3rd Annual Christmas Dinner

 This year was our 3rd annual Christmas Dinner with the Hastings. Brandi and I always get so excited to do this for our husbands. We love getting together and planning the menu, decorating the table and the big day of cooking all the food. This year I broke out the china my grandmother gave Trent and I when we got married.

Caeasar Salad with Parmesan Crisps

Crabcakes

Roasted Broccoli, Filet, Penne with Tomto Cream Sauce

Moten Lava Cakes

We've been in Kansas City for 5 years now. It is home for us. We feel so grateful to have friends like the Hastings who have been there with us through it all.  We love you guys!! Here's to many more Christmas Dinners!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 We were so excited to break out the Christmas decorations this year!
Especially our 12 days of Christmas countdown I made for the kids last year:

 I finally added the 12 on the last pocket...

So far the Christmas elf has had us put up Christmas lights around the kid's bedroom window and pick out their special 2011 ornament at Crown Center.

 I think our kids will have the funnest memories at Union Station and Crown Center. Trent always parks us at Union Station where we look at the trains then walk the long tunnel over to Crown Center. Crew and Kai pretty much ran the whole way throught the tunnel while Delaney did non-stop cartwheels and hand stands. Trent and I followed behind laughing and smiling at what a wonderful life we have.

Choices, choices...

I was tempted...

 We ended the night with a trip to Sheriden's where we get the Frozen Hot Chocolate. It is to die for no matter how expensive it is.

Delaney picked out a gymnastics ornament and Crew and Kai picked out football ornaments.

We are so very excited to have Myrna joining us for Christmas this year!!

Family Rules

So I had one of those moments where I decided that maybe our kids just weren't CLEAR on what our family rules were. If that was the case, then we better spell it out for them. Trent and I got together and decided what exactly our rules WERE, then called a family meeting. This is now hanging up on our wall.

No more excuses, guys!

tv stand makeover

 Some friends of mine started this get-it-done group and invited me to join. We take turns going to each other's homes and getting done whatever projects on our to-do lists we can get done in 3 hours. I'll post more pictures of the rest of what we did later, but for now I just want to show off one of the things we did. We sanded and primed this little number:

BEFORE

 then after the primer sat on it for 24 hours I painted and put on the new hardware to look like this:

AFTER

I love how my husband put the pulls on upside down... I still need to fix that... and I need to fill in those little holes, but other than that it is perfect and I love it!

Halloween 2011

Yes, I'm one of THOSE journalers who goes back and has to fill you in on every detail of my life that has happened since my last entry. Just kidding. But Halloween MUST be documented:

Neighborhood Progressive Dinner

Tootsie Roll Pop & Mr. Owl 

Chubby Pumpkin

Carving Pumpkins

Crew saying "thank you" for his candy

Bumble Bee, Skeleton, & Pumpkin

Halloween 2011

We had a great Halloween this year. After trick-or-treating we always come home and make either hot wassail or hot cocoa with snacks and watch a spooky movie in our jammies. This year Delaney came down to see me stirring the hot cocoa on the stove and goes "We have the best family EVER!" I love those moments where your children appreciate the little things you do.

Our weekend

We had the BEST weekend up in South Dakota with Trent's mom, sister and her family.  (We missed you Dane & Jess!) We stayed in the cabins again only a different one this time. We got to roast marshmallows every night, rent bikes, grill out, and feed the horses apples.

                               (This cabin didn't have the outdoor hot tub, but they made due.)

                                                              Delaney and Abby
I wish I would've gotten a picture of the media room which was ginormous and fit all of us. The boys had a blast playing Call of Duty on that huge screen.

                                                                      Briton and Kai
We had so much fun at this indoor water park:

We feel so blessed to have such amazing family on both sides. I had a great time hanging out with Trent's mom Myrna and his sister Ashlee. I have so much to learn from them.

See the next post for our visit to Mount Rushmore!

Mount Rushmore

 We had such a great weekend with Trent's family in South Dakota! Here we are at Mount Rushmore.

 We walked the trail and got a closer view:

 I am not only in love with my husband, I am in love with his mom too! I have the BEST mother in law in the world. She is one of my very best friends. I love you Myrna!!

 The cousins! We had such a blast with these guys. It is so much fun having a bunch of friends for your cousins.

Thank you for a fun time Hyers!! We love you and can't wait to do it again!

Cooking with Mwah!

I used to make our biggest meal of the week on Sundays but not so much anymore... I am convinced that Crew is the most active 1 year old. Battling him for 3 hours long at church left me exhausted.  Don't forget to combine the facts that I am wearing heels and he is fat. Well, a miracle happened this week: Crew turned the magic 18 months which means he is now old enough to go to nursery for the last two hours of church. There he is welcome to play, play, play! I went home feeling like a new woman. Here is what my family got for dinner that night:

Okay, I'll admit... I did all the work before church. Here is how I like to make my ROAST:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Salt and pepper the roast and stick in the center of the pot. Surround with cubed potatoes, baby carrots, and yellow onion. (I cut my potatoes and onions in fairly big pieces because of how long I cook them.) Salt and pepper the vegetables. In a bowl, mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 can (the empty soup can) of worcestershire sauce, and 1 can of water. Dump over the roast and vegetables:

Depending on the size of the roast, you may need to add a little more water by carefully pouring down the side of the pot until the sauce is close to the top of the roast. (I added 1/2 can more.) Next, dump a packet of dry lipton onion soup mix over the top:

Place the lid on the pot and let it bake for 6 hours. Letting it cook that low for that long makes the meat so tender it just falls apart. 

So here's to EASY but YUMMY dinners on Sundays from now on!

ENJOY!! 

It's Mon-day!

In front of Yogurtini with the yummiest Frozen Yogurt  9-12-11

Throwing coins in the fountain

We always look forward to Monday nights at our house!! Why? Because that's when we have Family Home Evening! The kids can always count on a fun activity with the whole family and Trent and I can always count on attempts to teach them a Gospel principle.  :)

Mommy Diary

The kids are back in school and it's just Crew and me at home these days. I know there are some mothers out there that feel so sad that their kids are gone all day. For me, I feel GREAT once I've sent them on the bus in the morning (and I don't feel guilty for saying that.) I know they are in good hands and are having a great time and we can actually get things done around here:

Teach 'em while they're young I say!

For a little while there at the end of summer I was pretty sure I was the worst mom EVER. I felt like it was impossible to keep the older ones entertained all day so any time they'd get bored they would pick on each other. That doesn't fly with me so of course I'd get all riled up and go bonkers. I had no idea such little tiny people could ignite such giant emotions in me.  

What I've learned from this summer is that I need to take the advice I used to give as a tiny 8 year old to my own dear mother. "Take a chill pill!"

Yes, it's sad I have to remind myself to breathe and relax. When I was pregnant with my first child I was always told being a mother would just come natural to me. I was worried about it because I was the youngest in my family but I have to agree: It just came to me. I loved that little baby with all my heart and I felt like I was a great mom. Then she grew older and a couple others joined the mix and I wonder what happened to my mommy skills.

I'm a work in progress I guess, but there's one thing I know. I have the CHOICE to be a good mom. I have the CHOICE to have a good ATTITUDE.  If I just decide "this is hard and I'm over it" then my day goes badly but if I decide "I am so blessed to help teach and take care of these wonderful children of God" then I feel more patient with them and it's a good day.  

Good thing for this survival kit...

I keep getting emails asking how we are surviving with Trent being called as the Bishop. I thought that might be something I should document so years down the road we can look back at it and remember this time in our lives. The day after Trent got set apart my sister gave us this:

Some of my favorite things in it were:

Ibuprofen: with a tag that read "Let's face it: Carrying the ward on your shoulders will sometimes give you a pain in the neck."

Marbles: "to replace the ones you've lost"

A Knotted Rope: "to remind you that when you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and swing"

Bath Fizz: "because every Bishop's wife deserves a spa day, even if it's just at home"

Rubber Band: "to remind you to be flexible"

Pencils: "to list your blessings daily"

Rolos: "to remind you to let the small stuff *rolo* off your back"

Candle: "to remind you that the Lord will light your way if you seek Him always"

Butterfinger: "you will make mistakes, but when you do, remember we all slip up sometimes"


Black Pen: "for journaling the Lord's tender mercies and miracles"


Thank You card: "because sometimes yours is a thankless job, but remember that you truly are appreciated more than you know"

 It's been over a month now since Trent has had this new calling. We have always been busy with me working a couple nights during the week on top of everything else, so I think we've adjusted pretty well to the change. People at my work can't fathom the fact that we don't get paid for all the time we spend serving in our church. 

Yes, life is definitely busy, and Sundays are really hard, but we have been very blessed. We are lucky to have a great family and great friends who look out for us. One of our friends who is a counselor in the Bishopric saw Trent's schedule one Sunday and knew that I was going to be lonely with him gone from 9 a.m to 9 p.m.  He and his wife were so thoughtful and asked if they could come over to bring the kids and I a treat and hang out.  That meant so much to me.

The previous Bishop in our ward and his wife are constantly looking out for us whether it be feeding Trent meals when he won't be coming home in between meetings or watching our kids so we can go on a date.
We are so grateful for these and other wonderful friends.
We are grateful for my parents and sister who live nearby.

We are in a great place in our lives. 

We feel very blessed.

Cooking with Mwah!

                          

                                      ROSEMARY ROLLS

You've got to try these rolls! They are so easy and so yummy. Just buy Rhodes rolls and follow the directions on the bag. Once thawed and ready to throw in the oven, carefully brush melted butter on each roll. Next, sprinkle each with a tiny bit of Kosher Salt and finely chopped FRESH Rosemary sprigs. Top with another brush of butter to hold it all in place and bake. It makes the rolls to DIE for!! Okay, seriously, anything with fresh rosemary is to die for. It's my new fave.

Enjoy!