Couples Quiz

I found this cute quiz on another blog and thought it was perfect since Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

1. Who do you love? Shad Christopher

2. How long have you been together? Married 13 years, 9 months, and 21 days
3. Who eats more? Me - I confess, but anyone who's seen me eat already knew the answer to this question.
4. Who said I love you first? He did. It took me a while to decide if I was feeling love or just infatuation!
5. Who is taller? Me, sadly, but with my degenerative disk disease I'm getting closer to his height every day
6. Who sings better? Me, definitely.
7. Who is smarter? I'm smart enough not to answer this question! (But I had a much better GPA at BYU than he did.)
8. Who does the laundry? Me and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm much too picky about how laundry gets folded to allow anyone else to touch it.
9. Who does the dishes? We "share" this duty. The usual rule of thumb is whoever cooks doesn't have to clean. Somehow, though, this doesn't quite work out. I do most of the cleaning, but I probably do more than my fair share of the dishes, too. (Shad read this and demands that I modify this answer - when he's home he does a lot of dishes. In fact, he's doing dishes right now!)
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. We tried switching once and I couldn't handle it!
11. Who pays the bills? I do. I stress too much about finances to let him do it.
12. Who mows the lawn? What lawn?! We have artificial grass so that we don't have to do this wretched chore. When we had real grass at our old house, Shad did the mowing. I believe I'm allergic to mowed grass. My allergist would concur!
13. Who cooks dinner? Me, but Shad makes fabulous pancakes, french toast, and scrambled eggs. He's our go-to guy for a hot breakfast.
14. Who drives when you are together? Me! I get carsick when he drives, but then I get carsick when anyone else but me drives.
15. Who is more stubborn? Probably me, but Shad is learning from my expertise.
16. Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? I would say me. (Again, Shad demands I change this - he says he's always apologizing to me. I told him that apologizing and admitting you're wrong are not the same thing. He didn't agree.)
17. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, my mom lives with us.
18. Who kissed whom first? Shad kissed me first. He was my first (and only) kiss!
19. Who proposed? Shad did, while we were sitting on the floor in his living room at his BYU apartment watching Jay Leno while Rod Stewart was singing.
20. Who is more sensitive? Me. Or maybe I just show my emotions more. I'm an open book. Just look at me and you know exactly how I'm feeling. Shad keeps it all inside.
21. Who has more friends? I do.
22. Who has more siblings? Well, we're tied on that one. I have a younger brother and sister and Shad has an older brother and a younger adopted sister.
23. Who wears the pants in the family? I hold the pursestrings, so I would say I do. But then, Shad carries a gun, so maybe he does!

Time Out For Women update

This year's theme is The Joyful Life.  Every speaker has come up with a new talk to share with us - so even if you've heard these people speak before, you haven't heard what they'll be presenting at TOFW!

Friday Night's Line-Up:

6:30 pm - 9:30 pm

• Talented musician/guitarist/lyricist Cherie Call
• The amazing Ardeth Kapp (former Young Women General President) 
• Dr. Elia Gourgouris (who has a PhD in psychology from UCLA. He is Greek and a convert to the LDS church and has a very unique and insightful view.)
  

Saturday's Line-Up:

8:45 am - 3:45 pm

• Talented singer/songwriter Kenneth Cope 
• Mary Ellen Edmunds (one of the funniest women in the world - love her giggle!)
• Emily Watts (also a wonderful and funny woman)
• Sharon Larsen (who is Ardeth Kapp's sister and was in the General Y.W. Presidency with Sheri Dew and was Sis Dew's traveling companion most of the time)
• Michael Wilcox (who is one of the best story tellers and parable teachers you will ever hear)

Click on this link to get more information and to get your tickets!

Everyone who registers for Time Out For Women will get a free tote bag at the event!

Family Fun

Friday was Shad's birthday, but he had to work so we went ahead with our regular Kids' Choice Night. This Friday was Laura's night. She picked one of her usual meals - tacos. (Her other regular choice is chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.) I decided to try a new recipe since Laura hadn't chosen something new. Usually we have grilled chicken in our tacos, but I had received a recipe for Creamy Chicken Soft Tacos from one of the sisters I work with in the Relief Society presidency.

Here's how it turned out

Well, you really can't see the meat because Shad buried his with toppings, but it was delicious - as you can tell from everyone's "ooh" and "aahh" expressions. (Or course Emily, Shad and I were the only ones who tried the chicken. Laura's idea of a taco is a flour tortilla slathered with sour cream, sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese and folded in half.)

Shad took his lunch break early so that he could eat dinner with us. The chicken smelled so good while it cooked that he just had to have some!

Here's the recipe:

Creamy Chicken Soft Tacos

4 frozen boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

16 oz. jar salsa

1 C. sour cream

tortillas

Place Chicken in slow cooker. Pour salsa over the top. Cover and cook on high 4-8hrs. low 10-12hrs.

During last hour shred chicken by pulling apart with two forks, then add sour cream. 

Fold Chicken mix inside warm tortillas with lettuce and grated cheese.

(Since only half of my family will eat the meat, I cut the recipe in half and it gave us enough meat for 8 tacos.)

Saturday I took the kids to a Wool Festival at the Botanical Gardens' Heritage Farm. Emily and Peter are learning about textiles at school and their teacher told us about this event. Shad had a church meeting to go to, so it was just Mom and the kids. We saw sheep, cows, huge work horses, a goat, and some ducks. We got to touch wool from different animals - sheep, musk oxen, alpacas (llamas - we actually have several llama wool blankets - very warm), angora (rabbits), etc.  

Then we saw demonstrations where they carded (combed) the wool, spun it into thread,

dyed it with natural dyes (walnut shells, onion skins, dried marigolds), and wove the wool thread into hats, tapestries, and sweaters.  

The kids got to take home some wool from a sheep and some little weaving boards to weave their own ... something. Emily is weaving a scarf for her American Girl doll, Nikki.

The Wool Festival was fun, but what the kids really enjoyed was taking each others' pictures.

Peter took this one of Laura.

Laura took this one of Peter.  You can see Emily and I in the background.

By far, Peter and Emily's favorite part was the new Japanese Garden. It was beautiful and peaceful. Emily kept saying she would move to Japan if she could have a garden like this. 

Laura, however, did not enjoy this part of our outing. She got a splinter in one of her fingers from touching a fence post. She screamed and cried while we walked around the Japanese garden, while we returned to the car, and while we drove home. Shad is the one who takes out splinters in our family and she wanted her Daddy! Unfortunately, Daddy was still at his church meeting and so I got to hold the hysterical child and pull out the darned splinter. 

Grateful Sunday

I am grateful for when my children get along with each other.  Right now, of course, they're screaming and crying and arguing about what they want to play together. But earlier today they were very sweet. Peter and Laura sat next to each other in church today. When it was time to sing a hymn both would grab their own hymnbook. Peter would help Laura find the right page. Then he would sing the song, pointing to each word as he sang. Laura would "sing" the song as well, following along in her hymnbook (since Laura can't read yet she would sing her own words). At the end of each hymn, Peter would turn to Laura and say, "Good job! You did a good job, Laura!" It made Laura happy and it warmed my heart to see the two of them being so loving to each other.

We don't let our kids watch TV, play video games, or surf the internet on Sundays, and so Sunday is one of the few days when the children actually play together. They make up their own games to play - house, Star Wars, Christmas. I'm grateful that they have imagination; that they can actually come up with something to do besides sit in front of a screen all day!

Do You Know How Old I Am?

Apparently I don't know either. For the past few months I've thought I was 33 years old. I realized today that if Shad's 38, I am NOT 33 - since we're about 3 1/2 years apart.  So now I'm 34 - happy birthday to me. I wonder if I'll remember that I'm 35 at my next birthday?!

Happy Birthday...To Him!

Today is Shad's 38th Birthday!

His stash of gifts. More cards than actual gifts, 

but that makes him happy because we all know what comes in cards!

Laura gave Shad a new spatula. He was always complaining about our old melted one. This one guarantees to be heat resistant up to 600 degrees. Let's hope so - Shad's a pretty hot guy!