Tagged twice - sorry I took so long

4 things I LOVE about my husband!
1. He loves his family
2. His hard work and dedication
3. He’s smart
4. He's a hottie

4 movies I would watch more than once.
1. Harry Potter Movies
2. Nim’s Island
3. Journey to the Center of the Earth (the new one)
4. Enchanted (and anything else Disney) (plus much much more – I love movies)

4 TV shows I watch....
1. Bewitched
2. Full House
3. Rachel Ray
4. The Andy Griffith Show

4 Places I've Been....
1. SLC, UT
2. Nyssa, OR
3. Wells, Nevada
4. San Diego, CA

4 Places I Would Like To Go...
1. Oregon Coast
2. Hawaii
3. Disneyland
4. Disneyworld

4 People Who Email Me Regularly
1. Deedra
2. Gma N.
3. LaVerne
4. Debbye N.

4 Things I Like To Eat....
1. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
2. Cinnamon Rolls
3. Pizza
4. Pancakes

4 Things I'm Looking Forward To In The Coming Year...
1. Putting our papers in to adopt again
2. Hubby getting his CPA
3. Katie’s 3rd Birthday
4. Halloween and Christmas

4 people I tag...
1. Rachel
2. Gma N.
3. Heather S.
4. Anyone else who wants to

Our River Raft Adventure

Earlier this month we floated the North Fork of the Payette River with a large group from Chris' work. It was a blast! Much of the river is a nice calm ride. But there were some nice big rapids here and there. We stopped and had lunch about half-way through. Lots of fun! Our raft had 4 guests and 1 guide. We saw a deer and a bald eagle along the way. The rapids were great fun and there were times on the river where you could get out and swim along side the raft. Check out our pics. The river company takes pictures of all the rafts along the way and you can buy them if you want. Chris' work bought a CD of all the pics so we could all have them. Here are our pics, if you double click on a picture you can see it big. Then just hit back to go back to the blog page.

Out of the loop

Hi all. I'm back! I've been out of the loop for about 2 weeks for two reasons: 1st: I've been reading the Twilight series - just finished the 4th book on Friday! Whew! I couldn't put them down. Very much enjoyed them. Though I tend to view it as one big long story since I read them all back to back. A great love story filled with excitement, and twists and turns. But wow were they long books. And I can't stand it when a story is unfinished - so I just kept reading and reading right through them all. 2nd: I didn't know I was having a problem with my computer. I kept checking blogs every couple of days but there was never anything new since August 1st showing on your blogs. I knew there must be something wrong because I couldn't imagine no one posting anything new for over 2 weeks. But I was so into the Twilight books I just didn't have time to investigate and I put it on the back burner. So today we finally got it figured out - well Chris did - and now I'm back in the loop. I missed so much! It's taking me a while to go back and read everyone's posts that I missed. Check out my post below of our 11-year Anniversary that we celebrated yesterday!

11th Anniversary

We celebrated our 11 year Anniversary yesterday! We took a trip to Twin Falls and went to the Twin Falls Temple open house. It was great! Such a beautiful Temple. Then we got a sitter for Katie and went to see the new movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3D. We loved it! Highly recommend it to anyone. Great special effects, good story line, etc. After the movie we then ordered Chinese carry-out from Bamboo Garden - Yummy! Gifts: Chris got Tamara the movie Nim's Island - great movie too! Tamara got Chris a new BSU waste basket to go with the BSU decor in our office.

The best oatmeal raisin cookies ever

Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite dessert. I have been searching for a long time and I finally found a good recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies! In fact they're not just good, they are the best I've ever had. Yum-O! Here's the recipe from Cooking Light Cookbook: (thanks so much to Krista for letting me borrow your book)

Oatmeal-Walnut Cookies
½ c gran. Sugar
1/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
¼ c. butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
¾ c all-purpose flour
1 c regular oats
¼ tsp salt
2/3 c golden raisins
¼ c chopped toasted walnuts
Cooking spray
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Beat w/ a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level w/ a knife. Add flour, oats, and salt to egg mixture; beat well. Stir in raisins and walnuts.
3. Drop by level tablespoons 1 ½ inches apart onto a large baking sheet coated w/ cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 12 min. or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, and let stand 2 min. Remove cookies from pan; cool on a wire rack. Yield: 2 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie).

Eagles Aerie

Family: Be sure to check out the Eagles Aerie blog link for our reunion pics. Stillman and Michelle have also added some pics.

Insulation in the vaulted ceiling

Please note: If you have rooms with vaulted ceilings, they are not supposed to be 15-20 degrees different than the rest of the house. That's what we assumed for years. Come to find out, we had no insulation in our vaulted ceiling! We had to get some shingles and vents replaced on the roof because of windstorms and the roofer said we had no insulation in our vaulted ceiling! Just think about all the wasted money on heating and cooling bills! So, if you build a home make sure they put insulation where it is supposed to be.

They had to cut a hole in the outside wall of the west gable to install the insulation. Come to find out there was a hole cut out in the framework in the ceiling for a vent but it had been covered up by sheetrock.

There's the insulation! Yay!

And here's our nice new vent. Plus we were told by the insulators that outdoor vents like this are good for circulation too.

Yay! We're so glad we have insulation there now. We won't have to boil in the summer and freeze in the winter. We used those rooms as rarely as possible because of it. And Tamara hated to cook in the kitchen in those extreme temps.