February Fun!

The prophet said to plant a garden... We are attempting a garden this year.  When we first moved here, we tried a garden, but didn't have much luck.  Now that we are in the new house, we are putting planter boxes in the back yard and attempting a garden once again...plus Taz is going for the gardening merit badge.  So here he is starting some veggies from seed.

My cookies of the month:  No bakes.  Everyone loves them and the kids were requesting them, Nothing new, but yummy none the less.  I actually followed the recipe and they turned out better than any no bakes I've ever made.

One evening, Cynjyn asked if she could paint my nails.  She did them silver with red stripes and a cute purple heart in the middle.  They matched hers and she did a great job.  It was very festive for Valentine's Day.

A few days before Valentine's day, we got our annual Valentine's in the mail from mom.  She makes a homemade card for each of us and sends us each a $2.00 bill every year for Valentine's and Halloween.  We all love this tradition.

I had the best cupcake at New Beginnings.  So delicious.  I want to make cupcakes like that when I grow up!

This is what we came up with for the cards this year.  It seems to have become a tradition that we come up with a cute picture and some sort of treat for the kids to give out to their friends each year.  Thank goodness for Pinterest!

We had pancake day at preschool the day before Valentine's day.  I was going to lunch with my friends right after, so i didn't have any pancakes.  So the next day was Vday and so I made myself a pancack for breakfast with the leftover batter and berries.  It was so yummy and I hadn't had pancakes in forever!

The night before Vday, I finished off my heart attacking of the kids and Garry and their treats of the day.  So that night at dinner, they each got a small gift on their plates:  Garry got jerky and Munchos.  Tanner got a raccoon and Pitch Perfect on DVD.  Talon got a DVD and $25.00 gift card to Subway.  Taz got all 6 Rocky movies on DVD...he's been obsessing over them and we got them all on Netflix and he wanted the set. Cynjyn got some gradient nail polish set, some white polish and two bras. 

I made heart shaped meatloaf and mashed potatoes and a big salad.  We had cream puffs for dessert which is a treat because I NEVER make dessert!

Taz gave me a homemade card all in spanish that he did for an assignment and Garry got me some new head phones.

Last Saturday, Taz did a 25 mile bike ride.  They are earning the cycling merit badge and this was a big one. He borrowed Brother Delahousayye's bike that weighs about 14 lbs. and he was so excited to go.  Half way through the ride, his friend Hansen was really struggling because he was on a mountain bike.  He was very winded and his legs were killing him, he didn't think he was going to make it.  So Taz volunteered to switch him bikes so they could carry on.  And he vowed to stay up with the group on the mountain bike.  He made it to the turn around point and then one of the leaders volunteered to ride the mountain bike back and give Taz back his bike and Hansen could ride the leaders.  I was proud of Taz for stepping up and helping his friend when he didn't have to. He's a great guy!

Randy and Traci (my brother and sister in law) came into town for a coach's clinic.  We went out to dinner with them to Hash House.  Traci had seen my Instagram on when I took Tanner and Talon there a couple of weeks ago and she really wanted to try it.  It was a fun evening and great to catch up with them.  The next day, Traci came to the house and we visited until Randy came later in the afternoon to get her and see the house.  It was a short visit, but very pleasant and made me realize that we need to keep in better contact and visit each other more often.

Last Sunday, our good friend Don Sawyer invited us over for a BBQ after church.  It was kind of a last minute thing, so I whipped up a batch of peanut butter rice krispy cookies and put some kisses on them...wooo, my second batch of cookies for the month...but who's counting!

Taz really bonded with their dogs and was in love with Chloe.

Bella, has small dog syndrome and doesn't like ANYONE.  But by the end of the night, Taz had won her over and she sat on his lap through a whole game of Hand and Foot.

It was a fun night and we played 10 handed hand and foot!!  Here is Tanner, Taz and Cody, Tanner's primary team teacher.

Last weekend was Sadies.  The group went to a comedy/magic show on the strip and then to BJ's for dinner.  They had a 45 min. wait, so they went to the party store that was next door and had a great mini photo shoot.

Katie and Tanner are such a cute couple.  We love it!!

They went to an arcade after dinner that one of the girls uncle owns and then watched Inception.  Tanner got home about 1:00 am.

We stole these pictures off Katie's phone!

Fly into February

February started with a bang. I decided to show a little love to the family this year. Last year, I only did this for Garry, but wanted to expand this year.  I bought everyone their own little love bucket and starting Feb. 1, I fill it with a little treat each day until the 14th. 

 

I also "heart attack" their door each night.  By the 14th, they will have a fully heart attacked door!  It's been fun and the whole family has enjoyed it.

Talon and I went to lunch at Tanner's school a couple of weeks ago and they had broccoli soup in a bread bowl.  I loved it and had pinned a bread bowl recipe a few months ago, but never tried it.  So a couple of Friday's ago, I made some cauliflower soup and the bread bowls.  They were small, but delicious and the soup was wonderful.  Taz had two friends over that night and Andrew had NEVER had cauliflower before, let alone in a soup...he loved it and had three helpings.  Michael loves cauliflower, but his stepdad and little brother don't, so his mom never makes it.  Needless to say I had two happy boys plus a bunch of happy Goon's who loved it!!

Super bowl Sunday has come and gone.  We had sliders.  Homemade hamburger patties with an abundance of toppings and the special sauce. 

We made our cheese fries that are soooo unhealthy but delicious!

It was all a big hit.

We settled in to watch the game with Garry and the rest of us rooting for the niners and Talon rooting for the Ravens.  We watched the half time show, then Tanner and I went to my room and worked on his puzzle and watched a few episodes of season two of Downton Abbey.  Cynjyn didn't watch any of it.  She played Minecraft and listened to music.

I decorated the stair well in the house with a beach theme.  Krissy had given me an ocean scene painting a few years ago, so that was what inspired the beach theme.  I already had some picture frames with beach pictures in it.  The only thing I bought was that glass flower.

Cynjyn let me pick from her extensive sea shell collection to accesorize with and I guess I did buy a bag of white sand to go in the bowls too.

I blew up two beach pictures and dug through my box of old frames to complete the look.

LOVE IT!

Tanner has been working hard in his culinary cooking class to compete in the state competition for the management team.  They as a team have to design a restaurant from scratch complete with menu, decor, marketing etc.  They meet every morning at the school at 6 am and work all through their foods class.  They've been doing this since before Christmas.  They had a two day competition.

Their hard work paid off and they won first place.  They are the state champions!

Katie Barker and Madison Jenkins are his team mates.

They cap off the competition with a dinner and awards and announcing of the winner.

They recieved a huge trophy which will stay at the school.  Now they get to go to Nationals in Baltimore in April!  Good luck to them!

Talon, Tanner and I went to Hash House the day after to celebrate their win!

Our stakes annual sweetheart ball was last weekend.  It had a 50's theme and so I decided at the last minute that we'd dress up.  Cynjyn did my hair and talked me into wearing bright red lipstick.  She did my bow and tulle neck scarf too. 

This was my skirt.  For some reason I had a bolt of orange felt in my fabric bin, so Orange it was!

Garry and I went to a fifties dinner called Cheeburger Cheeburger with the Thatchers, Osburns and Wikles for dinner.  We got burgers, fries and onion rings and Garry and I split a shake.  It was fun and the workers were thrilled that we'd all dressed up.  Robbie ate the one pound burger and got his picture taken for his efforts and put on the burger wall!

Then we went to the church for the dance.  The decorations were once again amazing and we go there just as Elvis was performing...he was  the special guest.  It was a fun evening.