Will She Eat It?

Quincy was the pickiest eater of all of my toddlers. She had a phase where all she would touch were bagels with cream cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, and rice. 

Now days, the “one food” she won’t eat is lasagne, and when preparing her own meals, she eats the most like I do. She is the only Willardson child who likes pickles, steak, cucumbers, avocados, mustard, or tomatoes. She loves snack plates like I do and will fix up a plate with salami and cheese and grapes, or hummus and pretzels and apples and peanut butter, or toast with cottage cheese and avocados and everything topping on it.  

At Sam’s Club yesterday, she was delighted to be offered a sample of sushi. I politely declined the offer, but Q jumped on board. “I’ve always wanted to try sushi! It’s so cool looking I already know I will like it! It looks just like my Barbie sushi!” 

And like it, she did. She tried a California roll and a spicy crab and avocado roll and raved about it so much, Corbin and I tried that one too.   Way to try new foods, Q! 

Changes

A new bishopric was called last week, so Aaron was released after over 3.5 years serving the Sugar Creek Ward as second and first counselor.  The Cude’s are moving to Idaho and will be missed!  Aaron loved his calling, and I know our ward was greatly blessed because of his service and love and loving service. In the past few years he has served with Bishop Cude, Ken Lanshe, Doug McCash, and Ben Ratsachack. 

Pictured above: 1st Counselor Aaron, Bishop Craig Cude, and 2nd Counselor Ben Ratsachak.  

Bentonville Race Series: Irish 10K

In late 2016, I signed up to run the Bentonville Half Marathon and the training program. Joining the program is fun because membership offers(among many other things) an organized group run every Saturday, and free admission into two other races in the bentonville race series: the Valentine 8K, and the Irish 10K. 

Then we got little premie Wren, and I was delirious with exhaustion and my eyes constantly burned from lack of sleep.  I put running on hold and deferred my training membership and race registration to a future year.  

They sent me an email in December 2017 reminding me that a spot in the training group was reserved for me and 2018 was my year to run the bentonville half! No turning back now! I started training out pretty rough, as starting over (and over and over again) is always a challenge. I stuck it out, and had a lofty goal of 10:30-11min pace for the half. My friend, Laura, is expecting a baby and needed to slow her regular pace down a bit so we have been doing some Saturday group runs together and it’s been great!

This was such a good race for me! Temp was perfect for running (49-50*). My time goal was to stay under 10:30 pace, which would be my fastest 10K pace and get me a new PR. I had to use the restroom right before the race started, so I hurried outside to the starting line only a minute before the gun went off. I searched but never found my friend Laura as I wiggled through the crowd, and figured she had started in the pack at front end of the chute and was way ahead of me. So I picked up my pace a bit to try to catch up and find her. Between 2 and 3 miles, I took off my sweatshirt, looked at my time and realized I was going pretty fast. Way too fast to sustain for 3 more miles! But I realized that if I kept it under a 10 minute mile, I could come in at under an hour! I was getting pretty tired so I ate a few gummy gu chomps and sipped some Gatorade and struggled through a half mile of uphill.  Still hoping to catch up and find Laura, I found some new strength the last mile and a half and maintained the pace I’d started the race with. 

57:50! Check out the victory look on my face in the finish line pics from the race website! Haha! Taking 6+ minutes off a PR is a pretty big deal, but just coming I under an hour was really a huge deal for me. I’ve always been a really slow “turtle” runner, so running 6.2 miles at a 9.20 pace really delights me and makes me wonder what I’d be capable of if I had time or energy to train more than squeezing in a couple short runs whenever I can. I’m still not sure a 10 minute pace is sustainable for 13.1 miles, but I’m going to try! Doing Fartlek and Progression speed training runs has helped and I think running those hills on Tiger Blvd with Kasey has definitely made me stronger. 

Soren’s First Lost Tooth!

Mr Saunchy came running to me crying, “Mom! I think my tooth is breaking!” 

It was wiggly! 

I asked if he wanted me to pull it out, and in Soren fashion, he shrugged, “sure.” 

So with a tug it was out and he is chuffed. 

The tooth fairy brought him 50 cents, in his shoe, because putting a shoe outside your bedroom door somehow has become a weird thing around here. Whatever! He has had us read Pete the Cat’s Loose Tooth book to him several times since. 

Chicken, Artichoke, and Wild Rice soup

I can’t get any drafts with pictures to post. I need to hire a guru to back up my blog and give it a makeover. I just found out like a month ago there’s an annoying cat icon image thingie in the middle of the screen. Well that’s annoying. And yet all three of you came back anyway. It’s probably for this recipe. 

I love me a pantry recipe! 

This is adapted from a recipe from Linsey G. Hers is almost the same but I omitted the cooking wine and added artichoke hearts. 

Now I am sure this soup would be out of this world delicious if I took the time to kick it up a notch and make a rue and add heavy cream and all that jazz. And I know y’all are raising an eyebrow at me as soon as you see condensed cream of chicken on the ingredient list, but listen, it’s good. And I’m a soup snob and still say it’s good.  And some night one of your two year olds might pour a whole bottle of glue on her head and then you might be glad you can whip this goodness up in a snap and let it simmer the 15 minutes it takes to wash her hair before it becomes a decopodge of hair and naughty giggles. Ha! 

Anyway, here we go. 

Chicken and artichoke wild rice soup

6 cups chicken stock

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped up

1 box Uncle Ben’s original recipe long grain and wild rice 

2 cans chicken (I know. I know! Cook up your own if you want, you’ll be better for it. I choose time with this one and it’s all good)

1 26oz can cream of chicken soup. 

Put everything in a pot and let it do its thing. 

A squirt of fresh lemon juice gives it a little zip. 

 

“Huge” Jackman

When Hugh Jackman was the Emcee for the Walmart Shareholder meeting a few years ago, I was home and green with envy that Aaron was partaking in a feast of entertainment. I mean come on! It’s Jean Valjean! 

Late on Friday night, Aaron said casually (as he does), “You should go see your Greatest Showman at the Saturday morning meeting tomorrow.” 

What?! 

Yes! 

So Kristi Aase was up for joining me at the Walmart home office way too early in the morning (early enough to get pretty excellent seats only 6 rows back and center. 

Hugh was great! 

He didn’t sing, which I found to be “Hugh-ly” disappointing. But he was wonderfully entertaining and we enjoyed his anecdotes about rehearsals and making of the film. 

Another great bonus was Patricia Heaton. Now this is a funny woman. She might be my bff if she lived in Arkansas, I think. Haha. Really though, she interviews with ease and you can tell she’s just a naturally fun person. Listening to her describe The Middle really makes me want to start watching it.  It sounds like I might relate to her character. 


David Glass in the House! 

I don’t pretend to follow the retail merchandising industry as much as I probably should, considering it is my livelihood. David Glass was really a highlight of the morning and full of wisdom.  Good answers to questions from the crowd. My favorites being advice about continuing to change and evolve, but keeping core values as a constant, and the other about how making small improvements and changes will only ever give you the result of a small improvement and changes. Small improvements are great, but if you want a big result, you need to set a bigger goal, and then work backwards to figure out how you’re going to get there. Well I’d eat that right out of his hands because that song is the chorus of my idealist heart. 

I loved the energy in the room. It was a good glimpse into Corporate Aaron’s world and reminded me why he loves working for Walmart. 

Add a free breakfast and I’m just delighted as can beto be there! 

Aaron teased that he couldn’t believe it’s taken me 12 years to entice me to a Saturday morning meeting. Uhhh correction! Our oldest child JUST reached babysitting age. I would have loved seeing Oprah or Rachel Ray or Tom Cruise or Paula Deen or Shaq or Sabra Bullock or President George W Bush or Justin Timberlake, and so on but I willingly stayed home with toddlers so he could attend meetings with these and many more interesting people. That said, he retracted his comment (that was mostly made in jest anyway) and I had a lovely morning with Hugh Jackman and my new bff from afar, Patricia Heaton. I also have to say I think Doug McMillon looks and sounds a lot like the character David Wallace from the office. Aaron doesn’t think that observation is complimentary to Mr McMillon, but my thought is there, anyway. Do you see it? 

I finished up the day on a date with Reese while the little ones napped. She still had not seen the Greatest Showman, and after my morning seeing “Huge” Jackman, as Reese called him, I needed another viewing on the big screen.  

A Mama’s Gotta Do What a Mama’s Gotta Do

Get dem fruits and veggies in ya belly, sister!