We had an awesome time in California. It was great to be back there for Christmas. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for a grand time. With lots of food (of course), laughter and baby screaming. We love you!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Christmas in California
We had an awesome time in California. It was great to be back there for Christmas. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for a grand time. With lots of food (of course), laughter and baby screaming. We love you!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night
To Millers Sanctuary, Palos Verdes
From Millers Outpost, Heber City
Daily Herald article
An article profiling me and First & Girl appeared today in the Daily Herald. Here it is...http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/293303/17/
Worst picture of me ever. Besides that, I'm very happy with it!
Worst picture of me ever. Besides that, I'm very happy with it!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Baby Johnson Time
He's here!
Baby Owen was born Dec 17th and
weighed in at 5 lbs 14 oz.
Such a tiny little guy, do they really come this small?
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Happy Baby
food
gifts
friendsDecember 13th turned out to be very snowy! We still had a great time and appreciate everyone that was able to come (or attempted- we missed those that weren't able to come due to weather/illness). Marci should be having a baby any day now, Porter wanted to know if he could be there and watch how the baby comes out... um, maybe next time:)
ORANGE ROLLS!!!
With Christmas right around the corner and several of our family members spread throughout the world, I thought it would be nice to post the recipe for our traditional Christmas breakfast favorite- Orange Rolls. That way, though we will all be in seperate places for Christmas this year for the first time (it still seems unreal that our life-long tradition has actually come to an end) we will know that we are enjoying the exact same delicious oven-hot rolls!!!
Orange Rolls
1 pkg active Dry Yeast (1 Tb)
1 1/2 cups warm Water (105-115 degrees)
1 cup unseasoned lukewarm Mashed Potatoes or 1 cup water + 1/2 cup potato buds
2/3 cup Shortening
2/3 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
6-7 cups all purpose Flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in potatoes, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerae for at least 8 hours- but no longer than 5 days.
Roll out dough on a floured surface, spread the orange filling. Roll dough and slice into 1 1/4 inch slices. To prepare 9x13 baking dish- melt some butter in a dish on the stove and pour into bottom of dish. Place rolls 3 across in baking dish- you may need more than one pan.
Orange filling: 1/2 cup butter+ 1 cup Sugar+ 1 tablespoon Orange zest. Mix and spread over flattened dough.
If your dough needs to raise a little more, place prepared rolls in the oven at 375 degrees and bake until golden brown. If dough is already done rising, bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.
Orange Roll Topping: 1/2 cup melted Butter, 1 tablespoon orange zest to taste, powdered sugar and orange juice. Mix until thin enough to pour. Pour over hot rolls and serve!!
Orange Rolls
1 pkg active Dry Yeast (1 Tb)
1 1/2 cups warm Water (105-115 degrees)
1 cup unseasoned lukewarm Mashed Potatoes or 1 cup water + 1/2 cup potato buds
2/3 cup Shortening
2/3 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
6-7 cups all purpose Flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in potatoes, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerae for at least 8 hours- but no longer than 5 days.
Roll out dough on a floured surface, spread the orange filling. Roll dough and slice into 1 1/4 inch slices. To prepare 9x13 baking dish- melt some butter in a dish on the stove and pour into bottom of dish. Place rolls 3 across in baking dish- you may need more than one pan.
Orange filling: 1/2 cup butter+ 1 cup Sugar+ 1 tablespoon Orange zest. Mix and spread over flattened dough.
If your dough needs to raise a little more, place prepared rolls in the oven at 375 degrees and bake until golden brown. If dough is already done rising, bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.
Orange Roll Topping: 1/2 cup melted Butter, 1 tablespoon orange zest to taste, powdered sugar and orange juice. Mix until thin enough to pour. Pour over hot rolls and serve!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
President Bush in Afghanistan
Ben got to meet President Bush early Monday morning. To read Ben's account, click here.
An article I thought I'd share
cut and paste this: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-lopez14-2008dec14,0,5418682,full.column
or click here
or click here
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Getting to meet Santa
Em's camera probably got better pictures then mine but I just wanted to post these cute pictures from the yesterday at the mall. We went to meet Santa, ride the train and ended with a yummy lunch!!! The kids were so cute, Porter wanted to talk to Santa all day, telling him all the things he wanted for Christmas. Ollie wanted all the giant presents that were set up for decoration he kept asking Santa "Are these ones mine?" We had a great time and missed all of you who couldn't come!!!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Marci's Baby Shower
Saturday December 13th at momma McEuens house at 2:30pm.
Baby Owen will definitely be here some time before Christmas... crazy. At least we think it's going to be an Owen baby and not a Bella baby (I just saw Twilight last night, LOOOOVED it. Words can't describe how much I thought it was seriously awesome. I guess I will just have to read the books now). Her ultra sound tech never was 100% sure.
I hope to see you there!
Baby Owen will definitely be here some time before Christmas... crazy. At least we think it's going to be an Owen baby and not a Bella baby (I just saw Twilight last night, LOOOOVED it. Words can't describe how much I thought it was seriously awesome. I guess I will just have to read the books now). Her ultra sound tech never was 100% sure.
I hope to see you there!
Friday, December 5, 2008
My Interview on KSL Radio Today...
KSL Radio did a piece on First & Girl today. You can check it out here!
www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=4990652
www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=4990652
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Calling for Calendar Pictures
Jen asked me to post this, since she is still a techno peasant and does not know how.
She is making the calendar for next year and needs pictures from YOU!
Her deadline for pictures is this coming Monday, December 10th. If you don't send her pictures, your kids won't be in the calendar.
She prefers that you send a couple of each child individually and more than a couple of group shots of your children (for those of us with more than 1).
Please email her at majbergen@msn.com.
So, if everyone could help out and send pictures, that would be great. Personally I am going to send my soon, I don't want to have the calendar job handed to me!
Call Your Congressman Right Now
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.
The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatroy testing will likely drive them out of business.
The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.
If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.
How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys. Use our sample letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and Senator here.
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.
The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatroy testing will likely drive them out of business.
- A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
- A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes dolls to sell at craft fairs must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
- A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
- And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.
The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.
If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.
How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys. Use our sample letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and Senator here.
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