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!

It's A Party!

My friend, Melanie Starr worked her magic and made an amazing scuba man cake for Ken's birthday party. Ken was so excited! I thought he would want to eat the scuba man, but he was more interested in the sharks. The cake was out of this world and I would recommend Melanie to make any cake you might need.

Yesterday, we went to the Woodward's for a homecoming party for Andon Merkley. Kirk's Mom had made these yummy tarts that Sherilee shared how to make.

Tarts

Make your favorite pie crust,(or in my case,) buy premade pie crust dough. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out several round pieces of dough and place them in the bottom of a greased muffin tin. Then add one table spoon of raspberry jam. Make sure it is in the center of the circle and doesn't touch the edges. Then make your favorite vanilla cake batter,(again in my case, follow the instructions on the box,) then spread a thin layer over the top of the jam and bake at 350* for 10-15 min. Let them cool for a few minutes then top with some powdered sugar frosting. Sherilee said you can use a different kind of jam, but the raspberry is thicker and sets up better so if you decide to use strawberry or grape add a little corn starch to the jam to thicken it up a bit.

The Frogs Have Sung!

A few nights ago when Dar opened the door to let the dogs out one last time, he heard a wonderful sound. Frogs croaking! That is the first time we have heard them since winter set in. Spring must be around the corner! With all the crazy we have had lately, I was beginning to wonder if it would ever come!

I got a new ipad for my birthday. I am so excited to try to use it with Ken, my almost thirteen year old who has a mild form of autism and who stutters. I found all kinds of applications I can download onto the ipad to help with his communication disorders. It will be interesting to see if any of them help, but it's worth every penny if it helps Ken even a little bit!

I have heard about delayed auditory feedback implants for people who stutter. They are expensive and children sometimes don't want to leave them in or they out grow them. I found an app for my ipad called, DAF assistant. When the stutter puts on head phones with a microphone and they talk, it helps the person slow down his speaking rate and trains the central auditory processing disorder which they have. Once the person takes off the ear phones, they don't have the help like the implants do, but hopefully they are learning to slow down their rate of speech.

During the past few months, I have been making the three hour trek to Salt Lake every other week to take Ken to a stuttering specialist for two hours. I feel like we aren't making any progress though. The trip to Salt Lake is a great excuse to see my family and I have been able run around and do things I can't do in a small town. But with the price of gas plus the cost of the therapy it is costing us a small fortune. As a very proactive Mom, I am willing to try anything to help my poor little guy.

Ken's IQ test results were lower than the specialist expected last time we had him tested. She said she felt like they weren't accurate because he couldn't communicate the answers, so he said, "I don't know" instead. This is a common answer when he is asked questions because it is easier to say that then to try to get all of the words out. He won't pray in church, read in groups at school or church and very rarely will he answer questions in school.

There are a ton of apps on the ipad for younger autistic children. But what about the older kids? I haven't been able to find much to help Ken in that area. I wish these applications would have been around when Ken was first diagnosed because we have struggled through everything they claim to help with. He has made huge progress since he was diagnosed, and I am looking forward to all the new developments in technology that will hopefully help him in the future!

Even though Ken has his challenges, I feel so blessed that he can see, hear, walk and talk.

His thirteenth birthday is next week. I was going to try to make him a scuba diver cake out of homemade fondant, but I don't have the time because I'm trying to burn all the weeds, trim trees and get ready for a fun spring break trip. So I asked my friend Melanie Starr to help me. She is an amazing cake decorator. I can't wait to see what she dreams up!

Here is a recipe I found for homemade fondant - one day I will try it!

Rolled Butter Cream Fondant

In a large bowl, mix together 1C. shortening and 1C. light corn syrup. Mix in 1/2t. salt and 1t. clear vanilla extract. Then gradually add 2 pounds of powdered sugar until it is a stiff dough. If you are using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment. Otherwise, knead by hand. If the dough is sticky, add more powdered sugar until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge.

To use, mix in a few drops of desired food coloring and then roll out on a clean surface that has been dusted with powdered sugar until it is 1/8 inch thick.

Cowboy Up

OUCH! On Monday I was leading Darren's horse, Cheyenne, to the pen next to the stud to see if she was in heat so I can breed her and Lilly, the wonder dog, came from behind and did an amazing job of herding her.... right over my foot! And then to make matters worse, she came at her from the other side and Cheyenne when back over the same foot. My the side of my foot and my big toe are swollen and the toe nail is black, which means it is definitely going to fall off. The worse part about this is I just got that same toe nail to grow back from the last time Cheyenne stepped on my toe!

So much for having beautiful pedicured toe nails this summer! I have been limping around the last two days so now my calf is sore from walking funny. I would love to just crawl back into bed and let it heal, but there is too much to do so I guess I have to cowboy up!

Tuesday was my birthday and I received so much love! It started out with breakfast in bed. Dar had run to 7-11 and bought me a cake doughnut with sprinkles and pink frosting and then put candles on top. Dar took me to lunch and shopping and then for a two hour horse ride in the fields around the house. It was a little breezy, but the sun was shining so it was wonderful! That is the first long ride I have been able to take Rebel on. I got him during the middle of winter so we have had to just ride in the arena. He was absolutely amazing! Cheyenne kept spooking, as she always does, at rocks, fences, holes in the ground (you name it, it scares her), but Rebel was steady and sure the whole time.

That night we had our parent camp meeting so I spent it with the young women. I received several packages with sugar cookies and cokes - (Do my friends know me well or what?) and then Jenny Peterson led everyone in the birthday song. I kept thinking, "Can't we just skip this part of it?" I hate to be sung to! On Monday, my presidency took me to a little Mexican restaurant called, Don Pedro's, for a birthday lunch. Thank goodness we didn't have to endure the big sombrero and song then! They have the best refried beans there. I could just eat the chips, salsa and beans and bag getting a meal! Someone (I can't remember who,)gave Dar this recipe to make refried beans like they do:

Refried Beans

Open a can of your favorite refried beans and put them into a pan over medium heat. Add in a spoon full of Mexican lard (or you can use regular shortening.) I personally like to stir in a tablespoon of butter because I usually don't have Mexican lard. Heat until bubbly and then sprinkle with chirozo cheese or crumbled goat cheese.