We have relatives!!!

I guess I get to stop whining about not having any family around. I've had more family lately than I know what to do with...and it's been great. It's been nice the last few years having 2 siblings in Boise, and this month we added one more. Kirstin and Fred have lived in North Carolina for almost 7 years and they have finally moved this way. They were here visiting last week with the kids, something that I expect will be happening with much more regularity now. Siri is the only one of my kids who really has cousins her age, at least on my side of the family, and she knows Alex and Riley pretty well. I'm glad she's getting the chance to know Ashton, Rori, Gage, and Jaxson better too.





Those kids, especially Siri, Ashton, and Rori spent most of the night up in the tree. Gage sure wanted to be a big kid too.

We also had another surprise visit from Devin's Grandparents. It's always nice when they are here. It's fun for all the kids since they are so good to them all. It's fun for my kids to get to be with Devin's sisters too.

Siri just loves Jade and Sierra. She once tried to get me to tell me what their relationship was to her. I couldn't quite get her to understand that there really isn't a word for it. Autumn calls Dave her step dad and the girls her stepsisters but that didn't quite seem right. She tried cousin, but that's not quite right either. We discussed the fact that they are all Devin's half sisters - making them quarter sisters? But we don't speak in terms of half siblings in our family. She finally accepted that they are her good friends.


This was the group that hung out all week. I'm thinking Grandma and Grandpa must be exhausted by now, not used to so many kids running around. We are so lucky to have such a great extended family.

A Couple of Ways With Curry

Someone asked me what I do with curry powder. I'm not sure how she knew I'm a fan of curry but I thought I'd post a couple of my favorite easy curry recipes. I have a more involved one for Green Curry too that we love and it's posted on Recipezaar if anyone wants to try it out. These are easy, family friendly, not too spicy but oh so yummy chicken dishes that we love as a family. Only one has curry powder but I hope I'll be forgiven.

Grilled Chicken with Curry Glaze

1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. prepared mustard
1/4 c. butter or margarine
2 T. finely chopped onion
2 T. water or fruit juice (I use apple)
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ginger
chicken - I use thighs but can use breasts, or whole cut up chicken
salt and pepper

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to a boil. Stir and cook 2 minutes more; remove from heat and set aside. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Grill meat until nearly done. Brush curry sauce on the meat during the last part of the cooking time. Turn and coat the other side. Keep turning and adding sauce until the sauce is used up, allowing 1 or 2 minutes between turns to allow the sauce to cook onto the meat.

Chicken in Peanut Curry

2 (15 oz) cans coconut milk
2 T red curry paste
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
4 tsp sugar
4 tsp fish sauce
4 chicken breasts, diced
1 T minced garlic
1 onion, cut into wedges


In a medium saucepan heat coconut milk, curry paste, peanut butter, sugar, and fish sauce until they come to a very small boil. Set aside. Stir fry onion and garlic. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through. Add sauce and cook until slightly thickened. Season with salt if needed. Serve over rice. May also add fresh basil and/or cilantro if desired. This would also be good with any of the following: red pepper, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, chopped peanuts. Whatever sounds good to you.

CLOSED FOR BUSINESS: Keolani's Courier Service

Since the dawn of time the secretary's at my kid's schools have known who I am. For the obvious reasons, but also for another one. I have raised the most forgetful kids on the planet. In elementary school it was glasses and lunches. Now it's SSR books, homework, paper lunch sacks (for what? twice? in two days? give me a break) and orchestra dresses. Every time a kids calls, I drop what I'm doing, rearrange my life, go into the school and let the secretary give me the look. You know the look. The one that says "You're an idiot and so are your kids." My sister, who has finished raising her kids, told me that she had a very strict rule about bringing things to the school once a year for each kid. I thought that was crazy. Once? What if they are hungry? What if they can't see? What if they get a bad grade? In third grade. Because it matters then? Well, at this point I'm saying ENOUGH!!!! I have NOT raised responsible, independent people. And the oldest is the worst one! She has called me 3, I repeat 3 times this week. The first time I said "no way." Then she had the nerve to say "that's ok, I can't bring it tomorrow." Let me get this right. You were going to make me drop everything, rearrange my life, go into the school and let the secretary give me the look, but you don't really need it? The next day she called again for the same item. So, of course, I say "no way." "That's ok," she said. "We have enough without mine." ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME????? Does she not realize that my going to her school could make the difference in whether I get breakfast or not? I work till 2:30 with no lunch. Breakfast is not optional. So today she calls again. Obviously fearful. She doesn't need to be fearful, just very, very, very, very sorry. She forgot her orchestra dress to turn in. Now, this is something I can get on board with. She doesn't turn it in and it costs me money. I think Kathy had it right - I hate when that happens. Next year I'm thinking they each have one (maybe two, maybe three - you see my problem here) chance. Maybe being hungry once will teach them.

The Food From Devin's Birthday

BBQ BABY BACK RIBS

3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 1/4 c. ketchup
1 3/4 c. low-sodium chicken broth, divided
7 T. soy sauce, divided
6 T. (packed) brown sugar
4 1/2 T. molasses
3 T. red wine vinegar
4 large racks baby back pork ribs

8 T. chili powder, divided

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Press garlic through garlic press into pan. Stir 30 seconds. Mix in ketchup, 3/4 c. broth, 3 T. soy sauce, brown sugar, molasses, and vinegar. Bring sauce to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until reduced to 3 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle each side of each rib rack with salt, pepper, and 1 T. chili powder. Arrange 2 racks on each of 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Position 1 oven rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third; preheat to 450 degrees. Pour 1/2 cup of remaining broth and 2 T. of remaining soy sauce around ribs on each sheet cover each with foil. Bake ribs 30 minutes; reverse sheets. Bake ribs until tender, about 45 minutes longer. Uncover, cool slightly. Cut each rib rack between bones into individual ribs. Brush ribs generously with sauce.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill ribs until heated through and slightly charred, turning occasionally and brushing with more sauce, about 10 minutes.

BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE

3/4 c. cocoa powder
3/4 c. boiling water
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. canola oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Mix cocoa and boiling water. Mix buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla together. Mix dry ingredients together. mis dry ingredients into buttermilk/oil mixture. Mix in cocoa. Pour into two greased and flowred 9-inch pans. Bake until at 350 degrees approximately 30 min.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1/2 c. butter
2 2/3 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/3 c. milk or cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter. Blend in cocoa powder, vanilla, and sugar, alternately with the cream. Beat with an electric mixer until desired texture is achieved.

Another Teenager

As occasionally happens, Devin's birthday fell on Memorial Day this year. 13 years old! Can you believe it? I want to say that it seems like yesterday but that would be a lie. It's been a rough 13 years for him but he has overcome so much and is such a fantastic guy. Since it was Memorial Day we wanted to have some families over for a BBQ, but Devin is more of a one-on-one type so we invited his good buddy Christian over. Christian is the one looking down or away in every picture. What a funny kid.

It has finally gotten hot (yay) at least for a little while so the kids took advantage of that and spent most of the day in the pool. Hey, don't laugh, it's the closest thing we have to a pool.

And then some BBQ babyback ribs. We loved them. I made enough to feed an army but somehow we managed to eat most of them. Devin and Christian were definitely helpful in that.

I thought Autumn was being anti-social. I had to get a picture of how far away she was from the rest of us. I thought she was just being too cool for us and needed to be alone with her phone. Then Rob pointed out that while the rest of us were roasting under the hot sun, she was feeling just peachy in the shade. Personally, I've been craving a day like that for so long I was happy to roast in the sun.

I really wanted to get a good picture of Devin and me on his birthday. Or even just one of him but he wasn't having that. Today I got smart. I asked him if he was in a good mood. Yes. The I asked "Are you in one of those I-love-my-mom-and-just-want-to-make-her-happy type of places?" He seemed a little suspicious but said he was. That's how I got this cute picture of my boy. Love you Devin. I'm so happy I had you 13 years ago.

Spoon Me

A few weeks ago I was in a situation where we were trying to fit seven grown women in a small car. Why we were doing that is totally unimportant to the story. I didn't pay attention to what kind of car so I'll just say a Camry. It was small like that. To fit four of us in the back we all kind of sat on our hips instead of our butts. You know...spooning. I made some joke about my friendship with Shannon being complete now that we've spooned. One of the other ladies, who will remain nameless, asked what spooning was. We all explained it and she thought it was an inside joke. No, we insisted, it's a real thing that everyone knows about. Well, she didn't believe it.

Later we were driving around and saw this sign.

It's an ice-cream shop. How funny is that? But wait, it gets better.

I'm still not sure that it was enough to convince her. But we all know what spooning is. Right?

Sister Trip to Vegas

In January (or February, who can remember that long?) we got the call. My cousin Barbara was getting married. This was cause for much rejoicing for Aunt Helen because, well, it's Barbara's turn. I talked to my sisters and we decided that this wedding was one we needed to support. It didn't hurt that it was in Las Vegas. So Mother's Day weekend we all met up together. It was soooooooo much fun. I love hanging out with my sisters! We walked around doing the tourist thing, had a spa day, layed out by the pool and did all the "normal" things but we also had to do some things that are more typical for the Holzendorf girls. Yep. I'm talkin about FOOD. We spent hours wandering around a fantastic International Market checking out foods from different countries. We had all left our suitcases half empty so we could bring back foods from the market. So much fun. The other main activity was Buffet Challenge 2009, which I'm sorry (or maybe glad) to say I lost miserably. What is that you ask? Just what it sounds like. 3 hours a night at the buffet and the first one to cry uncle looses. UNCLE!

This was us at the wedding reception. That is, after all, the reason for the trip (wink, wink). It was about 98 degrees which caused a lot of complaints - but not from me. I loved every minute.

I don't know these people at all but I thought it was funny. The mom told the kid to go put his feet in the pool. So he did. She never said to take off his shoes. Maybe it's not funny to anyone else but I was cracking up.

Here are the cousins. Well, the ones that made it. From left to right: Me, Barbara - she's the one in white :) - David, Stan, Bonnie, Kirstin, and Kathy. David is Barbara's brother and walked her down the aisle. He kind of got the worse hot weather outfit. It's even warmer than the wedding dress. The things we do for the people we love.


I don't know these people either. We were leaving Serendipity where we had just had a fantastic lunch of Black and Blue Burger (black pepper bacon and blue cheese YUMMO!) and sweet potato fries when we saw this LOVELY wedding party on the street. We were laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. I wish you could see it better. It's not just hot pink, it's hot pink and green. That's Vegas for ya.

2009 BYU Women's Conference

Well, we did it again. For the third year in a row a group of us went to BYU Women's Conference. It's great fun. So far Shannon, Stefani, JaNae and I have gone every year. This year we had a welcome addition in Sarah.

These are the ladies I went with from left to right is Shannon Van Horn, Sarah Moody, Stefani Hansen, and JaNae Briggs.

The first day of classes we went to some random class first so we would be in the room for the second class. It was on valuing yourself for other than looks. At least that was the gist. I don't remember the exact title. One of the teachers was Pamela Hansen, author of Running with Angels. Stefani (no relation, just the same last name) is a huge fan of the book and of Pamela. She was excited to get to meet her. They spoke together for quite a while so that was fun.

The second day of classes some of us skipped the opening session and just hung out in the Smith Field House. There were 2 classes we wanted to go to there that day so we wanted good seats. The first session had John Bytheway. He spoke about using technology to better communicate with our kids. I loved it because instead of telling us to unplug, he told us to plug in because our kids are plugged it. We were even told to get a facebook account. I'm not lying. He said it. How can we monitor them online etc if we aren't there? I AGREE! The main reason I wanted to go to that was because Devin is a huge fan. He wanted at picture and autograph and I was determined to get them for him. I look quite goofy in the picture but here it is. I think it's from sitting so long in the field house but that's probably just an excuse.

Here's Sarah talking on the phone. I can only imagine she's so happy because after all those hours in the field house she was happy for the diversion.


On Saturday we braved the swine flu to go to Park City. Park City was in the plan from the beginning. Then we got to Utah and heard on the news that there were suspected cases up there. They cancelled school and church. Remember that one week when we first heard about the swine flu and everyone was a little hyper about it? It was that week. But, we figured (or at least I did) that if we were going to be exposed it would have happened at the conference. We spent most of the day at the outlet mall. Shannon and I had never seen an M&M machine. Maybe they're a common sight and we're just lame but really, it's a good idea. What's better than M&M's?
This is the haul for the day. See that teeny tiny bag up front? That's mine. Ha Ha.


Can't be in Park City without going to the Olympic park. As you can see I was victorious. What can I say? I have skills.

HURRAY!!!!

Kids Quote of the Week

Devin has so got my number. This was the conversation we had yesterday morning

D: You know what I like best about the end of the school year?

M: I'm gonna guess it's being almost done with school.

D: No, it's that you get too lazy to make sack lunches.

There you have it folks. Lazy mom rules!

Easter 2009

I assume we spent Easter with my parents in 2000. Since then, we have been on our own. It's just not as fun to color, hide, and find eggs without a group. Not to mention making a big dinner for just us. Every year I've invited friends over and every year we're told the same thing. Everyone is spending Easter with family. As they should. So this year I started in about January hinting to my brother and sister-in-law (Courtney and Paige) that they should invite us for Easter this year. I'm not sure hint is the right word. I think my exact words were "you should invite us to your house for Easter this year." It's their year to have the kids so (I hope) they were happy to oblige. So, off we went to Boise, where the sun shone all weekend. An Easter first for us. This was Devin's weekend to be with his dad so he didn't go but he was fine with that. There really aren't any cousins for him in Boise, or anywhere else.


I don't know how people get cute pictures of their kids hunting for eggs. I guess you have to do it when they are little. Siri and Riley never stopped running. Alex found quite a few eggs too.

Then the kids all colored the real eggs.

Even the big kids, Rob and Uncle Bryan. Kathy was in Texas this weekend. Her birthday is coming up so Bryan treated her to a trip to see Caitlin, Jared, and Cole. We missed her but we loved having Bryan around. He also stayed up late with us playing games and joined us for dinner after church on Sunday.

My girls and me after church. Aren't they sweet?

Daddy and his girls.

We had a fantastic time. With Kirstin moving to Boise soon with her family, we have already let her know that she is hosting next year. I could get used to this.

Her Mothers Daughter?

I found this while going through Siri's binder. It's an assignment for Jr. Achievement. It cracked me up. We love Sunmart way too much in this family. The one up by our house has such great employee retention that some of those ladies literally watched that girl grow up from before she was born. In case you can't read it it says: Sunmart is a great place. It has candy, soda, water, sunflower seeds, lemonaid, beef gekey, and money. Sunmart rocks.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Except that the reason Sunmart has money is because I keep giving them mine.

Student Lead Conference

Today I had my first of 12 student lead conferences. What, you may ask, in the he** is that? Let me tell you. It's a chance for all the high school kids to be out of school for the whole day and parents to take off work so our kids can dress up, take us to the school, and tell us what they want to be when they grow up. Excuse me??? Am I missing something??? Today I had to leave 2 of my kids at home (I was lucky enough to get mine scheduled after work - I'm sure most parents were not so luck) and go to the school with Autumn. There she told me that she wants to go to college and be a doctor. Duh. She also told me what her goals are and what she needs to do to graduate. I've learned that and more just by interacting with my child. It seems that people who need to go to a mandatory conference at the school just to learn these things about their kids have bigger problems to worry about and probably didn't care very much about the experience anyway. So again I ask...am I missing something?

Where'd It Go?

When I walked out my front door this morning the first thing I noticed was a lonely little yellow flower peeking out of the ground. Actually, the first thing I noticed was that it was cold and dark at 5:20 in the morning. I mean the first time I went out at a decent hour. I thought it would be fun to take a picture of it for a post on springtime. So I set about looking for my camera. I still haven't found it!!! What am I going to do? Between now and Mother's Day I have 3 trips planned that will need to be documented on film - or memory card - and blogged about. I'm devastated. I swear the last time I saw it was before my fiesta so it has to be around here somewhere? Right?

50 Years Ago Today

On March 14, 1959, William Frank Holzendorf married Barbara Garrett in Lewisville, ID. They had only known each other for 5 months and he had only been a member of the Church for 3 weeks. Ill advised? Maybe. But the loved each other for another 43 years until her death on May 1, 2002. There may not be a party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their wedding but I still felt like I wanted to honor them today.

Soon after their marriage, my parents moved to Connecticut and my dad was promptly shipped off. Mom set about making a home. Dad's trip took longer than originally planned and he heard the other sailors talking about how they were going to have to go back and fetch their young brides who had undoubtedly gone home to mother. That was dad's expectation too. Instead, he arrived to find his 19 year old bride had spent the time finding a job in a department store and moving to a better apartment.

Over the next 20 years dad sailed around the world while mom raised a family in various locations including Virginia, California, Guam, Hawaii, and Washington before they finally "settled down" here in the Tri-Cities. They were always very supportive of each other's endeavour. There were a lot of tough years raising teenagers and young adults and the were relieved when we all finally left the house and let them have some time alone together, something they had never had before.

They were excited to serve a mission together in North Carolina. Dad has been very proud of how close they grew during this time. He has told me several times that the mission president told them that the toughest part of his job was counseling with senior couples who weren't used to spending so much time together. He always loves to tell us that they got a long better than ever and that the love only grew.

I really hope this post didn't upset anyone. That's not my intention. I was just thinking about the great celebration we probably would have had tonight if things had been different and I still think the occasion is cause for celebration.

Driving Miss Autumn

Or maybe it should read - Miss Autumn Driving.

For the record, among the things I distinctly remember NOT saying: "I think I should be the one to teach Autumn to drive. I will be calm and cool and never gasp or grab onto the dashboard." In fact, I'm pretty sure I said pretty much the opposite. I know for a fact I used the word "hyper" more than once.
So this evening Autumn and Devin needed to be taken to Pasco and afterward we were going to take Siri out to eat. It was decided that the whole family would go to Pasco to drop them off and then we would go straight to wherever we chose to go (Ivars, by the way. I rarely think to go to the mall just for food but when I do...mmmm I love me some fish and chips.) But, back to my story. So, we all get packed into the car and Rob realizes Siri and I don't have jackets and it will probably get cold so he sends me in to get the jackets. When I come back, Autumn is in the drivers seat and there is an empty place for me in the back. Seriously???? Let's make a mental map of the major streets we would be traveling: Gage Blvd, the 240, the 182, and Road 68. Are you freakin kidding me??? I recall stating very clearly that I didn't want to witness this learning process first hand until she was good at it. I am sooooooooo one of "those" moms! I didn't make it through the first round-about before I was covering my eyes and screaming SLOW DOWN.
I spent most my life thinking I was a laid back kind of gal. I AM NOT! I never, ever, ever want to live through another experience like that for as long as I live.
On a brighter note, she seems to be learning quickly and I think she'll be a great driver someday. Contact me when that happens.

2008 Boise Captial Kids Run

Last spring, I think it was in May, my brother, Courtney, invited Devin and Siri to participate with his kids in the Boise Capital kids run. It's the biggest children's run in Idaho and kind of a big deal. The run is 1 mile from the Old Depot to the Capital building. We stood near the finish line and watched this huge swarm of maroon clad kids running down the hill towards us. It was really cool. Of course, my brother gave us a disk with the pictures, which we promptly lost, and I finally stole these off his facebook. We also had pictures of Devin and Siri & Riley finishing up the race, but as I mentioned, we lost the disk. Big losers.

But anyway, here the racers are at the depot getting ready to run the race. Maybe if we would have known the shirts were going to be maroon I would have gotten my kids black shorts too. Oh well. It's not a fashion show. Right?

Alex and Riley participated in the 2007 event and had a great time. A few months later, in September, Alex (then age 9) started having trouble with her coordination. Before long she had lost the use of most of the right side of her body. She now has very little use of her right arm and struggles to get that poor leg going. She walks but is not at all sure on her feet. After many tests and trips to San Francisco to the neurologist, they still don't have a definite diagnosis although they believe she may have sarcoidosis in her brain. It's been such a struggle for her to go from being a healthy "normal" 9 year old to becoming so dependant. They have done a great job of encouraging her to overcome her trials and do for herself what she can.
So, last year before the run, Alex decided she was going to enter the race again. There is not a walking category but she didn't care. She trained with her family. Courtney and Riley would run and Alex and Paige would walk. The day of the race Courtney walked along beside her to help steady her. She came in dead last. But at the finish line family, friends, volunteers, and strangers were all there to cheer her on. There was hardly a dry eye to be seen. What a sense of accomplishment. She was a rock star!
Alex's family has a magnet board in the bonus room that I just love. It says "WE DO DIFFICULT THINGS." On this board they have photos of Courtney's marathons, report card, and other reminders of accomplishments. This photo has had a spot on the board since the race. Thanks, Alex, for teaching us not to be afraid of difficult things.
We won't be participating in the race this year. Alex and Riley will be with their mom that weekend. Hopefully next year we can do it again.

Siri's Testimony

Siri bore her testimony for the first time in Sacrament meeting today. Well, maybe not the first time ever, but definately the first since she's been old enough to understand what it's all about. She was really proud because she had written it in her Faith in God book and she wanted to read it for the ward. She ended up remembering what she said and not having to read so that was good. She said that she knows the Church is true. She knows Joseph Smith was the first prophet. She knows she is a Child of God. What more could I really ask for her to know. She was scared to go up because there were other people going and she had to sit on the stand for a couple minutes, but she did a fantastic job and I'm extremely proud.

Book List

I've been tagged to list my favorite books. It will be impossible. I love books. I'm sure when I finish this list I'll think of others and be bugged that I missed them but, oh well. Also, I tend to love a book and then forget details but I'll do the best I can.
In no particular order:

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough: This is the first adult book that I read and loved. I read it when I was about 19 and have read it several times since. My duct taped copy sits proudly on my bookshelf. It's about 3 generations a family living in New Zealand.If I read it for the first time now I might think it a little trashy but for some reason it holds a place in my heart.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry: A novel about the caste system in India. Set during their revolution in the 1970's.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: About 2 boys growing up together in Afghanistan and the way their lives intertwine.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: Same thing but this time it's women.

Atonement by Ian McEwan: I hated almost every minute of the first half of this book. It wasn't until then end when it all made sense that I realized it is brilliant.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells: If you liked the movie you'll love the book. Just a fun read.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See: I wonderful book set in China, I don't really remember when. It's about the life of women. The descriptions of foot binding are haunting.

The Life of Pi: This is currently being borrowed so I also don't have the author for this easily accessible. Push through the pain of the beginning and it's worth it. It's an imaginative story about a boy trying to survive on a life raft after being shipwrecked. Oh, did I mention there is a tiger on board?

The Book Thief: Also being borrowed. A holocaust book narrated by Death. Appropriate.

Where the Red Fern Grows: I can't remember the author off the top of my head but I remember my mom reading it to me and I have read it to my older kids. I love it. It's just a beautiful story that actually makes me care what happens to those darn dogs.

Holes by Louis Sachar: Love, love, love this book and reading it to my kids. I also love the movie.

Here is my partial list. I'm sure I'll kick myself later when I remember what I missed. Enjoy.