Photos

I am cheap but I am sure I can get as good if not better pictures of my kids than the photographers I've been going to here. I took the boys who recently had birthdays over to Main Street and took their pictures. It was a little hot at 5pm but they have some great spots in downtown St. George. W was my biggest trial as he refused to actually look at the camera for more than a split second and T moved every time I aligned him on my LCD screen. We did get about 100 photos thank goodness for digital cameras.

W's 3 years old

T's 5 years old

Retaining Wall

This is the retaining wall that Z has been working on for the past few weeks. The hardest part is leveling the ground but that is underground so you cannot see that. I think he has done an excellent job (it helped to have J and C help when they were down here). Right side of the yard
Left side of the yard
Center of yard

*******************************************************************************

New PlaygroundOur playground arrived from Yardline (Costco sells it), we are very excited! Z has his work cut out for him though (8 boxes, 2 slides, and 60+ pages of instructions). We are grateful for the Stipend Check we received from the government, it made the ability to get this nice playground much easier!

*************************************************************************

Prayers

J is ready for prayer

W is ready for prayer

I just think little children are so cute when they fold their little arms and get ready for the prayer to be said, W is into saying prayer with whomever is doing it!

Our Guests

C, E and J came down for a little vacation. It was lots of fun! We kept them very busy: swimming @ San Hollow Reservior, bowling @ Dixie Bowl, hiking @ Ivins, bumper boats & racing @ Fiesta Fun. They stayed and helped out with the kids while I went to our girl's weekend. A BIG thanks to E for playing the mom while I was gone!!!
J, J & T

C, E & J
Most all of us minus Z who was taking the picture
W and his worm
Z & J
E, C & K

Girl's Weekend

We spent our girl's weekend getaway in Las Vegas. We did lots of exciting things and saw lots of Vegas! We arrived Friday night where we went out to eat at TGI Fridays and watched Baby Mama. The next morning G made breakfast and then we headed out to a full salon, everyone got pampered, we ate out at Red Robins and then went shopping. Boy are there lots of stores in Vegas. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then were exhausted until the next morning. We ate at the hotel then looked at the Bellagio, M&M store, the Coke store, and had lunch at Chevy's before making our way back home. It was a very eventful weekend! TGI Friday's
Red Robin's

Wig Store

Hat Store

The Cheesecake Factory

Happy Father's Day!

We love you! You are a great dad and always put us first! Thanks for all you do to brighten our day!

Love,
Your Family

Spaghetti Dinner + Boys = Baths

Everytime that I serve spaghetti for dinner the kids need to take a bath. It is pretty routine in our family that when they eat anything with spaghetti sauce they'll need a bath. Just imagine what the kitchen looks like when these two our done eating!!! Jack-Jack after dinner
Rex after dinner
Messy boys taking a bath!

Recipes: Cheddar Macaroni Beef Casserole

Prep Time:20 min
Total Time:30 min
Makes:4 servings

1 pkg. (7-1/4 oz.) KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves or dried basil leaves
1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

PREHEAT oven to 400ºF. Prepare Dinner as directed on package, omitting butter. Meanwhile, brown meat in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add tomatoes and oregano; mix well. Bring to boil.

ADD meat mixture to Dinner; spoon into 9-inch square baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese.

BAKE 10 min. or until cheese is melted and casserole is heated through.

Sunset on the Square

Looking for something to do with your Friday nights? KCSG TV and the City of St. George present Sunset on the Square. The second and fourth Fridays of May through September the St. George Town Square becomes an outdoor movie theatre - classic movies on the big screen and under the stars. Bring your blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the evening and the movie when it begins at dusk. Outdoor movies complete with snow cones, popcorn and pizza. Join us in the Town Square on Main Street in St. George every second and fourth Friday May through September for great movies, great fun and great times!

This is the first time that we attended and we really learned the next time rules. Mr. A let the kids run around for a little while but they needed something more entertaining than that until the movie started!Can't you tell it's summer time by Bella's attire.
She is a hoot when she dresses herself even at 7 years old!This was the best I was getting for Rex and Obi the were having lots of fun irritating each other!

An over abundance of projects

Our house seems to be an over abundance of projects. Right now we have several projects well underway!!! Ms. A was so kind as to paint the closet doors in both Jack-Jack's and our bedrooms on Saturday. It makes the rooms look much more finished. We added blinds to the boys' room so that nap time was a little more successful. It is hard to get a three year old to take a nap when the sun is shining straight down on him. Curtain rods were put up in both Bella and Jack-Jack's rooms. I found a really cute butterfly rod to match the room, it has both pink and purple on it!
I bought this cute toy box at Target and put it together for all of Bella's toys, since the boys aren't allowed to play with all the tiny pieces it's better that they remain out of view (nicely!!!) She has all these tiny pieces from Polly pockets, Barbies, My little Ponies, etc. Not very baby friendly and it's not like she's going to keep them away from the baby without a little motivation. We are excited to announce that we have our window well covers and are so thrilled about it! It makes me so much less nervous when the boys play outside now! They are really nice, custom made and only cost me $80/a piece which was much cheaper than I had found previously. It pays to know someone who works with that kind of stuff!!!

Mr. A has already finished most of the excavation work in the backyard!!! Yeah!!! We have had 46 tons of dirt brought in to make this layout work for us. If you can avoid having a sloped yard by all means do!!! This has been a bit of a pain!!!

We ordered the diamond blocks from Sunroc last Friday and it was delivered this morning. It is very exciting that it is all coming together so quickly!!! With Mr. A being off for the summer from teaching his mornings are busy with the "honey do" list.
Don't you just love the color. It is called Desert Sandstone.

I have been moving along rather smoothly with my dinosaur mural in the boys' room. I am rather proud of how it has turned out! I still have some details and grass to add but it is looking rather good!!! Anyone have any good t-rex ideas, I am adding him to the opposite wall next to the original dinosaur who inspired all this.

Recipes: Easy Parmesan Chicken Fingers

Prep Time:10 min
Total Time:25 min
Makes:8 servings

2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch wide strips
1 pkt. SHAKE 'N BAKE Original Chicken Seasoned Coating Mix
1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 cup BBQ Sauce

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Moisten chicken strips with water. Shake off excess water. Empty contents of coating pouch into shaker bag. Add cheese.

ADD 2 or 3 pieces of chicken to shaker bag; close bag and shake until evenly coated. Place in single layer in 15x10x1-inch baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining chicken. Discard bag and any remaining coating mixture.

BAKE 12 to 14 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Serve as dippers with the barbecue sauce.

Definite kid friendly! They loved them! You can put them in a wrap for a more healthy idea or just add a side dish and let the kids go at it! This was wonderful!!

Recipes: Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-up

Prep Time:25 min
Total Time:50 min
Makes:6 servings, one slice each

1 lb. lean ground beef
4 slices Bacon, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onions (about 1 small)
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pkg. (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Cook ground beef, bacon and onions in large skillet on medium-high heat until ground beef is evenly browned, stirring occasionally. Drain; return meat mixture to skillet. Add VELVEETA; cook until completely melted, stirring frequently. Cool 10 min.

UNROLL pizza dough onto baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Press into 15x8-inch rectangle. Top evenly with meat mixture. Roll up dough, starting at one of the long sides. Rearrange, if necessary, so roll is seam-side down on baking sheet.

BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until golden brown. Cut diagonally into six slices to serve.

We ate this thinly sliced for dinner. The kids loved it and wanted more! I used homemade pizza crust rather than refrigerated, it turned out great! Again this is from kraftfoods.com/ I really love their recipes, very kid friendly!!!

Bella's Haircut

This is my beautiful Bella. She is obsessed with having long hair like Barbie, especially after she saw the Barbie movie Rapunzel. It is so hard to manage this long! We are out of school for the summer and I have aloud her to take care of her hair so far. She decided that she wouldn't mind having her hair a little shorter since it took her 30 minutes just to comb out in the front.

Before .... Drum roll.......

After
It is a little shorter than I was planning on cutting it but it works!

Recipes: Stuffed French Toast

Prep Time:10 min
Total Time:15 min
Makes:2 servings, one sandwich each

4 Tbsp. Cream Cheese
4 slices cinnamon raisin bread
8 slices Sliced Honey Ham
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. milk
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. maple-flavored or pancake syrup

SPREAD cream cheese spread onto 2 of the bread slices. Top with ham; cover with remaining 2 bread slices. Lightly press edges of each sandwich together to seal.

BEAT eggs, milk and sugar with fork in pie plate or square baking dish until well blended. Dip sandwiches in egg mixture, turning over to evenly moisten both sides.

SPRAY large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat on medium heat (adult assisted). Add sandwiches; cook 2 min. on each side or until golden brown on both sides. Serve with syrup.

This is a great recipe that I made for the kids! I love the free Food & Family magazine that Kraft Foods sends to me every quarter. It has lots of good recipes! Sign up at http://www.kraftfoods.com/ and get on their mailing list, I love it!