.Cooking Class.Frozen chocolate covered bananas.

We had Cori, Garrett and Berkley over for another cooking class. We made frozen chocolate covered bananas dipped in peanuts and sprinkles. They were seriously good. We are making them again his week! It has been smokin hot and this sweet cool treat hit the spot. We did the usual kids swimming in the back yard thing. It was a relaxing afternoon. I need these kind of days more often in my life.

.the little guy in my life.

i forgot about these pictures of me and my little boy.
gosh he makes me happy.
i cant help but smother him in kisses every time he comes near.
i hope he always lets me smother him in kisses and hugs.
years from now, i hope he will not be embarrassed to love his mom.
someday he will find a girl of his very own and they will be wed.
i know i wont always be the one to lift his spirits or share in his joy.
but i hope i will still have a special place in his heart then.
i love you my bug.
you bring me so much happiness.

dads day

We love the daddy of our home. He gives, gives and gives some more. He is selfless, and always thinking of us before himself. He is patient, an amazing teacher to our children, and the kids think he's the best wrestler/horse player around. I love this man. I can't imagine my life without him. I'm so grateful we were brought together by what would seem coincidence, but I know better. I know we were meant to be together and that he was supposed to be the father of our children.

I'm also so grateful for my dad. He is a wonderful example to me of  serving, enduring, being faithful, and being good and wholesome. I miss seeing my dad but I love the phone conversations we have.

I'm blessed to have good father figures in my life.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

.iphone photos.

fact:

dry:

gathering:

doing hard things:

delightful:

cursive:

john denver:

cartoons:

i will be away from this happy place until monday. me and my love are going on an adventure of sorts. we were asked to go on our stake pioneer trek as a ma & pa. we dress up in pioneer outfits, pull handcarts all day, adopt 8 teenage kids for 4 days, cook our own food and have hoe downs. so basically we will look like a huge warren jeffs convention. :) its going to be fun.... dont you think?! : / 
wish us luck!

On the menu

I love summer produce. I seriously look forward to going to the farmers market every week and filling my fridge with bright & yummy veggies and fruits.

I have been more serious about feeding my kids, myself, and my spouse healthier meals. We don't drink soda anymore. We dropped that bad habit a long time ago and we feel wonderful. We exercise. We rarely eat out, maybe once a week. I don't buy sweets. If I did I know I would scarf them. Sweets are my weakness. We just don't buy them so they aren't in the pantry calling my name and tempting me. Don't get the wrong idea that I'm so strict I never eat sugar. I like to take things in moderation and I indulge sometimes. I will make cookies with the kids or go out for ice cream or frozen yogurt. I'm nicer to myself and others if I let myself enjoy some good stuff once in awhile.
I love to cook, but nights do occur when I make something, & it doesn't turn out, so we have to think of something fast to eat because the kids are beastly hungry. It happens. I'm still learning. But I get really frustrated when a meal doesn't turn out like I wanted it to.When things don't work out it usually goes something like this: It gets really hot in my kitchen, my feet hurt, the kids are crying that they are "starving!" and they keep sneaking into the pantry for food and dumping it all over the floor, I just wasted all of the ingredients and...... I have to start all over and make another meal.
Enough mumbling, here are some favorite meals that have turned out to be delish and that my family devours.



+ hamburger on a whole wheat bun. grilled corn fresh fruit with fruit dip. cherry tomatoes from my garden with garden basil and balsamic sprinkled with parm:

chicken taquitos. not so healthy, but yum! :








lime cilantro and pineapple brown rice. baked parm zucchini. BBQ salmon. my kids devoured this meal and asked for 3rds!







alfredo (my own recipe, no measurements, just whip up a cream sauce flavored with chicken stock, garlic and parm) grilled garlic artichokes, sauteed mushrooms and peas:







roasted asparagus, strawberries, chicken and vegetable peanut curry. it doesnt look the greatest, but it was GOOD! i just added whatever veggies i had on hand.







mango pico de gallo. we chowed this. i bought more mangos this week to make it again.







apple tart with homemade crust:








 another fav that ive talked about before, green smoothies:


 my friend chelsea makes them pretty much the same as i do, and she shows you how here.i like to add oj concentrate to mine, just a few spoon fulls. i also add some ground flax to mine. i agree with her that a vitamix is very helpful with green smoothies. they are smooth, not chunky, which makes a big difference. i like to throw in a carrot or two to the green smoothie. it whips that sucker up and you would never know it was there.     
zucchini bread muffins. i pulled a huge zucchini from my garden and i knew i wanted to make this. it has a hint of orange that gives it a punch. i also subbed whole wheat flour for the white flour. the picky neighbor girls ate them all in one afternoon!

fire update:
the fire has reached up to 389,000 acres. there is some good news, amidst all the bad, the quaint town of greer is still standing. what a relief.

wallow fire

there is a fire burning some of the most beautiful forest in arizona as we speak. 

the wallow fire has burned 311,000 acres as of today. it has left homes ablaze and wildlife fleeing. the pictures tie my stomach in knots. this prime land is very close to my stomping grounds as a child. we camped and took day trips to that forest many times. it is a beautiful place.  now it, along with many homes, is burning, because of careless people not being responsible with their campfire.

the pictures and stories bring back my memories of being evacuated back in 2002 from the Rodeo-Chediski fire. memories of packing our belongings and leaving the town. seeing the red and orange glow of smoke completely covering the sky overhead. watching my parents help at the shelter. seeing all the people sleeping on cots with their families who are possibly homeless. coming home and not knowing what to find. the feelings of helplessness. not being able to do anything.

a prayer is in my heart constantly that the fires will stop and that homes will be spared.

.when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie.

we had some good friends over for a pizza party for lunch. cori made yummy whole wheat dough and the kids went to town loading up their pizzas. this picture was taken before the pizzas looked like delish cheese mountains.

callie . garrett . addie . walker

little miss B. aka berkley

mine and coris pizzas      

the kids played outside and inside and all over.  we talked about being mothers and decor and heath issues and being healthy and fashion. i always love talking to cori, she is a gem of a gal. im sad i didnt snap a photo of us :(. we were too busy stuffing our faces.

another good summer day.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

.iphone photos.

.pool side.

.stripes.

   .chillin.. walker came out of the womb with his feet crossed. i will catch him like this all the time when he is sleeping or sitting in his car seat. precious i tell you.

.for a friend.

.cleaning shells.

.the natural me.

.no make up. wavy air dried hair. and bags under the eyes.

 

.callie found mommies make up.

wow!

.thai food in mesa.

.date.

\

. painting.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

. the sabbath day .

      

Today I am filled with gratitude.

I am overwhelmed with love for the temple and the blessings and promises that only the temple can provide.

I am amazed at the feelings I experience when I hear my children sing songs of worship.

It is Sunday.

. a summer welcome .

yesterday i picked up addie ( and some other kiddies in our neighborhood ) from school. i was excited school was out! probably more than the kids themselves! we waved goodbye to the teachers and they told me all about their end of the year parties. we got home, threw addies back pack in the garage and i felt a sigh of relief. i had my little one home.

they had some neighborhood girls over that afternoon and we filled up the pool. they had  a great end of the year bash. addie actually lost her voice!

today the kids got up and played some pbskids.org while i layed in bed. no rush to get addie ready and out the door. i eventually rolled out of bed and made them some pancakes. i went on a short run and then we got dressed and ready for the day. to the library it was. we checked out SO many books! it was awesome! we can check off starting the library reading program off our summer to-do list. the kids read for over and hour today on their own. we even read 2 chapters of their newly checked out Judy Moody book. im so happy that they love to read!

we then got out our activity books that i got them from costco. they will hopefully keep addies handwriting and reading in check. callie also needs to get used to having sit down, work on #s, letters, & strategies time for preschool, which i will admit, i have not done that with her enough.

they are now on the wii dance while walker is napping and i can have some alone time. im looking up pippi longstocking chapter books to read with them before bed. :)

im feeling good about this summer. im feeling like it wont be as bad as i had imagined. im just going to stick with doing fun things that will keep their minds sharp so we dont all get in a rut.

we welcome you summer.