I was tagged...

I was tagged by Jayme, things in eights....
My Favorite Foods:
1. Brownies
2. Pasta and Chicken
3. Tiny Spicy Chicken
4. My Mom's Turtles
5. Trout/Salmon
6. Parmesan Chicken
7. Almost all Mexican
8. Grandma Ralphs' Stuffing

Favorite Restaurants:
1. Chili's
2. Cafe Rio
3. Texas Roadhouse
4. El Sol
5. Red Lobster
6. Training Table
7. Applebees
8. Sir Scotts Oasis

Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to work
2. Organized my pantry
3. Did Laundry
4. Read my book
5. Took Landry and Carson to McDonald's
6. Made a Halloween package for Bubba (Bought candy and put it in a box)
7. Cleaned my kitchen sink
8. Sleep

My Favorite Stores
1. Target
2. Kohls
3. Tai Pan
4. Sugar n' Spice
5. Hobby Lobby
6. Terry's Village (Online)
7. Mervyns
8. Wal-Mart - Just Kidding, although I do spend too much time there!

Things I Look Forward Too
1. Christmas
2. Winter being over - Seriously, can't wait and it just started getting cold!
3. Planting flowers
4. Planting a garden
5. Marshal coming home from his mission
6. Landry learning to tie her own shoes
7. Being with family over the holidays
8. Naps on Sundays!

Now I tag
Dixie
Christine
Mindy
Rachel
Andrea

Best Buddies

Landry and Carson have been friends from the very beginning. Carson is about a month older than her. I told her once that they probably knew each other in Heaven and she said, 'Mom, we were probably Best Friends in Heaven just like we are now.' Last week Landry came and asked if she could invite Carson over for lunch. Since it was about 45 minutes before school I told her we would go this week and we could go to McDonald's. (ick) She was thrilled, she bugged me for the next 24 hours straight to go over to Carson's house so she could ask him. They are both currently only children and it has been considered that we should just raise them together as brother and sister but then that would be weird when they decide to get married! :o) He is so protective of Landry - He always says 'I'm just lookin' out for Lan.' It cracks me up. I also love listening to their conversations - they are so funny and come up with the craziest things. For example, one of their favorite things to do at my house it play Rock Star....
Carson: Landry stop singing that song - I'm sick of it.
Landry: No
Carson: If you don't stop singing it I won't play the guitar anymore
Landry: Fine - Then I quit the band (as she throws down her microphone and walks off, it was very Guns-N-Roses!)
2 minutes later they are back to rocking out - that's the great thing about kids, they never stay mad.
My other favorite was a while back and we were in a grocery store and they were sitting in the cart together while Jayme and I contemplated our 72 hour kit purchases...
Carson: So Landry are you going to marry me or what?
Landry: Ummm... YES!
Carson: What about that other boy?
Landry: Well, I decided that I'll marry you.
We love Cars and are so glad they were best friends in Heaven and still are!

80's Party

We went to an 80's party this weekend, it was so fun to see everyone and their costumes. The guys were the best - 4 of them had mullets. What does that say about the 80's? We put a side ponytail in Landry's hair and she thought that was hilarious. I was worried about my own hair. I wasn't sure I would remember how to get it that big and puffy but as it turns out it's just like riding a bike - you never forget. Although I had to wash it that night just to get all the product out - I can't beleive I used to put that much junk in my hair! Jeff was rockin' his Bon Jovi muscle shirt. Sadly he's the proud owner of it - we didn't get it at a thrift store or anything. It's an original!

Pilgrims

I just had to put a picture of my Pilgrims on here. I love when I have time to do a craft and last year I made a set of these. Ashley and I are doing a couple of craft fairs in November and I thought these would sell great there. Jayme's dad cut them out for me and then I painted them. I did 10 sets - I think they turned out so cute. Even though Landry informed me that the boy pilgrim's hair was too long! The picture doesn't do them justice because you can't see enough detail - you'll just have to trust me that they are too cute.

Fun Kid Recipes

Here are a couple of fun recipes that Landry and I recently tried. The Mug Cake was really fun to do - I got this recipe from a lady I work with. The Candy Pizza was really fun too - I stole this recipe from Alison's blog - Thanks Alison for the fun treat!


SINFUL 3 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
1 Mug (Microwave safe)
4 tablespoons flour (that's plain flour, not self-rising)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) mini chips would be the best
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.Add the egg and mix thoroughly.Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (a bit less time if your microwave is stronger). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.


CANDY PIZZA

Crust:
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup M&M's (we also used Reeces Pieces and Mini Marshmallows)


Preheat oven to 350. Mix crust ingredients, spread on greased pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes. Cool. Melt chocolate chips, 2 Tbsp butter and milk in saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Take off heat. Add powdered sugar. Stir until smooth and shiny. Spread on cool crust and sprinkle with candy.

Shout out to my Ricks Roomies!

Yes - I am very much aware of how lame this post is and what a dork I am. But when we were in Rexburg to see the Temple I made Jeff drive by the old Colonial House apartments. I just wanted to get a picture. I'm pretty sure he called me a nerd. It's amazing how much Rexburg has changed since we were there. But the apartments looked the same and Craigos was still standing. If it wouldn't have been Sunday I would have stopped for some Bread Sticks! That was such a great time in my life and I am thankful to this day for having been blessed with such good roommates/friends. Michelle who showed me the ropes and took me under her wing my first year, Rach - the girl from Cali (who also happens to look just like Uma Thurman - Gorgeous!) and hated the cold!, Mind and Andi my Declo girls who always made me laugh, Mon and Big D - you crazy gals. Oh and Marty, can't forget about good old Marty. Thanks for all of the great memories - I love you guys!

UEA Weekend

Landry had a few days off from school last week so we took the opportunity to make a quick trip to the cabin. I love going to the cabin - it is always so peaceful and relaxing and it's ALWAYS over too fast. We love getting to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Hunter. Landry loves them so much and she gets so excited to be with them. Her Grandpa loves to tease her and she loves it too! Plus she gets to play with Uncle Clark's dog who she thinks is great. (I'm running out of excuses not to get one. Our yard is in. The only excuse I have left is that we don't have a fence!)

Landry and Jeff at Big Sky

On Friday we drove up to Big Sky and Billings. I'm not a skier but I was wishing I was when we were at Big Sky. It was so beautiful. The real reason we drove 9o miles to Billings was to go another 10 miles to a town called Manhattan and eat at Sir Scotts Oasis. Insane? - probably, but the food there is so good. We wanted to take my in-laws there to try it out. Yea, our waitress was also the hostess/cashier and she was wearing camo and it took almost 40 minutes for us to get our food but it was so worth it! Jeff and I had been there a few times before and I always forget how good it is and was starting to wonder if it was really worth the trip - It was.

The next day the guys went fishing and the girls just hung out at the cabin - it was a great lazy day, lots of reading and playing games with Landry.

Can you tell the sun was in her eyes?

On Sunday we started heading home. We stopped in Rexburg to see the Temple and then went to Rockland to celebrate another Birthday - this time it was for Mathew. (Fortunately the Cowboys game was already over by the time we got there - what a disaster!) Anyway it was over way to soon and it was back to work/school again on Monday. Landry was the only one who was happy to come home, she didn't want to miss any more school.

Alright

The other night I was in the office downloading my new Darius Rucker CD onto my MP3 player. (By the way - I LOVE this CD!) Landry came in and said 'Let's Dance'. So we turned it up and started dancing around. If anyone drove by my house and saw the shadows on the blinds they would have wondered what the heck we were doing! I'm sure we looked ridiculous but it was one of those moments that I'll always remember. She was so happy! One of the songs we were dancing to was Alright and it was so fitting for the moment that I got a bit of a lump in my throat. It's so easy to think of all the things I want or think I need but really I am very blessed and am so grateful for a beautiful daughter, a wonderful husband and great family and friends.

Part of the lyrics

As far as I can see

I've got everything I want...

It may be a simple life, but that's okay

If you ask me baby, I think I've got it made....

Forever in her eyes staring back at me

It's alright, alright

I've got all I need

And it's alright by me...

When I lay down at night I thank the Lord above

For giving me everything I ever could dream of....

After we were done dancing - It's a wonder the bed was still in one piece after she got done Dancing/Jumping on it!

Walk-A-Thon

Landry's school hosted a Walk-A-Thon to raise money for the PTA. I thought this was a great idea. Instead of having to do fund raisers all year and trying to sell stuff the kids got pledges for how many laps they walked. They wore these green badges around their necks that got marked after each lap. Landry and Nicholas started off together running - but as you can see Nicholas is a bit taller and has a slightly longer stride! They made it about 1 lap together before he ended up ahead of her. She ran 4 laps - about a 1/2 mile and then walked three more laps before it was time to go into class. I was proud of her for doing it. She ran/walked almost as much as the older kids. Way to go Sis!

Pumpkin Painting

This last weekend we went and picked out pumpkins. Landry has been waiting patiently for me to get with the program. Everyone around us has their porches decorated so cute and have lots of pumpkins. Last year we, well when I say we I actually mean me, carved a pumpkin. I thought it would be this fun little family activity - WRONG. Jeff didn't want to do it and Landry definitely didn't want anything to do with it. So there I was stuck cleaning and carving by myself. So this year I said forget it. Landry would much rather paint than touch the insides of the pumpkin. Painting was much easier and cleaner too. At first it wasn't going to be put outside - she loved it so much it stayed in her room. But now that we have our porch decorated she decided it would be alright to leave it outside.

72 Hour Kits

Dixie - This post is for you. I promised that I would send you the pictures. I'm a bit behind! About a month ago we made 72 hour kits with our Ward. They aren't huge but they do fit a lot of food in there. I was quite suprised. I think that they will work great and will be easy to throw into a backpack if you are in a hurry.

Some of the things that I put in there were small canned apple juice, oatmeal, canned chicken, Lipton cup of noodle, tuna pack, 1 can soup, applesauce cups, plastic spoons and knife, crackers, fruit snacks, and some candy.

All of that fit in these handy little bags that we got from the canning place. I think they were only about .13. My lovely model - Jayme. She is lovely, too bad I cut off her face!

Then you slide the end of the bag onto this little machine and it will seal it for you. They rented this from the cannery too. This was fairly inexpensive and so easy to do.