FRIENDS

Last Saturday night we went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory with some of my friends. My Friend Melanie (aka Mel #1) came into town from Roswell, NM. It's always a blast to get together & laugh about old times.

The Girls.... (Mel #1, Heidi, Mel #2, Melissa, Jennifer)

The Whole Gang....

CONGRATS

My Kylie wanted to run for her school's Historian this year. It was the first opportunity for her to run as you have to be in 4th grade to run for this office. She was so excited to run. It's been a good motivator for her because she found out that you have to keep your grades up. She's been working extra hard to make sure that happened. The Historian at her school is in charge of taking pictures at Student Council activities & then making a book at the end of the semester for the Student Council members. Well, that is right up our alley! Here's her poster we made to display....

She also had to prepare a speech. This is where I started to stress. The poor girl has the most uncreative mom when it comes to things like this. I knew most of the kids would have very creative speeches with props & things. That's just the way it is with the mom's at this school. It's a dang good thing she is so animated - or it never would have worked! Here's her speech.....

She did so well on her speech! Most kids stared at their paper the whole time & were quite nervous. Kylie was nervous, but she is not scared to be in front of people. I'm so glad she's like that & not terrified like me.

We've prepped her for the past couple of weeks to not be shocked if she didn't win & to be happy for whoever does win. Especially since there was 8 other 4th graders running for this office. Well, the lucky little kid WON!! She was so excited - she just kept looking at me grinning while the Principal announced the other winners. She'll have so much fun since a few of her friends won as well! This will be a fun group! Here's Kylie right after she was announced....

Here's her excited little face when her friend Marinne was announced as the Secretary winner...

CONGRATS KYLIE!! We're so proud of you!!

St. George

Last weekend I had the priviledge of tagging along for a quick trip to St. George. When I say quick - I'm not exaggerating. We left early Saturday morning & came home on Sunday! It was crazy, but lots of fun. Mimi was driving with her friend Kathy that had been visiting in AZ back up to St. George. It was perfect timing because Steele & Amy had just had their baby, so she was able to go see little Max Steele Hallows! It was also my mom's birthday on Sunday. Which was my main reason for going. Although I was pretty excited to see my newest nephew (& he's pretty dang cute!!) it was nice to surprise my mom!


Here's Kathy, Mimi & I with our matching head wraps.....
I have a friend that makes these cute headwraps & they were a hit on our drive up. Check out my friends blog HERE.


When we arrived into town I called my Stepdad Alan to let him know I was their. He came into town to pick me up. He told my Mom he had to go into town to pick up a present for her birthday. They had had a long day & she told him not to worry about anything. He just told her to trust him & that she wouldn't want to take this present back.


We then made the journey (all of 15 minutes) up to their home in Dammeron Valley. When we walked in the door Alan announced that he was home as I hid behind the wall of the dining room table. My Mom walked right past me & then I jumped out at her. She jumped about 20 feet & then started balling. It was great!! Totally had her surprised & it was wonderful to spend some time with her on her birthday!

Sunday morning came & it was time to leave already. I said my good-byes as Mimi picked me up @ my Mom's. We then went back into town so I could meet little Max Steele.....


My niece Abi is one of the most hilarious kids you will ever meet! She was telling me all kinds of things. She asked me if I knew where her baby ate from? Well? Upon my not answering she informed me that he ate from his Mommy's tummy! What a nut! The best story is this one though..... (try & read this with the thought of a little girl with a high pitched voice saying these to me & OVERLY animated)



Abi: Did you know I came out of my Mommy's tummy once?
Me: Yes.
Abi: When I came out of my Mommy's tummy, I came out her throat!
Me: How did you do that?
Abi: I jumped!



I just about died!! Where did that come from? She's so funny. There's just no way to describe her & how funny she is. You just have to meet this little one to fully understand.

Then, we headed out to drive home....already. We came home in Steele's Pilot with Steele. He was heading back to AZ to finish some work on their house. Here's Robin & Steele jammed in the back seat...

We had a fun little adventure in between Mesquite & the Valley of Fire area with this turtle....

First, we heard a weird noise & saw items flying out the back of the car. We got out of the car & saw that the turtle was open & Steele had a bag of stuff that had flown out. We scoured the side of the highway for shoes, gloves & other misc stuff. Dodging speeding cars trying to get stuff out of the middle of the highway with Mimi just about having a heart attack watching us. Steele ahd some tape in his car, so he taped the turtle shut.



Second, we had a car drive up next to us pointing up & then Robin caught a glimpse of the turtle in their windows wide open. (This is within 5 minutes of our last incident.) We stopped again & tried to figure a better way to secure it since the tape snapped. Steele went scouring the side of the highway for rope while Robin & I put together 2 luggage straps & wrapped it around the turtle. Finally, we got Steele back in the car & were off again.

Then, (5 minutes or so later) we heard a noise & the strap was flapping in the back window of the car. The hinges had broken off the turtle & it was not staying together AT ALL! At this point we loaded all of its contents into the car & took the turtle off. We then looked for a hiding spot for Steele to stash it....

He stashed it & we were off. We made it home safely & all was well! Apparantly, Steele, drove by this spot on his way back home to St. George & found the turtle still their. He was able to take it back home to his in-laws! Fun times were had by all & we now find ourselves with a few more inside jokes like.....

"That trip was not real. That did not happen. And, no, they really had a girl!"

CHEFS

I have found the trick to getting my girls to try something new at dinner without throwing a HUGE fit!! The trick is to have them HELP cook! Sounds simple right? Well, it is. As stated in my previous post - my girls are obsessed with cooking lately. We've been recording the 10 Dollar Dinners show on Food Network. The host is the recent winner of The Next Food Network Star. We like her at our house & are loving her new show. We've tried two of her meals now & have been happy. The first one we tried was her North African Meatballs with Couscous & Glazed Carrots. I've never even heard of Couscous before! So, this was a stretch for us. The girls were so excited to help & were actually a huge help to me!

Here's the girls hamming it up.... Kylie's making her studeous chef face & Jadyn's actually just laughing! (And yes, I made them cook in their PJ's.)

Here's the finished product....

I would highly suggest this meal. It had a bit of a bite to it which I loved. It was yummy & very good for us to try something out of our element!

I did omit a coupe of things from the recipe though if you try it out. Obviously, I don't keep wine around my house, so I just didn't use that part. It still turned out great I think. Also, if you're not a fan of spicy things I'd use maybe half the amount of red pepper. (We used the full amount.) I also didn't use the dried dates in the Couscous & it ws just fine.

Jadyn even asked for seconds! Erik wasn't the biggest fan, but he doesn't care for beef much anymore. I tell ya - this diabetic apetite is gonna kill me. He doesn't like anything anymore. Oh well! At least it's under control.

Last night we tried her Chicken a l'Orange & it was pretty darn good! Check out her site for some good recipes.....

10 DOLLAR DINNERS

BON APETIT!!

FIRSTS

This post is late in so many ways!! And contains two very non-related topics, but here it is....

Last weekend was the first time I was able to meet my newest nephew! Little Memphis D Hallows was born on July 29th weighing in at 8 lbs 5 oz. Congrats to Rennie - oh & Luke :) - on the newest addition to their darling family!

I was waiting on pins & needles for this little guy to show up. And he was just as cute as expected. As his mom would say, "He's a little Dude!" And he is! Here's a pic of Kylie holding him...

As stated above his name is Memphis. I've told his mom for months that his middle name needs to be Raines. But, she didn't go for it. I, however, will still be calling him Memphis Raines! :) (It's the name of Nicholas Cage's character in Gone in Sixty Seconds & is one of my favorite movies!)

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We had another first just a few days later. For the first time EVER I allowed my girls to make cookies all by themselves. Sure, it was no bake cookies, but still a test of my patience since I'm a control freak. I really did nothing but stand in the background & make sure they were measuring correctly & not burning themselves on the stove top.

Here's the final product...

They did so well!! They were just divine & didn't last long! My girls are obsessed with cooking lately (thanks to the Food Network shows we watch). They're always wanting to cook & I figured this would be something easy to start with. We'll see what they can graduate to later on. For now, this was great!

SCHOOL BEGINS

Yesterday was the first day of school!! I am not the normal mom when it comes to school beginning. I don't sit around & cry. Jadyn started 1st grade yesterday - which means she goes to school all day now & I did the happy dance! I've been waiting for school to begin so I can sit in peace & watch Twilight. Everytime I've tried to watch it the last few months things happen & I never get to finish it. So, yesterday was my day to sit in peace! Well, Erik came home & I didn't get to finish it. Maybe today. At least I was able to get my house organized. (OK-just the front room & kitchen. And, of course, it's already trashed!) We also got our microwave fixed! It's been broken for a couple of months. We haven't really missed it, but it will be nice to have it again. Anyhoo, here's some photos of our first day of school...

Kylie the 4th grader...

Jadyn the 1st grader...

These are Jadyn's shoes. I had to post a picture of these because I LOVE LOVE LOVE these shoes!! Did I mention I LOVE these shoes?! They have glittery chandeliers on them & they're Converse. Gotta love this find in the clearance area at Tillys.com!! Unfortunately, they only had one size, so I was unable to get some for Kylie. But, lucky for us, at least the size fit one of my girls!!

My girls with their cheese ball faces...

My girls doing what they do best. Singing their hearts out to Paramore's "That's What You Get" on the way to school!!

They had a great day. They're excited to have the teachers they have. We're blessed to be able to attend such a wonderful school!!

BOUNTIFUL BASKETS

Thanks to my lovely sister-in-law Rennie I just found out about this. Maybe this is old news, but I'm sharing it anyway. There's a great program out there called BOUNTIFUL BASKETS. This past weekend was my 2nd time participating. (There was a couple of weekends that I was out of town.) You pay $15 for a basket full of "goodies". Half the basket is fruit & half the basket is veggies. You never know what you're going to get. Which makes it kind of fun! The above picture is what I got this week. Here's a list of what I got...

1 head of romaine lettuce
1 bunch of spinach
2 heads of broccoli
1 bunch of green onions
1 bunch of raddishes
1 bunch of celery
7 bananas
1 carton of grape tomatoes
1 carton of strawberries
2 cartons of raspberries
8 pears
11 peaches

The first time I participated I got nectarines, cherries, a bag of potatoes, bananas, plums, a bag of carrots, celery, white onions, lettuce, etc...

I am amazed at what I get for $15! You can also add some "extras" to your order. Such as bread - which I pass on. :) The first time I placed an order I ordered an extra box of cherries & an extra box of nectarines. I canned the nectarines & froze the cherries. Every week something different is offered. This is my new favorite thing!! Make sure to check it out (if you live in AZ or UT)....
bountifulbaskets.org