Sweet and Salty Chocolate Chip cookies!

SWEET AND SALTY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

3/4 C. butter

3/4 C. brown sugar

1/4 C. sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 C. flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. milk chocolate chips

1 C. caramel bits (found bagged by choc chips)

1/2 C. crushed pretzels

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugars til fluffy then add egg and vanilla.

Mix in the dry ingredients and then the choc. chips, caramel bits, and pretzels.

place spoonfulls of dough onto cookie sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 8-10 minutes

YUMMY!!!

Valentines!

My cute little Valentine! He went on a Daddy date a few days before Valentines and saw these roses and said, "those are for Mom- from ME!" He brought them in and said just that, "these are from ME!" Love him!!!

Our homemade Valentine Shirts!

Valentine breakfast!

Ry took me to our fav- Outback for dinner that weekend!

A fun dessert we made for our V-Day dinner with the kids!

They loved em!

Harmon's PTA day

This was our first outing post surgery- Harmon's PTA day where a portion of all proceeds went to our Farmington Schools. This is Mikelle's cute teacher - Debbie Pead dressed as the Eagle! Love her!

Surgery #2

Boy, February is still kind of a blur -It was a crazy few weeks for our family-- Gracie had her tonsils out which is what got the other ball rolling. She had been sick a lot with sore throats and also had sleep apneia (even at 2!) We had her in to see our ENT for her consultation. At that time he recalled that he had not checked on my nodule found years previous. Right before we movied to AZ he byopsied it and did an ultrasound to measure and said I was fine unless it started growing. He ordered another ultrasound and I went in for that. The results came back the day before Grace's surgery- The nodule had grown a lot and he reccommended surgery as soon as possible. We got her through her surgery and she did pretty well for a few days and then really spiraled downhill fast- She was on an RX for infection 3x a day and we had to literally pin her down to get it down her (I felt so bad) :( And then also tried to keep pain meds down her- Well, she started to refuse ANYTHING going in her mouth no matter how hard we tried. Which the end result was back to the hospital and rehydration. (Pic above) It was so hard to see our little one in that much pain and also have my surgery looming around the corner. Thank heavens she recovered quickly after that and then I went in. Both Grandmas were a ton of help as well as dear friends and ward family. My surgery went well. Dr. Stock removed my entire right thyroid and the nodule tested benign- :) I recovered pretty well but had an infection pop up as well as an allergic reaction to the solution they put the steri strips on with. I got my drain out 2 days later and by the 2nd week I was feeling a little more normal. I took a 3 week break from running which was hard but needed and was so happy just to know I was ok and cancer free!

The first two days the kids had been with family so that I could recover and rest. This was Sunday night when they all came home- It was so good to be a little family again and have my cuties back! I was wearing a scarf (made by my cute friend Trish) so that it covered my drain. It was not a very pretty site under there :-/ I think I had really taken my health for granted and am so grateful to feel good and was so grateful for so many sweet people that served our family!

TEXAS size!

The girls earned these treats for good report cards :) They have them at Bowmans and they are kid a fun! HUGE!!!

Cilantro-lime Vinagrette

We did a Cafe Rio Night and this was the dressing I made to go with-- It's a healthier version of the Cafe-Rio one and I like it way better!

CILANTRO- LIME- VINAGRETTE

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon spicy brown mustard

3/4 cup light olive oil

Blend the lime juice, vinegar, and cilantro in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add brown sugar, garlic, and salt. Add the mustard and mix again; turn on the blender again and slowly add in the olive oil. Blend for 30 sec. more and you're ready to go!

Cowboy Caviar Recipe

This is one of my favorite yummy snacks/appetizers EVER! I took it to a dinner party last week and many requested the recipe so here it is!

COWBOY CAVIAR

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, drained

1 (15.5 ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 C. green pepper diced

1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapeno peppers

2 avacados diced

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 cup Italian salad dressing

3/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle with garlic salt. Chill for 20 min.

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips!

Tonsil Time :(

Cute little Graice had to get her tonsils and adenoids out this week :( This was right before surgery and they stuck these glasses on for fun! They only lasted a few minutes til she handed them to the nurse and said, "Here ya go!" She was in the cutest little mood before she went in-- Dr. Stock came out after he was done and said "Those kissin tonsils are out and its a good thing" They were HUGE! But man, in recovery, she was MAD!!! She had a rough day in pain but by the end, we figured out that Mighty Mini popsicles, Top Ramen, and codeine were our very best friends!

She kept saying, "Mama! More noodles!" (Love her to death!)

Mmm mmmm good!

Grandma came out to stay the afternoon and help out while I had to run to an apt (more info on that later) :-/ And also made dinner! So grateful for wonderful friends and family!!!

She is on her way to doing lots better! And no more cases of strep and sleep apeia are headed her way :)

Melty Beads!

All I can say at this moment is #1- Melty beads are not so fun to Mommy when you play with them like this and #2- It's a good thing she's so cute!!!

A snowy Sunday!

So Saturday there was a huge storm and we woke up Sunday to the most BEAUTIFUL winter morning! It was a great day! We had a nice breakfast and then went outside-- Ry and Carter shoveled the walks and I had to grab a few snaps of the winter around us!

Cold Wintery blossoms!

Cute little man!

and my two favorite guys!

Great Grandma-

Grandma Orange fell a couple weeks ago and broke her hip! :( She was in for surgery for a couple days and is now in a rehab getting stronger so she can walk and then come home-- It's a really nice place in Midvale and we had a great night on Sunday going out to visit! She loves games so we had fun playing headbandz!

fun times!

Girl Scout Cookies!

Two of the cutest girl scouts ever! Selling their cookies together! Love these gals!

I love play dates!

I love play dates! This is Gracie's best buddy over for lunch and playing the other day! I feel so grateful to live in a neighborhood with such dear friends and wonderful kids for mine to play with!

Pres. Monson's ABCs

I loved reading President Monson's message in this month's ENSIGN! What a great direction for the New Year! I think we're doing FHE on it tomorrow night! I am working on lots of Subway art and putting together a way to post it to here so that people can download it for personal use-- Watch for it soon! Hope you enjoy!

Mirror mirror!

"Mirror mirror on the wall"

"How come my baby's no more baby at all?"

Where in the world does the time go!? Way too fast is all I can say! And that's one of the reasons I am so behind on our blog! But hey! It's a NEW YEAR! And I am bound and determined to catch up! Of course there are MANY pics that I have taken, now I just need to put them on! Little by little!

Homemade bread!

My favorite bread recipe in the world! And so easy!!! I love it and there's nothing like the smell of homemade bread in the oven!

AMY'S HOMEMADE BREAD

3 C. hot water

4 C. flour

stir in mixer til blended then add:

1 Tb. salt

1 Tb. yeast

1 Tb. white vinegar

1/3 c. oil

1/3 c. honey

slowly add another 3 C. flour and knead for about 7 min.

take dough and form into 3 medium loaves or 2 large loaves and let rise in loaf pans for 30-45 min. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

YUMMMMMMMMY!

Love baking in my own Mom's loaf pans! Still in great shape after all these years!

Family History FHE

This is our "Family Tree" I have wanted to do this for forever and am having fun adding to it! More to come-- and probably a bigger tree too! So grateful for our wonderful ancestors and all that they mean to our family! My Mom is at the top! So special to many in every way!

So for FHE this week we did a Family tree that really showed the kids a lot! They had fun filling it out with daddy!

Lots of names!

The finished product!

Love their artwork too!

Liliana's baptism!

Our cute cousin and niece Liliana was baptized this weekend! So proud of her and her big decision!

The jigglers I made to take to her open house turned out fun! Makes me feel like my Mom-- She was famous for her jigglers and was asked to bring them to any and every open house/family gathering etc. She always made them unique and special! I'm so grateful to have inherited all her fun cookie cutters and shapes!

American Girls!

Had a couple different AG play days last week! This one was Friday after I got our little fort finished! It makes for a fun new AG hang out!

Then on Monday there was no school and they had a good time playing with there dolls! I love that my girls and 8 and 10 and still love these dolls!!!

Here's my little doll helping me bake some AG size breads!

One of my fav loaf pans! Perfect for baby size loaves!

Yummy times!

And Ry came home toward the end and had fun flying our remote control helicopter over all the girls heads!!! LOL!