Happy Birthday Jeanene and Garth!

This week my older sister and brother celebrated birthdays (but I won't tell you how old they are - just older than me!). Jeanene's was on the 9th and Garth's is on the 13th. It isn't often I take the time to let them know how much I love, appreciate and admire them - so I will now!

Jeanene is a wonderful older sister - one I admire greatly for many reasons. She is so talented and creative, a very beautiful women, inside and out! She is a wonderful example of service and does so much for our entire family. When we first moved to Mesa -she and Gary moved down here too. My kids really grew to know and love their Aunt Jeanene. She always had time for us and would take us places and spend much time with us. We hated to see them move back to St. George. Whenever we go to St. George, we always know we are welcome at her house. She has taught me so much - housekeeping tips (which I desperately need), sewing techniques, being there for family, and much, much more. I love you Jeanene! Hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Here are a few pictures I have of Jeanene. The first is from a few years ago when we were up in St. George and while there, had Jason ordained a deacon. She is with my brother, Kevin.

Here's Jeanene holding Carson, and with her granddaughter, Kallie. (doesn't Kallie look alot like Jeanene? (Lucky Kallie!)

Happy Birthday to an awesome big brother! Garth wasn't around much when I was growing up. He left on his mission just after I was born, but I have always looked up to him and admired him greatly. He has achieved so much in his life - he has a wonderful wife and family, success in his occupation, and is a spiritual giant. Whenever anyone needs advice of any kind - he is there to listen and help if needed. He loves to have family visit and take people around to show them the beautiful area in which he lives. He is generous with his time and talents. I love you Garth. Thanks for the wonderful example you are in my life!

A few years ago our family took a trip and visited Garth. He was more than welcoming to our noisy, active family. He took us all on a hike to this beautiful preserve area. Dani really enjoyed getting to know her Uncle Garth. Here he is holding her hand as we hiked up the trail.

Because I don't see him much - I had so few pictures to choose from! Here is another one from the hike as he stops to visit with family and friends.
Once again, here we all are. I am so blessed with my family. Garth and Jeanene are two who bring so much to the family and help hold us all together. I wish we could all get together and see each other more! (So - who's planning a reunion?)

Little mischief maker

Life is always an adventure with Carson! If he is being quiet - watch out! Kristi was babysitting the other day and called us in a panic on what to do. Carson had dumped out the entire box of Rice Krispies. I told her to sweep them up - but she is learning from her mom - she had to take pictures first! Here they are - all dumped out. At least he hadn't started dumping out the Cherrios yet!

Ah - ha - jackpot. All the food he wants - right before his eyes.
Eating his booty - and then stomping on the rest.
He loves to find ANYTHING he can to get in too. Grabbing the toilet paper and seeing how far it will go - not only on the toilet paper rolls, but the spares under the bathroom counter. The other day I was in my room taking care of things - he was in there and was being quiet. I found him in my closet pulling all of my shirts off the lower bar as fast as he could. Yesterday - emptying the new container of wipes. Life is an adventure that I'm not sure I am up too this late in my life - but he is worth it!

Easter Pageant

Last night our family went to the Mesa Easter Pageant for a Tuesday night FHE. It is held on the front lawn of the Mesa Temple. It is a wonderful, enriching program about the life of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful way it was to help us feel the meaning of Easter. I would urge anyone to attend. It is held every year on the temple grounds for two week before Easter. We went on the dress rehearsal night - which, in my opinion, is the best night to go. They go straight through the entire program, there are less people, parking places close by, and no anti-mormon demonstrators (which there are plenty of the rest of time). We would love to have any visitors from out of town stay with us and take them to the pageant.

This year in the visitor's center, they had a special display of photo's entitled "Reflections of Christ" which were beautiful photo's of the actors taken elsewhere of the life of Christ, with special music written for this display, playing, to add to the special feeling.

Come for a visit - if not this year, but next and see this wonderful presentation! Here are a few pictures off of the website of the pageant.

Fun Recipe

We are a busy family - as you probably know already! Jason - alone- has baseball games on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week - all starting at 4 pm. So, when I get home - it is dinner time! (He also has a choir concert on Tuesday and band concert on Thursday. Busy kid - and busy mom!) Anyway, I am always looking for quick, easy recipes because at times, I don't have a lot of time to fix a meal - or I try to fix something earlier in the day and have ready for dinner that night. Crock-pots are great for this, but I like to have other recipes on hand too! This is a recipe I came across quite a few years ago - and my kids love it! It is one we can eat today - and store in the freezer for later or the kids to have whenever. (By the way - I triple or even more - so we do have the extra!)

Fun Burgers

Brown 1 lb hamburger, salt and pepper lightly to taste. Add 1/2 cup catsup, 1 cup chopped dill pickle (can do a little bit less if you want), and 1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese. Spoon mixture into hamburger buns or semi-hard rolls. (Makes about 8) Wrap each roll in aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. These can also be heated for 20 minutes on a barbeque grill. Extra rolls can be stored in the refrigerator for several days or frozen until needed. Allow extra cooking time for frozen rolls.

That's it!

Like I said, quick and easy - and my kids absolutely love them! In fact - the cooked ones leftover from the night before - Kendall will take to school and eat for his lunch, cold. Weird kid I know - but hey, it saves on lunch money! I am cooking up 5 lbs of burger today and wrapping them all up- some for tonight and tomorrow lunch - and the rest in the freezer. Give them a try. I am sure your kids will love them like mine do!

Let Him Eat Cake!

Carson was so funny with his birthday cake - I had to have a blog just for that!

Once again, he is enjoying the attention. He is cheering - yea - with everyone looking on. Here comes the cake! (It does say - Happy b-day Carson on top of the cake, you just can't see that)

He was so excited tohave Mikel let him go so he could go after his cake. We did take his shirt off to make the mess a little easier to clean up!
He went after the chocolate chip eyes first. He was picking them out and eating them one at a time - loves the chocolate. (A kid after his mom's heart.) He did get a little bit of frosting.
He sort of fell over and hit the cake - and lo and behold - more chocolate. He really went after it then! Love that chocolate.
What a happy boy he is now!
Let him eat cake!!!

Carson's 1st Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to you Carson! Today we had Carson's family birthday dinner and party. It was a lot of fun. Jeremy, Jo and EmmaLee came over, also Kris (Mikel's boyfriend) and his daughter, Kirstin, and our good friends and neighbors, the Gardner's. Carson really enjoyed all the attention. Here he is enjoying his birthday dinner - umm, love those garlic mashed potatoes!

Getting ready to open his presents. He loved hearing everyone sing just to him!
His main gift - a wagon, and it even has seatbelts for 2 and cupholders. Things have sure changed since I bought a wagon for the older kids!
Here he is enjoying a ride in the wagon with EmmaLee - and playing with her toes! Her side has the side down to sit flat - his side is up to use the seatbelts.
Enjoying the birthday haul of toys! Let's see - Mikel gave him the little lawnmower, Kendall and Jason got him the little baseball toy, Jeremy and family the Xylaphone, Matt got him the drum, Dani the sand toys, and Kristi the little hammer. From Mom and Dad - the wagon and two hats (he needs something to keep from getting his head sunburned!) See - when you are so much younger than your brothers and sisters you get a lot of nice presents (cuz they have money)!
He loved his birthday, as you can tell.

I forgot one thing on my last post about his Dr's visit.

Carson now weights 19 lbs 8 0z. He is in the 10% in weight. His 6 mo. visit he was in the 50%. I think being so active took off the little body fat he did have.

Shots and baths

Wednesday morning Carson and I were getting ready to go to the doctor's for his 1 year appt. He was such a happy little boy - playing peek-a-boo - and getting into his regular mischief!

However, being at the doctor's wasn't a fun experience - he had 4 shots - 2 in each arm. He was worn out when it was time to go home! (I wanted to take pictures of him at the Dr's office - but he was too busy and I was trying to keep him out of stuff!)
Here he is in all his glory getting his toys out for his bath - with his bright bandaids on from his shots
He loves playing in the bath with all his toys. I just have to remove all dangerous objects from the tub area because of older kids (like the shaver in the background)