Cinco De Mayo

We had a delicious feast on Cinco De Mayo this year.  Cody picked up some carne asada at the mexican market in Mesquite on Saturday night.  We made salsa and guacamole, black beans and tortillas and margarita flavored crystal light.  I wasn't sure what to do for dessert so I made the topping for Kansas krunch and we called it fried ice cream.  Cayden did the chicken dance, Caleb serenaded us with his guitar and Kyle made a mess with his dinner.  Arriba!

Yum-O!

I was really wanting something yummy for dinner the other night so I was looking at my Pinterest pages trying to find an idea.  I saw this and decided that it was just what I was needing.  I L.O.V.E monte cristo sandwiches and this was a good substitute that didn't involve frying!  They were delicious and didn't cost $17.50-that's how much 1 sandwich costs at New Orleans Cafe at Disneyland.  There used to be a restaurant here called Bennigan's that made them but they closed down years ago.  Total Bummer!

Ice Cream For Dinner

Everyone is gone but me and Cayden.  Caleb left for scout camp on Monday, Don left for Houston on Tuesday, Connor is at grandma's and Cody has left the nest.  Cayden and I decided to have ice cream for dinner.  I did put bananas on mine for nutritional purposes.  Cayden must always have sprinkles.

We Love Owie!

Mmmm, food is good!

Cayden loves balloons!

Aunt Jenni and the birthday boy!

You are such a cutie patootie!

Caleb playing with the party hats.

We went to Owie's 2nd birthday party on December 31 at his house.  We had yummy homemade Cafe Rio salads and Calley made super tasty cupcakes and a cake for Owie. 

A Little More Stuffing Ourselves

We love Brick Oven and stuff ourselves silly!  December 30, 2010

Christmas Just Wouldn't Be Christmas...

Without stuffing ourselves silly!  The Monday after Christmas Don, Caleb, Cayden and I went to St. George to do a bit of shopping so that the kids could spend their some of their giftcards.  We made a stop at Texas Roadhouse and then after shopping a bit we headed home.  Connor stayed with Grandma and Grandpa  and Cody had to work lest you think that we abandoned our other 2 children.

Another Turkey Day

On Tuesday November 23 we left for Provo for Thanksgiving.  There was supposed to be this H.U.G.E. storm coming in on Wednesday so we took the safe route, pulled the kids out of school and packed up the suburban.  The storm did not happen as expected but the kids still wanted to play in the snow-what little there was of it.  Since we do not live in the northern climate, we do not have winter weather gear.  My mom has had these coats up at her house that we just leave up there and use when we come up.  The red one on Caleb is about 4 sizes too small but hey when in Provo!

I can't remember what we did Wednesday other than get ready for Thanksgiving Day.  I know there was Sonic involved and probably Chic-Fil-A.  Thanksgiving was held at Grandma Penny's at 1pm.  Lots of the cuzzies came and we ate ourselves ill and watched lots of Back to the Future and football-there is always football. There was also a Phase 10 marathon that lasted about 3 hours that was fantastic.  Sonic is not open on Thanksgiving Day, a point that we found out personally one year when we drove over there and saw someone inside and then waited in the drive through for 5 minutes with many other people in need of liquid sustenance.  We have learned to settle for Will's Pitstop which is open every day of the year and has chocolate donuts that help ease our Sonic sorrows.  Will's makes a darn fine drink in comparison to what Logandale calls Dr. Pepper.  My darling husband got up around 6:30 and put the turkey in the roaster so that it would have plenty of time to cook.  That was a 26 pound bird and since we needed oven space we used the roaster on the counter.  It worked beautifully and they turkey was done like 2 hours earlier than we needed! 

We had lots of delicious food and enough potatoes to feed 10 more families.  My personal favorite is the Jello Pretzel salad.  It's more like dessert but we call it a salad.  We are not Black Friday shoppers so we just stayed home and did nothing-my favorite.  Saturday was the big BYU game and then we went home Sunday.  We have so much to be thankful for and it is always nice to be with family.

Baskets of Bounty

We have been participating in the Bountiful Baskets co-op the last few months.  Every other week I order a basket online and then I go up to the elementary school on Saturday morning and pick it up.  It is a co-op where everyone pays the same amount, $15, and gets the same amount of fruits and vegetables.  We usually end up getting $40-$50 dollars worth of produce.  The participants are asked to come and volunteer atleast once a month.  Volunteering means helping unload the trucks and distributing the produce to the baskets.  I have been volunteering quite a bit and now I am in charge of the distribution once a month.  I get a free basket out of it so what the heck.  We have been eating so many more fruits and vegetables than we really ever have.  I never know what we are going to get but once we have the produce I try and make menus and figure out ways to use it all.  We always get bananas and grapes and usually lettuce.  We have had broccoli, spinach, potatoes, yams, and even parsnips.  For fruits we have had different kinds of pears and apples, oranges, nectarines, pineapple and one time the most awesome mangoes I have ever had. This time we are getting persimmons.  Hmm that is interesting.  As long as you order a basket you can order what they call add-ons.  One of the add-ons is the most awesome 9 grain bread.  We love it toasted with peanut butter and my homemade peach-nectarine-mango freezer jam.  I also made raspberry freezer jam, raspberry peach freezer jam, bottled tomatoes and apple pie filling.  I end up making banana bread as often as once a week and I make a mean fresh tomato pasta sauce.