Chopped!

So for the brief moment that we had television there, I got hooked on The Food Network show Chopped. Thanks Jenna for introducing me to Food Network. And the ripple continued when I got Staci hooked. So naturally a contest was born. While we were in Gunnison for Christmas, Me, Staci, Scott, and Logan dueled our skillets and spatulas to see who the Master Chef was. For those of you who don't know how Chopped works, there are three rounds: appetizer, main course, and dessert. Each round a contestant is "chopped" and eliminated. Now here is the twist- there are secret ingredients in each round that you are required to use in your dish. For our version we had to tweak the rules a little. First we all went to the grocery store and each person picked out a secret ingredient which were then later revealed to everyone. We decided to just do two rounds: main course and dessert. We also decided to score by points and to not eliminate anyone the first round because we were all so excited to cook and we would feel bad if we were kicked out. What a bunch of pansies. And so the competition began! The first round's secret ingredients included: hash browns, hot sauce, mushrooms and croutons. We had 30 minutes to make our main course and have it on the table for judging. My mom's kitchen is really small and its a miracle no one was stabbed or burned. We were running around like crazy chopping this and frying that. My parents were the judge which was both hilarious and frustrating. My dad's motto is "Meat, Potatoes, and Gravy". They haven't experienced much in food and different tastes. But I can't complain because they were troopers for being willing to eat our interesting mixtures of food. We were all scored and the dessert round started. At this point Staci, Logan and I were tied at 6 points with Scott at 2 (he got carried away with the garlic salt. The secret ingredients for the dessert round were vanilla wafers, coconut milk, chocolate chips and Tampico punch (thanks for that one Scott). We had 20 minutes to complete our dessert. I fashioned a delicious molten chocolate raspberry cake with whipped topping and raspberries. Impressive I know! Yet somehow, Staci came out as the Master Chef with her mandarin orange pudding. It just doesn't add up. It was so fun though and we would love to have a rematch. The winner was to receive their meal paid for at El Mexicano...yet somehow we forgot.

The contestants

The secret ingredients for the main course round

The secret ingredients for the dessert round. Scott picked the tampico and Logan picked the coconut milk. Come on boys!

Our main courses. They weren't quite as grotesque as they look.

My awesome breakfast burrito.

The judges. They look thrilled don't they.

The desserts

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Chopped Champion and Master Chef Staci

The winning dish. I remind you I made a cake in 20 minutes. I am pretty sure that outdoes pudding.

We made a huge mess.

Penn and Michigan

We had an awesome Christmas surprise. After not hearing from any more schools for over a month, we found out we were accepted into the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan. I am so proud of Logan. My vote so far is for Michigan. Although it's cold, Ann Arbor seems very family friendly and small townish. Philly would still be fun though with lots of history and things to do. We still have more schools to hear back from. I can tell our decision will be tough.

He's One!

Jack was born one year ago on December 19, 2009. Oh how we love and adore this little boy. Jack was in some ways a surprise baby after our difficulties getting pregnant. Just when we couldn't take it anymore, along came Jack. He is a jolly little boy and also quite determined when he wants something. His favorite things right now include: being chased, reading books in his room on his chair, wheels, gears, cars and anything else that spins. He also loves to wear my scarves and necklaces (daddy doesn't love this). He loves other kids, being outside, and his stuffed rats. We love you Jack! Happy Birthday!!

Sold to the Lady in Red!

We had a Christmas party with some friends at our house. We decided to add a fun spin to the White Elephant Game and do a Christmas Auction. Gifts were purchased by Santa Bucks. You could earn extra Santa Bucks if you were a winner of the games before the auction. We played Bill Jones. I am not sure the real name of the game but you have three rounds of acting, and describing people. My favorite was Kym's paragraph long descriptions of the people she wrote down because she didn't know their names. As you can imagine, this made it quite challenging to guess them. There were some awesome white elephant prizes won including a custom t shirt to Big Nate's Gym, a 7-11 slurpee machine, and a doll from China. Jack and Riley were good little boys and played with each other for most of the party.

Nate, Dani, and Jack. As you can see, Jack sampled the gifts to make sure each one was delicious.

Nolan, Erica, Kym and Riley playing games.

I was the recipient of Big Nate's custom t shirt. Paid 22 Santa Bucks for that thing. I wore it to the fieldhouse to workout the next morning.

Jack

The group.

Oh Christmas Tree

We went with my dad on the usual Saturday after Thanksgiving to cut down a tree up the Mayfield Canyon. Jack wasn't his usual self because he was still recovering from his horrendous two week sickness, but he was still a trooper and came along. It was just a small group of us this year, me, Logan, Jack and my dad but we quickly found a nice little tree and took it home. We also had the privilege of attending the first annual Gunnison light parade....all twenty minutes of it. Jack enjoyed the lights and even though Mckell didn't have any Christmas music for us to listen to in her car, it was still fun. Later when we returned back to Logan, we cut down our own tree from Smith's parking lot. We had the traditional Christmas tree decorating party with music and yummy treats. Jack caught on quickly to the concept of hanging ornaments. Unfortunately, we decided not to do ornaments this year because of Jack's habit to tear things apart in my house and eat them. So we went with tinsel, poinsettias, and lights. It turned out okay.

Dad cutting the tree.

Making his usual 5 calls to people to update them on every random event.

Jack is handy with the saw.

Poor kid. Get well soon.

Logan, or "Slingy" as I like to call him, was not able to do his usual manly duties of getting the tree. He had to just stand by and watch.

Even though Jack had been throwing up, I used my good parenting skills and determined he was okay to join in on the traditional donuts and hot chocolate. He reaffirmed my bad judgement and threw up on the drive home.

Last year at this time I was about nine months pregnant with Jack. I went with to get the tree as well. Last year I carried him on the inside of my belly, this year on the outside. Both trips I fell a couple times and slightly squished my child.

Watching the light parade in Mckell's car.

Our Charlie Brown Tree

Jack hanging ornaments. After he hung it, he would be sure to rip it back out of the tree.