Remote Control

The other day Mike brought home a tripod and camera remote control. We were all just hanging out in Ariel's room talking while the boys took pictures. After taking 15 or so they would run and look on the back of the camera and try new things, i.e. dancing, hugging, holding each other. I was not aware there was a wide angle lens on the camera and was surprised in the end to see that we were all in every photo. I started realizing we hardly have any casual photos of us all. Notice these 3 things:
1. Isaac and Lucas are VERY good buddies.
2. Whenever Lucas walks in the door, he takes off his shoes and then his pants 2 minutes later. He is ALWAYS in his underwear at home.
3. Ariel is a Daddy's girl

Shannon, do you recognize the scrubs?

My True Love Gave To Me...

Just what every man wants on Valentine's Day - a signed Mitt Romney t- shirt. So now that all the Mitt Romney hype has died down for the next few years around our house I will share two funny things Lucas has said regarding this political race.
Lucas seems to know and enjoy the power of words. A few weeks ago when he was feeling angry or frustrated at me his mom he would say "I want Cain (this is what he calls John McCain) to win, not Mitt Romney!" Another time he was feeling particularly bothered because I would not let him play his Nintendo ds, he said "All you care about is Mitt Romney winning and Isaac cares about everybody!"

Hallelujah- finally a new post!

Man vs. Wild

The boys and I practiced our survival skills by making a snow shelter.

Unlike Bear we didn't attempt sleeping in it overnight.

She is clever

She figured out how to get those cookies and pay no attention to the outfit!

Date Night

I took Isaac out on a date snowboarding tonight. What a great date. There is something magical about being alone on a lift with one of your little ones. They communicate and say such insightful things. I enjoyed every second of it.

While riding up the lift Isaac said "Thanks for inviting me snowboarding mom!" So sincere and genuine it melts you like butter.

When we got home tonight @ 9 (so late for a school night) Isaac says with a large satisfied grin "Everything went so well today." Then he put his tired little bum to bed.

I would love to do this every week with every one of my kids. Oh what a blessing!

Donut Recipe/ Dinner Roll recipe

1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
1 egg
1/3 c butter, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 t salt
3 3/4 all-purpose flour
1 T dry yeast or 1 package
1/4 c butter, softened

place water and milk in microwave until warm about 30- 60 seconds. Pour in mixing bowl and add sugar and yeast. Wait a few minutes and add salt, butter and egg, then start mixing adding 1/2 c flour at a time. Let dough rise until double in size, maybe 30 to 45 min. Punch down and either make into rolls or donuts:
rolls
divided dough in half. roll each half into 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 c softened butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide; roll gently. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place. Rise one hour. bake @ 400 for approx 10 min.

donuts
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter (I used a glass and cut out a small center with a very small round object). Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula (make sure oil is hot, donuts seem to absorb less oil this way). Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

Thank You, Mitt

Mitt Romney shows again why he is an extraordinary man. He is and will be a force for both the Republican Party and conservatism. Lets be grateful for what he has done. He will continue to advance the cause and he will be back.

Mitt Romney's campaign confirmed this morning that he has no plans to drop out of the Republican presidential race, and indeed plans to address an important gathering of conservative activists on Thursday -- CPAC. (Click here for details.)

"The governor's statement from last night is still operative. He is in this race until the convention."

Ok, what's the real state of the race when we're looking forward to what's most important for our country, winning in November??? Let's start with who's won how many states:

McCain - 12
Romney - 11
Huckabee - 6

First observation, there are two front runners: Romney and McCain. Huckabee is just a regional phenomenon and shows no ability to win outside the South in a 3 way contest. Remember, McCain dropped out of Iowa when he realized he couldn't finish in the top three.Now to take it a step further, lets look at the states that McCain and Romney have won so far, and see how this translates into winning the Whitehouse. I've color coded the states that voted as they voted in 2004, red for Bush-Cheney, blue for Kerry-Edwards...
Romney: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
McCain: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina

As you can see, Romney is winning more of the states that we will be able to count on in 2008. It's reasonable we could be picking up Massachusetts in that list as well, Mitt's won a statewide election there before. Michigan, Romney's birth state, another possible pick up. That's 8 states in the general.

McCain on the other hand, has only 4 solid GOP states on his list. The rest of those liberal states aren't picking a democrat-lite like Mccain when they can get the real deal in Hillary and Obama. The analysis is pretty convincing - Nominating McCain would be electoral suicide.

GeOrGiA

So I am making phone calls right now for the Romney campaign at http://www.mittromney.com/CallatHome . The calls right now are being routed to Georgia and Southerners are NICE. I have made a difference with at least 4 voters. SWEET! Take a half of an hour and make some calls! Super Tuesday is tomorrow.

ATTENTION CALIFORNIANS...

LATEST POLLS SHOW ROMNEY AND MCCAIN TIED WITH 38% OF THE VOTE. WORD IS SPREADING THAT A VOTE FOR HUCKABEE IS A VOTE FOR MCCAIN.
Do whatever you can to help Romney secure more delegates!

All this election stuff has worked up an appetite

I made a dozen dinner rolls and decided to do something different with the dough. No kidding, these donuts were amazing! They could give KrispyCreme a run for the money. I had to actually pull my boys out of bed (after Mike had just put them to bed) to taste them.

A John & Ken Show in California interview with Governor Romney

Listen to both segments of this radio show. Very informative. Then share it with your friends.
http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2008/02/03/john-ken-show-interview-with-governor-romney/

Watch this YouTube video about John McCain.
Why isn't McCain being called a flip flopper?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI&eurl=http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2008/02/03/the-real-mccain-mccain-supporting-gay-marriage-and-showing-his-ignorance-on-iraq/