i don’t have a big family. i know, i know.. that isn’t the norm for people in utah. the majority of my friends have at least 20 cousins (if not 50). guess what? i have a grand total of seven cousins—that is combined. i have two on my mom’s side and five on my dad’s side.
when i was a kid, i was always envious of my friends who had huge family reunions with hundreds of people and lots of games like three legged races, croquet and horseshoes. i have no idea where my envy came from, because looking back, i really don’t mind that i didn’t have giant family reunions. i actually really prefer my little fam.
the sad thing is that the few cousins i do have, i never really see. most live far from me and we never have family functions outside of the usual immediate family get togethers at my parents’ house. i didn’t see much of my cousins growing up, either. the visits are always few and far between!
my cousin, emily, was in town tonight. she’s my mom’s brother’s daughter. do you copy? good. emily grew up in washington state (where momma b is from) and so we rarely hung out. but i always really looked up to her. i LOVED to visit washington so we could hang out. ohh and i even got to wear a special dress in her wedding when i was a kid. she’s amazing.
tonight, emily came over to my parents’ house with her husband and three of her five cute kiddos.
aren’t they cute?!
the crazy thing is that there were a lot of first-time introductions. i had not met all of her children and they had not met marshall or my siblings’ spouses. although there were so many first-time introductions, it felt as though everyone had always known each other. that is the great thing about family.. you just feel comfortable no matter what.
momma b prepared an awesome dinner for everyone.
burgers, hot dogs, a massive bowl of fruit, scratch made potato salad and corn. lots of corn.
i used to be such a carb snob and insist that i could only have an equal carb to protein ratio with each meal. that was when i was doing body for life and in weight loss mode. this meant if i was having a burger (protein), then i could have one carb—either a bun, some fruit or an ear of corn. now days? i am maintaining and i went with all three.
although i did have a bit of self control and skipped the mayo-laden potato salad. i LOVE mayonnaise and when people are disgusted by it i tend to get a little confused. it’s good. for my taste buds, that is. not so much for my waistline. i save the potato salad for free meals. (although i will admit, a skiff of light mayo did go on the burger.)
i typically skip dessert at these get togethers—only because it is usually something i am not wild about and i don’t feel like i am missing out. unless, of course, the dessert is the best stuff on the planet…
nielsen’s frozen custard is better than any ice cream, frozen yogurt or gelato i have ever tasted. trust me, i have tasted A LOT of ice cream, frozen yogurt and gelato!
if you live in or visit utah, please make sure you snag some nielsen’s frozen custard. it’s cool, creamy and the most delicious stuff you will taste. promise.
i had a bit of chocolate and a bit of raspberry. the other flavor was lemon, which i did snag a bite of, but chose to go with two of my favorites. it’s probably good momma b didn’t get vanilla, though. once i start eating the vanilla custard, i really can’t stop.
yum.
it was great to catch up with my cousin and her family, albeit brief, no matter how much time passes between seeing her, i still feel close as ever. and em, i know you’re reading this—it was SO good to see you and your fam!
i am keeping this post short tonight because i have a project i am working on. i will tell you all about it tomorrow.
in the meantime, could everyone please do me a HUGE favor? my friend eden is in the running for a recipe contest. she is one of four finalists. the grand prize is $1,000! if she wins, eden has generously pledged the full $1,000 to go directly toward susan’s cancer fund.. medical bills are pricey!
please take a moment to vote for eden’s recipe: indonesian pork baguette (on the far right). you can vote as many times as you want—you just have to close the window and go back in. please vote, vote, vote and spread the word!
thanks!
Qs~
1. how many cousins do you have? are you close with them?
2. mayo: love or hate?
xo. janetha g.
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Definitely voting Eden’s thing over and over. And it IS far better than the other recipes!
Skiff?!! Did you make that up!?
Momma B looks amazing and fun to catch up with your rellies!
PS forgot to play by the rules:
1. Cousins- quite a few in sweden, but none here in this country. (So, no I see them once every 4 yrs or so)
2. Mayo- not a huge fan but if some happens to graze (skiff?!??!?!) my food, my taste buds are pleased.
duh! pork and carbs! heaven!
Haha I don’t know, have you not ever heard skiff? I learned it from my mom!
I have a ton of cousins-it’s what happens when your mum is the middle of SEVEN kids. I babysit for one of my cousins now-family is rad.
I made PESTO mayo yesterday. heaven.
Where in WA do your cousins live? I’m a Washington native, and I swear everyone I went to high school with had cousins in Utah.
They used to live in Kenewick–my mom was the first baby born in the Kenewick hospital!
I have a huge family. 50 + cousins. It is overwhelming and stressful at times (like when planning a wedding!) I’m glad Andy has a small family.
I am lukewarm about mayo. I like a smidgen of it at times but HATE it in things like tuna salad. Pesto aioli though? I love!
Aaah.. I got teary eyed seeing them and I so wish I could have been there! :( I think we really need to plan a reunion that we all can go to next summer!
I have a trillion cousins and they all have kids but we are all so close so it always makes for a good time!
I recently discovered grapeseed veganaise. totalfan, but before I did love mayo on my burgers, hotdogs, egg salad sandwiches ets. NO miracle whip.. blech.
and YES neilsens custard is amazing! I always get raspberry with almonds and brent gets cookies and cream. Double love
Brent is like me. I always get oreo concretes!
Thanks for whoring me out! (in the BEST way possible!)
Ahhh Janetha…you are my relative. And my baby momma. and your momma adopted me so we’re all connected!
When you put it like that, it’s kinda creepy. You are my sister that is a man and I am having your baby…
I have five cousins total, both sides. INCREDIBLY!!! small family!
“i used to be such a carb snob …” I sort of remember from the early days of your blog 24-26 mos ago that you were still doing BFL hot and heavy and I remember reading your posts and was like whoa…b/c I have always been Mrs. Carbs :)
Mayo, vegenaise, miracle whip…I could bathe in them. love.
I think that it’s a great way to eat when you are trying to lose weight! the problem is people totally overeat on the carbs (even the healthy ones) and gain weight. My body can’t handle TONS of carbs.. but every once in awhile it’s OK to have a few different carbs at a meal now that I am maintaining.
I have four cousins. Two of them are 20+ years older than me, and the other two live in NC (I live in Ohio). So it really feels like none. My dad didn’t get married until he was 40, and his older sister married when she was 20 so that’s the reason for the big age difference with two of the cousins.
Love mayo. I usually gross everyone out by licking the spoon (as opposed to rinsing it off like a normal person) after it has been dipped into the mayo jar.
OK–you have me beat! I have never done that! I love that you do that.
my one cousin has 9 kids so yes, we have a huge family!! crazy too. haha. And go vote for eden’s recipe everyone! you’ll want to eat the computer while looking at it!
just wonderful that you got to spend time with your family, j! and momma b did a great job on that meal – wow! never had frozen custard! “worth the drive to utah,” by the sounds of it!
i’ve got you beat: THREE cousins!! super small family. growing up i always wanted more cousins (plus an older brother and sister)…now i really love how close our small family is.
awesome job you are doing on the project.
1. how many cousins do you have? are you close with them?
-I have 12 cousins. 8 of them are on one side, in one family. Guess what? They live in Utah.
2. mayo: love or hate?
-Hate regular mayonnaise, love Miracle Whip!
Ohhh the never ending debate Mayo vs Miracle Whip! Haha. This is something I talk to people about often. I don’t dig the Whip.
That is so great that you hand a chance to hang out with your long lost family. I don’t have any 1st cousins but always wished I did. I hardly ever see my extended family either but I get to see my husband’s all the time! In fact, they are coming this weekend from Ohio!
Happy Friday love.
Momma B loks beautiful and she looks great! Tell her hello! What a nice spread of yummy food she put out, she is awesome, I LOVE the fruit salad, I would dominate that bowl! ha!
I do not have a huge family either, and as for cousins I have 5, I know, so small, I actually have 2 I have never met though, my moms brother has 2 kids, but he does not talk to them, so I never met them, i hope to one day, my family puts the “fun” in dysfunction, lol!
Love you! I am so blown away too by all the emails that were re: susan, so amazing! Im so proud to be part of such a beautiful community! Like I said, Im in to donate something!
love u!
Ok I voted!
I have maybe 20 cousins? Honestly I don’t know any of them — if I walked past them on the street they probably wouldn’t know who I was. They all live in southern WI and we’re in MN and we didn’t go see them much.
I love mayo!
What a great night with family!
I have ten cousins, but only see the four from my dad’s side as my mom’s family isn’t very close. I like little bits of mayo, but my husband could “literally eat it out of the jar.” His own words. ;)
Your mom just absolutely radiates warmth and beauty, I swear. Anyway, I am an only child but have a huge family–my grandma has 38 grandkids and 39 great-grandkids, so there are a lot of us. We don’t all see each other (and that’s not a bad thing), but I have a good relationship with a lot of them. As we’ve all gotten older, I think we’ve come to appreciate each other much more, even though there are states and cities between us.
As for mayo, meh. I tend to go minimal with condiments, and instead of mayo, I prefer smashed avocado or hummus :)
I only have 4 cousins…. I actually just starting to really get to know 1 of them. Spent a weekend at her house and it was awesome.
We were all close as kids. But since all the g-parents died, not so much. I’m supoer close with one of them. Almost like a sister.
My dad has 45 cousins… (He’s Italian, go figure, one of which is none-other than Miss Mary Lou Retton). I think my Mom had 20.
i have a small family too – the Husband’s family is a bit bigger than mine and they’re a lot close than my family is – they are always together!
I used to do the mayo thing, but now I avoid it. I guess since it was never my favourite to begin with, I figure losing it shouldn’t be a big deal – and it’s not!
Is it bad that I’ve actually never counted how many cousins I have? Maybe it’s because I don’t really see them much these days, but good ol’ facebook keeps you connected at least!
omg. before i got into clean eating, i ate mayo on everything from sandwiches to french fries. haven’t had it in AGES.
and yes, HUGE family.
1. I actually only have 2 cousins! My dad is an only child and my mom has two sisters, but only one had children. When my entire family got together in May, a grand total of seven people were there. I like my small family too :)
2.Mayo= gross. (Except with tuna and BLTs)
Oh no, Curried Chicken Almond Cups have such a large margin! More voting is in order.
LOVE mayo. Love it. I had actually never tasted the real thing until college (my mom always used Miracle Whip), and now I am hooked. It was the years of mayo deprivation…haha!
You poor thing! You better catch up on your mayo consumption!
I have 12 cousins & they live all over the US! I wish we could see eachother more.
I used to think that I did not like Mayo but I was totally lying to myself because I was in diet mode : ) Mayo = yum.
Seriously. A lot of people say they hate it because it’s sooo fattening. But come on.. it’s delicious.
I have a TON of cousins but no siblings! My dad is one of 7 and my mom is one of 4…craziness. I always wanted a brother or sister!
quality > quantity, right? I have about 20 cousins (then of them are married and have children, so my family has been expanding like crazy) and am fairly close to some of them, others? not so much. I’m actually one of the “babies” of the family, and have a cousin that’s 42 years old. How can I relate to him? I love and adore my large and in charge family, but love the idea of a small family too. It’s so much more intimate and allows you to forge really close relationships.
Mayo. love it.
I kind of chuckled at the Utah/big family comment.
I think that family is such a subjective thing. There are so many people I consider to be part of my family that I’m not related to at all!
I’ve never liked mayo and I wish I did because of all of the recipes it is in. We never had it in my house growing up so I think that has a lot to do with why I’m not a fan now.
i wanna play!
My dad has 9 brothers and sisters.. so I have about 20+ cousins and 8+ second cousins on that side and I have 5 cousins on the other side! I’m really not close with any of them, which is sad, but I fall in the middle of all of them.. either 4+ years old or 4+ years younger!
Mayo makes me gag… I won’t even let it in the house anymore! yuk! BUT, because of your blog, we now Greek yogurt is one of our most used condiments!
Your mom is so cute. I have quite a few cousins, but only 2 that I’m really close with. 1 is more like a brother really.
Your mom is so beautiful. :)
I kind of like mayonnaise these days, but definitely not enough to eat it plain or even often at all. I much prefer vegan mayo.
I hate mayo.
I don’t have a big family either. Some cousins I’m close with, others I’m not. It’s just a personality thing.
Looks like you had a great night!
Mayo…mixed feelings. Love it in potato salad hate it on my sandwiches.
And I think I voted for Eden’s recipe at least 50 times…excessive? I don’t think so…
Happy friday!
YESsssss thank you!
All my cousins live within 20 miles of me (except when a few are off to college). It’s pretty crazy. But I love it! That’s awesome you got to spend some time with your fam.
(Oh, and I voted and re-voted! I’m leaving the page up to remind me to keep doing it…)
Fabulous! Good idea!
I only have 1 cousin. VERY small family. My dad has one brother that has never been married and has no kids. My mom has one sister that has never been married and has ONE kid. She’s 8 years younger than me, and we aren’t very close. Maybe when she’s older. I don’t do well with teenagers.
Also, I am obsessed with mayo. LOVE it. I slather it on BOTH sides of any sandwich I make. Yum!
You win. Both at the cousin answer and the mayo answer. You need a prize!
Is “scratch made” a Utah thing? I’d never heard it before your blog!
I have 13 cousins in total but rarely see any of them because we live so far apart. When I was a kid, we’d always travel to my grandma’s for Christmas so I’d see a lot of them then but not as much any more. It’s too bad because I like them all and wish I knew them better!
I’m not a big fan of mayo. Unless it’s chipotle mayo; then I’m all about it.
Haha I don’t know?? I know Brandi from Bran Appetit uses it and she isn’t from here. But what do you say? Made from scratch?
Yep, made from scratch. Which is essentially the same thing so I wonder where the difference is from?
Most people I know say made from scratch. I just like saying scratch made… I don’t know if people in Utah even say that, actually!
As a mayo hater- EW! But we share an affinity for ice cream, so I forgive you!
my parents are both one of TEN kids so i have an obscene amount of cousins. funny though, i mostly hang out with the few on abe’s side.
Nice that you got the chance to see each other! I have 4 first cousins, and while I see them a lot, I’m not really that close to them. I’m the baby, so I tend to get left out!
My mom has FOURTEEN SIBLINGS, sooooo I have a ridiculous amount of cousins!!!! I love having a large family, the more the merrier! I already plan on having at least 3 kids because I want my kids to experience the aspect of a big family.
I guess I’m on the fence about mayo. I like it in moderation! I really like Kraft’s chipotle mayo and their horseradish dijon mayo.
I have 5 first cousins, but a very huge extended family. My mom had 10 aunts and uncles and my dad had 9 aunts and uncles. (Catholic familys like to procreate! :) ) and I only have 1 brother, but we were all pretty close growing up even though they were all teenagers when I was born and a couple of them were in their 20s when my brother was born (my mom was the baby and had us in her mid/late thiries.) And my dad’s cousins were like sibilings to him so I’m pretty close to them as well.
I love Mayonnaise. I want to try making my own since it’s a French thing (and I’m 1/4 French), plus that way I would know what was in it.
Yep Nielsen’s IS amazing. And I hate mayoniasse…. sorry :( But I LOVE fruit salad! Looks like it was fun!!
Sometimes the best things come in the smallest packages! ;)
Ahhh frozen custard sounds like just the right remedy for my newly extracted wisdom teeth mouth :(
I have a lot of cousins on my mom’s side, she’s one of eight kids so I would say perhaps 20 first cousins (I’ve lost count due to the drastic age differences between us all)
As for mayo…not a fan, unless it’s some flavorful aioli or garlic mayo in a sandwich
I can totally relate. I have 4 cousins total, one on my Dad’s side and 3 on my Mom’s side. I would have loved to have a bigger family when I was little but now that I’ve been around my boyfriends HUGE family I really appreciate having a small family.
I have more cousins than I can count honestly. I guess that’s what happens when your parents are divorced and they each have more than 5 siblings that each have at least 3 kids. Lol. As for mayo, that would be a big no thank you for me! I would sure eat more than my fair share of that fruit and custard though! Lol
I only have a couple cousins, and I hate to say we’re not too close anymore. One just recently moved to our city so I’m hoping to see more of him :)
mayo is one of those Fine Line things for me, I can have a little of it, but if I think too much about it I have to take a break. ew. ;)
oh and I voted for Eden! :D
50?60? somewhere around there. That fruit salad is beautiful. Submit it to foodgawker. for real.
I voted for Eden! Oh my. Medical bills. That never crossed my mind because we have health care in Canada. (Lemme tell you, it rocks.)
1. I have FOUR first cousins, and two of them are adopted. I’m not close with ANY of them, at all.
2. Hate, hate, hate. I don’t know what it is, really, LOVE mustard & plain yogurt as substitutes!
I’ve never tried frozen custard before but its looks delish! I’ve been using greek yogurt as a mayo replacement for so long that I think I’ve forgotten what is tastes like!
I have quite a few cousins, but I’m not really close with any of them. We get along, but just don’t live close enough to have a relationship.
Mayo…no way!
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