My husband plays semi-pro football.

He recently had a game a couple hours away in warm St. George, Southern Utah.

We took the opportunity for a family weekend away to the red rocks.

Mr. R is so lucky to have a wife that serenades him with classics like “Pump Up the Jam” while on said road trips. Listening to 80′s and 90′s classics (and all the stories we have to go along with them) is how we keep ourselves entertained. (XM Radio, y’all!)

 

 

I made road trip activity bags for the kids again. It included new movies for the van’s DVD player, snacks and coloring books. They hardly made a whiny peep the whole time. I swear, those goodie bags are the best idea I have ever had.

Baby Jack is the best little road tripper!

He loved to look out the window, talk to us, make faces at his brothers in the back seat and eat his toys. Jackson was born in the winter so being in the car with him now that it is starting to get hot makes me keep a special eye on him. I was grateful for the minivan’s sunshades that pull out of the door, giving him some shade, but still allowing me to roll the window down and get him some fresh air.

 

St. George is so pretty! We made some great memories.

Walking around the grounds at the St. George Temple–the oldest LDS temple in Utah, swimming at the hotel, watching this cute little girl (whom we didn’t know) come right up to my handsome Tyson and put her hands on his cheeks while at a Polynesian restaurant (Mr. R and I were in the minority as far as white folks were concerned–love it when that happens! Are there lots of adoptive families in St. George? It sure seemed like it!) …and OF COURSE cheering on our favorite football guy.

It’s important to me to support Mr. R in his football playing endeavors and it’s important to me that my kids see their parents doing things that we love to do. I want them to know that we are well-rounded people, involved in more than work, house-cleaning and homework helping.

For Mr. R, that means playing football. The boys love to go to his games, cheer on Dad, dance to the music during the time outs and play on the field with their dad after the game.

He is their hero.

I wouldn’t have missed this little moment for the world.

 

Full disclosure: I was compensated for this post by Ken Garff Honda of Orem.
Learn how you can save $500 on any vehicle purchase (new, used, lease) or 10% off service at Ken Garff Honda of Orem.

 

This spring was the season we taught our big boys (ages 4 and 5) to ski.

My sweet 4 year old is tender little soul and I was certain that he was going to hate the whole experience and that we would all go home in tears. NOT THE CASE!

The boys were both champs! I wanted to pass along some tips to any of you parents who may be thinking of teaching your littles to ski. After all, it still feels like winter here in Utah. (Snowing at my house today!)

Tips for teaching kids to ski:

 

Start off the day with a positive attitude. It’s so easy to stress about all the gear it takes to take the family skiing. It also takes a lot of work and time to get your children into all this gear. I suggest finding a warm place to get them dressed. For us, we took the middle seats out of the Honda Odyssey which created a huge dressing room.

Find the perfect bunny hill. It needs to be short and mostly flat. Short because kids need to see the finish line. They need to know how much longer until they can rest. Mostly flat because you may need to click out of our skis and help our your little one. (Too steep and you are huffing and puffing up the hill.) You don’t want it to be too steep as too much speed is not your beginner skier’s friend. That said, you also don’t want it too flat or your little one may never get moving!
 

Take breaks. The bunny hill we chose was right next to a lodge. When the kids mentioned that they were tired or needed a snack, we immediately went into the lodge. (While Dad took a more advanced run.) Not forcing them to ski when they don’t want to will save them and you a lot of frustration.

Model what it should look like. I like my kids to ski between my skis with my poles across their bodies as something for them to hold onto. It makes them feel more secure–especially your more “gentle souls”. I model for them how I move my skis when I wanted to go fast or slow down. I talk them through what I am doing and ask them to copy me.
 

Make pizza and french fries. We taught the kids to snowplow by asking them to make their skis look like a slice of pizza. When they mastered that, we started to talk about keeping their skis parallel to each other or like french fries. The loved the visual. Learning to parallel ski beautifully has been a lifelong pursuit for me. In college, I remember using a belt to tie my calves together to force myself to be better at in. I am not sure if it worked. LOL
 

Praise. Praise. Praise. Celebrate the small victories and bravery it takes to strap your body onto two boards and go down a hill in the freezing cold! It takes guts!

 

Such a fun day with these cute big boys! 

Disclaimer: I was compensated for this post by Ken Garff Honda of Orem.

Learn how you can save $500 on any vehicle purchase (new or used) or 10% off service at Ken Garff Honda of Orem.

 

Clam chowder and scones are a Redfern family tradition.

Mr. R makes his grandmother’s recipe that his mom used to make for him. He told me that she always seemed to make it on the first cold day of autumn after football practice and that she always had perfect timing. So darling!

With permission, I am allowed to pass this family tradition onto you …with a couple of Mr. R edits.

This clam chowder is chunky with lots of potatoes. It’s a little spicy thanks to a couple secret ingredients. And it does not taste like clams.

Chunky Non-Clammy Clam Chowder

1/4 pound bacon (at the r house we use a whole package–whatever that is)
1 large onion
1 can minced clams
1/2 cup water
6 potatoes (medium size)-largely chopped
3 celery stalks–finely chopped
1 can corn
salt, pepper and sage to taste
1 cup milk (we use whole)
1 cup half and half
3 tablespoons butter
flour

SECRET INGREDIENTS:

Old Bay (to taste but probably 2 tablespoons or more)

cayenne pepper (to taste but start with a thin layer on top of the soup mixture in the pot)

 

Fry bacon. Add onion to the frying bacon and cook onions until clear. Dump into large pot.

*Tip: Cut the bacon into bite-size portions before you start cooking it.

Add the calms (with the sauce in the can), 1/2 cup water, potato chunks, celery, corn, 1 cup milk, salt, pepper, and sage.

 

In a separate little sauce pan make the following to thicken the soup:

To the 2 tablespoons of melted butter, add 1 cup of half and half and add flour until bubbly and thick. Slowly add 1/2 cup liquid from the soup and mix.

Add cream mixture to soup.

Cook soup until potatoes are tender.

Add in SECRET INGREDIENTS to taste: Old Bay and cayenne pepper

 

 When you think scones, don’t think British scones. These are “Utah scones” which are more like Navajo fry bread.


1 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 packages yeast

In a small sauce pan, scald 1 cup milk.

At the same time, in a large mixing bowl, dissolve 2 packages of yeast to 1/2 cup warm water. After yeast is dissolved, add a pinch of sugar to yeast/water mix and let stand for 10 minutes. If the yeast doubles in size, then the yeast is active. If it does not double …start again with a new package of yeast.

To milk add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 butter and then let the mixture cool for a bit. You don’t want to add this mixture to the yeast while it is hot because it will kill the yeast.

When cool, add milk mixture to yeast mixture in large mixing bowl.

Beat two eggs in a separate bowl and add beaten eggs to mixture in the mixing bowl.

Add 4 cups of flour and blend until smooth.

Add additional flour until it loosens its stickiness and feels smooth.

Place in a cold oven, covered with a towel and let rise (double in size) for about an hour and a half.

When mixture has doubled, remove from cold oven, pull pieces of dough and fry in hot vegetable oil.

*Amazingly delicious with honey butter.