Fun At The Park

Today I took the kids to the Imagination Station. They wanted to go someplace "special" since Isaac got to go to the Great Wolf Lodge. We all agreed the Imagination Station sounded perfect. The baby loved roaming all around it and climbing the steps. After the park, we got some ice cream cones and went to visit the Tracy's. It was a fun day.

Movie's Galore

Today, Comcast said that we were "valued" customers, and since we've been with them so long, they gave us a 23$ a month discount and gave us every movie channel for free for a year. We are going movie crazy. They're a so many movies to choose from. We started with, We Are Marshal, and now Hairspray. I don't want us watching all day, it is too nice outside, but I'll enjoy watching while I fold laundry.

Gimme Five

Gavin has a unique way of giving 5.

P.S. Excuse the messy room.

Great Wolf Lodge

Isaac had been invited to go with his friend for 3 day's to the Great Wolf Lodge. We are so jealous. We want to go too. It seems so fun. All the rooms are theme rooms. They have camp rooms, and jungle rooms and log houses. But the best part is the hotel has an indoor waterpark. You have to be staying at the hotel to get into the park. Click here to check it out.
I think we will plan a family trip there sometime this summer. Have fun Isaac.

House Update

Our house is looking so good. This week they are putting up all the drywall and painting the exterior. I'm excited about this cause I kinda forgot what the color looks like that we chose. It is so neat to walk inside and see the walls up. The house looks pretty big. I now have anxiety about all the furniture I need to fill it.
In other news, we found out that the property across the street from us has sold to a family with 5 kids 11 years old and under. SO EXCITING. We'll have friends by Christmas. We've also met a few other neighbors that have already moved in. One house has a little girl that is 7 and the other house has 2 boys and a girl around my kids' age. We thought the only draw back about us moving was that we were leaving the neighborhood with all our friends, and we had no idea if any kids were gonna live in the new neighborhood. Now we don't have to worry. Kids galore.
I'll post a picture when they get the house painted.

Betsy Week

This week, I've spoiled myself. I went shopping with my hubby and bought myself 3 new dresses and a swimsuit. One dress is definitely a church dress, but the other two are good summer dresses. Very comfy and cute. I didn't know it was gonna be Betsy week, but I like it.

This dress I wear with a red belt, red shoes and necklace. I'm much cuter than this picture.

This dress is purple. Obviously I wear a shirt underneath. Nice and breazy in the hot weather.

This one is a bit longer on me than the pic. I wear a shirt under this also. So comfy and cute.

Yummy Pork Burrito Recipe

My friend Jill served us the yummiest burritos. You take a tortilla, add cheese, the rice and pork, roll it up and it is so good and easy. Try it out and see what you think. Thanks Jill.

Not a picture of the actual burrito, but it looks pretty good.

Shreded Pork

Ingredients:
1 pork loin roast (I buy them in a 3 pack at Costco)
green taco/enchilada sauce (I buy a glass jar at Winco)
brown sugar

Directions:
Place pork loin in crock pot wit 1/2--1 cup water. Cook for 6 hours on low. Take out pork and dump out water. Shred pork and place back in crock pot with a little water. Pour 1/2 cup freen taco sauce and 1/2 brown sugar and warm in crock pot for 20 mins or so.
Get Costco tortillas and cook them and then make burritos with cheeese, pork, and guacamole.

Number Of Servings:5--6 adults

Garlic Cilantro Rice Ingredients: 1 T. butter 1/2 yellow onion, chopped 4 cloves chopped garlic 3-1/3 c. water 4 tsp. chicken bouillon 1/4 bunch cilantro 1 tsp. cumin 1 small can diced green chilies 1/2 tsp. lime juice 1/4 tsp. salt 1-1/2 c. long grain rice Directions: In a saucepan, saute the butter, onion, and chopped garlic. Meanwhile add the water, chicken bouillon, cilantro, cumin, green chilies, lime juice, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a boild. Add the browned onion and garlic to the boiling water, then add the rice. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Number Of Servings:7 and 1/2 cups

Suggestions

I'm in need of a new author. I've read just about everything my favorites have written, and now I don't know what to pick. I like a pretty easy read, since I have so many kids in the house. I can't concentrate like I would like to.
I enjoy reading suspense, and romance. I'm not really into fantasy, although I love Harry Potter and the Twilight series, so you never know.
I'm happy to take any suggestions you can give me. Thanks.

Great Garage Sale Finds

Friday I went to one of the huge neighborhood garage sales. I normally hate going, just a bunch of junk, but I'm in need of some dressers, so I thought this was a place to look. Armed with $80 and a good pair of shoes, I set off with a few of my friends.
The first place we checked out, I scored a major deal. Jackson has been asking forever for a Nintendo DS. Not that we need anymore gaming systems in our house, but I found 2 for sale, and they only wanted $20 for them. Of course I had to get them. What a steal.
A little while later we passed an almost new bike trailer for the baby. I was gonna go buy one just that week for $100 bucks on sale at K-mart but here sit one for only $20. Score!
After that I finally found a decent dresser which I can paint for Gavin. I got this for $20 also. $20 was the theme of the day.
I think I didn't pretty dang good at my finds. I may have to do this more often.

We Love You Andrew!

Just a few things we love about Andrew.

Ellie: "I love it when dad tries to steal my nose!"

Jackson: "I love how my dad wears cuff links. They look so cool!"

Jonathan: "My Dad is really sneaky and tells pretty dumb jokes, but I laugh to make him feel good.

Isaac: "He loves to watch me play football and he like to try to scare us kids, but he never scares me. He calls me stupid nicknames, like the steal bomber."

Mom: "I love that he makes laugh even when I'm mad at him. I can't stay mad at him long. I love how he is with the kids, and how amazingly supportive of me he is. He's the best!"

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Happy Fathers Day

Just a little tribute to my rockin' Dad.

You're an awesome dad. You're supportive and understanding, even if you don't agree. You put up with my theatrics and still seems to love me. You may call me loser and knock me down a peg or two, but I still love you. Happy Father's day!

Fun at OMSI

Recently I found out about a really great deal to get us season passes to go to the science museum and zoo for really cheap. I have never taken the kids to the science museum before (OMSI), so I was excited to get these passes. They arrived on Monday and we decided to go the next day.
The kids had a great time. They saw dinosaurs and made water rockets. Flying cups and learned about static electricity.
We didn't realize when we went at 4:00 that the museum closes at 5:30. But we weren't too bummed, cause with our season passes, we can come any time we want. I'm sure we will be back very soon.

Scary Isaacsaurus and Jonadactil.

Andrew feeding the dinos.

Posing in front of the T-Rex.

More scary Jack and Ellie dinos.

Kissing in front of the T-Rex.

Mommy and daddy-osauris.

Jon and Ellie blast off.

Graduation, or Promotion?

This week we attended two graduations. Isaac is finished with the 5th grade and moving on to middle school. Ellie is no longer a Kindergartner and advancing to the 1st grader. I don't really get why we have to have such long programs for something so small. It's not like they are getting a diploma. But they were sure good looking kids standing up there getting their certificates. I was a proud mommy. I can't believe I have a middle schooler. Life goes by way too fast.

Bad Day

Today didn't seem to go well for me. Nothing extraordinary, just a little off. I don't know what it was, but I felt extremely moody and angry. I snapped at the kids a lot, and for things I normally let roll off my back. Then I started to snap at Andrew. He sent me to my room and told me to take a bath. I guess I was in trouble.
Now I can't sleep. I've been laying here for over an hour, but now I've given up and am writing this post. I hope tomorrow is a better day. But I'm nervous about it, seeing as I'm getting to sleep so late, if at all. We are pretty busy tomorrow, so I want to be in good spirits.
I hate being moody.

The Metal Mouth Family

I posted a while back about the dentist saying that Ellie needed to get braces cause she had a crooked bite. Well yesterday I took the 3 boys for a cleaning and all went pretty good. Jonathan was the only one with a cavity, which was surprising, as I expected worse. But as the dentist called me in to see the good job done, he said that all three of them need braces. Isaac and Jack have severe overbites, and Jonathan's spacing is off. I wonder if they have family plans. Buy 3 get one free? Yikes, this is gonna be a pretty penny.

Twilight

So my girlfriends have been telling me for a long time that I needed to read some vampire book written by a mormon. Vampire books? So not for me. No way.
But the continued to pester. So many people, even acquaintances telling me to read it. The last straw came when a friend from choir was so excited cause she got to visit the movie set of Twilight. What's Twilight, I asked her? She looked at me like I had lost my mind. She could not believe I hadn't read it. She said anybody who was anyone had read it. And you know me, I can't stand to be left out, so I buckled and bought the book.
LOVED IT!
I loved it so much, I immediately went and bought book 2. Then book 3. I'm hooked and can't wait for the next one to come out in August. And I so can't wait for the movie.
I recommend you run out and read this book. So good and such an easy read. Perfect for the beach and lounging.

Bedding

I've come to realize that I'm pretty picky. I had no idea. I tend to buy things that are pretty, but no really me, and I was determined not to do that this time. I wanted my room to say, Betsy must live here. This has proven much harder than I thought it would be. But after looking at thousands of bedding sets and comforters on the Amazon website and checking out all the local stores I finally found one, yes one, set that I like and think says me. Fun and simple, and not too pretty. I got a great deal on it. It comes with all six of those colorful pillows, the comforter and bed skirt. That's right, 8 pieces for 56 bucks. Can't beat that. What do you think?