Alfredo Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 medium red potatoes
1/4 cup milk
1 cup Alfredo sauce
2 Tb butter
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tb chives (optional)

Directions:

Boil potatoes until you can pierce them easily with a fork. Blend potatoes well with a beater; leaving on skins. Add the milk, Alfredo sauce, butter, pepper and chives. Blend well and serve.

This is easy and yummy. I like to serve it with breaded chicken. Ryan doesn't like it. I do. I guess you will have to make it and decide for yourself! :-)

Baby Megan

I should post this on my photo blog, but thought I would post it here for my family instead. I am just finishing editing Megan's pics and thought I would post this one of her giving a tiny smile. What a sweetheart!

Going Crazy.....

I took a few pics of G & A playing around at Annie's house. Ava looks like she is in a funny mirror. SiLlY gIrLs! It's a good thing they wore themselves out for the long ride home. Not to mention our A.C went out so I think they were smoldering so bad they just fell asleep :-(

Ryan's Sick Sense Of Humor

When I took this picture of Breck I thought it turned out adorable. Ryan's all "Why did you cut his other eye off?" Sorry buddy but photographers do crazy things these days and if you don't do crazy things then you never know what will work and what won't. I love this pic. Anyway, so after Ryan took those pictures of me at that old house I was going through them and discovered this picture! Ha Ha! I about killed him. He thought he was so funny mocking me. Sorry--I know I do too many picture posts.

Kelsey The True Photographer

These are a few pics of Grace that Kelsey took at Gav's b-day party. She has always had a way of capturing kids. She really has a knack for it. Gracie loves the camera as well, but Kels does really good! I enhanced them in PS, but they were so darling to start with.

I bought these monkey pj's at Old Navy. You can't even tell they are monkeys and bananas cause the pics are too small. He is just so stocky and cute in them. I had to lean him up against the corner of the wall, and he was still pretty wobbly.

6 Month Check

16 lbs 2 oz.
26 inches
This literally has been the fastest 6 months of my life. That flew by! I think the more kids you have the faster it goes.

Date Night

We got Melody, our babysitter, to come over last night. The kids were in bed, so she had it easy. She just piddled on the computer and ate candy out of my candy cupboard. Yes, candy cupboard, hence my HUGE thighs in the full body shot. Anyway, Ry and I went for a ride to an old mining town out here on his motorcycle. He got a bigger and better motorcycle after his NEW one bit the dust. We went with a Honda instead of Yamaha this time. Anyway, the mining town was in a beautiful canyon. It was just awesome. We got there a little too late for pics though. You can see the beautiful sunset we came upon on the ride back. This picture doesn't do it justice. We stopped at this old abandoned house on the way there and got some pics. The pic of the doorway thing isn't the house, but like a shed or something that was on the back of it. I was basically wanting to find rustic places to take pics. This place was cool, but I was freaked about rattlesnakes, and saw huge beetles all over the place. Now I know where they come from when I come upon them in my garage sometimes.

My Dad

This is Gracie and Grandpa watching t.v!

I texturized this pic so it looks kind of old and antique but I thought it was still kind of cute even though you can't see it very well. For all of you that know the color of Dad's carpet, you will realize it was a MUST to change this pic to black and white....lol!

This is just a little shout out to my Dad. I have always been a Daddy's girl (sorry Mom). I remember planting corn, digging potatoes, hauling pumpkins and all sorts of other things with my Dad. I remember when he would pull up in his garbage truck to have lunch at home. I would run down the driveway and he would pick me up and yell "whoopee". Some people might poke fun of a "garbage man". Do you think I cared that he was a garbage man? Heavens no! I knew that he went to work everyday, and worked hard; that made me feel secure and grateful as a little girl. He is a GREAT man! A man that I am proud of. He is a hard worker and very thrifty, which I admire. I love my Dad!

Happy Father's Day!

To a great Dad. The kind of Dad that your kids can be EXTRA proud of as they grow. The kind of Dad that teaches them how to play & how to work. The kind of Dad that helps build a happy family each and everyday. Thank you! We love you!

Finally

OK, OK sorry! Another photography post. Please bear with me. I am just so excited about this new found "hobby", or whatever it may be. I am FINALLY getting beautiful shots of my kids. I wish that I could have taken shots like this of Gracie and Ava as babies. A picture really is worth a thousand words. I'm just so glad that I have three cute kids as my "test dummies." It's just too much fun.

My New Hobby

I decided I'm going to get into children's photography. For two reasons, number 1: It gives me something of my own. Since I don't work outside the home, sometimes I feel like my kids OWN me, and I don't have any other outlets. So I thought this would be something creative and fun that I could do. Number 2: I am so tired of dressing my kids up, dragging them to Kiddies; by the time I get there they are tired and ornery, and just not theirselves. Don't get me wrong Kiddies has taken some cute shots of my kids, but I decided I can get some cute ones of my own. If you get a chance you can check out my new "photography blog". I don't have that many pics up at the moment, because frankly, I have just started building my portfolio. If you know anyone that wants pics taken of their kiddos in either Tooele or Utah counties let me know. This little guy is named Easton. It was his first birthday on June 6th. He was actually a really happy baby! SO CUTE!

www.bittybugsphotography.blogspot.com

Chicken Wild Rice Chowder

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 TB butter
3 TB flour
3 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) chicken broth
2-2/3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1 package (8.8 ounces) long grain and wild rice
1/4 cup half and half cream
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

In a large saucepan combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

I made this two nights ago. It was good. We ate it with hard rolls and butter. Gotta love all the carbs!

mY cUp Of TeA

I have bought a really nice camera and have been studying like crazy to figure out how to take really nice pictures. This picture is not from a nice camera (I'm still awaiting it's arrival). This is our old point and shoot piece of hud. But anyway, I just had to show you this cute prop I found. Breckie was my victim--but actually didn't seem to mind. Once I figure out Photoshop, and get my new camera, I can do a lot cuter stuff; I just had to show you this cute prop. I did it on a black background which makes it so you can't really see the handle, but oh well.

Assistant Ward Clerk

Well Ryan and I did end up riding to the Stake Center on the new beast! LOL! It was actually comical and fun. Our neighbor came over and sat with the kids (who were all in bed) while we went. As silly as it seems it was like a mini date for us, because we never get out alone. We have only had the kids babysat once out here, and took Breck with us. Anyway, we got there and had to wait through a bunch of temple recommend interviews even though we had an appt. To make a long story short they called Ryan to be the assistant ward clerk. With his work schedule he can't always go to church, but he will do most of the work on our home computer during the week. I really love the man that called him. He seems like an apostle. He said about three times in different ways that this job was just preparing Ryan for things to come. I won't give that comment too much weight, but I thought it was interesting. This is the first calling Ryan has had since his mission. His work schedule has always been crazy. I have had 5 callings since our marriage, and I know every single one was a call from the Lord. It is amazing how He times things just right, and knows exactly what we can handle at what times. God has always helped me so much in my callings, and I'm assuming Ryan will be blessed in the same way. He loves the men in our bishopric so this should be a treat for him to rub shoulders with them. We took the "long way" home, and I think Ryan thought he was so cool with his biker babe on the back. You know how guys are................

Bad Idea..

OK, before you guys think I am off my "good idea" kick let me just say, this was NOT my idea by any stretch of the imagination. Guys have this thing built into them called E.G.O. It's a very interesting thing...lol! Anyway Ryan has bugged me about a motorcycle off and on for at least five years. Well since gas prices are rising he decided he was justified in purchasing one. Of course he had to get a brand new one. He saw a used one in Price, but I didn't want him to make the trip, so he went to a place out here and bought one. He is flying on cloud 9 right now! He's all "One of my dreams has come true." I'm all "When is one of my dreams gonna come true?" Really my dreams are much smaller, and came true last night. Ryan and I played with Breck on the front lawn after the girls went to bed. After I put Breck to bed we sat around and ate chips and dip (again), and I read Escape to Ryan while he laid his head in my lap. See how simple my mind is. I am easily pleased. Men are extravagant. In his defense, he doesn't have the big truck he wants, the four wheelers, or the $10,000 moose hunt in Alaska, so I guess I will let him have his fun. We have to meet with a member of the stake pres. tonight (I'm sure that will be another post), but he thinks I am riding there on his new bike with a skirt on....oh my!! I told Ryan he better up his life insurance policy. I said it 1/2 jokingly, 1/2 not. I think they are dangerous, especially because there are a ton of elk and deer on the way to Ryan's work.
p.s Escape is the book about a woman that fled the FLDS. It is a GREAT book. Dana gave me it and said I could loan it out to whomever. She is always sweet like that.

Another Great Idea

Now Jessica is really gonna think I am full of great idea's LOL! Not true!!! I ordered this a long time ago, and it just barely showed up the other day. You could put anything on it, such as a name or whatever. I just thought "Our Lil' Artists" would be cute. I hate having pictures on my fridge. It looks cluttered, so I thought it would be a good idea to hang this by the back door. That way they still feel special about displaying stuff. If they want something else displayed they will need to take down a picture to put a new one up, instead of just piling a ton on my fridge.