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OUR BABY ADVENTURE

Andy and I are starting round 2 of IVF.  I have decided to blog about IVF as a record for me and information for anyone who would like to know because they know someone who will need to or has done it and just wants a little more information.  I have posted a link to the other blog.

Warning... it may contain more information than you would like to know. :)

http://andrewandashleybabyadventure.blogspot.com/

STRAWBERRY RECIPES

Strawberries have been on amazing sales this year, and so we have bought a few more than usual.  I made some strawberry jam, which turned out amazing, and then I found a recipe for Strawberry Lemon Marmalade, which is super sweet.  And then I altered my applesauce recipe to add strawberries, which turned out an amazing new flavor of applesauce.  I have had some requests for the recipes... so here they are!

STRAWBERRY JAM

(I used the Ball Natural Fruit Pectin because that is what I had on hand)

(Recipe can be found on insert)

• 5 C crushed strawberries (about 5-1 lb containers)
• 1/4 C lemon juice
• 1 1.75-oz pkg Ball® Original Fruit Pectin
• 7 C sugar
• 8 half pint preserving jars with bands and lids.

Directions:
1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
3.) COMBINE strawberries and lemon juice and mix well. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling that can not be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.
4.) ADD entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off foam if necessary.
5.) LADLE hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
6.) PLACE filled jars in canner.  Be sure water covers tops of jars by 1 to 2 inches.  Add hot water if necessary.  Place lid on canner. Bring water to a gentle, steady boil.
7.) PROCESS jars for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.  After processing is complete, turn off heat and remove lid.  Let jars stand for 5 min.
8.) REMOVE jars from canner and set upright on a towel to cool, undisturbed for 12-24 hours. After cooling, test lids by pressing in the center. If lid does not flex, it is sealed.  If lid flexes up and down refrigerate immediately.

STRAWBERRY LEMON MARMALADE

(Recipe can also be found on Ball Natural Fruit Pectin Insert or on freshpreserving.com)

• 1/4 cup thinly slice lemon peel (about 2 large)
• 4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 1-lb containers)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1.75-oz pkg Ball® Original Fruit Pectin
• 6 cups sugar
• 7 (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:
1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) COMBINE lemon peel and water to cover in a 6- or 8-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 5 minutes, until peel is softened. Drain and discard liquid. Return peel to pan.
3.) ADD strawberries and lemon juice to peel and mix well. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling that can not be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.
4.) ADD entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off foam if necessary.
5.) LADLE hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
6.) PROCESS in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Quick Tip
Use lime peel and lime juice in place of lemon for a Strawberry Lime Marmalade.

STRAWBERRY APPLESAUCE

(Baked not boiled.)

• Apples (any variety, any amount)
• Strawberries (about 1 1/2- 2 C per 3 Quart pan, adjust to personal taste.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Peel, core and coarsely chop apples into sections. (I use a vegetable peeler, and an apple corer/divider)
3. Place apples into a oven safe dish with a lid.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare strawberries by washing and hulling them.
6. At 30 minutes add strawberries to the pot.  (The apples should have cooked down a little and made space for the strawberries.
7. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until when you look in the pot you can see a small amount of juice in the bottom and the apples are soft.
8. Remove from oven and blend or puree in sections. (I use an immersion blender, but a regular blender, food processor or food mill will also work.)
9. Mix all sections together for a uniform sauce, and if desired add sugar to taste and a few sliced strawberries to the top before serving. Serve warm or cold.(Baking the applesauce brings out the natural sugar much better than boiling, so I typically do not add sugar, because it makes it too sweet.)
10. Enjoy!

HAPPY EATS!!

PROJECT #6 - THE BACKYARD!!

We bought a new house... and with a new house came a new backyard.... aka BAKED DIRT!!  It really was.  The entire backyard was dirt, and as the summer got hotter and hotter, the dirt got little cracks, and it was baked.  There were no weeds, no rocks, just dirt.  As it started cooling off a little, we did get 2 weeds, and I let them grow a long time, then eventually pulled them out.
So we thought and thought and thought about the backyard, and what we wanted to do with it.  My first thought was, I needed a pool.  Andy said no.  After further thought, and Andy's job moving locations, I decided that he was right and that we should not get a pool just to possibly move in a couple years...  Andy decided that he really wanted some grass.  I thought that was a great idea.  I also told Andy before we knew we were moving for sure, that if we ended up in Arizona that I was going to plant citrus trees!!  Other than those few things nothing else was official.

Last summer we asked my dad, and my cousins (who live in Tucson) if they would help us put in some irrigation when the weather had cooled a bit.  They both agreed, and we finally were able to schedule it for the last weekend of February.  The weather had been great, and then Saturday came and it started to POUR!! It rained and rained and rained!  In the end the boys were able to put all of our irrigation into our now mud pit, and even the Home Depot tool rental department was impressed they lasted through the rain.
The week prior to the irrigation, my dad and I did some extensive research on citrus trees, including visits to all the local nurseries, Home Depots, Lowe's and lots of Google time.  On the last day when I had decided trees I wanted, I ran into Costco for something else and what did I find?? Citrus Trees and for only $20!  They even had the types of lemon and lime I was looking for!  Then my we drove to one last nursery and they had the orange!  The ground had dried enough on Monday that my dad and I were able to plant the citrus trees, it still was a big mess!!

The next weekend I kept talking to Andy how right by the citrus trees at Costco, they also had palms.  I thought it would be fun to have one, and Andy thought so too, so we went to Costco and they were out!!  I remembered that I had seen them at Home Depot as well, so we went there and they ended up being even cheaper!!  We bought one, and drove home with it out the window of Andy's car!! (it's little.)

So in all my thinking, I decided that I wanted to extend the back porch a little with cement pavers, so I searched and searched and finally found some that I wanted.  With a lot more research and planning Andy decided that we could go ahead and put them in.  He was SOOO AMAZING and did most of the work by himself while I was at work!  They look SO GOOD!!!  We also found out that Pati and John were coming to visit, so we tried to work really hard and get as much done as possible before they got here!!

Somewhere in the middle of this time line I also decided to plant various other things around the house to provide a little more shade and privacy than we currently have, and to plant some grapevines and a heat tolerant raspberry bush along the back wall.  They are my little experiments to see how they do.

Now the pavers were laid, we had to decide what to do around the grass to separate it from the rocks.  We started thinking about the options and then talked with some of our friends, who had been helping a little with the backyard, and found there was someone in the ward who does curbing side jobs for a great price!!  We called and scheduled him to come the next day I had off work!!  They were amazing!! The curbing was able to be done in an afternoon, then we needed to be careful with it for a couple days.  We then ordered for the rock to be delivered in a couple days and Andy again was AMAZING and worked really hard to spread it out.  He wasn't able to get it all done before his parents arrived, but him and his dad worked REALLY hard and got it done the next day!!  It seems like it is getting so close to done, but still so far.  Eventually we will be able to put sod down in the middle dirt, put flowers around the trees with some bark and put up trellises for the grapes and raspberry bushes.  Until then...

THANKS SOOO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED!! WE REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE HARD WORK!! (BUT WE'RE NOT DONE YET!!)

FAMILY PICTURES

In February the whole family was able to come together in Utah for somewhat of a family reunion, and while we were all there, we all decided that it would be a good time for a family picture.  Pati and John's neighbor and close friend was able to come over after church and take some pictures of the family.  As he was setting up the camera he took a few pictures that I couldn't help but pull some shots out of.

 Here are a couple good shots of the family!!

IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE EVERYONE!!

BOUNTIFUL BASKETS

I have been thinking about doing a food co-op, that a lot of our friends in Utah have done,  for a while now. This last week, I finally got myself together and did it!! In case anyone was wondering... This is what I got.

• 1 Orange Cauliflower
• 2 Bunches Asparagus
• 5 Yams
• 1 Head Romaine Lettuce
• 7 Apples
• 1 Cantaloupe 
• 2 Zucchini
• 9 Mini Cucumbers
• 1 Pineapple
• 8 Bananas
• 7 Oranges
• 1 Box Strawberries

ON MY MIND...

Yesterday, I was working in my yard... yes working in my yard, and was looking at all the beautiful flowers, and then remembered... IT'S MARCH!!! I just wanted to share a few of the things most of you aren't even starting to think about yet.  (All the pictures came from my yard 3/15/10.)

• Weeds, weeds, weeds!!
  
• The new plants need to be planted before it is too hot for them to establish themselves.
• I'm SO late getting a garden started. Who knows when that will be possible...
• The backyard landscaping is coming along.
• Next time, I need to use sunscreen and gloves! The sunburn on my scratches from the thorny desert plants don't feel so great.
• Hopefully I can revive the plants I tried to kill last year.
• It has been smelling so good!! Those yellow balls in the first picture are making my yard smell like a dryer sheet. Yum!
  

P.S... I am SOOO far behind in my blog.... Sorry!! Here are some posts that HOPEFULLY you can look forward to soon.

• Australia: Week 2
• Disneyland... Yes another one.
• Christmas in Utah
• Utah for Valentine's (with Matt home)
• Project Backyard:Parts 1, 2 & 3
• Maybe even a recipe or 2... we'll see.

KEEP POSTED... HOPE TO SHARE SOON!

FLORIDA: FAMILY AND DISNEY

For the first week of December, Andy and I took a trip to Florida. We have wanted to visit Matt and his family for a while, as well as bump Andy up to Gold Medallion status on Delta (he was so close.) Our trip was December 2-6, and was SUPER FUN!! We arrived on Thursday night, and immediately went to the temple for Matt and Crystal's ward Temple Night. I mean IMMEDIATELY, (I changed in the airport bathroom!) After the temple we went to Matt's house and his kids were super excited to see us... or they just didn't want to go to bed. I am pretty sure the latter is true. Matt and Andy went to go grab some pizza for dinner and I caught up a little with the kids.

Kaily: You're Aunt Ashley?
Ashley: Yup, that's me.
Kaily: Oh... There is another aunt Ashley who looks like a boy.... she has short hair....
Ashley: I'm the only aunt Ashley that I know of... Do I look like a boy?
Kaily: No... there is another one, who has short black hair and looks like a boy. BUT talks like a girl and she is a girl, just looks like a boy... NOT YOU!! :)

It was hillarious, those kids had me laughing constantly!! On Friday, Matt had a member of his ward pick us up and get us in to Disney World for FREE!! Him and his wife both work at the park and their families are not able to visit as much as they would like, so they have some extra passes, they also expire in December, so they decided it would be fine for us to use them. THANKS SO MUCH!! We started at the Animal Kingdom, and then when we were finished, Crystal came and picked us up, then we hung out for a while and then all went back out to Epcot. It was a super fun night!!

ANIMAL KINGDOM

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Since we had been to Disney World last, The Animal Kingdom changed a lot!! They've even added a new roller coaster; Expedition Everest. It was super fun, but we both ended up being a little quesy after. We're getting too old for this stuff!! ;) After that we just walked around a little making sure to explore all the areas... including Rafiki's Discovery Island (which was mostly for kids) and Camp Minnie Mickey, (which is also just for kids to meet the characters.) It was really fun. When we were over going on Dinosaur! Andy decided he wanted a turkey leg. Halfway through it, he remembered he didn't like rotisserie turkey legs!! When we had seen everything we wanted to in Animal Kingdom we called Matt to see what they were up to. They were almost finished with the day's activities and errands so we had them come pick us up so we could all grab some dinner together and then head over to Epcot.

EPCOT

After running to the craft store with Crystal, Quin and Kaily, we had to wait a little bit for Matt to finish up with work and then we were off to Epcot! The first thing we did at Epcot is run over to the land (because it closed first.) We road the boat ride, and looked around. Matt had been promising the kids lollipops for a while, so when he saw them at a shop he bought them all one. They LOVED them. I was able to get a picture of all of them showing me their lollipops. It was too cute! Then off to the Living seas. Wow has it changed!! Instead of the elevators, now they have a finding Nemo ride that is SUPER cute!! After that we checked the lines for a few of the other rides in the front of Epcot, but the lines were super long. We also were getting hungry for a snack so started walking back to the World Showcase. Boat rides in Mexico and Norway, sweet treats from the bakery in Norway and a leisure walk through all the countries on our way to find a seat for the fireworks. What a great night. The nighttime presentation was fun, and still the same as I remember. What a day!!

The next day, Andy and I woke up late and it was POURING!! We just hung out at the hotel for a while and then decided that we would bear the weather and trek the 100 yards over to Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet. When we were finished we contemplated trying to find Matt and Crystal's house on foot, but then looked outside and it was pouring EVEN HARDER! So long for that idea. Matt came and got us when he finished work, and we picked up the babysitter and went out to dinner were able to go and have a nice double date. What a fun night.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

The next morning we woke up fairly early and headed off to Disney's Hollywood Studios. (The have recently changed the name.) First we stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up some ponchos because it was still raining. When we arrived we headed straight on over to Tower of Terror, and then Rockin Roller Coaster. The kids and I found a Discovery Kids station where they were able to decorate paper CD's with stickers. They were having so much fun, that the Disney employee at the station let them do 2 each. They had a lot of fun. After that, we tried to go on Toy Story Mania, but the line was WAY too long and ended up going on The Great Movie Ride instead. Then it was time for the new car show. It was super fun to see all the great car stunts and how they do it all.

EPCOT (Again)

After the car show we decided that Kaily and Random both needed to go home for naps, so Crystal took the kids home and Andy, Matt, Quin and I were dropped off at the back door of Epcot. We all took turns finding food that we liked and ate. Then walked up to the front to look at some of the rides we had missed the night before, but the lines were still really long. Our final ride at Epcot was Spaceship Earth, Reimagined, and I really like how they have changed it. Off to Magic Kingdom!!

MAGIC KINGDOM

Andy and I took off to the Magic Kingdom while Matt and Quin waited for Crystal and the kids, and then we all met up in a little while. Andy and I kept with our Disney tradition of going to Buzz Lightyear first thing when we enter the park, and then rode The People Mover and a couple more. Matt, Crystal and the kids finally got there, and were lifesavers with coats for everyone. It was COLD!! We went to Monster's Inc. The Laugh Floor, which was really funny!! Then wandered around a little more, going on anything that looked appealing. Much to Quin's dismay, we did not go on Space Mountain. :(



It was a super fun trip and it was really great to see Matt, Crystal and the kids!! We had been MISSING them!!

Thanks guys for everything, and making it such a fun trip!!