Pictures with Santa

Every year it seems like I end up with less than perfect pictures of my children and Santa. It doesn't bother me though. I feel like this is just one of those things that my family will always be known for...bad pictures. We have bad pics of us everywhere. Someone not looking at the camera, someone not smiling, or more often than not someone has a big stain on their shirt or smear of something on their face. Oh wells...right?!?! Like I said this doesn't bother me. Half the time we don't even do their hair before taking the picture. I like to think that this means I am laid back and relaxed, that I must spend time on the important things in life (and only a little lazy) Still I treasure all of my imperfect photos because they really capture what we are like any given day, and not what I WISH we were like on any given day.

Blue Sky Please!

It's official, the thing I miss about St. George the most is the blue sky. I have an amazing view out of my kitchen windows and from my little deck, but what good does it do me when there is so much haze I can't even see the mountains. I was really spoiled living in St. George all those years. I just took it for granted that the sky was blue everywhere. Well it isn't, up here in good ol' West Jordan, the sky is grey for at least half the year. Plus the sky up here is broken, it keeps on leaking white stuff.

A food blog

I have a couple of hard and fast blogging rules. One of them is that I do not blog about food, the reason, I don't want people to think "well, no wonder she is fat!" But I am throwing that rule out the window today because I might be officially obsessed. There are two things that I just can't seem to get enough of right now.


The first is this Pineapple black bean dip. Jeff found the recipe in "The Friend" magazine a year or so ago, and I just can't seem to get enough of it lately. I made it Saturday night and had to make another batch last night cuz I ate it all and couldn't get through the day without some more of it. Bad I know! However, I am going to give myself some credit for all of the fiber. Plus all of the ingredients are healthy, I'm just not sure it counts to eat my healthy ingrediants on fried chips.

The second is Pumpkin Cheesecake. I needed a new recipe for piefest and that was it. It is really easy to make and really great to eat. But once again, a recipe with 5 or 6 Tbls of butter and a couple packages of creamcheese should be eaten in moderation. (For the record although I know the definition of moderation I generally don't use it in my daily life)


I am really hoping that this post will work the same way as getting a song out of your head. If I sing the song to you and you get it stuck in your head maybe it will stay out of mine. Same theory with sharing the recipes. Hopefully someone else will become obsessed and they will get out of my head ;)

Pineapple and Blackbean Salsa

1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatos with cilantro and lime juice
1 can corn (Jeff likes the super sweet variety)
about 16 ounce of crushed pineapple or pineapple tidbits drained (this is a texture decision)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup Italian dressing


Mix, chill, tasted best the next day.



Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

1 sleeve of graham crackers crushed into tiny pieces
5 or 6Tbls of butter melted
1/4 cup sugar
Mix together and press up 2/3rds sides and bottom of 9 in pie pan


2 8oz pakages of cream cheese room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs room temp
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves
or 3/4 to 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

First cream together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla until smooooooth. Add in eggs one at a time. Spread one cup of the batter over the crust. To the rest of the batter add remaining ingrediants, stir gently. Smooth over the plain batter. Bake at 325 for 35-40 min until the center is almost but not quite set. turn off oven, open door let cool for approx 1 hour in oven. Remove from oven and put on counter to continue cooling. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, top with whip cream and enjoy!

Ahh, hopefully this post will curb my enthusiasm for these yummy treats.

Someone hit the grumpy button...

And I don't like it!! I am now convinced that kids have grumpy switches. I am not sure where they are located or how I am supposed to turn them on or off, but they are there. And someone hit both Carters and Sofias today. W-O-W!!!! Double whammy. They were fine in the tub before church, we had a good time bathing and getting dressed, but then things started going downhill...rapidly. Church was a nightmare, getting changed after church was a nightmare, and now waiting for dinner, a nightmare. Im currently ignoring grumpy gus 1 and grumpier gus 2 but I bet Jeff won't let me for long. All I can say is "Please Please Please flip the switch...soon!!"

Funnest Thing We Did This Summer...

We went to Cascade Springs to hike and also went fishing at Tibble Fork Reservore. It was BEAUTIFUL! I don't have very good pictures but I am going again this summer because Cascade Springs is amazing so I will get more then. The girls love fishing. We suck at it, and having never caught a fish I find it very very boring ( I did catch a fish at the golf course once, but thats another story and I dont count those fish because they are golf course fish and not wild fish). They have their little poles and little tackle boxes, they get jeff to bait their hooks and I get to stand back as they cast. Dangerous...of course, but apparently they will eventually get the hang of it. This is also the trip that I messed up my ankle on, stupid paved trails! 5 months later and I am still trying to recover

We all knew...

that this day would have to come sooner or later, and it finally arrived. This was the first time that Abigail got to stay up to watch a movie with mom and dad, and Syd had to go to bed. They have done basically everything together since Syd was born, same bed times, same movies, same computer games and tv time. But we all know that eventually there is a shift in the dynamic and suddenly Abbi is big enough to do things that Syd just isn't ready for. Tonight we got to watch the Sorcerers Apprentice (good movie by the way). We started it a little late and Syd wasn't really interested anyway(good thing cuz she wasn't going to get to watch it anyway) so she was downstairs reading. But at bedtime when I went to turn off her light and kiss her goodnight she was a little miffed that Abbi wasn't down there with her (They have always shared a room). Well, there were a few tears but she came through it all right.

But Mommy...not so much. This feels a little like the begining of the end. My baby girl is growing up, and with that comes all sorts of things that I would rather not think about. (boys, dating, cars, trying to look mature and spending hours on the phone, the phrase "Id rather be texting) All these things and more are enough to keep me up at night, and prompt jeff to buy a lock for her door and a big stick to keep those boys away.

But I guess thats just how it goes, little girls grow up, and young mommys turn into old mommys. (Not that I plan on letting that happen to me! :)

Sofia

So my little munchkin is finally walking. Shes been trying for months to get it down but without much success. I think she was being chicken, which would be ironic considering that she is pretty much fearless in her exploring. But yesterday I pulled out a little toy for her to walk behind as she pushed it and off she went. She played with that thing for nearly 2 hours and then at the end of it all she took off on her own. I love it. The first few days of careful toddleing are so much fun. I am sure that in a few weeks I will be wanting her to slow back down...but for now I think I will just enjoy it.

oldies but goodies

So these are a bunch of random pics that I should have posted long ago, months and years ago. But as we all know I am not a good blogger. I always post that I am going to be better and I almost always believe it.....but time has proven me wrong. But at least I can enjoy this tonight, just don't expect too much from me.



Sledding last November, it was great and we all had fun. Well Carter did not have fun, "Snow is toooooo slippy mommy"

My kids love to play with the camera. They can take dozens and dozens of pictures in a single sitting. They take turns and pose and set up shots of us all. Good thing for digital cameras.

This is little Sydneys turn at using the camera. She set us all up and gave us all sorts of instructions. So much fun to play with my kiddos.

And this one is just because. Syd was maybe three, and she really really liked CHEERIOS. We basically got these faces with every bite. In case you can't tell this is a look of sheer delite. :)