do list today (not necessarily in this order):
1. Watch Grey's Anatomy
2. Fold laundry
3. Clean the House (as with every day)
4. Play Wii
5. Play with my kids.

5 Snacks I enjoy: (currently)
1. Pomegranates (especially this time of year)
2. Cheese ball from Hickory Farms
3. Any Fruit
4. Salad
5. Candy (luckily-or unluckily for my waist line-we have a TON left from Halloween)

5 songs I know the lyrics to:
1. Bushel and a Peck
2. Cock-Eyed Optimist
3. Go Ye Now in Peace (Anyone that has ever been in Encore should know that one!)
4. Love is Spoken Here
5. Home from Beauty and the Beast

5 things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
1. Pay off student loans/debt.
2. Buy a house
3. Travel, and travel A LOT
4. Buy fresh food and ingredients, regardless of cost, to cook what I want when I want-every day in fact!
5. Buy new cars for us, mom, and Steve (father-in-law, and his would be a truck).

5 bad habits:
1. Laziness/tiredness during pregnancy particularly...
2. Procrastination
3. I get some bursts of road rage where I end up yelling at or occasionally flipping off other drivers...
4. Swearing when I am angry (I don't think swearing if it is a joke is a bad habit...)
5. Always late with Thank you cards-usually write them, but can never seem to send them out.

5 things I would never wear again:
1. Diapers was a good answer, so I'll steal that.
2. Shorts above my knees
3. Tank Tops/tank dresses
4. Short dresses
5. Size 8

5 favorite toys:
1. Wii
2. Digital Camera
3. Frisbees
4. Roller Blades
5. My computer

People tagged:
Anyone who reads this! Please post on your blog or email your responses.

Wes and Beckee's Quest

A couple of weeks ago, Wes and I (and family) drove to Coeur d'Alene for me to do a secret shop. While we were there, we found some impressive prices on a few things we really wanted, like real Doc Marten shoes for Solace for $17, which we bought. The other thing we found was a warm coat that fit me for less that $20. Wes really wanted to buy it, but I had a hard time pulling the trigger as I realize that I have about 3 coats (packed somewhere) that I just need to find and I would be set for the winter. So, I vetoed the coat.

On the way home Wes convinced me that I really need to buy a coat. The 3 coats I have are all hand me downs-1 from my little sister, Mel that I have had for like 5 years (yes she handed it down to me when she was like 14 and she got a new coat), and 2 hand me down coats from my dad. Now if you know my dad, you can imagine how well these coats fit me-it looks like I am a 3 year old that got into her parents closet when I were them because they are that big on me (my dad's really tall). One of those 2 coats from dad is one he gave me cause he didn't like how big and bulky it was on him when he bought it...all 3 of these coast I have had for at least 4 years.

So, I was convinced that I needed a coat finally, and the other day when Wes came home from work in the morning, we dropped the older 2 kids off at school , and headed to Walmart to try to get a cheap, but warm coat for me. We stopped at Ross and looked there, looked at Eddie Bauer's outlet, then finally in Walmart.

As some of you might know from my constant complaining, groceries here in Spokane are pretty expensive. More than Salt Lake, and much more than Omaha. Also, there is huge discrepancies in prices depending on where you shop. By that, I mean whether you shop at Walmart or at a plain grocery store. Let me just give you some price comparisons between Walmart and the nearest grocery store to my house: 1 Gallon Whole milk: Walmart, $2.99, Neighborhood store: $3.99. Cheapest Loaf of white sandwich bread: W: $1.09, NS: $2.19, and the most shocking comparison, a 12-pack of any Coke product: W:$2.99-3.50 reg price, NS: $5.99 on sale, reg price $12.99-14.99 (yes that is really the "regular price" on the shelf). Now I know many people are opposed to shopping at Walmart as they are taking over the world and whatnot, but must I quote Wes here and say of course we shop at Walmart because "I am addicted to low prices." He also says that "Shopping at Walmart is like doubling my salary." So, obviously we shop at Walmart a lot, which means we drive about a 25 minute drive all the way across town to shop at the Super Walmart 1-2 times a week. This was one of those trips-but specifically for a coat instead of groceries.

Apparently in the past 2 weeks since we last looked at coats, the season has changed, and it is now MUCH more expensive to buy coats-even at Walmart the cheapest was just shy of $40. So, we decided to stop by the mall and check there as well before making a purchase.

There was not much to find there, though it was an adventure. While we were walking through the mall, Wes, Armour and I ran into my Uncle Dave who lives in Utah. Obviously we were surprised, but not nearly as surprised as he was as nobody had told him we had moved to Spokane from Omaha. Evidently for his job he travels to Spokane quite often, and we had just run into him on one of his trips. So, we visited with him for a few minutes and plan to get together on one of his next trips here. That was a pleasant surprise.

At this point in our quest for the perfect (and cheap) coat, we had realized that we needed to return to town and pick up the kids at school, so we had failed in our quest.

Fast forward to yesterday...well-first a bit of background...when we moved here, a lot of our friends told us a new Walmart was opening right near us in September, so the 25 minute trips (that's one way BTW) would end and we would be 5 minutes away. Well, September came and went, and no Walmart. SO, I figured I would not get so excited and worked up for the big opening and had all but forgotten it until yesterday. When I got my mail yesterday, I was pleased to get an announcement that the new Walmart had opened! So, obviously I went there!

Wes kept the older children, and I headed to Walmart with Army. It rocked, as it was THE grand opening day-they had like Walmart prices cut in half for tons of things-including coats!! So, I did my shopping, and stopped by the coats, found one I liked for $27 (priced $40 at the other Walmart and well over $100 in the mall). And thus, our seemingly failed quest was accomplished with a happy result thanks to the Walmart Grand Opening! Ah, I love when life works out! (Also, avocados were cheaper than I have ever seen them ever-$0.50 each-among other exciting deals! It was an invigorating shopping trip!!)

BTW-pictures of said coat are forthcoming.

Wii had Christmas early in Spokane...

Well, many of you know we have been trying to get a Wii. We tried to get it using our Mycokerewards points, but they took it away as a prize as we got closer. So we decided to try to save up for one. We saw that they were about $400-500, but there was a store here in Spokane selling them for $250. So, though we did not save up enough yet, we figured buying it while it was on sale was a better option for that kind of savings! So, we bought it 2 days ago and of course could not resist using it right away...Christmas will be sparse this year in December as we just celebrated it and opened our big gift...at least we have a wedding to look forward to.