little things...

that I love in our house..

painted walls

an open kitchen to cook in

grilling on the back deck

finally being able to order things from uppercase living

a guest bedroom for people to stay this summer

these beauties

a garage to store things + a dart board for ben

this next door for a future playground.. or picnic area

He has done immeasurably more..

little lady

Can't get enough of this little Saisha girl.

tortilla soup!

I rely on my sister's blog or Rachael Ray for most of my recipes, but sometimes I'll whip up something on my own and occasionally it will turn out good!

Last Friday I was craving tortilla soup, so I combined some different recipes I have made in the past and ended up with this really tasty soup!

Here is what I put in it:

1 shredded rotisserie chicken
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 can chili beans (I was planning to put in pinto, but this is all I had)
1 jar green salsa
1 medium can green enchilada sauce
1 c (or so) of chicken stock

I cooked it for 20-30 minutes and topped with sour cream, crushed blue corn tortilla chips and sliced avocados.

It was so easy but so good

YUM!

Elmo!!

I got some free tickets from work to go to Sesame St. Live for the second year in a row. I was SO excited to take James this year because he actually knows who elmo is this time. He absolutely LOVED it and was basically in a trance the whole 90 min. show!

I love being able to take part in little things like this with him. I may have caught Ben singing along with Elmo and big bird a couple of times :)

my man

Ben celebrated his birthday last Saturday. We started off the day by making 2 pioneer woman recipes- apple fritters & the sleepin in omelet. Both were absolutely delicous!

After breakfast, we relaxed for a while until Ben had to go in to work since his bank got taken over the day before. Somehow he maintained a good attitude about working on a Saturday AND on his birthday.

After his work, he got in a round of golf with his buddies, and then we had a get together with some friends to finish out the day. (Leter on he got this new golf bag!)

I am so grateful for his tender heart, driven attitude, silly demeanor, and complex thoughts. My life is tremendously richer because of his presence in my life.

I love you!

we like to party, we like- we like to party!

Wow, that song makes me flash back to 2000 when a radio station in AZ played the song non stop all day after the new year.

Anyway, pretty much all we have been doing around here is partying! What a fun time of year with babies getting ready to be born and lots of birthdays!

Up first was Matt's 31st birthday.. this was the best take of about 5 different ones with someone having their eyes closed!


It seemed appropriate at the time to have Matt sit on an antique rocking horse while everyone points at him.. not sure about it now.. but anyway.

Next up was a get together for my loverbug's birthday. We put a fun spin on the get together by having people bring food in a crock pot. I have never had a power strip come in so handy.

I will post about Ben's birthday in another entry, but he deserved a big celebration since Frontier was taken over the day before and then sold to a new bank.

Anyway, the next day was my dear friend Jill's shower. She is due at the end of this month with a baby boy named Jackson.

Here she is with some of her cute loot.. I had one of my adoptive parents make the hat.. too cute!


And of course a pic on the stairs of all the ladies.


Fun times!