No More Braces!

Last week was an epic week in many ways. Brayden finally got his braces off! So now he has a beautiful smile with straight white teeth. I can't wait to see how long he can keep his retainer before it gets thrown away or lost and I have to buy a new one!

The boys went to a father's and son's camp out on Friday night where they did guy things like barbecuing, fishing and shot at clay pigeons. I think they all had a great time. Alex came home with a nice bruise on his shoulder from the gun kicking back and hitting him.

My friend Dee Ann came out and stayed with me on Friday night because her little boy had a soccer tournament in Vernal on Saturday. We stayed up until 1:45 AM catching up on life. We have been friends since fourth grade so we had a lot to talk about.

Saturday night, I threw a "Honey Do" shower for one of Alex's friends, Brandon Woods, who is going to get married right after he graduates. We had all the men bring a tool or gadget that would help Brandon get his honey do list done after he is married. This was a totally new experience for me! The guys carried their presents in Ace Hardware bags or just handed him their gifts. There were no frilly bows or cute bags involved. I wanted to decorate the house with bee hives to go along with the "Honey Do" theme and make cute bee hive cakes with sugar bee's on them but Darren told me not to bother because the guys wouldn't appreciate it. There weren't any cute foods involved, they just ate barbecued stuff, chips and cowboy caviar. Instead of playing games, the guys went riding on their motorcycles and four wheelers in the hills by our house. They had a great time, but it was definitely a "guy" night!

Cowboy Caviar

Combine one can of corn - drained, one can of black beans - drained, 1/4C. sliced onions, three medium tomatoes - diced, one bunch of cilantro chopped and 1C. Italian dressing. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, then add one chopped avocado right before serving and stir in 1/2 package of dried Italian dressing. Serve with tortilla chips.

Ken the Fish

On Saturday, we spent most of the day in the community pool in Rangely, Colorado helping Ken pass off a lot of his scuba stuff. He was sooo.... excited to finally get to do this. He has been asking when he could scuba dive since he was eight or nine. I dare say we have found his calling in this life... to be a scuba man! He loved every minute of the lesson. He acted like an eighteen year old when he demonstrated that he could take off his mask under water and put it back on and clear it. The only thing he struggled with was being able to take off his b.c. vest and put it back on in deep water, but I struggled with that as well. Next month we will take him to the crater in Midway so he can do his final two dives. This whole experience has been wonderful for him. He made a list of all of the sea creatures he wants to see when he gets to go scuba diving in the ocean. So he actually wrote a report without having to be told to do it. He has been reading his scuba manual and dive magazines faithfully so we have logged tons of reading hours for school.

I wonder if he loves to be under the water because he doesn't have to talk and struggle with his "bumpy" words?

For Mother's day yesterday, I got breakfast in bed, waffles for lunch and steaks and potato's for dinner. My wonderful husband surprised me and had my wash sink in our mud room finished while we were gone to Salt Lake on Friday for a friends wedding. It was such a nice surprise to come home to!

I'm grateful for my Mom and for the amazing lady she is! She gave me this wonderful poppy seed salad dressing recipe a while ago and I can't wait to try it.

Poppy Seed Salad Dressing

Put the following ingredients into a blender and blend well:
2/3C. vinegar, 1 1/4C. sugar, 1C. olive oil, 2t. salt, 2t. mustard, 1 green onion (chopped), 1T. poppy seeds.

Chill for an hour before serving with your favorite lettuce and toppings.

Sam and Me

seniors walking across america: DAY 97: HIGHWAY 62, COLORADO DESERT - VIDAL, CALIFORNIA - PARKER, ARIZONA

We came across a man named Bruce Maynard who is walking across America on our way to Mexico. He was a riot to talk to. He has a little cart thing he named, "Sam" that he takes with him everywhere. He is walking across America raising money to send to villagers in Africa so we had a common bond with our love for the African people. He was quite the character! Go to his blog: seniorswalkingacrossamerica.blogspot.com and look at his blog from April 21st. He posted a picture of us and talked about meeting us.

Easter Break in Mexico

We just got back from a ten day trip to Mexico. Everyone freaks out when I tell them we went to Mexico over spring break because of all of the violence that has been happening on the border. We stay in Darren's Dad's beach house which is in a little village called, Puenta Bufeo in the middle of no where and we didn't ever feel like we weren't safe. In fact every night we slept with all the doors wide open to cool off the house.

Right before we left Sancho, the horse, decided to play linebacker and knocked me down hard from behind when he was trying to get through a gate that was closing to be with his buddies. I had a few bruises on my left hip and my whole left side was sore. So the nineteen hours in the car was brutal going down. Dar kept loading me up with muscle relaxers which helped make the trip go by really fast!

The weather was perfect! It was in the 80's everyday and 60's at night. The boys had a blast riding their motorcycles on the beach and around the sand dunes near the house. One day we got the wave runners out and toured all of the islands in the bay. One of our favorite things we did was go to an island full of sea lions and snorkel with them. Then we went to another little island with a hidden bay we named, "Bikini Bottom," so Ken could go snorkeling.

We had our annual Easter egg hunt on the beach. Some birds tried to steal a couple of the eggs and took the contents. I wonder if they can digest skittles and jelly beans? Darren had brought some bubble wands, which were a huge hit. It was pretty windy that morning so everyone stood up on the upper deck and let the wind do the blowing. It was really fun to watch!

One of the boys favorite things to do while we are at the beach house is to go to a nearby village and eat fresh fish and shrimp tacos at a place called Alfonsina's. I'm not a fish eater so I stick to the refried beans and quesadillas. They serve a wonderful white sauce with all of their food so I asked our waiter how they make it. He told me it is made with a little mayonnaise, milk, consomme (I'm assuming he meant chicken broth, he didn't speak a lot of English and I don't speak a lot of Spanish)and some finely chopped green stuff called, "perejil." When I got home I asked my Spanish speaking friend what that was and she said parsley.

At night, Ken's favorite thing to do was to go out into the ocean with everyone and play games with a beach ball. It was nice having the water warm enough to get in. Last year we went during March and it was icy cold.

On our way out of Mexico, we stopped at a little taco stand and I got to love this little three month old colt. He was so tame it was amazing! It made me miss my caballo's back home!

After the wonderful weather we got to enjoy, it was hard to come home in a snow storm. We were all wearing our flip flops, shorts and short sleeved shirts. The roads were a sheet of ice near Strawberry reservoir and several cars had slid off the road so we stopped to see if we could help one poor man who was clear down an embankment. The boys toes and legs were freezing when they helped him up the steep hill so we could give him a ride to his home in Myton. It's always an adventure with the Christenson's!