kickin' it

Y'all ready for this?  Said in my best announcer voice with loud music blaring in the background.  

Friday was the big game...Megan's kickball party (that had been planned as an end of Summer party but had to be rescheduled at the very last minute)

The two teams, The Neville Kickbottoms 

and The Spongebob Kickpants played a good game but in the end only one team could be the victor 

Congratulations Team Kickpants!

I love the signs that one of the cute moms made for both teams - thanks Shauna!  Shauna is the one that drew who knows how many dark marks on the arms of the teenagers when we were in line for Harry Potter. 

There was some fine athleticism displayed ...

amazing form - Megan has never looked so athletic

speed

a sense of fashion even in the heat of competition

a fierce competitive attitude

the thrill of victory

the agony of defeat - "What?  I'm totally safe."

It turned out to be a great evening and we're glad so many kids could join in on the fun.  But the night didn't end with the game - there were celebrations to be had.

Any good game ends with a parent tunnel

Before leaving the field The Spongebob Kickpants picked up their winners trophy...

You weren't aware that there was a Kickball Championship Trophy were you?  Amazing what a $4 lamp from Goodwill, styrofoam and paint will make, huh?  Since no one person could take the trophy home because I'm holding on to that baby for next years rematch, I put together individual awards for each person on the winning team that they picked up once back at our house where the festivities continued.

They each received a mini trophy with a giant gumball kickball on top as well as a medal.  The "kickballs" were a hit and it was hilarious watching the kids try to chew them.

After all the competition on the field the kids were hungry.  There were lots of tacos and burritos consumed

and lots of this...

I'm not sure what it is but the teenagers have a love affair with this slightly thick, processed, yellow goodness.

Whenever we serve it (which is nearly every time we have teenagers over)  They surround the stuff, each trying to get their fair share and you can bet they will be back for seconds, thirds and fourths.

Here's to making this a yearly event - cheese and all!

stan is the man

I'm not sure who Stan is but his little hole in the wall burger joint is a family favorite.

image via flickr

Usually after our traditional BYU bowling trip we head over to Stan's for a bite to eat. Derek ate here often as a student and then as a young married couple we ate here as often as finances would allow (which if I remember right was not as often as we would have liked)  Our kids now love it as much as we do and I'm sure it will become a favorite place to eat when they are at BYU.

We kept burgers, etc. to a minimum and loaded up on the really healthy stuff - fries, fry sauce and shakes.

The fries are amazing - click on the picture to enlarge and you'll be able to see all the seasoned goodness.  

The fry sauce is an always welcomed trip treat.  I'm still at a lose to figure out why all of America hasn't embraced fry sauce.  Why must we go to Utah to enjoy the pale orange tastiness?  Occasionally it is available at a local Target and others say make your own but it's just not the same.  What is wrong with the fast food world?  We want fry sauce, we want fry sauce!  Join with me in bringing fry sauce to the masses.

simple, easy, yummy

Life is busy so when I found this recipe yesterday I knew I had to try it - I love an easy recipe.  I added some onion and corn to the meat mixture and threw in a taco side salad and was awarded with 5 sets of 2 thumbs up and a couple of "Mom, you're a great cooker" comments.

countdown to halloween

Sorry for the lack of a Halloween Countdown post yesterday.  We have been getting hit with bad news for the last few days and feeling saddened by it all - I couldn't get myself to post yesterday.  I still can't shake the sadness but thought I would take a minute to post regardless.

So here is yesterdays Halloween idea...Who doesn't love a yummy Halloween treat?  Megan is a huge peanut butter cup fan so when I saw this recipe I knew it was a must try for our family.

Does anyone make homemade candy?  My mother in law makes the best homemade candies at Christmas.  I have made a few, very few, attempts at making candy but it never seems to turn out right.  This recipe seems simple so well see how they turn out.  If you have any easy candy recipe let me know.  I may try to bring some homemade goodness to Halloween.

she's a baker

Emily loves to be in the kitchen.  She is often asking if she can make a treat or help with dinner. The other night she wanted to make cookies so she whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  At first I didn't really want her to make them - I hate the after cookie mess but after I got a taste of a warm cookie I was glad I had said yes.  

Em is getting good in the kitchen.  She is capable of handling herself without much supervision and she turns out some really tasty food.  Perhaps someday soon I can turn over all the cooking responsibilities to her - wouldn't that be a fun little break?!

what we did during summer vacation

So I had this bright idea to have someone in the family post everyday - journaling what we did that day as part of our summer vacation.  I was hoping to be able to look back at the blog in September and have a great record of what we did during summer vacation. Problem is...it's not so easy to sit down everyday and get it all down.  I don't want to be a quitter especially since we hadn't even gotten one summer post written so we're going to try to go the distance and see how well we actually do.

Day one of summer found us making our lunch bright and early in the morning (If you call waking up at 8:45 in the morning bright and early - yea, for sleeping in) In high school some friends and I would throw together some quesadillas, wrap them in foil and leave them on the dash in the car so the cheese would be melted by lunch.  I decided to try this little culinary wonder with the kids.  Each kiddo made their own "dilla", wrapped it in foil and sharpie'd their name on the ready to cook foil packet.

We tossed them onto the dash and let them do their thing for a few hours.  When we finally pulled them from our "oven" we feasted on yummy quesadillas and hoped the neighbors hadn't seen our little packets baking in the heat of the car - wonder what they would think?!?!
We also spent some time finger painting.  Luke had been begging for days to be able to finger paint but I was so overwhelmed with end of the school year jive that I was the mean mom constantly saying no.  I finally said yes and the kids had a blast creating their masterpieces.

Our other summer activity that we started was Summer Bridge Books.  The kids are always excited to start these the first few days of summer but then their excitement dwindles.  We signed contracts complete with rewards for finishing their books so hopefully their motivation will stay.  I agreed to reward $15 to each kid (Except Megan - she doesn't have a book) to spend in Mexico. Just let me note for the record - I don't normally pay kids for school work but I want my kids to have spending money for when we go to Mexico and this seemed like a good way to go.  I also threw in an outing/activity for each kid that they got to pick.  Luke wanted to do a lemonade stand, Nathan wanted a day at the pool just for fun - no parents telling him to practice his swimming and Emily requested a trip to the bowling alley.

halleluljah

While reading the OC Register a week or so ago I ran across these articles.  These confirm that dreams really do come true.  I taped them up to the door so Derek could take it all in when he left for work.

Derek loves Tommy's.  Over the years he has partaking of gallons of chili goodness.  He and his high school buddies would frequent this fine establishment numerous times a week on many occasions.  If I remember correctly these fine boys would often drop off their dates on a Friday or Saturday night and then have some boys time at Tommy's (I'm sure to discuss how wonderful their girlfriends were)

The Tommy's closest to us has been Fountain Valley (a 20 or so minute drive)  We don't go a ton but we go enough that the kids all know the menu and they know it is Daddy's true love (after me and the kids, of course)  We'll the heavens have now smiled upon Derek and a new Tommy's opened in Lake Forest (less then 10 minutes from us)

We had been keeping our eye on the new Tommy's building during construction waiting for the "Now Open" sign to appear.  When Derek saw the article I had taped to the door there was no question what we would be having for dinner that night.  That night we braved the crowds (yes, it was extremely crowded) so that we could stuff our face with fast food tastiness.  I have eaten my fair share of Tommy's but my order of chili cheese fries with onions and peppers did not sit well.  We have made big efforts to eat more healthfully in the last while.  I don't believe my stomach was prepared for that famous chili after months of careful eating but I had to take one for the team.  This is Derek's dream we are talking about - Tommy's, right here in our own backyard.

we interrupt blog catch-up to bring you april fool's

For our April Fool's dinner we had chicken pot pie and for dessert we had cupcakes.

Where is the fooling in that you ask?  The pot pie was made with vanilla pudding for gravy, dried pineapple slices for chicken, and candy for corn, peas and carrots.  

I was especially fond of the corn.  Who knew that nuking some Starbursts in the microwave could create such a good "clay" to mold little corn kernels?!?!?  The carrots were also Starbursts and the peas were nuked Airheads rolled into little balls.

The cupcakes were made from meatloaf and covered in purple mashed potato frosting.  We have had the cupcakes for previous April Fool's dinners  so the kids weren't as surprised by them (Luke was - he was obviously to young to remember the last time) but the chicken pot pie was a hit.  

a serious addiction

I cannot get enough of this divinely, delicious drink. Seriously, I have a problem. I have taken to drinking it from sunrise to sunset. If I only have one bottle in the fridge I allow no one else to drink it. If I have 2 or more bottles in the fridge I'll share but I control the amounts people drink. This is like gold to me.

If you love lemonade and haven't tried Simply Lemonade, you must drop what you are doing immediately and get yourself to the store. Try Target first. At the grocery store a bottle will cost you a little over $3.00. On Saturday I got 3 bottles (bought them out) for under $2.00 a bottle. I need to get back today and see if they restocked since out of the 3 bottles I only have a 1/4 of a bottle left - I told you I have a problem.

family home evening treat

If you are looking for a good Family Home Evening treat, here it is. My sister in law, Gail, sent this to me and to be honest after reading the recipe I wasn't so sure I would like this little treat. Derek made them up for family night a couple weeks ago and I changed my tune - they are yummy! You and your kiddos will love them.

My family was over yesterday to watch conference and we made these for dessert. They were a hit!

Marshmellow Yummies

You will need: Paper cupcake liners and a muffin pan

1 tube refrigerator crescent rolls (8-count)

¼ cup margarine, melted

8 large marshmallows

cinnamon & sugar mixture (¼ cup sugar + ½ teaspoon cinnamon)

wax paper (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Place margarine in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it just until it melts. Set this aside, you will use it later.

3. Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Set this aside, you will use it later.

4. Place paper cupcake liners in a muffin pan.

5. Open container of refrigerator crescent rolls. Carefully unroll dough and tear apart along lines to get 8 triangle-shaped pieces of dough.

6. Tear off a sheet of wax paper and place triangle piece of dough on it. Flatten one crescent roll.

7. Roll 1 marshmallow in melted margarine then in cinnamon & sugar mixture.

8. Place marshmallow on large end of dough – roll up to enclose marshmallow completely in dough pinching edges of dough to seal completely.

9. Place sealed side down in a cupcake liner in a muffin pan.

10. Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

11. Cool slightly before eating.

NOTE #1: You may substitute large refrigerated biscuits (tube of 10 count) for crescent rolls. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

NOTE #2: Your family may like these a lot so you might want to plan to make 2 rolls for each person

thinking of susan

I never finished posting pictures of Austin.

While Derek was there on business I was visiting with my friend Susan. Susan and I met my junior year of High School. She and Lisa quickly become my dearest friends - we spent the last few years of high school together and roomed together at college.

Susan is an amazing person and it was so fun to be able to spend time with her and her family. She took us to some great Austin locations but what meant more then visiting some cool places was being with her. Thanks Susan for the great few days we spent together!So one of the cool places we went to was the world's largest urban bat colony. Every night people hang out to watch the bats fly out from under the Congress Bridge. We didn't have a great vantage point and the night was overcast but we were still able to see some of the bats.
Susan's family also treated us to the Salt Lick. Talk about some good barbecue - it was delicious! If you ever plan a trip to Austin, I would recommend going here. Derek was in beef brisket heaven.
Derek at the Salt Lick

We also went to dinner with Susan and her girls at a place called the Hula Hut. It was on Lake Austin and had a fun atmosphere and good food.

It really was a fun trip. It could have only been better had we been able to stay longer. I would have loved more time with Susan and more time to see Austin.

completely out of order- just go with it

I'm going through pictures to see what I have missed posting during all the computer problems. I realize that these posts won't exactly be in chronological order so if it bugs you, my apologies.

The kids celebrated St Patty's Day by wearing green to school and eating their surprise green lunch. The lunch really isn't a surprise anymore, they know that I do it every year. Maybe I should skip next year just to throw them off. I made turkey wraps with cilantro tortillas, green cream cheese and turkey. I added green grapes, celery sticks with green cream cheese and any other food items that came packaged in green.

For dinner we had our traditional corned beef and cabbage. It is such a yummy meal, that we all love, I don't know why we don't eat it more often.

The kids set up some leprechaun traps in the backyard but we got no visitors this year. The kids have plans to improve on the trap designs and see how well they do next year.