Thanks to Jaden’s AWESOME cub scout leaders Jaden earned his Weblos badge this month. We are very proud of him. Cub Scouts has seemed to fly by and he is excited to join Boy Scouts in the fall.
Last weekend my grandma and aunt drove down from Salt Lake to join my mom, sisters and me in a Girls Weekend. Our idea of a weekend was Thursday afternoon until Sunday evening. Our retreat was at my mom’s house with no kids or husbands allowed (Jason and my kids stopped by for a minutes one morning to bring us doughnuts which we decided was allowed and very sweet of them.). We stayed up until 4 am most nights and slept in till 10. We crafted and scrapbooked. Ate out and made yummy treats. Laughed and cried and just enjoyed being together. I LOVE my family and especially these guys.
I worked on making these 2 easter baskets for my kids. I still need to make 2 more.
Our kid’s school had a fundraiser night at Chuck E. Cheese. We didn’t have anything going on that evening and so we went. We all had fun trying out their new games and the kids thought it was fun to see some of their school friends and teachers there also. Jason and Jaden of course figured out which game would give them the best return on their token and the little tricks on how to play it. I was very amazed with the 1745 tickets they won. Although I am beginning to just expect to be amazed by those two.
We brought this soup for dinner on our campout, we LOVE it camping but also at home. It is one of those meals that our entire family LOVES. My wonderful friend Noel made it for us on a trip we went on together. Since, we have thrown out our Taco Soup recipe and converted solely to hers. It is THE.BEST.
Noel’s Taco Soup
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
8 oz. tomato sauce
4 oz. chopped green chilies
1 can corn
1 can small red beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 lb. shredded chicken
In a skillet, sauté the onions and garlic.
In a large pot combine the rest of the ingredients. Add the onions and garlic once sautéed. Heat thoroughly.
Serve topped with Fritos, sour cream and shredded cheese.
The weather has just been gorgeous lately and I have had the itch to go camping. Of course Jason and the kids jumped right on it since it was "mom" who actually was the one wanting to go. We decided on an overnighter to Valley of Fire. We left Sunday after church set up camp, climbed all over the rocks and enjoyed dinner and s'mores around the campfire and of course a lot of singing. That night the kids fell asleep to me and Jason taking turns telling them stories about us when we were their age. We had a lot of laughs and a few sad memories.
The next day we woke up cooked breakfast and did more climbing on the rocks, I think we must have covered quite a few miles on those rocks. We also played catch, frisbee, track ball and had chicken fights on the cement curbing. We also did the Mouse Tank hike. It is a short hike to a natural basin in the rock where water collects after rainfall. It was a hideout in the 1890’s for the Indians. We saw numerous petroglyphs along the way and some foot tracks of a mountain lion and some teeny teeny tiny tracks that must have been from a mouse.
We were only gone 24 hours but we had a GREAT time. I just love the weather this time of year and realize that it doesn’t last long. I am so glad we went!
I love that my girls are creative and love to do arts and craft projects. I don’t always like the messes that they make while doing there projects but love that they have great imaginations. Jason and his brother took all the kids to the school the other day to play track ball and ride bikes. While the boys were playing ball the girls created this little girl and her puppy out of trash that they found on the school field. The girl is made of soda cans, pinecones, paper, a gift bag, yarn and rocks. They even found a sucker for her hand and a hair bow and flower for her hair and a broken pair of glasses for her eyes. The puppy is made from a coffee bag, pencils, and pinecones. The leash is made from a plastic strip used to tie bundles of newspaper. I thought it was so dang cute and I was very impressed with their creativity.
A little while ago Jason got to be the pilot for Robert Downey Jr. (you know “Iron man”). He thought Mr. Downey was a really cool guy. He chatted away with Jason and gave him headsets to listen in on the movie that they were filming. Jason said he felt like Hugh Grant in the movie “Notting Hill” where he is sitting on set listening to Julia Roberts film a movie. He thought it was a pretty cool “work” day!
