Stuff

So you are asking yourself, when is Jason going to tell me about the Chili! Oh yeah... it turned out GREAT. I'm surprised, I really am. but it turned out great. I can't argue. We put it on rice last night and it was just fantastic. I can't believe I pulled it off.

So you are also asking about the house? Well... we signed all the documents today! This morning! And got the keys to house and everything. The money is transfering and we'll hear final news tonight of the completion.

Meanwhile... here is a picture of ASHER. Jennie went shopping for him yesterday and picked out some cool clothes. Here he is this morning!

Now did you hear that my little Boston Boo threw up all over me the other night? Poor thing! Here is a picture of her sleeping on the bed... and YES... she sleeps with her eyes open. Creepy creepy creature.

And YES... I'll get photos of the house tonight! I hope! :)

New Mexico Red Chili

So growing up my Mom had two famous Chili Recipes. What I called Red Chili and Green Chili. Red Chili was usually too hot for me, but as I grew older I liked it more and more. Well, the other day I got my Mom's old cookbook, the one she recorded all her recipes in. She actually kept most of it in her head, but I opened the golden book and found her red chili recipe. Now she taught me how to cook this once long ago, so I remember parts of it. The recipe is... well... let's say inexact. I will quote a part of it: "Add salt to taste, garlic or other spices."

That's it. Just... "other spices..."

But I remember how she did it and so I'm forging ahead. And I'm going to give you the play by play here tonight. The first thing I did was take the New Mexico Chili Pods, already dried and in their package from Smith's, and put two packages in a big bowl of hot water. My Mom says soak them for three hours.

Meanwhile I cut up 2.5 pounds of pork chops (no bones) and put them into a pot and filled it with water. Then, just because I'm me, I added some Basil, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, and Paprika. Oh... and a salt and pepper. We'll see where this gets me! Right now I'm going to boil that and then let it simmer for an hour or so!

Still with me? Of course you are. You didn't just wait 2 hours between typing the above paragraph and starting this one. So we had soaked the chilis, and now we pulled the tops off and seeded them in the sink. Then we put them in the blender with some of the juice that we cooked the pork in (which has been simmering for 2 hours) and we blended. By WE, I mean me and Riley.

Then we dumped it all (with the pork) back into the pot, where it is simmering right now. Not sure when it will be done. It could cook all day for all I know. Of course it's 8:37 at night and we are hungry, so we'll let it cook 30 minutes and then see what is what. Will it need salt? More Cumin? Will it bee too hot (in which case the recipe says to add tomato paste to cool it down)? All those answers are 30 minutes away for me, but only on the next paragraph for you!

So it was too hot. We added some Tomato sauce and now it's still cooking. The pork is really tender, and it taste good, but... it's not exactly like my Mom does. Not sure if it will eventually turn into it, or not. But it's good. We'll see how it turns out when it's all done. For now, we are going to sleep and letting it simmer.

Jason

House

House Update

Moving money around in accounts, talking to people on the Architectural Committee about landscaping. Getting details squared away and explained, like insurance and so forth.

Morning

Here is Jennie reading the paper with her cup of coffee in the morning!

And here is Houdini after gulping down a gallon of Milk:

Ame

This is a picture of in Ame in her first home game (thus the white Jersey)! We like home games because sometimes the away games are 2 hours away in Tooele!

Figgy gone WILD

We took Figgy to Ame's Soccer Game, and... I got this photo of her. The grass makes her eyes red (I think she has alergies) and she looks just about like she's going to lose her mind and kill someone. :) Sweet Sweet Boston!!!

Weekend

How is it going everyone? I hope y'all are doing okay. I had a dream last night that I saw my Mom, and she was young and youthful, and I broke down crying to her, telling her I thought she was dead, but look, here she is young and youthful. She just kept smiling to me.

Yesterday Jennie and I went down to Salt Lake to get her car, but it turned out it wasn't ready so we had to come back. We saw our friend Suzzanne, and that was a great visit. Then we returned and she buried herself in the bedroom and refused to come out so she could study.

Riley and I went up to the new house to 'weed'. The yard is not finished, so it's a mass of huge and terrible brambles and sunflowers. Our efforts were met with stiff resistance. We got a new attachement for our weedeater, but that didn't really help either. We did what we cook, and it was a good time between me and Riley.

I forgot, friday night Jennie took me to Sapa, a cool Japanese restaurant with a great atmosphere and great sushi. Mmm....

Last night Tom Mecham invited me up to his cabin site up in Snake Creek Canyon. What a beautiful canyon! What a beautiful spot! The colors were all so gorgeous. Tommy has some work on that site before he builds his cabin, but it's going to be nice when he gets it done.

Ame went to her soccer game and because I was working at the new house, I missed her first game. They ALMOST won! Final score 3-2. It was exciting to hear her tell me about it, and we stayed up late together glueing models together.

The boys stayed at the office most of the day hosting an ArdBoyz Tournament at the store. Josiah (Riley's friend) stayed the night!

Oh, and Caleb, (Asher's friend from Scotland) stayed the night Friday).

It has been a good weekend. The Utes won too, so that was good!

Forgot

You was all waiting for photos weren't you? I forgot to take them. I'll probably head up to the house today and take them today.

BTW, Jennie started her new fancy SCHMANCY Manager Supervisor position over the MID lab today at ARUP laboratories. She doesn't have her office yet, but she has been spending time on the floor with the techs doing runs. I think she did a half run yesterday, 48 runs. They run all sorts of stuff, from blood, to well... EVERY bodily fluid you can think of. Quite disgusting!

PS - Sorry for the southern accent. Been watching that TrueBlood show about Louisianna Vampires and Sookie Stackhouse's accent is rubbing off in my writing. It's just so weird how that happens! :)

Tuesday

Yes, today IS Wednesday, but I thought I would tell y'all what happened YESTERDAY. I can't see into the future! So yesterday you are all probably wondering how the house deal is proceeding. We learned that there is a lein on the house for $2,800.00 because the Architectual Committee in the home owners association thinks we have too much CEMENT showing on the side of the house. Either fill it in with dirt or rock it. One or the other. It's a minor thing but it's the kind of thing that worries me about being part of an Home Owners Association. I hate little government entities, as you might know from reading some of my political rants, and these folks seem just like they type to constantly keep me in a state of agitation.

I went to Salt Lake and saw my friend Suzzanne and we had a nice chat about life and the kids. She's a great lady, and gave me lots of insights into Ame and Asher in particular. Afterwards, Jennie got off work at about the time I was done, and we went to the Bombay House for dinner!

My truck is in the shop for some ball bearings that are all shot, and I am driving my Mom's old Cadillac for a day. It's weird. It's HER car, but she's gone. I think it will end up hitting me later on. I miss her and love her, but I've been keeping myself busy which is what I got to do.

Ame had soccer practice last night, and she and the kids made a Pizza and a mess in the kitchen. we got home around 7:00. When I went to say goodnight to them, all of them were in their rooms reading. They are good little readers. It's a good trait I have passed on to them.

We watched Hell's Kitchen last night. I'm a big Gordon Ramsay fan. He's a crazy man, but he knows how to cook and work hard. I read his autobiography and was really impressed with what he's gone through and what he's done to make it. I don't think there are too many men who have worked as long and hard as him. He put in the time, and it's all paying off for him.

Well, that's enough RAMBLING. You 'ain't' got all day to read these posts, do you? I don't think so. It's 6:47 AM and I just finished cooking the kids breakfast and they are now showering and getting ready for school. I'm going to get ready for work!

House

The offer we made on the house was accepted. Because it is a bank in trouble they only accepted it on the condition that we close by the end of September. That's pretty quick! So we have to start doing our due dilligence. I'll take photos today and come back and let you see it. Who knows, we might not do it. It's expensive, even though it's a deal, and a lot could go wrong. But we're proceeding right now to see how it goes.

Jason

Soccer and Friday

So yesterday I made an offer on a new home. It's a heck of a deal, but we'll see if it goes through. It's up above lindsey's hill, about 1 mile past my current house, and has a fantastic view. It is a bank repo deal and it's a great deal, but it's still a lot of money. We'll see how it all comes down.

That night I took Ame to her soccer game in Sandy. We lost 7-2, but there was a lot of improvement! Tomorrow (sat) is our first home game up here in Heber!

My Dad spread my Mom's ashes up on Snowbird today and totally broke down.

I got back to work today and had a good day. Jennie is closing up shop in her lab getting read to move over to her new Molecular Infectious Disease lab, where she is taking over half of the lab as their new supervisor.

Tonight we went to the Bear Dance Cafe for dinner and got exiled to the upstairs room and had to wait hours for attention. When the waitress dropped the leftover boxes off she said, "Have great sex tonight!" I stared at her stunned, not believing she had said that. She walked away and I looked at Jennie. She shook her head, and said, "I thought she said that too, but she said snacks. Snacks. Have great snacks tonight."

Now we are home watching Glen Beck on Bill O'Reilly and cringing a lot. :)

Testing Word

So I am typing this in Microsoft WORD! It has this function where you can type a blog post, ostensibly using all the fancy gadgets that Word has, and then publish it right to the Blogger page! Isn't that neat? Well... it MIGHT be neat. We'll find out if it actually works. So here we go, without bloviating any more , I'm going to publish this test of word and see what happens!

-Jason

Tuesday

Today we got up early. After seeing Jennie off to work at 6:00 I lay down for a few minutes before getting right back up and taking Asher and Riley to school. Went to work where I survived the entire day until about 4:00 on Diet Coke. Went to my Mom's house and picked up her old cookbook with all her personal recipes in it. A treasure for sure.

Work was okay, and I got a lot done. Ame had soccer tonight, and confessed to me that she's not in good enough shape and needs to run more. Jennie and I went to the gym where my favorite bike was not working so I had to do the stairs. Yeah!

Then home to bed! Not very exciting, was it?

Sunday

So Sunday was wedding day. Yep Jennie's friend Brandy's sister Bobby was getting married and Jennie was part of the wedding as a photographer. It was nice for me to focus on something different. So Jennie and I worked out in the morning, then ran to Park City to do some 'backup' shopping. Wow! Jennie needs LOTS of things to get ready for a wedding! We got the cutest cowbow boots, a slip, some jewelry, and I got a nice shirt and a new belt. We came home and Jennie went to work. When I say work, I mean WORK! She worked on her hair for hours, then her face. She had bought the coolest dress about 2 months ago, it was and old slip from 50 years ago that some woman had taken and upgraded to a dress. It was REALLY cool. You are going to want to see a photo, and right now I don't have one. The whole ensemble came together so well. I am certainly no fashion expert, but let me tell you I can appreciate a beautiful woman dressed up in a classy and yet unique way, and Jennie was stunning last night. Truly.

So off we wen to the wedding, and it was a really nice experience, until the end, when I was just so tired, that I just wanted to go home and sleep. But that was me, not the wedding. I wanted to dance with Jennie, but when I asked her she said no. Later she said she wished I had asked her to dance and I was like... I did. We should have danced. Not that I'm a good dancer!

So... that was a very emotional and tiring weekend. God bless my Mother. I miss her. Thanks to all who came and supported us. Love you all.

Saturday

So Saturday we had a break. It was after the Funeral, and a day to kind of recover. I ended up sleeping in and then... Jennie spent the day studying for her Moleculare Pathology Categorical. I took Asher and Ame down to Salt Lake for Ame's first official STORM game!!! We found this school in Sandy, and watched Ame play a FANTASTIC game. She played hard, and she really tried hard and I just enjoyed watching her so much! She just played and ran hard.

Yes... her team lost 6-1. But it was a fantastic Game for Ame. She really dug down and played great Defense, which made Jennie happy, because is a defender in her heart and soul and played Defense all her years of soccer. It was a great game for Ame!

We picked up Tai food and brought it home to poor Jennie who was STILL studying! :) Then we watched some South Park Episodes and went to bed. It was a relaxing day.

Friday Funeral

Well... Friday we had my Mom's funeral. I was dreading it. I worked so hard this week to just keep busy, that I wasn't really ready to face it. We had a visitation at the funeral home where family and friends met. My brother Rick flew in for the funeral and he was there. I also saw my Uncle Dan and Vince. It was great to see so many people there, family and friends. All my friends came and it was really nice.

Then we moved over to St. Lawrence church. My Mom was not a practicing catholic, so they didn't do a Mass, the just did a service in the Church, having speakers from different denominations. I spoke, as did my brother Rick and my Mom's friend and caretaker Val. There were pictures of my Mom up, from her Military days, and one with her Lion. Jennie took especial care of Ame, who had to sit in the back she was so upset. They had to walk out of the church a couple times because Ame was so upset.

But... I will say it was a nice service. It was nice to see Claire and Louise, two my Mom's cousins. My friends Menges, Mike Aguilar, and Ben Larsen all stood up and spoke about my Mom, and they all almost got me to cry.

It was a beautiful service. Sad. But beautiful. I have to say again how much I love my Mom, and how much I care about her and believe the best for her is yet to come in the next incarnation. She loved me so much, and I want to honor her in this life by being a good man to my family as she was to me.

God Bless you Mom, I will miss you. - Love Jason

Tuesday

So today was a good day. I miss my Mom, but I still feel at peace. I'm glad she's not suffering, and I can say that with all honesty. I miss her. But I'm glad she's not suffering anymore. I believe she's happy and free.

Mike Aguilar came by today with his son Aiden. That was very nice of him. He's a good friend from a long time back. He looks like he will soon have his Sushi Maru restaurant back up and running. THAT story is a long one, and bizzare, and not for telling right now.

I spoke with Susie on the phone today, and she was very nice. Work went well, and I stayed late. Jennie has to get up at 2:00 AM (3 short hours from now) because she needs to get to work by 4:00. Ug!

I cooked Cheese and Ham sandwhiches for everyone tonight. That was fun. Ame went to soccer. Ame and Riley and I went to Smith's and got all the ingredients for Beef Bourginion. I don't think I spelled that correctly. It's from Julie Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My Mom was a great French cook (she was French, after all!) and so in her Honor we are going to have that tomorrow.

My Dad doesn't seem to be doing too well.

I organized some things downstairs tonight, staying up far too late. And now I'm telling you about this uneventful day. Work was work, and everything just keeps moving. When I die I guess it will be the same. We have such a fleeting time here, and it's best to enjoy it and do ones best. I take that from my Mother passing. I want to do BETTER. To live better.

Well, we'll see how much better life is when I cook my Beef Bourginion. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm excited about it.

Jason

Sad Day

Two days ago, my Mother passed away. We have all rallied together, and it is humbling to see the love and support from so many people. I frankly don't know what I am going to do without my Mother, but I'm grateful she is out of pain and I believe she is in a better place. I feel that deeply, and it brings me great comfort.

I want to thank Jennie for supporting me so much at this time. I know I have not been easy to deal with, but she has been so supportive of me and the kids. Her parents, Peggy and John, took us to dinner last night up at Sundance, and we all enjoyed it so much. The kids were good, and it really made my Dad feel better. I am deeply grateful to them.

Today I went up to Cascade Springs to get out into the wilderness. Jennie came with me and took a picture of me on the bridge with Boo in my hands that I've ended up putting up on Facebook as my profile picture. It's pretty good.

I should included it here, no? Yes, I will do it. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has prayed to us. I honestly have felt your prayers. I am very clear and feel good, and I think that is in no small part due to the love and prayers of so many friends and families. I am humbled by it. THANK YOU.

Here is my new photo.