A Peaceful, Friendly Moment

Doesn't it just warm your heart when you see your kids having a sweet moment together?? Here are the kids nestled under a blanket enjoying a short video together.

The Birthday Girl

I can't believe my baby girl is 5 years old today!!! My, how time flies! Originally we had planned to go to the beach, however, the weather has cooled off a bit and we decided to go to Bounceland instead. It was definitely a hit and someplace we'll have to visit this winter when we have some extra energy! It was even fun for the adults...and good exercise too! Most of the pictures I took ended up blurry because the kids were in constant motion, but here are a couple to help you get the idea.


Even Dillon was thrilled about the gifts because somehow he ended up with a couple. Thanks, Grammy!

Instead of the traditional cake, we had two birthday choices. The first was jello with fruit in it and whipped cream on top. The second is not pictured, but was a yummy lemon coconut cream pie! Both were fantastic!

Peaches!

We picked up two bushels of peaches yesterday from a local farm! Praise the Lord for farmers! These peaches will end up mostly being canned but a few will end up in the freezer and a few will end up in jam! We're sure looking forward to them this winter!

Alfredo Tofu Pasta Toss

This was soooo yummy! For so long I've been wanting to find a really good recipe to substitute alfredo sauce. This is it, in my opinion!! I hope soon to have a picture to go with this recipe.

10.5oz soft tofu (or firm is fine with an added 1/3 C water)
1 1/2 C soymilk
1/3 container better than cream cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 T olive oil
3 T non dairy Parmesan (Parma Zaan was what I used) or nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp basil

Blend everything, except basil, in a blender until smooth. Stir in basil.

Cook and drain 16 oz noodles (I used a combination of garlic and basil noodles). Serve blended alfredo sauce over cooked noodles.

This gets top rating from me!! My taste buds were happy!

SURPRISE!

We're having a baby! :)

Nope, not in the plans, but it has become reality nonetheless! If you've been following this blog, you'll remember that we had a garage sale the beginning of June and got rid of all the baby stuff. Not long after campmeeting we found out that we were expecting, thus we were probably expecting as we had our "farewell baby" garage sale. Go figure.... :)

But we've adjusted well to the idea. The kids, particularly Chaeli, are very excited about the idea. So I'm sure it will turn out to be a fun family time. Chaeli now calls me "the baby lady." And Dillon, after we had explained to him that there was a baby growing in mommy's tummy, said to us, "I'll water it!"

So life is changing, and will continue to even more as we get closer to the end of February. But it will be a good time and we will cherish the moments.

So Cozy Together....

No, they didn't sleep like this at camp, but most mornings this is how it would end up...even with one parent involved. :) It was a fun time!

Horseback Riding at Ministerial Retreat

What a blessing to be able to spend four days at our youth camp for the ministerial retreat! The weather was perfect, so were the accomodations! I didn't have cook or clean up. And the area was just gorgeous! We did have meetings and whatnot, but there was plenty of time for fun and relaxation as well. One of the things the kids wanted to do was ride the horses, so here they are. They really enjoyed it!