Finally, Warm Weather

It didn't last long

Anyone know a dentist?

It's A Race, It's A Race

Well It came and went. The Race For The Cure!! Our group was a little smaller this year, but it was a lot of fun. Grandma Carla and Suzy came into town for the big event. We had a great time with them. I will never look at fruit the same way again-LOL!
The kiddos decided they were going to run the race this year. They did a great job and had a lot of fun.

Vote For Archuletta

Tonight is American Idol and I am sure you all know we are huge fans of the show. I got really excited b/c this week is where the last three get to go home. I took the kids to Murray High School to see Archuletta sing. We were able to get right next to the fence to see his parade. I thought we would get to see him up close, but the security was pretty thick. We had a great time. I will definately be watching tonight!

First Ride on a Bus

On May 1st Cooper had a field trip to Wheeler Farm. He was extremely excited. I was not very happy that it was snowing. It did turn out to be a lot of fun. We fed the ducks, played in the treehouse, looked at all the animals, and went on a tractor ride. I don't know what was more fun, riding on the bus or visiting the farm.

My little baby all grown up!

Congratulations

Congratulations Babe
Mark ran his first Marathon Saturday. He has been training so hard, and all his hard work paid off. He is now among a small percentage of people to run a Marathon. I have been so motivated by him that Monday I ran 4 miles and today (Tuesday) I ran a little over 6. I am really feeling the effects today. Maybe I shouldn't run two days in a row. Who knows, maybe I will stay motivated long enough to run the next Marathon. Congrats Mark. I am so so so so proud of you. To get all the details of Mark's run check out his blog at bulldogsbunch.blogspot.com

Shame on Me

Shame on Me! It has been a month since my last post. I cannot believe it has taken me a full month to get my life back together. We have been moving, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Now that it is all over life can go on. I have failed to post two recipes from our dinner club that we have once a month. In March the theme was brunch and I made baked grits. That recipe will be posted later. I am still looking for it. April's theme was Asian food. It was sooo good. Thank you April for having us over. Everything was great. My sister in law is from Thailand and she has taught me a couple of the dishes she makes for her family. I made Pad Gra Pao. Thanks Seth for the helpful information. So whatcha gotta do.....

-Gra Pao leaves (cinniman basil, thai basil, queen siane basil-the ones with purple stems)
-8 cloves of garlic
-10-20 fresh thai chili's (10-mild, 15-medium, 20-spicy)
-1 can straw mushrooms
-1 lb. ground pork or seafood
-fish sauce, oyster sauce, & thin thai soy sauce
-bunch of bean thread or rice
You will need to find a great Asian store. My mom and I hunted and found one on 38th South and Redwood. Tay-Do!! They just moved to a bigger and better place. They had everything we needed, even the thai basil-which is very hard to find.

The first step is to grind your spices. The fresh thai chili's and the garlic. In Thailand they use a mortar and pestel ( it has a different name). You could definately use a food processor.

Grind them until they are very small. In a frying pan with 1 Tbs. canola oil sautee the chili's and garlic for a couple minutes. Add the pork and cook until done. Add the can of straw mushrooms. The sauces will be added next, but it is all according to taste. Add the soy sauce enough to coat the food. Next, add enough oyster sauce to coat the food. Then add only a little fish sauce to taste. The fish sauce is very salty, and the oyster sauce is sweet. You will have to play around with it a little until you like it. After I added the fish sauce it tasted too salty, but once I added the basil it was fine. The basil is the last to go in. Add as much or as little as you want. Cook for 1 minute. In Thailand they also sprinkle some of the basil on top when serving. This dish would also be really good with shrimp. You can serve it with rice or if you want to try something new, bean thread. Soak the bean thread in warm water while you are preparing your dish. When you are almost done, put the bean thread in boiling water and cook until soft. It was pretty good.
The finished product. Very tasty.