Stuffed Anaheim chilies with green tomatillo sauce

chili Rellenos 

We have Anaheim chilies growing beautifully in our garden. I searched for recipes and this is what Matt came up with and we wanted to try it. They were to die for! This is an approximation of the ingredients.

Stuffing:
cream cheese, 1 pkg
shredded cheddar cheese, about 1 1/2 cups
sour cream, 1/2 cup
season to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
cumin powder
chili powder

Anaheim chilies:
Pick fresh from the garden, wash, and grill until skin is black. Peel and removed seeds. Slice down the side. spoon in stuffing and close back up.
Roll in beaten egg. and then in homemade bread crumbs.
Place on stone or baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees until bread crumbs brown and crispy and filling just starts to bubble out.

cooked tomatillo salsa:
tomatillos, about 10
Anaheim chilies, fire roasted, peeled and seeded, about 5
1/2 onion, large diced
2 garlic cloves
salt
pepper
cumin
dash of chili powder
1 T sugar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 lime juice

Puree in a food processor, bring to a boil, remove from heat and then add  1/2 bunch cilantro.

The pond after the forest fire and pouring rains

The guys are trying to unplug the bottom of the pond so it can drain.

Angelique playing the muck

Look muck boots!

Ryan spraying off Sammy

Ben and Julie's Isaiah, Sam and Jayden

Ryan spraying off Sam

Ryan spraying off Isaiah

We went to the cabin for Matt's mom's weekend, which is her birthday weekend. I sat most of the time as I was still recovering from my broken ankle. Weeks previous there was a terrible forest fire just west of the ranch. Fortunately it was contained before it reached the family property. Then there was heavy rainfall. All the ash and debris ran down and the stream and flooded onto the property and into the pond clogging up and making a mess of it.. Matt and his brothers and brothers-in-law work a good portion of the day Friday and Saturday trying to unclog the bottom of the pond where there is a drain and clearing up the debris where the water leads into the pond. In the end, they completed what they set out to do! There still is feet of muck to clean out and the stream flowing through it is really helping.  Saturday night the guys took a break from work to cook.  Their sisters arranged a mock "chop" show. Matt and his 4 brothers each were contestants. They were given a bunch of ingredients but their dish had to include, pork chops, garbanzo beans, mushrooms, and salt and vinegar chips. Matt made a fabulous mushroom sauce to go over the pork chops and then had a salad on the side and added a few garbanzo beans and the chips. HE WON! I really thought we took pictures of it all but I can't find them in my computer. dang. We drove home Sunday morning, got home at 12 noon, all of us showered and we barely made it to church on time at 1pm! The younger children performed in the ward primary program. Matt's mom made it there too to watch them.

Happy 12th Birthday Angelique! Sept 27th

Angelique 's blowing out a random candle.

Angelique and Elody!

 

Angelique wanted a KitKat bar, Nutella, and baby pickles

Easy piano music books

Surprise! It's a fadora!

Doesn't she look fancy!

Angelique with all her brothers and sisters and all her presents.

 

Funny Elody!

We were eating muligrain waffles with mixed berries for dinner on a Sunday night in September. Jileigh caught this funny girl on camera!

Alas, the inevitable sneeking and the haircutting

After I tried to fix the damage

Being on crutches, I ask the kids to put most things away to spare me the hobbling. I asked Elody to put away a pair of scissors that were on the counter in the drawer they belong in, then turned my back. A few minutes later I saw cut hair on the ground. I look at her and freaked out! Beau had cut her hair for her! At least he didn't scalp her.  :)  The next day I bathed her and attempted to even it out. She' still my cutie-pie!

Beau's poor forehead

Beau with his first stitches. Elody wanted in too!

Today the boys were out on the trampoline after school. Talon and Jaren were on the tramp and Beau was on the outside of the net standing on the edge. From what I understand, Talon bumped into Jaren which made Jaren bump into Beau. Beau fell off and face-planted on the rocks. Gashed his head open about 3/4 of an inch. I called his doctor and we were able to get him right in and stitch him up. That was the same time that we received the x-ray results since we have the same doctor, Dr. Dave!  (I do have to say that it is one of our rules that they aren't to sit on the edge on the outside of the netting which Beau was doing. Of course, he isn't going to remember all the rules, but the other boys should have notice and told him not to be there, but they are boys! Rules, what are those?!) Elody insisted on being in the picture too. This 24 hours after his fall.

Poor Elfie

Elfie (all white one) and Oreo, her adopted Mom

Elfie, our baby guinea pig passed away yesterday. The little girls, Elody and Hannah, had Elfie in the loft and wanted her to fly. Well, guinea pigs don't fly. Safia found her later that day. So sad.  Rest in Peace dear Elfie.

What a way to ruin a weekend, make that a month :)

Last night, Thursday night, I was, of course, at Zumba! I was up in the front leading a song with Pam, the one who runs the class. I remembered the actions different than she did and for a split second we looked at each other and I just followed her moves even though I thought my move was the correct one. Anyway, my feet, my body and my brain weren't in sync and I sprained my ankle. I heard a pop and then a snap right after that. I am still debating if I should wait it out or go in to get an x-ray of it. Anyway, I called Matt and he rode his bike over to Pam's and stuck in the back of my Yukon. Then he came to me, picked me up, and put me in my car, and drove me home. Then he went to Walgreens and bought me an ace bandage. Jileigh brought me a bag of frozen peas to put on it and then switched it out for an ice pack. I took 800mg of ibuprofen and then a couple of hours later I took a percocet. An hour later I was finally able to fall asleep when I was finally out of pain. This morning, it's only swollen a little bit in the front of my ankle. I have to keep it elevated or it really hurts. I absolutely can't walk on it. So after my older kids got off to school on their own, I called Candy and she came to my rescue. She took care of the kids and cleaned my kitchen up and the front room and made us lunch. I So don't need this trial, but it could be worse.  :)
Talon made this cute make-shift leg holder to elevate my foot. He was pretty proud of himself.

My right foot

Same picture, just zoomed in. Check out the ankle bone.

I have a non-detached fractured ankle bone. I don't need surgery or a cast, but I do have to wear a boot for a month. We went to DI and found one for $3 and my own set of crutches for $8. We gave back the borrowed pair. Also, I can't drive for a month. Isn't that nice. Here I am a mom of 7 kids and can't drive. This is going to be a challenge. Most of them have their bikes, but Beau is not ready to ride his bike and he can't ride alone and I can't ride with him. I am going to have to call in for some help from friends, I guess.

It is now Sept. 13th, one week later. There is only a little bit of general swelling in the foot, hardly noticeable, but now the bruising is quite evident. Oh, and you can see Angelique's pedicure job!

I can now finally get up without my ankle being in pain. Up until now, I had to be elevated or at least level to not have constant pain. I still absolutely can not put any weight on my foot. I am getting use to the boot and the crutches. My hands and armpits don't hurt so much anymore.  The hardest part is asking someone everyday to take Beau to school. It's humbling.

I sent a text my my Zumba instructor/really good friend: Miss Me OK?! I'll miss getting to Zumba for a while.
She replied: That's so funny, I was just going to send you a text saying how much I'm going to miss you tonight!
Aww, She's so sweet and thoughtful! She has sent me a text nearly everyday asking how I'm doing.

Talon's14th birthday Aug. 28

Pumpkin bars- someone started serving it before we got the candles in.

He was pretty tickled to get his own phone.

My boy is officially 14 and can go to church dances!

Talon's Eagle Project

Temporary outdoor drinking fountains 

The city community center. It use to be an elementary school.

Spot dug out to pour concrete and extension to the sump

Talon and Matt preparing the concrete

Finished concrete

Talon went a little bit "Caution" tape happy.

Matt and Jake working on attaching the plumbing to the drinking fountain.

Talon with the installed drinking fountain

Talon and Chad drinking from the fountain

A nearby family anxious to drink from the new drinking fountain.

As you can see, Talon, for his Eagle Project for Scouts, helped install a new outdoor drinking fountain at the city community center just in time for the annual Peach Days celebration, which took place the next day! I pretty much had to "hold his hand" through the entire process. First, He had to put together a proposal. He filled it out once online, saved it, and forward it to my computer. Somehow, it didn't save. So we printed out the form and had him hand write it in. His scout master wouldn't accept that. So we did it again on the computer and printed it off right then and it worked. He had to get 4 different signatures, but it was then approved.  Then we had to get all the materials donated. A plumbing company that Jake works for donated all the plumbing supplies. A local concrete company donated the concrete and gravel for the sump. Then Ace donated some last needed things like the anchor bolts. Matt and Talon and his cousin Austin dug out the dirt where the concrete went. Then the delivery for the drinking fountain was postponed 3 weeks and then never came, so the city had to find another source and it was delivered 1 week later. Then the weekend that I went to California, The scouts and some family and Talon and Matt dug out the trench and the sump and the next day Jake put in all the plumbing and hooked it up and filled the dirt back in and put the grass back on it. They did such a good job that you can't hardly tell where the trench and sump hole were dug through the grass just 2 weeks later. They had to leave it like that until the delivery of the drinking fountain. Then they were able to do the concrete and then the installation of the drinking fountain. One story to add to this is that on the day where the plumbing was being put in, Matt had a terrible vertigo attack. All he could do was lie there on the grass with his eyes closed and block out the world for about 3 hours.  Luckily his brother Nathan was there helping and was able to take over to get the 35' trench dug at the right slope then back-filled, and the 5'x5' by 4' deep sump hole dug then filled with rock, wrapped in weed barrier, and backfilled.  He did a ton of work helping out.  Jake was also there doing the plumbing rough-in and helped with the shovel work.  Thanks Nate and Jake! I felt so bad for Matt and felt bad that I was in California and not there helping. We originally did not plan for these to events to land on the same weekend, but they did. Matt agreed to let me go and that everything would be fine if I left. Everything in the end worked out, but I still felt bad about it.

Jaren's scout pack mtg at the park

Rain Gutter Riggata 

Jaren's boat won first place!

We had a dinner at this scout pack meeting. They had us all bring side dishes and they would provide the grilled hot dogs. Well, they brought charcoal, but not lighter fluid. A few of the scout leaders were trying to get the coals lit and to stay lit. They couldn't. I finally went to get Matt who was watching the races and told him the situation. As I expected he could, he stepped in, found some dead branches and got the fire lit and the hot dogs cooked. My potato salad turned out good too!