Dad's Visit

Dad came up to visit this weekend. We had a blast! Friday afternoon we spent at the pool and then bbq'd Halibut and veggies for dinner and spent hours on the patio visiting after the boys went to bed. That was so nice and relaxing for me! On Saturday, we went to lunch at Cottonwood so we could show Dad where Cam's shower was, swam some more at the pool and when we got home, Tanner had not had enough water play so we had to get the Slip-n-Slide out for him! Tyler and Cammie even participated in that! I am so lucky to have caught Tyler's slide on video! It is quite the site! We bbq'd filet's in the evening and relaxed again on the patio. What a great weekend we had! Dad will be back over the 4th of July for the boys birthday party!

Grandpa with Carter and Tanner

Dad with Ash and Cam

Carter and Grandpa!

Tanner showing his Slip-n-Sliding form!

Daddy Slip-n-Sliding!

Tanner and Cammie Slip-n-Sliding!

Tanner pulling Cammie on the Slip-n-Slide!

So Quiet and So Yummy!

I took the boys to the pool this afternoon and we had a great time. They both love the water. Tanner is fearless and his little arm floaties really help him out as he jumps in and out of the pool and explores the water! He thinks he is swimming, but he kind of looks like Elvis dancing! We got home just in time for Carter to take a nap. I put a fresh diapey on Tanner and told him to go upstairs while I put Carter down for his nap. Carter fell asleep and I got distracted by the laundry on my way to get Tanner. I got a load of laundry going, headed into the kitchen and was trying to think of what to cook for dinner when all of a sudden, the house seemed so quiet. So very quiet. I walked upstairs to find this;

Tanner had fallen asleep in his chair with his hand in a bag of Cap'n Crunch cereal watching a movie! I had to take a picture! He was even snoring a little bit! This gave me the opportunity to cook dinner uninterrupted! Yay! I decided to make Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice.

Here's what you need:

Chicken Tenders

Salt and Pepper

Flour

Eggs, beaten

Canola Oil

This is my assembly line. Chicken, dipped in flour, then dipped in egg. Place it in a preheated frying pan with canola oil just for a minute on each side. Just enough time to get the crust on the chicken but not to cook the chicken.

Take that chicken and place it in a baking dish.

Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 rice wine vinegar

1 tblsp soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

Mix them together. I usually double the sauce depending on how much chicken I use. Actually, I have never not doubled the sauce. The sauce is good and it's what makes the meal!

Pour the sauce over the chicken in your baking dish.

Bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees stirring every 15 minutes.


Benihana's Fried Rice goes great with this chicken!

2 cups uncooked white rice

5 tblsp butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped veggie (I use zucchini)

2/3 cup chopped scallions

3 tblsp sesame seeds

2 extra large eggs

5 tblsp soy sauce

Salt and Pepper

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the package. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and veggie and scallions. Saute until soft. Lightly grease another skillet. Beat eggs, pour into hot skillet, cook as you would scrambled eggs. Combine rice, veggies, sesame seeds, and eggs. Add soy sauce. Stir. Salt and pepper to taste.

Traditional fried rice calls for carrots and peas. I use zucchini and a can of diced tomatoes drained. I am sure any veggie of your choice would be great! This recipe is very forgiving and you can play with it to make it fit your taste!

So Yummy!

Swimming!

The boys love the pool! Tanner especially loves the water, he has no fear at all! I am going to be teaching him to swim this summer. He really needs to just know how to be safe in the water at this point! He went too deep last week and sank straight to the bottom. I hurried and yanked him up to the top! He was upset but more so at me for saving him because he was yelling "I can swim" "I can swim all by myself" as we were getting to the edge of the pool. So from now on, its life jackets and arm floaties for Tanner! Carter has a cool little raft that he can float around in as well. I am going to keep a life jacket on him while he is in the raft too just to be on the safer side even though I never let that raft out of my arms!

Tanner learning to blow bubbles!

Our Favorite Park!

Our favorite park, and we have tried most of them so far, is Merrill Park! Tanner, Carter, and I have spent many hours at this park so far and are loving every minute of it!

They have a Hot Wheel Track so Tanner can "Vroom his cars and trucks" as he likes to put it!
And a water fountain to play in!

Come join us any time!

Po' Man's Steak!

Have you ever wanted steak but didn't have any? That's what happened to me tonight. So, my choices at this point were to go get some or not have any. Neither choice sounded good so I decided to try to make steak. I keep hamburger in the freezer and figured it comes from the same place so it should work! I pulled out some hamburger and mixed it in a bowl with some liquid smoke and steak seasoning.

I then just made it into patties because that is the easiest way to bbq it. That leads me to my most favorite toy........

The patty maker! I found this at Albertson's for $1.99. It makes the best patties! Sometimes I think I get my best toys at the grocery store!

Now, to make the "steaks" even better, I made a Blue Cheese sauce to go on top!

3/4 cup of heavy cream. 1 med clove of garlic thinly sliced. 6 ox blue cheese crumbled. Fresh ground pepper. Place cream and garlic in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over med-high heat; then lower and simmer until the cream coats the back of a spoon (5-10 min) remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cheese, ground pepper to taste. Yummy!

There you have it! The Po' Man Steak! Served with salad and mashed potatoes!

A Fun Plane Ride

Yesterday, Tyler and his Dad got to take a private jet ride over to Toppenish Washington to visit a customer of theirs, AB Foods. http://www.abfoodsusa.com/ AB Foods owns their own Lear Jet. I would be so scared to fly on a little plane like that! The two of them loved it! They headed off to the Boise airport yesterday morning and were in the air at 8:00 flying to Washington for a few hours. It's evidently pretty cool when you fly privately because you can bypass all the public security and keep your shoes on! It took about 45 minutes to get there. Once they were at AB Foods, they got to take a tour and do some more fun stuff. They went to lunch and then headed back to Boise. All in a days work! What a fun little field trip!

Water Play!

Our Texas friends, The Swans, have a Slip-n-Slide. Well, actually theirs is called a Slipa-dee-Slide if you ask Gideon! Since Texas is not really close enough for an afternoon play date at their house, we decided to just go get a Slip-n-Slide for ourselves! This was Tanner's first time on a Slip-n-Slide and the concept is a bit challenging, but it is still very fun!

Hi Ande and Gideon!!

Ready, Set Go!

Jump!

Splash!

Almost!




Some video footage of the Slip-n-Slide!

Cammie's Bridal Shower

Today was Cammie's Bridal Shower. We had brunch at Cottonwood Grill. It was so nice and so much fun! I tried to post pictures of everyone that was there but I am sure I fell short! I also did not want to post pictures of anyone with a mouth full of food-it seems like I took a bunch of pictures of people chewing food! So much for the "unposed" pictures!

I can't believe Cammie's wedding is coming up so quickly! It will be here before we know it! We are all looking forward to going back down to Whittier to see family and friends!

Robin and Cammie. Robin is also from Whittier and went to EWJH and LSHS. She connected with Cammie up here in Idaho! She is getting married this summer as well! What a small world!

Katie, Cooper, Holly, Cammie, Alicia, Ashley, and Lisa


The Core Four! Grandma, Mom, Cammie, and Ashley

Ashley, Katie, and Cooper


The Sisters! Ashley and Cammie

We played one game. It was a recipe raffle. In the invitations, I sent everyone a recipe card and had them bring the card filled out with one of their favorite recipes for Cammie. I put all the cards in a bag and had Cammie "draw" one. The winner got the prize-Katie won! Here she is with her prize! Cammie got a lot of GREAT recipes! I am hoping to get them all to Lisa so she can put them in her next cookbook!

The bride to be! July 24, 2009 is the big day! I love Cammie so much. Even though she is my little sister, I constantly find myself looking up to her. She is such a beautiful, smart, caring, and wonderful person. I am so blessed to have her as my sister and best friend.

Cooper Paulin! The little man of the hour!

Grandma, Robin, and Melissa

Cammie and Carissa

Cooper J! He really had a great time too!

Mom putting a tiara on Cam!

Cammie and her salt pig!

Janelle, Alisa, Carissa, Cammie, and Robin

Shenanigans!

Shenanigans with Tanner!

2 Brothers Playing!

Tanner and Carter playing trains at Rafiki!

More trains!

Music and Puzzles!

Yard work!

We had a busy week! There was rain, wind, and sun! We were out trying to enjoy all of it!

Tanner decided that his push mower was no longer the most efficient way to mow and decided to turn his 4-wheeler into a riding mower. He even told Tyler not to worry that someday Daddy could get a riding lawn mower just like Tanner and Grandpa!
Mowing!

Carter

Cheese Tanner!

Carter the Cowboy!

Tanner and Carter going for a ride!

Hold on!

Tyler has been busy working on the patio and it is turning out beautiful!

Tanner and Daddy laying pavers!