It's official!

I have cleaned out my diaper bag and I am giving it a final resting place in a Second Hand store!
I have used this diaper bag since Bo was 3 months old. I bought  it at Cabela's of all places! I really liked the design and it worked great. But I am sick and tired of packing a huge and heavy bag everywhere we go. So now I just use my purse for a diaper or two and Bo has a little toy bag we put a few toys in for him to play with when we go somewhere. It works great and it is way less heavy! And also takes up less room in the truck!

There he is in all his glory!

Five Question Friday

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky to appear Friday morning! And, most importantly, HAVE FUN!!


1. Have you worn the same outfit more than one day in a row?
2. If you had to choose any LARGE city to live in, which would it be?
3. Fly or drive with the kids on vacation?
4. What is your idea of "spring cleaning"?
5. What is the best book you have ever read?
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1-Yes I have. One of my favorite vacations is when we ride our horses into the high mountains and camp by a lake. We pack everything we need up on horses, so I wear the same outfit 2 days in a row so my horse doesn't have to pack more than she needs too. I have also worn the same outfit in normal situations too, like if I LOVE an outfit and no one I know really saw it the first day then I will wear it the next day so everyone can see it!


2-First of all I have to say that I am a SMALL town girl!!! I live in the town I grew up in and we do not have a stop light! And I love it. I am not a fan of big cities at all. But I would have to say I think Salt Lake City. Just becasue it is close (2hrs) to my home and my family. All my family lives in my town and I love living near my family. Plus I have never lived farther than 2 hours away from home.


3-Well so far we have just drove. I like to drive and see the country. When I was a kid we always drove because there were 7 of us total in the family. This May however we are going to take my 2 year old son and 14 year old stepdaughter to Mexico with us. So we will see what flying is like with kids. I think that Bo will be just fine as long as I have things to keep him occupied on the plane. He is a good little boy.


4-Well for Spring Cleaning I usually clean out my closets and get rid of cloths that don't fit us anymore and make room for the summer cloths. I like to get my carpets cleaned too.


5-Wow, this is a tough question for me. I have read so many good books it is hard to choose just one. I haven't read an adult book in 2 years either lol just kid books. Some of my favorite childrens books are the Waterhole, The Gruffalo, Andrew Henry's Meadow, and Dooley and the Snort Snoot. I guess the best book I have read lately is, Stepmonster, by Wednesday Martin. If you are a stepmom this is a great book!

Menu Feb. 15th to Feb. 28th

Time for a new menu. I didn't really find anything from last times menu that I can't live without. In fact I tried some that I know I will NEVER make again! But that is the fun of trying new recipes.


For the Superbowl Tracy wanted to make egg rolls. He had an idea to make them "better" than how I make them. So we tried them his way. They were a little better than the originals I have to admit. We are still in the process of making them even better. I will keep you all updated on our egg roll quest!


Here is my new menu for the rest of February.


Tuesday, February 15th
Lemon Pepper Chicken with a side and a vegetable


Wednesday, February 16th
Spaghetti with green beans and garlic bread


Thursday, February 17th
Sandy's Mexican Chicken with corn


Friday, February 18th
Chicken Flautas w/Avocado Cream Sauce with salad
Found this on my friends blog


Saturday, February 19th
Taco Soup


1 can chili
2 small cans tomato sauce
1/4 to 1/2 lbs hamburger
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
chili powder to taste
Mix all together and simmer until hot. Serve with cheese, sour cream and Frito chips


Sunday, February 20th
Mexican Meatloaf with fried potatoes

2lbs ground beef

2 c. crushed corn chips
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2/3 c. salsa
2 eggs beaten
4 tbs. taco seasoning or 1 package


Combine ingredients. Shape into loaf and put in crock pot for 8-10 hours on low


Glaze:
Mix 1/2 c. ketchup, 2tbs brown sugar, 1 tsp. dry mustard. Spread over meatloaf and cook on high 15 minutes. I always make a little extra of this because its so yummy


Monday, February 21st
Leftovers


Tuesday, February 22nd
Meatballs and Gravy with a vegetable


Wednesday, February 23rd
Beef roast with potatoes and carrots


Thursday, February 24th
Crazy good lemon chicken
This recipe looked so good I had to try it. I found it on the red couch recipes blog

Friday, February 25th
Lynda's crock pot chicken and broccoli

Saturday, February 26th
Shepard's pie
I tried a recipe for Shepard's pie a few weeks ago that had garlic and cream cheese in the mashed potatoes. I tried it and I didn't like their meat mixture but I love the cream cheese in the potatoes so I am going to use my recipe which I love and just add the cream cheese.

Sunday, February 27th
Leftovers

Monday, February 28th
Tacos

Meet Me on Monday

This is my second Meet Me on Monday. Thanks Java for putting it together for us!









Questions:


1. Did you get any Valentine's Gifts?
2. What is your favorite topping on something toasted?
3. Do you pick out your outfit the night before?
4. What food item do you absolutely despise?
5. Righty or lefty?
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1- YES!! This is the BEST Valentine's Day present I have ever received!! A 2 page hand written letter from the love of my life!! He had it sitting in the bathroom for me to find when I woke up this morning! I love, Love Letters!


2-Hands down PEANUT BUTTER!! I love peanut butter on anything. When I was pregnant all I could keep down most mornings was peanut butter on toast.


3-Not usually unless we are getting up early to go somewhere fun, like before we leave on vacation.


4-MUSHROOMS!! Oh gross, who ever decided they were to eat was up in the night!! YUCK! This is one food I will never MAKE my kids eat!


5-I'm a righty.

Cookies and Bo

For Christmas my brother and sister-in-law gave me come cookie cutters and a recipe for sugar cookies. The cookie cutters were so cute! Some were animals: a cat, dog, duck, pig, and a cow. Then the alphabet and numbers.


I thought it would be fun to make some sugar cookies and then take them around to all of Bo's cousins and grandma and grandpa.


First I need to tell you that I am NOT a baker!!! I don't really make cookies. Tracy doesn't like sweets and I don't like to make them so we get a long great!


But I thought oh this will be fun and Bo will like to make them. And this is what good moms do with their kids.

I mixed up the dough and remembered I didn't have a rolling pin. So we head to the store in town, only to discover they don't have rolling pins. So I head to the other store in town and nope they don't have one either. So I learned that you cannot buy a rolling pin in my small town I live in.


My little sister happened to mention that she made sugar cookies and she didn't have a rolling pin either so she used the saran wrap roll to roll out the cookies. So that is what I used too. So glad she mentioned that!

Anyway after much trial and error I finally got the cookies cut out and baked! Now came the frosting and all the fun!

 We had a lot of fun making cookies! We made each person the letter their name starts with and then we made them each 2 animals. Bo loved it and he talked about each family member as we made their cookies. I did buy a rolling pin at Wal Mart so now I am prepared for the next cookie day!

A New Appreciation

I have a new appreciation of my mom and moms with more than one child! I recently watched my brother's kids for 3 1/2 days while him and his wife are with my parents and my sister and her husband in Mexico for 9 days on a tour. I will have them again on Sunday night until Tuesday morning. There are 2 boys, 3 and almost 2 and a girl 5. My little guy is 2. So I had 4 little kids home ALL. DAY. LONG with me. They are good kids and they played so good together. Bo loved having them to play with. He usually only gets to play with me most of the time. I know that if I had 4 little kids like this it probably would have been easier as they usually come one at a time and you grow with your kids. But all at once is an eye opener for sure! I didn't go anywhere for the 3 days until my stepdaughter Brooke got home from school. Then I would hurry and run to the post office and home again. I did not want to load up 4 kids in the cold and leave for 5 minutes and then come home. 
Their other Grandma came to watch them for a few days and when she picked them up Bo cried and cried. He misses his cousins he asks me when are they coming back.
This has been a great experience for us both and I am thankful for it!!

Just out of the tub. Bo on the Right cousin on the left

Lunch time at the Zoo!

They really did play so well together. It was so cute to watch and hear them play.

                                                          

Five Question Friday

Rules for 5QF: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky to appear Friday morning! And make sure you have fun!


Questions for Friday, February 11th: (Special thanks to Sandy, Rachel, Pam, Rene, and Colleen for their question suggestions! If you would like to be linked in a future 5QF, c'mon over to my community and offer up your best question suggestions! Feel free to shout 'em out on Twitter, too, if you'd like! Hashtag, #5QF, and @5crookedhalos me! [i.e What's your favorite color? #5QF @5crookedhalos])


1. Would you rather be on ABC's Extreme Home MakeOver or TLC's What not to Wear?
2. Do you have any tattoos?
3. Do you tell your kids about things you did growing up?
4. If the traffic signal turns yellow, do you stop or speed up?
5. What's your preference: chocolate or chips?
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1- I am not really all that into fashion. I know that I probably need some help in that area but I like my cloths. I am not totally out of it I just like to be comfortable. So with that said I will most definately have to say ABC's Extreme Home Makeover! I would love a new house!

2-HECK NO!!! I HATE, HATE, HATE Needles! THere is no way I would sit there and willingly let someone do that to me.

3-Well my little boy is only 2 now but yes I do tell him about somethings that he would understand. I will tell him about more things when he gets older. I loved my life growing up and I want him to know about it!

4-I used to speed up all the time. Now that I am a mom and drive mostly with my little man it depends on how far away I am and how fast I am going. But I usaully stop.

5-Hmmm I love salty plain potato chips!! But I also like chocolate too. But in the store if I buy me a treat it is chips. So chips win.

Wordless Wednesday

This is my first Wordless Wednesday

We were at a state drill team competition ALL.DAY.LONG! Bo was so good the whole time we were there.

New crafts are finished

Here are my new Valentine's Day crafts finished. They were so fun to do and I think they turned out great!

 I love this post. It is so fun to hang different signs on for the different seasons. And yes those are Christmas lights but it is fun for Valentine's Day too!

Meet Me Monday!

Meet Me Monday Blog Hop





Questions:

1.  Did you watch the Superbowl?
2.  What is the last book that you read?
3.  What is your favorite kind of cake?
4.  Do you snore?
5.  Do you play an instrument?
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1- Heck YES I watched the Superbowl! I love to watch the Superbowl for the actual game. The commercials are a bonus for me. I was not really enthused about the teams in the Superbowl this year all my teams lost in the playoffs. I was cheering for Green Bay and I was VERY VERY VERY happy they won!! I didn't really think the commerials were as funny as they have been in the past though.

2- Umm the last book I read was Bambi gets lost. LOL. I have a 2 year old and I don't have much time for reading novels right now. But I do love to read books.

3-My favorite cake is Cheese Cake! Is that really cake?? I love all kinds of cheese cake. My favorites are plain and apple struddle. My least favorite is chocolate cheese cake. Which is weird because I really like chocolate!

4-Let's see. I woud say NO of course I don't snore. But I had to have my adenoids out when I was little because I woke the dead when I slept! LOL. I don't snore much now but when I sleep on my back or if I have a stuffy nose I will snore a little!

5-I took piano lessons for 8 years when I was younger. I can play a little bit now. I wish I could still. Taking lessons again is on my list of things to do.

This was my first Meet Me Monday post and it was really fun!! Thanks Java!

They found it

The birds finally found our bird feeder we made! We made it and put it outside on Saturday. We waited and watched and for the first few days but no birds. Then it snowed on the feeder and I was afraid it would ruin it. I went out and brushed the snow from it and watched some more. Then this morning I noticed some movement out the window,  I looked and YEA! There were 3 little birdies fighting over the food. I told Bo and he came running over and we watched them for a while. He was so excited and he cried when they flew away. But they keep coming back every few minutes.

The date is wrong again on my camera.

If you look close you can see all 3 birds. 1 is flying between the railings and the 3rd on is on the post to the far right.

This is so fun to watch for the birds to come and then watch them eat the food!

Menu February 1 to February 14

Here is my new menu. I asked Brooke to help find some recipes for our menu she picked some yummy recipes.


Tuesday, Feb. 1
Ham and Poato Scallop


Wednesday, Feb. 2
Fettuccine with 2 cheeses(Brooke picked this one)


Thursday, Feb. 3
Pizza Meatloaf (Brooke picked this one)


Friday, Feb.4
Orange chicken rice bowl--I can't wait to try this one


Saturday, Feb. 5
Brooke's State Drill Team


Sunday, Feb. 6
SUPERBOWL
Eggrolls again, Tracy loves them! He has some ideas to make them better. I will let ya know.


Monday, Feb. 7
Southwestern chicken & pepper wraps


2 T vegetable oil
1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into strips
1 medium red pepper cut into strips
1 medium green pepper cut into strips
1 small onion(I don't ever use onions)
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 cup water
1 cup black beans rinsed and drained, optional
1 cup uncooked instant rice
8 flour tortillas 8 inch


In medium skillet over medium- high heat, heat half the oul. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until no longer pink and juices evaporate stirring often


Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining oil, peppers, onion and cook until tender-crisp, stirring often. Add soup, water and beans. Heat to a boil. Stir in rice. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.


Spoon 3/4 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla and fold.


Monday, Feb. 8
Harris Family chili


Tuesday, Feb. 9
Leftovers


Wednesday, Feb. 10
Navajo Tacos


Thursday, Feb. 11
Chicken and Salsa Pizza


Friday, Feb. 12
Lasgana(Brooke picked this one)


Saturday, Feb. 13
Leftovers


Sunday, Feb. 14
Corkscrew casserole this is one of my favorite casseroles!


1 package corkscrew noodles
1/2 c onions
1/3 c green peppers
1 T butter
1 can Spam diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c ketchup
1/3 c cheese I use more


Mix all together and bake at 400 for 30 minutes