Baby~In no particular order

Trip the zoo

                                                                 

Riding a horse ("Business") for the first time.

Relaxing in his swing (just a few days old)

Love his cheeks

silly face

Blessing day

Why do we take pictures of babies in random places where they'd never be safe in real life?

Hanging out in the boys room

Showing off his teeth.

Little lion for Halloween.

I love this boy!
He is one year old now!
He walks more than he crawls. (where did my baby go?)

He likes:
*food
*being outside
*teasing
*smiling
*attention
*peek-a-boo
*bath time
*playing in his brothers room

He doesn't like:
*being buckled into his car seat
*not getting his way
*when we close the door before he can escape
*sitting still ;)

What did we ever do without him?

Blogging

I am a terrible blogger.

I remember when I first started blogging....I found reasons to blog. I made up
 posts in my head. Some I posted...some I didn't.

I started blogging because I needed a place to share my thoughts. My journal was a good place....but blogging was like a journal that gave feed back! "So cute!", "I feel your pain!", "I can totally relate!"

Anyhow. I loved to blog. I liked to take pictures and post them....and now that I think back (well....I have thought about this more recently than just now) I think I started blogging because I needed feed back. I was lonely and needed people to talk to. Then blogging turned into a way to stay up to date with friends and family. It was a way for me to see how they were and to let them know how we were doing.

Than along came Face Book.

I tried FB. I didn't like it. But lots of people do for reasons that I totally understand....but that has left the blogging world a bit more barren of a place. Which is okay I guess.

So, when I think about why I don't love to blog like I used to....I think it has to do with guilt. I feel guilty that my blog isn't up to date. Over the years, my blog has become more of a family journal and I feel like if I don't take a picture of or write about all that is going on in our family, somehow the fact that it happened will have less credibility because it will not be documented for whoever wants to read it in the future. (Does that even make sense?)

Life has been busy and as I have tried to manage my time better, I have let my guilty feeling about blogging keep me from making time for it.

Right now, I am focusing on trying to get my house in order. I am trying to do the FLYlady method of establishing routines and maintaining my house by working on one "zone" a week. I have gotten pretty good at keeping my kitchen sink shiny (that's the first thing flylady says to make a habit). I am also getting better at getting dressed from head to toe....although flylady says to wear lace up shoes...and I wear flip flops. But, I am looking to buy a pair of shoes that I like enough to wear regularly. Her theory of why to wear lace up shoes seems to work for other people...helps them to be ready to get things done so I am willing to give it a try.

As far as the family goes, Adelin was baptised in January and Cameron just turned 1! Two very exciting events. We also had some changed made to our ward boundaries and we are in a different ward. I get to serve in the YW and Brandon serves in the Elders Quorum. The kids are busy with school and playing and just being kids! We have been so blessed! I know that sounds cheesy. But, I have to remind myself of how blessed I am. It is sometimes hard to see the blessings in life. Maybe I need to turn this into a blog about counting or blessings. But I really do want it to be about our family......we'll see how it goes.

SO...anyhow. There's my little post about blogging.

Food

Sometimes I get creative in the kitchen.

This most often happens when the cupboards are bare and I am putting off the dreadful chore of  grocery shopping. (ugh)

Such was my plight yesterday as I realized the evening was going to be a busy one and I needed to have dinner prepared in advance. 

So here is my new recipe.

We named it: Mexican Cowboy Beans (because we thought that by putting the word "cowboy" in there...the boys would like it better...and there are green chilies in it...hence, the "Mexican") :)

Get out your crock pots amigos cuz you're gonna wanna try this one!

Mexican Cowboy Beans

1-2 bnls/sknls chicken breast(s)

2 cans of Northern beans

1 can of corn

1 sml can of green chilies 

1 handful of dehydrated onion (or about 1/2 a cupish of chopped fresh onion...or leave the onion out...whatever you want.  

Season to taste with:

cumin (don't use too much for you'll regret it...a teaspoon tops is my advice!) 

garlic salt

pepper

I put all ingredients (including seasonings) into the crock pot on high for about 3 hours....then turned it to low for probably another 2-3 hrs. Basically I put it in at 1pm and we ate around 6:30pm. I don't think time matters as long as the chicken is cooked and tender.  The chicken can be frozen when you put it in. Mine was. And leave the juice in with the beans, corn and chilies. Just turn the crock pot to low after the chicken is cooked so that you don't scorch the beans.

I ate mine in a bowl with cheese on top and dipped tortilla chips in it. Brandon ate his with cheese corn tortillas.  Oh. We also diced up some avocado to go with it.

  Pruébelo! Te gustará!

Where does the time go!?

We are just pluggin along with life over here! School, callings, meetings, kids performances, family gatherings. It gets busy but when I stop and think about it...I wouldn't have it any other way!

The weather is nice and cool. We woke up this morning to frost on the ground. This about as close as it's gonna get to being a white Christmas here in the Valley. My kids love the cold. (Brandon and I do too! After enduring our first summer back in the "Valley of the Sun" I am relishing every second of cold outdoor air!

Weston put on his snow coat this morning and just stood in the back yard enjoying the chilly morning. (I was busy getting breakfast on the table...so there no pictures.). Weston really wants it to snow!

The changing of seasons makes me homesick for Snowflake.

Kaitlyn is 11 now! Holy COW right!? She is such a fun girl. I love that she can babysit now. She does a good job at helping me out when I need it. She plays the violin and is really starting to enjoy it.

Adelin turns 8 in nine days!!!! We are planning a party for her! Adelin is a great help to me. She is SO good with the baby. She loves playing the piano for him...and she is great at calming him down...and making him laugh.

Connor is 3 1/2 and I tell ya....he is either so darn sweet or so darn sour! He really hates it when Brandon and I go somewhere without him. He throws a huge fit and tries to run out of the house and chase whoever is leaving down the street...while screaming his head off. It's dreadful! Brandon and I know try to sneak out of the house. The thing is...when we take him with us, he is really well behaved. He is a good shopper. He doesn't ask for anything and he is content to just sit in the cart. Other than that...he is a great kid! :) He loves to eat cereal and he just found out that he kids bananas! He likes to play with his brothers, jump on the trampoline, ride his bike or scooter and go for walks to the park! :) (that almost sounded like a classified ad!)

Does that cover all the kids?

Oh! Cameron! The baby! He is so stinking cute! How could I forget him! He's my sidekick! He crawls all over this house now! This week he discovered the kitchen cupboards and has climbed in and out of a few. He can open drawers...and stand up to furniture. He says, "ma ma" now! He's said "da da" for a while...and now he will finally say "ma ma" too! He is learning to wave "bye bye"....but isn't consistent with that trick yet! This boy also loves to eat. He isn't picky. He eats whatever we offer him. (He loved the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner!)  He also begs food off the other kids. He especially likes frozen GoGurts.

My nephews wife took family pictures for us last weekend. We haven't had a family picture in a long time!

I guess that's all for now. Sorry there aren't any pictures....but that's just the way it goes. Our other computer that I download pictures to is not hooked up to the internet right now anyways...so even if I had time to post pictures, I couldn't!

Boy this past week was as busy as ever!

Monday was my kids first day of school after Fall Break (two weeks off)...and we had just gotten in from Utah at 9 p.m. the night before. I got up at 5 a.m. because I really want to be a morning person and thought getting up that early would be an awesome way to start the week. I read my scriptures and wrote in my journal for an hour. Then I did this really hard work out, showered and was dressed for the day before the kids woke up! We had a wonderful FHE that night! if you want...I can email the lesson to you!

Tuesday I was up early again. I cleaned the bathrooms then I made whole wheat waffles from scratch....with fresh fruit on the side.

Wedneday I went grocery shopping. It is a fun way to spend time with the kids and get food for the family. They are great at helping me pick out nutritious things snacks and meals.

Thursday I was up cleaning the house again. I think It is awesome to get the house work all done before the kids wake up. At least the house is clean and sanitarty for them...even it if it is only for a few minutes!

My parents watched the kids for us Friday night and Brandon and I went to his cousin's daughters wedding reception in Phoenix. It was fun to see and visit with family there! There was a live band that was really very good!....a little loud...but good!

Satruday, we had time to relax...since I had gotten all the house work done earlier in the  week. So nice to have a day off!

Sunday, we got to church early and sat on soft benches! It was nice to not be sitting in the "over-flow" where you have the sounds of metal chairs scooting across hardwood floors to deal with.

And today....I am typing this post....which is 98% false!

Can guess which TWO days events are true!