We LOVE Banana Bread!!!

I have found a new favorite banana bread recipe. Long story short - My mom's visiting teacher brought her a loaf of banana bread and told her that it was one of Martha Stewart's recipes. My Mom loved it and told me about it. I looked the recipe up and tried it today. It is SO yummy and way easy to make.

Note: I used my Pampered Chef mini loaf pan and the recipe made 3 mini loaves. I only had to cook them for about 40 minutes. Enjoy!! http://www.marthastewart.com/banana-bread

Do you want to win a FREE Moby Wrap?

I saw this product on a friend's blog and I'm interested in trying something like this now that I'm going from 2 to 3 kids. I have never used a wrap before, but I like the idea of keeping my hands free for the 2 older kids. Check out the website on how to enter to win a free Moby Wrap of your own: http://bab-i-licious.blogspot.com/

Random Pictures - Update

We FINALLY got our garden planted this past weekend!! We planted corn, peas, green beans, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, green onions, tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, and carrots. We also got some raspberry starts from a friend in the neighborhood to grow some raspberry bushes too. It was a lot of work and Kaya really enjoyed putting the seeds in the rows. We should see the first signs of growth in about 8-10 days. I'm excited and hope our garden actually grows. We planted 4 fruit trees this year too. Apple, Pear, Peach, & Apricot. I don't think we'll see any edible fruit for a few years but we LOVE fresh fruit and vegetables and I'm excited to have it growing in our backyard!!

This past Saturday, Aaron got to go play in the desert with fellow geocachers. They went on a 70+ mile ATV ride through the west desert to find caches and have a good time. Aaron borrowed an ATV from a co-worker so that he could participate. They saw 2 rattlesnakes, lots of other desert animals and had a fun time. Aaron is still saving his money to buy himself a big boy toy!!

On Friday, May 30th, our Church Primary group had a bike safety activity. About 60 kids got together to learn about bike safety and to take a group ride. The big kids rode around the neighborhood and the little kids rode around the church parking lot. Kaya and Logan rode their scooters. They had a lot of fun riding around with the other kids.

The above picture is of Kaya and her friend, Belle. Belle is actually about 6 months younger than Kaya but she's 1/2 Polynesian. Belle is one of Kaya's favorite friends to play with. Kaya likes to go to Belle's house and play dress up with all her fun dress up clothes.

The video below is of Logan riding his scooter home. He is almost 22 months old and has mastered the scooter. We had to go out and buy Logan his own scooter because the kids would fight over Kaya's ALL THE TIME!! I wanted to wait until his birthday in August - but I couldn't take the screaming and fighting anymore. It's pretty funny to watch him ride. He's better than Kaya on the thing!

After the bike activity, Kaya's friend from across the street came over to play. Her name is Hailey and she is about 2 months younger than Kaya. They also go to church with us. They have a good time playing house and dress up.

Kaya's good friend Whitney recently moved to the other side of the foothills to a town called Saratoga Springs. (About a 20 minute drive) Kaya has been asking about her friend every day for the past 2 weeks since we told her they moved. We get to go visit with them next week. Whitney's Mom told me today that Whitney has been collecting rocks from their backyard to "show Kaya". We miss them already!!

One of my favorite parts of living in Utah is the awesome thunder & lightning storms that roll through during the summer. The picture below was taken at about 10:30 in the morning just shortly before the storm rolled over us. We had thunder that shook the house during this storm. I LOVE it!! We have been trying to teach the kids to enjoy it too and not be afraid. Logan LOVES to swing. I had to drag him in before the rain started. Look at the awesome clouds in the background!!

Heather had a busy Memorial Day weekend at work. Over the course of 2 weeks they received a total of 4500 Chrysanthemum plants. Finding room in the grocery store, keeping them watered, and cleaned up was a HUGE task. Very overwhelming!! Memorial Day is a big holiday here in Utah with people buying flowers for family members buried here.Aaron's mom came up for the weekend to attend a funeral. On Memorial Day Monday, we had the opportunity to attend a memorial service in West Jordan for veterans. Governor Jon Hunstman was there along with Senator Orrin Hatch. They had a Blackhawk helicopter on display. The service included a 21 gun salute, bagpipes, and a Blackhawk Helicopter fly-by. It was a VERY wet and rainy day but we were touched as people paid tribute to all the veterans that have died for our country's freedom.

Tag....Kaya is it

1. What is something mom always says to you? “Put your toys away”
2. What makes mom happy? “If you do something right” (We talk a lot about choosing the right.)
3. What makes mom sad? “If you don’t do something good to your brother or sister”
4. How does mom make you laugh? “Make funny faces”
5. What was mom like as a child? “A Baby” (I guess it’s hard to picture mommy as anything but mommy.)
6. How old is your mom? “I don’t remember” (Good answer!)
7. How tall is your mom? “I don’t know”
8. What is her favorite thing to do? “Sit outside” (At least she didn’t say sit in front of the computer!)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? “I don’t remember that part”
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? “I don’t remember”
11. What is your mom really good at? “Helping me on my Princess Game”
12. What is your mom not very good at? "On driving” (What?!?! How would she know?)
13. What does your mom do for her job? “Make flowers”
14. What is your mom's favorite food? “Burritos” (Um…okay.)
15. What makes you proud of your mom? “If you do something good to sisters or brothers” (We were having the talk about being nice to our siblings this morning.)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? “Mommy” (See #5)
17. What do you and your mom do together? “Play some games or play outside together”
18. How are you and your mom the same? “My hair is getting longer” (I’m not sure she understood this one.)
19. How are you and your mom different? “Because we don’t seem to match”
20. How do you know your mom loves you? “Because Mama’s nice to me.” (Awww…thanks Kaya!! We’ve had a good morning so far!)

That was a fun little quiz to do with Kaya. I wrote her answers exactly as she said them to me. A few of the questions I had to explain to her so that she understood what I was asking. I tag anyone that would like to take this quiz with one of their little ones!!

Family Day out With Thomas

Today we took the kids to Heber City to have a "Day out With Thomas". Here they had a life size replica of Thomas the Tank Engine. He travels all over the United States visiting various train depots. We purchased tickets to actually ride the train (provided by the Heber Valley Railroad) that was pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine. The train ride was only about 20 minutes but the kids had a great time seeing Thomas. The weather was cool and we managed to make it through our time there without getting rained on. The kids enjoyed the activity area, getting temporary tattoos, and getting balloons. We even got to take a ride on a "Speeder" which is a motorized vehicle that was used by rail workers to get around. (Before the fancy trucks and SUVs with flanged wheels used on the tracks.) There was just enough room for our family and the driver. The kids really got a kick out of that! We stopped for lunch at the Dairy Keen aka The Train Restraunt where we had good lunch and yummy ice cream treats. We did a little bit of geocaching around the area and then headed home. Both of the kids racked out on the drive home. We had a fun day!!

MMMmmmm.....Good!!

My friend Sara from high school has a recipe blog and I've been wanting to try one of her recipes for some time now. Tonight we tried her Crockpot Chicken Taco & Fry Bread recipe and it was a two thumbs up hit with my family. It was easy to make, smelled good while cooking, and EVERYONE liked it. We even had some left over fry bread to make dessert. You can find the recipe at : http://saracoloradorecipespot.blogspot.com/ Here's a picture of how ours turned out: (Notice Heather's fine paper china - A bonus come clean up time!!)
A picture of Logan showing his satisfaction with our meal tonight.
A bonus picture of Kaya from Sunday. They like us to take pictures just so they can see themselves on the screen of the digital camera. Therefore, we get more silly face pictures then anything. Here's one that turned out nice.

Better-than-Almost-Anything Cake

My brother emailed me for this recipe today and I thought I'd take a minute to share it with everyone. This is one of our favorite desserts and sadly enough - I usually only make it once a year for Aaron's birthday. This yummy dessert is such a sweet treat!!

Prep: 10 min * Bake: 35 min * Cool: 15 min * Chill: 2 hours * 15 servings

1 package Betty Crocker SuperMoist German Chocolate cake mix

1 1/3 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1 jar (16 to 17 ounces) caramel or butterscotch topping

1 container (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 bag (8 ounces) toffee chips or bits

1. Heat oven to 350*. Generously grease bottom only of 9x13 pan with shortening.

2. Make cake mix as directed on package, using water, oil, and eggs. Pour into pan.

3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes.

4. Poke top of warm cake every 1/2 inch with handle of wooden spoon. Drizzle milk evenly over top of cake; let stand until milk has been absorbed into cake. Drizzle with caramel topping. Run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.

5. Spread whipped topping over top of cake. Sprinkle with toffee chips.