Chinese New Year Party!

Eliza in the parade
Zach and his friend Taylor

Olivia, Eliza and Abby (Taylor's sister)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just have to write about the fun dinner we had last night. My Valentine's tradition is to make a special candlelight dinner for the whole family. This year, Kirk even made menu's for everyone and gave our "restaurant" a name- Valentino's! I thought that was so cute and clever. He also pitched in and made the salad and the drink. Olivia was a great waitress and Zach set the table and made it look beautiful. Eliza inhaled the noodles as fast as she could! I didn't have time to take pictures, what with serving up spaghetti and the chicken parmegana but I did get raves from our customers! And the payment was much better than at a restaurant, hugs covered the bill (also Kirk's idea). Grandma Earl came over and got the whole treatment! It was a fun evening for the whole family.

I love my family and it was fun to share my love with them and let them know how much they mean to me! (Usually, I write a home-made card for each person too, but I didn't remember until the last minute and didn't have time but what with all the hugging and happiness going around no one noticed!!)

Olivia and the kitties...

Olivia with Phantom

(or Phantom Menace as we sometimes call her!)

Look at my new smile!!

(She lost another one last night at the Chinese Restaurant.)

Copper in Eliza's princess chairPhantom on Olivia's new quilt with a little extra blanket thanks to Eliza. She's lucky, Copper usually gets a doll pillow too when he has a nap!

Chili recipe

This is my favorite chili recipe. Without the beans it is similar to a Cincinatti style chili, thin and ready to put over spaghetti noodles. Adding just the refried beans makes it thicker for for a chili dog or burger.

Chile

1 medium onion, diced
2 T. canola oil

2 lbs. ground buffalo

1 small can green chilies
½ small can jalapenos
4-5 garlic cloves, minced

1 can beef broth
½ t. oregano
½ t. thyme
1 t. cumin
¼ t. cinnamon
½ t. allspice
½ t. cardamom
¼ t. coriander
1 t. chipotle powder
1 T. ancho or guajillo powder
3 T. chili powder
1 t. black pepper
3 bay leaves

1 #10 can tomato juice

1 can of red/kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
Or
1 ½ cups of dried beans soaked overnight and cooked until tender

1 can of refried beans

Caramelize the onions in the oil until golden over medium heat. Add the ground meat and brown (make sure that there are browned sections on the meat) on medium high. Add the peppers and garlic. Continue sautéing until most of the liquid is gone and add the beef broth to deglaze the pan. Turn the heat to high, add the spices, and cook down the liquid for a few minutes. Add the tomato juice and beans. After the mixture comes to a boil add the refried beans to thicken.
Total time about 45 minutes.

Option:
The mixture can be added to a Crockpot any time after the pan has been deglazed and the rest of cooking continued there. As soon as the mixture comes to a boil the refried beans can be added and then kept on warm from that point. Makes great leftovers or use over a baked potato or spaghetti noodles.

Our Weekend fun...

We had a three-day weekend, Friday was a teacher-comp day. All the big kids had a friend play and we got our chores done early!

Saturday: we had our much prepared for and anticipated piano Festival. Kirk, Zach and Olivia all got a Superior for their performance! We went out to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch for our usual after-festival celebration.

Sunday Snow: Yes, we had more snow...a foot more to be exact (Zach measured). This is the most snow we've had in a few years. It was not fun trying to get to and from church but at least we don't have to drive far! Several church services nearby were actually cancelled, which rarely happens around here.

Biggest News of the Weekend...Olivia lost one of her front teeth!! She is very proud of her new smile. (Pictures will be posted later today when I get the downloaded.)

Awesome Rice Recipe!

I don't have my latest pictures down-loaded, so I thought I would give a meal idea instead! Mike made this up and it is so good! If you haven't liked brown rice in the past you may change your mind after trying this. The flavors and moistness make it yummy for the whole family. Plus it doesn't take much prep time. I like it with pork or chicken chunks the best by the way.


Mike's Rice and Bean Dish

1 medium onion diced
3 cups brown rice

1 t. cumin powder
1 can or 2 cups chopped meat (leftovers are great for this)
1 can green chilies

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
1T. ground mustard
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. cinnamon
2 t. chipotle powder
1 t. thyme
1 t. ground pepper

3 carrots diced
1 can beans (kidney or black) drained and rinsed very well

Salt to taste

Sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat until caramelized lightly brown. Add the rice and another tablespoon of oil and raise the temperature to medium high and toast the kernels. Add the cumin, meat and green chilies and heat until most of the moisture from the chilies has evaporated. Turn the temperature to high and add the diced tomatoes and smash the tomatoes as they get hot. Add the broth, water, mustard, thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon, chipotle and black pepper. As soon as the liquid starts to boil add the beans and carrots. As soon as the mixture comes to a boil again, cover and turn the temperature to low. Cook over low heat for 50 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes before stirring.

Replace the meat with shrimp if desired by adding raw shrimp to the mixture for the last 5-7 minutes of cooking. Add cooked shrimp at the end of cooking during the resting phase.

Family History is Fun!

Grandma Montgomery (Alice) with Kathy, Steve and Lilly

(Aunt Wilma says this photo was probably taken at Carthage MO while Grandpa ,Jack, was serving in WWI)

Dad and his sister Kathy sent a picture of me with me Grandma Montgomery recently. I thought I would return the favor and post one they might enjoy. By the way, I think dad and Scott, my brother, look similar as children. What do you think Montgomery's?

I haven't done much family history lately, but I hope to keep gathering information and do a little at a time. It's fun to learn about our ancestors, especially, when your children find out one of them killed a king in a jousting tournament or sailed on the Titanic, or was buried in a royal cemetery in England! I could go on and on...those are all true stories by the way!

A great man passed away yesterday...

President Gordon B. Hinckley died yesterday in Salt Lake City at 97 years old. He was the 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a great man and prophet of the Lord. I admired his cheerful attitude, love for learning and his ability to stay humble and kind to the end. He truly was an example of Christ-like love.

From a recent article written by him:

"If I may be pardoned for suggesting the obvious, I do so only because the obvious is not observed in so many instances. The obvious includes four imperatives with reference to children: (1) love them, (2) teach them, (3) respect them, and (4) pray with them and for them. "

"Do you want a spirit of love to grow in the world? Then begin within the walls of your own home. Behold your little ones, and see within them the wonders of God, from whose presence they have recently come. "
To read the whole story go to story on LDS.org

Our blog...my "journal"!

OK, so I hate writing in a daily journal but I love to take pictures and work on the computer. Since I've decided mostly my family reads this blog, I'll just combine the two and try to keep up with what is going on in our lives on a regular basis. In other words, time to stop beating myself up over the things I'm not doing and try to improve on the things that I am doing!

Happy Birthday Mom!

New Quilt for Olivia! This last weekend I finished a quilt my sisters and nieces helped me start. It is just a tied flannel quilt but it is so cute and Olivia absolutely loves it! Warm and functional is just what she needed...maybe she won't come crawling in my bed in the wee hours of the morning anymore!

Snow, Snow, Snow...we have so much and we got more this weekend. The older kids went sledding with their cousins yesterday and had lots of fun until Zach lost his gloves and about froze. Poor Zach, he doesn't have any fat on his wiry body! Olivia had snow and ice in her hair but she wasn't too cold.

Mike can cook!!! We had Cheryl and the boys over last night for a Wii party and dinner. Mike saved the day and made an awesome Green Curry with chicken, ham fried rice and even orange rolls for dessert. Thanks honey! Cheryl brought a fabulous Thai soup! I love Indian and Thai food and of course Chinese food if it is the real Chinese style.

Area for improvement... Preparation is important! This isn't necessarily for a major emergency, although it is a possibility, but what if you lose a job or just don't want to have to run to the store at the last minute to make dinner. If you don't have some food storage and a 72 hour kit you should! The basics are simple...a three month supply of food, short term water supply, financial reserve, and a 72 hour kit for each family member in case of emergency. I'll post more info on these areas later.

One Year Ago in Xi'an...

I can't believe it's been a year since we adopted Eliza! Actually, one year and a week. We have had many memories of China recently. Kirk thought this New Year would be boring in comparison to last year. Well, of course it can't compare... last year we were in Beijing for the New Year!


I am just so grateful that we took a leap of faith and followed our hearts to bring Eliza to our family. We've been blessed in so many ways! I have felt very strongly that we were guided to her and I'm so glad we followed those promptings. Prayers are definetly answered, just not always in the way we expect.
Eliza playing in our front yard this week


Thanks Mike for believing in me and my crazy ideas! We are all so thankful that Eliza is part of our family. Our experiences in China and adopting her have changed our lives forever.

Happy New Year! & Year-End Wrap Up

We had a fantastic Christmas time and everyone loved being home from school! In December, Zach turned 11 and we had a party with his friends at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. (It's like you're on a Star Trek ship). Eliza has been using her princess dress-up shoes (see the picture above) on a daily basis. We had cake and presents for her on Nov. 30th but the whole family came over the second week of December for her and Zachary's birthdays since Grandma Earl was in Hawaii for both of their special days! Also, Grandma Carol came the week before Christmas and we shopped and played non-stop! My camera died, so I need to download some more pix from my old one for our Christmas shots. More to come later this week...

Happy Birthday Eliza!

Eliza's 1st Birthday with her family!

(But she's actually 3 today)

I can't believe that a year ago Eliza was in China celebrating her birthday at her wonderful orphanage and we were at home wondering if anyone would wish her a happy birthday. We were so worried about her and anxious to get our TA so we could go get her. I'm so thankful that she was so well cared for during her days at the orphanage. I know she was loved there and that has made all the difference in her life now that she has her forever family.

Getting Ready for Christmas!

One of our favorite traditions is putting up the train under the tree. The kids all love it! (Especially since it's cargo is candy!)

Can you believe this is what we were doing on the 5th of November? (Back when it was in the 60' and 70's.) It's definitely winter now!!

Give Thanks!

Turkeys at Sundance-

We were going for a drive past Sundance and Mike spotted this large herd of wild turkeys. I've never seen this many wild turkeys together.

The other day, as we were preparing for Thanksgiving, Olivia said "Mom, when are we going to give thanks?" I replied that we should give thanks everyday but we are especially thankful at Thanksgiving. I thought it was such a sweet, childlike question that I had to share!

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday and often not given enough thought, in my opinion. We love the wonderful food and being around family but it's also nice to remember how much we are blessed with and, as Olivia said "give thanks"!

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Today is Olivia's 7th Birthday!
We love you!!

(Now I need to go bake the chocolate cake for our family party tonight.)

Time to Catch Up!

Kirk, Zach and Shoji playing air hockey.

The week before Halloween, we hosted a Japanese student from Osaka. Shoji is about a year older than Kirk and was here with his fellow students for their 9th grade graduation trip to America. We wanted him to have some "western" experiences that would be different from what he might experience at home. We went to Bridal Veil Falls, rode through the canyon and even went horseback riding, thanks to Mike's friend from work. I think he had the most fun just being with our family playing games or watching a movie. We also carved pumpkins for Halloween. He said he didn't know much about Halloween so I doubt he's ever made a jack-o-lantern before. We really enjoyed having him stay with us and hope we can see him again.

Shoji and another student at Bridal Veil Falls

Shoji's favorite restaurant of his visit: Fuddruckers

Kirk and Shoji had a great time playing tennis. They were very evenly matched (neither of them are pros- lets just put it that way). It was nice that we had such beautiful

weather for his visit.