For all those who come to this happy place, Welcome!

Yeah!! I just joined the Secret Stitch Etsy site . I made 3 bath aprons, if your wondering what that is - basically an apparatus to keep you dry while your kids get clean & then use it to dry them off once they finish. You can see them if you look to the right ( red , blue , and cream towelish looking aprons) aren't they pretty? Okay so to celebrate I'm giving away this kids apron that I made o n the SSC site and Christie is giving away a lime colored apron she made adult sized. You can't enter the giveaway here - You have to go to the SSC page and leave a comment. I hope you win!!

I remember the first time Paige told me I was her best friend. She was about 2 years old and it melted my heart. I thought to myself, I am so lucky to be her first bff. I know it won't last and she will move on, but for this moment I will love every minute of it. So, I thought I would take a moment to recognize my first bff, my dad. He will always be my hero no matter how old I get. His spirit has never aged (it still thinks it's 20-ish) while his body is looking more 60-ish. I am proud of the man he is and hope that my son will turn out just as great (this picture was taken on my 1st birthday, my dad was 34).

This was my last pday in the mission field. Jason had already been home for 4 months. He was back touring with his family. My father-in-law asked me to come home and date his son while we were at the Colleseo. Good times... if they only knew what the next 10 years would bring them, ha, ha, ha) This was Jason and I in the mission field (I apologize for the irreverence of the picture - what do you do when your twenty something in a foreign country and living like nuns - you get your kicks where you can) This was the twenty year old I fell for ... what a smokin hot guy, even if he was a missionary. This is Jason in our first apartment getting ready to move to AZ. My crazy, wonderful, amazing trophy husband. I love him more and more as time goes by and I'm constantly reminding myself just how good I have it with him. Happy Father's Day to a guy who makes me laugh daily (and never reads this blog - so he never knows how "crazy" I am for him) Sei Grande!

I've made this a few times now and every time it gets rave reviews. I think it's supposed to be true to Cafe Rio, but only having been there a few times I can not tell you truthfully... regardless it's mighty tasty (I got this recipe & pictures from  Heidikins ) - I've made this two different ways... a) super-spicy-so-you-need-a-sour-cream-chaser-to-wash-it-down-with AND b) yummy-with-a-pleasant-kick-to-it-so-your-kids-and-overly-picky-brother-in-law-will-love-it. I prefer it the second way. Barbacoa Pork (Cafe Rio style) 4 to 8 pound pork loin or roast 21 oz. Dr. Pepper 1 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup white sugar 3 cloves of garlic, minced 7 oz. can chipotle chiles in adobe sauce 6 oz. red taco sauce (medium or mild) 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 tsp. cumin Directions for pork : Cut your pork in about 4 or 5 large chunks. Fill the crock pot half way with water. Cook in the crock pot on low for 10 to 12 hours. After your pork is nice and tender, drain the water from it. Add the s...

Today we went swimming with some friends and James wanted to go to the lazy river. I couldn't go with him because I was holding Abbey, he grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the lazy river, when I told him we couldn't go because of Abbey, he said, "Mom, you are ruining my life" "I didn't know you had 'a life', James" He shook his head and said again, "you are ruining my life" (where does he hear these things? I think Nickelodeon plays too many tween shows during James prime TV watching hours)  Our washer is broke. It has been for a few days now. Clothes are starting to pile up. We are wearing things that went out of style a long time ago due to lack of clean clothes (don't fret Sears is coming over tomorrow) Tonight James is getting ready for bed and I told him he had a choice 1) a pair of underwear with a hole in them OR 2) dirty underwear. He was really stressed out over the choice and when he responded "I just don't kn...

I had some innocent victims over today. Sometimes it's just nice to play with other peoples kids instead of your own. My cousins kids were left up to my care and we had us some good times.  I thought they would love the pool.They liked the pool... the whole 15 minutes they were in it. Then they liked the snacks and sitting on their towels in the shade chatting. I think they are still too young to check out the hoard of teenage life guards (who blew their whistles like mad and dove in to get James out quick as he strayed to close to the rope, while I was chatting up other moms not paying attention to anything much at all. yes, still going for worst mom of the year 3rd year in a row now.) When we got back we decided to make dolls, like glamtastic Raggedy Ann dolls. These took 6 hours longer then we anticipated. Thank goodness for hot glue guns or they might still be over here working away like Santa's elves on Christmas Eve. This is Macey's Annie doll. All she needed was a pi...

We had the great fortune of staying just a few blocks away from the San Diego temple. One night we had to run to the closest drug store and as we were driving I looked across the parking lot and out of nowhere was this amazing temple. It looked out of place. Here is a shopping center and just across the way is this amazing edifice. We spent some time walking around the grounds. The only disappointment is there isn't a visitors center, the area is super small but it is amazing. We went to the tiny distribution center and Ethan wanted to buy a combo, James got a Book of Mormon, and Paige got a gospel art kit. My handsome guys. The beautiful SD temple & three pretty great kids. This selection of photos are the last for me to upload and share about our trip. We spent 2 days at Legoland and even if you are not a Lego enthusiast it is a pretty cool park, with a couple of exceptions. All rides are for 42' and up (4 years old or 5-ish) and the age that you max out at would be aroun...