hugs and giggles

Todd's lost it ...

2009-07-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

Todd's really lost it this time. I don't know what caused it, but late Sunday afternoon, he sat down at the computer and started clicking around. I knew he was searching for something in particular, but I figured he was just dinking around, looking at houses, or something like that (he's always doing that).

Later, I sat down at the computer. The screen was dark, because it hadn't been used in a half hour or so. I moved the mouse, and in a few seconds I was very confused by what I saw. I won't give you all the gory details, but there was a picture that looked something like this ...

What on earth was he doing? So I asked him.

"I think I'm going to do a triathlon." Yeah right, I thought. But I feigned support and told him that would be a great idea. In my head I was thinking, "Don't even think about dragging me into this." I wasn't really too worried about it at that point, however. I figured this would pass, just like the "I wanna be in a rock band" phase a few years ago.

Imagine my surprise when, the next morning, he still had it on his mind. I guess he might actually go for it. So instead of doubting him, or making fun of him, or something cruel or backhanded like that, I decided to support him ... so I bought him this ...

All joking aside, I'm excited for him to do it, and I wish I could do it with him, but the one he wants to do is on Thanksgiving Day, just a few months after the baby is born. Probably not the best time for me to be running, biking and swimming every day to train.

He's going to do the 6th Annual SW Valley YMCA Sprint Trathlon & Duathlon in Goodyear. And, to make it even more interesting, Brenna wants to do it with him. There's a great kids version (1 mile run, 4 mile bike and 100 yd swim). Brenna has been having so much fun with swim team this summer, she was excited when she heard what daddy was up to. So now, it's a daddy-daughter challenge.

If anyone wants to join the fun, follow this link and go to the bottom of the page for more information. If you want to do it, but aren't sure you're up to the challenge, just remember Todd's new motto ...

ready for the 4th...

2009-07-02T08:49:00.001-07:00

You can't celebrate the 4th without red toenails.
This is in honor of the founding fathers! They decided that this same costume will work around Christmas time too.
The decorations are pretty sparse but Charlie doesn't care. Everytime he looks at the balloons and these little twirly things he says, "this be fun".

lovin' summer...

2009-07-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here is what we've been up to....

Playing...

Swimming, swimming, swimming...that's almost all we do! Brenna goes to swim team every morning at 7:15. Then we go to the pool at the gym or someones house. I'm not complaining either. I love being in the water and taking the weight of the pregnancy off my back...it's a GOOD thing! The down side is being pregnant and getting into a swim suit.

Eliza just finished her "Princess Musical Theatre Camp". The end performance was so cute! She loved coming home each week singing the songs and showing some of the "moves".

Emma Grace likes to rock climb while Eliza is doing her soccer class at the Rec center. Charlie is just dying that he can't do it! The minimum age is five...sorry kiddo!

I consider this "my playing"! A little decorating and rearranging...of course! It's a sickness I have...I'm addicted to it! I have to clean, rearrange and decorate...I can't stop myself! I was so excited to arrange all of this in our front room. It's taken me a good couple of years of thinking about how I wanted to do this.

Father's Day...
I promised Todd that he would have a nice big bowl of Fruit Loops for Father's Day! Oh...I love and appreciate him way more than that! We did the works! Breakfast is Todd's favorite meal of the day. So we had different kinds of muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, orange smoothie and the kids enjoyed a chance to have Fruit Loops.
Check out Charlie's blank stare. He is still in disbelief that he is about to eat Fruit Loops for breakfast!
The children had a great time creating a giant framed picture of themselves with all of their drawings all around it for Todd to hang in his office.

Crafting...
We invited Madison and Sheridan and Kirstyn to come and do some hand embroidery with us one afternoon. They all really loved it! We turned all of their artwork into little pillows or door hangers.

Brenna has had fun doing several different designs.

watching tv....

This is a classic picture of Emma Grace and Charlie starring into the TV. I walked into the room with them sitting just like this. I just had to grab the camera to get a picture. Charlie just loves being with Emma Grace. She is really sweet to him.

dancing...
The girls had an awesome dance recital. We love their dance studio and we love all of their teachers.

It is really hard for me to believe that this was Emma Grace's 5th spring recital. Where does the time go? Seriously it wasn't that long ago that she did a dance in an adorable little yellow costume and had a duck hat on for her tap routine. This past year she had Sheridan, one of her best friend's, in her class which made it that much more fun. Not to mention that her teacher, Ms. Christine, was amazing! Emma Grace's jazz dance was "Wild Child" and they had to shake their head and make their hair all crazy for one of the dance moves. She loved that part and loved practicing it at home. Her tap dance was "Walking on Sunshine".

Brenna is quite the little tap dancer! She did the dance perfect and smiled so cute the entire time. They danced to "Choo Choo Ch Boggie".

This was Eliza's first recital. She tap danced to "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and her ballet dance was to "Boogie Woogie Jitterbug". She was so smiley and giggled all the way through her ballet dance. It was really funny! We asked her later what she was so giggly about and she didn't know. But she remembered all of her steps and did a wonderful job.

vacation...

We had so much fun visiting my family in Kentucky for 10 days. That deserves it's own post so I'll save that for later.

my kids are so "Incredible"...

2009-07-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

...and I can honestly say that!!!

They have watched "The Incredibles" a couple of times this past week and are loving it! You're looking at a picture of "Violet"(played by Emma Grace), "Dash"(happily being played by Eliza because she likes to show that she is a really fast runner), and "Jack-Jack"(no coincidence at all that he is being Jack-Jack...he can turn himself into a ragging ball of fire anytime, day or night).

2009-04-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

The worst thing about getting behind on my blog is that now I don't remember half of what I would have written for this post. So I'll do my best!

This is the little roller coaster in Toon Town. It was Charlie's first experience with a roller coaster. We had no idea that he would love it so much that he would insist on getting in line over and over and over. Then, when given the opportunity, he rode the Matterhorn with Dad, and kept his hands over his head (at least until the first big drop).

Todd and the girls convinced Granddad (who has a serious claustrophobia problem) to ride the Thunder Mountain railroad ride. There are several tunnels that Todd and the girls swore were "no big deal". Poor Granddad thought he was going to die. He was white as a sheet nearly the whole time, and kept asking Grammy "is it almost over?"

Then ... we spent some time in California Adventure ...

The Mulholland Madness ...

The little kids' play area ...

Charlie was so bummed to find out that he's just a little too short for the floating jelly fish ride.

That rocket ship thing that spins around and flys over the lake ...

Charlie loved the "and 'yond" (short for "To Infinity and Beyond") ride (aka, Toy Story). You can't tell it from this picture, but he had pretty good aim with the little gun.

This is us in the hotel lobby after a long day at the park.

easter morning...

2009-04-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

The children woke up Sunday morning and were immediately at our bedside saying the Easter bunny had come. They had already found Charlie's basket! We rolled out of bed and each found their baskets one at a time. Emma Grace said, "I hate getting older because the Easter bunny hides my basket in hard places".

Charlie's basket was beside the TV in the family room. He wasted no time going for the candy. Although, funny thing, he carried around the sucker ALL DAY and hardly asked for us to open. He just liked carrying it!
Emma Grace found her basket in the very difficult hiding spot ;) right in the cupboard where the pans go. You can see in this picture that each of the children got a picture of the Savior in their baskets.
Eliza found her basket in the front room bombay chest(I think that is the "technical" name for it...around here we call it "where we put Charlie's clothes). She finally got her night time eye mask. It's a frog mask which made it even better!
Brenna, our little game machine, got a game of pit. Yahoo! It is pretty fun!
And of course the Easter Bunny made another mess on our front porch.
I love holidays with kids! It was so magical for them again this year to open the front door and see big paw prints, money and eggs(filled with cookie crisp cereal for breakfast). The part that is even better is that the Bunny hops around the street to all the houses with kids and leaves the same "mess". All the kids on our street love it!

easter pageant...

2009-04-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

While Mom was visiting, we attended the Easter pageant at the temple. It is so wonderful to be able to go to this with our children(well, right now just Brenna and Emma Grace) and watch the story of Christ's life. I am so grateful to have the knowledge of a Savior who died for my sins and broke the bands of death by rising on the third day. I'm grateful for the Spirit in my life that guides me daily as I fulfill my mission on this earth.

To get a good seat you have to go early and eat dinner while you wait. This is when you make a quick trip to Little Caesar's for their $5.00 pizza's.
And then you top it off with a visit to Dairy Queen next door to the temple. Voila! An hour has now passed and it's time for the pageant to start!

easy easter nests...

2009-04-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is a really simple Easter treat to make with the "littles". I got the "recipe" from Eliza's preschool teacher. I called her to get the recipe and thought that it was going to be several things like peanut butter, karo syrup, etc. Nope...three ingredients...

1 pkg butterscotch chips
1 pkg chow mien noodles
easter egg candies of your choice for the eggs

Melt the chips and stir in the chow mein noodles. Let the kids shape them into nest and put the eggs on top.

Here is what I get when I ask them to turn around and smile. Check out Eliza's expression. They crack me up!

easter egg hunt....

2009-04-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

We joined the Stapley family again this year for an Easter lunch and Easter egg hunt. We love being with their family and really appreciate their friendship.
Eliza is styling in her new pair of boots. This is now her third pair. She completely wore out the last two pair until their were holes starting to show in the bottom. We'll see if she can love "Hello Kitty" as much as she loved the caterpillar boots and the cherry boots.

Brenna is now the old pro at Easter egg hunts.
I love Emma Grace's expression in this picture. It's so fun to discover things!
Charlie being just...oh so cute! I could just eat this kid up on a daily basis.
Nothing like good friends and good times. This is the crew after the big hunt and before the sugar high begins.
Okay...really....loading a bunch of kids in a old wagon never goes out of style. Good memories of the old red wagon and friends!

dog school....

2009-04-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Dog school is so fun when one of the dogs is real! My other two girls had to just use their stuffed animals to play dog school when they were this age. Eliza set up all the toys and got Missy's treats out. Missy was really good and got lots of treats.

Oh, it's fun being 4 and playing pretend!! Life is good!

happy 34th birthday....

2009-04-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yet again....Todd had a birthday! They just keep coming these days and I'm not far behind him. The years keep passing and the hair line keeps receding but I love him even more on his 34th than I did on the 33rd!

Here are 34 reasons I love this man(without getting too personal of course!)!

34. He works hard for our family.
33. He is so patient with me.
32. He makes me laugh.
31. He runs 3 or 4 times a week.
30. He takes me on a date night almost every week.
29. He would rather spend time with me than anyone else(and vice versa for sure)
28. We like the same kind of movies. (movie candy...junior mints)
27. He likes all the food I cook(even when my experiments don't work).
26. He makes the best chocolate chip cookies.
25. He adds secret ingredients when he cooks and asks us to guess what the secret ingredient is.
24. He remembers all the good stuff.
23. He is really kind hearted to everyone.
22. He helps with house work.
21. He does his own ironing.
20. He thought he could run a 1/2 marathon without an ipod. (Then he realized that sometimes I do have good advice.)
19. He loves going to see Broadway shows with me.
18. He can't do the Nettie Pot.
17. He flosses.
16. He can't make himself buy a new pillow because the one he has is shaped perfectly to his head and neck.
15. He loves BREAKFAST! (waffles, omelets, donuts,sausage, pancakes...really anything "breakfast")
14. He can't go barefoot ANYWHERE! He had his shoes and socks off recently in the house and it really threw me off. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "ya, I better go get socks on".
13. He calls me several times a day to check in with me.
12. He ALWAYS says "I love you" to me when getting off the phone. In fact, he has a little bit of a phobia about not telling me he loves me. He's afraid something might happen to one of us and we would regret that that was not the last words we said to each other.
11. He is a morning person.
10. He is always so helpful with our new babies and patient with me while my hormones are REALLY whacked out!
9. He doesn't watch sports.
8. He doesn't go spend money on things without talking to me about it first(and the other way around).
7. He can't sleep with socks on.
6. One more funny foot thing....he can't stand for his feet to be wet and pruney!
5. His wardrobe is very simple.
4. He is breaking his terrible habit of drinking milk straight from the jug...hurray!!
3. Cheese, cheese, cheese on everything.
2. He can play the piano, guitar, and drums by ear.
1. He is my best friend!!!!

another millipede?...

2009-04-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

Why do I let things like this come home?

Maybe because I know they will only live a couple of days. So I just grin and bear it and send a little container to school for them to pack them home in.
Emma Grace was all too excited to take of the squirmy little millipede. She has quite a love for all creatures which I'm proud of to a certain extent. One day she ran home crying from the neighbors house because her sisters and their friends had killed some bugs that were in the garden. It took me a while to calm her down. A few weeks ago I finally had to tell her that flies pooped every time they land so that she'll get over her kind hearted instinct towards flies. I'm sorry but if a fly is in my house, it's got to GO.

It was only a fews months ago that Brenna brought a millipede home from her classroom after doing a science unit on all kinds of creatures.
Look at these girls huddled around this thing. They passed him around and around.

When I was talking to my neighbor and obviously preoccupied, Emma Grace came up and grabbed my hand and put the millipede in my hand. Talk about jumping ten feet in the air. Ew! Gross! I don't like squirmy things! I'm just glad that my genetic problem with bugs didn't get passed on to my three girls.

emma grace's school musical

2009-04-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

Before the show started, you would have thought Charlie was the star of the show. I didn't even bother trying to make him stay of the risers, it would have been completely useless. But he hurried off the stage as soon as it started.Emma Grace had a little speaking part and did great! She spoke up loud and clear.

Really...the show was so cute. The music teacher at their school did an amazing job. And the parent volunteers did an incredible job on the backdrop.

Emma Grace had a great time performing!

to Santa Claus....

2009-04-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

This morning when Charlie woke up he had a pacifier in his mouth and one in each hand. It was only 6:00(too early for me these days) and so I just brought him down to my bed with the pacifiers in tow. Before we got up though, I had him surrender the pacifiers for the day just like we always do. But this morning I had the random thought of saying maybe we should put all of his pacifiers in a box and mail them to Santa Claus. We been talking about getting rid of them for a while. From time to time I'll say something about him being a big boy and it's almost time to give them away. Charlie was thrilled to death and couldn't wait to find a box.

We found a box. Went to his bedroom and gathered any remaining pacifiers. Put them in the box. Got the tape out and taped up the box. Then Charlie said, "name on it". Apparently he knows a little bit about mailing a package. We put Santa's name on the box. Then we had to draw on the box a little bit and top it off with a stamp. He put it in his back pack and we were off to the post office. Well, as soon as I got ready for the day which took way too long in Charlie's opinion.
I couldn't resist taking my camera for a quick pic and a stool for him to stand on so he could open the mailbox himself and put the box in.

There was no return address and the mailing address said "north pole" so I guess our little package of pacifiers is off to nowhere land. But Charlie couldn't have been more proud of himself. When we left he kept saying, "good job".

He was really happy about this until naptime. Normally, he snuggles right down in his crib with his pacifier and blankets. But this time he said, "pa?"(short for pacifier). So I asked him where his pacifiers were and he said "gone". It took some calming him down, some singing, some crying and then about 40 minutes later he fell asleep. Ugh...I waited too long with this kiddo.

Santa is no longer going to be the hero in Charlie's mind. He will be the big guy who took the pacifiers. Maybe he'll forget before Christmas rolls around.

time to play "catch up" again....

2009-04-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

I told you I LOVE catch up (not really...I love ketchup) but I'm so far behind on my blog that I better get busy. Here is my list of blog posts that I really want to get done. I figure if I write it down then it will make me accountable to DO IT.

1. Disneyland (what an awesome spring break we had going to Disneyland with Grammy and Grandad)

2. Emma Grace's spring musical at school. (It was so dang cute!)

3. Todd's birthday.

4. Emma Grace's milipede. (Why do I continue to agree that creatures like this can come home from school?)

5. Week long visit from my mom. (Including Easter pageant, Ice cream truck, Conference weekend)

6. Easter. (Including Easter Egg hunt, making an Easter treat with the girls, Easter afternoon at the Stapley's)

Okay...now I feel overwhelmed by all I need to post. I thought this blogging thing was suppose to be NO pressure!

REPOST...conference weekend....

2009-03-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

This is my post from last conference just in case anyone wants an extra idea for conference weekend. We will definitely be doing this again. The children have been looking forward to conference for months now. I'm so excited that they feel apart of it.

Here is the old post...

Conference weekend was so wonderful! For several weeks I had kept thinking about how I could help my children get the most out of conference and make them feel like it wasn't just for adults. I read a couple of ideas on blogs and in the Friend magazine and then I began to pray about. I prayed that inspiration would come that I would know what I could do for my family to enjoy conference. And the ideas started to come just the week before conference. It took some planning but it worked out and I think the children got more out of conference than ever before...including the four year old.

Friday night (the night before conference) Todd and I set up the TV in the living room instead of it's usual place in the Family Room. Our living room is a little bit more formal. This is where we have all of our Family Home Evenings each week. So I felt like this would help the children to not feel so casual about conference. We moved the couches closer and faced them toward the TV. We set up a banquet table right next to the couch. I made a "quiet zone" sign. I had a different SIMPLE craft that wasn't messy and didn't make noise ready for each session. I prepared everything for a picnic at the park. I hung up all of the topics on our conference wall(I'll explain). And I had a little notebook and cards with the apostles pictures on them for each child.

That kind of sounds like a lot. But it really isn't...I promise!

(All three girls working on those beads that you put on the little "frame" and then you iron to make a picture)

We got up and got ready Saturday and Sunday morning at least thirty minutes before conference was to begin. This helped us to have enough time to have family prayer and to talk to the children about what we were going to do and the "rules" of our conference room. The rules were...this was a quiet zone. They were welcomed to leave the conference room if they needed to but while they were there they needed to be reverent and show respect for others who were listening. We talked to them about the activities we were going to have for them to do quietly at the table and about the conference wall.

Several days later when Eliza had a friend over to play, I heard her say to him, "we had a conference day and it was so fun!" That made all of it worth it!

Of course the afternoon sessions were a little bit better simply because we didn't have the two year old recking havoc!! NAPTIME!

In between Saturday conference sessions, we went to the Park to have a picnic and run around. It wore them out and they were ready for a second session. Megan (our adorable babysitter) went to the park with us. We like having Megan around anytime! The girls had a blast running around with her while I snapped pictures. They saw a duck with a dead fish in it's mouth and thought that was simply disgusting (but cool).

This is a picture of part of our conference wall. I'm not sure who this wall helped more...me or the kids. By putting a picture of the apostle who was speaking up next to the topic they were speaking on, we ended up with a visual reminder of all of the talks. I'm a visual learner and I was able to tell you almost exactly what each speaker talked about the next night at Family Home Evening when we went over all of them.
The girls loved it! They each had a stack of cards with a picture of the apostle on one side and information about them on the other. On our largest wall in our living room, I posted pictures about different topics that might be talked about during conference (examples: sacrament, temples, word of wisdom, gratitude, prayer, etc). I got all of the pictures by going to http://www.lds.org/ and going to the Friend magazine section. Then I clicked on the section for coloring pages. I printed off a bunch of pages that the girls and I then colored. Then I laminated each of them. When an apostle got up to speak, the girls would get out their cards and listen to what they were talking about. Once they knew the topic, they would go and put the picture up on the wall. When Elder Bednar gave his talk on prayer, the girls all quickly put their pictures up on the picture of prayer. About midway through his talk he said the word "gratitude", Eliza quietly looked up from her picture she was working on and whispered, "gratitude...should I change my picture?". So she got up and changed Elder Bednar's picture to the gratitude picture.
Honestly, I can't believe how well it helped us to learn from conference. So the conference wall is a definite keeper in the Hall family traditions.

mickey mouse hot dog song...

2009-03-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

If your kids watch "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", you'll know what I'm talking about. The "Hot Dog Song" came on and suddenly I look over and Charlie is dancing and swinging the diaper over his head. And can I say, unfortunately, how appropriate the song is....I know I shouldn't say that...but funny! Really...is this the kind of stuff that comes along with boys. My friends tell me it is! :)
That's what I get for not putting his clothes on right away. (I had to iron his shirt)

pigtails or ponytails...

2009-03-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Every morning Eliza struggles a little bit with letting me fix her hair. You wouldn't believe the distractions I've come up with. So it's not very often that I even try to do pigtails in her hair...I'm just not up for the fight!

But today at preschool they were celebrating "St. Patrick's Day" and suppose to wear green. She had on her green shirt and pink and green flip flops. The only thing missing was some cute pigtails with two green ribbons. Without saying anything to her, I went and cut two green ribbons. I came downstairs and said, "Eliza, you're not going to believe this but I found two green ribbons. It will be perfect for pigtails today." I thought this would be my in for pigtails. Oh No! She immediately told me she didn't want to do pigtails. I started to try to convince her that it would be so cute for "green day". And she continued to disagree. I was about to give up when finally she said, "Not pigtails but two ponytails on the sides". I quickly agreed and went to work!!! Happy day and cute little pigtails!

so cool...

2009-03-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

No...I'm not kidding...Charlie picked out this "get up". The coat, the tie{can't you just picture Todd wearing that on Sunday's?}, and the hat! When I asked him if I could take his picture, this is the pose he got into. I couldn't convince him to pose any other way. What a funny kid!

march fo{u}rth fun...

2009-03-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

After eating our "footlong"{anything to do with marching} subs and talking about all the great goals that we had set, the kids took turns leading the marching band around the house. It's the one time a year we eat dinner to and then march to "Yankee Doodle" and "When The Saints Come Marching In"...boy, these are good times!!

Every good party has to have at least one game. We played Jenga! This is just before it fell!

minor accident...

2009-03-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

If you look close to Brenna's cheek you can see a bruise. It actually looks a little worse in person. While riding her bike to school last week, she looked behind her to see Madison and she ran into a car. The car was not moving and there was no injury to the car and (as you can see) only a minor injury to Brenna. She has laughed and made jokes about this little accident since it happened. It's good to see that she can laugh at herself for something that could have been embarrassing.
And yes, she was wearing her bike helmet. Emma Grace and Brenna have both been so awesome about wearing their helmets. And now that Brenna has had a little scare she is on the "you've got to wear your helmet" bandwagon.

By the way, notice the tooth that is missing. It finally came out after weeks of pushing and pulling on it.

and the winners are...

2009-03-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

And now ... the moment you've all been waiting for ... the judges (who also happen to be the participants in the event, but we're ignoring the obvious conflict of interest issues) have returned from deliberations and it's time to reveal this year's Golden Boot recipients.

It was a tough choice for everyone! Everyone did great and we are looking forward to another year of goal setting and Golden Boot recipients.

And now ... without further delay ... the winners of the 2008-2009 Golden Boot Awards are ...

Adult Winners:

1. Tara
2. Liz

Children Winners:

1.Spencer
2. Cody

the GOLDEN BOOTS

March Fo{u}rth 2009

2009-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is March Fo{u}rth!

Celebrate today by marching fo{u}rth in life. This is my favorite quote about setting goals. I used this last year on my post but decided to use it again.

"I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When you learn to master the principle of setting a goal, you will then be able to make a great difference in the results you attain in this life." -M. Russell Ballard“Go for It!,” New Era, Mar 2004, 4

Here is the list of all of the goals that were set by everyone in my family for this next year!

Happy goal setting!!

Todd: Write a book

Journal every night

Liz: Have a complete rotating 3 month supply of food, water & supplies

Be able to do a 1 hour yogo routine on my own

Memorize the Proclamation to the World on the FAMILY

Brenna: Save $100.00

Audition for at least 2 plays and perform in at least one

Read 5 books over the summer vacation

Learn 2 songs out the “Top Hits” piano book

Emma Grace: Save $30.00

Memorize 3 songs from the Primary Passages Piano Book

Eliza: Learn to count by 5’s and 10’s

Ride my bike without training wheels

Learn to tie shoes

Charlie: Be potty trained

Scott: Be more patient in traffic

Work on a year supply of food

72 hour kits for us and kids

Tracey: Blog at least once a month

Learn something new each quarter

Work on a year supply of food

72 hour kits for us and kids

Bradley: 26 mile over night hike

write in his Gratitude journal everyday

Go to Hawaii with Sarah

110% Home Teaching

Find a new hobby

Sarah: Start and complete "my story" journal jar

Go to the temple once a month

read 12 books

Send out birthday cards

read and study all of the D&C and church history

Alyssa: Learn to read

Learn 3 Articles of Faith

Send somthing via mail to somebody in the family once/ twice a month

Corbin: Ride his bike with no training wheels

Learn 3 Articles of Faith

Learn months of the year

Send something via mail to somebody in the fammily once/twice a month.

Ava: Learn some shapes and colors, and start talking.

Miralyn: Learn to knit

Accomplish preparedness 3 month supply

Attend the temple once a week

Brian: Lose 20 pounds and look like supermodelquin and then only gain half of it back.

Read the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenant

Brady: Run a 40 dash in 4.7 seconds (currently at 5.1 seconds)

Connor: Hit a home run in baseball

Callie: - Learn to sew with her new sewing machine

Ashlyn: Learn to ride her bike

Tara: Improve on journal writing (right now it's zero so anything is better than what I'm doing now)

Continue/Finish reading all of President Hinckley's talks

Attend the Temple each month with Gary

Be 15 minutes early to Church each Sunday

Go on a cruise with Gary

Gary: Weekly Sunday night planning and goal evaluation with Tara

15 minutes early to church each week

Bare testimony in church 4 times in 2009

Read EQ and Sunday School lessons each week.

Monthly Temple attendance with Tara.

Run a half marathon

Run 450 miles

Read an entire book (my choice)

Buy a home

Save an undisclosed amount of money each month

Mom(Peggy): make two quilts

write in journal once a week

Read the D&C by July

Read from Alma to the end of the Book of Mormon by December

Dad(Bob): write 300 wills

finish Bishop’s book

give 6 talks (conference, sacrament, funeral, baptism)

Julie: Read Gone With the Wind (not just watch it)
Take the boys to a food bank or homeless shelter to help
Organize my extra bedroom and get rid of things (junk) in my house
Start a blog (Maybe if I do this, it will be my journal writing goal!)
Take a Ballroom Dance class (Maybe I'll meet somebody there!!!)

Cody: Learn to play the drums (if mom can figure out where to get some-any suggestions)
Earn 10 merit badges
Read 10 books about World War II

Garrett: Earn 100.00/save 50.00 (discuss this one with him)
Try out for a play at one of the many theaters around here
Bare his testimony 3 times in Sacrament Meeting

Susan: 100% visiting teaching
Sew two quilts
Start a blog

Drew: Learn more about the Savior (especially the atonement) by reading the Doctrine and Covenants and selections from the New Testament, attending the temple 18 times this year, and studying the Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister.

Keep running even after the Ragnar. Run 1000 total miles this year.

Nichole:

Ethan: 100% Home Teaching
Read the Book of Mormon every day

Alexa:

Spencer: Read to Alma in the Book of Mormon
Complete a long Hike
Save $100.00
Share his testimony in Sacrament & or Home Evening 6 times

Tanner: Learn to Read
Learn to ride a bike w/o training wheels

Addison: Memorize 5 Articles of Faith
Pay 100% tithing on time
Write in her journal every Sunday

March Fo{u}rth is coming...

2009-03-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

We have a fun tradition{this is our third year} in our family to celebrate March 4th. It's the only day of the year that is also a "command". So everyone in our family{all of my siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews} set goals to work on to help us MARCH FO{U}RTH. It's a fun way to celebrate making goals and teach all of the children how to set goals.

We start off with marching music, playing a marching drum, eating footlong subs, tracing the kids feet on a big white tablecloth{getting it embrodiered, of course}, and then telling everyone what our new goals are going to be for the next year.

Again this year someone will win our GOLDEN BOOT AWARD for accomplishing their goals. Yep...it's a GOLDEN BOOT with a little bit of cash inside for fun. I have been emailing with everyone in our family to find out exactly what they did to accomplish their goals. Everyone will soon vote for one adult and one child that they felt BEST accomplished their goals. So Fun!! Everyone did great!!

{okay, so the boots look a little cheesy and yes they came from a garage sell for a buck and are spray painted gold...this isn't the GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS!}

Here are a few of the goals that were set AND accomplished!! Wa-Hoo!!

Journal everyday*run the Ragnar Relay*read the entire Book of Mormon*read all of President Hinckley's talks*learn how to ride a bike without training wheels*run 800 miles*learn to play the piano*attend the temple monthly*recieve cub scout and scouting merit badges and ranks*go camping with family*learn to read*learn to do big cartwheels*sew a quilt*

We'll find out on MARCH FORTH who our GOLDEN BOOT AWARD WINNERS are for this year!! And we'll see what amazing goals everyone has set for this coming year!! So look for a post on March 4th!!

more spilled milk and more...

2009-03-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

This morning {I didn't take a picture} but I started off the morning by cleaning up a milk spill about the same size as the one in the picture. I had to get out the mop and all! Meanwhile I was making a smoothie and apparently I didn't get the bottom of the blender on tight enough. {I'm not kidding} it was only one minute later after cleaning up the milk spill that I took the blender off the base and the bottom of the blender came right off and smoothie went EVERYWHERE. So here we go again. While I'm cleaning up the smoothie, the girls come into the kitchen and inform me that Missy just threw up!

Mercy...the day is going to get better!!

80's hair...

2009-02-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

While we were in Rocky Point in January, Brenna and Eliza both decided to get their hair braided. This is the result when the braids are taken out. I had this exact hair style when I was twelve...poofy!

Todd couldn't resist have Brenna and Emma Grace pose like they were at a high school dance in the 80's. Too funny! I don't think they got why they were doing this.

charlie soup....

2009-02-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

One morning for breakfast I made some oatmeal for Charlie. Then he wanted me to put some cheerios in it. Then a little bit later I look and he is at the water cooler putting water into it. He is crazy but knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it. He ate the whole bowl.

quilty as charged...

2009-02-21T07:24:00.001-08:00

I walked around the corner at the same time that I heard Brenna say, "no Charlie!". And there was Charlie with an empty milk jug in his hand and milk all over the table and floor. Hey...he wanted some milk and took matter into his own hands.

Lesson learned: Don't leave an open container of milk sitting on the table at breakfast time.

questionable canning roasts...

2009-02-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

I've been canning chicken for a while now and have really seen the benefits...saving money, chicken ready to go into recipes(time saver). So I thought that the next time roasts went on sale, I would try it out. You know...it might be good for beef enchildas, stroganoff. Roasts were on sale at safeway last week for 1.79 a pound(I might be a little off on my cents there). I bought several roasts and canned a little bit.

And I thought the chicken didn't look so great canned....hmmmm...not so sure I'm going to be able to open this up and shred it and eat it. We'll see!

a prayer finally answered...

2009-02-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

Emma Grace took her first horseback riding lesson last week. She has been daydreaming about it, talking about it, and begging Heavenly Father in all her prayers for about 2 years now. I arranged the lessons but decided I would wait and tell her when I picked her up from school and was taking her to the lesson. Todd wanted to be on speaker phone in the car when I told her. He knew the screams of excitement that would happen. It was fun to be the one to tell her and take her. I'm excited for her new adventure!!!!
Todd's boss insisted that he buy Emma Grace riding boots and a riding helmet. And then he brought all kinds of random horse stuff to Todd at work...bridles, led ropes, etc to give to Emma Grace. He was very generous. He says it's because he loves horses so much and neither one of his kids ever got into it. So apparently he is living through us for a moment....and Emma Grace doesn't mind one bit.

valentine's morning...

2009-02-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's we always do a Valentines breakfast and give our little sweethearts a little gift. We've been giving Valentine's gifts to our kids for 10 years(that's how old Brenna is) and Todd still, every year, says "I don't know why we have to give them gifts for Valentine's". What a stinker! Don't you give a little gift to your sweethearts on Valentine's??? Please tell Todd if you do so he knows I'm not the only one.
I make pink heart pancakes that sometimes don't really look like hearts!
We gave Brenna a little High School Musical freeze dance "thing". All the kids love taking turns doing it.
All of my children love all the small animal toys. Emma Grace got the siamese cat "Puppy in my pocket" set.

Eliza and Charlie both got fun little tents. You can never go wrong with a tent.

Here is my Valentines Day gift secret though....

all gifts are purchased after Christmas at Target for 75% off.

Todd and I went on a date night for Valentine's. Dinner at Charleston's...Movie at Gilbert Stadium(we knew it would be the least crowded)...Dessert at Oregano's.

I love all my sweethearts and love to show them and tell them everyday of the year...not just on Valentine's!!

i love valentine's...

2009-02-13T21:06:00.001-08:00

This is my favorite holiday!! There is something about red, pink, white, and hearts!
Several weeks ago while we were on our typical Sunday walk, I came across this rock. Be honest...have you ever seen a rock that looked more like a heart. Oh the simple things in life that get me excited! Then two minutes later I looked down and saw this leaf. Wow...it was just a lovin' kind of day! I had to wait and share it on Valentine's Day.
Here are the yummy valentine's cookies that the kids gobbled up all week. I'm on a no sweet thing. So I'm happy to say I only had a couple at the beginning of the week before I started my "no-sweets-thing". Yes...I'm dying right now for a great piece of chocolate cake, cheesecake, chocolate chip cookie...something. But I promised myself I would wait until our Valentine's date night to indulge. Then it back to no sweets for another week. We'll see how this goes...I'll let you know!

this is how I'm feeling right now....

2009-02-06T13:22:00.001-08:00

oh, please just don't let one of the plates fall!

monopoly...

2009-01-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

Tonight as part of our Family Home Evening we played monopoly town{the children's version of Monopoly}.
Do you see the little guy in the car to the right? This little guy provoked my husband tonight. He was not a happy man! The game is fun except for a minor problem with how Mr. Monopoly works. He kind of messes up the game. Parker Brother...you need to figure that out.
Although lucky for him, his monopoly luck works in Monopoly Town too. He won by buying 6 tall buildings and taking money from all of us. Can you believe this man? He says that it's because of all the prayers he said as a child that he would one day be able to win monopoly. {He's kidding!} But really...when he was young he remembers playing monopoly with his dad and brother{his brother is apparently a monopoly genious} and he says he NEVER won. He has issues!!

stroller give away...

2009-01-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

Bumbleride Indie Twin Stroller

Check out this great giveaway. I found this on my sister-in-laws blog. She thinks she's going to win it but she's not...I am!! :) I wouldn't even tell you about it but it's the only way to get entered into the drawing ten more times. Check it out! How good would I look pushing this thing!

rocky point...

2009-01-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

I sat down to blog about Rocky Point and Eliza is sitting on my lap. I told her that I was going to blog about Rocky Point and she said, "No mom, it's a secret. You can't tell anyone about my beach." Yes, she (and the rest of the family) affectionately call Rocky Point "Eliza's beach". When we drove to Rocky Point for the second time a couple of years ago Eliza was just young enough to not really know where we were going but to just be along for the long drive. When we pulled up to the condo, Eliza shouted out with much excitement, "my beach". She recognized where she was and was really excited.
So the girls decided that Eliza is the President of the beach. Emma Grace was elected vice president. Brenna is the Sergeant At Arms. She is still trying to figure out what her duties are. Todd is the treasurer, of course. I'm the secretary...yep, I get all the grunt work of the beach! And Charlie is the noise-maker. This is a position my dad made up when I was young for "officers" of Family Home Evening. Kind of funny but we had officers and my parents would change it up every once in a while. The baby was always the noise-maker.

So for the third year in a row we went to Rocky Point for the new year. It is so relaxing. We take all of our food and supplies with us and literally never leave the beach and condo. We have zero interest in Rocky Point itself...just the beach. And because there is no TV, no phone, no internet, it is the BEST FAMILY BONDING TIME. We love it!!

We play on the beach all day and at night we all curl up(except Charlie...when he's not the noisemaker anymore we'll invite him) and watch a movie on a tiny portable DVD player. This time it was "KUNG FU PANDA"(2 nights) and "WALL-E"(1 night).

We always take cookie dough for the movie.

Because the water is way to cold, we just play in the sand all day and search among the tide pools for whatever creatures we can find. We always seem to find lots of creatures and this time was no different. Check out the interesting things we found....
a dead sting ray
I'm not exactly sure what this is but it's cool. We found a couple of them.

This was Missy's first trip to the beach and she loved it! The waves scared her a bit at first but she quickly got use to the back and forth motion. She went to the groomers the day after we were back....wet dog with sand all in her fur...yuk!

Our favorite things to do at the beach....
walk along the beach.

watch the sunset.

play in the sand...
write in the sand...
dig in the sand....we always dig a GINORMOUS hole when we are there. I just know that one morning we're going to find a bunch of drunken Mexicans in it that fell into it during the night walking along the dark beach. It hasn't happened yet. If it does, I'll take a picture and blog it!

feed the seagulls BIMBO bread. If you know Mexico, you know what bread I'm talking about.
And have I mentioned lately how much I love this man. Really...if I had nothing else in my life but him, that would be enough. He is the greatest! Just had to throw this picture in there even though I think it's a really gross picture of me. Todd put this picture on Facebook as his profile picture and I just about died...oh my! But oh well, I'm over it.

favorite trail mix...

2009-01-13T11:56:00.001-08:00

I am a big, big fan of trail mix's...NOT THE STORE BOUGHT KIND THOUGH!! In fact I would have to be pretty hungry before I ate any of the prepackaged mixes. I know, I know...get over it! It's a terrible thing to be a picky eater. Todd teases me that I would have never survived a mission. I agree 100%.

I don't have measurements but I will tell you what I put in this one. Just dump in however much you like...3 bags of M&M's might be a bit much though. :) Although if your kiddos are like mine, they will only eat the M&M's which messes up the mix. You've gotta have the right amount of everything in each handful.

TRAIL MIX

cheerios
honey roasted peanuts
craisins
peanut butter M&M's
Just Bunches (Honey Roasted flavor)

Here are some other things I like in trail mixes:
pretzels
popcorn
sunflower seeds
raisins(I probably prefer craisins)
dried fruit (mangos, bananas, apples)

I just love the sweet and salty thing....allllot!

old-fashioned beef stew

2009-01-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

This is a great beef stew recipe that I've used for several years. It's off of Martha Stewart's website. Oh...yummy winter comfort food. You gotta love it!

Ingredients

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
12 small carrots, peeled and trimmed
12 small pearl onions, peeled
8 to 10 small new potatoes, peeled

Directions

In a bowl mix together flour, salt, and pepper. Roll beef cubes in the mixture to coat. Shake off excess. In a medium Dutch oven, melt shortening over high heat. When very hot, working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, add beef and cook until brown. As each batch is finished set aside.
Return beef to the Dutch oven, and add 4 cups boiling water. Stand back, as it will splatter. Stir, and add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, onion, bay leaves, and allspice. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add carrots, onions, and potatoes, and cook until vegetables are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 30 to 45 minutes more.

clean carpets and tile....

2009-01-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Today I had my carpet and tile cleaned. Oh...so very needed!! I'll be honest. It's been about 3 years since I had the carpets cleaned and I've never had the tile cleaned since we lived here. It's inspired me to do more "spring" cleaning.

So I'm obviously giving you my recommendation to use them. They are the nicest guys (they are also the owners of the business) and did a great job! You have to use them....

Call Tim or Jeff at 480-678-0890.

And I don't just give recommendations on just anyone.

christmas 2008 update...

2008-12-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

I didn't do much blogging about all of our Christmas "activities" so I'm going to give the synopsis. Maybe that means I was too busy enjoying everything we did...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

PINK CHRISTMAS....

For the third year in a row, I participated in "Pink Christmas". It's a girlfriend gift exchanged of handmade items. My friend, Kristi, started it 3 years ago with (I think) 80 people and this year 250 women participated. Kristi also picks a few families in need and everyone donates money when they sign up that all goes to those families. Really cool!! So this is a picture of what I did this year(I promised my mom I would put it on here so she could see!) Pretty simple this year...flower clips on a wire "board". I didn't take a picture of what I received(lame). It was great! A handmade apron, box of Alaskan chocolates, and an Alaskan knife. You guessed it...the girl who had my name is from Alaska.

DANCE RECITAL...
Brenna did an awesome job on her tap and jazz dances. She won't be taking dance classes starting in January. She auditioned for the local performance of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and that will be taking up most of her time for January and February. So we'll start dance classes again after that.
Emma Grace was awesome! She has such a cute dance style and has LOVED her teacher this year. She has been taking dance with Sheridan this year. They love going together each week. Unfortunately, Sheridan threw up in the car on the way to the recital so they turned around and went back home. Bummer for Sheridan. She was so excited to dance.
Eliza had this smile on her face nearly the entire time she danced. She LOVES dance class and that is an understatement. She asks me nearly everyday if she can go to dance class. This cute little white costume was for "Suzy Snowflake"...too cute!
The highlight of our Christmas season was Eliza learning the dance to "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas". Now six days after Christmas I want to strangle the person who wrote the song. It was fun at first but we have now listened to the song at least 800 times...no exaggeration!
We mostly listened to the song that many times because of this little guy. This is the look he had on his face during the entire recital...no joke! He concentrated so hard on every move. Then he came home and insisted that we play the hippopotamus song over and over and over again while he taught it to himself. We pulled out some old tap shoes and he can't get enough of it. It may just be inevitable...he may be a tap dancer.

SHARING TALENTS...
FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TRADITION...
Todd and I took Brenna and Emma Grace to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Centre Theatre. Can I just say it one more time...I love living here. How lucky are we to have such a wonderful local theatre. When you come out of the theatre, after the show, the cast is standing there singing Christmas Carols and there is a snow blower over the doorway. AH...fake snow...again...I love living here.
Check out Brenna's flip flops with her cute outfit. I'm raising an Arizona girl! Before the show, we went to Joe's BarBQ to eat. We loooovvvvee Joe's! We love Joes too because he is single handedly reviving downtown.

TEMPLE LIGHTS...
Look at this beautiful nativity in front of the temple. The lights are so beautiful at the temple and we are so blessed to be able to go each year and enjoy them!
This is our family in front of the statues of Mary and Joseph with the donkey going to Bethlehem. Beautiful!
We figured out the best was to take advantage of the temple lights with a family this year. It only took us 5 years to figure it out!! We went during the middle of the week and got there at 5:30 before the sun was even completely down. By the time we got out of the car and over onto the temple grounds, the sun was down and hardly anyone was there. We walked around, enjoyed the lights, and went home for dinner. Oh...what a beautiful thing!

NATIVITY....
It's been tradition in my family my entire life to dress up and read the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve after having a Christmas dinner. Because we have typically been here without family, we often invite other families to come and do this with us. This year the Taylor family and Norton family came. Todd set up a great Nativity in our backyard. Unfortunately because we had been having so much rain the grass was a little too wet and muddy so we set it up right next to the porch. All the adults read scripture verses from the Bible to retell of His birth.
Emma Grace was Isaiah foretelling of Christ's birth.
Brenna was the angel who came to Mary(& the angels who came to the shepherds).
Eliza was a Wiseman(girl). Courtney was an angel. Brenna and Courtney decided that they would hang from the sides of the nativity...you know..."fly like angels".
Valerie was a Wiseman(girl)
Tony was a shepherd. In this picture it looks like he may have been a shepherd bearing gifts. But really, he was the cutest shepherd. Couldn't you just eat him up. This would be a good time to mention that Charlie(Tony's buddy) did not participate in our nativity. Ten minutes before everyone came Charlie threw a major tantrum and Todd and I decided he would make a wonderful Shepherd next year and we put him to bed.
Laine was Mary and Adison was Joseph. Because we had so many girls and Mary is "the main part" we had to draw names to see who would play the starring role. Laine filled her responsiblities beautifully. , and
GIVING & RECEIVING...
This is probably my favorite memory of Christmas.

The kids all get a chance to go to the dollar store or Target dollar spot with their own money to shop for everyone for Christmas. They all wrap their presents and on Christmas Eve they get to give out all of their gifts. It is so awesome to watch them be so giving and so grateful for the things their brother and sisters gave them.

So in the picture Brenna is hugging Eliza for the gift she just received and Brenna is giving a gift to Charlie. Look at the expressions on all of their faces. They love it!
CHRISTMAS MORNING...
Who is that peeking under the tree?

Christmas morning we opened gifts after running through our Santa wall and saying a family prayer.

Brenna got the Marionette that she had no idea she was getting. She has played with it nonstop.
Emma Grace got the horse she's been dreaming of.
Eliza got the camera she wanted so that she could be like mom.
Charlie got the Buzz Lightyear that will drive us all crazy by saying, "to infinity and beyond". Or as Charlie says, "and yon" and then flies around the room.

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST...

Charlie finished off the Christmas season by enjoying a wonderful breakfast of a giant Hershey kiss and candy from his stocking. This fourth child thing is working out pretty good for him.

miracles do happen...

2008-12-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

all of my children smiled and looked at the camera. Of course, the picture right after this one is of Charlie picking his nose. Oh the joys!!

play dough...

2008-12-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

Charlie was in his own little world today playing with play dough. He cut the play dough and lined the little pieces up along the table. He made sculptures(I use that term loosely!) of our dog Missy, Frosty the snowman, and a house.
When I told him that his lunch was ready he said, "I not done yet!" Finally I just put his lunch right next to the play dough and he took a couple of bites in between creating all of his masterpieces. When Brenna came home from Activity Days and offered to take him outside he told her, "I not done yet". What??? He never refuses a chance to go outside with his sisters. Finally when it was time to set the table for dinner and he told me again, "I not done yet", I had to set up another little table for him to play with his play dough. I had to pry it out of his hands to go take a bath after many failed attempts to convince him that he could play with it again tomorrow.
This is the sculpture of Missy(our dog). Maybe it's only because I'm his mom, but I see a resemblance!
I promised Charlie that we would make him a fresh batch of play dough tomorrow. This batch was already starting to dry out but after these little hands played on it ALL day long, it's time for some fresh stuff for sure.

If you're using the store bought play-doh, you have to try this recipe. It is so worth a little bit of time to make it. It is so much better than store bought. It stays fresh soooo much longer. You can add color if you want. I've figured out that my kids really don't care if it's colored or not so I don't bother.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups cold water
food coloring
wooden board
plastic bag or container
1. In a medium saucepan, mix together the flour, salt, vegetable oil, cream of tartar, and water.
2. Cook uncoverd over medium heat, about 5 minutes. Stir constantly until the dough is the consistency of mashed potatoes.
3. Divide the dough into four equal portions.
4. Add approxiamatley 6 to 8 drops of food coloring to each portion and knead the color into the dough to distribute it evenly. Knead the color into the dough.
5. If you store the play dough in a plastic bag or airtight container, it will last a really long time.
(this recipe comes from MarthaStewart.com

800 miles

2008-12-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

It felt wonderful to complete my 800th mile this morning! Todd woke me up at 5:00 and said, "ready to go running?". I looked at the clock and said, "have you lost your mind?". Thank goodness for his motivation some days. We ran at a pretty moderate pace the whole time until the last 3/4 of a mile. Then I told Todd I was taking off. I ran as fast as I could. I had to make that last mile count. It felt great!! This picture was actually taken in February when we ran our first half marathon. We probably looked about the same this morning when we went running. Thanks Todd for helping me make my goal...you're the best!

Of course, I'm not going to quit running but it will be nice to move on to some other fitness goals for 2009.

Set goals and you can do anything!!

gingerbread house...

2008-12-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

This is something you almost never see....me in the pictures. We love making a gingerbread house every year. You would think that after 10 years of making these little houses that we would somehow master it...oh no! Every year a wall caves in, things slide off the icing, but the kids love it so we keep making them.
Eliza loved dipping things in the icing and then licking all the extras off her little fingers.
The finished product!...we'll keep our day job!

pomegranates & gingerbread...

2008-12-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

So our Christmas traditions start with POMEGRANATES. This started a couple of years ago when we were on a walk and went past a pomegranate tree that was losing some of it pomegranates. I broke one opened and somehow got the girls to try it. They loved it! Now every Christmas when the Pomegranates are in the store, they ask for one.
I'm actually not really sure how you're suppose to eat a pomegranate but here's how we eat them.
-outside(because they can get messy)
-bib for little ones(because they can stain)
-take one little piece out at a time and suck the juice out
-spit out the little seed inside(another reason to be outside

The girls LOVE the juice from the pomegranate seeds. And it's healthy! Yippee! What a novel idea in the Hall home.

I LOVE the smell of gingerbread at Christmas time. The girls love cutting out the little guys and gals. We doused our gingerbread people in sugar...enough of this healthy pomegranate stuff!

funny things...

2008-12-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

Did you say..."jibby"?

From time to time the girls like me to tell them what they did when they were born. Sounds silly! But they like for me to tell them what they did in the delivery room because each one was really different. So we were going down the list...

Emma Grace didn't make a sound and it made us really nervous. The nurse had to tell us that she was okay, that some babies don't scream in the delivery room.

Eliza didn't cry either(for a little while) but she was more wide eyed then I thought newborns could be. She was looking up and all around like she already knew what was going on. My thought, "oh my, what am I in for?". She is still wide eyed and think she knows everything.

Charlie...screamed! No actually he was probably the most "normal" although by number four I realized that almost anything was normal.

So we were talking about all of this and suddenly Emma Grace, knowing that Brenna screamed and screamed from the moment she took her first breath said, "Brenna cried like a JIBBY when she came out!"

I love it! None of us are sure that "jibby" really means anything but we are having lots of fun making up definitions and using it in sentences. We figure that jibby can describe almost anything.

We love to say "Thank you"...

So recently I taught the primary children at church the song, "Children All Over The World". In the song we sing thank you in different languages from around the world. Some of them are "tak", "merci", "gracias", "kansha-shi-ma-shu".

At dinner we make a point of making sure everyone says thank you to whoever made the meal. So mostly it's a big round of "thank you mom". Lately they have all been using their knowledge of how to say thank you in different languages at the dinner table. One night dad was included in the thank you's. Emma Grace said to Todd, "tak". Without missing a beat Todd said, "be quiet". We laughed and now everyone says "tak" for "thank you" and "be quiet" for "your welcome".

canning chicken....

2008-11-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

I finally canned chicken this past week and I'm so sold on it! I wasn't going to blog about it but my sister asked me if I would and because I'm such a fan of it now, I couldn't turn her down.

Reasons I think you need to can meat too:
1. It's so easy. Don't be intimidated, it's much easier than you think.
2. You will have chicken ready to put into recipes anytime.
3. It's cost effective. Buy a whole bunch of chicken when it goes on sale and can it all. I bought chicken tenders for only $1.77/pound at Sprouts last week. Each pint jar will hold one pound of chicken. Do the math...$1.77 for a jar of chicken ready to go.
4. You will have a 3 month supply of chicken sitting on your shelf in no time for super yummy dinners!!

The directions I followed came with my All American Pressure Cooker as well as advice from the food storage guru herself, Wendy Dewitt. She has a book out now and her blog is http://www.everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/

And here is my little disclaimer....If you choose to follow my directions, I cannot be held responsible for any damage or accidents that may occur. I highly, highly recommend reading the instructions that come with your pressure cooker. There I said it...my husband{an attorney} would be so happy!

What you will need:
Raw chicken
Salt
Pint jars (one pound of chicken per jar)
All American Pressure Cooker(mine is model #921 and will hold 14 pint jars)

STEP 1: Put your raw chicken and ½ tsp of salt into a clean jar. Stuff it in there pretty tight to make sure you get a full pound in there. Fill jars to ½” from the rim. NO water is added to the chicken. The juices from the chicken will cook out of the chicken during the cooking process and your chicken will be covered with juice. STEP 2: Wipe the rim of the jars. If the rim is not clean it could cause the jars not to seal properly.
STEP 3: Place the clean lids and screw bands on the jar. Do not OVER tighten the screw band.

STEP 4: Fill the pressure cooker with about an inch and a half of water.

STEP 5: Put your jars into the pressure cooker. 7 on the bottom rack and 7 on the top rack. Stagger the jars.
STEP 6: Put the lid on the pressure cooker {without the weight}. Tighten two wing nut bolts down at a time on opposite sides of the pressure cooker.

STEP 7: Turn the heat on high and watch for steam and small drops of water to start coming out of the vent.

STEP 8: After about 7 minutes of steam coming out of the vent, put the weight on the pressure cooker and watch for the pressure gauge to reach 10 pounds. Once it has reached 10 pounds of pressure and the weight is jiggling and sputtering several times a minute then begin timing your chicken for 75 minutes.

STEP 9: Once the 75 minutes is over, turn the heat off and leave your pressure cooker alone. Let it cool!! The pressure will slowly drop to zero. It is VERY important to NOT open the pressure cooker until it is cooled and the pressure has completely dropped. I learned my lesson the hard way on that one!!

{voila, here is the finished pruduct. I never said it was going to be beautiful. It looks like cooked chicken in a bottle!}

STEP 10: Remove the chicken from the pressure cooker and sit it on a towel on the counter. Let it continue to cool and check your seal to make sure the top are all on properly. Then you can rinse the bottles and then they are ready to be stored. I remove the screw bands to wash them and store them so that you don't end up with chicken broth under the band.

I've read that chicken can stay on the shelve for up to 3 years but that for taste and nutritional benefits a shorter shelf life is recommended. I personally won't let my sit for more than a few months. I will use it and replenish it when chicken goes on sale.

brenna...

2008-11-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

I'm learning how to use photoshop. What do you think? Compare it to the pictures below it and let me know what you think. I WANT feedback...don't be shy!

Fun taking pictures....

2008-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

People say Brenna looks like me...now I believe them!

How funny is Charlie all sneaking in this picture! I thought it was perfect.

ohhhh! So handsome!

eliza...

2008-11-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

eliza's silly face...

2008-11-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

soccer....

2008-11-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

Eliza has taken a soccer class at the Rec center for the last couple of months and she LOVES it. Everyday she wants to know if she gets to go to preschool, dance, or soccer. She just likes being busy. I have no idea where she gets that quality!

She was the only girl in the class and it didn't bother her one bit.

The greatest thing about 4 year old soccer....just pick a ball....any ball!

halloween parade at school...

2008-11-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

Emma Grace with her teacher, Ms. Brycen.

Emma Grace with Anika. These two are inseperable! They are so funny together and seem to have the exact same sense of humor. They never stop laughing!! As soon as they see each other they start getting goofy.

Emma Grace with Sheridan. These two will alllwwwwaayyyys be friends. When they started talking, I think their first words were each others names.

Emma Grace and Courtney. Emma Grace adores Courtney. Peace out dude for good friends!

friends over for breakfast...

2008-11-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

Occasionally a few friends show up for breakfast around here! Apparently Eliza thought these friends would enjoy some "Oh's" cereal. I had to take a picture of all of them hanging onto her bowl.
This is the morning after Halloween and these are the cute little friends that the "Great Pumpkin" left for Eliza in place of her halloween candy.

halloween fun!

2008-11-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

Here are all of the cute trick or treaters on their way out to harrass the neighbors. On the left are two of our cute neighbor friends. I was hoping to get a picture of more of the kids on our street, but I was too late. Lauren and Rachel are the pirates. Eliza{witch}, Emma Grace{cowgirl}, Brenna{home depot employee}, Charlie{vampire}.

Eliza was way too excited to look at the camera or wear her witch hat for that matter. Why is it that we even bother buying hats to go with costumes...they don't wear them.

The Gallman family in our neighborhood have a cotton candy machine every Halloween. They live in one of the cul-de-sacs. Needless to say it ends up being a party over there.

After some trick-or-treating, we went to the Stapley's for a little more Halloween partying. Todd tried on one of the teenagers wigs and Charlie thought it was pretty cool.
Because Halloween really is all about eating more sugar than you really should in an entire year, we enjoyed yummy homemade donuts from Lori.

I hope Lori doesn't mind if I share the easy trick....you just use canned biscuits, cut a hole in the middle, fry them and dip them in powdered sugar or cinnamon/sugar. Brenna and Madison were in charge of the sugar part!

I've never tried them before and unfortunately they are really good. So now I'm having a harder time passing by the canned biscuit section of the grocery store. Maybe it will have to be a FHE treat someday soon.

And then Brenna's annual tradition of sorting into very specific piles begins. Madison came over to help. Madison is missing part of her costume in this picture but she is a spider web. She had a giant spider on her shoulder. It was so cute!

On the way home, Todd and Eliza got separated from the rest of us. Todd was feeling like a bit of a kid again I guess because they continued to trick or treat. Eliza sat in the stroller just like this and Todd wheeled her up to the door where people just dumped candy onto the pile. Todd and Eliza both were pretty proud of their accomplishment.

happy halloween

2008-10-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

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Last night we went to the Stapley's house to carve pumpkins. We had no idea we would be learning from the master....Sean! He showed us how to do these cool designs. Brenna and Emma Grace carved theirs with almost no help.
It got us all in the mood for Halloween!!

apple day!! hooray!!

2008-10-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to getting apples all year. My children LOVED the homemade applesauce last year. I canned a little bit and it last for about a month. They went through it sooo fast.
So this year I ordered 50 pounds of these little guys and I'm turning most of them into applesauce. Maybe it will last us a little longer.

I borrowed Mrs. Kerri's {Eliza's preschool teacher} awesome apple peeler, corer, slicer. This is now on my wish list for Christmas and Birthday. This is the best thing EVER!

Homemade applesauce is a gorgeous color! And the taste is SOOOO much better than store bought. Here is the recipe. I highly recommend you try it! It's so easy!

Applesauce

6-7 apples, cored and cut into eighths{I've used Fuji and Golden Delicious. Others I hear are good are Rome, Gala and Braeburn}

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 lemon, juiced {I used 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice...don't tell Martha}

In a medium saucepan, combine apples, sugar, water, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until apples are soft. Remove from heat and transfer to a food processor and puree. Store applesauce in container for 3 days. OR process the jars in a steam canner for 20 minutes.

fall time pictures

2008-10-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just feel like getting some cute pictures of your son when he is being cooperative.

halloween shirts

2008-10-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

These little shirts are simple to make. Get some cute, vintage orange fabric. Iron on some "wonder under" and cut a pumpkin shape. Iron it onto the t-shirt with a little bit of green ribbon tucked underneath. Stitch around the pumpkin in black.
I did one for each of my girls and they all wore them to school {& preschool} on Thursday with orange bows in their hair. I wanted to take a picture of all three of them before they went to school but we were rushing out the door. Brenna choose a different fabric from the same vintage collection...it was really cute!

all stitched up for halloween

2008-10-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

The girls love doing crafts! So I got out some brown and orange felt and some embrodeiry floss and things got a little silly after that. Before I knew it, Eliza was using her foot to help her pull the needle through and everyone was laughing hard.

riding horses...

2008-10-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Emma Grace was ecstatic to receive a card for her birthday that said she could go ride horses. I called my good friend Becky whose family owns horses and arranged with her for Emma Grace to ride. So one afternoon after school, I took Emma Grace over to their riding arena to ride with their daughter Amberlee. Amberlee does barrel races at the rodeos. She is great! And Emma Grace's horse was all too happy to stay right next to Amberlee's horse. Emma Grace was in heaven and did NOT want to leave. After about 1 1/2- 2 hours, it was time to go. The first thing out of Emma Grace's mouth when she got down off the horse was, "when can I ride again?".

quick chicken stir fry

2008-10-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this for Beckie who has now made the Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe a part of her family's staples!!! You will love this fast and easy stir-fry. The next time we have this meal I'll try to remember to take a picture to post.

Ingredients
4 PILGRIM'S PRIDE Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Halves
1 (14-oz.) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
1 to 2 Tbsp. chili-garlic paste (I don't have any of this. I just use some garlic powder.)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger(I just use ground ginger)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups packaged matchstick carrots(or just grate regular carrots)
1 red bell pepper, cut into slices
1 green bell pepper, cut into slices
2 green onions, sliced
Hot cooked rice
Preparation
1. Cut chicken into 1/4-inch-thick strips; place in a shallow dish.
2. Whisk together chicken broth and next 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Pour half of broth mixture over chicken, reserving remaining broth mixture. Turn chicken to coat, and let stand 30 minutes.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade, discarding marinade. Add chicken to wok, and stir-fry 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add carrots, bell peppers, and green onions, and stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes. Add reserved broth mixture, and cook 1 minute or until thickened. Serve over hot cooked rice.

oatmeal chocolate chip rice krispies

2008-10-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

Try this variation of rice krispy treats. The oatmeal and honey add a little bit of flavor and hardiness to them.
3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons honey

4 cups marshmallows

3 cups rice krispies cereal

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add honey and stir until smooth. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Combine rice krispies and oatmeal in a large bowl. Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal. Combine. Once cooled just a little bit then add the chocolate chips{so the don't melt} or put them on top once you've put the bars into a 9 X 13 pan. Cool and cut into squares.

i love ketchup...

2008-10-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

I really do love ketchup! I was raised on it. Ketchup goes with anything....the usual hot dogs and hamburgers and the unusual eggs and pancakes, chicken, roast. My mom use to eat ketchup sandwiches when she was a little girl. Her Grandma Heninger would make them for her when she came in from riding horses.

But this time I'm talking about getting caught up on my blog. I've been going crazy posting and still have more ketching-up to do.

a day with no kids...

2008-10-21T20:09:00.001-07:00

Look what I did today with no kids at home between 9am and 3pm...

1. Went to the temple

2. Shopped for a gift that I've procrastinated.

3. Got the car washed.

4. Made a drop off at Goodwill.

5. Pick up Eliza at Preschool and took her to Ingra's.

6. Went to the bank.

7. Took Missy to the groomers.

8. Took a DVD back to Blockbuster.

9. Cleaned the kitchen.

10. Vacuumed the entire downstairs.

11. Mopped the entire downstairs.

12. Cleaned two bathrooms.

13. Dusted downstairs.

14. Picked up Missy from the groomers.

15. Washed, folded, and put away 2 loads of laundry.

16. Wrote 3 blog posts.

A mom needs a day like this every once in a while just to get caught up!! Really, it's amazing what you can get done. It's like having 5 days all in one.

Thanks Ingra! I look forward to having Addison and Jackson over next Tuesday.

playing at the park...

2008-10-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

After visiting Todd at his office, we went to the Railroad Park. The kids were in playground heaven. There were really fun slides, climbing walls, decks, swings...not your typical neighborhhood playground. I wish we could have stayed longer and I wish I had worn my tennis shoes. I hate wearing flip flops to play in the sand.
Then we rode the train and the carousel. It was fun! Definitely worth the drive up there.

real estate junkie...

2008-10-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

So not too long ago I saw on Kristi's blog that Annie Kate went to work with Jeff who is an ENT. Here is an excerpt from Kristi's blog about how that day went...
"There is one patient that Jeff really loves and I think she really loves him too. I was so happy she was there to meet Annie Kate. Jeff did a balloon sinuplasty in the office. He cleaned out her nose before he started and Annie Kate said, "Eeww!"Jeff turned to Annie Kate and said, "Annie Kate I am going to teach you that there are two words a Doctor never says to his patients. Eeww and Oops. Instead you say "interesting"During the procedure Annie Kate got to see him stick a small flash light up her nose that light up her forehead.After he was done the sweet patient turned to Annie Kate and said "What did you think of that" And Annie Kate said, "Interesting""
Here is how the conversation went at Todd's office.
Todd: "Do you guys want to see something cool?'
{Todd sits at the computer and pulls up a map of Arizona real estate and begins to spin the picture on the screen with his mouse.}
Children: {in unison} "Wow...that's cool!"

Seriously...I really am glad that I don't have to hear stories about things my husband pulls out of people noses or anyother part of their body. I get to hear about deeds of trust, raw land values, paper lots verses finished lots, and cap rates on commercial properties...oh aren't I lucky!

sleeping on the tramp...

2008-10-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

I thought sleeping on the trampoline at my cousins house in Utah {we never had a trampoline and I'm still mad about it} was the best thing in the world. So fall break was the perfect time for my girls to do it...again. This time Missy was watching over them. She thought this was pretty cool too. At 10pm when we transfered the little sleepers back to their beds for the night {to preempt any 3am waking of mom and dad} Missy barked and barked at us. So the girls got to "sleep" on the trampoline and weren't sad at all the next morning to wake up in their comfy beds.

eggs-periment

2008-10-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm not exactly sure how this whole egg thing started but we were reading books one night before bed and somehow the topic of "what happens if you freeze an egg?" came up. So we decided to do a little experiment and find out
All of the girls had a good time with this experiment. They could hardly wait to get the frozen egg out of the freezer.

So we cracked a regular egg.
We boiled another. {We ate the boiled ones of course}

And this is what is looks like when you freeze an egg. Pretty slimy! And you can just barely see the yoke through the cloudy egg white. {Helpful tip: If you do this, remember to put the egg in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Remember that when liquids are frozen they expand.}Todd peeling the frozen egg.

handsome!!

2008-10-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

Check out Charlie wearing his first white shirt and tie to church. He KNEW he was handsome too! Nothing like a mom and three big sisters to boost your ego.
I love Charlie's smile! It melts my heart. He gets his good looks from his Dad.

Wow...I love these men.

tag...i'm it

2008-10-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

My sister Miralyn tagged me on her blog.

Five places I have lived...

5. Hopkinsville, KY
4. Provo, UT
3. Lexington, KY
2. Nashville, TN
1. Gilbert, AZ

Five snacks I love...

5. pita chips and red pepper hummus
4. peanut butter m&m's
3. peaches(good ones) with just bunches, milk, and brown sugar(that's just a little bit of heaven!)2. smoothies
1. hot chocolate and toast on homemade bread(I copied what Miralyn wrote!...we grew up with the same mom!)

Five jobs I've had...

5. Baskin Robbins
4. Bath and Body Works
3. Dillards fragrance counter
2. HR recruiter at University of Kentucky
1. Then the only job I ever really wanted came - to be a mom.(yep...I copied what Miralyn wrote...again we grew up with the same mom!)

If I had a million dollars...(it's not hard for me to think like that which is what Miralyn said)...I would

5. Pay off our house.
4. Pay off our student debt.
3. Pay off our cars.
2. Save it to pay for future missions for our children and ourselves and to pay for college tuition.
1. That would just about be the million dollars.
(gosh darn it...I'm too practical these days! But can you tell that we've already talked about this scenerio.)

Here is my list of FIVE things I would do if I wasn't being practical...(just for fun!)

5. Have an awesome kitchen.
4. Take a month long trip to Europe and stay at all the best places and eat whatever I wanted.
3. Get REAL hardwood floors throughout my house.
2. Shop at Anthropologie.
1. Buy a HUGE diamond ring and have Todd propose to me again.
1A. (okay...one more...a hot tub in my bathroom!)

Five things I love...and this is in not particular order
5. Things that people handcraft(people amaze me with their talents)
4. Thick chocolate desserts
3. Sleep
2. The sound of the ocean
1. The calm peaceful feeling of the spirit confirming that something is right.

Five people that I tag are...
Tara Fears
Brooke Sampson
Tracey Fears
Beckie Taylor
Missy Outland

making pumpkins with Megan

2008-10-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Megan is always coming up with cute little crafts or drawing some amazing picture. Today she and Holly came over to babysit while I went out for a while. When I got home, everyone was doing great and they were in no hurry to leave that they stuck around for a while. Megan helped them make these adorable pumpkins by cutting strips of paper and putting them together with brads. They added a crimped piece of green paper to the top for the leaf. Too cute!

Thanks Megan!

conference weekend

2008-10-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Conference weekend was so wonderful! For several weeks I had kept thinking about how I could help my children get the most out of conference and make them feel like it wasn't just for adults. I read a couple of ideas on blogs and in the Friend magazine and then I began to pray about. I prayed that inspiration would come that I would know what I could do for my family to enjoy conference. And the ideas started to come just the week before conference. It took some planning but it worked out and I think the children got more out of conference than ever before...including the four year old.

(All three girls working on those beads that you put on the little "frame" and then you iron to make a picture)

Of course the afternoon sessions were a little bit better simply because we didn't have the two year old recking havoc!! NAPTIME!

we saw a "fighter-fighter"

2008-10-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

Going to see the fighter-fighter was all Eliza could talk about for two weeks prior to going to visit the firestation with her preschool class. She made sure that we didn't miss getting the permission slip turned in. She made sure I ironed her fieldtrip t-shirt and laid it out on the dresser so that it would be ready. She made sure she filled up a waterbottle to take with her. Oh my...I'm sure we'll never miss a single assignment or activity when this child gets into school. The funny part about the entire trip was...Charlie! You would have thought that he was one of the preschoolers. He was right in the middle of all of the actions. He raised his hand. He said, "no" or "yes" right on cue with the other preschoolers. He sat and paid attention. He lined up for every picture when Mrs. Kerri asked the preschoolers to line up.
The preschoolers helped "dress" the fireman by telling them each piece that came next. They loved it and the firemen were so good with the children. They talked about fire safety of course. They even included a nice little guilt trip for the parents about how we need to talk about it to our children in detail, practice fire drills, and have a meeting spot. We are currently not doing any of these things. Honestly I've always been afraid of freaking my children out and making them have nightmares. But I understand the importance of it and we are going to do better.
The firemen thought Charlie was so cute! So he got to drive the big truck. Eliza's day was perfect when she got to get into the firetruck and look around for a minute. Although she told me later that she didn't understand why they didn't actually get to ride around in it.

12th anniversary in Seattle

2008-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

Todd and I finally celebrated an anniversary by NOT having a newborn.

(I took this picture just for Tara. Her maiden name is Salmon. This is the name of a restaurant in Seattle)
After celebrating three children's birthday's and giving Eliza a "special day"(she did not want to be left out), we left the children with my adorable Sister in law, Tara. They were so excited for Tara to come. It made Todd and I think that maybe we weren't really needed around here after all. And when we got back we saw that we, in fact, weren't needed. We had to convince Charlie to stop playing to give us hugs...crazy kid!! I meant to get a picture of Tara with the children before she left but I forgot. Needless to say they adore her and it made leaving them for four nights easier.

Todd and I met in the Seattle airport after his business trip to Calgary.

(Our Bed and Breakfast- The Hill House)

We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast late that night all to eager to crash from our extremely exhausting days. The next morning we ran four miles right there in the neighborhood and realized that we had picked an interesting part of Seattle to stay in...purely by accident. Here is the description of the area we stayed in that I found online(I wish we had of found that description before going)... "Capital Hill serves as the center of Seattle's counterculture and gay community...It gets busy in the evening with an extensive nightlife scene." Oh my! That is not really what Todd and I were looking for. It made me really appreciate my life and helped Todd and I to have plently of gospel related conversations.

There were lots of wonderful things to see outside of the little area we stayed though. Our first favorite spot was Pike Market. It was originally a fish market that now has everything. ...

The clouds in this picture were some of the only clouds we saw the entire time we were there. How lucky were we to go to Seattle and not have a drop of rain. The sky was clear and sunny the whole time so it was easy to do all of the things we wanted to.
I loved all of the flowers, trees, and architecture. So different than Arizona!
Oh my heavens...you can't even believe how beautiful the produce was. If I were a better photographer, these pictures would be amazing. But I think you get the idea. I had fun snapping away though.

Check out all of the gorgeous colors. I couldn't believe it.

Wow...this guy represents every crazy (I mean interesting) person that we saw in downtown Seattle. I mean really...what is going on there. I think the cloudy and rainy weather must get to them.
Todd was in heaven eating a bag of mini donuts...hot with cinnamon and sugar. (You should have seen the "interesting people" who served them to us. Todd was lusting after all of the wonderful bakery's. My poor husband lives in probably one of the only cities in America that doesn't have a yummy bakery to go to. (Or atleast that's his complaint....I'm not the bakery conossieur)
Again, my picture doesn't do these flowers justice. SSSOOOOO many flowers and you're not going to believe the price. $4.60 + tax= $5.00 for one of these bunches of flowers. Are you kidding me. If I could have, I would have bought a ton and filled my kitchen. I LOOOVVVEE fresh flowers! Okay, speaking of things I LOOOOOVE....cheesecake. But not just any cheesecake!! I want good cheesecake! This is probably the best cheesecake I've ever tasted. They are small and cost $4.00 a piece. The lady at the counter started to recognize us. We went back to the market the second day just for some cheesecake. We brought some home to Tara. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure I was going to be able to share. So now I'm dreaming of these little cheesecakes. Unfortunately I can't justify ordering them online. It cost $50.00 just for the shipping alone.

Todd was loving all of the seafood. I, on the other hand, do not like seafood. But it was amazing to look at all of the tons and tons of seafood all over the market.
Yep...quail eggs. Why would you buy quail eggs? Do people really eat them?

I have to agree with all of the Seattlites this really is the best apple I've ever had. It's a Washington Honey Crisp apple. I had no idea this apple existed! I wish we could get them down here in AZ. This apple (along with a yummy potsticker) was my lunch. I bought several more apples and that's what I snacked on around Seattle.
A little bit after my lunch of apple and potsticker we found this awesome bakery. I've never heard of "piroshky". Apparently it's any type of food(salmon, cheese, spinach, fruit) put inside dough and baked. Sounded like a good idea to me! We had their apple cinnamon roll. It was so yummy!

Apparently I've been away from Kentucky/Tennessee for too long. I couldn't get over how big the trees were. They were absolutely beautiful! The shade from one of these trees could cover my entire house.
I miss leaves being bigger than my hand.

This is our trusty map. These beautiful trees were in Pioneer Square.
This park is part of Pioneer Square. It's absolutely gorgeous! Sometimes people come up with really great creative businesses. Whoever thought of this boat thing is genious! How fun is that! Just walking down the street you could hear the tour guide being funny as she gave the tour. A great way to learn about Seattle.
There were some amazing stores! Oh, to have the money to actually shop in them. Check out http://www.watsonkennedy.com/ for this store. Beautiful!
We couldn't go to Seattle and not find a cute little eclectic bookstore. This bookstore was adorable! It was everything I imagine a quaint little bookstore to be...small, old and new books, a circular staircase that led to a tiny upstairs, bookcases of every size stacked on each other and employees that love books (a little too much)!
Seattle is, of course, known for the space needle so we couldn't pass it up. However, we thought the tickets were a bit pricey...$16.00/adult. Really!!...to go up an elevator and look around? We thought for a minute about the possibility of going to one of the tall buildings and seeing if we could look around. But we decided we may as well have the experience especially because it was such a beautiful, clear day (rare in Seattle).

You know the drill...look through the telescope thing and admire how beautiful the city is. This was one of only five days a year(on average)that you can see Mt. Rainer and Mt. Baker and whatever else is around Seattle. It really was quite beautiful!

Next...stand against the edge and get your picture taken.

We took the water taxi out to Alki Beach. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. We rented bikes and rode along the beach. You could see the beautiful Seattle skyline. We were out there at sunset and it was all kind of surreal.
Salty's Restaurant. A definite must when you go to Alki beach. They are obviously known for seafood but everything else is good too.

This is me collecting sand. I collect a little bit of sand or soil everywhere we go to document the trip. I put it in little bottles with a tag of the date and location. My collection is small but I love it and look forward to years from now when I can look at all of my collection and remember all the places we've been.

my little man...

2008-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Oh my heavens...I love this little guy....because...

...he has an overbite from his pacifier addiction.

...he has blonde hair and blue eyes.(I'm still not sure if genetically that could come from me)

...he gives awesome hugs around my neck.

...he wakes up with a smile on his face.

...he sleeps with 3 favorite cuddly blankees.

...he wears a bracelet around the house almost everyday.

...he dips everything in ranch and ketchup.

...he is a "poopy man".(okay...I don't really love this but it's part of who he is.)

...because he can hum the tune to "twinkle, twinkle, little star".

...because he is a dancing maniac.

...because his favorite song on my ipod is "Like Whoa"(because he can sing it..."whoa,whoa").

...because he knows EXACTLY what he wants in life (everyday!).

...because during family scripture study he HAS to have his scriptures too.

...because he found a coin today and said, "mine". (how does he know that there is significance to that little thing?)

...because he is a real people person. People love him!

dating survival kit...

2008-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Megan, our sweet babysitter of the past 4 1/2 years has turned 16. She went on her first date on Friday night. My girls couldn't believe it. All week, out of the blue, one of them would say, "I can't believe Megan is going on a date. It seemed as if they were a little jealous that now her Friday nights with them might be taken over by some gross boy.
To celebrate her first date, we took a little surprise to her just a little bit before the date. We put together a "dating survival kit". I decorated a box to put everything in and here is a list of what we included...
1)dental floss picks...nothing worse than discovering something stuck in your teeth after a date.
2)pretend cell phone...remember your parents are always just a phone call away.
3)wig and disguise...the escape route...you don't like your date...you go into the bathroom, put on the disguise and get out of there.
4)doorbell(button)...push the button to get rid of your date if he's being a goof ball.
5)gasX...what if he takes you out for Mexican food?
6)crown...don't ever let your date forget who he is with...a daughter of a King (Heavenly Father.
7)stuffed toy monster...be sure to be home by 11:00(curfew)...that's when all the monsters come out.
8)joke book...for when the conversation lags.
9) (Todd did this one) conversation flow chart...It was really funny! It gave questions that Megan could ask a date and two answers for each question. A good answer led to the next question and a bad answer led to Megan responding "Can you take me home now?"

and charlie turns 2...

2008-09-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

Yep, Charlie turned two on the 20th. And I keep thinking to myself, "but we've already been doing the two thing". Maybe because we experienced the terrible two thing early with Charlie, then we are all done. I can hope, can't I?

All kidding aside, Charlie is truly the apple of my eye(sorry for the old cliche). I thank my Heavenly Father daily for the wonderful blessing he is in my life. Charlie got the easiest birthday cake I've ever made. And he loved it! Hooray for boys and dump trucks! Actually I must admit I got off really easy this year...a cake from Baskin-Robbins, cupcakes, and a dump truck cake. And now we're finally done with September birthdays. My kids are all really serious that we are celebrating Missy's birthday on October 1st....I don't think so.
That is Sean standing behind Charlie. He was so proud to give Charlie this huge Home Depot "ride on". Charlie thought it was just great! His sisters have since discovered just how much fun it is.

Charlie really got into unwrapping the presents. He kept asking for "mo more". I couldn't believe it. Crazy kid! All of his presents were totally BOY. Our house has been lacking in toys for boys and Charlie ends up wearing a bracelet around way too much.
We were so glad that Charlie's "second family"(Sean, Lori, Madison, & Sheridan) could come and share birthday cake with us. We missed Connor. Charlie truly loves being with all of them and I'm so glad that he has other people around here that feel like family to him.

Emma Grace turns 7...

2008-09-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Emma Grace had a few requests for her birthday....
1. Krispy Kreme donuts brought to her 1st grade class.
2. A pancake breakfast!
3. A webkinz.
4. (This was the most important one) Play "hot and cold" with the birthday presents.
5. NO ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. (EG doesn't like mixing ice cream and other desserts)
I think she had a good birthday because we met all of those requirements and added a little bit more.

We surprised her by having a few of her kindergarten friends(Anika, Sheridan, and Brooke...we missed having Courtney) over for a pancake breakfast before school. And then they all loaded up and went to school together. All of the girls were so excited to play together first thing in the morning before school that they hardly ate anything.

At school, Emma Grace was the coolest kid in the class with Krispy Kreme donuts to share. Donuts make instant friends!

Notice the polka dots! Emma Grace has talked about having a polka dot party forever. So we finally did it! Lots of dots!

For dinner, Emma Grace chose sweet and sour chicken for us all to enjoy. Yum! Yum! After dinner, we sang happy birthday and enjoyed some simple cupcakes...ICE CREAM ON THE SIDE.

She was sure to make a wish before she blew out the candles!

And then finally presents...playing "hot and cold" of course.

Check out the present in the left corner with birthday monkeys dancing. It took a little while for Emma Grace's eyes to focus on the present because it blended in so well with my messy pantry!

For weeks now the girls have talked about playing hot and cold. The last thing Emma Grace said to me when she was leaving for school that morning was, "we have to play hot and cold". It makes getting those presents that much more exciting. So I hid the presents and Emma Grace tried to warm up before her little sister did. Eliza ended up being HOT on just one present before Emma Grace.

She got a webkinz! In fact, she got two...one from Dad and me and one from Megan and Holly. EG dreams of being a cowgirl one day. So Megan and Holly gave her a webkinz horse and a book called "Cinder Ellie"(about a cowgirl). I arranged for EG to ride horses soon. She's really excited about that! She got an accordian from Grammy and Grandad...that was a big hit! She got a boy Barbie and a wedding Barbie.

She loved all of her presents and said this was the best birthday ever!

a couple of funny goggle stories...

2008-09-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, while driving in the car, Eliza informed me that when she is baptized she is going to wear goggles. Funny! I don't think that's an approved accessory for a baptism! I told her she had 4 more years to think about it.

Charlie insisted on wearing "gah gahs" the other morning while eating his cereal. I had to snap a picture! It was kind of funny!

monolopy with the king

2008-09-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

I went back through some pictures and realized I forgotten to blog about our Monopoly night. Crazy! We stayed up until 2:00 just trying to beat this man! Can't you just see the deal-making going on. He is pretty good with his strategy. After playing with him a couple of times before, I knew he was going to be ready to kick our butts. Gary and Tara had to learn it the hard way. This is our game board for the second game. Check out the hotels in the top of the picture. Those are Tara's. She put up a good fight and we actually thought Todd was going down. But...nope....Todd won again. He takes you for everything you are worth. I'm staying up at night thinking about beating him at Monopoly...okay just kidding. My life can be kind of mundane but I'm not that pitiful!

Can't you just tell we are getting abused. Oh, poor Gary and Tara. Yes...he stands up and everything. This is serious business.
Gary and Tara downloaded the game to their blackberry so they are practicing. Todd is up for a real fight the next time we play. So hurry back for a visit Gary and Tara. We're looking forward to it!

happy birthday brenna...

2008-09-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Look at this cute card that Megan drew! (Really...one day I'm going to post all of the amazing artwork that Megan leaves at our house.) Holly came over for breakfast for a little before school birthday surprise. The look of confusion on Brenna's face when Holly was at the door at 7:30 in the morning with a present in her face, was priceless. We had a great pancake breakfast and the girls were all off to school. Nope...there are no pictures of it...what was I thinking! It's that getting ready for school and trying to throw in a little birthday surprise. My brain didn't think pictures too!

Brenna chose Rigatoni and meatballs for her birthday dinner. Yum! Everyone was happy with her selection.

After dinner we hid the presents and played hot and cold. The children love this! Emma Grace has already asked me fifteen times if we're going to do it for her birthday!

Here is Brenna finding a present in the cabinet. Other presents were hidden in the microwave, on top of the kitchen cabinets, behind the blinds, under the coach. It just adds to their excitement.
Brenna getting her new webkinz! The cheetah. She named him Bacon.

I don't even like her to tell how many she has now. It's embarrassing. But she has gotten all of them through legitiment means so I don't feel too guilty...birthdays, Christmas, earning money, summer reading.

Oh...you just have to love Baskin Robbins. Nothing is better than just picking up the birthday cake and marking that off your list. Althought letting go of $30.00 to buy the thing was not fun. Why are they so expensive. I told Todd we were going to save the other half for Emma Grace's and Charlie's birthday...just kidding!!

i've been waiting for this all year...

2008-09-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

It's time for fruit from Utah again. My body is CRAVING yummy farm fresh produce. There is nothing worse than the fake tomatoes, peaches and pears in the grocery store. There is a lady who gets produce from a grower in Utah. She sends out an email and lets everyone know when it's coming. Then for one day each week for about two months everyone lines up at her garage to get their produce. I have, of course, already sunk my teeth into a peach, sliced a tomato and topped it with salt, pepper and mozzerella cheese(I need to get some feta), and filled a colander with raspberries that my children and I have already finished off. Todd is requesting a peach cobbler for tonight.
And I'm getting out my booklet for my pressure cooker to refresh my memory on how to can these babies. I love it!
In a few more weeks, she is going to have apples. Oh my...fresh applesauce. I can hardly wait!

frogs?

2008-09-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

So apparently an absolute fear and disgust of reptiles is not hereditary. Brenna recently came home from a friend's house with a "pet" toad. Her sisters couldn't wait to get their hands, or at least their fingers on it. I took the picture with a telephoto lense, because I was unwilling to get any closer than 100 feet. I hate those things. I have ever since I was about 10 years old and my little brothers put a few of them in my bed as a fun little surprise. Or was it the many times that I opened up the cool whip tub in the fridge and found frog legs floating in water? Whatever started it, those feelings are still with me, but hopefully I haven't passed them on to my kids.

S.B.Y.?

2008-08-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

I am really bad at singing the correct lyrics to songs and always have been. My 9 year old daughter sings the right lyrics more than I do. I have to ask Brenna what the words are sometimes. It's comical actually! My husband loves it! I won't even go into all the songs that he has caught me singing the wrong words.

Well, recently I added the new Olympics song "Champion" from Queen Latifah to my running list on my ipod.

So you can just imagine me listening to this song every morning while I'm running and singing the song in my head. You know...just trying to ignore the fact that my legs are moving. At one point in the song I keep singing, "I'm fly, no lie I'm the truth Baby S. B. Y". And I keep thinking to myself, "what the heck is S. B. Y.....I hope I'm not listening to or singing something crude". So I haven't let my children listen to it because I haven't been sure what S.B.Y. meant. So today I finally remembered to ask Todd if he knew what S.B.Y. meant and I told him that it was on this song. His first question, "are you sure you're singing the right words". I confidently told him that I knew I was singing the right words. So he looked up the song on the internet and found the lyrics and here they are:

"I'm fly, no lie

I'm the truth

Baby ask me why"(not S.B.Y)

pass the pigs

2008-08-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law, Tara, blogged about this game a long time ago. I finally came across it in Target at the beginning of the summer and we've been addicted ever since. Thanks Tara!

It's rare to find a game that everyone in the family can play. With "Pass the Pigs" you don't have to play with teams to include the little ones and it is really short(or long if you play several rounds) when you don't have much time. We have been playing it almost every night before the girls go to bed. It's a great incentive for the girls to hurry and get ready for bed, get their teeth brushed, etc.

Brenna is convinced that she always gets a "pig out" and she does.

Eliza roars with laughter no matter whats going on. And she shakes the pigs in her hands before she tosses them on the table as if it's going to make a difference in the outcome.

Emma Grace chants "20, 20, 20" before almost every roll. We need to teach her to chant "big money, big money".

It's really simple but brings out a ton of laughs! So I highly recommend this game!!

banana bread

2008-08-25T10:25:00.001-07:00

This recipe came from Lisa Lambert who is the resident expert on yummy breads. She makes a delicious zucchini bread and pumpkin bread as well. We love it when one of her children shows up at the door with a warm loaf of bread to deliver. It's gone in about 3 minutes around here! She says that these recipes come out of the Lion House cookbooks. Thanks Lisa!!

Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas(the more ripe, the sweeter)
1/4 cup milk
splash of vanilla(Lisa added this to the Lion House recipe)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add bananas, milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add.
4 small loaf pans (2/3 full). Bake 350 for 25 minutes. My cooking time is always a good 5 minutes or so longer than this. I think it may be because I use the pampered chef stoneware small loaf pans. So just watch the bread and make sure it is bake all the way through.

You really don't NEED icing on banana bread for heaven's sakes but it's awfully yummy and my kids love it(imagine that). Butter on banana bread right out of the oven is just as good if not better.

Cream Cheese Icing
1 - 8 oz package cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup butter (softened)
2 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients together. Put icing in a ziploc bag. Cut a very small corner off and pipe the icing onto the top of the bread. I added some milk to this recipe so that it wasn't so thick and would come out of the bag easier.

eliza's 1st day of dance

2008-08-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Eliza has been so excited to begin dance classes like her big sisters. She is taking a combination class of ballet, tap, and gymnastics and she had a great first day! There is something really wonderful about the newness of something and I hope it takes a long time for dance to become "old".
It's this "newness" that I really enjoy watching over and over again in all of my children. So far I've gotten to relive the first day of dance 3 times in my life. I never bore of seeing my children discover new things from a dance class to watching a ladybug or eating an ice cream cone. It makes motherhood wonderful each day!

after school snack

2008-08-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

I love this picture. It's the face that says, "I'm not real happy about this snack, Mom".

"get ready sticks"

2008-08-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

This is such a simple little thing to do and it's working great!!

I found this little idea on the make and take blog about a month ago. We've been using it since the girls started school and I've saved myself so much misery during the morning time routine. The girls actually carry their sticks around and when they complete it they come and put it in the jar upside down. Once all of their sticks are back in the jar and no color is showing then they are done getting ready for school. As with all other great ideas, I'm sure this one will only last so long and then we'll have to come up with something else to motivate them. But for right now it's working great and I don't have to tell them every five minutes what to do next to get ready for school. Oh...the joy I feel when Emma Grace is putting on her shoes and socks and I never said a word.

Each child has their own color. Even Charlie has sticks but they just say "Charlie".

Here are the things that are written on our sticks:

-make bed

-clean room

-get dressed

-put pajamas away

-eat breakfast/DISHES

-brush teeth

-shoes & socks

-fix hair

-fill water bottle

my favorite recipes

2008-08-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Look what I just found at the check out stand at Safeway! Just last week I explained on one of my posts how the recipes from Southern Living magazines were my favorite. I'm so excited to start looking through here and finding some yummy new recipes.

our table

2008-08-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

I hate when a project takes so long that by the time you're done you're over it. But I've been waiting to finish this project for a year so I could blog about it. So here goes!

I found this door in my neighbors bulk trash early one morning last August. I went back to our house and pulled Todd out of bed to have him come and help me get it. Todd was mortified that we were pulling something out of someones trash. My motto is, "one woman's trash is another woman's treasure". I was so excited! I had the top for my new table!!

Our old table was so trashed and old. It came from the clearance "scratch and dent" section of Costco five years ago for $150.00.

We didn't really have the money to buy a new table and I was getting anxious. The door sat in my garage for several months until the weather started cooling down. Then I had to convince my husband to succor a friend(Bill) in to helping him make the table skirt and legs. That took until November. The table was finally made then I had to find time to paint it. Well, now it was the holidays so the table was at the bottom of the list. When January came, I finally got all of the painting done and called someone to come and measure the table for a piece of glass to go on top. Now we had the table in the house!

This is a picture of Todd and Bill putting the legs on the table after they had just built the legs and the skirt of the table.

This picture shows the detail of the old door.

The next part of the problem were the old chairs. After being at my sisters(Miralyn) house last summer, she convinced me that benches around the table were the way to go. I was so tired of having bulky chairs in such a small space. So now I had to convince Todd to succor a friend(Bill) into helping him make benches.

Months went by and there was never time. Three days after Todd was released from his calling in the Bishopric, I asked him if he was done making those benches yet. It took a few more weeks but they finally were done. Then it took us several more weeks to finally get out there to paint them.

Any outside project in the summer months in Arizona is miserable so it's easy to put it off. The benches are finally done. We love our new table that fits our space perfectly!! No chairs in the way...hurray!

I wasnt' sure how I would like having glass on my kitchen table. I thought maybe it would be a little "cheesy". But now I think it is the greatest and most practical thing for a family with kids ever! It's so easy to keeps clean. You don't have to worry about the wood finish! Love it!

Total estimated cost of my low budget new kitchen table and benches:
table top= free
4 table legs= $20.00 ($5.00 each)
wood for table skirt= $10.00
paint for table= $10.00
wood for benches= $30.00
paint for benches= $5.00
glass top= $100.00

Estimated Total= $175.00

do you like "time-out"?

2008-08-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

The other day Eliza asked me, "Do you like your house?". I told her I did. Then she asked, "Do you like time-out in your house?". I replied by saying, "Well, not really!". Without missing a beat she quickly said, "you better get rid of it then!". I told her I thought we better keep it and she wanted to know why. I explained to her that it helps kids to have time to themselves and think about how they can act better.

She's so funny! She comes up with things like this all the time and keeps me on my toes. I asked her if I could tell about this on my blog and she agreed. So I had her pose in our "time-out" for a picture. She was trying to make a sad face for me.

dessert kabobs

2008-08-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

This is a fun and easy treat that the kiddos can put together. This is what we did for our FHE treat tonight. Everybody loved them.
Here is what you need:
strawberries
large marshmellows
Sara Lee frozen pound cake
semi-sweet chocolate chips
kabob sticks

Wash the strawberries and cut off the tops. Cut the cake into 1 inch squares. Have the kids put all of the treats on the stick. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on the stove. Lay the kabobs on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Drizzle with chocolate. Put in the refrigerator for the chocolate to set.

get the woogies out

2008-08-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

The other day I walked into the bathroom where Eliza was "getting the woogies out" in front of the mirror. I have no idea really what it means to get the woogies out! But it was very funny to see Eliza dancing and singing, "get the woogies out, get the woogies out, get the woogies out". So funny! Since then we all can't keep from singing the silly tune! But we leave the dancing to Eliza and Emma Grace.

king ranch chicken casserole

2008-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

What's for dinner tonight?
My favorite magazine is "Southern Living". 85% of my recipes come from there and I love their decorating ideas. I love southern style living!! This recipe is listed as one of their most popular and favorite chicken cassoroles. And I agree completely! It's one of our favorites. Todd asks me to make it all the time. So you won't regret trying it!
To simplify the recipe a little bit, don't worry about cooking a whole chicken with celery and carrots, although that is awesome. Just use chicken breasts(maybe put your carrots and celery in there) and then use a can of chicken broth.

Ingredients
1 (4 1/2- to 5-lb. ) whole chicken

2 celery ribs, cut into 3 pieces each

2 carrots, cut into 3 pieces each

2 1/2 to 3 tsp. salt

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of mushroom soup

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup

2 (10-oz.) cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon Mexican-style chili powder*

3 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese

12 (6-inch) fajita-size corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch strips

Preparation

1. If applicable, remove giblets from chicken, and reserve for another use. Rinse chicken.

2. Place chicken, celery, carrots, and salt in a large Dutch oven with water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 50 minutes to 1 hour or until chicken is done. Remove from heat. Remove chicken from broth; cool 30 minutes. Remove and reserve 3/4 cup cooking liquid. Strain any remaining cooking liquid, and reserve for another use.
3. Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté 6 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add bell pepper and garlic, and sauté 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in reserved 3/4 cup cooking liquid, cream of mushroom soup, and next 5 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes.

4. Skin and bone chicken; shred meat into bite-size pieces. Layer half of chicken in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Top with half of soup mixture and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Cover with half of corn tortilla strips. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining 1 cup cheese.

5. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

*1 tsp. chili powder and 1/8 tsp. ground red pepper may be substituted for Mexican-style chili powder.

first day of school

2008-08-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Brenna 4th grade

Emma Grace 1st grade

We got there in Todd and Brenna style....20 minutes early. It was so hot that everyone was drenched in sweat. I really needed to just come home and shower again but I'll wait until after all of my housework is done.
Brenna and Emma Grace were both so anxious and excited. They were a little nervous of course but they were able to calm themselves down pretty good. Only one visit to the bathroom!

Anyway, now I'm home with just half of my kiddos and my mind is racing with all of the things I'm going to do today with two less children to worry with.

I will miss them today and can't wait to see them this afternoon.

bran muffins

2008-08-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

bran muffins

You may want to half this recipe. It's huge!

2 cups boiling water
5 tsp baking soda
1 cup shortening(I've tried making it with butter and they are just not the same so I've never even gone the route of applesauce for all you really healthy wonderful people...wink, wink...Michelle!)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 quart buttermilk
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 cups All Bran Cereal
2 cups Bran Flakes Cereal

Directions:

Add soda to boiling water and set aside. Whip shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly. Mix well. Add the buttermilk, flour, salt and mix again. Add the soda water very slowly. Gently fold in the cereals.

Muffin mix MUST sit in the refrigerator over night before baking. The next morning just stir the muffin mix around to combine all of the cereal into the batter. Bake at 350 for 23 minutes. Muffin mix will last one week, covered and refrigerated.

I love making the full recipe and having them warm for breakfast for several mornings in a row. They are best smothered in butter. Gosh, we are just the picture of health around here. I also like to mix raspberries in the batter. Just bake them for a couple of minutes longer. Yum!

chewy granola bars

2008-08-03T22:49:00.000-07:00

Chewy Granola Bars
2 1/2 c quick rolled oats
1/2 c rice krispies
1/4 c coconut
1/2 c mini chocolate chips
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c butter, softened
1/4 c honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
Add all of the ingredients and mix together until combined. Press into a square 8x8 pan.
Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and score into bars.
Let it set completely and then cut into bars.

pioneer crafts

2008-08-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a little miniture handcart for children who are a little bit older.
Supply list:
1 small jewelry box
1 small piece of twine
4 wheels(craft store wood section)
1 barrel(craft store wood section)
3 boxes(craft store wood section)
small square fabric pieces for "blankets"
1 miniture popcicle stick
glue
paint

This is a cute little pioneer necklace for younger children.

Supplies:

1 dowel rod (cut into pieces, drill a hole, lightly sand each piece so the children don't get splinters)

twine

paint

letter stamps

black ink