OK OK I"LL CATCH UP!!

I can't believe Christmas is already here. It seems like it was just January! And the last time I posted was in....June I think? Well life has been a little crazy around here. But to put it in short...Leisa had surgery and had so many complications afterwards that she lost her job due to the time off. It was during that time that Jacob and Leisa felt that this is the time to move forward with the adoption application proccess and have begun the paperwork for that! AND Leisa launched her new business with vinyl wall art called "Essential Whimsy".

BUT

More on all that later! For now I guess we should catch up on the last five months!

My sister and I have had a little tradition the last three years of spending a week of her summer break together. This year we went to DisneyWorld and Sea World together..and loved it! It's just so much fun to be able to reconnect with her and laugh and just have fun.

Love my sister to death cotton candy teeth and all!

It's a bugs life 3D

Our last day we hit Sea World and SHAMU was by far the best show...we went to it twice, it was roasting hot that day and so we hit it again at the end of the day and got soaked...The above picture is a before shot....

And this is the after ( below)

My ever patient sister waiting for probably one half hour as I try over and over again to get this shot of this adorable 6 day old dolphin ( I never did get the picture)

The new American Idol Show... it was actually pretty good, we had fun and really got in it, we will have to see how far the contestant we voted for actually gets on the real show!

Sure love you Beck! I had so much fun with you everyday! I can't wait till we have kids and can go again and share the memories and magic with them!

July fourth we had our best July 4th since we were married. We've become friends with this really great family in our ward and have "adopted" their kids like they are our neices and nephews. I was their mom's visiting teacher and everything just followed after that. On July 4th we had their family over for a great barbecue ( I should have gotten a picture of the feast!) And then we started outside with sparklers, made homeade ice cream ( thanks Shauna!) and then shot off the BIG fireworks! They are legal here to shoot them off but I didnt realize you could buy the REALLY BIG fireworks and shoot them off yourself. The whole neighborhood came out to see the show. It was so fun to see the kids expressions!

Putting the extra LARGE sparklers into the ground

( I really love this picture)

I love the look on his face after the firework shot into the air..probably a bottle rocket

Just really love this family!

Shooting off his first bottle rocket..so cute!

We had a couple of misfires go off that night...the kids were so funny..they said "Wow, We'VE had a DANGEROUS night!" I thought that was pretty funny.

YES homemade ICE CREAM!!!

I couldnt go the night without taking some artsy pictures...

Shauna and Leisa

(This is also the night I got back from Disneyworld with Becky)

Happy Birthday to me! I can't believe I'm 30 now. It's funny looking back on things in life and planing out my future.... and how its nowhere like I thought it would be as a teen. But really, life is even better than I thought it would be..bumps and all!

And yes I have short hair now.....it's been 5 months or so and I jsut am still not sure about it...What do you think?

Jacob the never ending sweeheart, took me camping the night before my birthday ( all for me to have us pack up and go home in the middle of the night .. it was hot and humid and sticky and miserable...it's not as fun to tent camp in the south for me as it is out west in the dry heat!) We then spent the day out shopping and just beign together, when we got back (and I wish I had a picture of this..but that's what happens when your suprised!) all of jacobs family and some of our friends were at our house for a huge party. Jacob rented a huge blow up waterslide and the kids were having TONS of fun out on it! We also had a huge barbecue. After the kids left Jacob and I had fun on the slide and ended up throwing a whole bottle of dishsoap on the slide. It was really just good silly fun. I dont think Ive done something like that in a long time...!

And of course my ever quest for amazing food and recipes.......email me if you want the recipes!
This spinach/Egg quiche uses Creme' Freche instead of fatty whole milk and makes the dish softer and lighter..it was really good!

Ok if you want to email me for a recipe this is the one you should really email me for! It is a (FROM SCRATCH) Banana Cream pie NO Pudding mix...but look a little closer and you will see a hard chocolate bottom, then a layer of carmel, a layer of banana cream, and fresh bananas topped with whipped topping. IT is really good...and from the TARTINE cookbook.

This chicken pizza is made whith white cheddar, jalepenos, onions, and the best part? The sauce isnt tomato...it's roasted red pepper sauce....really really good!


Ever spring since we have lived here (ok for two springs now) it rains really hard during the hurricane season and as you see to the left all the neighborhoods water gets drained down the left side of our house and into our little lake in the back ( stirring up all the dirt on the way down) you cant really tell at the moment...but we have HUGE rocks in that lake that are taller than me and at least 20 feet wide and they are totally covered. The road floods and we have to go the back way home. It's kind of comical really with no danger....I would just love it if it actually froze...now that would be fun. ( I hear our weather patterns have some possible big snow this year!)

Ever since I went on my mission to Canada I celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving along with some of my favorite foods I had then ( Yorkshire Puddings and Butter Tarts, Brussell Sprouts etc.)

This year our friends came over and spent it with us. We Brined the Turkey and I tell you what..it was awesome...that Alton Brown on food network really knows his stuff. ( One of the kids even said..normally I don't like turkey because its so dry...but this isn't and is SO GOOD!)

Halloween at our house isnt as fun as it would be with kids...but that's why we borrowed our friends kids again! They came over for trick or treating and Chili. Jacob decided to deck out our house with what he could find..I think he did any awesome job. Including his spray painted casket and killer spider web! One kid that came to our door and Jacob gave him candy said, "I dont think you gave me enough!" ( He was only about three...so it was cute)

I thought this was really clever of Jacob to fill an IV bag with blood and attach it to the scarecrow.. our neighbor yelled from across the street " Is that a catheter?" We laughed so hard...that would be a pretty rough catheter with blood in it!"

I guess this one is a little out of order...we got to spend the weekend in atlanta and hiked up this gian rock ( called stone mountain) it wasnt that far but I thought I was going to die!

Well, now you are all caught up!