Wanna See What's Been Cooking in My Kitchen Lately?

Blackberry Cobbler...delicious!!
Chicken Cacciatora...so good!
Chicken Purses...these have lemon zest in them and they are SO good!
Enchilada Casserole...I think this picture speaks for itself!
Frozen Lemonade Delight...Oh my!
I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately, and thought I'd post just a few of them here for you all to see. I thought about adding the recipe to go with the picture, but decided not to...however, if something catches your eye and you'd like the recipe, just email me or leave a comment here and I'll be happy to get it to you! It's been a lot of fun making and EATING so many new and wonderful things, and my family is pretty happy about it too.

Back to School

Ashley and Rachel started back up at school last week (Sept.2), and all went well. Ashley is in 2nd grade and Rachel is Kindergarten...Ashley does her school work in the dining area and Rachel does hers at the kitchen table. I've decided to try year round school this year because I know a lady who does it and she said she would never go back to having all summer off...so I figure it's worth a try. I think we're really going to like it though because we get to take the last week of every month off, which will be really nice. And of course we'll have the regular breaks throughout the year, just not as long, especially during the summer. We begin our mornings between 8:30-9:00...Ashley begins her school day by reading her Bible and doing her spelling... meantime, Rachel and I are having a Bible story, doing a math lesson, a reading lesson, and some letter writing. After which, Rachel goes and watches a Signing Time video while I finish school with Ashley. I wasn't sure how things would go having to teach both of the children, but it's working out really well so far...(finger's crossed!)

Labor Day Weekend

The long awaited visit from the Myers finally came...and went. They got here on Friday afternoon around 2:30 and stayed thru Monday morning. We were joined Friday evening by the Moreno's for dinner and visiting, and Saturday Elizabeth and I took all of the children for a walk. It was funny because we started out with six children and had to keep taking them back to the house one at a time for one reason or another...until finally the only child we had was Nathon, and the guys were stuck with all the rest!! That night we just visited some more and enjoyed a nice evening at home. And on Sunday we went to church, and afterwards we were joined by the Moreno's and Dari's sister's family. We all played Apples to Apples (that is such a fun game) and once everyone left and we got the kiddos off to bed, the four of us played Settlers. No need to guess as to who won...JONATHON!! Monday morning came all too quickly, and after the children put on a skit of Cinderella for the grown-ups, the Myers were off. It was sad, but we're already looking forward to a visit to their house after Elizabeth gives birth to Alan.

Cinderella "Skit"

Saying Good-Bye to the Moreno's

VBS WEEK 08

This was VBS week at our church and it went really well. Our church held it at night for the first time ever, and I think it was a great success. Dinner was prepared for all of the helpers and families, which was a big blessing. Also, those who normally don't participate with VBS because of their jobs were able to help out this year, including my missions partner, Carole. All of the children involved had a wonderful time...they were so much fun! The week ended with parents being invited to attend on the last evening to watch the children dance and sing to some of their songs, and a short video of the week was shown. Here I have a little clip of Ashley & Rachel during their songs.

Summer Reading Program

Ashley and Rachel were involved in this year's summer reading program at the local library. They started about half way through because we were busy doing a lot of traveling the first part of the summer. Ashley's goal was to read the 50 books required to get her t-shirt...and she accomplished her goal! I have a very short clip of her recieving that, and also of her getting a prize for her name being drawn in a drawing. I am very proud of her, she has come a long way with her reading...she has always been a good reader, but not too excited about it, and this program had her reading books all of the time. Rachel "read" some books for the program as well, and I took advantage of her reading time by having her read out of the book I'm using to teach her to read. The other clip I have here is of Ashley and her friend Tess playing the toss the water balloon game.

First Ride With Papa!!

Ashley and Rachel finally got to go for a ride on Papa's motorcycle...momma hasn't even done that!! They were really excited and had a lot of fun!! It's mommy's turn next!

Ashley & Papa

Rachel & Papa
And their off...

Ashley First...then Rachel!!

Trip to Utah (Hill AFB)

Hiking near Ogden
Outside of the Gateway in Salt Lake City
Ashley enjoying the "geysers"

We are back from yet another trip...this has been our busiest summer ever, but we are having a great time! Larry took an aircraft management class at Hill AFB, and the girls and I were able to tag along. It was a nine day trip (including travel days)...we stayed overnight in Denver going to and coming back. While at Hill, we made a trip into Salt Lake City to have dinner at one of our old favorites, the Old Spaghetti Factory, it was delicious! And then we did a little walking around at a huge outdoor shopping area there called the Gateway...Ashley really enjoyed getting wet in their "geysers". We also took the girls hiking on a trail that Larry and I used to love going to when we lived there before moving to Clovis, Ashley and Rachel really loved that. The girls and I spent our days going on "adventures" walking around the base, some days were spent at the pool or the park. We were so glad to have been able to go along with Larry and make a "vacation" out of it, but also very happy to be home.

Hiking and swimming in Utah!

Our Time with the Myers

Staying over night in a hotel

UH OH! The van broke down...but we were back in business soon!
The children on the jungle gym...I mean bunk bed!
Putting on sunblock for Sea WorldPretty girls...inside Sea World

Well, we're back home...we got in on Monday evening. Our time with the Myers was a lot of fun (but WAY too short!). We left Clovis Thursday evening and stayed in Lubbock overnight...the next morning we continued on...only to have our van break down in Comanche TX! But that didn't stop us for long...we were back on the road in a couple of hours...(thank God we were in a decent size town during business hours!) So we finally arrived at the Myers house...it is so BEAUTIFUL...and Elizabeth had a FABULOUS dinner prepared for us! We visited for a little while, but everyone was pretty exhausted, and anticipated getting up early the next morning, so we all headed off to bed. The next day we went to San Antonio and met up with Jonathon's dad at IHOP for breakfast...(it was really nice to meet his dad!). Then we were off to Sea World! We had so much fun...it is much bigger and there was more to do than I had anticipated. We went to two of the Shamu shows (the last one of the evening was awesome!), and a boat show...went on a few rides, and had dinner...it was an exhausting day, but we didn't care because we were with the Myers again! The next day (which was Father's Day) we went to their new church...it is currently being held in an Arts Academy building...and everyone was so friendly and welcoming. What's even more exciting is that we got to see Clara be baptized...and boy, does she have a set of lungs...the Pastor said she had broke his record, so we took that to mean that no one else had cried up until Clara...way to go Clara! And then we enjoyed a crab, shrimp and steak dinner and some strawberry shortcake for desert. We spent the rest of the evening visiting some more and watching Voyager (which Larry robbed them of!). The next morning we took off around 9am, and the tears were flowing! But we hope to see them again come August, when Jonathon gets a 4 day weekend! (They'll be coming here this time).

Catching a Butterfly!

We're Off to See the Myers!

Hi all!
I just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with us...Larry will be home from class soon, and then we will be heading toward the Myers house in Killeen, TX! We won't get there tonight though, it's about a 9 hour drive, we just thought we would knock out a couple of hours, making tomorrows day a little more bearable. We plan on going to Sea World on Saturday, which we're all really looking forward to, because none of us have ever been there. And we'll be spending Father's Day there, going to the Myers' new church...and then we'll be heading back home on Monday. It's going to be a very quick trip, but we're just really happy that we will get to spend SOME time with them, and be able to see their new house and church. So check back some time next week to see some pictures from our trip!

Week of June 1/June 7 (08)

Ashley's Missing Tooth

Lunch at Macaroni Grill & Group picture at the museum
Hi all! Just wanted to share how our week went...it was a fairly busy one, and it's only going to get busier (fun busy!) with lots of different things. We host a Bible study at our home on Monday nights...this Monday we just had a "game-night", meaning Dari (the person who teaches our study) didn't have anything prepared. Lol! On Tu./Th. & Fr. nights Larry has classes, so the girls and I keep ourselves busy by going to the park or for walks or just watching movies. Ashley lost another tooth on Tuesday (this is her 3rd one), it's her first on the top...she was so excited, she thought that she just had a piece of something that she was eating in her mouth, and she took it out and set it next to her plate...until she went to the bathroom and saw that her tooth was missing! Ashley also has her piano lessons Wednesday afternoons during the months of June/July, we go back to her regular schedule of it being on Saturdays in August. And on Saturday we had a treat...we got to go to Albuquerque with Larry and his Old Testament class to visit the Museum of Archiology and Biblical history. It was a lot of fun...we had lunch at the Macaroni Grill there and then went to the museum.

Garage Sales!

Garage sale finds! My patio chair cushions and Ashley's scooter!

One of my favorite things to do is to go to garage sales! I was able to go yesterday, and it was even more fun because I was accompanied by a friend from church. I usually set out with specific items in mind, and yesterday I did really well. I was in search of two patio chair cushions, (these are $40 each at the stores) and a scooter for my oldest daughter (she has wanted one ever since our Colorado Springs trip and she rode someone else's). Well, I found my chair covers, they are like new, for $5 a piece! And I found a $60-$70 scooter for $10 (they wanted $15, but I talked them down). In addition to those finds, I bought several Disney movies, misc. items for my children, a nice wooden bassinet for my youngest daughter, a very large cookbook, and some books for the girls. It was a great garage saleing day!

Our Colorado Springs Trip

Fun at the park with the Morenos!

Making new friends! (Sophia & Abby)
Garden of the Gods

Our family recently went on a mini vacation to Colorado Springs with some good friends of ours. We went there to look at land and property, with the desire of retiring there in a couple of years. We always enjoy it there, and this trip was a real treat because we met the parents of our good friend Carole. On Sunday we attended a wonderful church and afterwards had lunch with the pastor and his family. On Monday we met and had lunch with our good friend Dari's sister and family. And than we finally headed back home Tuesday morning after being given a tour of Focus on the Family. It was an awesome trip! Unfortunately we did not have a digital camera at the time, so unless or until Carole sends me some of her pictures, I won't be posting any from our trip.

Ready for Summer

Things are changing rapidly around our home lately. Being in the military can be hard with good friends leaving us or we leaving them. But we try to stay busy with church activities and going on weekend getaways. My husband Larry is taking some classes at the local university here, and I am blessed to be able to home school my two daughters, Ashley & Rachel. Life is good and God is good.