Time Out For Women

The week before Halloween I drove to the airport to pick up my friend Amy so that we could head to Nebraska for a "Time Out for Women" conference. Neither one of us had ever gone before and heard it was totally worth it and so we paid our money and committed to finding out what it meant to live a "Joyful Life". It was a fun 3 hour drive with never a dull moment--lots of good conversation, Subway Sandwiches, crazy "country" collectibles, vanilla coke and Dr. Pepper, etc. We got to our hotel which sat right next to the conference center and got ourselves settled into our room. We enjoyed the first talk given by Ardeth Kapp. She spoke of a few things that hit home with me. She said that the first attack in any battle is to destroy the communication system. Good things like t.v., computers, and the phone can disrupt our ability to communicate with those around us that need and love us. She gave 4 ways to re-charge our batteries as wives and mothers. 1st: Thoughtfully ponder--think about your possibilities--not your inadequacies. 2ND: Earnestly pray--Counsel the Lord in all your doings. 3rd: Carefully Prune--I LOVED THIS PART--She said that the pioneers had to decide what was most important to take in their wagons. Today, we have to decide what we make time for. 4Th: Plan with a purpose--What do we want to see happen in our families--then plan backwards.
That night I left feeling like I'd been given some great thoughts and was so excited to take in more the next day.

So Amy and I went to dinner at a Brewery which was super D duper delicious and then stayed up talking until 2 or 3 am (can't remember at this point--it was late, you catch my drift). We got up before 7am and got ourselves ready so that we wouldn't miss the first speaker and then.......It was a day full of "not so great speakers" and really bad music (for the most part). Here is Amy being forced to go back in because I was certain that one of the speakers would say something that would make our entire trip. She thought that if she pointed her "banana gun" at her head I might take pity on her, but NO. We went back in anyway. The speakers did not impress us but the final musician got us to get up in the middle of her performance to buy one of her Cd's. Her name is Cherie Call. She writes her own music which seems honest and real. We both really liked her. On the way home we listened to a CD that I bought called "Teaching Your Children to Fly" by Merrilee Boyack. She also wrote a book called Parenting Breakthrough which is an absolute must for parents. Anyway, we learned more from that CD than we did in the entire conference so it was well worth it. We also shopped which always makes up for anything that doesn't work out as expected.When we got back into town we met a bunch of friends for dinner and had a great night laughing and eating. Amy stayed with me until Monday afternoon and we had so much fun. Thanks for coming--I'll road trip with you anytime!!!! (BTW--I have no idea why this is underlined but I can't get it off, so here it will stay!

Monday's Menu!!! (Don't worry I've only posted 4 times today!)

Delicious and Friendly French Bread

(it makes 2 big loaves so share one with a friend--they'll remember it always!!!)

2 1/2 c. hot water

3 TB sugar

1 TB salt

1/3 c. olive oil

2 TB SAF yeast

6 c. white flour (I know it's not wheat!)

Combine water, sugar, salt, olive oil and 3 cups flour in mixer. Add yeast and then add the last 3 cups of flour. Let mix so well combined and then let rest for 10 minutes. Mix again for just 5 sec. then let rest for another 10 min. Do this a total of 4 times and then put dough on floured surface. Knead to handle stage. Cut into 2 equal parts and roll each into a 9X12 rectangle. At this stage you can put butter and garlic powder on the dough or pesto sauce or just leave plain (whatever you like). Roll up and cinch the seam together and put both facing each other on a cookie sheet (seam side down). Slash the top with a sharp knife 3 times and brush with beaten egg on top. Let rise for 30 minutes and then bake at 400 degrees for 30 min. in the middle of the oven. Voila! Crispy on the outside, soft and delicious on the inside!!!!

Neighborhood Fall Festival

My friend "V-Girl" invited us to her neighborhood Fall Festival on Saturday evening. It was a lot of fun. All the kids got to dress up and be in a parade and then the fire truck came and all the kids got to get inside and meet the fireman. Afterwards we got to eat cotton candy (my favorite) and play kids games. For dinner they had a chili cook off with corn bread, chicken nuggets for the kiddos and loads of desserts. In one of the cul-de-sacs we got to pick out a pumpkin and have our name written on it with calligraphy. Very classy if you ask me. For the evening entertainment BJ projected Charlie Browns Pumpkin Patch and Monster's Inc. on the garage of one of the neighbors and all the kids got hot chocolate and popcorn. What a fun night!!!! Thanks for letting us be a part of the festivities "V-Girl"!Amelia and Emma KateCardon, Brinly and JacksonBJ getting the projector readyMe and "V-Girl"

Leukemia Foundation--Marathon Relay!

On Saturday morning BJ and I participated in a Marathon Relay. We have some good friends that have a 3 year old son with Leukemia. We wanted to do something to support the Leukemia Foundation and so we created 2 teams (4 couples) to run this marathon (broken up in 4 parts). BJ and I ran the last leg of the race together (our shirts say "Ians Crabby Girls/Guys"). BJ was a great encourager as I was determined to push myself as hard as I could. The first 2 miles were up hill, the next 2 1/2 flat and the last mile was down hill. I'm usually a 10 or 11 min/mile kind of gal but we did 9 min. miles that morning. It was a great race. We love you Ian!!!!!

My Glorious Day With Fran and Family (last Thursday)

One of my bestest, bestest friends in Arizona (Fran) was only 4 hours away from me all last week visiting her husband who works in Missouri during the week. So, we planned a day trip to meet up. Each of us drove 2 hours on Thursday and met up in the cutest little town (Rocheport, Missouri). Fran brought me a banana cream pie from the town her husband works in and we all couldn't wait to dig in and have a taste. So we went to the little General Store and ordered us all some hot chocolate and sat down for some pie. It was tasty!Now it was time for our little hike. There are trails that go throughout Kansas, Missouri and Texas called the Katy Trails. In this little town part of the trail was dug out of a mountain so we were off to explore (Lewis and Clark explored this area too).Fran has 3 boys so Cardon was in heaven. This sweet little town didn't have much traffic so "street ball" wasn't off limits.Now we were off to lunch. We were told that there was a good, little barbecue place (Grumpy's) up the road so we decided to try it out. It looked like a little old house with a swing set in the front. The dining room was in the front of the house and a cute little old country couple ran the joint. Fran and I sat inside and enjoyed our pork sandwiches while the kids played and ate outside. The other customers inside were entertained like none other watching our kids and laughing. The owner asked us why we had so many kids! I told her that I came from a family of 6 kids so actually I hadn't done my part yet. Ha! Ha!Time to go to the pumpkin patch. The kids loved going through the covered hay maze (we couldn't get them to come out of it!) Then we fed the animals and went on a hay wagon ride.




The kids loved holding the baby bunnies and I got to hold a rooster (that's right, first time!)
Left to right: Taylor, Jessie, Trace, Jordan, Brinly, Amelia, Cardon
Time to go home! Amelia loved Fran's oldest--Taylor.Goodbye's are never easy!!! I love this girl. She may not be my sister by blood but she is by heart. I had such a wonderful day with her and her family. I miss her already!

Monday's Menu!!!!

Chicken Balls

2 cups cooked cubed chicken

3 ounces cream cheese

2 TB. milk

1 TB. chives or onion (dehydrated onion)

salt and pepper

3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

3 TB. melted butter (I use egg whites)

chopped pecans (in the bread crumbs, opt.)

1 8ounce package of crescent rolls (or use the homemade roll recipe)

Mix cream cheese, milk, dehydrated onion, chicken, and salt and pepper. Flatten each triangle of crescent dough and put a heaping spoonful of chicken mixture in the middle. Fold all of the sides together and secure (should be a ball). Roll the ball in butter or egg whites and then in bread crumbs and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sauce:
1 can of cream of chicken soup with milk to desired thickness or make a chicken gravy packet--whichever you prefer.

Use sauce over chicken balls.
Delicious!!!

This is my kids favorite dinner. They ask for it all of the time--it really is good!

Wow! I'm back and have so much to share!

So my computer was very sick--viruses you know. After some serious TLC from our good friend MC I am back in business! Thank you to the computer genious! I was lost without my computer. However, I will tell you that my house is excepionally clean and more organized since I couldn't spend any time on the net. Balance my friends--balance!

Anyhoo, we need to catch up! How do you like my hair? I was quite pleased. He just brightened up the red, put some golden highlights in and made it a bit of an a-line. I'm happy! I finally found someone I would go back to.

Last week I was the canning queen. I got apples from an orchard and canned applesauce with my friend Cindy and then the next day canned peaches with my friend Laurie. I've got beautiful jars of fruit lining my pantry. It's a great reminder of all the hard work each time I open the cupboard--oh, and mighty tasty too!That same week Cardon got to participate in "Science Spectacular" at school. He got to pick 2 events. He chose the "Egg Drop" and the "Shoot and Score". He had to come up with a way to protect the egg without packaging material and then they dropped the containers from the roof of the school. Here he is watching it drop.
Then he had to unwrap the egg to see if it was still intact.
Yea!!! He did it! He was so proud! Way to go Cardo!That weekend we had a campout in our backyard. Our friends (Furstanau's, Crabtree's, Torrez's, and Salin's) all came over to roast marshmellows for smores, eat hotdogs and then watch a movie on the back wall of our house while eating candy and popcorn. We had a great time and then those that wanted to stay slept in tents in the backyard. Very Fun!This week I got to do some service hours with my friends Patty and Laurie. We have a fabulous free petting zoo here and we got to go help at the pumpkin patch. It had been cold and rainy the day before so we were nervous how this day would fare but it was beautiful and very warm. We had a great time. Service can be fun! Yesterday we went to the Louisburg Cider Mill for our Friday Playgroup with our church. We got to go through a corn maze which was "crazy" because all our kids went running inside and then got lost and we couldn't find them. There were a few tears but I think they won't need counseling in the future. They just might never go in a corn maze again!

We got to go on a hay ride. Hello Friends!
The kids had a great time. We ate lunch here and then had their famous apple cider and apple cider doughnuts. I had been warned about how good these were and I wasn't disappointed. I could have eaten half a dozen. It was a beautiful day!