New Roof

Our roof has been bad for a few years now.  It leaks, it's rotting.  The swamp cooler has leaked.  Some shingles had blown off during a windstorm or micro-burst.  The final straw was when 2 trees at the side of our house fell and landed on the roof.

So a few weeks ago we were at Sears and they were having a home improvement special.  We signed on to get a new roof.

A big dumpster was dropped off, and after the project it was filled to the brim.

Sears had to replace almost half of the sheeting for the roof it was so bad.  The front half of the house had 3 layers of shingles, the back had 4.  After it rained, because of so many layers of shingles the roof was not able to dry out and it just rotted.  On day 2 one of their guys was walking and he actually fell through.  Well he fell through all the way up to his waist.  A leg was dangling.

A couple of days later another crew sent by Sears came and repaired the ceiling.

The new roof looks great.  The swamp cooler is gone, there is a ridge venting system install, an ice guard, and Feltex Roof Wrap.

Oh, and it came with a lifetime warranty.  I'm glad that we had professionals do it (even though it was costly) because I would have felt horrible having a neighbor or family member fall through the roof.  At least this guy would have been covered by worker's comp.  

Pumpkin Party 2011

This year I feel my pumpkin party was rushed.  It didn't get invites out as early as I should have.  I rushed to clean the house before the party.  We also had our roof redone that week (I will post about that next).

The menu this time included both the sweet and savory pumpkin dips, Thai pumpkin soup, sausage stuffed pumpkin, pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, pumpkin mango smoothies, and my sister brought pumpkin brownies.

Sweet Pumpkin Dip, serve with cookies, graham crackers or apple slices.

Savory Pumpkin Dip, serve with crackers or veggies.

Thai Pumpkin Soup, this had more flavor than the last pumpkin soup I tried.  I'll probably make this again.

Sausage Stuffed Pumpkin, it has Italian sausage, rice, currants, curry, and shallots.  This has been a crowd-pleaser each year.

Pumpkin Mango Smoothie, it had pumpkin, mango, yogurt, ice, and sugar.  Kyle liked this, and even Zane liked it.

This is a book I found at my public library.  It is where I got the soup and smoothie recipes.  It also has a Pumpkin BBQ sauce recipe that I want to try.  Oh, the lantern was the prize for the best pumpkin carving.

I found these cute little salt & pepper shakers when shopping with my sister and her neighbor at Rainbow Gardens Gift Shops in Odgen.

The kids carved pumpkins. Kienna and Cooper each carved a big pumpkin eating a little pumpkin.  I tried making a slingshot to launch pumpkins, but it didn't work out so well.  I have plans to modify my design.  I would love to build or buy a trebuchet for next year to chuck pumpkins.

5 Random Things

The Challenge: Post 5 random facts about you that most people do not already know.

1.  I know how to drive a stick shift.

2.  I have never been to Disneyland or Disney world.  I'm hoping to go next summer before Zac leaves on his mission.

3.  I like to Zumba.  I'm addicted to a lot of things; chocolate, TV, reading, food in general, but I have never been addicted to exercise.  Well, then I discovered Zumba.  I'm a little obsessed with it.  I like to look up routines on Youtube, download music from Amazon, and if I had Wii I would get Zumba Wii.  I like to Zumba because it is more dance moves than just exercise moves.

4.  With as much reading as I like to do, I've never read Lord of the Rings or any of the Harry Potter books.  I have seen all three Lord of the Rings movies.  I have seen some parts of the Harry Potter movies on TV because the kids were watching it.

5.  I hate bananas.  OK, maybe most people know that about me, but there are plenty of other foods that I don't like.  I don't like broccoli, mushrooms, peas, green beens, and melons.  I have never tried nor will I try calamari or octopus.  I like ketchup but not tomatoes, I like pickles but not cucumbers, I like green olives but not black olives.

Bacon Birthday Party

For Zac's 18th birthday party it was all about bacon.  As a gift we got a t-shirt with a pig on it titled Baconfreak.  I got it from www.baconfreak.com.  They also have bacon themed gifts and foods. I got some gummy bacon strips that were strawberry flavored.  It went well with the gummy eggs I bought at Essenhaus.

I bought Cheddar & Bacon Kraft Easy Cheese and I made a bacon cheddar dip that I got from Sam's Club.  These were great with crackers.

I made cheddar and bacon biscuits and displayed them in a bacon basket that I made.  Zac especially liked the bacon basket.  I placed a Pyrex glass bowl inverted on a plate lined with paper towels to catch the grease.  Then I wove bacon over the bowl until covered.  I placed that in the microwave for 4 minutes, checked it, 2 more minutes, checked it, then another 2 minutes.  I pulled it out and set it aside to cool and harden.  Then I placed another plate on top and turned the whole thing over, over the sink.  The bowl was easy to slide out.

The main course was grilled bacon wrapped scallops, bacon wrapped chicken, and bacon wrapped jalapeno chicken.

I also made Pull-Apart Bacon Bread.  This was really good, even Kyle liked them and he is not a fan of Ranch dressing. Here is the recipe:

12 bacon strips, cooked and diced or use 1 package of Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits
24 thawed Rhodes Rolls bread dough
2 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil.
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 envelope (1 oz.) ranch salad dressing mix


In a bowl mix together bacon bits, mozzarella, and ranch mix.  Pour oil into another bowl.  Roll bread dough in oil then in the coating.  Arrange dough in a ring about 2 layers high on a greased baking sheet or in a dutch oven.  Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Bake for 30 minutes.

The birthday cake was just a spice cake and I mixed some bacon bits into the batter.  I coated the cake with maple flavored frosting.  I made some bacon 'roses' to hold the candles.

One of his guests gave him bacon flavored toothpaste and that guest was wearing a shirt that said Bacon Strips, Bacon Strips.

The activity for the night was just Xbox video games.  All boys, munching bacon, yelling, whooping and hollering as they played.  My sister Emma and her kids were there.  We adults hung out in the kitchen told stories, gossiped and laughed.

BYU vs. Utah

So the middle school where I work is having a food drive leading up to the BYU vs. U of U football game on Saturday the 17th.  To kick of the food drive we had the cheerleaders and mascots from both teams at an assembly.  Just before they left I was able to talk them into coming in my class and taking a picture.  It was easy because my classroom is right by the front door.

They agreed and I think I became a hero or rockstar to the students in that class.  It was awesome and everyone was so nice.