Making Sauce

I LOVE to cook. Most people look at me like I'm crazy when I say this, but I really do. And when I say I love to cook, I mean those types of dishes that take hours to make because of the many steps, and the awesome flavors that come out of it. It's a science to me. I love taking something and making it better.
One of my favorite things to make is spaghetti sauce. Our friends that we used to do rodeo with are Italian. And every Sunday this spaghetti was their family dinner. For years when they had extra spaghetti left over, they'd call us or Jared's dad and tell us to come get some. And you better believe we'd rush right over. It was like a contest between us and Jared's family to see who got the spaghetti. It's that delicious!!
So one day I got smart and decided I wanted this recipe, hoping Freida would share it with me. And she did!! I was so excited to make this. It takes me 2 and a half hours to make this, and 4 hours of simmering, but it is so worth it! Besides spaghetti, we also make extra meatballs and use some sauce for meatball subs. Oh so yummy!!
I made this sauce today. It's a great recipe to make and put into smaller dinner size bags and in the freezer for future dinners. And with football practice every night, I need something I can just throw together fast.

First we start with this huge thing of tomato sauce. And that's not all I put in. I do two more smaller cans, plus two cans of tomato paste, plus water. I told you this makes a lot of sauce.

Fry this all up and that's what gives the sauce that good flavor. Mmmmm!

Add in some spices.

Some chicken.

And 56 meatballs.

And simmer. This big pot is almost full of the most delicious smelling sauce! Simmer for 4 hours on low or it will burn with all the meatballs on the bottom.

With sauce this good, it's no wonder there's no leftovers. And spaghetti leftovers are the best!

I love this sauce. It's time consuming, but so worth it.

Recess

Hunter told me today he and his friends are now chasing girls at school during recess. He used to chase that bully kid that punched T.J. but he's moved on to girls now. (It's funny to think a first grader was chasing around this 5th grade bully kid!) First thing I asked Hunter was, "You aren't kissin' them, are you?" I was very relieved when he answered, "No," with a turned up nose towards the idea. But then he said, " My friend did though." Oh great. Hunter's the one I worry about with girls. Cody and T.J. could care less about them. But not Hunter. His two best friend's are girls. I can't believe I'm already having to tell him not to kiss girls. Heaven help us with this kid!

Our 11th Anniversary

We made it... today was our 11th wedding anniversary! (I didn't have any doubts, I promise!) I can't believe we are already here. It doesn't seem like it's been 11 years, but it has. Guess that's what happens when you are having fun!
Because T.J. now has football practice every night, we decided to go play during the day. What we didn't plan on was Hunter coming down with pink eye and staying home from school. Thank goodness my mom said she'd watch him while we went 4-wheelin' so we had a little time to our selves.                                                             We went to lunch at Red Robin. I've never been there before (shocking, I know.) It was really good. Hunter tagged along on our date for lunch. He was so funny. He knew it was our anniversary, but he thought since he was going to lunch, he could pick the place to eat. He thought he was in charge (like always). But then after lunch he said, "Pretend I'm not here." I said, "Why? Because we are on a date?" He said, "Ah huh." But then he kept right on chattering away until we pulled into Grandma's. Funny kid.

Playing tic-tac-toe with Dad.

I think Hunter was having a little too much fun on our date. Knowing him he'll try to come again. I love this picture of these two.

I got some kind of a spinach chicken wrap thing. It was so good! Jared had some kind of pineapple burger and macaroni and cheese.

We stole my Dad's Kabota and went 4-Wheelin' up to the end of YellowFork Canyon, hiked a bit, then drove down and drove up Rose Canyon before going back to get Hunter. This is one of our very favorite things to do on our anniversary - go 4-Wheelin'. We didn't have much time today to go around a huge canyon so we settled for a close one. But YellowFork has turned into one of our favorite places to go. It's nice and close, and pretty.

Jared took this picture of me in the rear-view mirror. We were just leaving my parents in the fun kabota.

Look how much water is still coming out of the canyon. usually by now it's just a trickle, but we got so much snow this past winter that it's still coming down pretty good.

Us by Dad's Kabota. I love driving that thing.

Our shoes were full of stickers by the time we got back from our hike.

My cutie.

I can honestly say I love Jared more today then I did when I met him, and I never thought that was possible. He is my bestest friend. We were talking as we were 4-wheelin' and I told him that I found myself  because of him. I can't imagine my life any other way. Ya, there would be a few things I might change here and there, but not Jared or my boys. I love my life with them. They are my world. I love my boys. I love my Cowboy. I love you Jared. Thanks for putting up with me these last 11 years. Thanks for making me so happy. I love you. Happy Anniversary!

Sunday Dinner at my Parents House

Dinner at my parents house usually means.... 

Hanging out while we finish making dinner.

Spending time outside. Love my Dad's barn. There's no animals in it. Just 4-wheelers, his train, the bobcat, the mini track-hoe, and John's weight set. I love looking at this thing against the open mountains behind it with a perfect sunset. So relaxing.

The TrAiN!!! These boys love Grandpa's train! They usually ride with Grandpa and take turns driving up the road or down in his fields. This time Grandpa was in the house and it was Cody's turn to drive. Let's just say he loves going fast (if you can't tell by his body language. He sits forward when he floors it to make it go faster).

Stopping for a picture.

And then they take off again. They didn't stop driving around 'til dark.

Usually it's some one's birthday month so we have dessert for them. This month was Jared's. So for dessert he had his favorite chocolate pie from Marie Calendar's.

Love this kid! (His pink eye was starting to come on. Poor kid.)

MMmmm, chocolate pie.

My crazy brother John. Dinner's always mean lots of pictures, too. I get my addiction of taking pictures from my parents. My Dad started taking a lot when my parents got married, then my mom picked it up, and now us kids.

Jamie got a hold of my camera. Someday this is going to be a good picture to use against her, I just know it! 

Don't have any pictures of Jeff this time. He wasn't able to come. Another story for another time.

These boys love playing with my siblings. John loves to play in the sand box with them. Tonight they built a cool sandcastle. Hunter was inside playing the WII with Jamie.

I love watching the full moon come up over the mountain from their house. It seems so close. And I love how it lights it up outside. Makes driving home and spotting the deer much easier.

We only have dinner up at my parents once a month, but it's fun. Lots of work at times with my mom's health issues, but it's fun. The boys can't wait to go back and play on Grandpa's toys some more.

Should I Be Worried?

My boys love watching the discovery channel. They love learning about animals. Last night we watched a few minutes about bears in Russia. So this morning they were excited to turn it on and see it was about snakes and how deadly they can be when they attack. First of all, GROSS! I HATE snakes with a passion! Second, they had it on while they were eating breakfast before school. How can you eat and watch something like that?! I was getting sick just listening to it as I made their lunches.
On the show they started talking about some kind of a Viper snake. It was huge! And it had diamond patterns on it's back in bright green and yellow. Hunter comes running into Cody and asks, "Did you see that snake? It's beautiful!" I looked at him like he was crazy. He said, "What?! It's cute!" Oh my gosh! Even Cody said no to that and Cody is into that stuff. But a few minutes later I hear Hunter say, "That's freaky outy." That was a little better to hear then how this snake is 'cute'. Cody and Hunter started talking about getting a snake but believe me I put a stop to that one. I'd never sleep again knowing one was in the house. It was bad enough when I found a Gardner Snake downstairs one morning as I was going to put wash in. Somehow it came up through a drain pipe. Luckily Jared was home so he could get rid of it. But only after he tried shoving that thing in my face. I hate snakes with a passion. Those creepy, slithery, hissing things give me the shivers.

Football Tryouts Begin......

T.J. started football tryouts this week. He has it every night from 6 to 8 and then Friday from 4 to 5:30 with the draft afterwards, then first practices starting Saturday. Already this is intense. We knew going into it that it would be a lot of time but I wasn't expecting this much the first week. Here's pictures from the first 3 days...

Starting out they all line up in the groups they've been put in. Start with stretching and warm-ups.

T.J. is the one wearing navy blue shorts with green lines and white on the top of the sides and brown shirt.

Next running. They didn't run laps as much the first day.

Then they broke off into rotations. They spend 10 minutes at 8 different rotations and are graded on how well they can perform each task. This will determine what team they will be put on. That's Jared watching on the side lines. We found out to be a coach we had to register back in March and go through major back ground checks and classes. So hopefully once the teams are picked, he can be an assistant this year.

T.J. taking on a big kid while learning how to block. He did really well.

Blocking again. T.J.'s definitely going to be a line backer.

Sprints.

T.J. placed in the top 3 in the bear crawl!!! Very good for his first year.

Weighing in and height measurement. T.J. weighed in at 120.8 lbs with pads.

Cherie and Jim came to see T.J.

Learning to block.

At the end of practice they all line up to do ladders.

Jared and T.J.. My two football boys.

2nd day of practice. Stretches again. The head coach this year is married to Jared's old babysitter. And he's Jared's Uncle Dave's cousin. He has twins in T.J.'s class. T.J. really likes them. And their dad's a good guy. Kind of confusing, I know.

Jumping Jacks. T.J. doesn't like those very much.

Today after warm-ups they ran a lap around the field, grabbed their water and went right back into the same groups for more rotations.

Playing intense capture the flag to learn how to know your surroundings.

Practicing running and catching the football.

More guarding.

Cody and Hunter thought they were smart and stole this cause it wasn't being used. Hunter's smirk on his face says it all. 

More sprints. This time from a 3-point stance.

Hunter decided to race with them. He'd line up next to them and run. That kid never tires of running.

I loved this coach! He gathered them all together and told the kids 'It doesn't matter if this is your first year or third. What matters is that you are teachable. We've had the best athletics who were dumber then a post cause they wouldn't listen.' He was really pushing self esteem in these kids. And he was really good with T.J. the first day. Especially when he found out it was his first year but still made the top 3 in the bear crawl.

Gathering in afterwards to listen to the head coach for instructions. I love watching this part at the end.

T.J. and his best friend Brodie. Look at these cute little men. We hope they get on the same team this year.

3rd day of tryouts. This time they had to wear full gear... pads, mouth guard, etc. We had to buy T.J. a new jersey because his other one was really tight with the pads on. So today he is 76.

There's T.J. in the front. They got put into new groups. They based them more on their levels and build today.

Learning to pass the ball quickly.

Hunter found Savanna to play with. Her brothers are playing, too. Just on different leagues.

Cody watching practice with Jamie's glasses he stole. She came to watch tryouts today.

This drill was fun to watch. They get in their 3 point stance and then try to guard the other person when the whistle blows.

T.J. did really well. He held this kid back for a while then finally lost a bit of ground. But the second time, he won!

Practicing catching the ball again.

Day 3 was a harder practice for T.J.. He's not used to wearing the pads like that yet. Plus his neck was sore from just wearing his helmet for first two days. Before practice Jared told T.J. it's ok if your arms get cut up a little bit, that's normal. So T.J. was a little nervous for that. Then during day 3 of tryouts (first day of full gear) they had to have 3 different ambulances come for 3 different kids. One broke his leg, one broke his arm from getting hit hard with a helmet (they couldn't reach the boys parents so that's why they had to call the ambulance) and we aren't sure what happened with the third boy. All 3 injuries were with older kids at tryouts. Jared was surprised they were already doing full gear by the 3rd day and starting to hit and guard. When he played they did two weeks of conditioning before pads.                                                         T.J. has had a hard time since tryouts last night. Seeing those ambulances come got some anxiety running. Plus, Jared is gone the rest of the week with a scout camp and T.J. is pretty lost without him during this football week. T.J. was pretty sick to his stomach this morning with nerves. Jared found T.J. out by the garden by himself crying. Jared talked to him for a bit and then gave him a blessing for some peace. That helped some. T.J. is such a good kid. He's worried about getting hurt but also hurting others. He's one tough kid but also a teddy bear inside. His emotions run close. We reminded him how we've been getting him ready for this. We started sprints about 4 weeks ago and then Jared's started him lifting weights and running. So he's got some conditioning in already. Hopefully the rest of the week goes better without injuries so he gets more confident again.

It's so cute to hear they draft these kids at this age. It's like a mini NFL. As much as we'd like him to be on the top team, we'd like him to start a bit lower so he can learn more. Can't wait to see where he ends up!

I can't believe it's already time for him to start football. It's seems like it was just yesterday when he was 6 years old and asking how long until he could play. These last 3 days have been so fun to watch T.J. tryout, learn new drills, and such. I kept hearing the song by Kenney Chesney "The Boys of Fall" playing in my head. Almost made me want to cry. I'm excited for this fall and our days of football to begin. T.J. is growing up way too fast.