This Is How You Make...

This is how you make a volcano. My niece had it for a project. Pretty young if you ask me, for a 1st grader. Mateo just did his project in the 6th grade. Steve's girlfriend was a great help. Enjoy the pics!

Recipe Time

Okay so I thought it's been awhile since I posted a recipe. So here ya go!
Tonight I made my Mexican Lasagna. This is a big hit at my house.
Everyone goes for 3rds.
I don't have the original recipe on hand anymore. I've been making it so long I just do it from memory.

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients
shredded chicken (most times I use can of chicken)
can of black beans
shredded cheese
sour cream
1 jar of salsa
1 package of tortillas
1-2 tsp chili powder
1-2 tsp cumin powder

Directions
First pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Then I mix chicken, beans, salsa(all but 1/4cup) and spices together


Then I put a 1/4 cup of salsa at the bottom of a baking dish. You then layer tortillas, sour cream, meat mixture and cheese till you reach the top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly. I like to garnish with tomatoes and lettuce. I usually serve with mexican rice.

Yum! Let me know if you try it!

We're Officially...

We're officially in the WHY stage! That's all I hear all day long.
Why this?
And why that?
I try to give her a real answer but it still doesn't satisfy her. So finally I say, "BECAUSE" or "quite asking me WHY"!
And I get another why!
I remember when I was visiting my Aunt one summer and my cousin was 4 or 5. We were on our way to the mall and he was in the back seat, saying, "Why"! I thought that was funny, but this(my own child) is not!
This is what I'm going to do to her if she doesn't stop! LOL

Spring Break

Okay there is so much to tell. I'll try to keep it short. Prepare for many photos. I took over 100 photos.
Well we had this great weekend planned and then Ken's work said he had to work. Bummer! I went back and forth if I should go ahead with plans. I decided that the kids have been waiting for this so we went. We were heading out to the Redding area to visit my Mom's best friend Kathy. I have never been out to her place before and I knew it was going to be a long ride.
So we packed up the van Friday morning and headed off. We first made a stop at my friend Valaun's house. I usually get to see her once or twice a year. Her kids were so big and so cute! We took the kids to the park and hung out for a couple of hours. It was so great to see her! She is one of those great friends that sadly had to move away!
Then we were off to Kathy's and the adventure of finding her hidden ranch. During the drive we kept feeling lost. We were out in no where land. Really, it was like a desert out there. I kept calling her to see if I was going the right way.
Yep, she said just keep driving. I was getting a little worried because it looked so dead out there.
Once we got to her place it was a site! There was so much land to see and play on. We were first greeted by Kathy's huge dog, Duke! He's the guard dog to the property and the goats. Daisy, the chiuaha came following behind him. Daisy was Tina's favorite dog. It was late Friday so we just hung out round the house. Had some dinner, played games and retired early because we were pooped!
The next day we began our adventure. We started by feeding the animals. Kathy has goats, chickens, a rooster and some newborn chicks. We then walked across the street to the neighbors to visit the minature pony ranch. There were hunddreds! They just keep reproducing! What a site! There's a creek going through everyones land so we walked along the creek and it was gorgeous!
We then went back to Kathy's and made lunch and took it out the their private lake. We had the whole lake to ourselves. We used the paddle boat, fished and watched Duke jump in the water! Lani then joined us and he his such a crack up! He was in a big truck trying to play hide n seek with the dogs! Crazy, Guy!
Lani then bbq a great dinner and got the ATV running for us. The boys and I had a blast on it. We took turns riding it all over the property. We then hooked up a wagon and took the little kids for a ride.
Sadly the weekend came to an end, but not before Tina woke up with a fever and laid in bed all morning. We began our packing of the van and took off for home.
We had such a blast up at the ranch! I think we found our new campsite! I can't wait to take Ken back! Enjoy the pics!

Easter 2009

Here are some pics from Easter, enjoy!

Games Today!

Today we woke up bright and early to begin our day of baseball games. First Kenny had opening ceremonies and then it was off to Mateo's game at 9am. He did great pitching!
Kenny then played his first (long awaited) game of the season. He did great, the team did great! I can't believe that my oldest is playing in babe ruth and Teo is in the majors. Time goes by to quickly!





Tina had a blast at the games. She makes friends wherever she goes. She received an early Easter gift. She had to put it on right away!


Happy Easter! I'm sure I'll have pics to follow.

It's The Start Of Easter!

Well I woke up feeling kinda sick. After some diagnosing I think it's vertigo. I got some motion sickness pills and I'm feeling a little better. They say sometimes it comes and goes and/or maybe you'll just have it once. I hope it never returns.
Well I pulled it together and we decided to color eggs.


Sunday we'll have a small Easter egg hunt for Tina. I'll post those later.

Here's a layout I've been working on. I would've had two to show but Christina got to it and decided to cut up my paper. Yeah, she's lucky I like her!

I've wanted to do more sewing on my pages, so here ya go!

Weekend Almost Over!

Well I forgot to pull out the camera, sorry! Friday night some girlfriends came over, Thank You, and we scrapbooked/beaded all night. We had a blast! They also brought me tons of chocolate goodies, bad, bad! I tasted every one, in moderation of course!
I almost finished another layout. I'll take a pic and show later.
I received so many cards, phone calls and well wishes. Thank You! It really made my day/weekend.
I then began my Saturday morning joining Facebook. I know, I know, I said I would never join. I'm still not sure why I did. Maybe because everyone is talking about it. We'll see if I can use it in moderation!
Mateo had a baseball game later that day. He is such a good player and enjoys playing, even though his team isn't doing so well. I always enjoy watching my kids play!
Ken then took me out to dinner. We found this great sushi place. They make this amazing roll with a slice of lemon, yum!
It all made for a wonderful weekend!

Milestone

Yeah, we finally broke the cycle! Some of you may have known about our dirty little secret. Christina is so hard to put to sleep. She would fight to stay awake, not wanting to miss anything. So for almost a year now we have been taking a drive at night to put her to sleep. Bad, I know but it was less stressful on me. I could then have some personal time without a 2-3 year old tugging at me! So it worked!
Well about 2-3 weeks ago she said she didn't want to go for a drive (she loved the drives). She was tired and wanted to go lay down, wow, amazing! We haven't taken a drive for weeks now, YEAH!
Maybe that is my birthday present from her! Happy Birthday to me!
Yep, today we add another year to the pot! YIPPEE! I remember when I turned 30 I was so excited. Now they just pass me by! Tonight a few friends are coming over and we're going to have a craft night. I'll have to post pics later! Tomorrow Hubby is taking me out to dinner and Sunday is the traditional family birthday dinner!
Hopefully my Cricut markers will be in the mail today, that would make my day!

Oh My, Your Not Gonna Believe This!

I have been looking everywhere for this picture! This picture shows how BIG I was before I started to get healthy. This picture was taken about 7 years ago, before my Mom got sick. I was in a size 16 (almost got into a 18). Scary! That's when I realized I had to do something. I started working out 3-5 times a week. I changed what I ate and drank. Veggies and water became my best friend! So over the past 7 years I've lost 50lbs!
Here's the good news. I just bought a pair of size "8" jeans! I thought this day would never come! I have 10 more pounds to lose and I will be at my pre-baby weight! Let me tell you these last 10lbs are hard. I've had so many interuptions in my workout schedule. I also can't lay off the m&ms!
Summer is around the corner and I want this tummy pouch gone! Wish me luck!

Sun + Niece = Fun!

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day, we just had to go to the park. My niece was over and so it made for more fun! Christina has been waiting for the newly renovated park to open up from down the street. It finally opened a couple of days ago.
She's been saying, "New, Open, Me"! Over and over!
Translation: The new park is open finally, my park!
Here are some pics.





Then we came home and my neighbor had a visitor!

Isn't she cute! She's only 2 weeks old. The kids had a blast playing with her!

FHE

So last night for family home evening we started working on our personal history books. It's important to have a journal (of some sort), pictures and written stories of your past so that one day your children and grand-children will have something to look at and read about. I was telling the boys that they're lucky to be growing up in the same town they were born. Myself and Ken were military brats, we moved a lot. All we have are memories.
So we made a list of important places in the kids lives (so far) and went to take pics of them there, like their school, hospital (born), etc...


Time was running short, due to the sun, so we'll have to make this a two parter. Next we'll finish the list and then print the pictures. We will then make a book for each of them. Then one day their kids can see where they went to school and where they spent most of their summer (baseball field). I think once a year we'll update the book with pictures.
After our drive we made those Monster Cookies

Here's the recipe
Pre-heat oven to 325. This is a very rich cookie. Their is an altered version if you want to cut back on the sugar/sweetness. Try both and then decide which you like best. (This makes a LARGE batch!
Ingredients
6 eggs
2 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1 stick butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbls karo syrup
4 tsp baking soda
3 cups peanut butter
mix together well until creamy. then add
9 cups quick cook oats (I only had 6 cups-it worked)
12oz chocolate chips
2-3 cups of plain m&ms
mix well (your gonna need a strong arm).
spoon onto greased/non-stick cookie sheet. Use back of spoon to flaten cookie. Cook for 12-15 minutes (until edges are brown). Let cool, then eat and enjoy!

Altered
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup butter
keep everything else the same.

Layouts, What!?

Yes, I actually made it to the scrapbook night and got some layouts done. Amazing! I haven't scrapped in months (try 6) and even when I did I didn't get much done! Well I have to be honest, the night started of rocky. I was working on this layout...

I started it almost 2 years ago and I could never figure out how to finish it. Then I found out about this new cricut tool

Markers! It's the coolest thing! And yes, it helped solve my problem!
Then I kept the juices flowing with this layout. I kept it (them) simple.
Just happy to get them done!

Bummer!

So Christina woke up with a little fever! Man! That means no workout, possibly no scrapbooking tonight and no shopping today! Bummer! Well maybe I can get caught up on tv shows. I'm behind on Lost (1), Private Practice (1), Smallville (2) and Hereos (too many to count)! That's what happens during baseball season. I'm never home, but I am enjoying the sun! Wow, I saw my white legs last night and they are in some desperate need of SUN!

I took these pics yesterday! Tina just can't wait till her brothers come home from school. She's all over them! This is Kenny's jacket, she can't get enough of him!

Spring Cleaning

I spent all day yesterday cleaning my sewing/craft area. It took all day! I still have a few more bags of scrapbooking stuff to sort through.
The question is always should I keep it? By the end of the night I had a huge trash bag of TRASH and GIVE AWAY stuff!
I'm trying to decide if I should have a garage sale. I have a TON of stuff that I could get rid of. If I did, it could really help to pay for the boys scout camp this year. Seeing as, they raised the price and last year I only had one son going.
Garage sales are so much work though! We'll see!
I'm just so happy to have this space clean and organized! Especially since I'm going scrapbooking this Friday!

Before

After

It might still look crazy under the table, but it really is organized and I know where everything is at!

Clean, Create & Consequences!

You know how your just so busy and then one day you realize how dirty your house is...today was that day. I spent most of the morning cleaning; laundry, laundry room, dishes, kitchen floor, more laundry, etc...
Luckily Tina had playdough to keep her busy!



The other night I taught the girls (at church) how to Mod Podge. I found these recipe boxes at Michaels for $1.
BEFORE

AFTER

I forgot to bring my camera, I wanted to take pics of the girls' boxes. They turned out so cute! This is the one I made Mateo for his Journal Box.


Okay so at my last parents class they gave us another tip.
It can be called the Chore Jar, Chore Drawer or Chore Box (as i'm doing)
You put a list of extra chores for them to pick out when they miss behave or don't listen. So I had these two tupperware boxes with a red and yellow lid. They reminded me of Stop and Go/Bad and Really Bad!
The yellow box has extra chores and the red box has chores they hate. It just depends how bad they're in trouble! They might just have to take out the trash or they might be on dog duty (poop)!
I'll let you know how it works out!

Here's the dog, Buddy! Can you even imagine what kinda poop he lays! LOL!

FHE

Hey so this is what we did the other day for Family Home Evening. We talked about the First Vision. Joseph Smith was looking for a church to join. He was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. My friend, in our fhe group, made this box. The kids were able to act out the scene as it was told. It was a lot of fun! For treats (I forgot to take pics) we made Sacred Grove Trees.
Recipe:
4 cups Cheerios
3 cups marshmallows
3 tbs butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp (it's too much I would cut back)green food coloring

Make just like rice krispies. Melt butter & marshmallows. Then add vanilla and food coloring. Stir well. then form into trees on wax paper.
The kids loved eating these!

Showing Support

I found this dress made out of bandanas on this site. And I thought, "I can do that" ! So I gave it a shot. It was pretty easy! The directions were easy to follow.

Tina will be wearing this during Mateo's game to show our support. Mateo's first game was this past Saturday. He ended up pitching his first Majors game and we were soo nervous! He went out there and killed it! He did great! He has been waiting to step out of the shadows of his older brother. I try never to compare them and let him know that he is his own person. I think he finally felt like he was no longer in the shadows! Great Job, Mateo!

Sidenote: We got so many compliments on the dress tonight! It was fun!