Valentine's Day

We got to spend Valentine's Day in our new house this year, which meant I got to cook it in my fabulous kitchen with my new shiny pots that I've been waiting to use until we moved. I know I post a lot of food pictures, but I have two reasons: 1. I love to cook. I love planning meals and holidays meals are my favorite. 2. I occasionally ask Casey if anything sounds good for dinner and I often got the "I don't know" answer. Then about two years ago Casey said that he would know what he wanted if I took a picture of everything I cooked and made a "Menu" for him. So I started taking pictures. Casey doesn't refer to the menu very often, but taking pictures became a habit. So here is our Valentine's Day meals :)

XO pancakes and fruit. I have had these molds since we got married and finally got around to using them.

 Chicken with Creamy Dijon sauce and Roasted Asparagus

 Chocolate Lava Heart because Casey just melts my heart :)

 The flowers that Casey got me. I love peachy colors.

 The aftermath. Dishes are definitely a con to cooking. I gave myself a break though and did them in the morning.

Moving Day

We officially moved into our new house on Feb 10.  Charity was great and bought doughnuts for everyone, and our friends the Griffins, Ivan, and Jason and Ashley all came to help. It went pretty quick and we only needed one truck and a few carloads. Thanks for everyone that came to help!

A couple of days before, we were doing some cleaning up in the backyard, and this was Weston's "game" that he made

 Benson taking a ride in the wheel barrow

 The big move

 The boys helping out and getting some help as well

Getting the House Ready

We closed escrow on Feb 8 and immediately got to work getting the house ready before we moved in. Luckily they didn't have hideous paint colors, so my mom painted the kids rooms, I did some cleaning and sealed all the tile, and my dad and Casey went around doing minor fixes. Jason and Ashley were a huge help and took the boys for a night while we did all this. Thanks to my mom and dad for coming to help move/fix stuff and for Jason and Ashley for watching the kids!

One of the only shots of me pregnant. Not my best moment, but I was so tired and working so hard that I didn't care.

 My mom painting the boys room.

 My dad unclogging the toilet. The previous kids had flushed some sort of rubber banana down the toilet.

Superbowl Sunday

The commercials were sub-par, the game was alright, but the food was good as always. Plus, any excuse to get together with family is a good one.

Bubble Pizza - found it on the Tasty Kitchen blog

 Touchdown cupcakes

House Hunting

In August 2011 the owners of the house we were renting decided to short sale it, so we decided to buy. We were probably going to buy within the next couple years, but our search got expedited a little because we didn't want to have to move into an apartment again. A friend at church recommended a Realtor to us that we REALLY liked and we started the search. We looked at over 90 houses and put offers on about 10 of them. We finally went into escrow on a beautiful house in the beginning of January. We were so happy to be done with it all. I mean, it was kind of fun, but I was glad to finally have a house that I loved. Here are a few pictures from our adventure:

Casey checking out the backyard of our house for the first time with our Realtor, Greg McClure (look him up if you live around Sacramento).

 The boys loved running through empty houses and had to entertain themselves a few times while waiting for other Realtors

 The first picture of our house after we looked at it the first time

Multi-tasking

One night Weston wanted a piggy-back ride and Benson wanted to be read to, so Casey did some multi-tasking. He is such a great dad!

Off To A Good Start

On New Year's Day, Casey left his scriptures on the table, so Benson decided he wanted to get the year off to a good start too.

Two Peas In A Pod

The corner is the coveted spot on our couch. The boys fight over the spot sometimes, but most of the time they both sit there quietly when they are watching T.V. They almost always have to have the blanket when they are sitting there too. I just love these two!

 My favorite part about this picture is that they fell asleep with weapons in hand. Whoever wakes them up better watch out :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Now on to 2012!

This was our Christmas card picture taken by our good friend Ally.

Christmas Morning

After our big dinner on Christmas Eve, we all packed up and headed over to Jason and Ashley's for a big slumber party. In the morning we woke up, discovered stockings, opened presents, ate a delicious breakfast made my Ashley, then headed to Charity's ward for church at 1pm. Then we came home and read the Christmas story and acted it out with the Little People Nativity scene that Casey's mom got for Jason and Ashley. That night we just hung out and had leftovers for dinner. I love Christmas and Christmas on Sunday seems like a great way to celebrate the birth of our Savior! 

The boys discovering their stockings

 Have I mentioned that I really love Casey's surprised face? :)

 Casey helping the boys put together their G.I. Joes from their stockings

 Juggling with our Christmas oranges

 Opening presents. I got some new baking sheets from Casey's mom.

 Benson playing with his new animals

 Weston excited to get his G.I. Joe motorcycle from

 Casey's mom opening her presents

Thanks to everyone for our great presents!

Christmas Eve

We had our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve at our house. I always enjoy cooking and holiday meals are my favorite to prepare.

I also had fun decorating the table

                              I call this my Harvest Salad                                 The Ham

                            Layered Jello and Potato Casserole - More traditions from my family

  The kids eating dinner

 Dessert - reindeer cupcakes and mini cherry cheesecakes

Riding the Christmas Train

Casey's mom thought it would be fun to ride the Christmas train in Sacramento. She was great and got all the kids cute pajamas to wear (since pajama wearing was highly encouraged). We saw views of Sacramento from the train, had cookies, and enjoyed watching the kids. Santa even made an appearance.

Benson was excited to ride the train

 Paisley and Weston enjoying the view

 Weston giving Santa's beard a little tug to make sure it was real

 Santa giving Spencer that "You better be nice" look. I don't think Spencer was entertained.

 Weston checking his beard twice

 Benson wasn't a fan of Santa either. He just looked at him like, "Why are you talking to me?"

Christmas in July

2011 is almost done :) This was Casey's mom's year for Christmas, but instead of us all going up to her house, she came here. There was a lot of food (food is pretty much synonymous with holidays for me), family, and good times.

In our family, we have the tradition of having an appetizer style dinner for our Christmas Eve dinner. We had decided as a family to have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, so I did my appetizer dinner on another night. 

                         Red pepper and bacon crescent rolls                      Deli platter

                              Jalapeno jelly and crackers                     Sweet and sour meatballs

                                                                  Spinach artichoke dip

 My favorite appetizer. I had been waiting for years to make this.

 Afterwards, I thought it would be fun to make gingerbread houses.

 Ashley, Charity, and I just helped the little kids. I think they had a good time.

 Casey ended up making one too. Notice the "Y" on the side of his house. A cougar through and through :)