Southwestern Egg Rolls

We made some pretty awesome southwestern egg rolls for dinner the other night! SO yummy, and while cooking Matt took off the tip of his finger (darn knife jumped up and bit him apparently..lol) but despite the bleeding drama dinner was well worth it once finished! If you have any questions you can call me! They really were awesome! We don't DO spicey so we toned down the jalepeno's and I had to double the recipe obviously. I ended up useing the giant tortilla's and made 10 so 20 halfs, and it fed us really well. I didn't end up making the dipping sauce but I'm pretty sure that if the egg rolls turned out this good the sauce is going to taste nice as well. We were lazy and just stuck with ranch.
Normaly I would have plated them nicely when taking a picture of them but at that point we were starving! lol you're lucky there are any pictures at all! Between Matt and Mikey they sucked them down fast!

(it's important to note that they need to be frozen for 5-6 hours so they wont fall apart when you deep fat fry them, so make sure you set aside time for that)

1 chicken breast fillet ( I used about 5 chicken tender stripes, we wanted ours meatier)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1/3 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons frozen spinach, thawed and drained (make sure you chop it well or it will be stringy)
2 tablespoons diced, canned jalapeno peppers
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
five 7-inch flour tortillas


Avocado-Ranch Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup smashed, fresh avocado (about half of an avocado)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
dash dried dill weed
dash garlic powder
dash pepper



Preheat barbecue grill to high heat.
Rub chicken breast with some vegetable oil then grill it on barbecue for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Lightly salt and pepper each side of chicken while it cooks. Set chicken aside until it cools down enough to handle.
Preheat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a medium-size skillet over medium-high heat. Add red pepper and onion to pan and sauté for a couple minutes until tender.
Dice cooked chicken into small cubes and add it to pan. Add corn, black beans, spinach, jalapeno peppers, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne pepper to pan. Cook for another 4 minutes; stir well so that spinach separates and is incorporated into mixture. Remove pan from heat and add cheese; stir until cheese is melted.
Wrap tortillas in a moist cloth and microwave on high temperature for 1 1/2 minutes or until hot.
Spoon approximately one-fifth of mixture into center of a tortilla. Fold in ends and then roll tortilla over mixture. Roll tortilla very tight, then pierce with a toothpick to hold together. Repeat with remaining ingredients until you have five eggrolls.
Arrange eggrolls on a plate, cover plate with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.
While eggrolls freeze prepare avocado-ranch dipping sauce by combining all of ingredients in a small bowl.
Preheat 4-6 cups of oil to 375 degrees.
Deep fry eggrolls in hot oil for 12-15 minutes and remove to paper towels or a rack to drain for about 2 minutes. Slice each eggroll diagonally lengthwise and arrange on a plate around a small bowl of dipping sauce.
Garnish dipping sauce with chopped tomato and onion.
Serves 3-4.

slideshow two the apartment

slideshow one

Moving on with life

Well.....that is what I've done. Moved on, and very happily so! There have been some large changes to our lives since the post in July, and frankly since the early spring. I am going to attempt to catch up on everything, but as most of you know I'm a complete scatter brain and who know's if I will remember everything or if half of it will even make sense to anyone other than myself,...haha. ......Warning to any and all readers........... GRAMMAR IS OPTIONAL in ALL my blogs...



During my divorce, which was fun fun fun let me tell you all what! lol.. I don't care who you are or how nice you were in the beginning....every one (myself excluded of course, because I have no issues with temper, bad manners and always fight fair........oh crap I think my sarcasm may be giving me away) turns into an ass during divorce at some point or another. However, it's over, done with and we can hopefully move back into being friends again. In our defense though, trying to divorce from another continent can get tricky and only add to the stress.....this is my excuse..lol The issues began a long time ago and we fell apart by October, so we've both had a long time to move on, so no,..none of this or both our new relationships are quiet as QUICK as they may seem. So .......scratch that off the list of updates...divorce..over....done. Phew.



Next, school was over...summer was in, and I got my 1st adult vacation as just "Rachael"!!!! I of course had ulterior motives. I met a wonderful man (yes online... GASP....oh wait..none of you are gasping anymore seeing as we ALL know this is how Rachael meets men....nothing new here). His name is Matthew, he's younger (ahem cough cough) and well...pretty darn fantastic if I do say so. Fortunately for me he's flawed and owns it just as I do, it makes it easier to accept someone who isn't perfect when you yourself have at least tread their quirky little path once or twice. He's handsome and hard working, ambitious, loving, and just over all one heck of a man (don't be scared of the tattoos kiddies...he won't bite) lol. He lived in California, as it happened very close to Napa, where the cooking school of my dreams just so happens to be!! So I snagged up one of my best friends Amanda and we took off for a weeks vacation to San Francisco/Napa/and a cabin in the middle of NO WHERE scary land Middletown. Yes.......that really IS the name of the town..lol..jk. We had so much fun! I got to see and do things I've always dreamed of. I've now gotten to see Alcatraz, pier 39, the cool sea lions!, the Aquarium, SHOPPINGGGGG, the pitiful little geyser they named "old faithful" which evidently you can do, so long as it goes off in regular intervals (sad sad pitiful, shameful display of water....lol..then again..not much compares to Yellowstone now does it), the petrified forest, the BEACH....ahhhhhhhh, swimming in a private lake..ooooooooo, the wax museum, walking up the steepest road of my LIFE! Only that can ever truly tell you how out of shape you really are....lol . I got to drive down Lombard street, one of the curviest roads ever, soooooo cool! The general fantasticness that is San Francisco, and NAPA!!!! mMMMM wine country! Gorgeous!!! I got to go to two separate vineyards and go on wine tastings, learn all sorts of things, walk through amazing caves where they store the wine to age, more window shopping (as 99% of everything there would have cost me my 1st born and left kidney) and general site seeing. Not to mention absolutely falling for Matt! YAY me...vacation!!!



Later in the summer the kids and I went back to California and they got to experience some really cool things as well. Mikey for one. I set up a meeting (finally) with his biological Father Freddie. They have never met. Some of freddie's family has met Mikey and myself on a previous trip to sea world in 04, Freddie however was unable to attend that time. So Myself, the boys and Matt drove almost 4 hours to meet Freddie and his family at the half way point, in Santa Cruz. It was a mad house! The day after the 4th of July, the boardwalk was packed! But we got to see Freddie, his gf and thier 2 girls ( Mikey's half sisters) freddie's Mom and Dad, his sister Cami whom I have met before, and her 2 girls, and a family friend. We spent the day at the beach and going on rides/shopping at the boardwalk. It was a really cool experience. We also got to go to the Winchester Mansion (really cool supposed to be haunted, but soooo rich in history), went back to San fran a few times and took the boys on trolley rides, shopping, and on a carriage ride around wharf area, we spent most afternoons and evenings swimming in the lake and just hanging out, it was a great summer.



Within a week of being home from vacation the Army ( had to set it up through the nearest military installation which happened to be hill a.f base) set up our move. I made an offer/promise to Jon in the beginning of the divorce that because of his career keeping him from being able to see the boys as often as he would like I would make it as easy as I could. I offered to follow him for 3-4 years to where ever he was stationed so he could see them on weekends. Yes I am aware that not everyone would do this. Most of the advice I got was "move on with your life" and so on but despite his lapses in judgement in our marriage, he is a great Father to these boys and both he and they deserve to see each other. So with barely a week to prepare we said our goodbyes and headed down to Arizona. Now THAT was a fun trip tell you what. Because of some.......frustration with a certain someone, we didn't have the finances available at the time to get hotel rooms, or really take our time at all. We drove from idaho to utah, stayed the night at the ex Mother in laws ( AKKWWWARRRDDDDDDD....lol) so she could see the kids one more time before the move, and then drove from Utah to Arizona in one day. Supposed to be 18 hours driving but in MOM land where I happen to reside with 3 kids, it was closer to 22 hours. ooooooo fun! I'd like to thank the makers of Mountain Dew...and moon cakes for the ability to make it through that trip without duct tapeing my children to thier seats ...lol. Once at the hotel two had fever and coughs, and Matthew ralphed 4 times ALL over BOTH hotel beds so we all ended up sleeping on the floors. RIGHT ON! The apartment we had reserved, upon inspection was horribly frigthening and even beggars can be choosers up to a point, so I had a mini meltdown in the van with the kids and we ran to the only apartment complex I knew for certain wasn't "cracks-ville". When looking for a place prior to moving the apartment complex we are in now, had no 3 bedroom places open in the time frame we needed, some how a miracle happened and as we walked into the office they had a cancellation called in and literally had the perfect apartment open up!!! Thank God for small miracles! We moved in that moment and spent almost two whole weeks with nothing but 4 sleeping bags, an air mattress, my lap top, a cell phone and paper plates...lol...fun fun fun....it was like camping without any of the perks, and my metal spine loved me for it! However we are all moved in now and rather comfortable with our little home! By little I mean.. LITTLE! It's rather cramped but it's home! We have a pool, hot tub,club house and little park literally right out the front door, and are located 2 blocks from EVERYTHING! YAY for great location!



Once here, all the kids got sick, what a lovely little cycle happens when the whole family gets it in turns, I got Pneumonia, that was bueno! I spent nearly 5 weeks hacking my lungs up, fevers and what not, nearly hospitalized a few times and spending a good deal of time in the ER getting breathing treatments, the Lord really watched over me though, there was no way I could have gone into the hospital, knowing no one here, and being all alone with 3 kids......it just couldn't happen. As I was on the tail end of recouping , oh happy day, Matt moved here! YAY!!!!!!! He drove almost 24 hours by himself to move here, and really helped out a lot while I was sick, and good thing too! Mikey....got pneumonia...lol.. then Matthew got a nasty version of bronchitis and now Cody is sick but it's on it's way down. Lucky for us Matt has an actual immune system and hasn't gotten really sick, just.....normal cough and cold due to being around the sickies! A good thing two seeing as only last week I passed a kidney stone and thought I would die..lol..die die die...wooo now that was fun times...lol. Who knew something so small could cause such loverly pain..lol (yes, I am 80, and yes I am made out spare parts...but I'm cute dog gone it!)..lol , so luckily for me I had a man around who fed the kids and cleaned up and helped with homework when I was doubling over in bed. AWWWW....what a sweet heart!



I've been so lucky to have him here! He's so helpful around the house and is great with my boys! For the first time in a really long time he's taking a few weeks vacation before starting work again and it's been so nice to just sit and get into a normal swing of things while he settles into life with 3 rambuncious kids!



Other than that, the only other news is that the boys Dad will be coming home from Iraq at some point in Late Oct, early Nov and will be living in the same apartment complex we are ( ooooo this is gonna be...interesting! lol) and the boys will get to see their Dad, they are so excited! As he won't have anywhere to stay immediately upon returning home he may or may not be crashing on our couch.....hmmmmmmm...we shall see about that.... so to wrap things up.................................





Divorce sucks, yay it's done, I got vacation, I moved, we were sick...a lot..and then some more, I'm in love! YAY ME, the ex is coming home....awkward but YAY the kids are happy, and we are settling into life! lol



Above are slide shows of the new apartment ( as unpacked as set up as it was when I got antsy and took pictures of it) and of our summer and move and so on. Enjoy!





At least no one can say my life is boring! lol

~Divorce~

Most of my close friends know about this and why, I just figured that I finally had the time to sit down and put it on our blog, since I couldn't stand to see it sitting here looking like a happy family for all to see. We had been discussing it before he came home on leave in April and since so much has happened since then I just hadn't blogged it. I wanted to be respectful and not go blurting it out there until he had a chance to tell his family on his own.

To put it out there, no one cheated, took money or otherwise hurt each other in a traditional sense. It's been very slowly happening. In the last year and a half sense we went to the Temple, for me, I wasn't ready. I knew I wasn't. I allowed myself to feel pressured into going, and by my want to do what I had been raised to do. It was a mistake for me to go while my heart was so filled with angst and it so many questions. I had hoped that by going and doing on faith would just change me and I could be that "churchy " wife he wanted and deserved, that I had been told my whole life through that I had to be, to be a good wife, Mother, person in general.

That person wasn't me, and I was trying so hard to be it, that it would just naturally change and feel right. It never did, it felt worse and I felt like a shell of a person. Jon supported me through all of that and tried to accept my religious changes, but once those religious changes came about I felt freer to be myself. To not feel like my personality and who I am being edited 24 hours a day to fit a mold. I honestly believe that jon fell in love with me for who I "could be" and not who I truly am. When he met me I had a tongue ring, a nose ring, tattoo's, occasionally smoked and rarely drank, and yet when my past became my present again (because yes, I am a flawed person and I own that) he wasn't able to accept that. He spent 9 months of this deployment not knowing how to deal with it and shutting himself off and falling out of love with me before even mentioning something was wrong, and at that point it was just un-fixable.

If you can't love me for who I am, then why love me if I can only be what you WANT me to be?? I am not a perfect person and I never pretend to be and I don't look down my nose at my friends and family as they grow and change. I know that some of my friends have seen my changes as me trying to be someone I am not, but if these particular friends had known me before Jon they would have known this is who I was. Just know that despite the divorce, we love each other, just in a different way, we respect each other, we have handled this divorce almost completely with no arguments and being thought full of the only thing that matters in this. Our kids. We are a united front on parenting and frankly we care enough for one another that in a new relationship we are willing to openly tell the new person in the others life what a great spouse he or she was. Just because we aren't great together any longer doesn't mean we weren't once. He's a great man, and a wonderful Father. He is some one's "perfect" just not mine anymore and I am not his and we both deserve that happiness.

Thank you in advance for being my friends and not judging me for the changes I have made and for supporting me through this divorce. I don't much care if you LIKE the changes I make, I am finally happy enough with myself and inside myself for the first time in my life that I don't care what other people think of me. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have people like the things you do, but it's not necessary so long as you like it. As my friends and family, you don't have to like it, you just have to love me or feel free to leave.

It's been almost 11 months coming so I am in a really good place emotionally, just ready to have the papers done so I can start and new chapter in my life. Just as a ending note. I am NEVER ok with divorce while you're Soldier is deployed. There are too many factors at play that can affect your decision making. However these issues were in play before he went, and started before then, we aren't doing anything rash, we talk gently and softly and there has been a great deal of prayer and contemplation on the matter, and this is the best option for us. It's time to close one door and hopefully open another. He's no long MY "Soldier" to welcome home and love and I am no longer his. We've both moved on. Goodbye to "My Jon" I will always love you.

***OOOOOooooooOOOO AHHHAHHHHHHH***

I had the scariest experience last night....lol...around 2 am....laying in bed in a deep sleep I wake to the most frightening sound EVER!

oooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo

aaaaaAAAAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhh......what could it be..???? I sit there perfectly still......my ears perked for ANY sound..........................nothing...I slip out of bed and head towards the sound....as I reach the bathroom door I hear...

ooooooOOOOOOooooo OOOOOOooooooo

AAAaaahhhaahhhhh AAAAhhhhhhaaaaa!

I flick on the light and TADA what do I see........

Every parent knows the sound a toy makes when the batteries die! Well now, imagine how a Chimpanzee would sound once dropped into a tub of water and drying out in your very acoustic bathroom! Matthew had taken a bath earlier in the day and grabbed Mikey's life like chimp baby off my floor as he made a mad dash to the water and chucked it in. I Quickly rescued the poor toy and had it sitting in my sink to drip dry all day. 2am rolls around and batteries decided that RIGHT then would be a GREAT time to ooooooOOOOOOO OOOOOoooooo AAAAAAAAHHHH

AAHHHhhhhhaaahhhhhhh OOOOOoooooooooooooo! It sounded like a Sadistic gorilla slowed down! I was soooo scared!..

The chimp has been dealt with! Batteries removed, and is now hiding in Mikey's bed covers, as he is afraid if Mom See's it again she may chuck him out..lol....

some watch dog Jupiter is!..lol..he didn't even hear it!

The condemed was granted a pardon!

All real names have been changed to protect the not so innocent.....oh wait..no they haven't! As you can see from the photo's, Matthew decided that when Jon called would be the PERFECT opportunity to find a RANDOM red sharpie (and we don't even own one!!! where did it come from!!!) and color the walls down the hall, color his closet door, my bedroom door, the bathroom wall, the wood cabinetry in the bathroom, the counters, the sink it's self, the toilet seat, the top of the toilet tank, and the tub.......................... niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Once I realized what had happened, I went CCRRRARZZZY!..lol......but how can you spank a face like that!! I mean look at him hiding in the tent..reading...lol When I told Jon on the phone he said...does this remind you of something...WELL YES!! as you can see.. At 4 Cody also had a nice brain fart and used a stamping ink pad to color the walls, the floors and himself..lol.....THANK heavens for the Magic Eraser!!!! so far it has removed 90% of it and we will get the rest off some how! LITTLE MONKEY!!!

It's a good thing too or I would have sold him to the Gypsy's today!

Be Attitudes

Mikey had a great school performance yesterday where all the 2nd graders got to sing songs they had been practicing since the beginning of the school year on the different ways to be a good citizen, it was super cute and he has been SOOOOOOOOOOO excited. He had a special job jumping rope during one number (yeah, I didn't get it either until I realized the three jumping rope were the squirmiest of the bunch and the music teacher likely had them doing so to keep them busy) and in two other numbers played the (G) on the "boom whackers" to The Nutcracker....lol...yes I will explain what a boom whacker is, it's a long plastic tube cut down to size that when WHACKED makes a sound close to a musical note. He was soooooooo proud. The musical number below, Mikey is in the front row on the left, khaki es and red shirt with navy vest.
Afterward he also gave Jon a little shout out..lol..What a cutie! Unfortunately you can hear my in the back ground making comments, attempting to offer to video a fellow parents child as her battery died, and telling Jon little things so...sorry...lol

YO GABBA GABBA

Those of you with LITTLE ones at home are likely familiar with this show! Frankly I don't know how it made it to air! It's like teletubbies on acid! Some washed out tv exec, Shroomed out of his mind, sleeping in his Mother's basement thought....... "Hey I know! Lets make a show that little kids will be drawn too and parents will want to gnaw off a limb while watching it!"
It's like a bad car accident on the freeway, everyone slows to a roll and turns to watch.. drawn to the blood and gore and you can't pull yourself away even though it's hideous! THAT for me in a nutshell..is YO GABBA GABBA! And my Matthew LOVES IT!!!!! Everytime it comes on I cringe and melt into the couch trying to hide behind my laptop, praying for it's end and then hateing myself when at 4 am the next morning ... "There's a parttttyyy in my tummyyyy.....there's a party in my tummyyyy........there's a party in my tummyyy....yummy yummy!!!" runs through my head! Some one save me from Childrens programing hell! THOSE CARROTS REALLY SCARE ME!!!!!!!!!!! eek

My amazing Matty

This kid really is so funny! I blows my mind with how well behaved he is. He now takes naps when I tell him too, goes right to bed at night, is a huge snuggler! I love that throughout the day he runs up to me grinning and wraps his arms around my neck, presses his cheek to mine hard and giggles..."Myyyyyy Mommyyyyy...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!" sooo cute! He helps clean his own room and loves to do whatever his big brothers do.

Mind you he is a typical 2 year old, so yes...he does do...some interesting things..lol..he has learned how to scale the cabinets to get what he wants...and silently too! It's like stealth mode baby!

As you can see from the pictues...lol..He was on the counter with his stuffed Monkey on his back trying to get the football I had placed in time out since no one was useing it nicely in the house. I just couldn't miss the oppurtunity to take a picture of it..lol.. The other pictures are of him at Blast off for Cousin Corey's birthday just an assortment of playing and eating cake, trying to get in the gear so he could try to rock climb...yeah fat chance, just some really cute pictures of him being...him! . It was a fun day and this little guy just really melts my heart!