My new favorite dinner - thank you Pioneer Woman

There is a dish at Outback that Dave and I love. It's called Alice Springs Chicken. It's so delicious. It's this grilled chicken with a honey-mustard sauce; the chicken is smothered with mushrooms, bacon and cheese. Mmmmm. We usually split it, usually go pick it up and bring it home to eat. We've gotten it on special occasions like when the kids are not home and we are. But, it's expensive to go out dinner so we haven't had it for a very long time. A while ago I came across this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's blog. It looked delicious and it sounded a lot like the dinner from Outback we like so much (minus the mushrooms). I tried it a few times and really liked it, but last night I tweaked the recipe a little bit and liked it even more than before. Did I just say I "tweaked" a recipe from The Pioneer Woman? Yes. I sure did. Her food is great, but I don't think she would mind me changing it a little bit. And I am giving her full credit.

The sauce: The last time I went to the store all I could find was Honey Dijon mustard and last night I didn't have enough for the full 1/2 cup. So I used 1/4 cup Honey Dijon and 1/4 cup regular mustard. The rest of the sauce I kept the same (and it is sure yummy).

The chicken: Before I marinated the chicken I reserved some of the sauce. My husband likes to dip his meat.

Cooking: I don't know why but I hate cooking chicken in a pan on the stove. So instead, I grilled my chicken and it came out so perfect. Then I put the chicken on a baking sheet and spooned a little of the honey-mustard sauce on each piece, then added the bacon and cheese; put it in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. Oh and I cook my bacon super crispy.

It was the best dinner. I served it with warm potato salad and roasted broccoli. It was so delicious I don't think I'll need to go to Outback anymore. And maybe next time I'll try it with the mushrooms. I think The Pioneer Woman should try it with mushrooms, because I know how much she loves them.

My favorite pictures of us

Dave and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this year. Some of my favorite pictures are the ones of the two of us. Once, when we had first started dating Dave's roommate, Blake, wanted to take some pictures of us. We went up to Mt. Charleston for an afternoon and he took pictures with one of those old fashioned cameras that used film. No editing required. What he took was what we got. He took some great pictures that day and for Christmas that year Dave gave me a frame with three of the pictures we took that day. That frame is in our room now. The one here is my favorite picture of the two of us. My very favorite ever. I think it's because we were newly in love. We were happy and we had all these possibilities and future plans ahead of us. Even though we weren't engaged yet, I think we both knew we were getting married. Blake also took our wedding pictures. I loved how excited we were to sit down and look at the proof sheet and pick the wedding pictures we liked best. We got some good ones. The two here are my most favorite of all. I just like how simple they are and that they focus on us. In our bedroom all of the pictures we have are just of the two of us. We don't have a family picture or pictures of the boys in our room. Our room is all about us. I love keeping it just our place, where we can go and look at these pictures we took so long ago and remember how it all started. And I love that the look Dave has in his eyes in these pictures is still what I see when he looks at me today.

Fun summer

It's getting close to school starting again and I keep thinking about how much we've done this summer. We moved, we went on 2 vacations, spent time with family and friends, went swimming almost every day, celebrated Kids Day with my parents and my sister and her kids, we've gone to the library, had little outings here and there. I LOVE that we have the pool. It's been so fun to watch the kids learn to swim and really enjoy it. And it's nice when they are bored to tell them to get their swimming shorts on and go jump in the pool. We love when friends or family come over to swim. We still have a few weekends to have friends over and enjoy the time off before school starts, though. It's been such a fun, busy summer. Here are a few pictures of some of the things we've been busy doing:Dave and Colin at the Las Vgeas mini city in Lego Land. The boys could have looked at this stuff all day long. Logan actually climbed the fence, into the Las Vgeas land and tried to play with a Lego truck.
You can tell my the look on their faces that the boys were getting tired. It was a long day but we had a great time. We went with some friends of ours and really enjoyed the time we spent at the park. Colin loved the roller coasters and there was something for all of the kids to enjoy. We'd love to go back again before the kids get too big.The boys' bathroom! I painted it one afternoon and then recruited my dad to put up beadboard. I love how it turned out. Now I just need to get some decorations for the walls and some new towels. We'll put hooks on the beadboard for the boys' towels. I can't wait to decorate another room in the house.

The biggest little family in Reno

A while back we found out that Dave's sister, Debbie, and his brother, Don, would be in Reno at the same time this summer. We made plans for Dave to fly to Reno to be there as well, but last week, a few days before he was planning on leaving, we decided we'd just all drive up so the whole family could go. Here was our weekend:

Thursday - leave Vegas at 3; stop for dinner at 6, then back on the road and make it to Dave's parent's house by 10:30. Hug everyone, get the boys in pjs and the floor ready for them to go to sleep. Everyone asleep by 11:30

Friday - Up and getting ready by 7. Visit with Dave's sister, Debbie and her 3 girls. Help make breakfast. Dave's sister, Christy and her son Zach arrive and the baby sister Stephanie comes. More hugs. We start eating because the rest of the family is late. Dave's brothers and their families finally get there. More hugging. More eating. The dad's take the kids outside to play. The girls stay and make sandwiches for lunch. We head to the marina to play at the park, swim, play in the sand and eat lunch. Cody gets rescued by the lifeguard. Home to get ready for family pictures and get on the t-shirts Dave's dad had made for everyone. Off to take family pictures. After pictures we discover Carrie's car got broken into and her purse is stolen :( Back to Dave's mom's house. We hang out and talk, the kids play. BBQ for dinner, talent show, brownies and homemade ice cream.

Saturday - Debbie leaves at 7 that morning to fly home with her girls. Breakfast. Take kids to park to play. Meet everyone at Dave's mom's house. Eat leftovers for lunch. Make plans for the day. Go to car show. Kids play in water and get soaked (and Colin was wearing pants). Go watch dirt bike races. Go to Stephanie's house. Make more plans. Go to Andy's house for BBQ. Kids watch movie and play, grown-ups outside talking. Make dinner. Eat. Talk, eat some more. Go home. Go to sleep.

Sunday - up by 7. Eat breakfast, pack. Leave Reno around 9, stop for lunch around 12:30, get home around 5.

It was a great family reunion. So good to see family we have not seen for 5 years. The kids were able to meet cousins they have never met before. We decided it won't be another 5 years before we get together again.

Testing....testing....

A while back, I got a letter from the school nurse. It said that Colin had a hearing test at school, did not pass it and I needed to take him in to see the school district audiologist. I took him in twice to get tested. He thought it was super fun and loved going. It was recommended that I take him to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor for further and more advanced testing. At first I didn't think it was a big deal. He could hear fine. The audiologist told me he could have trouble hearing the "s" at the end of words or the "th" sound or whispers. But still I wasn't too concerned. Then we went to the movies last week to see Cars 2 and throughout the movie Colin had his fingers in his ears claiming it was too loud and hurt his ears. So I called an ENT doctor and got him in. He went in today and they did similar tests the audiologist did, the results were a little different. The doctor wants a different test done next week and then it's back to see him a week after that to see how the results were. All these tests. But, as we left the doctor today, Colin licking his Watermelon Tootsie Pop (I didn't even know they made those in watermelon) he said, "That was fun! Can we come back?" I'm glad he liked it.

Home sweet home

Trevor said the prayer last night before bed. He said, "Please bless our house to be like the temple." That is what his lesson was at church. When he said that I smiled because I had a lesson on that the week before and I remember during that lesson thinking about this house and comparing it with where we've lived before and knowing that there is a different spirit in this house. It has nothing to do with the house itself, but more with what we've omitted from our house. We've done things a little differently here which, I feel, has allowed us to have more peace and love in this home. Over the last three weeks that we have lived here I have seen my kids play together more and get along better. They spend more time quietly playing in the playroom or their bedroom, they spend more time reading or drawing. I even catch Trevor sitting on his bed flipping through his scriptures more often than he used to. Dave and I even use our time better and I've been more patient with my kids, more calm with them. And the only thing that has changed, the only thing we have done differently is that we no longer have the distraction of the television. Dave and I decided when we moved to no long have cable. We wanted to save money but we also wanted the kids to watch less television. I will admit using it as a babysitter, as a way to keep my kids busy so I could get things done. But I have since realized what a distraction it used to be and how little control I really had over what my kids saw when they watched TV. My kids still watch cartoons or movies through Netflix on the Wii but now they watch one show a day instead of 20 and they only get to see the things Dave and I have picked for them. And I think one of the biggest blessings is that they no longer see commercials. I feel like we disconnected from the world a little bit and I love what that has done for our family. I don't want to raise my kids in a bubble where they never get to see or know what's going on around them. I don't want to deprive them of things or protect them so much that when they leave our home they have no idea what to do because they haven't been exposed to things. But what I do want for them is to know that their home is different. That when they are out in the world and they get overwhelmed or hurt, angry, frustrated or a little beat up, they can walk through that front door and feel that something here is different. I want them to think of our home as a safe haven, a place where they are loved and protected, a place where they can escape from the worldly things. I want them to want to be home. It really is amazing to me that one little thing like the television can change the feeling and the atmosphere in our home so much. And that being a little more disconnected is bringing our family a little bit closer together.

Water babies

When Dave and I first considered this house to buy one of the things we worried about the most was the pool. We were nervous about living in a house with a pool especially since our kids did not know how to swim. They've had swim lessons, but they've not had a lot of time swimming and were not too comfortable in the water. But, the more we talked about it, the more we thought maybe a pool could be a good idea.
We brought the kids swimming before we moved in. That was about three weeks ago. That first day swimming Trevor wouldn't put his face in the water because he was still a little scared and he didn't like getting his ears wet. Logan just played on the top step of the pool and had no interest going any further into the water. Colin was more adventurous, but still nervous about going too deep and drowning.
Since we moved in, the kids have gone swimming almost every day. And every day they've gotten more and more comfortable. Yesterday I took a video of them swimming for the first time. I mean really swimming. They are learning so fast and they were so excited with their new skills. I think they'll just get better and better and before we know it we'll have three little fish.