Just One More For Today

I think Josh deserves the credit for this picture (or maybe Jess), but obviously I deserve at least half of the credit for this beautiful baby boy :)

Griffin had a blast on vacation. He was happy the entire time. He was like a totally different kid. He never cried and loved everything. Where did my grouchy boy go? I hope he stays this happy now that we are home.

Just a Preview

We have had an awesome vacation, and there are lots of pictures to come. Here is a little preview. After Disneyland we stopped here at St. George and spent the night Saturday night. Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon.

The kids loved it. Ryan and I decided to try and copy the picture he found the other week in Utah Valley Magazine. If you're on facebook you know what I'm talking about. (For those that don't know, there is a website called Awkward Family Photos that has really strange family pictures. Ryan found a photo of a group of 5 siblings, one girl and 4 boys, all dressed in denim and in this strange pyramid pose. It was hilarious.) So, this is our attempt at copying it.

The photo didn't turn out quite like the pyramid we were copying. I think ours is better. Check out the headlock that Lila has on Griffin. I couldn't see it, but apparently just after the picture was taken she body slammed him to the ground. In her defense, I think she was just trying to hang on to him, but I guess I'll never really know for sure.

Look at his poor little face. This pictures cracks me up :)

Fishing

I posted a couple months ago about Jack going fishing with Bear, and for some reason the pictures didn't show up. So, here is my second attempt.

Jack sure does love all the fun outdoor things he gets to do with Bear. You may think you've had fun fishing, shooting, and camping, but you have no idea how much fun it is to do those things with Bear. He is the best!

Lila's Trip to the Zoo

Lila loved the train.

The tiger was licking the window right where Lila was standing.

Sorry it's sideways, but Lila still talks about how she got her own fries for lunch. Do we make her share too often around here or something?

Her favorite animal.

On Mom's birthday (Sept 13th), she and Dad had the day off of school and they decided to take Lila to the zoo. Lila was so excited for her special day with Bear and Mimi. She was especially proud that she got to go by herself (apparently that's a big deal when your child #3:)

She had a great day and still talks about how much fun it was. Thanks Mimi and Bear!

A Yummy Recipe

I made this for dinner tonight. I found the recipe on www.allrecipe.com and it turned out pretty good. I tweaked it a little bit. I added an extra can of beans, a whole (small) jar of salsa, and if I would've had them I would've added garlic and onion. I also made a side of brown rice to go with it.

Ryan really liked it. They kids were iffy at first...I don't know why, we eat lots of Mexican food around here, but they ended up liking it well enough.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 pound cubed skinless, boneless chicken breast meat
• 1/2 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can sweet corn, drained
• 1/4 cup salsa
• water as needed
• 1 cup shredded Mexican-style cheese
• 1 1/2 cups crushed plain tortilla chips

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute chicken in oil until cooked through and no longer pink inside. Add taco seasoning, beans, corn, salsa and a little water to prevent drying out. Cover skillet and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Transfer chicken mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese and crushed tortilla chips.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Black Eye

This was last night, and even though the lighting is bad, you can still see how black it is. Today is worse, but I didn't take a picture. Sunny had a sub today and she said the sub wanted to know what happened and lots of people at school asked her about it.

Oh yeah, and I realized picture day is Thursday. Cool. Not.

p.s. Don't you love her little dimple!

Poor Sunny

I was in the middle of my last blog post when the phone rang. Caller ID said: Pony Express Elem. That usually means not good. I answered and the secretary said, "I have your sweet little Sunny here. A little boy ran into her with his head at recess and hit her in the cheek bone. She has a pretty big goose egg and I gave her an ice pack. We can give her tylenol and send her back to class or you can come get her. She's pretty upset."

I asked to talk to Sunny and she could hardly talk because she was sobbing. She choked out that she wanted to go home, so I hopped in the car and got her. Her little cheek is in pretty bad shape. They weren't kidding when the said it was pretty bad.

Luckily, today was a minimal day and they were going to get out of school at 1:30, so she only missed 2 hours of school. And on another good note, her teacher even came to the office to check on her. (We love Mrs. Simpson)

She is watching Tom & Jerry now, and I can tell she is hurting, but I knew she was going to be okay when she turned to me and asked, "Can I still play with Caitlin today?" and "Can I put make-up on over the bruise?" That's my girl!