Steak and Kidney Pie - part 2

Well, pictures don't lie. This was loved by my family. Two of my kids asked for thirds. JJ initially did not want to eat it, but then we figured out he just did not want to eat the crust (it was a one crust pie). We reminded him of the fact that it was his idea. When he found out he only had to eat the meat and potatoes, he went for it.

Even the babies liked it.

I made a few modifications - 1) I only put in half the amount of kidney it called for, 2)half the onions (which I would put in the correct amount of onions next time). The kidney does have a distinctive flavor and smell, but it is not overwhelming. I think because it was "outnumbered" (I put in two pounds of steak to half a pound of kidney), it was mellowed out a bit. With Kidney only being $1/pound, it is sort of tempting to try again, but I think I learned that my family is open to beef pot pie (and chicken too), so I think that while I will probably not repeat making Kidney pie again, I learned a lot and it was a good experience overall.

I think for me it was mental. I did it because it was a good learning experience, to support JJ in reaching beyond his comfort zone, and because JJ challenged Jeff to give something he had never eaten before a try. I did not care for the smell cutting up or browning the meat and the taste was OK. I think it is one of those things that I would be open to if it was part of a meal, but not expecting it to resurface on my menu selection.

Ukranian hairpiece

Grandma Park brought over a project to our last family reunion that was making "Ukranian hair pieces". This is basically a headband that has silk flowers hot glued to the band, and long ribbons that hang down to the waist glued to the end of the headband. These are used in traditional dances there. All the Granddaughters got one. This morning AnnaLisa came out of the bathroom wearing this. I loved it. I caught a picture of her reading her scriptures while wearing this.

Williams' Family Reunion...we are everywhere!

Grandma and Grandpa Williams have claim on 37 grandkids. When you add in parents as well as G'ma and G'pa you get over 55 total people. We spent the first day out at the lake on paddle boats and a canoe. We Parklings spent most of our time wading in the water and hanging out on the shore. Several adults were really good about making sure all the grandkids got turns on the boats and of course all eyes were on kids to make sure of safety. Luckily the only accidents were minor inconveniences such as the canoe tipping over with teenagers in it and one or two paddle boats treading slightly below water level due to too many picked up passengers.

Let the vacation begin...or in other words...we want out of here!

Our vacation started a day early as our AC broke and we were going to have to spend a night someplace other than home. Other than packing very quickly, it was nice to start our vacation a day early. We tried a different route than we normally do, we went by Tuba city and through Monument Valley. We stopped in Monticello, Utah at my Aunt Anna's house for the night. The idea was to try and split the trip in half to make it easier on the babies (twins make you do all sorts of different things. The idea of possibly two babies having a difficult time traveling made us more cautious).

This is a picture of the kids in a loft at my aunt's house. They had been dying to get up there so we told them after we were all packed and ready to go, they could climb up to the loft. It was fun playing for at least ten minutes or so. Then I think the dust and lack of toys got too much for them and they came down and we left. Next stop - Grandma and Grandpa's!

Heart hangers

My kids have robes that often get left on the floor of their room. I have tried to find someway of hanging them from their bunk beds so that they would still be accessible, but also out of the way. One day I ran across these at Micheal's. Not sure what they are really for...but they work great for me. I bought two and tied them together and hung them around a slat. I wrote the girls name on each so they'd know which one is "theirs". The boys thought it was so cool, they asked for their own. So I got another and did the same basic thing in the boys room.

Finally to G'ma's and G'pa's house

This is Jeff and Maggie relaxing on a favorite couch of Grandma's.

MaggieMae and AnnaLisa have found a pool in Grandma's backyard. Mommy was with them originally, but it was too cold of water (who knew that water actually come out of the hose cold when you don't live in Arizona?). The girls toughed it out.