The Boinkers

We went out last night with Mike and Teresa to see our favorite local band "The Boinkers". Aaron's friend Ben is the drummer for the band, and they are way fun to go see. They play a lot of 70's and 80's rock. We had a great time visiting and dancing!

Black Friday

About three years ago Jess and I started getting up early to do shopping on Black Friday. Not really to get a lot of shopping done and get to the "sales" but just for something fun to do together.

We usually leave around 6:00a.m. Late enough that the crazies are gone, but early enough that a lot of the hour sales are still on. We stock up on the music, movies and 50% off socks. Then we go out to breakfast and get our picture taken with Santa. It's a really fun tradition that both of us look forward to.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving morning we took off to my mom's house for breakfast. It was really yummy. We sat around and played Scatergories until our food settled, and then Aaron and I went for a run. Mom has a really nice trail that runs along the river, so it was a great run.

What do you think of Jess's new do? Aaron hates it.

In the afternoon we headed over to Teresa's for dinner and more games. We really like to play games. Unfortunately Jess's jaw locked up and her braces wire broke, so she couldn't eat and wasn't too happy. Poor Jess!

My demon child!

This is what I got to sit between for dinner. Lucky me.

4th pic 4th file

Rattlesnake Ridge Summer of 2007
Aaron is the beakon for the airplanes :o)

This Weeks Soccer

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this picture pretty much sums it up. Poor Jess! She took a good fall too and got a pretty good turf burn on her knee. Par for the course in soccer though.

Final Score: 1-4

Jessi's 16th Birthday!

Wow!!! Jessica is 16 years old now! I so can't believe it. Time flies so fast you don't even know. Enjoy the little ones while you have them, because before you know it they are bigger than you and almost ready to move out of your life. Sigh.

Here's what we did for her birthday extravaganza.

FRIDAY NIGHT

We had a dinner the night before her birthday with the family. The Gould's, McConnel's, both grandma's and the Navarre's were all here to help us Celebrate.

Damon playing with the toys. I guess we're pretty boring.

Owen

I guess Finn thought our party was boring too, because he decided to play in my large Costco bag of pretzels.

SATURDAY MORNING

Breakfast before the movie. Yummy French Toast!

Yeah! She finally got a cell phone.

At "Twilight" with Becca and Tori

SATURDAY NIGHT

Playing Rock Band

Damon and Jacob

What a cute picture of Tori!

Emerald and Caitlyn

Shayne

Ian, Cameron and Jacob

Becca!

We just did one candle in a brownie to sing Happy Birthday because Jess didn't want cake. When she tried to blow out the candle Aaron kept moving the plate so that she kept missing. It was pretty funny!

A note from Ian in her gift "At least I'm here on the right day"
(You'll have to ask Jess :o)

An inside joke from Cameron Halversen - Jalapenos and Orange Soda.
(again .... ask Jess)

Jacob wrapped his gift in duct tape. It took a few minutes to get it open.

SUNDAY MORNING

The boys left Saturday night around 11:30 when they got done watching their movie "The Island" and all of the girls spent the night. They were good and quiet though, so we all slept well upstairs.

Caitlyn, Tori, McKenzie, Jess and Becca

Womanhood

Okay, here is another one my "I've been in deep thought lately" posts. To give you some idea of why I have bee thinking this I should give you a little bit of background to understand where I am coming from.

I have been on the birth control pills now for a couple of years. I have been on them off and on pretty much my whole adulthood. Why? To keep from getting pregnant? No. At one point maybe, but Aaron had a vasectomy about 10 years ago, so not any more. It is to help regulate my periods and keep the symptoms under control. I get it BAD!!!

The last few months I have been thinking of going off of them. Again, why? Well, even though they do help with the PMS symptoms, they just bring on a whole other set of symptoms themselves. So, is it smart to just trade one set for another? At least if I'm off the dumb things the symptoms I have are natural, and not costing me $30 a month! So off I went.

This is my first month synthetic/hormone free. Of course it takes a few months to totally rid your body of the stuff, but I am already seeing drastic changes - some good, some not so good - which brings me to my ponderings.

I have been thinking lately that men just don't know how lucky they are to not have to deal with this stuff month after month!!! Sometimes being a woman just sucks. But, the last couple of days I have been trying to look at the brighter side of womanhood. I don't believe that Heavenly Father gives you challenges without also giving you something good to make up for it. So, here are my thoughts, funny and serious, on the benefits of being a woman. (Aaron and I actually discussed this today while waiting for Jess's game to start, so many of these are coming from a guys perspective as well)

1. Look at all the awesome clothes choices we have. Guys - pants, maybe some shorts. We have pants, shorts, dresses and Capri's at our disposal. On a hot day, when you have to be dressed up, guys don't have much more options but slacks, shirt and tie. Us women can throw on a cute little, next to nothing skirt or dress, stay cool, and still look very classy. Women can also wear guys clothing and get away with it no problem, which also gives us WAY more options. Not so much the other way around unless a guy wants to be pegged as being gay, a transvestite, or imbalanced.

2. Speaking of clothes, we can double our wardrobe in about 2 seconds if we have a good friend, or in my case a daughter, that is the same size as you. Borrowing clothes for girls is an okay thing to do, and is way fun. Guys just find it disturbing. In Aaron's words "It just creeps us out!" Why? He couldn't answer that really, it just does. Maybe it makes them feel gay, I don't know, but they won't do it. So for us girls it's really a two for one. Love it!

3. We can definitely be more confrontational. I have a super hard time with people who feel they can just push others around, and I am VERY vocal about it. Most guys aren't going to hit a girl, so you can get away with it. Not so much for a guy. They can't really be that way without getting their clock cleaned. Aaron is telling me all of the time that one of these days I'm going to get him beat up.

4. Look at all the cool hairstyles we have as well. Long, short, curly, colored, up and down. Yes, a lot of guys do have long hair, but it's different. We have a lot more options here too. Again, a woman can get away with wearing super short hair like a dude, but a guy will be pegged as famine if he put his hair up in a bun.

6. Lets face it, a woman's body is so much more sexy than a mans, and I mean that in a purely NON lesbian way. A naked man just isn't that much to look at. I guess that's why men are so much more visual, they have better stuff to look at.

9. The last thing I have been really thinking about is the most important to me. That is our maternal instinct. I'm not talking about the ability to have a baby, because I wouldn't say that is all that fun. But any woman, whether they give birth to a child or not, has an instinct that is just ingrained in who they are to care for others and be able to raise children.

Women are much more patient when it comes to dealing with their children and I believe much more understanding. It is easy for us to be able to put ourselves into someone else's shoes, see things from their point of view and have empathy for that person, child or adult.

I can tell you, and Aaron would agree, that I have a much closer relationship with our kids. Do they love me more? No, and I don't think either of them would say they did either. It's just a different kind of relationship, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world! It's more of an emotional relationship, a deeper relationship. Sometimes Jess just gets comfort in laying in my lap and Jeff just from talking to me. I don't even have to talk back sometimes. Just to have someone listen is enough. We get comfort in just being together.

Does being a woman suck? Heck yes it does sometimes. But I bet if you asked them being a guy isn't always easy either. And, when I look at the things I DO have from being a woman, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Soccer

Not a bad day to watch a soccer game. The weather was actually very nice this afternoon. Jess still had a hurt back from last week, so she didn't keep this week, and was just kind of the sub for the day. But, she did play long enough to score a goal!!! Yea Jess.

Final score: Tie @ 2-2

With Katie

Mexican Night

For our date this weekend we decided to stay home and have a cooking night. We love Mexican food, so I picked a few very "Authentic" Mexican dishes to try out together. It was way fun, and WAY good! I can say though that I probably won't make tortillas again. Too much work! Especially when Costco has raw shells you can buy to come home and cook. I guess as usual the advantage to cooing your own is it's WAY more healthy.

After dinner we went over to Kentridge High School to watch their performance of "Fame", and then came home and had our fabulous dessert. A super fun, inexpensive date night. I'll put our recipes down in case anyone is interested.

Makin' the tortillas

Our Menu for dinner
Whole Wheat Tortillas
Tinga
Rice

Dessert - Conchas (Yummmm!!!!!)

TORTILLAS

Way good, but way too much work. Kind of like making your own pasta, just not very worth it when you can buy good stuff too. We did make these with freshly ground whole wheat flour, and they still turned out good. (just make sure to add your gluten, about 2-3 tablespoons)


3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup soft butter
3/4 cup hot water (boiling works best)

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Add water and mix.

2. Knead mixture for a couple of minutes until completely blended. (It's a little dry) It is now ready to roll out. We got 10 out of this recipe. Cook on a medium skillet about 1-2 minutes per side.


TINGA

Wow this was HOT! The recipe calls for a 7 ounce can of chipotle peppers, I used half a can. Amy and Julie would have DIED!!! I would suggest using just one at a time, you girls would probably only be able to handle one. Weldon would have liked it though. And yes, it burns just as much coming back out as it did going in!

1 large onion
2 Tb. olive oil
1-15 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1-7 oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 pounds shredded cooked chicken meat
tortilla shells
sour cream
shredded cheese

1. Saute onions in olive oil until soft and translucent. Meanwhile, puree the tomatoes with the chipotle peppers. Add this with the onions and chicken. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

2. To serve, put on a tortilla shell with sour cream and cheese. Hot but great!


MEXICAN RICE

The best Mexican rice I have ever made - and I've tried a few. We also put this on our tortilla shells with the chicken. Helped to calm the temp down a bit :o)

1 cup rice (I used brown)
1 Tb. olive oil
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 can green chilies
1 tomato chopped
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. cilantro (1/4 cup fresh)
1 clove garlic

1. In a medium sauce pan, cook rice in oil over med. heat for about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes for white rice - 40-45 for brown.


CONCHAS

This is a traditional sweet bread in Mexican bakeries. Way yummy! I made the dough in my bread maker.

2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
3/8 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg
4 cups flour (I used half white, half wheat)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Topping
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup flour
2 tsp. vanilla

1.In a large bowl, stir together the yeast and warm water. Mix in the mild, sugar, melted butter, salt, egg and half the flour. Gradually mix in the remaining flour and cinnamon. Turn dough onto floured counter to knead. Cover and let rise about 1 hour. (or cheat like I did and just use your bread maker!)

2.Make the topping while the dough rises. In a medium bowl, beat 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour until the mixture is the consistency of thick paste.

3. When dough is done rising, cut into 12 even-sized pieces. Shape into balls, and place on greased cookie sheet. Divide topping into 12 balls and pat each flat. Place circles of topping on top of the dough balls patting down lightly. Use a knife to cut grooves in the topping like a clam shell. Cover and let rise until double, about 45 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Soccer Update

Well, just another typical game for this year. It started out rainy, but fortunately for us spectators, stopped after about 10 minutes. We only had 9 people show up to the game (again 11 on the field), but again, typical. All I have to say is Jessica ROCKS! She had so many amazing saves it was incredible. One in particular was the best save I have ever seen in real life. It was one that would totally be on the "play of the week" coverage.

Final score: 1-4

with McKenzie and Tori

Picture Scavenger Hunt

For those of you who may be looking at this and wonder what the heck we are doing here's the scoop. Aaron and I along with Amy/Scott, Weldon/Julie and Teresa/Mike all went on a date together. Since we all live in different cities and states this is what we came up with.

Each of us came up with 5 things to go out and take pictures of, making a list of 20 total items. (our list is in a previous entry). Then we all went out to shoot our interpretation of each item, and then blogged it for all to see. Can't wait to see what everyone else did!

1. A STACK OF 10 ITEMS

2. BARK

3. SLIDING HEADFIRST DOWN A SLIDE

Thanks goodness it wasn't raining today!!!!!!

4. WOW

Walking On Water. Okay, it was really more like walking through water, so I guess you could say - WOW they are dedicated, or WOW they are crazy, but WOW it was a different run!

Of course we had to get this one, because we are sure this is what Scott was thinking. Aaron has his game face on.

5. SOMETHING WITH A HORN

6. WOOD

Okay, we broke the rules a little on this pic, but in order to capture the little guy we had to move fast and didn't have time to get one of us in there.

WOODy WOODpecker in the WOODs

7. PICK OUT SOME LINGERIE FOR YOUR PARTNER AND TAKE A PIC OF IT

Just the look on Aaron's face is good enough for me!

So naughty!

8. DEAD END

Today was the first day of sun after two straight days of torrential downpour. This was our run this morning, and as you can tell from the picture up above, yes - we just ran through the water. Some of it was 4-5 inches deep. We were pretty wet!

9. HAVE SOMEONE TAKE A PICTURE OF THE TWO OF YOU EACH WEARING SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T BELONG TO EITHER OF YOU.

I think the pink ears suit Aaron. Maybe for Christmas.......

10. A BUBBLE

11. SIGNS AROUND TOWN WITH LETTERS OF YOUR NAME IN THEM

che

ne

y
Spells Cheney! Yea!

12. GARBAGE

Posing in front of Amy's weekly intake - Aaron did this one specifically for her

13. SOMETHING WITH THREE LEGS

we're so good we got THREE things with THREE legs

14. SOMETHING WITH A "Z" IN IT BESIDES PIZZA

You can figure it out :o)

15. BUY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN FOR $1.00 AND TAKE A PIC OF IT. HOW MUCH CAN YOU DO?

What can we say? We were hungry!

16. FEAR

Be afraid...........very afraid

17. KNOCK ON SOMEONES DOOR AND TAKE THEIR PIC THE SECOND THEY OPEN THE DOOR

This is Karen Halversen and her dog Schatzee.

18. A SPIRAL

19. HOT

We got two on this one. Aaron wanted me to take a pic with the "Hotties Hand Warmers" because I'm a hottie. (His words :o)

20. A CACTUS

We had a lot of fun doing this, and hope you guys did too! It was fun to all be "on a date together" but still be able to sleep in our own beds at the end of the day instead of someones rec. room!