Boy and Blender

#8

I am thankful for kids that know how to work and my fantastic immersion blender.

 

Today gets 2 thankfuls. Last night I went looking for Andrew and found him in our neighbors backyard raking up her leaves. He even stayed through part of dinner to finish the job. So proud of him. He really is such a good boy. I am thankful he knows how to work and is willing to serve others. We are pretty blessed with hard working kids. Don't get me wrong, they usually whine and complain, but will often join in the service projects around the neighborhood. Sometimes working harder than some of the adults. ;) 

And speaking of neighborhood, we had a neighborhood dinner at our house. While making a very delicious soup I was so thankful for my immersion blender. Makes blending soups so much easier. Love that I don't have to transfer the hot boiling soup to my blender and then back to the pot again. For those of you that don't have one and make soups like this one, you need to get one of these. Best thing ever.

Oh and in case you are interested this is Tuscan Tomato Basil soup from Jamie. And for anyone interested here is the recipe.

3 T olive oil
2 large onions, diced
5 cups diced seeded tomatoes (I just used petite diced canned tomatoes.)
3 cups chicken stock
12 oz jar roasted red peppers
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 cup basil pesto
salt and pepper to taste
1 package tortellini (optional), cooked to package directions

Heat oil. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes and allow to warm and simmer. Add chicken stock and red peppers and simmer about 15-20 minutes. Add cream and pesto and blend to desired consistency in food processor*. Return to pot and add tortellini (if desired).

Salt and pepper to taste.

Perfect Fall Weather

#7

I am thankful for a Perfect Fall Day.

 

This was the most beautiful, perfect fall day. And what does one do on a perfect weather day? Run of course. I hit up one of my favorite routes. I couldn't believe I was running in capris and a tank top in November. And I had to show a picture of my big face to show how sweaty I got. Pretty huh? ;)

Loved every second of being outside.

Saved

#6

 

Thankful for Trent's mad computer skills. 

 

Tuesday morning I went to make Paige's Star of the Week poster only to find our computer not working. Nothing was on it and it was completely dead. I called Trent in a panic and he said the pictures should be on our external hard drive. I hooked it up to the laptop and couldn't find them there either. Seriously, all our pictures from our 12 years of married life no where to be found. I packed up the computer and hard drive and took it to Trent. He found the pictures in no time and started fixing the computer. So glad I have a computer guy that can save the day. Love him and love that I still have my pictures. ;)

The Last Suppers

 I am so behind with all things in my life and blogging is one of those many things. I hate when I get behind, because I hate doing catch up posting. You know, when all of a sudden you have 10 posts on google reader from one blog. Yep, I hate that. But as much as I hate it I still want our lives documented for our blog books. I love those things.

 

So onto my post. Carrying on with the thanksfuls.

 

#5

 

I am thankful for food.

 

We are blessed to have food in our fridge, pantry, and storage. We never go hungry. Quite the opposite actually. We, or I should say I, eat way too much. A couple weeks ago we went down to St. George.The theme of the weekend was The Last Suppers. I decided to try and eat better to lose the extra baggage I am carrying around. So that weekend was filled will a lot of binge eating that included a late night run to pick up some delicious chips.

 

 

And Jimmy Johns

 

After the race we hit up Smash Burger. I got the Harvest Salad, which doesn't really count as binge eating does it? It was delicious though. Oh, and I had a Nutter Butter shake, so that made up for the healthy salad.

 

That night we hit up Don Pedros, one of our favorite places to eat in St. George. Trent loved the fact that I was documenting every meal. He thinks it is about the stupidest thing ever.

 

Then Sunday morning I was treated to delicious eggs and toast made just for me. Luke loves pictures as much as Trent does.

On the way out of town we had the last of our Last Suppers at In & Out. It was delicious.

 

I got to enjoy some of my other favorite treats while down there. Mini Charleston Chews, which is a must for any road trip. Kozy Shack Tapioca pudding, weird I know. And last, but not least, Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, which I can only in in 2 places, St. George being one of those. Loved the binge fest weekend. So thankful for all this delicious food that I don't get to eat anymore....

#4

Thankful Post

 

 

We are so thankful for all the wonderful people that help with our kids. Having 5 kids so close together is a lot of work. Trent and I are always tired and ornery and need time away from The Hoard. Our family is always so willing to help us with babysitting. They really are awesome.

 

Not only do they babysit, but they do fun things with our kids. This past weekend Jill and Cameron took part of the shift. My kids love playing with them and they can't get enough of cute Mason either.

Brooke and Ben took the second shift. Once again, fun times were had with The Hoard. They get extra points for doing a craft. My kids are lucky to have these people in their lives.

 

My parents took the last shift. I don't have any pics of that, but they are saints. They took all my kids, plus Oliver, to church with them. Anyone who deals with kids at church knows how hard it is. Seriously our families are the greatest. So, so thankful for them.

#3

Thankful Post

 

 

So thankful that I have a body that allows me to run. Running is a major part of our lives. Most of our kidless getaways are for races. Glad Trent and I (and others in the family circle) have something we love to do together.

 

We headed down to St. George to run the Snow Canyon Races this weekend. Kim and I were pansies and just did the 5K, which gave us plenty of time in the morning to have a small photo shoot. The photographer didn't think we were as funny as we did....

The finish line pics. Unfortunately Brad whizzed by us in a different shirt than planned and we didn't even get to see him finish. Hate it when that happens.

 

We had some pretty good spectators cheering us on. Wish I had a picture of Teri dancing to the music though.

 

Always fun to run races in a group. I am glad a lot of the family is getting the running bug. Makes for fun times.

 Trent and I even placed in our age division. I got 1st and Trent got 2nd. We both got a couple of gift cards and medals. I already spent Trent's at the Outlets and mine is still burning a whole in my pocket.

 

 

Overall it was a great race and loved everything about it. So glad I get to have running and racing in my life.

#2

I am trying to keep up with the posting and keeping them pretty similar to my Instagratitude's as well. It just takes a lot more time to blog than Instagram.

But here is my #2

Cousins

 (sorry, missing Sarah, who didn't want to be in the pic and James, Jackson, and Jude who simply just live too far away)

(sorry to be missing James and Josh, who just happened to be in school at the time of this pic)

So glad my kids have lots of cousins. They love hanging out with them and are excited every time they get to see any one of them. Some of my favorite memories growing up our those of playing with my cousins. We had a great time. And I love that my kids are making those same kind of memories. Love having so much family and the friendships we have.

Thankful

All right. It's that time of year again. Time for my Thankful posts. I, for one, love them. Makes me focus on all the good in my life instead of the "bad." I will try and do a post each day, but with my blogging abilities as of late, I will believe it when I post it.

So for your viewing pleasure, Thankful post #1:

I am thankful for this girl. She is the best. She would do anything for me and I would do anything for her. We see each other almost every day, parent each other's children, have the same views on most everything in life, and simply just get each other. Love that Luke found himself a good one.

And tonight I am especially grateful because I wouldn't have gone running today if it weren't for Kim. She helped me get off my fat behind and hit the pavement. It's always funner to run with someone right?

Happy Halloween

 

From the Land of Horror

 

 

 

Love, Ghost Face, Chucky 1 and Chucky 2, Samara, Micheal Myers, and Leather Face.

 

Carrie, not pictured, also wishes you all a Happy Halloween.

St. George Marathon 2012

I am breaking our vacation up into a few parts. I couldn't tackle it all at once. First up is the Marathon. We had quite the crew there to watch him cross the finish line.

 

 

 Love this pic of Grandpa Brad and Oakley.

 

 

 Me and Jenny

Heidi and the children.

 

Trent beating out tube socks guy.

 

Trent had a rough run. Had some leg/muscle and bowels issues. He went straight to the massage table. Not a lot of chatting it up for him. Even though he had issues he still PR'd with a time of 2:41:11. Amazing.

 

So while we were waiting for him to recover I tried to get a shot with me and the kids. No one was really happy about it.

 

After Trent had a massage and threw up a few times we snagged this picture of him and his running partners.  They all did amazing.

And finally a group shot. Love this family of mine.

 

Another marathon come and gone. Peace out until next year, which I, for some reason, signed up to run. Eeek!

School Pictures

Here are the kids school pictures for your viewing pleasure. Mostly because I need a post and I don't have time to go through all our vacation pictures. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.

Enjoy!

 

Morgan

 

Paige

 



Oakley

 



Andrew

 



Aiden

 

Soccer

 

We have started the soccer season here at The Hoard and it has made our life total chaos. We have a game or practice every night except Friday. We can barely keep up with it all.

 

The boys are on the Green Lightning team.

 

Oakley is on the Red Race Cars. Not sure where they came up with that name.

And the girls are on the Pink Unicorns. Which Aiden informed them was dumb because all the unicorns can do is fly and make rainbows.

Here is to Soccer!

Labor Day Weekend

Over Labor Day Trent took The Hoard up to the cabin for the weekend. Unfortunately I had to work so I had to stay home by myself. I am not going to lie, it was pretty relaxing, but I would have rather been "relaxing" up at the cabin.

They arrived late and had a midnight snack.

Trent had to fit all 6 of them on one 4 wheeler. The kids didn't seem to mind.

 

They found this cute little frog.

Which I am sure Aiden either wanted to keep as a pet or try and kill it.

Some deer came up for a visit as well.

It rained and apparently the kids were amazed. It must rain differently up there.

So differently they needed a different view.

 

But since it rained they were able to roast marshmallows. Trent gets extra points for this. He hates smelling like smoke and he hates making smores.

 

They travelled to the "yelling place." The kids love this.

Trent was so nice to take the kids and entertain them all weekend. Some of his family joined him near the end of the weekend and he was so glad. They were all so good to help with The Hoard and give Trent somewhat of a break.

Speaking of how amazing Trent is I realized even more how much he does around here.

The counter stayed a little messy for a while after they all left.

The garbage was full for most the weekend.

 

My bed never got made.

And the laundry piled up.

Just had to document how awesome Trent is and how much he does to make our lives spectacular and super clean. ;)

And don't worry, I am not as much of a lazy wife as you might think. I had every thing cleaned up by the time he got home.