wish me luck...................................

I'm tackling TRAVIS' room today!!! That kid is the biggest pack rat ever..Every wrapper to everything he ever ate...etc. How the wrappers all get down there is beyond me since NO FOOD is allowed out of our kitchen....... I should take before and after pictures...but I'll spare you all the pain. The best thing is he stashes clothes everywhere.....to him it's way easier to stash socks and underwear somewhere then put them away....it drives me NUTS!!! I'm so not this way so I just have to tackle it when he is gone to school so I don't get mad!! I am tempted to go pull him out of school and make him help me....but I'll spare him the pain!

Randy went to curriculum night a couple of nights ago and his teacher went on and on about how wonderful he is and smart he is.....but she says "his room must be a disaster cause his desk is SO bad!" His third grade teacher was shocked he didn't make ELP the first year he was tested cause I guess his messy desk is some type or personality that is in ELP. I can't say I believe that but he is in ELP now and his desk and room are a nightmare! He truly is such a good kid and i love him to death but holy cow, I'm starting to feel for his future missionary companions and wife!!!!





Anney just brought me a marker that she found in his closet and obviously she showed off her latest obsession...marking all over herself!! Good thing I learned long ago to only by washable!!!!!!!!

weekend happenings......

This little girl gave her first talk in Primary Yesterday. She did such a good job. Her talk was called I will show my faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized and confirmed. She spoke nice and loud and was so excited. She asks me every Sunday if she gets to "do something" in primary. She is such a fun little girl with such a fun personality. She is hilarious!

Travis and Taylor are teaching Anney how to blow really loud in their hands.....She's figured it out and LOVES to do it. Just what yo u want your 16 month old doing!
Such cute sisters. Taylor is so good with Anney....she loves her to death!

OLD NAVY JEANS DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

K....I saw this on a friend's blog....so I'm passing on the savings to you. I plan to go check it out for myself........If you need jeans, it's a great deal!

Also, Dillards has an extra 40% off their clearance through the weekend.....you can bet I'll be there!! Dillards is my favorite store!

Have a great day everyone!

Old Navy Denim Event, 8/23 ONLY!
Old Navy mens and womens jeans will be $12 and kids jeans will be $7. Limit 3 pairs per customer. IN-STORE ONLY.

$12 jeans include:
Womens jeans folded on the wall regularly $29.50 – The Diva, The Girlfriend, The Sweetheart

Mens jeans folded on the wall regularly $29.50 – Straight (regular), Bootcut, Painter, Loose

$7 jeans include:
Girls jeans folded on the wall regularly $19.50 – The Girlfriend, The Darling
Boys jeans folded on the wall regularly $19.50 – Bootcut, Loose, Regular, Painter

We survived the TRIATHLON!!!!!!!!!!

Well we completed the triathlon! This past Saturday Randy and I and Travis and Taylor all completed our first triathlon. We all did great and we had so much fun. We decided about 3 weeks ago that we would do this triathlon so we worked really hard these past few weeks. Randy's 2 other brothers, their wives and their kids all did the triathlon also. The kids had so much fun being and competing with their cousins.

The kids distances were....175 yard swim, 4 mile bike and 1 mile run
The adults distances were...625 yards swim, 12.3 mile bike and 3.5 mile run.

We are so proud of our kids and our family that we were able to do this. We are looking forward to doing one in december in Anthem Arizona so if any of you would like to join us...let me know and I'll get ya the details!

Here are some photos of the event....over 470 pictures were taken....so i'll add another slide show as soon as I get through them!


<

<

Travis Receives his Bear Award!

Tonight was pack meeting and Travis received his bear award......He has worked really hard this summer and received lots of awards, belt loops and arrows tonight. He received the archery,BB shooting, flag football, marbles, art and swimming belt loops and then his Bear Award. For Pack Meeting our ward had the Order of The Arrow guys come present the awards....they were amazing! The kids LOVED watching them and their presentation. The picture of us with our mouths open is us roaring like a bear....so FUNNY! Congrats Travis, Keep up the great work!

By request....a few YUMMY recipes!!!!!!!!!!!

Italian Crockpot Chicken!! (a favorite!!)

4 chicken breasts 1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2 cube butter 1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pkg. good seasons italian dressing

Melt butter in crockpot. Add 1 pkg. of good season's italian dressing mix. dip each piece of chicken in melted butter and seasonings. Place all in crock pot. Cook 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred it. Add 1 pkg. of cream cheese that is at room temperature. Mix in cream of chicken soup also. Whisk it all together till it's nice and smooth. Add the cooked chicken back into the sauce in the crockpot and cook 20-30 minutes on HIGH. Serve over rice or noodles.


Ranch Chicken

4 chicken breasts (I cut mine in half also)
3/4 cup crushed corn flakes or plain bread crumbs.
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix together dry ingredients. Melt butter in bowl. Dip chicken in butter and then in dry mixture. Place in greased baking dish and bake for 45 minutes. We dipped ours chicken in BBQ sauce and the kids LOVED IT!


Sweet and Sour ChickenChicken:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip CookiesFrom Cook's Illustrated
Makes about 30 cookies


2 1/8 c bleached all-purpose flour (about 10.5 oz)
1/2 t table salt
1/2 t baking soda
12 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (I don't use unsalted butter because I never buy it - salted butter works just fine in this recipe when I use it!)
1 c brown sugar (7 oz)
1/2 c sugar (3.5 oz)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 t vanilla
1-2 c chocolate chips (I use a full 12 oz. package of semisweet chips)


Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.Form dough into balls and place on cookie sheets. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)

Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 13 to 18 minutes (start checking at 10 minutes - these cookies really do need longer baking time than most average cookie dough recipes). Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

First Day Of School....or should I say pure BLISS?

Man...it's quiet when you you only have 2 kids home. Today was the first day of school. Travis and Taylor were excited and the morning went very smoothly and easy. It felt good to have that early morning scripture study again, it's amazing how much nicer the day goes when you start the morning off with scriptures. Both the kids looked really cute and really thought it was "dumb" that I walked them to school. I NEVER take them to school they walk to and from EVERYDAY...so I really enjoy this one day of taking them and seeing their class line up, etc. I hope we have a great school year, I got a little teary dropping Travis off with his class of half 5th and 6th graders. I really want him to be treated as a 5th grader and man those 6th graders look so OLD and BIG. It will be an interesting year!

Like I said the house is really quiet. Sure Megan and Anney make their messes, but there is NO FIGHTING over TV, there isn't a million snacks out, the doorbell isn't ringing constant with friends wanting to play and the best thing is I haven't heard any Hannah Montana, Suite Life of Zack and Cody and no SPONGEBOB. I'm telling you it's nice to have Dora back on. Megan is bored though. When we got home she asked me, "Now what are we going to do?" She also keeps asking me when we are going to have a party now that the kids are gone back to school. I think it will be a long day for her, but she will quickly get used to it.

Meet The Teacher and an Awesome Story!

Last night was Meet the teacher at the school. The kids were so excited and looked forward to it all day long. We went to Taylor's class first. She will be in 3rd grade and she has Mrs. Hickey. She is a wonderful teacher, Travis had her and he loved her. She focuses a ton on writing and she made Travis the best story writer, and I know she will do the same for Taylor. A bunch of Taylor's friends are in her class so she is REALLY excited about that. I can't believe she will be in third grade, she is growing up so fast and is such a good girl. She is such a good student and so well liked....Good luck this year Taylor, you will do awesome!

We then headed over to Travis' class....he will be in 5th grade. He is actually going to be in a 5th/6th grade combo class. I was a little hesitant when then called a few months ago and asked if I would like him to be enrolled in this class. This class is made up of kids that are independent learners, they have to work in groups and individually quite often. They will have a lot of the same curriculum, social studies, history, etc. But they will have individual math and reading classes. I'm actually really excited about it after talking to the teacher last night. She has taught 4-6th grade for 26 years, she knows the curriculum and she is a wonderful teacher. Her name is Mrs. Nagel. Travis is really excited to have her and be in a class with 6th graders! Best of Luck Buddy!!

Last but not least, I found this story on a friends blog and I thought I'd share it with all of you....It's awesome! It talks about the things we are putting in our children's backpacks...not just supplies, but love, self worth, manners, etc. Take a second and read it, it's awesome! Thanks Jenn for sharing it with me!

Put values, not just supplies, in backpack"
By Deedee Abaroa published in the Gilbert Republic, 8-2-08
"My dollars are being spread thinner and stretched more than I can recall in my 50years of memory. The need to keep gas tanks, freezers and pantries filled is only pulling the Spandex dollar to an uncomfortable and unpredictable strain. As many parents are, I am filling my sons' well-worn school backpacks from last year (hoping the zippers will hold out a bit longer) with supplies that the schools struggle to provide. The supply lists include basic needs of paper, pencils and folders with bonus requests of facial tissue, cleaning wipes and antibacterial gel. All these items are critical for a healthy learning environment.
As an educator for more than a quarter of a century, I am hoping for a different sort of supply list, one that includes the pencil, the ream of paper and the folders but with a few extras that won't cost a penny more. This supply list also creates a healthy learning environment. How great it would be to have the stomachs of children free from hunger, worry, stress, or illnesses? How much more could a student accomplish if his or her own soul had been nourished with validating love, esteem and support? How amazing our educational communities would be if children could attend less indulged with needless fluff, could come to school from families with positive traditions,could arrive from homes where leadership actually leads rather than timidly submits to children's whims and wishes!
Being a teacher with a history in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms, I can tell immediately those children whose backpacks are lined with love, packed with promise and filled with a firm foundation of self-worth. I always anticipate the first day of school to see how many of these little people with polite manners I can build and nurture while under my care. But alarmingly, more and more are coming with backpacks that are empty of encouragement and missing the morals of civility. Those are the children that will consume my thoughts, worries and time for the next school year, if not more.
Let's start the school year putting values back in the backpacks. I promise that schoolrooms will be well-stocked with the supplies that really make a difference, without adding more stress to the already thinning dollar."

Have a great weekend everyone, we are off today to the mall to finish our school shopping....does it ever end and Holy Cow, it's expensive!

Travis is a contact wearing MAN!!!!!!!

He is SO HAPPY and excited! After two trips to the eye doctor, he was finally able to put in and take out his contacts! We went two weeks ago to order new glasses and ask about Contacts. Dr. Williams thought Travis would be old enough to have contacts so they let us experiment in the office with some contacts to see if he could put them in and take them out on his own. He worked with one of the assistants, but they wouldn't let us take them home until Travis could do it on his own. I really wanted Travis to be able to do it on his own also.....I figure if he wants contacts he needs to be able to put them in and take them out. I don't want to have to worry about it everyday. Well after an hour trying to put them in, his eyes were so bloodshot and sore, we decided to come back in 2 weeks when our glasses would be in and try again. Today we went again and after 30 minutes and probably 30 tries......he GOT IT! He was so excited. As soon as they went in, he yelled HALLELUJAH!! It was really cute! It was neat to see him want something bad enough and not give up. He is so tired of Anney grabbing his glasses, that he had enough incentive right there! He looks so cute without his glasses, and it makes me realize how much he is growing up! Love you BUD!!!