Holiday Turkey Recipe...! part 2

Got the stuffing done and Turkey Tom stuffed to the max! It turned out good and it was nice to have Ray there to help me with everything....as tradition he ALWAYS eats the neck...funny huh..but no I didn't take a picture of that....it looks kinda gross! Also I had leftover gizzards and livers that I will add to my dog's dog food in the next couple of days...what a treat for them!

So my schedule is pretty easy for tomorrow I've got R.J. making the famous green bean casserole, Sabrina is making our "family" salad, Colton is making mashed potatoes and Cambrie will help me make the homemade whipped cream for the pies, and Ray is making his traditional Banana Nilla wafer vanilla pudding that has ran in his family for years....that's neat! So really along with the stuff everyone else is bringing,( corn, bread, candied yams and BBQ zucchini I am about done oh yeah I have to just put the Honeybaked Ham in the oven to heat through.....so my Thanksgiving will be easy peasy,....can't wait!! Everyone comes over at 2pm, it should be lots of fun..!

Holiday Turkey Recipe...!

This is a recipe that I got from my friend Jody and it's really yummy, so I thought I'd share as I was making it...!

Holiday Turkey Recipe:

1-25lb. Turkey thawed, washed

1c. lemon juice

1 gallon water

3/4 c. fresh orange juice

1c. kosher salt

1 c. packed brown sugar

1c. chopped yellow onion

2 oranges cut in half

3 cinnamon sticks

2 T. whole cloves or ground nutmeg

2 T. allspice berries

1c. apple juice

2 sticks blue bonnet butter

1 T. emerald essence (recipe following)

Emerald Essence Mixture:

5T. sweet paprika

1/4 c. salt

1/4 c. garlic powder

2 T. black pepper

2 T. onion powder

2 T. kayenne

2 T. dried oregano

2 T. thyme

To make the brine combine all ingredients except emerald essence and butter into a plastic sturdy garbage bag. Put the turkey into bag..I do this in my turkey pan in the sink like the following picture, then pour brine on top of turkey. Close top of bag into a good knot and set aside on top of stove or wherever for 12-24 hrs. Turn every couple of hours, you are marinating that turkey! (I put mine together when I get up around 5:30am and let sit all day until I put the turkey in the oven around midnight at 175 degrees and let cook until Thanksgiving day around 2 or 3 when we eat....Yummy!)
Ok so when you are ready to cook the turkey, remove from the brine and pat dry. Get 2 sticks of Blue Bonnet butter and rub that turkey all over. Sprinkle the Emerald Essence on top . Stuff the turkey with my own yummy stuffing...recipe as follows:

Homemade Turkey Stuffing:

4 Boxes Marie Cullumbers Stuffing (2 each of Herb and Cubed)

2 sticks of blue bonnet butter

a bundle of green onions

a bundle of fresh cilantro

2 cans of olives sliced

2 packages of gizzards cooked

2 tubs of livers cooked

2 cloves minced garlic

a couple of sprigs of fresh basil and parsley chopped

1/2 c. of purple onion chopped

a bundle of celery chopped

1 granny smith apple chopped

salt,pepper and garlic powder to taste

Combine all ingredients in a huge bowl. This stuffing will be somewhat dry but not TOO dry, just crumbly and moist. Rub 2 sticks of butter all over the turkey. Stuff your turkey inside and out, cover with oven bag and put into pan at 175 degrees, cook for at least 10 hours. A couple of hours before serving reset stove to 350 degrees and watch carefully so the stuffing doesn't burn, you wil notice it start to darken after about an hour. Notice that pop up thing stickin out means the turkey is cooked all the way through! At this time put the rest of the stuffing into a large pan and cut the 3 rd. stick into slices on top of stuffing and cook covered with foil for about 45 min. along with the turkey at 350 degrees. Voila! you are done....ENJOY!! (Don't forget to do the gravy with the turkey drippings, add flour and whisk, bring to slight boil, season with salt and pepper..yum! If you don't want to use all the drippins add a can of chicken broth!)


This is where I am at with my Turkey, I will post pics when I cook it...I am so excited I love the Holidays!! OOHHH and I love the aroma too..mmmm!!

OK OK...I'm hooked!!!

Can you guess??? That's right that "Twilight" thing!! Was not and did not understand the craze for this vampire book series and then the movie....but my son went and saw it and has been reading the books and told me I HAD to see it that I would love it AND that I would think Edward was HOT!!

OK so I did go see it...with Ray, AND I LOVED IT!!! OMGosh and OH EDWARD IS A HOTTIE!! Some of it I didn't get at first but by the end of the movie I was HOOKED WANTING MORE!!

My favorite FAVORITE scene is when you think he might bite her at the end because she wants to be like him and with him, and he OH SO GENTLY kisses her neck..SO ROMANTIC and then says something I CAN'T remember..ugg but I was in love...!!

Ray even liked the movie!

R.J. is already reading the next book so he is keeping me updated since I have no time to read...geeshh!

Our family Thanksgiving Tree...

I have seen this idea around on other blogs like skiptomylou.blogspot.com. She actually has a cute printout of her own you could do for a FHE lesson also. I liked the butcher paper that I saw at my kid's school and thought I would try to do something similar....and I think it is really cute.
The leaves are just a punch I got at a scrap store a couple of years ago and though it is a little small I like that I can use my own cute paper to give a more scrappy feel to it instead of using plastic leaves..(however those are re usable if you use tape to write down what you are thankful for...?!) Here is a leaf that Sabrina wrote...shoes...cute, I am thankful for that too! The tradition is every time you walk by this "Thanksgiving Tree" you are to write down on a leaf what you are thankful for, this goes for guests as well. On Thanksgiving day I will have one of the kids take the leaves down and read them aloud before we eat our Thanksgiving meal....anyhow I really love any tradition that I feel I can keep going throughout the years with simplicity...!

Colton wrote down food....of course..heehee! He is my biggest turkey of all...LOL!

Personal Progress Night 08'...!

Can I just say how Wonderful this night was....! Personal Progress is when once a year the girls get to "show off" thier projects that they have completed that fall under a value. A value consists of several things that they have to do and complete that helps them to live that value everyday of thier life and also to build thier testimonies. This night started off at first being casual dress and casual snacks to church dress and a light dinner with a cute theme which was "A Diamond In The Rough". I was lucky enough to be able to do the decorations which is right up my alley! Of course with the theme it had to look pretty and elegant and I think with my budget of $50 I pulled it off quite well..!
The table with the balloons were the value tables and the girls put thier projects under thier value. By the way can you believe the party store did NOT have brown balloons??? I need to write a letter and do some complaining....geeshh! My friend was so sweet to go get the closest thing to brown and it worked! Thanks so much Jody!!

So those brown bag things...can you guess?? Yep boulders or big rocks you know "in the rough"!! This was the buffet table, later I put a sign with the theme....

We had a dance performance on the stage so I put some boulders on each side..cute!
The dance was so good, they were sisters that taught eachother one yoga and one a dance!!

The pic doesn't do justice, but I filled each of these apothecary jars with sand, then pebbles and then put these "fake" diamonds in the middle, had to dress it up with all the tulle, ribbon and shrink paper...! I used my mirrors and put tulle and the shrink paper under neath on top of the satin squares, tossed some pebbles and shimmering stones....Beautiful!!!

It turned out perfect!! Also the tag had shimmering glitter but you can't see it in the pic..I have more pics to come that I haven't gotten yet. I'll post those later..

We had opening prayer, then got to eat. The food was so yummy and so perfect for the night! We had our Personal Progress gal give a little talk on "A diamond in the Rough" how a diamond becomes a diamond, first as a piece of coal then through a long intense process and with great technique through a master is cut and shaped into a beautiful diamond.. She talked about how this applies to us as daughters of God and as our master and with our determination and testimonies we can be shaped and cut into beautiful diamonds with strong testimonies, good self esteem and talents that we can develop and share with others. It was such a great talk....awesome Sheri!

We had one of the girls sing a BEAUTIFUL song that touched me soo much! She felt the spirit so strong towards the end, That I couldn't help but let those tears fall! It was really neat and inspiring to see her feel the spirit....it was a sweet experience for me and for everyone I am sure. We also had a couple of piano players that also played beautiful music! The spirit was so strong.....I definetly felt like I helped to set the tone, to help create a spiritual experience like we were asked to in our stake leadership meeting! It is neat to see us leaders have our own little touches to add to a perfect evening...it was so sweet to get so many compliments from everyone, the girls the parents even our stake president and her counselor were there..she came to me and said that this was amazing and that she could see that we put alot of time and thought into the night....which we did!! It felt good to also hear our YW president say she knew she picked the right ladies to be her counselors...Thanks Betty!

I love to see the girls have such a good time, to know that there was an effort to make that evening so special...just for them that what they are doing, passing off thier values that it does mean something and it is so important and that they are important! It was worth spending all day putting it together...FOR THEM!! Thanks girls! I love you all!!!! And thanks to a couple of my friends (Jody and Nicole!) who helped me to set up....I owe you one!!! You are the best!!

I am thankful for....

I wanted to put down 10 things that I am grateful for since I have thought alot about them in the past few days, but have been so busy with life and hadn't had a chance to finish this post, I would add and save it until I was done..heehee

1. First and far most.(sounds like a speech...!) I am grateful so very much for my Heavenly Father and Saviour Jesus Christ, for his amazing gospel, his love he shows me everyday when I get up in the morning and look around me....
2. MY FAMILY, my beautiful, healthy children, my bestfriend and husband and my two dogs Baby and Dulche'.
3. MY CALLING...in church. I love the ladies I work with and I adore the girls I teach..thier strong testimonies and thier confidence that I didn't have when I was thier age..astounds me! They are truly amazing! I love to give to them and to let them know that they are loved and that they are special..I feel so good when I see them know this and also to see them be touched by the spirit...I just love them all!
4. MY HUSBANDS WORK...we have a family tire business (Ray's New and Used Tires) and even through this tough economy we are pulling strong...I am grateful for what we have and grateful that we don't have space cars and people need used tires now more than ever...(hehehe)
5. MY TRIALS. It is strange that I would say that, but I had a really hard childhood, alot of people don't even know half of what I have gone through nor do they need to know, but those trials are what have shaped me into who I am and has made me see what is really important to me in my life.
6. FORGIVENESS. Without this I would be lost! People who have seriously betrayed the core of my spirit used to have the power of destroying my spirit........no more through this wonderful commandment of forgiving those who hurt you. I have been free for a long time since I have been able to forgive those few who have hurt me tremendously, I have been able to grow spiritually as well...
7. MY FREEDOM..to think, feel, believe, live the way I want to! I am grateful for all the people who have helped to give and keep this wonderful thing we have that is called freedom!
8. FRIENDS. You know who you are and what a big part you all are in my life...I have learned and grown from your examples and your love that you show me everyday..thank you so much for that!
9. BEING A MOTHER. What else can I say! I love my kids so much! I would do anything and everything for them, they keep me grounded, happy and full of life even when times can be tough, my kids are turning out to be wonderful children! To be a stay at home mom, to be with them every moment of every day ( well when they are not at school!) to fill my home with love, with Heavenly Father and to create a "Heaven On Earth" is about the best thing I enjoy doing! Everything that comes with being a mother is and has been the best thing that has ever happened to me! SOSO grateful for that!
10. LIFE! I almost feel as if I have the same excitement on life on earth as I must of had in the pre existence because every day I look forward to my trials, my kids growing and learning, thier graduations, weddings and thier children....my gosh..being a grandmother! Phases that will come later in my life like geneology(which I have no desire right now to do..!) being old and working at the temple, seeing my kid's families all together for the holidays and then eventually passing away having relatives wait for me on the other side and then waiting for mine.....OH its just wonderful and I look forward to it with happiness,humility, love and excitement...giddygiddy sniff sniff!

All in a day...my crazy busy life....!!!

So this pic is from today when I took Sabrina out for her birthday lunch date...we went to Costa Vida..(of course!!) She is munchin away...

So is Bella....

This girl is almost a true vegetarian...she could live off of salad and vegetables and fruit..she can only eat a little bit of sweets when she does....what a green girl!!

This is when we went out to Uno's for her birthday dinner..(don't we eat out alot...geeshhh!!) My friend Kel took a ton of these pics and couldn't get the right one, but this is one that I like to call "The MANY faces of the Patino's..)heehee

Oh yeah, can ya tell I got my hair done?...darker and chunkier...yeah!! I love It thanks Stephanie!!

Sabrina with her dessert...YUM!! (Express myself R.J.....!)He's watchin me post...

Blowing her candle..!

Here's Cams makin her own pizza...cute!

A silly shot of us outside...

Strike a POSE!!! GO GIRL!! (giddy)

Here is Bella on Monday...I took R.J. out for Pizza so that we could open up his letter to find out if he made basketball or not, he didn't make it (he has never really played on a team before anyways) but now he is on the wrestling team..dad was happier about that they have been wrestling every night and everywhere...ugg! Dad was a wrestler in High School...!

Havin fun on the rides....cutie pie!

Cheer Competition...

This weekend the girls had thier cheer competition in Anthem...it was alot of fun and neat to see the girls compete! They came in FIRST place on thier dance, but no trophies were handed out due to some squads pulling out at the last minute in some of the different age groups. Cambrie came in 3rd place for her toe touch and cartwheel..that was exciting for her!

This is Sabrina' friend Kirsten...hopefully they can keep in touch!

This is her coach Shannon and her daughter who also helped out alot! They were great coaches to the girls and taught them ALOT!!

These are such cute girls and they did such a great job!! I can't wait to get my video and I also need to buy some shots from the photographer who was there...

Night out for dinner...

We went to a wedding reception Sat. night thinkn they would have food, but they didn't so we decided to go eat at one of our fav. family spots...Texas Roadhouse! It was fun, but boy did we get alot of people saying how cute we were, I guess because we were all dressed up...too funny!
Here is Ray laughing with the waiter....I love how he is soo outgoing and makes everyone feel good when he is around, I just sit back and laugh at him because he is so crazy funny!!

Colts and Cambrie.....I love that my kids can hug like this!!
Sabrina and R.J.....cute cherry balloon!

Bella decided she was gonna eat hers....lil' stinkpot!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SABRINA DEAR!!

Sabrina turns 11 yrs old today, well um actually 2:35 am this morning (officially)!! When I think back to when she was born, her birth was easy peasy and it was so much better than R.J.'s birth (c-section). At the hospital we were both sleeping when the nurse said "ok wake up dear it's time to push.." I was like "ok, hunny time to push"! heehee it was soo funny! It took only 3 big pushes and she was out! But as she got to around 3 weeks boy did she have colic..until around 4 months old. She has been my definite "VERY HARD" newborn but by the time she got to 9 months she has been my easiest toddler and child....so far. We will see how these next few years pan out....hopefully she isn't a moody teenager....but that's ok I still love her dearly!
This pic is the youngest one I have of her until I can get a new scanner. My d135 isn't compatible with windows vista...ugg so this one is of her at 2 yrs old...still was a poser than and loved the camera!!


Here she is now....what a beauty!! She got taken out of school today by nana for lunch and shopping...so tomorrow we will celebrate at school....remember around here birthdays last about a week...heehee!

Some Fall Decor.......

Here are some of my little decorations for fall....I really like the straw stick idea I got from Kimba over at asoftplacetoland.blogspot.com.....if you get a chance she has such amazing fun cute SIMPLE deco ideas.....! The topiary I made at a SSaturday a few years back and I love it!
of course gotta add my stuff in my jars, I actually have since added to it after I took this pict.

I always have to add a little sheer to whatever I am doing, bling, sheer tulle...you get me, the pebbles add extra touch....and some sparkle...