Sunday, January 8, 2012

Our Version of the Nativity






For Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandma's house in Bountiful. She asked me to be in charge of the nativity. Wow. I learned that I will never be a good play director. It was pretty silly and we all laughed a lot. Quinn was a shepherd but wanted to take care of the baby and was pretty ticked when she saw Joseph (who also looked like a shepherd). She thought Joseph (aka Gavin) was trying to upstage her. She stormed on the stage and shoved him off yelling, "You not a shepherd. I is a shepherd." If only it was on video.

Besides the acting, the craziest part was how bad one family can sound singing the simple little Christmas songs. But it made for some good laughs and memories.

Hopefully some touch of the real meaning of Christmas got through all the silliness.

We love going to Grandma's though and it was a wonderful evening.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Year's Goals

I have been thinking A LOT about my goals or at least in general the things I want to improve on.

Here is a blog that will address what most of us want to improve on. I have told you about it before but in case you forgot or fell off the wagon for a bit (like me), jump back on. Let's make some healthy changes. He breaks it down into pretty simple, doable challenges. Take one at a time.

Word of Wisdom Living
word of wisdom living

Other goals me for include - learning how to use my new camera to take better pictures, take pictures, and post them on this blog. I want to post more often than I have but I am trying to figure out if I have anything inspiring, meaningful or motivating to say. Working on that. There are also all those parenting, financial, exercise, crafting, spiritual, mental goals to work on too. Yikes.

Tonight I reviewed 2011 with each of the kids using this cute form my awesome friend made. I asked Quinn all the questions and her answers were amazing. My favorite: "Quinn, what do you want to do next year?" Quinn's answer, "I want to watch a movie when you and Dad are gone and I babysit." She is sure that she is actually the babysitter when I leave. She has mastered the skill of bossing everyone around. Good times.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Starting Off 2012

17 Miracles: Blu-Ray EditionWe are always a little late to the game. I know this came out forever ago but I got it for Christmas and we watched 17 Miracles as a family last night. What a perfect movie for us to kick off a new year and a focus for a our family that I have been thinking about for a long time. That whole idea about how "we can do hard things."  And the message of the movie is "that it is all worth it."

I just started the most interesting book that has me thinking constantly. Product DetailsIt looks at the most amazing stories of survival. How did the people survive? And how can we increase our chances of survival? And what kind of survivor are you?  (I know you are all singing Destiny's Child in your head right now. Keep it up.)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 Highlights

 
I love a new year. I love a new blank calendar. I love the chance to start over. I don't really love "resolutions" but I do think through all the things I want to do better or change or improve. And I do love setting goals (thanks to my family goal group). And I have plenty of big ideas for this year. We'll see...

But I have not been cheering to see 2011 go. I saw lots of posts/status updates/tweets declaring good riddance to 2011. It certainly had some challenging moments but overall it was not a bad year and I am sad to see it end but ready to get geared up for a new one.

I asked the kids to help me think of all the things we loved about 2011 (basically our Christmas card repeat).

Bear Lake was #1 in everyone's list. No question
Cousins Camp at Heber Valley
4th of July in sunny Southern California with our Bourne cousins and Aunts
Teague - trip to DC and xcountry
Elise - soccer
Gavin - giving up the blanket, getting a filing cabinet, performing in Chinese at the Capitol
A trip to St. George with friends
Having our Aunt and Grandma live with us
Cheering on Aunt Egan in the Half Ironman
Learning to ski/snowboard
Annie - Meeting Pioneer Woman, sisters trip to Seattle, completing a year in nursery
Kenyon - he got new knees (now he just wishes they would all work right)
Going without SUGAR for a month

A day at Lagoon
Quinn - owning a fish for a day, her birthday and playing dress-ups with her friend Isaac (who always protects her from the bad guys).


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas!





Porter Family 2011 - By The Numbers


55 members of the Porter Family - camping at Heber Valley Girls Camp


365 days this year that Quinn thought it should be her birthday


14.26 Teague's time at the 2 mile state cross country meet. His team took 1st place.


6 weeks Aunt Carla and Grandma Holly lived with us. It was a sweet, peaceful time in our home.


555 feet to the top of the Washington Monument on Teague's trip with his grandparents and cousin.


2 new knees and counting for Kenyon


5 Metcalf sisters and parents make the 7 mile walk around Lake Union in Seattle. We also did our share of shopping, eating and celebrating.


4 Chinese Governors and State officials that Gavin performed for in Chinese at the Utah State Capitol


16 Elise's number on the #1 girls U10 soccer team


1 boat, 25 rides with 12 excited cousins, 3 grandparents, and 9 aunts and uncles at our first trip to Bear Lake. Endless fun and excitement


And of course another year full of countless blessings, our friends and family.

Friday, December 2, 2011

A Veggie Dish You Will LOVE

Jane and my Mom have now challenged the family to increase our plant food intake. Eat a variety and larger proportion of veggies and fruits. That is all good but sometimes I can't come up with any more veggies to serve or a different way to cook them to make little people happy.

Until tonight. Thanks to Jane for pointing us to this recipe we had an amazing dinner. It will not disappoint. And it is a beautiful. Definitely one of the advantages to adding a variety of fruits and veggies is the color on the plate. It is much more appetizing. One thing we all love around here is roasted veggies. I would say that I roast our veggies 3 nights out of the week. So much more flavor. This recipe does just that.

Even Gavin (the pickiest of them all) said, "This is actually pretty good." Score.

(picture from Eat, Live, Run)


Here is the recipe but check out her blog here

*My notes - I added a can of rinsed black beans to the veggies after roasting. I think you could also add some zucchini but it wouldn't need to roast as long so maybe add them half way through? Not sure. I did use the bigger pan - 8x11.


Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
Serves 4-5
adapted from The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman
Ingredients:
1 poblano chile, cut into matchsticks
2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 medium onion, halved and slivered
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 T heat-safe oil like grapeseed or coconut
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups homemade or store bought salsa/pico de gallo
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (about 2 big handfuls)
9-10 corn tortillas, halved (try making homemade tortillas!)
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar-Monterey Jack blend)
sour cream and thinly sliced scallions (green onions) for garnish, if desired
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet.
Place poblanos, red bell peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels onto cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then use your hands to mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly in the pan. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown in spots. Stir or shake the pan every 10 minutes for even roasting.  Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Prepare a 9x9x2-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, stir the cilantro into the salsa. Spread 1/4 cup of salsa into the bottom of the baking pan. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the salsa. Top with 1/3 of the vegetables, a handful of spinach, and 1/3 of the cheese. Make a second layer of tortilla, salsa, vegetables, spinach, and cheese. Top with with a layer of tortillas, salsa, vegetables, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.
Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream and a sprinkle of sliced scallions.
Nat’s Note: I’ve gotten a lot of comments about not being able to fit this into a 9x9x2 pan. If you find that you have a hard time as well, simply use a 9×13.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Sugar Free November - DONE.

S0...did you join me in 30 days of no treats (minus Thanksgiving)? How did you do?

My kids rocked it. Seriously. They did it without very little compliant and they did not cheat (that I am aware of). They even said no at birthday parties and friends homes when offered treats.  Life, your health, your self control - all better when you make a change like that to your eating. We will do it again.

I want to keep doing it for so many reasons but man I will be back to sugar for December (however we are going to try and be more careful and thoughtful about what and how much we put in our mouth. One of our families favorite holiday treats can be found at your local Chick-Fil-A. Oh my. And then there are the mint M&Ms. I better stop.