Thanksgiving (a little behind anyone???)

Thought that before I put up Christmas pictures, I should put up Thanksgiving!!!

We went to Cave Creek, AZ for Thanksgiving this year with Jery's family and had a fabulous time!

We stopped to change drivers at Mexican Hat. The sunset sky was throwing some beautiful color. 

 The kids are pretty tired of driving already! They were sooooooo good though.

Finally, we made it to Auntie Jill's house. 

 You gotta love that you can see people riding horses downtown Cave Creek.

 I love saguaro cactus'!

 This is such a cute photo of the kids.

 And this is so cute of Grandma with the girls too, blowouts and all!

 Grandma's feet.

 Aaron is becoming quite the accomplished guitarist! We really enjoyed listening to him play and I wish that someone had had the idea to video it!!!

 BayLea looks so cute and had so much fun playing with Lacey!

Thanks for the fun weekend!

Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe

As some of you know, I'm always on a hunt to find the most wonderful artichoke spinach dip EVAH! WEll, I haven't found it, BUT this one apparently was a hit at Christmas this year. It ended up being completely gone by last night...and it made a big batch! So the recipe goes on the blog:

1/2 bag of fresh spinach leaves, chopped up in the food processor
1 can of artichokes, chopped up in food processor
12 oz softened cream cheese
2 green onions
2 cloves garlic (we like garlic)
3/4 tbsp of dill weed
1 tbsp of celery salt
1/2 tsp of white pepper
3/4 tsp of seasoned salt
3/4 c sour cream
1/2 c mayonaise
3/4 c shredded parmesan cheese
1/8 c white wine

Mix everything except the spinach leaves, then add spinach. Adjust seasonings as you see fit!

Cook mixture in oven at 300 degrees until heated through.

This dip was even BETTER the next day. YUM!!! Enjoy!

December Fun

 My friend, Kathlene, and I went out shooting this week. Look at my precious kidlets!

 This isn't my favorite of Breccan that I took but I haven't had a chance to edit another yet.

 I am in love with this photo above...I had it enlarged to a 20x30 for my wall at home!

 A tree-decorating self-portrait with my babies.

 More fun shooting with Kathleen!

And Kathleen, whom I've loved going out shooting with!

Polar Express!

I've wanted to do this for years and finally we did! It was wonderful. The kids had a great time, and so did we!

 I think this picture is pretty cool with all the steam. Dad said he grew up around these steam engines (which I knew) and that he remembers seeing WWII soldiers returning home on these trains...hanging out the windows and waving. THAT'S cool!

 Banshee daddy.

 Me and my girl!

 The conductor doing the ticket punching deal. LOVED LOVED LOVED watching their faces as he punched, punched, punched, punched. Breccan and Daddy got a 'v' and BayLea and I got an 'e'.

 My favorite picture of the trip....LOVE her face! It's blurry, but I DO NOT CARE!

 The man in red heading our way!

 The got the bells of Christmas!

 A family portrait! Usually when I hand off my camera to someone to snap a photo of us, I don't expect much...if anything. I was pleasantly, and happily, surprised that this lady was able to take a focused, centered picture of us! Thank you, lady!

Fun times. I hope you both remember this!

baylea singing (trimmed)

My BayLea-bop singing for her 1st grade program. She did very well. This I took during the dress rehearsal during the day (the advantage of being a teacher at the school!!!) so that I didn't have to work around the heads of others!!! She did just as well at the actual performance; in fact better, because the others forgot how to start it and so she began it! My girl...amazing.

baylea and lacey fall in pool

Yummy Salad Recipe

Crunchy Romain Toss

1c walnuts
1 pkg ramen noodles, uncooked and broken up
4 T unsalted butter
1 bunch broccoli chopped
1 head Romaine lettuce
4 green onions chopped
1 c sweet & sour dressing

Brown walnuts and noodles in butter. Cool on paper towels. Combine noodles and walnuts with broccoli, romaine and onions. Pour dressing and toss well.

sweet and Sour Dressing

1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c wine vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
Salt &pepper to taste

My Darling Girl!

 How cute are these? My friend, Jami, dressed her up and I took photos of her. She loved the dress.

CRACK UP!

This kid truly is hilarious!

Breccan's 5th Birthday

Can I just say...OH MY GOD! How can this be? I cannot believe he's 5 years old. It just seems like yesterday that he was a little baby boy coming home from the hospital with me!

But anyway...he had a fantastic party. Lots of fun, presents and joy abounded!




We rented a bump and jump...15 little boys and girls needed something to do!


Uncle Jason in his batman mask.




Kaisha with her cotton candy!

The loot...



We got him a spark scooter...shoots sparks when you use the brake. He loves it and spend a lot of time on it!