It's a time for learning

One of the other fun things we got to do in Utah was go to the Children's Museum at the Gateway. We bought a family season pass to the museum in Memphis and we are able to get into all the Children's Museums in the country. It was well worth it, we go to the one here in Vegas regularly.

This was the first time we went to a museum and Hunter really got in to it. Usually he just wanders and occasionally finds something to play with, I guess he is just getting to that age. He had so much fun! His favorite part was the builder section. He loved bringing the shapes up and putting them through the hole. Anything he can throw over and over makes him happy.

He also loved the car. He finally got to play with that illusive steering wheel! He loved pretending to honk the horn and turning the wheel. He even got a fill up from his sister. Wasn't that sweet?

They both got to sit on top of the horse, which I think freaked them out a bit. It's kind of high off the ground and there isn't that much to hold on to.

Zoo Animals

One of the fun things we did in Utah when we went for the 24th of July was going to the Zoo with one of my best friends from way back when and her son, Preston. The kids had so much fun, Madison keeps asking to go back.

I think the reason she keeps asking to go back is not to look at the animals, but to climb all over them. Every time we passed one of the sculptures she could climb on she wouldn't move until we got a

picture of her on the animal. It got really annoying, but the pictures turned out cute.

I think both of the kids liked the carousel the best. They wanted to go back on it the rest of the day. Next time I know to save it for last instead of first. All in all, it was a fun day and not too hot for being July. I loved being able to catch up with Kimberlee. I hardly get to see her, so that was my favorite part of the day :)

An exasperating 24 hours

The other day I discovered my son can now unzip his jammies. A few months ago he was pretty restless at naptime, but I just let him hang out in his crib and he eventually fell asleep. I went in to get him once he woke up and he had thrown all of his bedding out of his crib, taken off his shirt, his pants, and of course his diaper. Apparently that is when he decided to fall asleep because when I went to get him there was a huge pee stain on his sheet. Thankfully that was it....and now I worry about him doing it again. Super.....

(yes, I know he has a pink blanket in his crib. His blanket was in the wash, he doesn't usually sleep on pink... not that I really care anyway. A blanket is a blanket.)

Then, as I was trying to get him ready for the day he would not leave Madison's dress up shoes alone. Usually he is obsessed with my shoes, but he found hers and would not take them off. He was so funny. He won't keep his own shoes on, but he loves playing with other peoples. He thought running away from me in the heels was a fun game. yeah....I thought so to....

Of course this was the same day the kids wanted to play "buckethead." The entire premise of this game is putting a bucket on their head and ramming in to each other over and over again. The problem is that each time they hit each other one of them ends up falling down and crying because it hurts! Really? Who knew????

The best part of the day, however, was when Hunter got ahold of Madison's markers and wrote all over his face. What is it about my kids that they will not stop writing on themselves? Is it really that fun?????

We just can't pick a favorite

We are not sure what we are going to be naming our little bun in the oven. But, here are a few of our favorites. Which is your favorite?

In the family way

Yep, we have a new little baby on it's way. I put a fun ticker on the side of my blog page to keep track of the growth. We are so excited, more so than any of our other pregnancies. Usually we are happy, but this time both Ryan and I are excited too. How funny is that? We just want it to be healthy and strong.

My sister found this fun Ancient Chinese gender chart that is supposed to let you know the gender of your baby. It told me I was going to have a little girl, which is what I really want. I was so excited!

However, I wanted to put the chart on my blog, just for fun, so I Googled to find it, but the one that I found disagrees with hers.

Now I don't know what to believe. One says girl, one says boy. Sadly, I have to think the 2nd one is more accurate, because the first one said that Madison should have been a boy. Granted, it does give a disclaimer that it has a 90% accuracy rate, not 100%, but still....I try to cheat and find out early, and look what happens. I still don't know what I am going to have. I supposed I should just go back to good old reliable faith. I'm just impatient!

So far this pregnancy had gone almost exactly like my last two. I knew I was pregnant when the thought of drinking Coke made me ill. I stopped cold turkey, with no withdrawal symptoms. That is my way of knowing I am prego. I crave lots of carbs, white bread in particular. I only eat it when I am pregnant....lots of peanut butter and honey sandwiches, yum! I also crave Root Beer. I hardly ever drink it, but in the first trimester I LOVE it...especially with pizza :)

I'm sick, just like I have been before, but I am learning little tricks to combat it. I don't have the luxury of laying in bed all day like I did with the first 2. I have found that if I go to bed by 8:30 pm I can make it through the next day without having to be in bed the whole day. I can get a few things done. The only problem is 8:30 pm is WAY too early for a sane person to go to bed. I'm a night owl, I don't like going to bed early every day, plus, it's not like I can fall asleep that early anyway! Needless to say, Zofran is still by best friend. I try to get to bed early every other night and that just has to be the best I can do.

I officially concede

I am such a blogging slacker. I willingly admit it, and officially concede my alphabetized list. The rest are lame anyway. I will try and get better....I just can't promise anything.

Random funny stories

This little monster is just getting in to everything. His new favorite game is to sit at the top of the stairs and throw all the toys down on the tile. Needless to say, a few things have gotten broken. If the toy won't fit through the banister then he reaches up on his tippy toes and throws the toy over the railing. He doesn't listen to no, and I just don't know how to break this habit. It's not like I can keep him away from the railings. The toy room is right there where the railings are. It's driving me nuts. Every now and again I'll be going up or down the stairs and a toy will barely miss me. So fun.....

Over Christmas Hunter was sitting with Ryan he grabbed Ryan's soda bottle, determined to get some for himself. I looked over while he was doing it and it looked like he has gotten it open, so I freaked out. Ryan just looked at me like I was the crazy one! He couldn't believe that I would think he gave our barely one year old his soda. All I could say was that from my angle he looked like he was drinking away. It was so funny, plus, it made a really cute picture.

A month or so ago we were headed out to the drive in for family movie night. Ryan and I were talking and Madison interrupts us with "Mommy, I can read lot's of words. McDonald's, Burger King, Cafe Rio, Chevy's, Wendy's, Sonic, Taco Bell, Chili's. See, I can read lots of words." Nice, I know. I'm not exactly sure what I am trying to teach my children anymore, but I'm pretty sure I'm trying to teach them more words than simply restaurant names. Granted, we do eat at those places, more than we should, but still...

Ryan and I couldn't keep a straight face for the rest of the night...Out of the mouth of babes, right?

This moment rated right up there with the time Madison told me I needed to get a coke because coke makes me nice. Apparently I was grumpy that day.

My other favorite Madison story from last year happened at church one Sunday. I can't remember if I have blogged this one, but I will tell it anyway.

We were sitting on a bench to one side and Mads had been really good during sacrament and about halfway through there was a musical number. The person doing it had gotten up and said a few words and born his testimony before the number started. It was just him and his guitar, which isn't normal for musical numbers, but it was one of the most heart touching musical numbers I had ever heard at church. Anyone, he started playing and singing and Madison moved out into the aisle and totally went American Idol on us. She had her arms up, swaying back and forth just like on TV. I grabbed her so fast, I'm still hoping not too many people saw. Ryan and I were bent over on our seats laughing. What could I do? It's not like she did something wrong, it was just not the appropriate place for that. It was so funny!

Hunter Bear

Hunter:/ [huhn-ter] –noun 1: a person who searches for or seeks something: a fortune hunter. 2: a horse specially trained for quietness, stamina, and jumping ability in hunting.

see also: joker; content; happy; cuddly; thumb-sucker; hungry; teaser; quiet; pleaser; water-baby; fearless; mamma's boy; calm; sleeper; climber; eater; singer; slobber-monster

Our little Hunter Bear is a little angel. I tell people that he is my reward for surviving Madison! I'm joking, of course, Madison is a wonderful child and I love her to pieces. She makes me smile everyday. Hunter, though, he is just special to me. I figure it must be the mommy-son bond that I hear so much about. Here is a little about him and his cute personality.

Food We'll start with the obvious one. This kid loves to eat. No one is allowed to eat around him without something for him. It doesn't matter how full he is, there is always room for more. He almost always has a snack cup in his hand and is a complete moocher. He has no qualms about eating food off the floor, I think he throws stuff off of his highchair tray just so he can eat more while he is playing and I am cleaning the floor. He also makes the cutest chipmunk cheeks when he eats. It doesn't matter how small or large the bite, he puffs his little cheeks out and shoves the food in his mouth with expert aim. Just for fun he loves to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. It makes for a fun cleanup for mom! He has taught himself how to drink out of a straw, because heaven forbid someone gets to even drink without him having some too.

If we grab food at a drive thru and he hears the crinkle of the take-out bag he will start screeching until he gets food. I swear, he knows the sound of fast food bags! It's actually really funny, but sometimes I just don't want to share!

Daily Routine He is a really easy kid. He sleeps really, really well and hasn't gotten into tantrums much yet, I don't delude myself, I know they are coming, but I am enjoying the time I have without them. Right now he takes one nap a day, usually about 2 1/2 hours or so, and sleeps all night long. I lay him in bed and leave the room and every now and again I hear some babbling, but usually he goes straight to sleep. I am enjoying this while it lasts. He loves to sleep and I think he really enjoys the quiet and calm of having time to himself. He still sucks his thumb any time he is tired, so that helps me know when he is ready for nap time.

He is finally waving at people instead of just at himself in the mirror. He has the cutest wave too, he curls his fist twice and then he gets shy and tucks his head on my shoulder. I get such a kick out of it!

Signing is a different story, he will only do one sign. I taught him food and that is all he would do for months. The answer to every question was the the sign for food. It kind of defeated the purpose. Recently I got him to start signing "more," so now he does that sign for everything. I ask him if he wants water, I get "more" , I ask if he wants food, "more" , up?, "more" , outside?, "more" , do you see why this could be a problem? What is the point ?!? He is just so content! There is not enough incentive for him to do each one individually, he has Madison and I to figure out what he wants all day long. One day, maybe.....

Favorite Activities Hunter has many activities that he loves. His favorite is standing on the oven drawer and holding on to the oven door handle. He can usually be found there while I am cooking. Yep, it's fun for me. As soon as he crawls up there I get him down, because hello, I know it is dangerous! I walk him over to the other side of the kitchen by his toys. I get about 30 seconds to complete my next task before he has climbed right back up. I could buckle him into his highchair, right? Or I should be able to, except he likes to stand up in the seat of the chair and then walk onto his tray and on to the table if I let him. It takes him about 45 seconds to get out of the buckle and start him climb out of the chair. Fun stuff....and many of you wonder why I don't enjoy cooking, it could be because I can't just go to the kitchen and cook, I spend more time trying to keep my kids from falling and burning themselves than I spend preparing a meal.

He also loves to play with Madison. He just idolizes her. He will watch her with all his attention and follow her as she does things. Anything she does he wants to do. It is so sweet, especially since Madison loves him so much too. They have so much fun together.


He also love to tease me and joke. He loves to get a laugh from us and plays "Where's Hunter?" all the time. Usually during mealtime when his hands are covered in food, but whatever, it's still cute.

He will go to an area that has toys and put them all on him (see the accompanying photo of Madison's necklaces). He takes all sorts of toys and makes hats out of them. He just loves getting a laugh from us!

In the Kitchen

I have started cooking again...I know, my poor family. I used to think I was a good cook, now I just know better. I make 3 things really well, other than that, oh well...I put some of my favorite recipes on the blog earlier this year, but I wanted to add a few more to the list.

I made this the other night for dinner and Ryan really liked it. It is Rice-A-Roni with Chicken and Broccoli. I used a can of stewed tomatoes instead of fresh (I don't keep fresh tomatoes in the house, they disgust me) and I added a 1/4 of a cup of Sour creme, because honestly, what doesn't taste better with sour creme? The entire dish was so incredibly easy to make and was pretty good.

I can't remember if my Ziti recipe got posted...I got this from my mother-in-law. It is really good and easy, easy, easy.

1 box of ziti pasta

1 jar of spaghetti sauce

2 c. of heavy whipping creme (that is what makes it yummy)

chicken or sausage

Cook the pasta. Mix the sauce and creme together, add to pasta once it is cooked. Put in a casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese and bake at 375* until the cheese melts.

Have I posted my easy cookie recipe? I got it from my mother-in-law too, it is the best.

1 box of cake mix (whatever you want)

1 stick melted butter

2 eggs

Mix together and add whatever else you want. My favorite is German chocolate cake mix, coconut, chopped walnuts or pecans, and milk chocolate chips. Yum-o. Cook at whatever temp the box says and it takes about 10 min per cookie sheet to cook. This is what I made with them for Madison's treat day at school.

I used a chocolate cake mix and peanut butter chips. I made little chalk boards using chocolate covered graham crackers and regular white icing and used the white icing to stand them up. M wanted to add sprinkles (because hey, sprinkles make life fun) and that was that. It was super easy and really cute. I got the idea from a parenting magazine, they did this with cupcakes, but cupcakes are too messy for school.

I have also been working really hard to get a decent food storage going for us. I finally learned how to coupon correctly and have saved soooo much money and gotten a lot more food. My food storage is starting to grow and I can actually cook because I have food in the house. It is fun and it definitely satisfies my incessant need to shop all the time.

Just us Girls

Every now and again Madison and I get to do something together, just the two of us. In Memphis over Christmas my mom, some of my sisters, Madison and I got to have a girls night out. The boys went to a basketball game and Allie's boyfriend watched Hunter sleep for us. It was so fun. I just could not get over how grown up Madison is....some times I look at her and realize that she is not a little girl anymore. I loved how she insisted on taking her purse with her to the restaurant. It makes sense, all the rest of us did! She just has such a personality, I swear her personality is going to kill one of us some day...I just don't know which one of us it will be.

So anyway, we chose to go to The Melting Pot for fondue because the guys don't really like it. They say it is "Chick food," they just don't like having to work for their food. I just like the cheese and chocolate. We had a great time, and definitely loved our food. Madison loved being such a grownup and cooking her own food and choosing all the fun sauces/dips they have. She was exhausted by the time we got home, but it was worth it. I love girls night out.

Kids

What do you write for K? I had a hard time with this one, but I thought a post on sibling love would be appropriate. Our kids love each other so much, which I am so grateful for, I just hope it never changes. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the two of them together. Madison will constantly run over to Hunter, look over at me and tell me to take a picture of them together. Her favorite thing to do is to go through the camera and look at all the pictures. She gets so excited and happy when she sees one of them together, especially if it's a video...I have to physically take the camera away from her or she would watch the video's over and over and over again.

Pictures clockwise from left to right: One of our many pictures taken to distract the kids and keep them happy; M clapping for H sitting up; M holding H's hand to try and make him happy; Mom, M & H at Trunk-or-treat; M & H sliding together at Thanksgiving Point; Dad, M & H on our hike at Kiroli Park in LA; Entire family at Thanksgiving point; M & H at Trunk-or-Treat; M swinging H and trying to do an "underdog" at Kiroli Park

Let's Play Ball

We love sports in our household....Ryan much more than I, of course, but I love going to games. I am not picky, I'll go to any sporting event and cheer on one of the teams. I LOVE trash talking, I suck at it, but enjoy it nonetheless. Las Vegas does not have a pro team. Of any sport. So we get behind UNLV basketball....it's all we have. Or we travel. We saw quite a few games on the road this year. It was a fun sports year for us.

Ryan got to go to ESPN Game Day in February for his birthday when Univ. of Memphis played Univ. of Tenn. (I have posted that a few times already, so no additional stories here folks....).

In March we got to go to a Jazz game, Ryan loves the Jazz. I still don't know if he loves the Jazz or Lakers more, but hey, I figure I shouldn't know everything about him, right? Anyway, we got to go with Parker and Jessica, that was so fun! We rarely get to do things with just the two of them so it was definitely a treat. The biggest treat was leaving my 3 month old baby with my Mother-in-law and hoping he would take a bottle for her. He did beautifully, thank goodness.

We went to 2 BYU football games in Provo, I LOVE BYU football games, that was probably my favorite thing to do in college. I am a little biased considering Ryan and I fell in love all due to the All Sports pass the students buy. (Hmmm, maybe I will post "our" story at some time....that will be a long one). Anyway, we always go to to the season opener (apparently I don't always have my camera at the ready, hence, no pictures to share) and we went to the BYU vs. UNM game when we drove up for the Kelly Clarkson/Reba McIntyre concert.

What? You want new stories to read? Well, let me tell you about our Christmas vacation. We went to Memphis for 2 weeks and in Memphis there are 2 things to do...Eat and go to basketball games (in the summer it is Redbirds season so the city goes baseball crazy and gets behind the AAA team for the St. Louis Cardinals). So, what did we do? We ate, really well, and went to 5 basketball games for me and 6 for Ryan. Considering that we watched almost every college football bowl game (there are 30-something) in between basketball games, I was completely "sported" out (yep, that is my new word). It was so fun though! The best part is that at the beginning of Univ. of Memphis basketball games the student section gets a copy of the newspaper and when the opposing team starters are introduced all of the students hold up papers and yell "You Suck" after each name is called. It entertained me to no end....I loved that tradition. The problem that arises for me is that when I see a crossword puzzle I cannot NOT do it. It is a sickness that I get from my daddy dearest. So Aunna and I challenged Allie and Brent to a "Race to the Finish." Every timeout, all of half time, and each break of any sort resulted in our heads together, and only a little cheating from both sides, trying to finish the puzzle first. Who won? My dear Aunna and Myself, of course...plus we cheated less, so the win was even that much more satisfying. Don't worry, I did watch the game, there was plenty of yelling at the players coming from me and only one text from Ryan telling me to put the dang paper away and watch the game (I was in the student section and he sat with my dad on club level...there was a ton of texting between us).

We even got to bring Madison to one of the Univ. of Memphis games. She loves going to basketball games, and did really well during it. She watched most of it and like to cheer the teams on, but her favorite part was the frozen yogurt Ryan shared with her. She is definitely her parent's child. We love ice cream in our family, NOT that Hunter gets any yet....He is still a little young and I am super anal when it comes to food for my kids.

Ryan and I got to go to the Memphis Grizzlies game when they played the Lakers. The sad thing for me was that there were as many fans there for the Lakers as the Grizz. Poor Grizzlies...They played great, I really thought they were going to win the game. The Lakers trailed the entire game and the last few minutes they showed up to play and ended up winning by just a few points in the end. At least it was a really good game.

I just can't resist

I am going out of order, but I have to add this to my favorite postings list....Amy, I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to share your story in hopes that it would bring as much joy to others as it did to me.

It is a short post, but check it out. Only a busy mom could get away with this. Now I am wondering if I could do something like this on purpose and get take-out without the guilt? I wonder how many times I can do it before Ryan would catch on??? Hmmm......

This is the problem I am having....I am super behind on blogging, but every time I log on to blog I end up reading about all of my wonderful friends fun postings and all my blogging time disappears. I do promise to get caught up soon, I just get distracted really, really easily.

M is for My favorite things

I thought it would be fun to have one posting for all of my favorite things from this last year, more of a list than commentary, but hey, it's my blog so why not? So, without further adieu, here are my favorite things that I have learned, found, experienced, or whatever else I deem worthy of this post.

My Favorite...

... headline from the past year

This has to start off my blog posting because I still cannot get over the sheer stupidity of Plaxico Burress. First of all, having a name like Plaxico just screams newsworthy, but shooting yourself in the leg with your own gun while carrying concealed illegally at a club in NYC, makes it my favorite. Sadly, he has gotten more publicity from this act then he did being a top wide receiver. Go figure.

...Mommy Moments

Madison is regularly in time out. When she gets whiney or obnoxious (what, my kid?) she goes straight to time out. It is my saving grace. So anyway, a few months ago I was finishing dinner and ended up sending Madison to timeout for something or other. She was so quiet and actually went up there without much argument. I was talking to Ryan on the phone a while later while taking Hunter to bed and noticed that she was laying on her bed all quiet and everything. I commented to Ryan that she must be really tired if she went to bed all by herself before eating dinner. It still didn't hit me that she was in timeout. About 10 minutes later she came down crying, asking if timeout was over yet. She had been in timeout for about an hour and never said a word! I felt so bad, so now when she goes up to her room for a timeout she asks me not to forget about her. In my defense, she has never had a timeout, before or since, that she did not start yelling "Mommy, is timeout over yet?" within 1 minute of getting there, so of course I forgot! I never have to remember, she constantly reminds me!

Now Hunter, he is a fantastic child. He doesn't give me any grief, he is happy most of the time, and he actually likes to cuddle...he gives the best hugs. But man, the little stinker can crawl like a speed demon. Not too long ago we went to a friends house for a few minutes. The kids were all playing in the backyard and so we went out there to say hi. I put Hunter down and was kind of following him around a little bit because they have a pool. He kind of started crawling towards it and then would turn and come back to play somewhere else. He started crawling towards the shallow end again and so I was watching him, he kept getting closer and so I started walking towards him. He saw me so he sped up (he does this all the time) and went right over the edge into the cold water. I was there, literally, a second later and grabbed him out. He was under about a second and a half, but he was not happy. He was fine, he didn't even swallow any water.

So, Ryan comes home from work, says hi to Madison and she, before a hi or anything, tells him that Hunter fell in the pool today. He looks at me and says, "Well, there goes your mother-of-the-year award." Smart-A.....

...Kid moments

Madison has finally figured out how to say "I love you" to people. She used to just say, "I Know" when people said it to her or ignore it. Now she will say it to me just out of the blue...which is so sweet. But, she is also trying to figure out if saying it will get her something she wants. The answer? Nope, I am not that gullible, but I sure love hearing it anyway.

Moment #2 is becoming somewhat of a daily thing. We were in the car a while back and I told her that I needed to grab a coke from somewhere. She agreed and told me to hurry because coke makes me happy. Yep, my 4 year old lets me know when I am grumpy by suggesting we go on a coke run.

...Moment of Despair

The saddest moment of this past year was when Madison cut her hair. Many of you might be wondering why she has a semi-bowl cut in our family picture. It is because she cut her hair right before we had it taken. I took her to a hairdresser and had it evened out the best we could, but it still didn't look great. It has almost grown out now, thank goodness. She looks so much better with hair!

...Blog entries

I love reading every one else's blogs, especially the funny stories. So, here are my favorites...

I got hooked on this girls blog through a friend, and even though I don't know her I still love to read her postings. She is a fabulous writer and I love her adventures. This has to be my favorite though, I made Ryan read it, and if you know Ryan he doesn't read blogs (apparently he only reads chat rooms), and he even laughed.

On to people that I know, Brynn, you win the best blog entry with Haley running around nekked and playing with your unmentionables. I love this picture!

What is my favorite blog posting that I did this year? Hmmm, this one I suppose. Even Ryan got a kick out of it. I rarely am witty, and even more rare is when others get my wit. I suppose I am like Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail" where she never comes up with a good retort at the moment she needs it, I am much like that....they always come to me later, ahhh, but this posting, it was a moment of sheer brilliance on my part. Those moments come few and far between so I am savoring this one for a while.

...Household Tips

I put on my posting about baking soda earlier this year, it works, try it. I have also started putting about a 1/4 of a cup in each load of laundry, I swear it makes my clothes look cleaner and fresher.

Vinegar is another new found love of mine. When I have new clothes I put a few tablespoons in the wash with my regular detergent and it seals the colors in. It keeps my blacks and reds from fading and bleeding onto other clothes. I also use it to clean everything. I have a spray bottle of 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water that I use to clean my counters (vinegar is a natural disinfectant and sanitizer), but the best is using 1 gallon of warm water, 1-2 cups of vinegar and 3 T of ammonia to mop with. My floors have never looked better, although it did take a few moppings to get rid of the buildup of floor cleaners. Seriously, try it, those nasty black spots that show up after you mop won't show up when you use this.

I have a few kitchen items I can't live without anymore. The first is a scooper from from Sur La Table, I found it for just a few dollars, but I use it all the time, it really cuts down of the messes I make when I cook.

The second is Wilton brand baking pans. They are a few extra dollars at target or wherever, but they are worth it. They mean it when they put non-stick on the label. Next time you have to buy a muffin tin or something, get Wilton, they rock!

I finally found a brownie mix that I like. I tried a bunch and never really fell in love with one kind, until now. They are my favorite (in my opinion only, everyone has their own favorite style) and they are so easy to make. I make them as cupcakes when I make treats for Madison's class. Try them and see what you think. As a side note, they usually go on sale for a $1 a box every couple months, I never pay $3 - something for a box of brownie mix.

Now, for one of my favorite things period. Makeup! I love makeup and hair products, I might have a bit of an obsession with them, but heck, if you've seen me without either you must understand why. It took me a lot of years to figure out how to use makeup properly and really understand what it can do for you. This year has brought several favorite items into my collections.

If you have uneven skin (like me) try a green tinted concealer. I got one from Clinique (it was the only counter that had a girl working it when I went to buy some). It makes my skin look so much more smooth and even when I put my foundation on over it.

I have dorky, stubby eyelashes so I am constantly trying to find awesome mascara. I love, love, love Christian Dior's backstage mascara. It actually gives me eyelashes. If you don't want to spend $23 on mascara (I don't blame you) I also really like Maybelline's Colossal Volume Express, not quite as good, but only about $7 instead.

...Quick and easy recipes

My mother-in-law taught me the easiest cookie recipe ever. Any time I am in a bind and need a treat (or really want an easy sweet) I make these. Take a box of cake mix, any cake mix you want, add 2 eggs and 1 melted stick of butter. Add whatever other sweet you want in it and bake at the cake box temp until done (usually about 10 min). They are yummy and easy. My favorite is a German Chocolate cake mix, chopped walnuts or pecans, coconut and chocolate chips. They are so good! I made German Chocolate cake mix with peanut butter chips for M's preschool treats the other day (more on those later). You can use yellow cake mix with chocolate chips for an easy basic CCC recipe. Enjoy!

My wonderful friend Amy taught me her chicken secret. She gets the bag of frozen chicken and puts it in the crockpot with chicken stock and cooks it, chops it and then separates it into freezer bags for use later. I used to do this with ground beef. I got the big thing at Costco, browned it all at once and then put it in bags in about 1 lb size. It made it so much easier for dinners and I didn't have to thaw it for very long.

I could go on and on, but I think that should do it.

New Home

N is for New home, because that is what we got this year, a new house. I love our new home, it is so nice to finally be in a home that we can grow into and move around in. Keeping it picked up and cleaned, though, that is not very fun! I haven't taken that many pictures of the inside of the house, you have to come visit if you want to see it :)

This is what we had:

1850 SqFt single story home, 4 (yeah, right) bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, no storage space

This is what we have now:

3800 SqFt 2 story home, 6 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3 car garage, LOTS of storage including a pantry!

On the Road Again

Yep, O is for On the Road Again...we traveled so much last year and loved every minute of it. We won't be traveling quite so much this year, but we are so grateful for the memories we made during each of our trips. I looked at our calendar last night and noticed that the month of February is empty. I mean EMPTY, I have 2 birthday's and Valentines day on it. I turned to Ryan and told him I was bored just looking at the calendar.

I don't have the time, nor the inclination, to recap each of our trips last year, but several of them are already posted on our blog. Here it is, though, our year in travel:

January
Ariane and Brian came to visit (That's a picture of the three of us at the top of the Stratosphere at dusk)

St. George for MLK weekend with Thomas and Amy (We have done this for the last 4 years and I finally got our first picture this year, stay tuned for a posting dedicated to all of our fun with the Simms' family)

February
Ryan's birthday trip to Memphis for the University of Memphis vs. University of Tennessee basketball game

March
Allie came to visit for her 21st birthday

Easter Party in Utah

April
Amily and Aunt Lori came to visit

May
Utah for Collin's graduation

Memphis in May canoe race

June
Utah for Parker's wedding

Hawaii ( here is another one )

July
Alyssa and Colin come to visit

Omaha/ Bemidji/ Minneapolis/ Des Moines (it was exhausting but awesome)

August
Disneyland

Utah

September
We moved, I count that as a "trip" but not a vacation because I cannot count the amount of trips I made from our old house to our new house with a car full of stuff and two kids

October
Dad and Ariane come to visit (we always hit up In and Out Burger when they come, this time Hunter got a hat, I think he ate more of his burger than Madison did, too)

Utah ( see this post too! )

November
New York City (I know my post says part 1, there will be more when I make some time to put it all together)

Ainge family comes to Thanksgiving

December
Utah for the Ainge family Christmas party

Tennessee for Christmas

Whew! We had lots of fun travels and a few different visitors, hopefully this year will have more visitors and less visiting! We love our family and really enjoy all of the time we get to spend with them each year, I wouldn't trade the exhaustion, hassle, and messed up schedules for anything.

As I link up all of these I must say how impressed I am with myself, I was worried that I didn't have all of these posted, but I had most of them. Yeah! I will blog about December's trips when I finally finish this darn Year End recap.