March

March kept us busy, and we had some fun times throughout the month

Kinley went on a daddy daughter date to get sushi. She requested it and really liked it!

Drake turned 2 and had a Monster Party. It was adorable!

Kinley as a Monster

Enjoying the cake and ice cream

Bean Bag Toss

Jessica and Dusty - fun that she was here and got to come to the party

All the kids - the each got to Adopt a Monster

We also got to go to Disney on Ice again. Kinley knew what to expect, and was super excited and loved it. It was with the princesses. 

 Pirate Day at Preschool

One of our favorite family activities - dipping chocolate strawberries. Grammy taught her well

50 Things in 2013

So I am not into New Years Resolutions, but as this new year rolled around I started thinking about things that I want to do this year. Some are serious, some are fun, and some are just because. I wanted to do 50 Things in 2013. I don't quite have all 50 but they are a work in progress. If you have any ideas, please pass them my way. I am not concerned if I don't finish them all but I thought it would be fun to keep track, and who knows maybe I will come up with more than 50.

I will be keeping track on my blog. You can find the link on the right hand side on pages.

 So here is my list so far:

1) Go Bowling
2) Go Camping
3) Go on a Picnic
4) Read 3 Self Help Books
5) Read the Book of Mormon
6) Host a Dinner Party
7) Learn how to use my 2 cameras
8) Make a project with my sewing machine
9) Read 3 "classics" books
10) FHE once a month
11) Work on our Family History
12) Start planning our Europe trip
13) Make 10 things I find on pinterest
14) Decorate Kinley's room
15) Girls Night Out (try for 1 every 2 months or so)
16) Go to Zumba
17) Have date nights more regularly
18) Go 4 Wheeling
19) Make our wedding photo book
20) Try 12 New Recipes
21) Attend a concert
22) Go on a hike
23) Start a Book Club
24) Grow my own herbs
25) Complete our 72 hour kits
26) Stick to a cleaning schedule for 2 months
27) Do 10 freezer meals
28) Write in a journal once a month
29) Try 3 new things in Utah
30) Visit Church history museum
31) Try 5 French recipes
32) Start Learning time with Kinley
33) Go to the temple once a month
34) Have family pictures done
35) Go on a family vacation
36) Have a birthday party for Kinley
37) Scan all of my pictures
38) Learn more about photoshop
39) Do a cross stitch project
40) Go skiing
41) Look into going back to school
42) Get to a steady weight
43)
44)
45)
46)
47)
48)
49)
50)

Fresh Herbs

I love using fresh herbs, but I never think to buy them at the store and so I never have them. This year I decided to plant some fresh herbs that I could use anytime.

I have to admit, I haven't used them as much as I would like but I am working on it, and I love having fresh herbs so readily available, right on my front porch.

Kinley came with us to pick out the herbs

Here we go

I did rosemary, lemom and lime thyme, basil, garlic and onion chives

I will post some recipes when I use them more!

Chayote Squash

I love Bounitful Baskets. It is an awesome way to get produce for a better price and let me try new produce that I never would buy at the store. There are times that I don't know what certain things are or what to do with them. For example, last week I got a chayote squash. I recieved 3 of them, and they have sat there for a week because I just did not know what to do with them. I googled recipes, nothing sounded great so finally I just decided that I would make it into some baby food for Kinley. She eats a lot of stuff, so she might eat this. Well today, I get it all cut up and started cooking when I realize that the top of my fingers on my left hand are starting to feel a little numb. I wash my hands and I was them again, still numb. I look down and the tops are kind of white like there is no circulation getting to them. I start freaking out, Dusty calmly tells me to look up side effects. I do and realize that I am not loosing my mind and it has happened to others. The sap of the chayote squash can leave a numb/tingly feeling that should go away within a day, oh and another awesome side effect, it will make your hands peel and take off a layer of skin.

So that is my adventure today in cooking - don't use chayote squah. (the flavor wasn't very good anyway) or if you do decide to try it, where gloves while cutting it just in case :)

this is what a chayote squash looks like

I couldn't get a really good picture of my peeling hands, but I will post it later if I do

Photo Challenge Day 22/30 - Breakfast for Dinner

One of my all time favorite dinners is breakfast. I love it! I love breakfast food but rarely eat it because I don't like to eat much in the morning. So tonight I made breakfast for dinner. Dusty was also happy with the choice! I also made my first omelet! It was delicious and actually looked good too! I will for sure be trying different combinations.

We're going back to the 60's

Last night we traveled back to the 60's. We became little housewives and made homemade raspberry jam!! Kitani and I decided to show off our domestic side and impress our husbands. Kitani had never made jam before and thought that she was going to ruin it, but don't worry, me the experienced jam maker (I made it one other time) helped her out. She did great! Some of our batches were a really light pink, and then they seemed to get darker. They all tasted good, so that is what matters right? Here are some pictures taken back in the 60's at my house last night.

Kitani was really good!
This is pretty much the best picture that I have ever taken, and I thought that I would share it with everyone. :)
We were happy while we did it!

Our Jam!!!

Kitani had one batch that didn't fill up a full container so she had to put half and half in the container. It worked because she is also half Japanese!!

Homemade Pizza and Twilight

Every Thursday night we have a get together at our house to watch Grey's Anatomy with some of our best friends. Last night Grey's wasn't on, so we took the opprotunity to watch a movie instead. We made some amazing homemade pizza (Dusty did the dough - what a babe!) and watch Twilight. Karly and Carlos had never seen it, so we watched it. It was a very entertaining night to say the least. Good food, great convo, and an entertaining movie.

Pepperoni and Bacon Chicken Alfredo Pizza
Karly and Carols were being Bella and Edward
Intense Awkward Stare!

Another Domestic Accomplishment

This last week I was just driving to work when I saw a local farmer stand with some raspberries. I was pumped!!! I thought that I was going to have to wait until next season to do some raspberry jam. So I went to the stand and bought all the raspberries that they had. It was about a flat and a half. I won't tell you how much I paid for them though. (Dusty about died) I took a few days to get it done. The first day, I washed and got them packaged. Then this weekend with the help of my sister and the support of Dusty, I finished it up.

The fresh raspberries. They smelled so good!
Washing them
Letting them dry
Packaging them up
Mixing it all together. I love the bright color
Filling the jars
The finished product! It made much more, but some of it is already in the freezer.
Dusty made some bread and we have been eating it with the raspberry jam.
It turned out great, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.
I just am feeling more domestic every day. hahaha

Homemade Apple Pie

On Sunday Shayla decided that she wanted to make dinner for some people and I told her that I would make dessert. I was just going to make easy apple crisp, but Dusty had gotten some apples from his parents' house and suggested that I make apple pie with the fresh apples. I am thinking to myself "I did this in high school, I can totally do it again." But at the same time I was really nervous because Shayla's sister Sharlyn (who is going to culinary school) was coming for dinner and that is like having a chef critique your work. Scary! So I got up Sunday morning and while watching conference I started the pie. I made the pie crust first and it wasn't too bad. Dusty helped me by peeling the apples and I made apple pie from scratch! And that night after dinner we tried it, and everyone liked it! I was relieved! This is the only pic that I took. I forgot to get one of the finished project. But this made me decide that I am going to try to be a little more domestic, and I will keep you posted how that goes. Thanks honey for the great suggestion and helping me out. You are awesome!