Huntin' Buddy

We have our computer set up downstairs, and when Erin checks her email during the day she'll turn little Logan loose. Logan is just starting to crawl, and has gotten into trouble for the first time(s) over the past week or two. He'll go after anything that looks fun, and loves to pull the DVDs out of the cabinet that they are in. The other day, Erin looked down and saw him with this hunting DVD. It was so cute that she took a picture. It looks like I may have a little huntin' buddy in the works!

Our New Kitchen

We are starting to settle into our Rockford house, and are quickly realizing how spoiled we are by this place.  We were spoiled by our backyard in Layton, by our weather and view in Albuquerque, and by our whole house here!  

The part of the house that we've had the most fun with so far is the kitchen.  I've always wanted a kitchen like this - it makes it so fun to do the cooking and creating that I love.  Erin loves to bake, and this is a really fun baking kitchen as well.

We'll post pictures of the rest of our house as we get things set up the way that we want them.

Recent Happenings at the Rule Household

There have been many happenings since our last post.  We have been busy getting our house together and keeping warm as well.  Here are a few updates on what we have been up to.  Since our last post, Logan has started to try and crawl.  He is kind of stuck on getting onto his knees and rocking.

Since we have wood floors, a lot of times he ends up going backward instead of forward when he pushes himself up.  Although if he gets his legs pushed up against a wall, he does a push up.

Alex learned how to use the potty over the weekend.  Ty told her that we would have a "potty party" for her if she went in the potty all day long.  She has been very good and learned quick and has only had a couple of accidents after the first day.  She was so excited to have her party.  She got to pick out plates, cups, cupcakes and juice.  Of course she wanted Princess plates and cups and sparkling apple juice.  We got her a Princess towel as a gift and she loves it.

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday we had horrible weather.  It snowed a lot and we had really high winds.  Our street didn't get plowed until sometime during the night.  A lot of businesses were closed or closed early yesterday and the kids and I stayed home all day long.  Now some of you may be thinking "What happens when all that snow gets blown around?"  Here's what happens: the snow gets blown from your yard (which you aren't using) to your driveway (which you are using)!  Then  you get the fun job of shoveling it back onto the yard.

This storm also gave us confirmation that we had a house guest that we didn't invite.  I've seen rabbit tracks all over the snow and saw this hole under our porch and thought maybe that's where it was hanging out.  Sure enough, I saw this when shoveling the walkway this afternoon.

Ah...the lovely weather...

As expected, the weather here in Northern Illinois is cold and snowy.  Over the weekend the high was 3 with wind chills near -20.  Alex wanted to go out and play in the snow, we mainly walked around the house since it was so cold.  Yesterday Ty stayed home sick from work, and it was a good day to stay home, it snowed ALL DAY.  So this morning Ty lovingly shoveled the driveway.  I bet there was close to a foot of snow on the driveway and the majority of it was from yesterday.

Christmas 2007

Christmas here was very low key, my mom and dad drove down from Idaho to spend a week with us. Alex was very excited to open her presents on Christmas morning. She had a hard time waiting for everyone to finish breakfast. She had a princess Christmas (for the most part), she got three princess dresses, an Ariel doll, a Cinderella baby and a Princess pillow snuggler.
Logan was more interested in eating the paper than playing with the presents. He got some cars, books and a little piano. The rest of his Christmas comes when we move. We are getting him some stuffed animal heads and a bear rug for his room from Cabelas.


Other than opening presents, we relaxed and played games. We had a nice ham dinner with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and rolls. We didn't have any snow, but I have a feeling next year we will have a white Christmas.

Pudding on the Rice - Ty and Erin Style

I've been looking for a rice pudding recipe ever since Mom and Emily introduced us to Pudding on the Rice.  Until PotR, I never realized just how good rice pudding could be, and now I'm addicted.  Below is the best rice pudding recipe I've found - really good, really easy, and super rich!

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup uncooked white rice

2 cups milk, divided

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Other flavorings in combinations only limited by imagination

Directions:

1:  MAKE RICE:  In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil.  Add rice and stir.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  (Prep Notes:  we had rice for dinner, and I had some left over which I used to make the pudding - worked great.  Also, since water didn't show up in the ingredients list and I can't read...I started with 1 1/2 cups milk in the saucepan instead of water.  It didn't mess anything up, since I used it in the next step - but still...)

2:  MAKE PUDDING!!:  In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt.  Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy (15 - 20 minutes).  Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk and beaten egg.  Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

3:  EAT PUDDING!!!!!!!!!:  We let the pudding cool for about 1/2 hour in the fridge (freezer would even be better).  Then, we rough-chopped some chocolate chips and stirred them into the pudding.  The pudding was just warm enough to melt the chocolate as we were eating every bite of the batch!  Next time, I'm going to get some ameretto extract to make my favorite PotR flavor, but it I don't make some chocolate chip for Erin, she'll strangle me.

FINAL NOTES:  This is one of those recipes that is simple enough to experiment and play with.  Next time, I think that I'll use a little less sugar, since ours turned out a little sweet with the addition of chocolate.  

Try it, and please let us know what you think!!

San Juan Finale

I'm really going to miss fishing the San Juan River. That has been one of the most rewarding and adventurous things that I've done while in New Mexico.

Last Saturday, five co-workers and I drove up for a proper finale event. We left at 4:15 am on Saturday morning in one of the hardest rains that I've ever seen. I didn't think it rained like that in Albuquerque, but we could hardly see to drive. The weather cleared up as we headed north, but we were a little concerned about the weather for the day.

By the time we reached the river, three hours later, it was cloudy and dry. The river was really low, and we had trouble finding fish. We fished all day in on-off showers before I finally figured out the program. I found a nice channel with trout all over in it, and caught three nice rainbows before calling it a day.

That night, we all had pitched in for a lodge on the river. We stayed at a place called the Stone House, which wasn't too bad (adobe and rock walls). Dinner was an event. We ate at the only place in Navajo Dam, NM - The Sportsman. This place had character, from the clientele to the waitress to the decorations to the music. They had some of the weirdest Christmas music playing that I've ever heard (and it was blaring). Oil truck drivers were lined up at the bar. The waitress could have passed as an oil truck driver. And I had a chicken fried steak where the gravy could have passed as oil.

The next morning was cold and clear. I went back to my special spot and had an all-time day on the river. I caught seven trout in about three hours, and some of them had really good size. The jewel of the trip was a beatiful brown trout that I caught while stripping a big black leach through that channel. It was my first brown in a river, and was a special send off for me. We headed home a little after noon - what a trip.