When I came home from living with Mark and Robin my senior year of high school, it became a Sunday evening tradition for Mindi Larkin and I to hang out together. We talked about boys and watched movies and ate at Del Taco and made long distance phone calls and listened to the "slow songs" tapes that Mindi had recorded and worshiped the Brat Pack and lots of other things I can't write here because my kids read this blog and sat on our rock over looking the city . . . happy memories.
She was the first to know about Paul. I was the first to know about Russ.
I remember one time up on our rock, I was talking about getting out of there. I couldn't wait to move away and leave St. George in the dust. I was shocked when I realized that I had totally offended Mindi. She told me how much she loved St. George and the area around it and how she never ever wanted to leave.
I usually see her when we are visiting St. George and we have kept track of each other through Sara. Now she has a blog and I can see what she is up to all the time.
Elder Holland was here for Stake Conference this weekend. He talked about President Hinckley and the remarkable life he has led and how we have been so blessed with him as our leader.
The youth in our branch dressed up for school today.
Sunday, Gloria was unhappy with the oatmeal offered for breakfast. I told her that was breakfast and she didn't have to eat it but she wasn't going to eat anything else until after church. I told her that made me sad and that I didn't want her to be hungry. She perked up and said, "Don't be sad mom, I can just take extra sacrament. "
We are going through a cold snap and I have been wanting something warm and cozy to feed my kiddos when they come in cold and hungry. The other day Erin Stanley (one of my fabulous sisters in law) blogged about chicken and dumplings , it looked perfect! I made it for dinner last night. Wow! it was such a hit! I have never made chicken and dumplings before as a matter of fact I haven't ever eaten chicken and dumplings before, so not only am I feeling very smart this morning, but I can't wait for lunch so I can have the little bit that was left over. This is definitely a new favorite at the Rodgers house.
For Valentine's Day last year Paul downloaded every version of this song he could find for me. My favorite is a actually a piano solo. We emailed Cory Gabel, who wrote it and asked if we could buy the sheet music. He said it wasn't for sale, at least not yet.
At the last military ball we went to, after everything was cleaned up and everyone else but the the D.J. had gone, Paul and I danced alone on the giant dance floor to this song.
Did you know Paul and Robin both have their driver's permits? Well, they do, so over the past few months we have had more than one harrowing experience in our cars. The highlights?? My car was scratched up and my front axle was broken in half (thank heaven for warranties) and Robin and her dad were almost decapitated when Robin jumped a curb and hit a huge chain draped across a parking lot entrance.
Then last night Pauly pulled the truck into the garage and didn't stop until he had put a big hole in the wall. We ran out to see what he had done and stopped him because he didn't know he had even touched the wall and was about to keep going. He said, "I thought I still had two more feet." He would have ended up in our dining room. The two Paul's spent their last day of Christmas break patching the wall.
This is another one from when we were first married. We have both loved U2 since forever. Of all our U2 favorites, this is the best love song.
When Paul was in Iraq I couldn't stand listening to this. For months after he came home, I could listen to it, but not without sobbing into my hands.
The video for this song is too weird, so this is a live performance. I'm not sure when it was recorded but it must be older because Bono isn't wearing his sunglasses.
This has been one our favorites for years and years. This is the original video. I think the it is distracting (I find all of Peter Gabriel's videos distracting) but this is definitely one of our songs. We love it.
The Book of Love always makes me cry. This is a more recent addition to songs we love and I 'm sorry it is connected to a not so great movie but we love it. I couldn't find a good video for this. I like that this shows the lyrics.
I'm feeling romantic this month, thought I'd share a few songs with you.
INXS Never Tear Us Apart
They came out with this song just after we were married. The video made us laugh last night when we were looking things up on You Tube, because we remember it being very, very cool.
We love this song.
We love that this was filmed in Prague; of course we didn't know that back then. We recognized it last night.
At one point we only lived 3 hours away from Prague and visited there several times. We were visiting the Jewish cemetery in the video when 3 year old Daniel wandered off. He was missing for about 30 minutes. I found him about 3 blocks away after we had looked all around that cemetery and called the police. Some very kind people had found him and were keeping him in their store. They heard me calling him and they came out and motioned that they had him. They had called the police too.
Not a very happy memory but one that makes up the last 20 years for us.
When I took Jordan and Jenny Bushman to Prague we had to smuggle tiny Dan out of the country. (A story for another time.) Dan has quite a history in the Czech Republic. Maybe he'll serve his mission there.
WOW! 2007 was a busy year for us. when I look back I can hardly believe we got through it all with our sanity still intact (no jokes please).
Here's a little 2007 rundown: Paul resigned his commission (sad) Job search (interesting) Paul was hired to work for Target (great) We said good-bye to the military (really tough) We bought our first house (scary and exciting) We moved (seemed familiar) We became chicken farmers (hmmmm) Gloria started school this year (boo hoo or yahoo?)
Any one of those things would have made this a big year but whew! I'm exhausted.
I was thinking 2008 would be a little quieter but we have a lot to look forward to. Here's our 2008 rundown:
20th anniversary, Robin 17, SAT, ACT, college applications, driver’s license, a car?? Paul 16, Priest, Eagle Scout, driver’s license, Dan 11, soccer, football Sara 8, baptized, Gloria 6, A trip to Utah?? Christmas in Mexico again??
Did you eat your black eyed peas? I made U.S Senate Bean Soup and used black eyed peas for the beans. It was yummy and now we'll have good luck in 2008!
My sister in law Erin is my source for this recipe. It is a staple in our house in the winter (and on election night). It is perfect for using up the extra meat when we've had a ham or a pork roast.
U.S. Senate Bean Soup Yield: About 6 cups (This soup has been on the U.S. Senate restaurant menu since 1901.)
Pick over, rinse and soak: 1 1/4 Cups small dried white beans, such a navy or pea
Drain and place in a soup pot along with: 7 cups cold water 1 small ham hock
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat , and simmer until the beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the ham hock. Discard the bone, skin and fat; dice the meat. Return the meat to pot along with: 1 large onion, diced 3 medium celery stalks with leaves, chopped 1 large potato, peeled and finely diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. ground black pepper
Simmer until the potatoes are quite soft, 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher until soup is a bit creamy.