Monster Jam '09!

Saturday night Nick and the boys were invited to go with some friends of ours to the Monster Jam truck show. They've never been before, and they're instant fans now. I'm not sure why they've never gone before? They even had a pit pass where they were able to walk down into the pit and get up close to the trucks. Nick forgot the camera so he took a couple with his phone, and then I borrowed a couple from Natalie's blog. :) Thanks Roos family for the invite! They thought it ROCKED!

Nick wanted me to go, but none of the other mom's were going and it didn't really sound like something I'd enjoy. So, the other mom's and I went out for pedicures and dinner. That was WAY more fun! Thanks ladies!

Look how small they look next to that HUGE truck! They were right next to it. Wow!

Here's the famous Grave Digger truck. Ginourmous!

Here's a view from their seats. Their favorite part was a car that jumped through an exploding school bus. Wow, guess I missed out! ;)

Between the pit party and the show starting, they went to go get dinner. They talked about going to Peter Piper Pizza. Well they decided to go to Cooperstown. That is the restaurant owned by Alice Cooper! Interesting choice indeed! It was a little strange in there they said! I bet!

Monster Jam '09 was a success and I'm sure they will go again next year! :)

History was made!

I'm a little late with this post, but it seems that I haven't been posting as much this month for some reason. Last week history was made, twice!

First, the Cardinals won the play-offs and they are heading to the Superbowl! Yay! It's the 1st time in 61 years, so it's a pretty BIG deal, especially at our house! Nick is a HUGE Cardinals fan. Being from Arizona he likes to support our local teams, even when they would continually lose. He is VERY happy that they FINALLY won! Too bad the Superbowl was here last year instead of this year. That would have been cool to have it be here, but I wonder how much those tickets would have cost? Hmmm? You know we will be watching it at our house and Nick is even going to take the day off of work so he won't miss it! Go Cardinals! :)

Then two days later was the Presidential Inauguration. Our new President was sworn into office. Yes, I would have preferred to have Mitt Romney in there or even John McCain, but what am I gonna do? To think about the fact that this country actually elected a black President, just shows how far we've come. That was unheard of 50 years ago and it makes me proud to be an American! I hope it works out and I hope he does a good job. He's done a couple of things already that has me worrying, but who knows, maybe he is just what this country needs. This is me being positive and supporting him. I could be like all of those Bush haters and boo him, but that wouldn't make me a very good American, would it? Let's give our new President our support and our prayers! If you're an Obama fan, please don't flame me. :)

While you're at it, pray for the Cardinals too! A win for them would simply be, well words can't describe the reaction that my husband would make if they won. I'll be sure to have the video camera on hand so in case they win I can get it all on tape. I'm sure it will be a reaction that is blog worthy. Yep, can't wait! :)

New WeBeLo!

Cole is the newest Webelo in the ward. He was official when he turned 10 in December. At Tuesday's pack meeting he received the rest of the awards that he earned while he was a bear. Also, they passed out prizes that the boys earned for selling Scoutarama tickets back in November. Jacob helped sell tickets too, so he even got a prize. Way to go boys!

Here is our big 10 year old decked out in his scout shirt with all of his cool patches!

Here he is getting his awards. I like the picture on the left cause that little girl was posing for me. She's so cute! She didn't care that I was trying to get Cole, she just wanted her picture taken! Hahaha! :)

He was so proud and so excited that he got a super cool pocket knife as his prize for selling tickets. He also earned two more belt loops and two more arrow points. Way to go Cole! :)

Jacob was thrilled that he actually received something and he's not even an official scout yet. He got a pocket sized multi tool that's similar to a pocket knife as his prize. Way to go Jacob! :)

Random Picture

I found this picture on the camera when I was uploading pictures onto the computer. I think Nick took it. It's a Star Wars character getting Indiana Jones! Hahaha! I guess that means that aliens would win a fight against Indi. So funny! Gotta love little boys!

Go Celtics!

Basketball season has started and this year the boys are on the same team! I love it when that happens and every so often it works out. Cole is thrilled to have his best friend, Alexander on the team and Jacob has his good friend Dylan on the team. Cole is a really good player and has improved quite a bit since last year. Him and Alexander make more baskets than anyone else too. Jacob has also improved since last year.

They won their first game and then they lost their second one, but they still have a few more to go! Here are some pictures! They aren't the best shots so I will take better ones at Saturday's game.

Here is Jacob warming up. He looks a bit confused, haha.

Here is Cole on defense!

So proud of you two! :)

Cream Cheese Chicken Recipe

I've been slacking in posting new recipes. Truth be told, I haven't made anything new in awhile. Just making things I've made in the past that my family likes. Tonight I decided to make something new that I found on the internet. It was REALLY good. It's a lot like the Crock pot chicken that I make, except a couple of ingredients are a little different.

Ingredients:
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-1/2 cup chicken broth
-frozen chicken pieces (4-5 breasts, or 8-9 tenderloins)
-1 packet of Italian salad dressing mix
-2 cloves minced garlic
-1 block of cream cheese (to add later)

Directions:
Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred. Shred the chicken with two large forks, and mix in the block of cream cheese. Switch the crock to high and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted. Serve over fusilli pasta. So easy and so yummy! :)

Hiking anyone?

Friday the kids had a half day so we decided to go to South Mountain to go hiking. It was a BEAUTIFUL, warm day! Our friend Lynda invited us to go with her so she wouldn't have to go by herself. It's a pretty easy hike and the boys did great! They kept up with no problem at all. It was 79 degrees outside and I even got quite warm while hiking! Where is all the cold weather? I'm not ready for it to be this warm yet. Isn't it still January?

Lynda and I at the top. There was still another 15min to go until the very top, but we were almost there at this point!

Nick and I at the same point.

The boys at the same part. Such a great view behind all of us!

Here are the boys at the very top. That is the lookout tower that you hike to and there are benches in there that you can sit and rest on.

Here we are headed back down the mountain, from the backside (I don't like that view), and then from the front.

Another one of us heading back down.

Cole and Jacob resting on a rock.

This cactus is almost as tall as Cole. :)

Here is Jacob standing next to a painted rock.

Another one of us coming down the mountain.

Their faces are kind of dark, but it was a cool picture of them standing by a Saguaro cactus.

We all had a GREAT time!

Get your groove on!

The other day the boys were rocking out with their iPods. Cole hates being videotaped when he's dancing around cause he gets embarrassed, but I grabbed my camera any way and filmed them both. Don't mind the blanket in the way every once in awhile with Cole's. I kept hiding the camera every time he would turn to look at me. It was all a secret taping. :) Jacob doesn't care if he's taped at all. He hams it up for the camera even. They were so funny!

This one is Cole. Like I said, ignore the blanket in front of the lens every so often. :)

Now here's our ham, Jacob! He even pulled out the guitar to help him rock out! Ha! :)

What's Your Favorite?

Since it's a New Year, I thought that I would ask the kids what some of their favorite things are. I do this often, but I have never documented it. Since they've gotten older, I thought that maybe things have changed with them, so here is what they have to say to some common questions.

Cole
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite pastime: Playing the Wii
When I grow up I want to be: A professional baseball player
Favorite book: Magic Tree House Books
Favorite song: Super Massive Blackhole (Twilight CD)
Favorite movie: Star Wars 3, Revenge of the Sith
Favorite thing I got for Christmas? Star Wars Legos
Favorite shirt: Brandon Webb Diamondbacks Shirt
Best Friends: Alexander and Dylan S.
Favorite subject at school: Math (he is a freak when it comes to math, no joke, really good!)
What do you like most about yourself? I'm good at sports
Favorite candy: Hershey Bar
Favorite food: Barbeque Chicken
What's the best thing about 4th grade: My teacher and friends

Jacob
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite pastime: Playing the Wii
When I grow up I want to be: A police officer
Favorite book: Spiderwick Chronicles
Favorite song: Super Massive Blackhole (Twilight CD)
Favorite movie: Star Wars 5, Empire Strikes Back
Favorite thing I got for Christmas? Star Wars Clone Wars Helmet
Favorite shirt: Pirates of the Carribbean
Best Friends: Dylan T, Derek R, Ethan, and Noah
Favorite subject at school: Language Arts (wow, he sounds like me, I liked this too!)
What do you like most about yourself? I'm funny
Favorite candy: Twix
Favorite food: Chicken Farfalle and Goulash
What's the best thing about 2nd grade: Get to play with friends

Things I learned from these lists today:
1. My boys LOVE Star Wars!
2. They both LOVE chocolate!
3. They like the same song (no I didn't influence them in that choice at all)
4. Cole loves baseball, A LOT! Jacob doesn't like sports near as much
5. They are different to when it comes to school. Jacob doesn't care for math at all, like me!
6. They are similar in ways, but also quite different.
7. I discovered I was right, some of their favorites have changed, especially since Christmas!

I did not coerce my boys into any of these answers. They came up with them on their own. I know that their love of chocolate comes from me though and they also like the Twilight CD, well because honestly, I play it in the car quite a bit. :)

Happy New Year!

On New Years Eve we had Cole's friend birthday/New Years Eve slumber party. What fun we had! He invited 3 close friends, and we all had a really good time. They played their favorite Star Wars battle game complete with Lightsabers and nerf Clone guns. They chased each other around outside with Lightsabers and had a great time. We had pizza for dinner and then when it got dark we went outside and sat around the fire pit making smores. I guess that was the camp ground where they could go for a break as they continued playing their Star Wars battle game, haha.

Then they played Legos inside and took turns on the Wii. Alexander is awesome on the Wii and beat everyone at bowling until Dylan played against him and wound up beating him. Dylan was the champ at Wii bowling. I think they bruised Nick's ego a bit cause he told them they aren't allowed to play the Wii with him anymore when they come over again. He's joking of course, but he didn't seem to take it well when the boys beat him. I thought it was quite funny! :) I wish I would have taken pictures of them playing the Wii, but I was having too much fun watching them! :)

We had a cool Star Wars cake and ate that and opened up presents at about 9pm. Dylan fell asleep around 10pm only to be woken up by Mason before Midnight so that he could ring in the New Year with everyone. They went outside at Midnight and made tons of noise. I had horns and noise makers for them and those confetti party poppers. Finally they all fell asleep around 12:30am. Ahh, finally it was quiet! ;)

The next morning I made pancakes and eggs for everyone and they continued their fun Star Wars battle game outside in their jammies. They didn't even sleep that late. They were up around 8:30am. What? I thought they'd sleep in after staying up so late the night before.

Here's the 4 of them playing their Star Wars game. They all took turns wearing the helmet. In this picture, Mason is the one wearing it.

Here they are watching and helping Cole open his presents.

Check out that cake! A lady in my ward made it. It's the volcano scene with Anakin and Obi Wan from the Star Wars 3 movie. It had lava and white chocolate mountains even. It wound up being a little bigger than she had planned, but it was so cool! The boys were a bit excited I think. :)

Here is our Birthday Jedi! :) I can't believe my little boy is 10! Where has the time gone? We love you Cole! :)