Gardening with Essential Oils

I have recently gotten into essential oils. It is also spring so I am also getting into gardening.  Only it takes some time for me to work jeff into things. So I bought a jalapeño plant as our first "mini-garden" plant. Wouldn't you know it after two days little critter appeared on it. So today is day one of my oil journey and gardening combo.

This is what it looks like this morning...

I will do an update in 5 days to see if there is a change, hopefully my concoction worked!

Ranch Pork Chops

In the event that you don't like pork chops this recipe will change your life. If you do like pork chops this recipe should still change your life! I made these last night and fell head over heels for them. Even Jeff said he liked them and he hates pork chops. As a matter of fact he used the expression "ew" when I told him what we were having. I hope you all like it as much as I did!

Ranch Pork Chops

Original Recipe here

Ingredients:

1 packet (1 ounce) Hidden Valley® Original Ranch® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
6 pork loin rib chops about 1-inch thick (I only used two because they were really big and there wasn't a lot of mix left over)
dash of paprika (optional) (I didn't use paprika, it didn't need it)
salt
fresh cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

Empty pack on a small plate. Place pork chop on the season and repeat on other side. Make sure it is well covered.

Arrange the chops on a baking sheet or glass pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika to taste. (I did it again when I flipped the pork chops) Bake the pork chops for 20 minutes, turning once (around 10 min) until browned or an internal temperature of 150ºF is reached. Allow three minutes of rest time. (this will allow the juices to stay in the pork chop longer and create better flavor.

*Recipe only gluten free when made with all gluten free ingredients. Read labels of all packaged ingredients to determine whether they contain gluten.

Weekend Away

This last weekend we took the family to Salt Lake for a temple trip. We also brought Lenny with us so he could see some of the guys. The weekend started out great! We came over Thursday afternoon. Friday morning I was able to clean out the car, run to Costco and get my eyebrows threaded. (If you have never had your eyebrows threaded you should try it out! I love it.)

Lenny, Jeff, Anton and his wife, and I went to the Draper Temple. It was wonderful and Jeff was able to get some better direction for the family. Sometimes reconnecting with the spirit is needed. Especially when you are feel a lot of personal turmoil or confusion.

Saturday Laurel and I took the girls to the zoo. We were able to meet up with Kevin, Shellie and Kevin who brought Lyla. A lot of the animals were gone but we had a good time anyway. MecKenzie thought the zoo was amazing. She really liked saying hi to the animals. Jenelle wasn't as impressed.

After that I was able to get my hair done! I went a bit more blonde for spring and I added a little blue underneath.

 

 

Sunday we went to church then got ready to go to the Mortensens'. Samantha came down and was able to go with us. I love going to the Mortensens'. They always have a good time and good food. Who doesn't love that?

 

Unfortunately we had some car trouble. We had to take our car into the shop. Wouldn't you know it a recall part is the part that broke. Thank goodness we didn't have to pay for it. It would have cost $2,300. We didn't get the car back till today so Jeff had to go home yesterday without us. But we will get to go home today! All in all it was a pretty fun weekend. 

Toddler Hair

Jenelle's hair isn't long enough for a ponytail but it is long enough to put several ponytails into one. It's also great that she has natural curl so her ponytails always look extra cute.

Sick Day

Nothing like a sick day. MecKenzie is pretty sick, Jenelle and I are both on the verge of a cold but not as bad as MecKenzie. It's so heart breaking too, whenever she wakes up from naptime she calls my name in the saddest voice. I basically melt into a puddle.

I am more for clean living than heavy medicine. So when our family comes down with a cold there are some precautions we all take. Echinacea and Colloidal Silver are my personal favorites. I have recently dabbled in essential oils. I have had some success with them.

Tea tree oil has several uses but I used it to assist a yeast destroyer. What would have taken 3 weeks or more only took a week and a half. MecKenzie really loves essential oils. Tonight I gave her a bath with 3 drops of lavender to help her relax for bed. I don't think they are a cure all but I do think they are an added boost. Plus they smell nice.

Lent

Lent is starting tomorrow and I think I am going to give up sugar. By sugar I mean any type of refined sugar such as juice, breads and pastas. I need the body cleanse and I think it would be good for my family. They get to eat what I make. That is the benefits of not being a short order cook :) I have been exercising every morning to help get back my pre-baby body. The one area of my body that proves to be stubborn is my lovely love handles. Giving up sugar should help finish what exercise alone couldn't do.

I know I am not Catholic but I think this could be a good lesson for me. That I have more control over my choices. It should also give me a little more respect for other faiths and make me a little bit more grateful that I am LDS.

Learning How To Use Photo Shop

In middle school I learned some cool things in one of those awesome photo shop programs that I knew I would never own.... well I have gotten my hands on a program... a cheap old program but a program none the less! My first project was to merge the Proclamation to the World with a family photo. AND SUCCESS! I did it.

Now all we need to do is get an updated family photo so we can make a more official one to hang on our wall. Maybe a bigger one because this is amazing. This project has inspired more projects. I am currently teaching the 7-8 year olds in Sunday school. SO I want to take the pictures of the 8 year olds with their dad (or who ever baptizes them) and merge it with the Articles of Faith and the date they were baptized. Its going to be epic! 

Toddler Hair

I love to do Jenelle's hair and it's finally long enough to do pigtails... Well almost :)

Lenny's Homecoming

It's been two years since Lenny Escobar went on his mission. A lot of things have happened, we had two girls and moved twice. Anton got married and Mitchell went on his own mission. Even though all these things have happened everything isn't that much different.

Jeff still tells horrible jokes and I still like to make food :) that's pretty much all you need to know lol Jenelle is potty trained and MecKenzie can say 8 words. (three of them are basically the same 'hi, hi ya, and hey')

It's fun to see Lenny and how much he has grown. Now to get him on his way to normalcy while still maintaining his new spiritual greatness. I am planning to start with Despicable Me 2! Should be great! He isn't sure about it yet but he is ready.

Valentine's

Well, it's been a great two weeks of love for Jeff. He has gotten a gift everyday to his total enjoyment. Tonight we are doing sushi and putting the kids to bed early.

Hope you have a great Valentine's!

Jenelle's hair for Valentine's <3

Cute Moments

Well, MecKenzie is crawling now! Pretty exciting.

I am doing the 14 days of Valentines for Jeff. Until yesterday everything was going pretty good. I attempted to make his favorite almond snack. And by attempted I mean utter failure. The recipe I used was from My Baking Addiction. I made a substitute that made the almonds too salty. Never fear! I will attempt it again with less salt!

On another note, Jenelle was pretty cute this morning. Jeff and I were being lazy in bed but Jenelle was ready to be awake. So I invented a game that allowed me to stay in bed while still entertaining her. I would stick a body part over the edge of the bed and make her tell me what it was. It worked great! But I was running out of fingers and toes so I stuck half my face over the bed. She pointed at me and yelled, "Cheek!" Then she dashed to the other side of the bed and said, "dad, cheek please!" Probably one of the cutest things she has done to date.

Also the winter Olympics are on. Or they would be if NBC wasn't being ridiculous. The only time it comes on the local channels is after 8pm. Seeing as that is the girls' bedtime they don't get to watch any of it. Not that they really care I guess. But I don't get to watch much of them either because I try to go to bed around 10. Needless to say that all the events I would like to watch are never on. Big disappointment.

Couponing

I have become totally engrossed in the ways of couponing. Last year I saved $700 in 6 months. After a savings like that who could give it up? Not me that's for sure! Yesterday I got a really great deal, 5 cans of dry shampoo for free. That's right! FREE. I thought that was a pretty great deal considering the normal price is $4.98. Total price would have been $24.90. I think that is a pretty good deal.

Birthday

It's coming to the end of my birthday and what a day it has been. Jeff took a surprise day off from work this morning to make me breakfast and spend the day with me.

The sneak pretended to go to work this morning but he really went and got flowers and breakfast food. It's was pretty cute of him. Then he took me to sushi and a movie. We saw 'I, Frankenstein' which had a good amount of action but not a great story. After that Jeff made me a 'better than anything' cake.

Needless to say it was a great 25th!

Fried Chicken Night

I have tried fried chicken only one other time. It was okay but not very well seasoned. So this time I vowed to do better.

I used a recipe I found on allrecipes.com but altered it. Here is what I did:

Ingredients-
2-3 cups of vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
3 medium chicken breasts cut
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup milk

Directions-
1. Preheat oil in a deep sauce pan to just over medium.

2. Mix flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder in a gallon size bag. Mix the egg yolks and milk in a bowl.

3. Place chicken in powder mixture then in the yolk mixture then back into the powder. Be sure to shake well.

4. Add chicken to the oil and allow to cook till it's a nice golden brown. You may need to add more oil as you go along. The chicken needs to be completely covered in oil.

I served it with potatoe wedges. I didn't like them but Jeff says they were okay. I need to keep searching for a good potatoe wedge recipe!

Cute Moments

Do you ever have one of those moments where you think, “Man, my kids are cute”? Well I have!

Yesterday I was working out in the living room and Jenelle (almost 2 years old) stood right next to me and did squats with me. Probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Then later in the day we were at the store and she grabbed my arm and said “love you”. Yeah… that is why you have kids. For the little moments that make you smile uncontrollably.

Speaking of which, Jeff and I had a funny argument at Walmart last night. And by funny I mean we spent more of the time laughing. I wanted some curtain to go in front of our washer and dryer. It is kind of a big eye sore right in our kitchen so I wanted to hide it while dressing the room up a little bit. Originally I wanted to get the curtains up before Jeff came home but of course I had several failed attempts. Needless to say Jeff ended up going back to Walmart with me to pick out curtains that were the right size and color. He wanted a dark brown and I wanted a pretty blue. We continued to argue about what curtains were best so we put a few in our cart so we could narrow down our decision.

Jeff made the executive decision. He told me we could get the “ugly ones” which I thought were the ones I wanted. When we checked out I was all excited because they were cheaper than I thought they were so of course I bragged a little at my shopping skills. Jeff then corrected me by telling me that was the price listed. Come to find out we got the blue ones HE wanted! Sneaky man! It was a good laugh and the curtains look great.

Gotta say, I love my family <3

 

Before

(Scary right?)

 

After