Blue Chairs :)

I did it! I talked my husband out of helping his brother tonight and into going on a date with me! That sounds awful. He is helping his brother tomorrow. Maybe. But, I did get to go to Ikea and get some new kitchen chairs. Here are a few pictures of the lovely things. I am so happy! I don't have to worry about my chairs breaking when someone sits on them because my kids tipped in them too much. These are all one piece and a beautiful light blue color. And we bought 4 of them so no one has to sit on the wooden stool anymore.

Aren't they beautiful? I love this color.

Even Cohen likes the new chairs!

Here are all four chairs around my table. I think they look rather nice, don't you?

Tomorrow should be a good day. It's our annual stake women's conference and I'm excited to go. I am missing cub scout winter camp so I can attend the conference, but I think they have more than enough leaders going. And the featured speaker at our women's conference is Jenny Phillips, an LDS musical artist. I'm really excited. I will try to post more about it tomorrow.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

One of the best things about being a mom is putting your kids to bed! Then, getting in a hot bubble bath and relaxing with a good book. Especially after cleaning the kitchen, doing 4 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, and straightening up the family room. Oh yeah, I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, too. Productive day I think. Even though I didn't take a shower.

The best part was having my husband come home and comment on how nice the house looked. That made the whole thing worth it! Now we'll have to see how long it lasts. I don't feel like cleaning like this very often, so the house tends to get neglected.

Tomorrow is Friday. I am a happy person. Fridays are good. I'm hoping I can talk my husband into a date night. To my favorite place. You guessed it. Ikea. We really need to get some new chairs for our kitchen table.

One of my least favorite things to do as a mom will hopefully happen on Saturday. Getting the kids to clean the basement. It hasn't been done for a while and it is a mess! Colby will be at Cub Scout winter camp so maybe it will go smoother than it usually does. I should take before and after pictures. Then I can show the boys what a good job they did.

I will try to be better at posting on here. My life is crazy (not as crazy as some) and this gives me some therapy.

Happy Valentine's Day

Oh, I am soooo pathetic! 10 days since I last posted on here. I think I had delusions of grandeur trying to post on here everyday. That is just not happening. The life of a wife and mother is not in sync with posting to a blog everyday unless it's your job. Here are a few things that have happened since the last time I posted on here.

We were invited to a Super Bowl party at my sister-in-law's house a little over a week ago. They also have 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls. They have a large, plastic, playhouse in the basement and Cameron thought it would be funny to try and fit in it. This is what happened.

We are thinking of putting it on America's Funniest Videos. I think it's pretty hilarious.

Today is Valentine's Day. A little bit more special day here at our house. It is the anniversary of when Gary and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. Hence, the change in the picture. We went out on a date on Friday night since Valentine's Day is on a Monday this year. We went to a Date Night with Matt Townsend. He is a relationship guru! He has a show on KSL radio on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and he makes appearances on KSL's Studio 5. He is hilarious and makes working on your relationship fun not boring. I won the date night on Facebook. We want to go to another one.
So, since we already had our Valentine's "date", I decided to make a special dinner for the whole family. I broiled steaks, make Parmesan risotto, steamed asparagus, and yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. It turned out so perfect! Everything was ready at the same time and it all tasted delicious. I'm not sure if the risotto tasted so good because we haven't had it in so long or if I just made it super good this time.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day and in the words of Doug Wright "hug everybody that you love today." (something like that)

6 pounds!

So, I didn't make my goal of losing 10 pounds in the 10 Pound Challenge I entered on Studio 5. I did however lose 6 pounds in 4 weeks. This to me is still a victory. I have never lost weight this fast. I love the menu I received when I first signed up and the trainer who was over the challenge sent me a really good workout called Build your own Boot Camp. I really makes me work hard. I like it better than the P90X video we have on the TV because I can do it while my 3-year old watches whatever he wants to watch. I am going to continue to use the menu and the workout until I reach my goal to FINALLY lose all my baby weight from all 4 of my kids!

Tonight, we tried pizza from a new place I heard about on Facebook. It's called The Pizza Stop and it's on 2700 South in Magna. We ordered The Magna. It has Colosimos sausage, black olive, pepperoni, and bacon on it. It was fabulous! So yummy! I only had one small piece and half of another small piece. Very good for me considering this pizza had like all my favorite toppings on it. Here is a copy of their menu from facebook. Next time you're in the mood for some delicious pizza, you should go here.

Chicken Lasagna Casserole

Okay, I know. By definition, lasagna is a casserole or as my relatives in Minnesota would say, a hot dish. But sometimes, I get lazy and I don't want to be bothered with lasagna noodles and all that hassle. Like last night. Sometimes, I want lasagna, but I don't have the time for lasagna. And since one of my children doesn't like ground beef, we used chicken in the sauce instead. It is pretty tasty and everyone likes it. And just like regular lasagna, it tastes better as leftovers.

So here's how you make lasagna "casserole". The only thing you do differently is instead of using lasagna noodles, you use a short-type of pasta. Like shells, rigitoni, elbow macaroni, anything like that. Cook the noodles according to the package. Then mix the cooked noodles with the ricotta cheese (I use ricotta because I think it tastes better. I think it should work the same if you use cottage cheese). Then just layer the sauce and noodles mixtures alternating with cheese. Then cook for about 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted. Easy Peasy! And super delicious. So much easier than traditional lasagna. I've even made this with a white sauce instead of red. Try it the next time you're craving lasagna but don't have lasagna noodles.