What I want to be when I grow up...

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someones garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." -Marjorie Hinckley

Super Stephanie Wells

Well, I just have to say that my sister-in-law, Stephanie Wells, is amazing! (I have to say her last name because there are about 50 Stephanie's in my life and it's hard to keep them all straight!) She is a super woman to the max. Always doing cute things for other people, always nice, rides horses (hence the picture of her and Spencer), rides four wheelers, has a cute house, and has four kids who never seem to run out of energy. She also is a great cook and has shared some amazing recipes with me that I am going to share with you. They are super easy to make, and so yummy. I swear cooking dinner, for me, is like a full time job. Making sure you have the ingredients, deciding WHAT to cook (that's the all time worst), etc, etc. I don't make anything that isn't easy mainly because with my luck I would spend all that time on it and something would go wrong making it a huge waste of my time. So if I am making it, you know it's a breeze.

White Chili

3 cans Northern White Beans (including the juice)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1 C. white onion - chopped
1 C. salsa (Pase Pecante mild)
6 C. chicken stock (4 for a thicker chili)
3-4 chicken breasts - cooked and cubed

Put everything in the crock pot on LOW for 3-4 hours. Serve with sour cream, monterey jack cheese and white corn tortilla chips.

Cream Cheese Chicken

4 or 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in strips
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 pkg. dry chicken gravy mix

Brown the chicken strips. Combine all other ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until mostly smooth. Add chicken and put everything in the crock pot. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours. Serve over rice, mashed potatoes or noodles

Let me know how it goes!

For my cousin Holly

Holly keeps asking for a picture of our whole house. So Holly, this is for you!

Our New Favorite Picture

I just can't get over how funny this picture is. My sister, Angie, took it when she was here and we have it up on our magnet board in our kitchen. Every time we walk by it we just can't help but laugh! When Jack gets really excited he makes his eyes go big and flares his nose, just like this picture! It is a picture perfect example of his fun personality. I love it.

Poor Jack

This morning I had to take Jack the pediatrician to get more shots. I hate taking him and seeing him with such a sad face! After the shots, he gets the saddest cry you have ever heard. But I do love going and having them weigh him and seeing how much he has grown. The results....

Weight: 14 lbs 6.5 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 26 inches long (75th percentile)

He is so tall and skinny!! Hmm...sounds like someone else I know! :)

My Boys

This post is dedicated to my two favorite boys. I just can't get enough of them! Jack looked so cute in his suit jacket and loafers on Sunday that I HAD to take a picture. Man those two are good looking! :)

You've Been Boo'd

We had lots of extra cookies left over from the party, so we decorated them and went and Boo'd some of our neighbors on our street. (You give them a treat and then they are supposed to put the sign on their door and do it to someone else.) It was Jack's first Door Ditching experience! I thought he might give us away, but he didn't make a peep. He's good at it already! :)

Happy Halloween

It's that time of year again! I cannot believe that October has come and gone and you know what that means.....the Holidays are on their way!! I can't wait! But Halloween definitely is one of the most fun holidays of the year. I love the costumes, parties and trick-or-treaters! We held a Halloween party at our house on Saturday that turned out to be a blast. Costumes were required and were a definite hit. We had everything from pumpkins to hockey players to cats (aka...Stacey) to cowboys (aka...Justin). We decorated cookies, carved pumpkins and had dinner. Jack didn't last in his costume very long, especially the hat. We did get some cute pictures though, so I guess that's all that counts. Thank you to everyone who came! It was so much fun! I hope everyone else had a great Halloween as well!!!

"Jack"-O-Lantern. I love that face!

My pumpkin is the top one, and Justin's is below.

So this Halloween season has brought on an unusual hatred for squirrels. I had so many cute pumpkins lining the steps up to our front door. One day, after Jack and I went running, we were sitting outside and I was catching my breath on our front steps. I heard a strange noise and turned around to see a squirrel sitting right next to me eating one of my pumpkins! I was so mad that I got up and immediately chased it away. Obviously I wasn't scary enough because every few days or so, I would find another pumpkin with big bite marks all over it, or the pumpkin was completely gone! I went from 10 pumpkins to 4 in no time. Then, yesterday Jack and I were pulling out of our driveway when I saw one walking up to Justin's pumpkin that he had spent so long carving. I stopped the car and started running after it! I was NOT going to let it ruin that one as well! But the squirrel just looked at me, walked up to Justin's pumpkin, grabbed the spider part and ran up the tree! I was so mad! I officially hate squirrels.

Matt and Taylor had the best costumes by far!!! His wrestling suit actually has a fan that constantly keeps him inflated!! It was hilarious!

The Mecham's brought their son Jackson, and we went trick-or-treating down our street. I love his kangaroo costume!! And yes....Jack is only five months old, so of course Justin and I ate all of his candy! :) We already bought the costume, so we figured we might as well get something out of it! Haha!!

It's official!

Justin recently applied and was accepted for a scholarship with the U.S. Air Force. When he turned his application in, there were only 19 left for the whole nation and he received one of those 19! Today he went and signed the official documents accepting the scholarship and he now belongs to the Air Force, as well as our first born child...haha...just kidding! We have put a lot of thought into this and done a lot of research trying to decide if this was something that would work for our family. After all that we have found out, we are very excited and feel a huge relief that we won't be leaving dental school with $300,000 in debt! They pay for EVERYTHING the remaining three years he is in school. So nice! After Justin graduates, we will be moving to a base, most likely here in the states, and he will work as a dentist for them for three years. Once he completes three years in the Air Force we can leave and start a dental practice hopefully somewhere much closer to home! Everyone that we have talked to that has done the same thing, or involved in it in some way has enjoyed their experience and if they had the choice to do it all over, they would. Hopefully, it proves to be as good of experience for us as well!

Thank Heavens for Grandmas!!

Lately Jack has been extremely hard to keep entertained. He is no longer amused by his mom and dad making stupid faces and silly sounds (I'm not sure why...). I was complaining to my mom about it and she decided that Jack needed an early Christmas present from his Grandma so I could get something done around the house. Thank you mom! I think this little bouncer will soon prove to be my saving grace.