Zuppa Toscana

So this is a new recipe from my aunt that I tried out today. It was SOOOO Fabulous! At least enough to share. No really, it was! I have no idea if this is the name of it, but my aunt called it the Olive Garden soup, so I looked it up and this was the closest one. So if any of you want a great meal (that was easy and fast, too), here ya go!

1/2 lbs italian sausage (spicy)
1/2 lbs regular mild sausage
3/4 c onion, chopped (or more)
6 slices bacon (or handful from a precooked bag...helps with that "fast" part)
1 1/4 tsp garlic (or more if you know my cooking)
4 c water
1 quart chicken broth
6 potatoes diced
6 c shredded kale
2/3 c heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 Tbl Parsley
1 tsp salt
At same time...start boiling potatoes in water, seasonings, and broth and
begin cooking sausage and throw in onion towards the end...when onions cooked...throw in garlic and bacon. When potatoes are done, add cream, kale, and meat mixture and simmer until the kale is limp and you're done! Ohhhhh! This is so good! Jani, I know you would love it!

Sea World, Movie Stars, and The Beach

I have never been to the San Diego temple. It was so absolutely beautiful. We couldn't go onto the grounds because they were closed for some reason, but were able to get a picture from behind.

The Clydesdale for the beer company that I can never remember. Poor horse has to stand there all day and let people pet him. He was getting pretty frustrated by the time we got to him.

The tunnel with the sharks. It's pretty awesome being up so close!

So we spent last weekend in San Diego taking the kids to Sea World for the first time. I haven't been there since I was a kid and I must say I was in awe all day long. I enjoyed that place SO MUCH!!! It is absolutely incredible watching those trainers work with Shamu and the dolphins. I loved all the shows. I worried that the kids would be a little bored because it was just show after show. Emma loved it and wasn't bored at all! She was apprehensive to sit in the soak zone, at first, but then decided it was cool getting wet in spite of the fact that we were chilly for a few minutes after until we dried. At one point before watching the dolphin show, she got the attention of the audience by falling down some stairs. She was pretty embarrassed and tried not to cry. I felt so bad for her cause she was trying to be brave. She finally buried her head into me and lost it. The guy with the mic turned to us and asked if she was okay. Fortunately the show started and some other chick biffed it as part of the show and we enjoyed the dolphins who can jump so high! The next morning we went to a swap meet. I've alway a enjoyed a good swap meet, but this was not one of those. The only funny part was at some point this woman walked up to me and introduced herself as some talent scout. She said she had been watching Emma and wanted to invite her to an audition the next morning for extras on Hannah Montana and gave me directions and all that. I, of course, was totally flattered and totally agreed that Emma is absolutely beautiful, but we choose not to ruin our daughter's life by throwing her into television! I was thinking about the girls night out we had at the Homemade pie and Ice Cream shop over Jani's birthday and our closest link to stardom. Well, mine at the time was that I dated Taj Melson from the Utah Grizzly hockey team, which, I admit, isn't too close to stardom...especially compared to Rachel. But this is my new closest. We then spent the day on the beach where Jack learned how to skim board and biffed it by hitting a rock and going down. His leg and knee have been swollen and sore ever since! Poor little guy! It wasn't incredibly warm, but I got to see some of my family there at a reunion and that is always fun! Oh! I also forgot to tell...on November 3rd we are celebrating Los Angeles Temple being 50 years old. So there's going to be a Solemn Assembly in their 60,000 sq ft room and i'm in the choir that is going to sing! I can't wait to sing in the temple! What an awesome opportunity! So that has been my good news of the week!

I Am Emma!

I found this random quiz on someone's blog and since I would love to be buried next to Jane Austin (Jack can be on the other side), I thought it appropriate to see which of her characters I am most like!

:: E M M A ::
You are Emma Woodhouse of Emma! You like being the queen of your social circle (small and provincial as it may be), and feel it's your duty to help those less influential than you. You often meddle in the affairs of others, though you do it with a pure heart. You are often deluded in your flights of fancy, but your good intentions and creative spirit make you someone anyone could like.

What do you think? Does it fit me?

http://www.strangegirl.com/austenquiz/

The Last 10 Days

Disneyland, actually this one is at California adventure. This was Emma seeing what Disney Character she was most like by taking a personality questionnaire. First time it was Dot fom A Bugs' Life and second time she was Mulan.

Waiting with Uncle Brandt for the parade to start. The family next to us was from Utah and the girls had a nice princess standoff.

This isn't one of my more proud moments in pictures of my self, I just thought it was funny that I had no clue he was picking his nose!

This is Emma's Halloween costume. I've never let her do the princess thing for Halloween so we got this wedding dress complete with veil. It's actually quite beautiful! She's pretty pumped to get married in a few weeks. The swing thing behind her was her birthday present and one of the better purchases I've made. That thing is so fun to play in! I got it from IKEA for $30.

This was in my aunt's backyard in St George. They've got a fun set up back there. Emma was so mad coming out of this slide, though. She swore she would never do it again!

Uncle Brandt's new sunglasses. She looks studly!

Once again taste-testing lemons!

I have gotten these CUTE pictures of Jackson lately and thought everyone should be privileged to see them. This boy is HILARIOUS! He just makes me smile to look at him. And he's such a kissy little thing! This is a wig, for those of you wondering if he had implants. We were in my aunts basement and found this and I had to get pictures.

I love new callings!

I got a new calling in church yesterday and I'm pretty dang excited about it. I am a young women advisor. I've never worked in young woman, but always thought going to camp again would be a blast. I don't know if I mentioned I got called to the stake primary board last month. So I'm so glad to be getting more busy with these callings. Isn't it weird how the more busy you are the better you manage your time and accomplish more? I'm VERY excited to get to work in primary and young women! I so need and want to serve and I think it will provide so many opportunities for me to grow which I tend to not be very good at on my own! I'm so impressed with the quality of people here in California. I thought it would be like New York because of the number of people, but it's NOTHING like it. I don't like New York. But people are wonderful here and they wave when you drive down the street and let you in quickly when you signal. I love that! Does anyone elseget way excited for new callings?

Okay, so one more post today...

For those of you who know the story behind our van, this story will be another impressive obstacle story to add to the bumper of that car. So we all know Claifornia is pretty expensive in a lot of areas. State tax being one of them. I looked into getting our cars registered and found out that getting JUST the van done would be just over $2,200 (not including the $120 penalty fee for not registering it within 20 days). That's a chunk of change! So I've been a little worried about it. Jack was online one night that he was on call doing some research and found a law that says if you transfer a car between family members it is considered a "gift" and they will not charge sales tax on the vehicle. Fortunately, the car was only titled with Jack's name. So, we called to make sure this would work and they said it surely would. So we went down to get my new CA driver's license and registered our van for $122 That's it. I have had a smile on my face ever since. I'm $2000 richer as far as i'm concerned~ Whoo-hoo! They didn't even charge us the penalty, which I was also grateful for. Tomorrow we get the accord done so we'll see how that one goes! Just one of those "tender mercies." My friend, Monica calls it a tithing blessing, which I also thought was good. Makes me think we should take that saved money and put it directly towards being prepared. I've been thinking how the church is done counseling on that after 75 years and thinking it's time. Mom's getting me a Whisper Mill for Christmas so I'm pretty excited about that!

We got our Disneyland passes!

Yeah! Whoo-hoo! Last week was mine and Emma's birthdays. Jack had call on them both, but since he is on anesthesia rotation they give him the option of going home the morning after taking call. So he surprised me the day after my birthday in the morning with roses and said let's go to Disneyland!

We had so much fun together! I was actually so surprised at how well both kids did and they just wanted to keep going. Our favorite rides were most definitely the Alice in Wonderland and Dumbo ride because Emma just laughed her head off the whole time.

She was brave, though, and went on a couple adult rides. Jack too her on Matterhorn and she didn't like going to the top in the dark with the evil eyes staring at her. She also went on Splash Mountain with me.

I was so grateful Disney was smart enough to think of the swapping pass for parents. Emma and Jackson both loved the Tigger and Pooh ride while Jack got to love Splash Mountain. During that time, I was also able to talk Emma into going on that ride with me!










Snow White was the only princess out that Emma would hug and talk to. She has never seen Pocahontas and wouldn't talk to her and she was also shy with Jasmine. Those were the princesses out at the time. I was wishing we could run into Mandy's sister, but I couldn't remember if that was the one that got married and then thought she was probably in Utah at school anyhow. (But Mandy, next time you guys come down we would so love to go to Disneyland and see you guys again!)

We stayed there eight hours and I thought the kids would zonk on the way home, but they were so excited, they talked the whole way home. This will be so fun!