July- hikes, more hikes, and dinosaurs

We went to the local dinosaur museum the other day. Ella was scared. I had to keep reminding her they were all dead. This dino statue was at the end. Ella had finally come to terms with all the dinosaurs and wanted to give this one a hug!

I carried her almost the whole way through this museum.

We still try to go hiking every Tuesday. Here is one of my favorite. It is called Cecret Lake at the top of Alta ski resort. A beautiful short hike.

This is the scenery as you hike to Cecret lake, and in August the wildflowers are every where!

Darren also celebrated his 33 birthday. You know your getting old when you just want to stay home and have a quite relaxing birthday. We did take him a yummy lunch at work.

This is the bottom of another hike. Lake Blanche. We made it half way. Three miles round trip. It was the hardest hike we have done, lots of altitude gain... going up, up, and up some more.

Ella update

Too many fun picture with Ella- I just have to do an Ella spotlight!

This is Ella holding her new cousin Baby Everett, Nolan and Corie's newborn.

Ella loves to hold babies even if they are the same size as her.

She still loves to accessorize. On this occasion she wanted Toby to look good too! He was modeling all her hats.

She is the second oldest girl granddaughter.

The girls have fun together, and hopefully will for years to come.

She still weighs 22 pounds. But she is potty trained and adorable... all over!

See what I mean about accessories!

She has every bracelet and necklace she owes on!

You can't even see her neck!

Wasatch Mountain State Park

We had a great weekend. We went camping in Heber. It is a wonderful camp ground, I would recommend it to everyone. We had a nice fire, and made s'mores.

Our tent finally got quite around 11 when Ella had fully exhausted herself.

They have free fishing in a stocked pond for the little kids. Darren had to refresh his skills on how to hook the worm and casting the net.

Thankfully he didn't have to ever get a fish off a hook!

(Tyler's first worm- just a little grossed out I think)

The boy next to us was terrified of this new fishing thing his grandpa was trying to teach him.

He said- "I thought we were just trying to kill a fish but now we have to kill the worm too! I hope I don't cant anything."

Then every time he would reel the fish line in he would say, YES- I didn't catch anything!

Ella and I got to enjoy the shade, some milk and the ducks in the pond.

Tyler and Ella got to take a train ride with Darren.

(I went for a nice long bike ride in the Heber Valley).

Tyler was so excited.

There were even robbers who came and robbed the train- Tyler loved that part.

Hiking - Doughnut Falls

We have a little group that tries to go hiking once a week.

That little group has grown and grown some more. Today we had 5 moms (and one dad) and there were two moms who couldn't come.

That is one big group.

Here is a picture of us hiking down the trail. We had everyone smiling at us as they passed us.

Did you know that Doughnut Falls isn't a doughnut anymore?

The doughnut part got crushed by a rock slide I heard.

Regardless - we still enjoyed it!

Texting

oh bother

I have finally bit the bullet and done it

I now have the ability to text on my phone

'bout time I know

San Antonio Texas

Darren's work had their annual Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas. We got to see the Alamo. This was my favorite part, the shade! Utah is hot but doesn't have that horrible humidity like Texas. That makes it feel even hotter.

One night there was a dress up dinner... cowboys or fiesta. We chose Fiesta. They are supposed to be the three amigos but Darren's boss on the right found a great costume and went for that instead. They were all dripping in the heat!
We also got to go to Sea World for two private shows. We saw the dolphins and big white baluba whales.
But I think the highlight of the trip was seeing Shamu. The park was closed by the time we saw the show. It was cooler, dark and had great music. We got to sit on the front row. Yes- the Splash zone- Front row! WOW! This picture was taken BEFORE the show started.
We have a water proof camera and it/we got wet! This picture is of the mom and Shamu. They had just drenched us!
See like I said- we were front row. Pretty cool stuff.

We did a lot of other things but these were some highlights. We spent Saturday morning with my brother Chad and family. He leaves in a few week for Iraq. 6 months of working 12 hour days, every day in the hospital there. I hope the time will pass quickly for him and Jeana and kids at home in Texas.

roommates

I really like my roommates that I lived with in college. We had many good times at Utah State. Here I am with a couple of them. We all have kids now! If only those kids could know that one day, long ago, their moms use to dance around the apartment singing at the top of our lungs ... into a wooden spoon, or spatula or whatever we could find. We loved dancing - all my roommates loved dancing I think... I always have! (and wish someone would take me some time!)

Today

Kyle is doing better. Still has road rash (where your skin looks like hamburger) but is back on his bike.

My sister who I posted the frozen recipes for --- had a baby the morning after I posted those! So she never got them cooked. But has a health baby boy named TBD Thomas... as in not sure of the name yet.

We had lot of friends over on Saturday. The wives went rock climbing in the AM and then the husbands went and battled it out climbing a canyon in the heat of the day! The kids all had fun playing in the yard and getting wet in the kiddy pool.

Chloe, Stella, and Fred (Dan and Katie's kids)

Sid (Bob and Rowie)

Tyler and Ella- ours!

Ella was given dress up today. She tried them all on at once. Crown, skirts (there were two on in this picture), shirts, bracelets and all! Now I just have to teach her who Bell, Areil, and all those other princesses are!

freezer meals for my sister

I love freezer meals- I have been working on collecting recipes for some time. I have a couple good ones. but just found this website which I love to follow.

http://www.freezerdinner.com/

Her recipe for frozen pizzas is on my to do list!

http://www.freezerdinner.com/recipes/making-frozen-pizza/

I will buy her book!

anyway- here are two easy freezer recipes. Like when you know for 9 months your going to be having a baby... freeze some meals. If your making dinner, double it and freeze it... (if it will freeze well)

Recipes!... (Neti quit reading now!)

Super easy lasagna

1/2 pound ground beef cooked(or how ever much you like)

1-2 big cans of spaghetti sauce

2 small cartons of cottage cheese (if you want to add an egg and some parmesan cheese to the cottage cheese - thats great)

1/2 tsp oregano

lasagna noodles- UNCOOKED

cheese- mozzarella, whatever

1. Mix ground beef, sauce and oregano.

2. Put a little sauce on bottom of pan

3. Place uncooked noodles on next

4. Put meat mixture on next- followed by cottage cheese (plain or with the added egg and parmesan cheese, then top with cheese/mozzarella sprinkled on top

5. REPEAT- until you have your casserole dish full

I LOVE TO DO THIS IN BREAD TINS SOMETIMES. THAT GIVES ME 3-4 LASAGNA IN MY FREEZER. That way I have a meal on hand if I have to take one to someone or give to someone who helped me out. But 8 x8 or 9x 9's work great too. Plus I hate to have too much leftover lasagna... Nobody can eat a full 9 x13 pan of lasagna and still love it can they!

6. Write on aluminum foil- lasagna, the date, and cook at 375 for 1-1.5 hours- depending on how big your dish you put it in. You can let it thaw a bit before cooking it but not too much because the noodles will absorb too much water and get soggy. I uncover it for the last 10 minutes to help it brown on top.

NEXT RECIPE

This is also very easy.

Chicken Enchiladas

I don't assemble these until I am ready to actually cook them. I combine all the ingredients and freeze it in a ziplock bag. You can add whatever you like from this recipe, and leave out what doesn't sound good like... olives, chilies, onions, beans..etc....

Chicken cooked and cubed- we don't like lots of chicken so just add how much your family likes

1/2 pint sour cream

1 can chopped green chilies

1 can sliced olives

1 can of white beans rinsed

2 cans of cream of chicken

4 green onions chopped

1/4 cup milk

cheese grated

10 floor tortillas

cooked rice

I combine all the ingredients but the rice and cheese. Freeze.

When ready to cook, you can heat up the "goods" or just let it thaw. I cook rice (some times frozen rice gets too soggy for me). Lay tortillas on the counter, sprinkle each with cooked rice and spread out the enchiladas stuffing on each one. Sprinkle with cheese and warm in oven.

Hope that baby comes soon- but not too soon. Get some meals in your freezer first!