FHE treat

Last Christmas Leesa gave me a plate for the treat for Family Home Evening. But I always seem to forget to put the treat on this plate! But this is what it says:

This is the night
we've waited for;
Always a TREAT
we have in store!

We love each other
More and more with every
FAMILY NIGHT!

We have a treat almost every Monday night, but last night was especially yummy, so I'll share! Mmmmm!

Is your mouth watering yet? (That's ice cream and cookies.)
Delish!

Jason to the Rescue!

Yesterday we had our monthly Cook Family Party at Deer Creek Reservoir. Jason's brother had rented a boat and some jet skis... the perfect recipe for lots of fun! And we did have fun! We probably would have had more fun for a little longer had the weather cooperated though! When a little storm picked up, we packed up! (But we all wanted to get back in time for the BYU game anyway....) It started sprinkling and the wind was really picking up... not to mention we didn't see much of the sun until we were on the road home!
Poor Livia, her unprepared mother didn't even bring her any pants! So she waited for us to pack up in Grandpa and Grandma's car.

I told Grandpa she was there, but not Grandma... imagine her surprise when she opened the door! Hello!

We did have a little adventure out on the lake. A bunch of us were out on the boat, having fun doing some tubing... and of course all the little boys, Sam, Josh (3) and Andrew (almost 3) wanted a turn too! They loved it! Well, they did the first ride. The second... didn't create the best memories for them. My bro-in-law, Brian and I were on the tube with the three little boys. We started moving nice and slow, but all of a sudden I realized that the front of the tube was being covered with water and starting to sink! Josh was in the middle and started falling over the front, but before he went under the tube, Brian was able to grab him and with Jason's help pull him up on top again. Sam was to Josh's right, and I was right behind Sam. As the water started coming over the top, Sam let go of the handle as it went deeper into the water. My handle was sinking fast too as I let go of it to grab onto Sam. I attempted to grab Josh, but went overboard with Sam before I was any help to Josh. The people on the boat were facing the other direction right when it happened. Then Jason turned to see us in the water, and with lightning speed he dropped his life jacket and dove into the water! (Cindy rated his dive a perfect 10.) In the meantime, I found myself under water with a little 3 year old trying to cling to me in fear. We were both wearing life jackets, so as I tried to surface I was trying to make sure his head was above water. The water was so cold! And since I am not such an awesome swimmer... I wasn't moving too fast to get back to the tube which was now about 15 feet away or so. After Jason's amazing dive, he helped Brian get Josh onto the tube and continued on to rescue Sam and me. I was trying to keep Sam calm since he was really scared. I saw that Jason was coming and told Sam that daddy was coming to save us. Jason got to me pretty fast and took Sam from me and we swam back to the tube and then got back on the boat and got some towels around us. (Keep in mind there was no sun and a storm was just beginning.... we were all very cold.)
Since we were wearing life jackets, I never felt that our lives were in danger, but it was still a scary experience for us... especially Sam. I am lucky to have a husband that didn't need to think twice about jumping into a very cold lake to help us. That was yet another confirmation that he would do anything to protect me and our children.
Earlier that day, he felt a prompting that if anything were to go wrong at the lake, that he needed to just act and not think about it. I'm grateful that I have a husband who not only receives promptings, but acts on them.
He is, and always will be, my own personal hero.

cheese!

Lately Livia has been giving us this silly grin every once in a while. I love it. Especially because she has the funniest set of teeth! It makes me laugh out loud every time she does it! My camera battery was almost dead, so the picture didn't take when I wanted it to, so I didn't quite capture the perfect moment, but this one is a close second, since it makes me laugh too!


Sam has a smile that melts my heart too. He's so sweet.

DI bargains make me happy

I've mentioned before my love for the DI. I love seeing what kinds of bargains they have when I have a chance to go to one.
Last week, Jason and I were making a list of a few things we would like to purchase soon. One of those items was a bread machine. I thought I would start price checking, since we didn't want to spend too much on one.
Last Monday, I was at a friend's house and she mentioned that she bought her bread machine at the DI. So I thought I would check there first!
They had about 4 or 5 of them, ranging in price from $5-$10. Since that was way less than I anticipated spending, I splurged and went with the $10 one, since it looked nicer, had a bigger loaf pan, was a brand I had heard of, and came with the instruction manual! I think it is a pretty good deal! Now I just need to make sure it works! (I need to figure out if I have some dry milk downstairs or if I need to go buy some first.)

Right after I picked out my bread machine, I saw a couple of electric woks for $5 each. My mom has a red wok that she used all the time while I was growing up, so I was really excited to see they had exactly the same one she has. But the red one didn't have the cord with it. But the other one did! (I think I already have the right cord, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't want to take my chances. Tan is nice too though. But I would have preferred the red....)


I'm very excited to use my new purchases. I love the DI!

Yumminess on a plate

Smothered Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 Tbs vegetable oil
8 bacon strips
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C shredded Colby-Jack cheese

Sprinkle chicken with salt and lemon pepper. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil for 13-15 minutes or until juices run clear; remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon to paper towels; drain, reserving 2 Tbs drippings. In the drippings, saute the onion and brown sugar until onion is golden. Place two bacon strips on each chicken breast; top with caramelized onion and cheese.

Maggie's new trick

We didn't even force her to do that one!




Ok, so I guess you can't win 'em all!

fun fotos

As of yesterday my baby is 11 months old...
So, because it's fun to take pictures, I did.
Following are a few of my favorites.

Sam is always so good to take care of his baby.

This one just makes me laugh. Way too excited to kiss her!

And sometimes they just melt my heart.




She looks so bored with my enthusiasm.
They make me so happy. I love being their mom. :)

sweet stuff

Livia has really had fun playing on her zebra lately. She just wraps her little monkey feet around the base and enjoys the ride!








A month or two ago, Jason and Sam were playing outside and Jason helped Sam pick some wildflowers for me. Ever since then, Sam frequently comes in with a little handful of flowers, or grass, or weeds...


But he's always so excited to give them to me. So if you ever see a vase with grass and weeds on my counter... you'll know why. My sweet little Sam picked them for me with all the love his heart has to give.

flexi-girl

I can't imagine how stiff I would be in the morning if I fell asleep like this.

It's funny how flexible babies are. Lately she will be sitting on the floor with her feet out in front of her, and all of a sudden she will lay her head down on the floor, with her feet still under her. Apparently she thinks her feet make a great pillow. I'll try to get a picture of it sometime, since it's so funny how she is completely folded in half and just lays like that for a while. She's a funny girl. I'm glad she makes me laugh.

swing-a-ding-a-ling

It only took us about 3 hours to set this baby up. We like it. :)

all decked out

A couple of months ago, a big project was started. (Before you are too impressed with us, we didn't do it ourselves, we hired someone to do it for us.)

We have been wanting a deck to go off the dining room since we moved in. The window was just the right size for a patio door.







Sam was pretty excited about the whole thing.






In planning how we wanted the deck to look, Jason decided it would be really fun for us to put a slide on the side of it for Sam. Sam has been pretty impatient for his slide to be ready for him.
And after all this time (and a few headaches here and there...) we finally have a completed project, slide and all!





Ta da! We're very happy that it's complete! And happy with the results.

Blessing #4

I am grateful for showers. Especially after a long, hot day, when you feel all hot and sticky and yucky. It's nice to get into a luke warm shower and feel clean again.



I am grateful that we have the technology to have indoor plumbing and have easy access to hot and cold water with the turn of a knob or two. (Even though some of our faucets forget which side is hot and which side is cold sometimes.... I can deal with it.)
I am so blessed.