Jo Momma

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Summer 2011 Part 1

We had a fun filled jam packed summer. Vacations, timeshares, beach theme parks, cousins galore. This post is about the Nebeker Family Reunion. All 5 of my husbands siblings and their family's stayed in San Diego for 2 days at Kim & Brian's home. One of the only homes on the planet that could hold a group as large as ours. The oldest nephew will be going on an LDS mission for 2 years so this was the last time we will see him for a long time. The oldest niece is going away to college. We will see her a little more but not much. In the two days we went to the beach, went swimming, tool family pictures, went to the park and swam some more. There were a few dozen stops at McDonald's for soda in those two day.
Enjoy the scrapbook pages I made of the reunion. Yes, I know there are way to many pages since we were only together 2 days but I think I actually did a good job not going overboard.

I was drinking my green smoothie while we were at McDonalds!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Elliot lost a tooth!

Elliot got his first loose tooth the last week of school. It took a few weeks for it to actually come out and he was so excited. That night before bed Elliot said to Eric "I hope the tooth fairy is nice" I don't blame him I would not want some mean fairy sneaking into my room at night!

Anime Expo!

So it has been a really long time since I have posted. You may or may not realize that it has something to do with having the kids on summer break. Yesterday I took Chandler down to LA to attend the Anime Expo. To save you from a long pointless story I will just say that I promised him I would long before I had any idea how much it cost. Oh Well, I also figured I should go with him before he is to embarrassed to be seen with his Mommy. Chandler was in full costume and people stopped him all the time to take his picture. We spent lots of time and money in the Copic booth with the art supplies. Chandler loved the fan art section where people like him draw pictures and sell them. He is looking forward to doing that someday. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing all the costumes. There was one that stood out for me beyond all others. Wait for it....

That's right Ladies Edward came to the Anime Expo! (this picture is for my sis Denise)

Chandler enjoying some of his new art supplies!

The kid has what it takes. I often wonder how he can do what he dose with no lessons!

Below are some of the costumes I liked!

This is the Character that Chandler dressed up as. This is not one of his drawings but he has done many just as good.

Chandler posing with another Edward Elric. Chandlers costume was better and made by me.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Recipes

Todays post is some of my recipes. This does go together with my ultra metabolism post. I have had to learn how to have many alternative foods and I am so glad I did. I love knowing about the foods I am eating and how to make things myself. I do have to give a shout out to the GreenSmoothieGirl you can find her at www.greensmoothiegirl.com She has a very positive realistic outlook on life and the food we eat. I really feel like she gives real ways to fix the nutrition most of us are lacking in our diets. I feel so much better when I eat green smoothies every day. If I go a day or two without one I can feel the difference. I am in my last week of a 30 day green smoothie detox. I have long strong finger nails for the first time ever. I have been surprised at how full I feel all the time. If you have not checked her out yet I highly recommend it. She has many great recipes to help you get started on eating a healthier. I have a lot of her book so if you want to come check them out you are welcome anytime. If you have never had a green smoothie you are welcome anytime to come try one for free.
I am posting 2 recipes today Coconut Ice Cream and Salsa.
Coconut Ice Cream
1 can whole fat coconut milk
3oz approx of real dark chocolate 72% real cocoa or higher
Sweetener of your choice, Agave, Stevia, Dates sweeten to taste.
1tsp vanilla
Blend all ingredients until warm (about 5 min), This works best with a blendtec, vita mix type blender.
Freeze.
Thaw for 10-20 minutes before eating.
For creamy dairy like ice cream freeze in Ice Cube trays and just before serving put cubes in blender with some almond milk, coconut milk, or something like that. It just takes a little milk.
Serve.
Variations we enjoy.
*1/4 cup -1/2 natural peanut butter When this is blended for about 5 min it becomes thick like fudge. This is my favorite.
*Mint, you can add Peppermint oil or extract or a few peppermint leaves. This is wonderful.
*Nuts of any kind.
*Mix ins- pour ice cream into a flat Tupperware type container and sprinkle with nuts, marshmallows, toffee, whatever you like in your ice cream. Once sprinkled on push slightly to get it into the mix better.
* you can leave out the chocolate (I don't know why you would want to!) and mix in some frozen berries.
After making a few batches you will start to get creative and come up with some great variations. This is a great Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free alternative to traditional ice cream.

Salsa
4-6 tomatoes (1 28 oz can tomatoes can be substituted)
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 bunch of green onions
2-3 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño or green chili's (1/2 can green chili's can be substituted)
salt to taste
Blend and enjoy.
You can also add corn, beans, avocado you name it.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Aunt Carol

Carol June Shaw Stephenson
She was not born in June!

One year ago my Aunt Carol past away from Cancer. She had known for about a year that she had cancer and that life was going to be short. She gave me the privilege and responsibility of her photos. She had more photos than anyone, and they were very well organized. I have always thought that I got my love of photos from her. She always had a camera and was always taking photos. She was also not afraid to be in the photos. As a young child I had a few opportunities to spend weekends with my Aunt Carol. She taught me how to make cakes, decorate them, & how to build gingerbread houses from scratch. She made beautifully and equally delicious cakes for every occasion. She never went to any celebration without one. All of my siblings received an amazing wedding cake as our gift. She was always happy and had a very kinky sense of humor. (I think that runs in the family) Over the last year I have been scanning, organizing, dating, journaling her many pictures. I only scanned about 1/4 of them and still did over 6000. I focused on photos of my family, siblings, and heritage photos. There are many that I had to choose not to scan if I wanted to finish in my lifetime. I was given some of these photos about 2 weeks before my aunts funeral to scan for a slideshow. Those 2 weeks for extremely emotional for me. Many of the pictures were of my Nana & Papa who both passed away when I was in high School. I felt like I was morning the passing of my Aunt Carol, Uncle Bill, Nana & Papa all at the same time. It was much more difficult for me than I had anticipated. Amazingly she had photos all the back to the early 1900's that is like giving me gold. At my aunts funeral all of my sisters got up to sing Family's Can Be Together Forever. I couldn't make it through the song. I was crying uncontrollably. My family seemed very surprised by this as it was not my usual behavior especially in public. What I was not able to explain and still don't think I can do it justice is the emotions that had been tied up in these pictures, I had just spent the last 2 weeks scanning all the memory's of making cakes, Lifting up the mixer and splattering mix all over the ceiling, Spending time at the cabin, and generally knowing how much she cared for me. It was all so raw and fresh in a way that would not have been there without those pictures. My Aunt Carol was an amazing woman who was always happy. She loved babies. I am so grateful that she shared her love of pictures with me. She will be missed by many.