Grandma RosiePepper's Conversation with the Princess Last Night

**Kleenex Alert** (Don't say I didn't warn you)

The Princess had a really neat conversation with her grandma last night. The conversation was subsequently emailed to me. I can't say it any better than grandma did in her email to me, so I'm just going to copy and paste her email here.

"G-- asked me to talk to the Princess to help her believe two things - that her grandmas pray for angels to be with her, and that the angels keep the monsters away.

So, when she got on the phone, he had her ask me if there are angels in her room. I assured her that there are, because I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, and every night I pray that her angels will be with her so that she has nice dreams. She asked more questions - can the angels see the monsters (because some monsters are hard to see) - yes, because angels are Heavenly Father's best friends, and Heavenly Father can see everything so he makes sure His angels can see everything. She was still skeptical, so, remembering something she once (or more times) said about wanting a big sister, I said that maybe one of the angels is her big sister angel. She said something like "My big sister angel? Is she my age?" Yes, or maybe even older. "Like 10 or 17 ... or 18?" Yes, she could be that old, and she watches over you. The angels make sure there aren't any monsters, so that you will have nice dreams. Oh, and she did ask if there really are girl angels. YES!

I think that's about it - if I remember any more gems I will let you know. She was so genuine, so convinced that the monsters are real and needed so much reassurance that there is protection. Yes, I do believe that she, and all of us, have angels watching over us, keeping the "monsters" away. Every day, all day, when I pray for all of you, all of my family, to be safe and feel His and my love, that's praying for His and your angels, and the Holy Ghost, to deliver that message. I didn't lie to her, I didn't make anything up. I don't know exactly who her angels are - she has plenty of ancestors, and others who love her, who are watching over her - and you!"

Thanks, Grandma RosiePepper - I know you helped her sleep better last night.

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Snow Day!

Snow is a pretty rare thing here. The last "big" storm was in 2004. Meteorologists were only predicting 2-4 inches, but it's apparently a pretty big deal to have ANY snow here. I ran to the grocery store to pick up bread on Monday night, and the lines were INSANE.

I think we ended up receiving about 3 inches in our neighborhood, but all of the schools were closed (DH informs me that this wasn't due to the amount of snow on the ground in the morning, but due to the fact that if it had kept snowing all day, students would have been forced to stay at school overnight like they were in 2004 - we're not well-equipped to deal with snow around here), and DH was allowed to work from home.

We didn't tell The Princess about the possibility of snow the night before, because we didn't want her to get her hopes up and then be disappointed. She's still feeling pretty homesick, and she's been sad at the lack of snow here. So when she woke up in the morning and DH told her to look out the window, she was thrilled. We were hard pressed to convince her to allow everyone to dress warmly before going outside to play.



Catching snowflakes on her tongue...



It was REALLY cold, so DH convinced her to zip up her jacket.



Posing with daddy - isn't he handsome?





Sparky managed to last outside for a few minutes, but she wasn't really a fan of the hat, and my jacket wasn't warm enough for her, so we went back inside and made hot chocolate for The Princess to enjoy after playing outside as long as possible.



A couple pictures of the backyard after the flurries finally stopped.

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Easy Chicken Recipe

This is the easiest dinner I've ever made. You could probably make it in your sleep (I think I was half asleep when I put it in the crockpot this morning). Even though it's simple, it's really good.

Frozen Chicken Breasts (I used 3)
1 Bottle Italian Dressing
1 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Plop frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot. Cover with Italian Dressing. Cook on low for about 4 hours, then flip chicken breasts over and smother with Parmesan cheese. Cook for another 3-4 hours on low.

That's it! You can actually put everything in the crockpot and cook on low all day without turning everything over, but my chicken breasts were kind of big, and I wanted to flip them over halfway through to make sure everything was covered in Italian dressing. I wouldn't have needed to worry about it if I'd marinated them in the dressing overnight.

We really enjoyed this chicken. I served it with pan seared broccoli and Parmesan mashed potatoes. Even The Princess cleaned her plate.

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