Take me out to the ballgame!

T-ball at its finest! Jason's first t'ball game ever.

And it was funny. He was so confused, and tired, and didn't know which way to go, or what to do, after the second inning, he turned to me and said," I am too tired mom, can we go home now?"

I made him finish the next 2 innings, and he did finish, kind of. During the last inning, he walked off the field to get a drink of his juice. He was just wore out. Here he is running into home.
And I do have them backwards, but here he is jumping onto third. Literally!

Up to bat!

Practicing before the game starts!

Just a little cocky before the game started. (and before he got hit in the nose with a ball).

I am so looking forward to a fun and exciting season of t-ball. and I am ready to see lots of improvements!!!!

love ya jj.

Happy Birthday ZACH!

My very first teenager!!!

And so the tradition of the pie in the face lives on ! It is so much fun! And we so got him good. It is hard to believe that was 13 years ago that he was born. It has gone by so fast! Zach is such an easy going kid, and I just love him so much! Here he is opening his presents!

And grandpa carroll's famous money bag! He's diggin deep!

And YUMMY! We got a cold stone ice cream cake this year, it was soooo good! one of the best ever! Thanks zach for asking for an ice cream cake!

Happy birthday baby boy we love you so much! we are so blessed to be your parents. And are so lucky to have a son like you!

Bowling during spring break! Its a little late, but better late than never right! On one of the days of spring break we went to logan to spend the day with Dave and Barbara. They took us bowling! It was so much fun. The kids had a blast. Here they all are each taking their turns bowling. Zach very strategically picking out his ball. He wouldn't let anyone else touch the ball, because it might rub all the luck off, He was quite the little bowler. I was very impressed!
here is alli struttin her stuff. She was pretty good too!

And here is Joey helping Abby They were having such a good time!

looks like Joey is lining it up for a perfect strike.

Jason acting like such a big boy. Wanting to do it all by himself!

Ok, so this last weekend didn't get many pictures, the camera sat in the bottom of my purse through most of the weekend, but you know I guess thats how it goes sometimes! We had a wild and crazy weekend. It started out Saturday morning bright and early for Joey, he had a swim meet in logan. He did so great!! My dad drove up from Salt lake to be with him. He took a first place in the butterfly, and I believe third in freestyle, the rest I can't remember right off (since I wasn't there, ) but he place first, second or third in all 5 events that he entered!!! He did so good! And now on to the reason I wasn't there.....I was in Blackfoot with the girls at a dance competition! AND.. they both took first place with their dances. Abby's little group was so cute, they got a first place, they will get their trophies on friday, And alli's group took first place with a specialty award!! wow it was so exciting. Then... after running all over the place we had to run home get ready really fast, pick up Zach and Jason, head off to salt lake for a cousins wedding. Which as a side note, I have decided that every wedding should have mexican buffet at their wedding.YUM!! best wedding food ever!! Anyway, we were leaving the wedding late sat. night, going out to my burb(our name for my suburban,) put the keys in, and hear that sound nobody wants to hear, that infamous click, then nothing. well to make a long boring story a little shorter. I had to buy an alternater, well my dad did, thanks dad, the checks in the mail right...... WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!!!! seriously. Can we please redo the last part. that was so stressful! And this is right after we had to replace the fuel pump in our car. This is a bad time for vehicles for us. I am thinking someone is telling me to stay home! and I am willing to listen! its just a little thing called a schedule that keeps me going that I just can't ignore! Sorry! I am trying! Whats a girl to do!

Easter trip to the zoo

The kids watching the poor giraffe lick the wall. That is about all the giraffe did the whole time was drink water, and lick the wall, so needless to say we did not stay in that stinky building very long! And here are the kids measuring up to the gorillas!

It was a cold, cold, COLD day at the zoo, but as a plus, the animals were a little riled up, they were out and about, except the elephants and rhinos, they were nowhere to be found. and as jason says, the zebras that got dead. we were missing them. but other than that, we had a great time.

Happy Easter

Easter hunts. The older kids get to go on scavenger hunts to find their 'loot' Here they are figuring out the clue to get the next clue! They were pretty smart this year! They found their treats in no time at all. And here are salt and pepper finding their eggs. They did a great job! They had so much fun doing it!
salt cheesing it up for the camera

pepper showing off her cute pink eggs

salt finding all his blue eggs

pepper needed a little help with this one!

april fools

Happy april fools day!!

This was our goofy attempt at an april fools dinner. I usually go all out, this year, I was tired, so I just did a couple of things. I did meatloaf, with mashpotatoe frosting cupcakes, and chicken nuggets, which were marshmellows covered in peanut butter, and rolled in crushed corn flakes. all in all, it was fun. the older 3 kids were like ok mom whatever, we will humer(sp?) you and just eat it, jason, took one lick of the mashed potatoe frostsing, and put down the cupcake and said he wanted a different kind of cupcake. it was pretty funny, he wouldn't even try the marshmellow nuggets after that. And little abby, she didn't even get the joke, she just loved the dinner. kids are so funny.

Joey getting money out of the money bag with grandpa Carroll. While we were in Salt lake last weekend we got to go out to Ice cream with grandpa and grandma Carroll, then go back to their house, and played wii, and hang out. We had so much fun!

Joey got with one huge hand, $16.90 out of the money bag, Holy cow!!!
Here we are at leatherbys, the best ice cream place EVER!!! YUM!

Here are all the kids enjoying their huge ice creams.

We had so much fun!

Joey turns 11

Well as many times as we threatend him over the last year, he actually made it!! Joey turned 11. Here he is blowing out the candles of his cake. Jason was right there to cheer him on! This year I told all the kids that I was going to throw a pie in their face for their birthday. Nobody believed me!! So of course I had to do it! I snuck up behind Joey and got him good! It was so much fun. I wll totally have to keep doing this one! It was my favorite part of the birthday.

Joey opening his presents. He was pretty happy.

All in all a pretty fun day! And a pretty spoiled kid if you ask me. But he is worth it!

Love you Joey!

Your smile makes it worth anything!

St. Patricks day

Happy St. patricks day!

This is one of my favorite days of the year! The kids love it, and we all have so much fun!

This is a mountain dew cake I made for dessert last night, it turned out pretty yummy!This was our 'green'dinner last night. We had green bread, that me and Jason made yesterday. We were making bread, and those sneaky leprechans must have snuck in and turned our bread green! It was pretty silly, They also snuck in and turned our milk green, so we had green milk on our cereal. That was pretty crazy!

Here are all the cute kids in their lucky shirts! I don't know what the boys on the ends were doing but the faces they are pulling are something else!!! I guess with 5 kids, getting 3 of them to smile at a time is as good as it gets!

This is the kids showing off their loot after the leprechans snuck in and left a trail of shiny pennies that led to a pot of gold (lots of yummy candy)

Pretty fun day!!!

Go Irish!

Salt and Pepper

These cute little babies (well not so much babies anymore) have been so funny lately. Pepper got sick last week, she had a pretty bad cough, sore throat, little fever, you know all the nasty stuff running around, so I kept her home from preschool for a couple days, salt still went to school on wednesday, but thursday, he just couldn't do it anymore, he was feeling ok, but he just couldn't go with out his pepper!! he cried, and carried on about how he just wouldn't go, so yes, I actually gave in, and let him stay home, I know I couldn't believe it either, but it was just so cute. And besides daddy was home too, so I figured just this once!! Anyway it was so adorable! They are inseperable! Its hard to believe that kindergarten registration is next month! It makes me tear up just thinking about this one! (sniff sniff) This one will be hard! The babies of the family are growing up!

wow I have been craving Ice cream!!!

maybe its because I am channeling summer. Wouldn't that be nice. I am picturing a nice warm sunshine, flipflops, shorts, running through the sprinkles, jumping on the trampoline! ahhh I can't wait! So yes ice cream comes to mind.

So I have put together my favorite ice cream topping recipes!! this one pictured is butterscotch. YUM!!

BUTTERSCOTCH WITH SEA SALT

4 TBbutter

1C brown sugar

1TB corn syrup

3/4 c heavy whipping cream

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 tsp vanilla

in a med sauce pan melt butter over low-med heat. add brown sugar and corn syrup stir until well blended. stir frequently until the mixture turns from grainy to hot and bubbly. it will begin to look more like liquid, then you add the cream. , whisk until smooth. pour mixture into a glass bowl cool to room temp. when cool stir in vanilla and sea salt. keep refirgerated. you can reheat in microwave to serve over icecream.

APPLE CINNAMON SAUCE

2 apples

1/2c sugar

1 TB cinnamon

2 TB water

Mix all ingredients and boil for about 10 min. till apples are tender. pour over ice cream. (also good over pancakes) Watch carfully so they don't burn.

BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES

In a large skillet over medium heat melt 1 TB butter add 2 cups hulled and halved strawberries, and 1/4 c. sugar, and 1 TB balsamic vinegar. cook until the strawberries are heated through and darkened to a ruby red. serve warm.

DULCE DE LECHE (MY FAV)

easy but takes time

1 can sweetened condensed milk

open the can of sweeten condensed milk and pour it into a tin pie pan, cover with foil place into a bigger pan of water. cook in the oven at 300 degrees for about 2 hours till the milk starts to darken. this makes a rich carmel YUM!!! enjoy!!

SO BREAK OUT THE ICE CREAM AND START EATING!!

Teddy Bear

This is what Brian looked like when he got home from work this last time. It must have been really cold!!! Now we really have a great big cuddly hairy teddy bear! but we love our teddy bear!

more cuppies

ok finally the last of the cupcake recipes!! Sorry life has been crazy (not like that is anything different) but here are the last of the cupcake recipes from the birthday party. I promise you they are not the last of the recipes because I have already tried and loved a couple more, that I will post later!!
SMORES CUPCAKES
This one is a little involved, but SO worth it!
first you need to get about 20 graham crackers squares and make crumbs. thats the fun part! I put mine in a ziplock baggie and smush with my rolling pin. Then mix with 1/3 c. melted butter, and 1/4 c. sugar.
Line 2 standard muffin tins with liners, and sprinkle 1 TB.graham cracker mixture in bottom of liners reserving remaining for the tops of the cupcakes. use the bottom of a small glass to pack the crumbs down.
Next you take like a symphone bar, or any kind of chocolate bar, about 10 oz. finely chopped. sprinkle about 2 tsp. on top of the graham crackers. Bake this for about 5 min. at 350. remove from oven. and fill each muffin cup three quarters full with the cake batter. Which is here.........

1. sift 2 cups plus 2 TB sugar, 1 3/4 c. flour, 3/4 c. cocoa 1 1/2 baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp.baking soda, and 1 tsp salt together.
2. in another bowl mix 2 large egg, 1 c. whole milk, 1/2 c. oil, and 2 tsp vanilla . mix together, then add to dry mix. mix for 2 min. Add 1 cup boiling water.
After you fill three quarters full top with remaining graham cracker crumbs and chocolate return to oven and bake at 350 for 18-20 min. or till a toothpick comes out clean.

Marshmellow frosting (also known as 7 min. frosting)
2 egg whites, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4c. sugar, 3/4 c. karo sugar, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat together 2 egg whites and 1/4 tsp salt with a mixer until very frothy. Add 1/4 c. sugar VERY slowly. and beat until smooth and glossy. SLOWLY add 3/4 c. light karo syrup and beat until it holds stiff peaks. gently fold in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
I know this recipe is a little confusing but feel free to call me or email me if this doesn't make sense! sometimes thinks make sense in my head and I write them down and they don't quite turn out right on paper (or computer in this case)


cream cheese or black bottom cupcakes
ok for this one, you make your regular cake mix, homemade or from a box, it really doesn't matter, the fun part on this one is the fun center:
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 egg
1/3c. sugar
1/8 tsp salt
6 oz chocolate chips
beat cream cheese, and sugar, add in salt, then egg. mix well. then add in the chocolate chips. prepare cake mix acording to directions, fill paper cupcake liners 1/3 full with cake batter. top with heaping teaspoon of cream cheese mixture. bake for 30-35 min. makes 24 cupcakes.
FROSTING
1 cube margarine
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
beat together
add 1 lb pwd sugar, 2 TB vanilla you may need to add 1-2 tb milk. mix well.

Wild and crazy few weekends. This was Alli and her adorable coach at her last basketball game. We have loved basketball this year! We are a little sad to see it go. We are not going to miss all the freezing cold runs to practice, but we have loved watching all the girls grow and have a lot of fun this year! AND to top it off they won their last game Way to go girls! This was the night that Zach got his first class in scouts. they dressed up as raisens kinda cute huh! My little raisen is the little one on the far right I got a kick out of them dancing around. And even though they would never admit it, they had a great time!

Ahhh if this were only true.... These little monkeys were pretending to sleep to try to fake me out. Good thing I am smarter than they are and I grabbed the camera, as soon as they saw the flash they all started giggling. what a bunch of goobers.

And here is part of the Lava Heat swim team. we had a way fun sledding party today. and after we had lunch and awards. Here are all the awards that Joey got from the first 2 swim meets that he raced at, I think thats a pretty good start!!!

And I think that he is pretty proud!!

So is that a ray of sunshine I see??? Well it could be! Almost 2 months after I took joey to the rheumatologist, he finally called me to say there may be an answer to Joeys joint pain. Glad I wasn't holding my breath! There were some dark spots that showed up on the x-rays around his knees, and hips. He is sending us in for more x-rays. Hopefully we can get that done, and hear back from him before summer.(sorry that must have been a little sarcasm slipping in) But all in all I am allowing myself to get slightly excited that there may be an answer. He said that if it is what the thinks it is ( being very vague) that it is not a huge deal, and it is something Joey will outgrow. It will be a painful process, and he won't even start outgrowing it till he is like 15 or 16, but he will outgrow it and be normal, whatever normal is. I am still a little hesitant, just because it doesn't answer all the other questions, but if there are spots on the x-rays that are making the dr.s question.... then at least we are on the right track right???? One baby step at a time. In the mean time, I have to say, he did great at his swim meet!!!! I will find out his official times on Friday and post them for you all! I am one proud mamma!!

Well, Joey is off at another swim meet this weekend. I was unable to go with him this time since I just can't figure out how to rip me in 5 different ways!!! But he was totally ok with that since I sent him with some friends, his D.S, and some cash. He is having so much fun. I have received a few scriptic text messages from him:

havin fun

doin gd

restrnt (yes they went to olive garden lucky kid)

2d butt (found out later this means 2nd place in butterfly)

4!sds free (41 seconds in freestyle)

so after figuring out all my text messages I am pretty proud of all the hard work my Joe man has put into his swimming! Way to go Joe!!!!!

But yes I miss him like crazy. one more day, he will be home tomorrow!

Ok these are the Vanilla cheesecake ones(recipe to come later) and the cookies and cream chocolate peanut butter and the colorful

Brownies with ganache

Raspberry over in the corner smores in the middle (also recipe coming later) and key lime pie.

root beer float