girls night out

Last night I went with some friends to see The Proposal. It was hilarious! Both characters were really funny.
There were a few swear words, and they both showed more skin than necessary for the shower-collision scene... and Ramone, well, he showed way more skin than he should have. But other than that, it was all good! Very funny lines. I laughed out loud a lot.
I'm planning on making Jason take me on a date to see it again! (You're so sweet to say yes honey!)
I had so much fun with the girls... let's do it every month at least!
I love Girls' Night Out! (No offense Jason.)

locally speaking, who are my friends?

that's right... it's amish friendship bread time again!

for those of you who have had it, you know how deliciously yummy it is.
for those who have not had it, you are missing out! this bread is the yummiest bread you'll ever have. (it's not like sandwich or toast kind of bread, but a sweet and treat kind of bread.)

my invitation is for anyone who would like some, don't feel obligated by any means, but if your sweet tooth is hankering for some amish goodness, let me know. i'll have more to give away every 10 days until jason gets sick of eating this every other week!

one final word: delish :)

discovery of the ears

So for about 9 months now, I have been trying to figure out where Livia's ears came from.


Neither Jason nor I have ears that pop out on top like hers.

And then Shelly came back to Utah, and the first morning she saw Livia, after not seeing her since she was about 2 1/2 months old, she said,

"Livia has Dad's ears!"


And I've decided she is right!

Do you agree?

D.I. run

I love finding fun cheap stuff at the D.I. Isn't it great?

the parking ticket (not mine- this was an email)

The other day I went downtown to run a few errands. I went into the local coffee shop for a snack. I was only there for about 5 minutes. When I came out, there was this cop writing out a parking ticket.

I said to him, 'Come on, man, how about giving a retired person a break'?

He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. His insensitivity annoyed me, so I called him a 'PIG.'

He glared at me and then wrote out another ticket for having worn tires.

So I proceeded to call him a 'doughnut eating NAZI.' He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

Then he wrote a third ticket when I called him a 'moron in blue'.

This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I talked back to him the more tickets he wrote.

Personally, I didn't really care. I came downtown on the bus, and the car that he was putting the tickets on had one of those bumper stickers that said, 'Obama '08.'

I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm retired.

The doctor tells me that it's important for my health.

happy firecracker day!

We had a fun-filled weekend for Independence Day. Here are a few of the highlights.

Thursday: We got together with almost all of the Cooks at Seven Peaks. It turned out to be not-the-best-day-to-go-to-a-water-park kind of day. It was overcast and rainy for pretty much the whole day. Even though there was a lot of shivering going on, we still had lots of fun.


This is Shelly's little girl, Skye.


Friday: The Cook girls got together to have a girlie party. We ate some yummy lunch, then a sister of my sister-in-law came and helped us make bracelets, earrings, and necklaces.

Of course Skye and Livia had some catching up to do...


This is the bracelet Livia made... or maybe I made it for her. She was having a hard time getting those tiny beads on the wire...


Saturday morning: We re-visited our favorite duck and fish place.

Are you surprised that Sam and Jason caught lots of fish? Again.


Livia and I just chilled on the blanket.


Saturday afternoon: Jason gave Sam his very first cap gun. He's not quite strong enough to pull the trigger, but he still likes to chase Maggie around and pretend to shoot her.


Happy Cooks.


What's the 4th if you don't have a little celebration beverage?

Hooray for Root Beer!
And Root Beer foam!

We only bought a small amount of fireworks, but Sam loved them all.


And apparently so did Maggie.

And we only got one owie from the whole ordeal.


We call that a successful Firecracker Weekend!

dinner bell....

Grandmother's Pork Chop Dinner


Ingredients:

• 1/4 pound bacon
• 4 pork chops
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into thick slices
• 1 cup water
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet with a lid, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until cooked through but not crisp, about 6 minutes.
2. Place the pork chops, onion, and potato slices into the skillet with the bacon and drippings, and pour the water over the ingredients. Cover the skillet, bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.

PREP TIME	10 Min
COOK TIME	35 Min
READY IN	45 Min

pound puppies

So, what is it with my kids... they appear to be canines of some sort.

Liv keeps taking bites out of my new plant.

Ok, so maybe that means she's a rabbit or an herbivorous dinosaur.



Sam has been acting like a dog all morning. He keeps asking me to put his 'leash' on and tie him up to anything and everything.

He is currently tied up to a mega-blok. So glad that he is restrained...

9 months old

One nice week

(This is an actual bill board along I-94 just west of Steele. I knew Jason would enjoy some ND humor.)

This past week I flew to North Dakota with Sam and Livia to go to my Aunt Donna's wedding. I was a little worried about getting two kids there without Jason's help, but they did pretty good. Fortunately it was a direct flight from Salt Lake to Bismarck.

Waiting to board the plane. (They are in PJs because we arrived at 11 pm.)



Sam got pretty restless on the plane so he buddied up with the flight attendant. She was so sweet and patient with him. She gave him a personal tour of the plane. Right before we got off she showed him where the pilot was... but he didn't stay long enough for me to get the picture on time.


Looks like seasoned travelers...



We spent the first night at my parents' apartment in Mandan, so we got to see Nancy, a very close family friend. The kids played on the pony until my dad finished his half day working.


As always, we had to stop by the local cafe, Carol's Kitchen.




Jason finds it funny that Carol is the owner, the chef, the waitress, and the cashier. This is Carol: (yes, she is sitting at the table with us)


And this is Carol eating our fries:

She gave us extra because she forgot who I was. And then ate some.

The hours board made me laugh. (Look at the closing time for Mon-Sat.)

At least Carol was willing to let me take pictures... even though she told me what she thought I could do with my camera.... (I won't tell you since this is a family friendly blog.)


Another usual.... stopping by the bank. The bank ladies always love the company of the kids. If you're wondering... yes, the kids are behind the counter. They're pretty chill there.


Sam and Preston were just wild and crazy.


Our next adventure took us to the Tuttle Store.


Just to give you an idea of the size of this store... this is the entire produce section.


This was new since my last visit. I laughed out loud.


The left side of this formerly-refrigerated section is now a lil' bookstore. You can read the books and then bring them back. The right side is a lil' craft store. I love Tuttle. (Go ahead all you North Dakota knockers.... let the jokes begin!)


A major highlight for Sam was my Uncle Duane's 4 wheeler. He spent a lot of time at the farm with us, most of the time giving rides to the kids. Sam loved it!



Now for the main reason I went... My Aunt Donna got married! She married a great guy, my new Uncle Mike. Welcome to the craziness, Mike!


The happy couple:



Congratulations Donna! We're so happy for you!

My little cutie:


Sam had a lot of fun with Jill's little boy, Preston. I was worried they would fight, but they didn't all that much. They were pretty much inseparable... and I now know what the term "double trouble" means....


Livia with her Papa:


And her Nana:

This is at the airport when we arrived in Bismarck, Sammy was so excited to see both Papa and Nana.




Just a little glimpse at their week long fun together:

pink lady livi

A couple of days ago, I got a surprise package in the mail. I opened the box to find this beautiful quilt.

It was a gift for Livia from a good friend of mine, Lisa Giles. Lisa moved to Arizona a while ago, but is still so thoughtful and sweet to use her amazing talent to send my baby girl a quilt. Lisa is one of the best quilters that I know... I am so lucky to have such great and talented friends!

When I showed Livia, she gave me a huge smile! I think she likes it.

Thanks Lisa! It's beautiful! We love it!

June highlights thus far

Since the computer had a little issue last week (ok it was a big one... but almost taken care of,) I have been a little behind on my busy blogging world... sorry this one will be long.

At the beginning of June, as noted in an earlier post, we had our baseboards put on. In order to get the entire main level, we had to pull the washer and dryer out. So I decided it was the best time to get the 1/2 bath/laundry room painted.

Before:
After:

I finally got around to sewing curtains for the kids' rooms. Hopefully they'll sleep in later now that it's a lot darker in there!

Sam's room: (obviously since Lightning McQueen is his latest hero)
Livia's room: (aren't little girls all about sunshine and rainbows?)
Jason made a swing for Sam....

which he loves!

And so do his little friends.

Another project we have been avoiding the tackling of.... removing the strange, and very large chunks of concrete in our yard... this picture does not do justice of the amount that is in there...

We rented a jack hammer from Home Depot and Jason worked on breaking it all up for about 3 hours. (I helped a little too.)

Fun broken up chunks, ready for removal:


On Sunday, June 7, we went to my sister, Ronda's house for dinner. Another sister, Jill had just arrived in Utah the night before.

All the Danielsons were there too. The Danielsons are basically our family... yet there is no actual relation. I won't go into all the similarities now, but most people in our lives have always gotten us confused with each other.

The four of us girls on the couch are me and my sisters. The four on the floor are the Danielson girls, and the two Danielson boys are on the ends.


And then, we have all the kids....
not as cooperative as the adults. Apparently Sam likes to show off his bare side more than his face. Little stinker. The rest of the kids did pretty good though!

Serena was helping Sam hide his cake and ice cream.
A random shot of the party:


We also celebrated some birthdays. Ok, so there were a lot either recent or soon to come, so we just sang Happy Birthday dear Everyone. (But Jason's birthday was the next day, and Alycia's a few days later, so that's where the whole idea started.)

Jason, being a goof, and not letting me get a decent picture of him, like usual.

Too much cake for Livi?
For Jason's birthday, on June 8th, I wanted to surprise him by picking him up from work and taking him out to Lunch on the Lake. But due to the awesome rain.... we ended up going to a movie instead. We'll do lunch another day. I'm sure we can find something else to celebrate!

I thought my flowers all died. But I am again seeing some sign of life in the rose bush!


On Monday night, my sister, Jill and her family came down to stay with us for a couple of days. There is an excessive amount of snails around here, so Braden and Kari found about 150 snails and put them in a bucket.
Then Sam saw it. In his head, the only reason you'd put something in a bucket, is to dump it out again. Hence, the next picture. Preston agreed with Sam.
Yeah! A sandbox playmate!
Kari and Braden loved the swing.


Another long day for Livia. (I honestly do give this kid naps in her bed!)

For Jason's birthday we got him a new bike. I convinced him to use the toddler seat, and Sam was happy with the results!

And so was Maggie.
And so was Mommy. :)


Livia has been helping me blog today.


She's getting a little bored now.

Ok, cranky Hank says it's time for Mommy to be done.


Happy June!