Adoption finalized!

Hello everyone!

We're delighted to announce that our adoption was finalized on 24 June 2011 by Judge Cynthia Becker. Grandma and Grandpa Bassett met us in the lobby of the courthouse just before our scheduled time, where we met Bill Turnipseed--the attorney who was handling our adoption. In the few minutes we had before the judge was ready, we were able to chat with Bill and get acquainted. Annalise busied herself by grabbing Mommy and Grandma and walking them up and down the hallway in her pretty powder blue summer dress. We were then invited into Judge Becker's chambers for perhaps the only cheerful duty she gets to perform as a judge. Bill swore us in, then we affirmed under oath that we were who we said we were and had satisfied all the requirements under the law. Judge Becker then said that the paperwork was in order and then signed the adoption order. We took a picture or two and then proceeded to the office of the Adoption (and appeals) clerk where the order was filed and copies presented to us. Annalise Marie Bassett is now our little girl in the eyes of the law! Before too long we should receive the revised birth certificate from the state of Pennsylvania.

Later that evening, Mommy, Daddy and Annalise went out to Longhorn to celebrate--big thanks to Jack (Grandpa Kerlin) for the gift card! We ate more food than we had any right to, and our little girl was very well-behaved.

We gave Annalise a name and a blessing on 3 July, and the sealing will take place 9 July at 10:00 am in the Atlanta Temple.

Our dream has come true! Thank you, everyone, for your support and prayers!

Clayton, Janelle, and Annalise

Time for the Moore's to fly away home. No more aloha this year.

But so that we all remember, here are some of our favorites from Ko 'Olina, place of joy:

Sherman- Jump off rock and survive....Sushi at Roy's; The 'Frying' Dragon, The Big Popper, The Ko 'Olina Caterpillar

Jennifer- Roy's....playing virus in the pool.....Angie getting the stranger to open his bag of wasabi dorritos and share them with her

Emily- Eatting meals together and conquering the doughnut

Ryan- I liked just swimming around and being with family

Abby- I liked when we went to the rock, and I jumped off it three times. I also liked seeing the boat, Queen Anne's Revenge, from Pirate's of the Caribbean. I think I liked swimming out in the ocean and playing with my cousins. It felt cool when I got two coconuts 'cause I did the hula in front of everybody at the luau

Luke- Abby's first one was my favorite, too, only I jumped off two times

Mark- Fresh towels....Butterfish...Being in the place and with the people that bring me the greatest joy

Angie- PB and J at the pool with the whole family...sunsets and rainbows... yoga on the rocks....seeing friends...Angel's shave ice w/snow cap...a fully dressed table at Roy's

Jessica- Sitting by the pool.....Roy's

Taylor- Cliff jumping...Mermaid Watching...No shirts required

Amanda- Relaxing by the pool....No worries about hair and make-up

Brandon- Virus! Having the slide all to ourselves. And I also like playing the animal and the ninja games. Finding sea-shells.

Jeffrey- I liked playing games with the family, especially virus. I liked the slide and shave ice.

Herb Stuffed Red Peppers

This is one of our healthy recipe makeovers. It was a hit tonight, so I thought I'd pass it on.

3 large sweet red peppers
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
1/2 c chopped onion
1 tbsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp salt (I used garlic salt)
1/4 tsp cayenne or chili powder
1/8 tsp all spice
18 oz can Tomato sauce (I used a smaller can and it worked well)
1/4 c Chicken broth
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp chopped basil
2 tbsp grated parmesan or romano

Cut tops off peppers, remove seeds and place upside down on microwave safe plate. Add a little water and cover. Microwave on high until crisp tender (about 5 minutes)
Cook onion and turkey until no longer pink. remove from heat.  Add seasonings.
Add remaining ingredients.
Place peppers in greased (pam) baking dish and fill. Bake in 350 degree oven about 30 minutes.

Sweetheart Court @ WHHS

I decided to post a few pictures of Megan and her friend Zach at Sweetheart Court last night.  It was such a fun night! Having Jen and Sherman's family to celebrate with us made it even better.  We sure are missing everybody after all of our holiday togetherness!

Thanks to Clayton and Janelle

Dinner tonight was fantastic., Taylor is in love with the cookbook, so he chose breakfast for dinner tonight and made us scrambled eggs with salmon and avocado Don't let the simple name fool you-it was spectacular!

5 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
fine sea salt
1 TBS butter
2 oz thin sliced smoked salmon
1/2 ripe avocado
hot pepper sauce

Eggs, cream and salt are whisked until smooth. Butter is melted in pan until foaming. Eggs are added and gently cooked. Cooked eggs are arranged over avocado and salmon. Garnish with hot sauce.

Some things are worth remembering

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 cans chicken, drained

1 package cream cheese, softened

½ cup blue cheese dressing

½ cup ranch dressing

¾ cup buffalo wing sauce (Frank’s Red Hot wing sauce)

½ cup blue cheese crumbles

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (reserve some to put on top)

Soften cream cheese, add dressings, sauces, and cheeses, then chicken. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Bars

From a friend's blog.

Don't they look like they're worth a try?

Creamy Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars.

Crust:
8 medium-sized butter or chocolate chip cookies
1/4 cup butter, melted

Chocolate Layers:
2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (15 oz. package)

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners'/icing sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F.

In food processor or blender process cookies until finely ground. Add butter and mix together completely. Press crumb mixture into bottom of 8 x 8 baking pan and bake 10 minutes.

Cool to room temperature.

Melt chocolate in double boiler over slightly simmering water. Or microwave the chocolate, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted. Pour half of the melted chocolate into pan and smooth evenly over crust. Place pan in refrigerator. Keep remaining chocolate warm.

To prepare the peanut butter filling, blend peanut butter and butter together until smooth, using a food processor or electric mixer. Slowly beat in icing sugar and then add vanilla. Beat until smooth. Spread peanut butter filling over the chilled chocolate layer. Finish by pouring remaining warm chocolate over filling and spreading smooth.

Chill in refrigerator one hour or until firm. Cut into bars and serve.

Yield: 24-36 bars

See Erica on the Lifetime Network's "The Balancing Act"

Go to the 1/2 way point and start where they are showing the Hall County Technology superintendent.  You will see Erica 3-4 times.  Even a couple of close ups!

home remedy recipes

So I know I said recipes, but these almost fit the bill. They were on a friend's blog. I'm always running across these types of lists and always think wow- great idea! but hardly ever try them (except the baby powder to get sand off-love that one!).
If your interested, here's the link: Creative Tips and Home Remedies

One to try when I'm off this silly diet!

Lavendar Frosting on a lemon cupcake

Of course, then I'll need to go back on a silly diet. I think my new lifestyle change should include at least one cupcake a day.

Living to Eat or Eating to Live?

I love listening to grandma tell me about the things she is coming up with for dinner. My good intentions to re-create her masterpieces never come to fruition, but I would still love some of the recipes. Maybe one day I'll cook again in earnest. I showed Grandpa how to make a blog post, maybe someone could show Grandma, too? please?  (I waited until the last minute for the instruction and Grandma was packing.)
I wish I'd had a tape recorder with me so I could preserve Grandma's food genius. Any else have family food stories they'd like to share? I'd love to hear them. And, since this family has a sense of genius in the kitchen, for the rest of the summer everybody add as many new recipes (or new to the rest of us) that you try.  I know you have them, it's the busy factor that's the question.
Here's one we invented a few months ago.

Can't wait!

Doing what we do best

What a wonderful family! The fly on the wall must be shaking his head. I like to imagine that other people may not understand our obsession with food, but at least they'd be entertained by it. Is there another family so enraptured with food?

The whole family was invited to 'the grown-ups' restaurant, Roy's. I'm so glad we decided to bring them. Of course, now we'll never be able to go alone again, but it was so enjoyable to watch their eyes light up as their mouths took in each new bite. Mark always looks forward to treating his parents to something wonderful-so much so that we all enjoy it and look forward to their reactions-but I wasn't anticipating how much fun it would be to watch the kids reactions. Taylor was literally beaming! There we sat, in one of the most beautiful places in the world, every one of the senses engaged: the food was arranged like a work of art, the smell was driving me crazy waiting for everyone else to be served before I could begin, obviously the taste, all the different textures in your mouth- (creamy wasabi mayonnaise, little beads of caviar that explode in your mouth, crunchy tempura, cold ice cream/hot souffle), but the sounds are the best.  The 'Bob-like' mmm's and aah's. It was such a great night.

Roy's 
Appetizers: edamame (with coarse salt, sugar, seasame oil and a Japanese spice) Flying Dragon Roll Ko Olina Roll
Entres: Butterfish, Roys Classic 4, Rack of Lamb, Hibachi Salmon
Dessert: Chocolate Souffle, Elvis Monte Cristo Bread Pudding
(Some of the pictures have links to the recipe!)

My favorite line of the night: Taylor, "What does a butterfish look like? A cube of butter with fins?" I love my Family.

Is this the little girl I carried?

Emily is at her 8th grade dance tonight. She went with a group of wonderful girlfriends to dinner first, then to the dance, and an after party is planned at her friend's house a few doors down from us. She looked so beautiful and grown up! All I could think about was the first day she got on the bus for kindergarten, full of confidence. When I grow up, I want to be just like her!

Creepy Crawlies

The cousins were pretty impressed with Mark's Watch, I can remove my finger trick." But when he took it to the next level, he didn't get quite the reaction he'd anticipated.

Check out Luke's face. Not an ounce of concern-all boy-totally cool. Even our kids had a hard time with that one the first time they saw it. (Abby wasn't impressed.)

Although...later, when the kids went lizzard hunting, the cousins were sufficiently freaked out.

But good for Abby! She not only got her hands on one, but held it long enough to get a couple pictures. She didn't want any lizzard earrings, though. I don't blame you Abby. I haven't tried a pair on yet either.

Luke, your mom was right!

The Easter bunny does visit Arizona! Whew.

So glad fear of no easter bunny, no wii, and not sleeping in your own bed didn't keep you all from coming...and look how well your trust in mom paid off! It was a great trip. Thanks for coming. We love you.

"Does Arizona always smell this good?"

It does in the spring! Warm breezes, beautiful sunshine, and everywhere you go the scent of orange blossoms in the air. It's wonderful! The cousins thought so, too. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it's that they were still on east coast time, but they were up early Saturday picking oranges, lemons, and grapefruits.

So what do you get when you add team work to youthful enthusiasm?

Fresh squeezed OJ with our conference waffles, homemade lemonade with our BBQ, and oodles of grapefruit. I think Ryan was a little dismayed when he tasted the grapefruit sans sugar and thought he might have to eat all the fruit he picked. Luckily, there are plenty of people in the house who love it.

Had to put this last picture in. Jeffrey went missing for a time between sessions. We finally looked outside and realized he'd gotten himself stuck in one of the grapefruit trees. Poor guy!

I am going to miss fresh fruit 10 steps out my back door for over half the year. It's been wonderful!

The Good Egg

...and yes, it's good. The adults were impressed with the food, but I think the kids were more fond of the fountain outside. Oh well. They'll learn.

Can you regift wishes?

It was a great weekend for "parent payoffs". We were able to congratulate Erica on getting accepted into Da Vinci Academy.

She's trying to decide if she wants to attend or not.

 Cole recited the 13th Article of Faith even though he said he would "never be able to get that whole thing". 

Brooklyn took the 1st place medal in the district for Nat'l History Day. She entered a website that she created from her research on the impact of the Eisenhauer Interstate System. She had to present the website to the judges and answer questions. The whole process was 15-20 minutes long.  There is quite a sharp lady inside of this girl!

Megan received her patriarchal blessing today. It was an amazing experience. I felt like I was peering into her future and getting to see her through a more "celestial" lens. You parents who have done it can relate. My words are weak, but feelings are strong. It was a pleasure.  I can't wait to see it all unfold!

To the Beautiful Birthday Girl

Hope you have a perfect birthday. I remember when your mom and I were turning 14. Can't believe you are already there. What a fun age. I still remember sitting next to the 4 year old you at a restaurant and listening to you order for yourself, "Pasta with marinara on the side, please." I think you've always been grown up. Nice that your age is finally catching up. We love you, Emily. Happy Birthday.

Every Choir Needs an Audience

That's a talent I definitely have. Music appreciation is right up my alley-especially when it's associated with conference.
Have you tried this link to all the hymns from general conference?
Mark downloaded it for me. One of my favorite aspects of the weekend.

China Trip 2009 Slide show

Hello from Shenzhen China! We're having a great time full of lots of experiences! Can't wait to tell you all about it! btw Dave was mistaken as a celebrity and asked twice for his picture! He has been the most brave at eating strange things. (e.g. duck tongue and intestine) I've tried them but couldn't take the next bite of either. Enjoy these pictures! We'll keep you posted! Love you!

The Lazy River

OK, question. Does Grandpa look like he's having fun?

Bet you've never seen Grandma throw a punch like this!

Cole's new trick

Cole told me to come out and watch his "back-flop". I thought he was going to do some "cute" little trick on the tramp. Holy cow! He taught himself to back flip.

Remember these Grandma?

With Jessica getting a new room in Provo, the kids here have been shuffling rooms. Naturally-they've been sifting through all the things that have accumulated and tossing a lot of junk. A slightly painful process (it didn't help that we had glimpsed the show Hoarders just before we started. Mark was on a roll, and I was ready for therapy. There's a little G'ma Dot in me yet.) Jennifer would have loved it. Anyway, Taylor found these glasses and tried to tell Jeffrey that the doctor had told me Jeff needed them. He wasn't as gullible as Taylor thought he'd be, but still, it was kind of fun to wear them. Although, I don't think Jeff will be wearing them as long as Taylor did (2 years, Tay?)

This picture's for Jessica. The slip of paper in Jeff's mouth is from the Quelf game we were playing. It's not really a two player game, but Jeff and I struggled through it. We'll have to try again when you get back. Love ya.

Cole..one brave kid

Hey everybody. Cole was a trooper today. He looks pretty rough, but is doing fine. The orthodontist recommended that we have his 4 front teeth extracted to make room for the adult ones.

Spaghetti Pie!

Thanks for guiding us through this recipe, Grandma.

It turned out great; and guess what?

Our missionaries love it, too!. We love you.