The Gibbsters

* Artist's Rendition

Alright folks, we’re less than two weeks away from the baby’s due date. With the big day drawing near, we thought it would be fun to hold a little competition for everyone to try out their guessing skills. Make your guesses at any of the following:

• Date and time of birth
• Weight
• Length/height

We’re giving away a $10 iTunes gift card to the closest guesser in each category. It’s not Price Is Right rules here, so no “$1″ guesses. Whoever guesses the closest, even if they go over, wins. Ties will be decided through a random number drawing. If you guess more than once, only your most recent guess counts. No purchase necessary to enter. Void where prohibited. Blah, blah, blah.

In the interest of fairness, here’s all the facts we have:

• His official due date is May 11th.
• In the last ultrasound we had (3/7), it was estimated that he weighed 3.7 pounds and his due date would be May 6th.
• At her last appointment (4/27), the doctor told Natalie it looks like he’s not coming until May 11th.

Good luck, and happy guessing!

Several weeks ago, one of my coworkers introduced us to the YouTube sensation Baby Monkey (Going Backwards on a Pig). It’s a video that’s been watched over 6 1/2 million times featuring, well, a baby monkey going backwards on a pig. What really burns this video into your mind though is the catchy, high-pitched tune that accompanies the ridiculous footage. If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out below.

So why am I talking about a video of a monkey riding a pig? Well, my incredibly talented coworkers surprised us with this very clever spoof, in honor of our soon-to-be new arrival:

And in case you haven’t seen the original, here it is:

This is a video that Carter, one of the guys in our video department at Imagine Learning, created.  It makes me laugh so I thought I’d share.  If you’re not familiar with the company you may want to read the explanation below first.

Twice a year our company has a Sales Conference, where they fly all the sales reps from around the country into Utah for a week.  When this first started we thought it would be fun to play a friendly game of basketball with the production team (Programming, Art, Video, Support, and Testing … basically those who work in the Utah office) versus the sales team.  Soon the smack talking began, and before we knew it it had turned into a major event.  It’s now tradition that whenever the sales reps come into town there’s a basketball game.  In the beginning the games were close, with the sales team winning most of them.  Over time, however, the gap has grown (we think it’s because the application for a sales position asks about basketball skills), and the last meeting was an absolute throttling.

So what does that have to do with this video?  Well, as the economy began to take a turn for the worse last year, it looked like it might not be fiscally responsible to fly all the sales reps into town for the Sales Conference, meaning they would forfeit the basketball game and the production team would finally revel in victory.  But who were the real masterminds behind this global financial crisis? …

Well, it’s that time of year again. That’s right, holiday goody time. Where we all loosen our belts a little and enjoy the sweets like never before. Because after all,  everyone’s diet starts January 2nd.  I thought some of you might be interested in knowing what we delivered to our neighbors and perhaps you might even give some of these recipes a try. Enjoy!!!

Christmas Goodies

Nutter Butter Santas

Nutter Butter Santas

Makes about 32 cookies

• 1 Package Nutter Butter Cookies
• White Chocolate
• Shredded Coconut
• Mini Chocolate chips
• Small round red hot candies
• Red decorating sugar

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Next, melt chocolate in a double boiler (You can make your own double boiler by filling a large pot up with a few inches of water and then putting a metal bowl inside). Dip bottom of Nutter Butter cookie in white chocolate. Sprinkle bottom with coconut and let cool. Next dip top of Nutter Butter cookie in white chocolate and sprinkle with red sugar. Assemble eyes of Santa with mini chocolate chips by dabbing a little white chocolate where you would like the eyes to go. Use the red hot candy for nose.

Mini Cheesecakes

Mini Cheesecakes

Serves 12

• 2 Packages Cream Cheese
• 2 Eggs
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 12 Vanilla Wafers
• Canned Fruit Pie Filling

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixer or food processor combine softened cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well. Line a muffin tin with foil cup cake liners and place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each foil cup. Pour mixture into each cup until 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes.  Let cool, fill the middle of each mini cheesecake with a table spoon of pie filling. Refrigerate and serve.

Oreo Truffles

Oreo Truffles

Makes about 26 Truffles

• 1 Package Oreo Cookies
• 1 Package Cream Cheese
• 1 Package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 2 Tablespoons Shortening
• Chocolate Sprinkles

Place Oreo cookies in food processor and blend until cookies are broken down into crumbs. Next add cream cheese and mix well. Scoop mixture up with table spoon and roll into balls. Place Oreo balls onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes. Next, melt chocolate in a double boiler and add shortening. Mix well until chocolate is smooth and shiny. Dip Oreo balls in chocolate using two spoons and place on wax paper. Sprinkle each Oreo ball with chocolate sprinkles. Let cool and then refrigerate.

Challah Braid

Challah Braid

• 3 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose or bread flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 package regular or quick active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 cup very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg

1. Mix 1 1/2 cups of the four, the sugar, salt and yeast in food processor. Add warm water and oil. Blend in food processor on low for 30 sec. Add egg, blend until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
2. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. place dough in large bowl greased with shortening, turning dough to grease all sides. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated up to 24 hours.) Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
3. Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening. After pushing fist into dough, divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into 14-inch rope. Place ropes close together on cookie sheet. Braid ropes gently and loosely; do not stretch. Fasten ends; tuck ends under braid securely. Brush with vegetable oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place 40 t0 50 minutes or until doubled in size. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix 1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water; brush over braid. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

They (whoever “they” are) say you should never talk about politics or religion because those are two things that can invoke some very heated discussions.  However, my brothers David and Ken have posted some political commentary on their blogs and it has inspired me to do the same.  I don’t claim to be an expert, or even know that much about politics for that matter, but I thought I’d share some random thoughts.  Just so you know where I’m coming from, I consider myself a (small L) libertarian and am a registered Republican.  If you like Obama, McCain, Bush, or the current political state of our country you may want to pass this one over. (more…)

This recipe is one that my mother use to make for us when we were kids. I’ve made it for Eric several times and now he craves it. We both give this one 5 stars!

Taco Casserole

1lb. ground beef

1 medium chopped onion

14 oz. tomato sauce

1 package taco seasoning

1/8 tsp ground pepper

1/8 tsp ground hot pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 small can green chilies

1 small can olives (drained)

1 bag shredded 3 cheese Mexican mix

12 small corn tortillas

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 cup chopped green onion

Directions:

Heat Oven to 375

Combine beef and onions in skillet. Brown beef and cook onions until translucent and drain off juices and fat. Second, add 3/4 can of tomato sauce to mixture. Next add taco seasoning, pepper, hot pepper, and cumin. Mix in well then fold in green chilies and olives. Heat mixture all the way through, add the rest of tomato sauce if needed, and set beef mixture aside.

Butter bottom of 9X13 casserole dish. Next butter the tops of  the first 6 tortillas and arrange them in the bottom of baking dish so that the entire bottom is covered. Spread half of beef mixture on top of buttered tortillas. Next sprinkle half of the Mexican cheese mix on top of beef. Afterward, butter the remaining 6 tortillas, place them over the beef mixture and layer the rest of the meat and cheese like before. Finally drizzle chopped green onion over the top of the casserole. Bake @375 for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is heated through.

Cut Casserole in to sections and serve hot with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream, and spicy salsa.