Mega Menu

Monday 25th - Crockpot Italian Chicken with Rice  One of the easiest recipes I know!

Tuesday 26th - Spaghetti and Breadsticks

Wednesday 27th (My niece Halle's Birthday) - Sour Cream Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon... These are the best pancakes EVER!!!


Thursday 28th (My niece Lyla's Birthday) - Baked Potatoes in a Crockpot and BBQ Pork Chops aka pork chops marinated in BBQ sauce all day and cooked on the grill. (I'm really hoping these potatoes turn out because I'm looking for ways to not heat up my house in the summer so using my crockpot and grill and great options.)

Friday 29th - TGIF and it's a lazy Left Overs night

Saturday 30th - Cajun Pasta Chicken... Easy to make. Nuff said.

Sunday 1st - Crepes with whipped cream and strawberries and blue berries

Monday 2nd - Taco's with ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, re-fried beans, salsa and sour cream.

Tuesday 3rd (My Birthday) - Going out to eat at Cafe Rio.

Wednesday 4th (America's Birthday) - Hamburgers on the Grill with Fries and Chips. I'm gonna let Lexi help me make patriotic cupcakes and I may make a patriotic drink too.

Thursday 5th - Italian Crescent Casserole. This is one of Sean's favorite meals. It's from a cookbook, so for now I can't share it. Basically you layered ground beef and onions, with tomato sauce, sour cream and mozzarella cheese and then put a rolled out store bought crescent rolls on top with a little butter and Parmesan cheese. YUM!


Friday 6th (Lexi's Birthday) - Macaroni and Cheese and I'm not sure what Lexi wants for dessert. She keeps changing her mind.

Saturday 7th - By now, I'm sure I'll be tired from the long crazy week. So left overs or whatever we can find in the fridge will be our dinner.

Swimming

 We have a great pool in our complex. We are there swimming several times a week.

I never seem to bring my camera with me when we go swimming and if I do, 

I'm usually too busy watching my girls to take pictures.

But today we went swimming with my friend Aubrey and her two girls and 

my sister-in-law Michelle and her two kids along with her friends two little boys.

So since there was some extra adult supervision, I snapped a few quick pictures.

...

The first two pictures show what a little shadow Avery is.

EVERYTHING that Lexi does, Avery does too.

I bought the girls some buckets and shovels and they decided to take them to the pool.

They have a blast emptying the pool every time we go now.

Avery wants to be so big and independent.

Which can mean trouble in a pool.

I have to watch this girl like a hawk.

Lexi loves her little Puddle Jumper floaty jacket thing.

She loves wearing it and just swimming where ever she wants and jumping in.

I love this picture of the girls and Halle.

They have loved living so close to some of their cousins.

And I think Halle has enjoyed having some girls to play with.

Michelle got a good work out today watching all these kids.

She was great with them.

She pulled them all over the pool for hours.

They had a blast and I think she might have worn them out 

(I know they wore her out).

And I just had to share these pictures of Aubrey's baby. 

(I hope she doesn't mind.)

But check out this cutie!

And she's like the best baby ever!

Zoo

Today, Michelle and I decided to take our kids to the zoo.

Every day for the next week is supposed to be in the 90's expect today.

I guess everyone else was thinking today would the perfect day to go to the zoo too.

That place was packed! We actually had to park across the street at the "This is the Place" monument.

Michelle and I both actually felt like we didn't actually see too many animals.

But that's the great thing about having a pass, you can go back as often as you want.

We did see this cute little guy...

This elephant statue made some weird noises.

I didn't blame Halle for not wanting to stand next to it for a picture.

Avery didn't want to be by it either but the poor girl was strapped in a stroller 

and couldn't go anything about it.

The new polar bear and sea life exhibits opened earlier this month.

All Parker wanted to see was the polar bear.

We were on a mission to see that polar bear.

Parker and Lexi kept walking around holding their maps, searching for the polar bear.

Stopping to pose for a quick picture on the way to find the polar bear.

 

Lexi insisted that she got a picture in this log.

At last we made it to the polar bear!!!

It was worth the trip. This was one active polar bear.

He came right up to the glass in front of the kids and pushed off into a back float repeatedly. 

The first time he did it the kids were so surprised that they nearly fell over.

We stopped to have lunch in the shade.

Then we decided to go see the bird show.

It was a pretty neat show.

Right as the show started, Avery started shouting, "Go away bird!"

(We had a bit of a pigeon problem when we first moved into our new apartment, 

so Avery heard me say, "Go away bird!" repeatedly so now she says it every time she sees a bird.)

 

There were tons of birds flying over us. They nearly touched our heads!

There were tons of different types of birds.

It was fun to watch them interact with the crowd and the hosts.

After the bird show we went to the carousel. 

My girls were so excited!

Lexi was ecstatic to ride a lion.

And here are some cute pictures of Avery.

I just can't get enough of that adorable little face!

Growing

Here I am at 20 weeks and today at 23 weeks.

I feel like I've grow A LOT in the last few weeks.

Check me out back-to-back...

The mirror and the scale both prove that I've grown.

At my last check up I was 19 weeks a long and one pound above my pre-pregnancy weight.

Now I'm up to six pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight!

I guess it's not all pregnancy, living right next to a yummy bakery is partly to blame.

...

I'm feeling good.

Eli's heartbeat sounded great today and he sure is an active little guy.

...

My sciatic nerve is starting to bother me, 

I haven't been in so much pain as I was in my last pregnancy but I'm sure it will come.

My doctor talked to me a little bit today about physical therapy, so that's an option when I'm ready.

...

I'm all of a sudden become even more forgetful!

Twice this week Sean has come home from work to find that I left one of the doors open on our van.

I have to write everything down in my planner or set reminders in my phone.

...

I'm having trouble sleep at night because I'm having the most vivid dreams.

I often toss and turn at night.

I even wake up talking or screaming or trying to grab someone of something.

Organizing My Recipe Collection

For those of you who use Pinterest, you know how it's so easy to pin a million recipes 

and then never try any of them because you are so overwhelmed by all the pins.

I've come up with a solution.

I will start by pinning a new recipe in my different boards (main dishes, breakfast, dessert, etc.).

This will make it easy for me to find new recipes to try.

Once I've tried a recipe, I will either delete it if I didn't like it or 

move it over to my new board, "Recipes I've Tried and Liked."

I will also print out the recipe and put it into a binder for easy reference when I'm in the kitchen.

But now when I'm planning my weekly menu,
I'll be able to look at the recipes that I know and like.

And now it will be easier for friends to know what recipes I like and would recommend.
I've added a button on the side of my blog that will take you directly to my Pinterest board.

A Sports Themed Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

I just had to share these pictures of Sean with his girls right after their birth.

I'm so excited to get a picture of him holding Eli for the first time!

Friday, Lexi and I decorated.

I blew up balloons and hung streamers. Lexi decorated a big banner and helped wrapped gifts.

Lexi was so excited for Sean to get home and see it all.

When Sean got home from work she told him he could open one present.

Next thing I know he'd opened all his presents!

...

We decided to go for sports themed presents.

We got Sean two footballs (one from him and one for Eli).

 Some new BYU basketball shorts.

Lexi picked these out. When she saw them she had to get them for her dad!

Sean also got a new baseball mitt.

Here he is throwing the ball around with Justin.

These all are things that Sean has wanted for a long time but before now 

he didn't really have someone to play with. Now he has Justin.

And here is Sean today with his kids...

Our ward here has an interesting Father's Day tradition.

The Relief Society sisters and Young Women bring desserts and other treats.

We all drop them off in the kitchen before church.

After church all the men get to go to the kitchen and pick out what they want.

Sean got an entire banana cream pie!

Other options were cookies, brownies, a container of ice cream, a pineapple, 

chips and salsa, homemade bread and rolls, etc.

WE LOVE YOU SEAN!!!

A Saturday Night in Down Town Salt Lake

 I read on KSL yesterday that there was a chalk art festival going on 

at the Gateway mall in downtown Salt Lake.

I thought it would be really fun to go check it out.

We decided to ride TRAX there.

Let's just say we didn't have the best timing so we ended up waiting for our train twice.

But we were fine waiting, the ride there was a new adventure for us.

We decided to get off at the new City Creek Mall across the street from Temple Square.

Let's just say that it's gorgeous!

Check out this view from the mall...

 

The girls found some water to cool off in...

We really didn't spend much time there, so Sean and I will have to go back again without the girls.

Once Lexi saw the temple that's where she wanted to go.

And I decided that that sounded like a great photo opportunity.

The girls were loving all the fountains and the flowers.

They were so excited.
There was NO WAY that they'd hold still for a picture anymore.

So I got these pictures of them dancing and twirling in front of the temple...

From the temple, we saw the conference center.

We told Lexi that that was were President Monson talked from at General Conference.

We also told her that there was a garden on the roof.

She had to go see it.

So we did...

By the time we were all done with that, the chalk festival was over.

But we didn't care. We had fun anyway. And were tired and ready to ride TRAX back home...

Maybe we'll check out the chalk festival next year.

Next Week's Menu

Monday - Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops with Rice. This is a new recipe for me. I'm trying to make an effort to use all those recipes I find on Pinterest. Plus, I just want to do more crockpot meals this summer. So this seemed like an easy recipe to try.

Tuesday -Taco Salad (I found this recipe on Pinterest and might be implementing a few things.)

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken Sandwiches in the crockpot.

Thursday - Creamy Chicken and Pasta Bake (LOVE THIS!!!)

Friday - Left Overs (YAY! EASY!)

Saturday - Homemade English Muffin Sandwiches (Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, cheese and hash brown sticks on the side).

Sunday - Hawaiian Haystacks (crockpot chicken and sauce with rice and toppings: pineapple, mandarin oranges, olives, tomatoes, green onions, raisins, peas, corn and cheese).

Eploring TRAX

Today, I decided that it was time to figure out what TRAX is all about.

We live between two TRAX stations and see the trains all the time.

Lexi has been asking to ride it since we moved in.

We just headed over to the station to buy our tickets.

It took me way too long to figure out which kind of ticket I needed.

Luckily, some very nice people come along and helped me out.

We just rode the train to the end of the line in Daybreak and rode it back home.

I pack lunches for us and we ate on the train.

The girls both loved it.

And since they were both free, it was super cheap for us to ride.
So I think we'll be exploring more of TRAX in the future.

I just had to share these pictures of Avery.

Doesn't she look so much older with her short hair and with Lexi's old 3T dress!?