Fried Rice

Whenever I make a meal that requires rice, I double the amount of rice.

I refrigerate the leftover rice.

In the following few days, I either use the rice to make

rice pudding or fried rice.

I will save my rice puddin (said with my best Southern accent)

for another day.

Here is my fried rice recipe.

It makes a good cheap whole meal 

and is a great way to use up leftovers.

The best thing about my fried rice is

that my whole family will eat it

and I don't even think they realize that 

they actually get their veggie quota for the day.

I don't always refer to recipes. Sometimes I just like to wing it.

My fried rice is never the same twice.

I get my wok and heat canola oil. I start with about 1/4 cup and add more in if I need it along the way.

I then take any veggies that would be better sauteed and throw them in the hot oil first.

I always use some type of onion (green being the preference)

and I love mushrooms.

I then add in any cooked meat that I want to use up. The ideas are limitless: chicken, beef, pork, hotdogs, shrimp, or lunch meat (I probably use sliced lunch ham more than anything else).

I then move all of that to the side of the pan and crack two eggs and scramble them into the rest of the ingredients already in the pan.

Next, I toss in any other veggie in bitesize pieces that I need to get rid of:

carrots, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, corn, celery, peppers, etc.

Lastly I throw in the rice from the tupperware straight out of the fridge. (add more oil if needed). I usually use anywhere between 2 - 4 cups of cooked rice.

I season with soy sauce and whatever else I feel like. I like using the fried rice seasoning packets (kikkoman) but sometimes I use leftover shrimp sauce or teriyaki. Or all three.

If you are more of a recipe kind of person, go to allrecipes to find a recipe that you can follow for fried rice. As long as you pick something with a good amount of ratings that is 4 or 5 stars, you can't go wrong. Unless you burn it. Which I have also done many times in the past. Burning isn't always a bad thing, sometimes you can go out to dinner as your last resort and you can then celebrate the burned food at home in the garbage as you saved yourself some dishes to do. It's a good thing because you are going to be scrubbing the burn ouf of the pan when you get back home.

I looked on my two favorite recipe blogs and didn't find either of them listing fried rice. I am sure Donna or Jennifer could make something even tastier, but you will have to wait for them to post it.

For the Moms

I was asked to write a poem about mothers. I am not sure what is going to be done with the poem. It's not my greatest work. It's for my church back in Tennessee. I didn't have a lot of time, and I really have to be in the mood for poetry. I hope that somehow my main feeling is communicated: I have been mothered by many many women. Some are really my moms and some were friends and some were total strangers.

I will never forget the day that I left the local library bawling. That morning I had just received some shocking and awful news. I decided to take the kids to the library to get my mind off of things. Of course, my two children had other ideas. My baby was a monster that day. They say that our small children respond to our emotions, and I think she was responding perfectly. A man came across the library and pretty much told me I was an awful mother. It was the straw that broke the momma's back. I gathered the monster, her sister, and tried my best to keep it together until I got outside. I broke halfway to the door.

Another mother had seen the whole thing go down. She ran out to greet me at my car. I had locked the kids in their seats and sat at my steering wheel bawling uncontrollably. I couldn't even muster the strength to drive back home and even if I could, I couldn't see well enough to drive. She had the audacity to knock on my window. I sheepishly rolled my window down, and explained that I was having an awful day. She asked me if she could pray for me, and I said, "Oh, that is so sweet, please do." As a Mormon, I thought that meant she would go back to her car, bow her head and say a silent prayer, but as a relatively new Southerner, I had a lesson comin' to me. She stood in place and started pleading with the Lord on my behalf. I don't remember most of what she said except for one line, "Jesus, this woman is obviously having a really hard time, and she has children to take care of, please comfort her so she can do whatever it is that she needs to."

Do you know that it is six years later and I am still dealing with this major trial in my life. And often, very often I hear the words to that prayer and feel at peace. I wish I could somehow tell that mother, wherever she is, that she has been an angel in my life. But really, aren't all mothers angels? I think God gets so much of his work done through women with mother hearts. How grateful I am to be one who can succor and to also be one who is succored.

Mothers.

They give birth to babies.

Cradle, not just their own.

A woman’s heart is so large

It’s too big to be alone.

Mothers.

Sometimes are single.

Or have never housed a full womb.

But they still hold hands and hug,

And cry over grave and tomb.

Mothers.

Love and teach.

To everyone they know.

Their children, or mine,

They can’t help but help them grow.

Mothers.

Don’t exclude.

They love one and all.

Because they can’t help it.

They know peace is their call.

Mothers.

I have many.

Lots are far away,

Yet I carry them in my heart,

To get me through each day.

Mothers.

I hear them.

Encouraging my frown.

They laugh with me a lot

And cure me when I’m down.

Mothers.

They are also known as

Sister, daughter, friend.

They are women who I love.

God, to me, did send.

Mothers.

They are busy

Righting the world’s wrongs.

I will, with them, in awe,

Kneel in His eternal throngs.

Mothers.

Work miracles.

In lives old and new.

Because they know how to love.

And succor me and you.

Mothers.

They inspire.

Each person on the earth.

All good things start with them.

Without them, where’s our worth?

Following Christ

I have been catching up on my General Conference talks.

I love the one-liners.
The sentences that ooze truth.
Especially when it's a truth you have already learned.

Thank you Elder Gonzalez for this gospel message.
I hope you don't mind that I present it in form of photo.

As you all know, I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know my love is the greatest motivation in my life.
And my greatest strength in overcoming weakness.

Lessons from the Easter Eggs

Everyone starts with smiles.

Caroline has the best "cheese" ever.

Sophia is a close second.

And how quickly they turn on you.

And turn some more.

 O.k. Caroline, you can have a turn.

Now everybody is happy.

Some like to eat. Some like to show off.

I prefer eating.

And then showing off.

Sophia gave this awesome talk in primary on Easter. She wrote it all by herself.

We are all like Easter eggs.

We are all like Easter eggs because when a chicken lays an egg it is white, smooth, and good to be eaten and it is like Heavenly Father is the chicken and we are the eggs, when Heavenly Father sent us down to earth we were white, smooth, and whole.

When we come to earth it is like we are in a package and our parents keep us in the safe package until we are eight. When we are eight and get baptized, we have to take care of our own egg.

When we sin our egg gets dirty and gross. Sometimes people sin so bad that it’s like their egg breaks apart and splatters all over the kitchen floor.

For the egg to go back to Heavenly Father, it has to be white pure and how it was when you came to earth. But, when we mess up our eggs, we can’t fix the egg by ourselves. If we tried to clean up our eggs ourselves it would just get more and more broken and make a bigger mess.

The only one who can fix us or forgive us (or our egg) is Jesus Christ. So when we sin, we have to ask for Jesus Christ to use the Atonement to fix our egg. The only way Jesus Christ could make it possible to fix our eggs was for Him to atone for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and to die for us on the cross.

I want to keep my egg clean white and non-broken and I am very happy that Jesus Christ will fix my egg even when it gets dirty and disgusting and broken.

mac N cheese

Me to Abigail: Abigail, let me take a picture of you making mac n cheese.

Abigail: Why?

Me: Because I want to show people how you make it.

Abigail: Why?

Me: I don't know.

Abigail: (walking away) Nobody cares about how I make mac n cheese mom.

Me: Yes they do. Are you cooking that too long? Or do you like it kind of soggy?

How do you like your mac n cheese anyway?

Abigail: I like my mac n cheese hot. (as she gives me that look)

Me: Hot? Do you mean hot like you or hot like a high temperature?

Abigail: (laughing as she puts the box of mac n cheese between me and the camera.)

Feliz Cinco De Mayo - the day of the hot sauce. Hot as in caliente.

Jam Making

A few weeks back our family studied

The Family: A Proclamation to The World.

This was a timely declaration made by our living prophet.

It is filled with wisdom and truth.

We discussed with the kids this line:

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

We came up with the best ways our family could work on living these principles.

This is what the kids came up with:

Birthdays by Lindsey

My friend Lindsey is crazy about birthdays. 

She remembers EVERYONE's birthday.

I mean EVERYONE.

She probably remembers the birthdays

of each of the

Presidents of the United States.

Seriously,

she's got them all memorized.

She also has the most amazing internal GPS.

You can never get lost when she is around.

When I lived in Knoxville, I called her often,

gave her the name of a street I was on, 

and begged her to help me find my way home.

She would talk me through it.

Every turn.

I miss her.

A LOT.

I feel kind of lost without her.

Even though I am sure I can call her from

my new hometown,

and she could still somehow find a way

to help me find my way home,

physically and spiritually.

Back to birthdays,

Lindsey gives gifts even when there is no party

obligating her to do so.

The gifts are always perfectly personal.

She makes her kids special meals for

breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

She also bakes cakes.

Lots of cakes.

And she decorates them.

Here are several of her wonderful creations.

Don't they get your creative juices flowing?

Do Your Duty

At church on Sunday, Relief Society meeting proved for a really good laugh. I just have to share.

The lesson was about how our testimonies evolve. The teacher asked us to think about our first experiences where we felt God was talking to us through the Holy Ghost.

This one woman talked about how she couldn't remember ever not believing in the truthfulness of the gospel and that God was watching over her. She recalled how she could remember when she was very young, toddler age. They didn't have primary songs then, but would sing the hymns. One day at Primary, the children sang Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.

She said that for us to understand, we needed to know that her mom would say they needed to go potty for #1, and for #2, her mom would always say, "do your duty".

So, now, the lyrics to Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.

Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along.
Do your duty with a heart full of song.
We all have work. Let no one shirk.
Put your shoulder to the wheel.

Minutes of laughter ensued. Minutes. The more you thought about it the more you laughed.

When everyone calmed down, the woman said that she didn't think it was funny as a kid, she truthfully thought how wonderful it was that God watched over us so much that he even cared how we did our duty.

More laughter.

I love the women of the church. They are hilarious.

Field Perfection

I wish all of our soccer friends from Knoxville could come and spend a day on the field with us here in Utah.

Isn't it just breathtaking?