From Christmas to Now------

I know -- I know -- It takes me a long time to get around to writing! We love reading everyone else's blogs, and I really need to keep a little more on top of things. However, the theme of our blog "Just tryin' to keep up with the times" is soooo applicable to me! I'm taking the time today because I'm home with a sick little boy who came down with strep over the weekend. We spent Relief Society and Sunday School time at the InstaCare yesterday. Last night, his temp. was 101 degrees -- after ibuprofen and tylenol!

So, there's lots of pictures here, and a lot of time to cover, so be patient and go with us. Also, Morgan, I am including the recipe for that Mexican Salad we had at the Olympic Party towards the end, so keep reading. . . .

Gabe and I spent an evening making our own ornaments for the Christmas tree. They didn't turn out too bad. I still have some of the salt dough, and I'm not quite sure what to do with it.


This is one of Gabe's friends from the ward. We were at the Ward Christmas Party with lots of good food and fun times. The only problem for Gabe was that Santa Claus did not make an appearance.

But, you know how Mom and Dads are -- they sometimes have the right connections, and a few days later, we had a special visitor at our house!!! Gabe was downstairs when our he arrived. When Gabe heard the sleighbells and the laugh, he practically flew up those stairs! It was so fun to watch. . .

Even Madi got to sit on Santa's lap. . .

That same evening we made our yearly trip to the Moffat's house to see their trains. This is truly quite the experience!

This is Gabe's friend Henri. His family also went to enjoy the trains.

This is the Christmas tree before we opened everything.

Before Gabe even went to look at the tree, he looked out the window in the bedroom. Out in the back yard were these trails in the snow. Gabe came running out, "Mom! Dad! Santa's been here! You can see the reindeer and sleigh tracks in the backyard!" I had to take a picture of that, for sure!

It was a quiet Christmas for us. Everyone else was in Castle Dale and the Lodge. But, we had a great time. Christmas Eve was spent at my brother's house, and all their family was there. Family get-togethers in the Piep house are just as big and riotous as the Jorgensens!

This whiteboard/chalkboard easel was given to Gabe by my nephew Michael. Gabe has really enjoyed that. It is one of those gifts that Gabe still uses.

Here's some of the great gifts we received: We can't wait to try out the sno-cone machine! And we have already used the pottery pitcher. Thanks, Sara. The little griddles and mini cast iron "Skookies". They are quite fun to use.

Christmas dinner was wonderful. We had lettuce wedge salads, prime rib, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and cauliflower. It really tasted good! I don't get a lot of chances to use my china, so it was nice to have such a pretty table-setting, too.
A few days after Christmas was Leslie's farewell. Here are some parting pictures of Les before we went home.

At the end of January, Gabe's new cousin Alex had a birthday. This is Alex's little sister, Elizabeth eating one of the very colorful birthday cupcakes! The kids all had black or red mouths.

That's Alex in the blue shirt. The party was at the Living Planet Aquarium.

Gabe got to pet a giant sting ray. He said it felt slimy.

Now on to February: This is my attempt at being creative with a Valentine's heart cake.

Back-track: This was New Year's Eve and all the streamers that came from the fireworks. Gabe wanted to take it all home and keep it! Luckily, we talked him out of that. . .

Before Sara went down to Castle Dale, she brought us this beautiful amarilys. The blooms on it were beautiful. We actually got two sets of blooms on it.

Every year, on the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, the car show comes to town. Here are some of the cars Gabe really liked:

Unfortunately, the camera on my phone doesn't always focus. But, you get the idea.

This is a real Transformers car -- Bumblebee, of course. It has the name on the black part of the hood, and the logo on the side.
You can see that Gabe isn't the only little boy who likes the Bumblebee car.

We're nearing the end -- are you still with me? So, here's the salad we made for the Olympic Opening Ceremony party. Morgan suggested I put the recipe on the blog, so, here it is:

Mexican Chopped Salad
Romaine or red leaf lettuce

canned corn

black beans (we used red kidney)

jicama

jalapeno peppers (seed well, or it will get HOT!)'

tomato, fresh

fresh lime juice

olive oil

garlic pepper

Combine the first 6 ingredients listed above in the quantity that you desire. Squeeze the joice from a fresh lime, the olive oil, and the pepper over the salad. Toss and serve.

To this recipe, we also add some cumin, chili powder, and salt to taste.

We're glad everyone seemed to enjoy this.

Gabe's favorite tree at the park, even in a snowless winter.

Honor Choir Weekend: 380 junior high students on stage at once!

Well, that's 3 months worth of catching up. Hopefully, it won't be that long before the next one. Especially since Gabe is having a birthday this week! We hope to see you at his party on Saturday at Sara's (around 5:30 p.m. -- eating around 6:00)

Stake Conference Surprise!

Well, today the choir sounded superb! John did an excellent job preparing our stake choir for Stake Conference in only 4 weeks. Elder Ballard and one of the 70 were there. It was a fabulous conference. I got to lead the congregational singing, and John led the choir. We were a little surprised when the Stake President spoke about our experience in getting sealed last June in the Priesthood Leadership meeting yesterday. John came home and said -- "Pres. Young spoke about us today. Not by name, but. . . " Well, today, Pres. Young even went that far: "He said, Brother Jorgensen and his wife were sealed on June 6th in the Draper Temple."

However, that was not the only surprise. We got this surprise last Sunday when the Stake Executive Secretary called us in for an interview with the Stake President. One week before Conference? Sound suspicious? Yep! John has been called, and today was set apart, as a member of the Stake High Council! Is John nervous? Oh, yeah! And he has been so happy being the clerk for the last 6 years. I guess it's time to move on to more experiences, and see just what the Lord has in store for us now.

Well, keep us posted on everyone's Christmas fun. We'll try to keep up, too.

Just Catchin' Up!

I always seem to get so far behind! I had this post all ready to go, and then realized I had posted it on the Jorgensen Biggest Loser blog! I had to delete it and start all over again!

OK, so here is a lot of randomness! This is Gabe with his friend Yosef (his dad is from Pakistan). These two would meet at the park every evening during the summer right up until school started. Yosef is a couple of years older than Gabe, but he loves it when Gabe shows up.

This was another of our trips to Moss Ledge. Madi looks great in this picture!

These are the friends from the ward that are from Taiwan. They had treated us to a true Taiwanese dinner one night, and we took them to Moss Ledge for a good old fashioned cook out. Shortly after this trip, Joy and Mac moved back to Taiwan.
Tired Gabe!

The tomatoes were quite prolific! Unfortunately, they all came on during a 3 week period of time -- AFTER school started. We spent more than one evening blanching and peeling tomatoes to put in bottles.

This is what happens when a cold bottle hits hot water -- oops! Luckily the bottom didn't come off until I got it to the sink. I was actually able to put the tomatoes into another jar and save them! Then the bottom dropped off.

This was 21 quarts in just a couple of days. We totalled 41 quarts of tomatoes. We could have had more, but at least another 10 quarts froze on the vines. We missed one night of covering them and lost everything else.

During UEA break, I took Gabe, Jonas and Gabe's friend Henri bowling. The boys had a great time. Jonas had the high score for the boys, but I beat his score -- by 1 point! How sad is that?!

And then there was Halloween. All year Gabe has wanted to be Darth Vader. But, John and I did not want to do another purchased costume. So, then Gabe wanted to be a Ninja Turtle. I think I could have pulled that one off, but time was not on my side. So, we borrowed the chaps and boots from Stacy (Jonas' costume last year) and helped Gabe become an extremely handsome cowboy! He was so excited! He spent all week between our Trunk-or-treat and Halloween wearing the boots and hat, and even the chaps when I would let him. He loved being that cowboy! And he was so cute! (But I might be a bit biased. . .)

The party food was great!

Here are the kitties. . .

the donuts. . .

and the apple-bobbing.

Success!!!

By the way -- Gabe won't be eating many apples for awhile. He got his first loose tooth today. We're all excited!

Well, how's that for random? The next big occasion is Thanksgiving. We're looking forward to seeing everyone there.