Excitingly, but too early for my taste, Kyle lost his first tooth yesterday! When childhood passes in a flash anyway, we don’t need to be hitting any milestones early. Think about that next time Buddy Bear!

Christmas in Maryland 2011!
January 1, 2012We had such a great time in Maryland this Christmas! I love to be a tourist and experience new places and I was so lucky to see and do more than I thought I would! Thanks to great weather, and a great husband who humors my travelicious spirit! We loved being with family and sharing in fun and adventures with them! Check out what we did!
![]() |
| Maryland 2011 |

A Small Sampling of Our Family Pictures
November 2, 2011This slideshow requires JavaScript.
I don’t want to ruin our Christmas cards, so here are a few pics I didn’t use that’ll probably be going on our wall…

Halloween Fun Times
November 2, 2011![]() |
| October 2011 |
Here’s our Halloween Album! This year our festivites for the month included:
Our annual trip to Gardner Village with Karon, Ashlyn, Carter, and Audrie. I’m so happy with the pictures I got of all of the kids! Their cuteness is practically begging to be captured on photo.
TWO trips to Wheeler Farm!
Pumpkin Carving
Neighborhood Fall Festival
Trick or treating at Brad’s work and in the neighborhood

My Cooking Hero….
October 25, 2011Is Katie from Good Life Eats. For a long time now I’ve wanted to share how much I depend on this woman! When we started to eat healthier we ate a lot of crappy food. It was a HARD transition. But now I’ve found some great recipes and we eat great food that is really good for us! And fully half the recipes I use are hers.
Grilled Citrus Chicken Kebabs: Yummy!
Tandoori Chicken Salad: One of the best salads I’ve had in my life
Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes: We always have over pasta
Quinoa Stuffed Red Bell Peppers: We adore! And we used to hate stuffed peppers!
Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce: Brad asks for all the time, replace the half & half of course with no fat evaporated milk
Quinoa Taco Salad: I can’t really think of a healthier meal
No Bake Grilled Vegetable Lasagne: Easy and good
Ground chicken lettuce wraps: I love them. Brad thinks they’re alright but hates the idea of lettuce wraps in general. I always have to use ground turkey because ground chicken is really hard to find
Chicken Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas: Replace the sour cream with no fat greek yogurt to make a fully healthy meal. HANDS DOWN the best enchiladas I’ve ever had in my life! We had these on Sunday!
Zucchini Nachos: We had these last night! One of the best homemade nachos I’ve ever had.
Indian Butter chicken: Replace the heavy cream/ half and half with no fat evaporated milk and you’ve got a healthy, fair indian dish at home.
Our new General Conference Breakfast Staples? Maple and Cardamom Spiced Pears and Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
I want to share her with you and all the world because it’s worth it to spend some time over at Good Life Eats and try something out. I’ve never once made anything of hers I didn’t like.
Oh Katie Goodman of Good Life Eats, I love you so much for the greatness you’ve brought to my kitchen!

Wedding Time in Chicago!
August 31, 2011![]() |
| Chicago 2011 |
It had been almost a decade since I’d really spent any quality time with my extended family on my mom’s side so when my cousin Michele’s wedding came up I really wanted to go. But Brad didn’t have any vacation time so I packed up myself and the kids and made the trek to Chicago all by myself this week!
I’m so glad I went! I had the best time! I think the kids had a blast too! Aunt Joan was the best and always had really fun stuff for us to do. I saw almost all my extended family members, met new spouses and boyfriends and girlfriends and kids, and introduced my kids to them! After ten years, there was a lot to rediscover about Chicago too! I just loved this trip!

Thought of the Day
August 12, 2011














