Inspiration via Julie & Julia...

Friday night Bryan and I went to the movies and saw Julie & Julia. If you don't know what the movie is about google it; it was fabulous! Anyhow, I came away feeling inspired like I want to be more adventurous in my cooking. So I have challenged myself to do a new, never tried recipe for my family once a week. I don't know for how long but we'll start with a month. Hey, I am totally being practical here. I have to cook with 3 kids hanging all over me. Hence, that could be the reason why cooking isn't my favorite thing to do. Anyhow, so I started tonight by making French Dip Sandwiches and Homemade Fries. I was pleasantly surprised by how good they were and eveyone came away from the table feeling satisfied, even my kiddos! So I think I am off to a good start. I will also post where I got the recipes as I go so you can try them at home.
( All 5 of you that actually read my blog) :)

These homemade healthy style french fries were fabulous! My kids loved them and I loved that they weren't deep fried! The recipe for these is here: Healthy French Fries

All ready to eat! Dig in!

For French Dip Recipe click link here: French Dip

Random things...

Lex was so excited to be turning 8 not only to get baptized but to get her ears pierced. It's tradition in our family to get your ears pierced when you are 8. So in keeping with tradition, Lex had to wait until she turned 8. Here she is outside of Claire's ready to FINALLY get them pierced.

Getting her ears marked to make sure they are pierced absolutely perfect...

And the piercing begins...

And we are done...

Oh what us girl's go through for beauty. She is doing fine now of course but it was pretty dramatic and intense for a few minutes, to say the least!

Dinner time was super easy the other night. We made homemade pizzas from good old English Muffins. The kids had so much fun making their own pizza.

After dinner, Bennett was in the mood to hug his brother and sister. Man, I love these guys.

First day of 3rd grade

I snapped a few pics of Lex heading out the door for her first day of 3rd grade. She was pretty nervous but fine once we got there and she saw her friends. She has an awesome teacher this year (I got to pick who she got, some nice perks I get from being on the PTO) and some friends from last year in her class.

And she wanted me to get a pic of her fabulous new shoes. I love this line from Skechers called Twinkle Toes! They seriously are the cutest shoes ever!

Alexis' baptism....

Our little family

On Alexis' 8th birthday she was baptized and she was really ready for this special day. We had a ton of family drive down for this and it was AWESOME to have them all here. We love you all and thank you for your support!

Our friend Nigel snapped a quick pic of Bryan bustin' out a little 70's move in the sweet get up he had to wear. (I know people, totally not appropriate but really I think it was from the 70's)

And here she is a newly baptized member of the church. It was a beautiful experience and I am sooo proud of this girl! I love you Lex!

My brother Matt, his wife Kat and their girls Makaylee and Mabel!

We definitely got in lots of Tahoe time while everyone was here. The kids had a blast digging with all the new toys my Mom brought. Thanks Mom!

Bryan's parents relaxing....

My parents and Garrett hanging out.

Garrett told me I needed to get a picture of him and Papa together.

Me and my sistas!
Gosh, I love these girls and miss them so much already.They really are such amazing women and mothers.
(L to R: Alyssa, Caren, Me, Becca and her little guy Boston)

Bennett loved having his own umbrella and chair.

Cute beach bums!

The front of those cute beach bums!

Our nephew Zach hanging out getting some sun!

And one last picture of our little piece of heaven. Isn't it beautiful! I love this place!

( I'm sure I will have more pictures to come. I have a bunch of pics from my Mom's camera as well that I still need to go through from their trip here.)

Goal!!!!

Garrett started soccer today and boy did he love it! I unfortunately had to miss it because I was at a church youth group activity( boating and kayaking on Lake Tahoe, I know, hard life huh?) Anyhow, Bryan snapped a few pics of him in his gear and I couldn't be prouder of my little Garrett. So this may sound odd but I literally use to agonize and worry that my kids wouldn't like soccer. I know it's weird but given that I grew up playing soccer and it is my favorite sport, naturally I hoped my kids would love it too. Well, I lucked out because so far 2 out of 3 love it. (And I really am not worried about Bennett since we have to strap him down in the stroller to keep him off the field from taking the kids soccer balls.) So, hopefully they will continue to play year after year and maybe one of them will be the next Pele!

It's almost here...

I can't believe that in just a little over a week Alexis will be getting baptized. She is so excited for this day to come and can hardly wait. She loved posing for her little baptism photo shoot and then picking out her invitations. I think she did a pretty good job!

Just bounce...

This last week our friends that are moving have been packing like crazy. So in order for the process to go much smoother for them myself and 2 of my other friends have been helping out by taking over on their kids this past week. This day it was myself and 2 other friends and 11 kids total! So my friend brought her parents bounce house over for the kids to play in. I was able to snap a picture while it was just Garrett and Bennett in there; the other 9 kids were going through our dress up clothes to find something cool to bounce in. I love this picture because you can see Garrett diving out the entrance in his bird costume. The kids had a blast and a bounce house is definitely on our list of things we want to get!

Guess what REALLY sucks....

...What Really sucks is when awesome friends, that are like family to you, are moving away! Seriously, I think I have been in survival mode since we moved away from family 4 years ago and when you find friends that are like family to you, it's a total bummer to have them go!
Our friends the Frances are moving Friday to Colorado Springs. So tonight we threw a party for them at our house and it was so much fun. We are REALLY going to miss these guys and their crazy, fun kiddos!
(pictured L to R: Kelli and Matt France, Erinn and Chad, Alyssa and Nigel and Bryan and I)