A date with my girl

 We saw Mirror Mirror at the Crest, which was so funny, love Julia Roberts in this. We laughed, held hands and ate popcorn. Chatted like two old friends, squeezed each others hands at the 'scary' parts..and of course, made a great memory. Just me and my girl.

Then we headed down to Swirl, a new frozen yogurt spot in LFP.

{not my favorite, but it's close to home)

I had a wonderful time with my beautiful, fun, spunky daughter!

So much so, that we have another date planned for this Friday!

I love this girl!

First moms Monday of summer 2012

 We went hiking in St. Edwards state park. We found trails we never knew existed! We had so much fun finding all the long, slippery black slugs. Shilo was blazing the trail ahead of us and would announce every single slug:) 

We hiked all the way to Lake Washington, found a little beach we would like to explore on a sunnier day.

 True was a real trooper, he would hike a few miles then needed "bacon" as he likes to refer to Chastin as, to carry him for a few steps. He would hitch a ride on big brothers back for only a few seconds before Shilo would announce "Banana slug!" and he would quickly hop down to check it out!

 The trees were AMAZING and the views and sounds were peaceful. We heard all sorts of birds and saw baby squirrels.

I am soooo lucky to get to be able to take Mondays off to spend with these wonderful kids! I just find them to be so much fun! And it's nice to get to hear all they have to talk about and really get to listen to what's important to them.

They too look forward to our Mondays together, they ask what the plan is and usually have an agenda filled with great ideas of things to do together.

Dinner Group

Dinner group is my most favorite day of the month!

The food is ALWAYS the best! The Company is wonderful and the ideas are endless!

The best thing is, I have gotten to try all sorts of things I never would have thought to make, thought I would enjoy or ever heard of.

 This month brought~ pizza on the bbq {by me}

Eggplant Parmesan ~ by Sarah~http://possy-of-five.blogspot.com/ which I have been wanting to try for years, but wasn't sure I would like, and I did!

From scratch macaroni and cheese~ by Kim, http://kmhansblog.blogspot.com she adds cooked cauliflower, soo good! And she used sharp cheddar and it just turns out so creamy..

Shannon http://www.whoneedsrest.blogspot.com/took the ugly plate home {dessert plate} and  she made the most delicious, out of this world, Coconut cream pie {all from scratch of course!} So fantastic! She said it took her 5 hours! So kinda needless to say~ I will never get to eat this again because I will NEVER make it... It's a bummer, but I'm just not that dedicated.

Recipes to inspire you:

Best  summer rolls ever! We used peanut sauce to dip

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/cucumber-and-avocado-summer-rolls-with-mustard-soy-sauce.html?cm_src=RECIPESEARCH

I use this recipe to make pizza, top it with anything you like, pop on the bbq on heavy duty foil and cook till crisp.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/04/breadsticks-and-pizza-dough/

Happy dinner making!

Farmer Barnes

 6 baby chicks

 probably the only time I will ever hold one.

i'm afraid of birds. chickens are birds.

 True looks so serious holding his YELLOW chick he wanted to call Black head???

 Shilo is in love, with all of them.

 farmer John building the chicken coop with wood we {and his dad} had laying around

jordan and tofu..no reason, just a bird named a vegeitarian main dish...

14 years

14 years ago today, a charming man came into my life and he's here to stay. for this i am thankful, he has given me  amazing kids to love and adore. wonderful memories, a sense of peace when waters are rough, arms to fall into, good examples of hard work & persistence. he pushes me out of my bubble when i need it most, encourages me to strive for my goals, pushes us to be better, listens to me with his heart..

thank you 

i love you boo

Surprise!!

 Meet Rex!  

Our new English lab. And we are in love!
he is 7 weeks old.

 This is my old man, Jag. And I love him more than anything. {well except my kids}

Jag is 9.5 years old, and he is getting tired, so he needed a rambunctious puppy to keep him going. 

 So here we are in a place called Orting, I've never heard of...

 trying to pick a Lab,

 7 to choose from, how to choose just one?

 First we decided it needed to be a male, then he had to be sweet, and lastly, he had to have the characteristics of the English lab, not the American lab. The mama dog was an American black lab, and the daddy was an English lab. So some took after their mom and some their dad.

This is the puppy I wanted!

But John is the chooser of pets and their names in our house so he picked Rex. And really~ I don't think you can go wrong with a lab..if you can get through the chewing phase. :)

I feel a surprise brewing...