Cookout

So this weekend we had a great time with our friends Dave and Shawnette, at a cook-out at Saguaro Lake. W got out there at about 5:30 or so and just enjoyed being outside, sharing some laughs, and good food. The foil dinner which consisted of chicken and veggies(thanks shawnette for the new recipe) was delicious, and then of course berry cobbler and ice cream to top it all off!! Kenzie had a blast chasing around the dog Rusty, and then decided to start tree climbing. Everytime we go camping or have a cook out Kenzie ALWAYS ends up walking over the charcoal that was used to cook the cobbler. So, yet again, another pair of her tennis shoes have burns in the bottom! Then on Saturday, Dave took Garrett out on his bass boat and fished a lake called San Carlos. They caught about 12 Croppies and then had the pleasure of fileting them all.

Garrett and Dave using survivor man skills to start a fire

Rusty the dog, Abbi, and Kenzie just chillin eating grahm crackers

Kenzie tree climbing

Garrett and his catch for the morning!

Big Girl Bed...

Does anyone have any suggestions of when to move your toddler to a twin bed? Kenzie is almost to that point, however I am afraid that all it will be is a fight to keep her there! Any ideas?? Tips??

Presidents Day Hike

So since we had the day off we decided to go to Silly Mountain and do some hiking! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being with Garrett's sister Misty.
Everytime Kenzie puts blankets on her head it reminds me of a nun! She looked really funny and everytime I see this I have to laugh!

The Past few weeks...

Well things have been pretty good, just lots going on!! As with everyone else now- a-days, I am not sure I will be staying at my school next year, so the quest begins. Hopefully I can find another part-time job that is as great as mine now!! I should know next week if I am staying or going!!

Garrett is super busy with school and his calling in Young Mens. It seems that time with Daddy has dwindled but, I am so proud of all his hard work!! He is such a great student! He is also doing awesome in his quest for better health. He continues to run and stay motivated in eating better!So far he has lost 20lbs.!! He is stoked to be weighing in at 197!! It helps to have a spouse motivated and commited to being fit and eating healthy!! He has helped push me to do better too!! :) I am doing pretty well and am feeling soooo much better getting back on track with exercise. It is hard when you get in a streak of being busy and not motivated!

On Thursday, Kenzie fell down some stairs(3) and nailed her mouth pretty good. She was bleeding from the top of her two front teeth, and her lip was enormous and purple. So, that was a sad day for her and her last at the baby-sitters house. Her upper lip was huge and to humor it up, it looked like she had a lip job. Or even a "Who" off of The Grinch who Stole Christmas... Kenzie-lou-who!!

Saturday we went with some of Garrett's family to the Renaissance Festival. It was pretty neat minus the million girls who wore costumes that about let the ladies fly out!! We saw a sword swaller, a juggling show, jousting, hypnotist, and ate some great food!! Poor Kenzie couldn't leave without an injury-during lunch she slipped between the table and bench, and of course, nailed her lip yet again causing even more swelling and bleeding! That was twice in three days. Poor Baby!!

She did get to pet and hug a pretty goose! As well as..

rode the biggest horse she had ever seen!!

Her and I with a Fairy at the Festival. Kenzie was totally intrigued by her music playing and had a puzzled look on her face when the fairy wasn't talking back to her? I guess it takes a special kind of people to work there?!! That was evident!!

Here she is with a music playing dog (or "Fra"as kenzie would call it) that flaps his ears. She loves pushing the button!My Nanny in Charelston sent it home to her!!

Have a great week everyone!!!

School...

Has been great so far!! My two classes are online and i will have plenty to do!! For those who don't know what I am talking about, I am working at getting my Masters in Elementary Education!! i want to up my pay, but also have the flexibility to teach in the classroom or in P.E.!! So I am sure that I will be crazy by the end of the semester, but It will be worth it!! Who would have thought that I would continue school?? Wish me luck...

My First QUILT!!

i have never been much of a seamstress, but i have been wanting to try quilting so I could make some cool blankets. So, I did it. My mother in law helped me a ton-thanks NITA you rock!! It was started on Saturday and i finished the top of it by 1pm on sunday. Not too shabby!! I made it for kenzie so it is a horse/cowboy motif!! I think that she is going to love it. I still need to put on the border and have it quilted, but I am pretty proud! If you are a craft store lover I am sure that you have experienced the following: you have a idea of what you are going for- a few yards of fabric, and then you wander into another department and then start thinking of all the cute things you could make but probably wouldn't get to for months!! that was me every time I went into Joannes!By the way, hobby Lobby is just as addicting!! They have some killer sales!!Here are some picts of the almost finished product...

Christmas Day

My family has a tradition that a sheet is put up in the hallway to block everyone but "Santa" from seeing the tree on Christmas morning. So, it was fun this year to be able to tape Kenzie holding up the sheet and running to some gifts that santa had set out for her to play with! She was so cute!!

Another tradition that my family has is that you receive new pajamas to wear for Christmas. So here are all the cuties in their new pajamas. Too bad the only one holding still was Evelynne. Garrett got his Christmas wish for Nike Shox!! Thanks Santa!!

Kenzie playing with a cute set of Dinosaurs. Once she pulled out all the dinos she handed them all to Grandma so she could move on to the next toy. So needless to say G-ma became her storage for toys!!

Later on we had a great dinner, dessert was an Italian cream cake that I made, and then games. It was a great time and had a blast spending time with everyone!! Thanks for everything!!

Christmas Eve

Rock band was a HUGE hit this Christmas! We all got to play and sing. Here is Garrett singing "La Bamba" from the top of his lungs!! Thanks Karl and Kasey for bringing it!

Now turn and cough...

My older sister and her beautiful family!!

Kenzie and Carson deemed it necessary to pull out all the toys! They had lots of fun playing together!

We had a great time with our appetizer bar, gingerbread house decorating, rock band, movies, and of course game playing. My dad did a great job making food with his great fryer!! Wings and chimis, it doesn't get any better!!

Craft Project gone wrong...

Have you ever made the decoration out of clear plastic cups and christmas lights? Well, that is what Garrett was attempting to do when he came to realize that the size cups we bought "were one size too small" (what movie)!! So, 10 dollars, and 72 cups later we have not even half of our christmas decoration!Oh well better luck next time!

Miss Destructor

As we laid Kenzie into bed she decided to throw her head through the rail of her nice crib!No, through the rail really?? You might be asking yourself, but it is true, she threw her head back so hard that it snapped the slat in half. So to ensure she didn't get hurt on it in the middle of the night we had to ghetto wrap it together. Hence, the plastic wrap to protect the wood, craft sticks to sturdy it, and tape to hold it all together. Patience is a virtue!!

Thanksgiving Fun

Our Thanksgiving was spent up at Garrett's parents house up in good old Winlsow! I spent most of Thanksgiving day baking the 6 batches of homemade gingerbread so that we could make houses later that night. as you can see I had some great help with the rolling of dough and cutting out the pieces!! Thanks to all involved!!Here is the fam decorating their houses with the assortment of candies and homemade icing cement! If you need a good recipe for cement frosting let me know!! This was awesome and tough as nails!!

Here we are going out on the four wheeler. Kenzie has a cow trying to put her on the four wheeler and then when you start going she has a blast!! She loved riding between Garrett and I and even got a turn driving!! When daddy wasn't looking and talking to Grandpa she decided it was time to go and hit the gas~what can you say she was ready to roll!!

We had a great time being with everyone and spending time together!!

Santa

Here is Kenzie's first visit with Santa Clause. She had fallen asleep on the way over and wasn't so sure about it all!! But she still looked cute!

Our cute Kenzie

Lately, kenzie has been up to the typical 2 year old crap! She loves to tell us "No", she wants to do everything herself, throws herself on the floor in a tamper tantrum, loves saying "stinky daddy" even when she is the one that smells, every animal she has gives other toys a ride, rufuses to use the tiolet but will take dolly to use it, if she eats something she doesn't like it gets spit right out, ect.

On the other hand she is a great helper putting laundry away, loves to see all the animals at Bass Pro or wherever we are at, loves to be chased and tickled, is a total daddy's girl, acts like little miss mommy to her doll and dogs, tells garrett that the people on Rocky are "not nice" (because they are hitting), when we walked into the temple visitors center and she saw the Christus she looked in awe and said "wow", and the only part of a prayer she can say is "amen".

Despite the battles and sticking firm in rules, she is such a great joy in my life and I am so blessed to be a mom. Here are some great pictures I took today...

For all you salad lovers..

I made this great salad tonight and man it was good. So here is the recipe (there are 3 recipes to this salad so sorry)...

Island Pork Tenderloin Salad

Tenderlion:

16oz pork tenderlion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh garlic
1 1/2 tsp. tabasco sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. stir together salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon. Coat pork with this rub
3. Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat and brown pork, turning about 4 mintues
4. Stir together brown sugar, garlic, and tabasco and pat on top of pork. Place in pan and cook for 20 minutes.

Cumin Vinaigrette (this is a very small recipe, if feeding more than 2, make sure to double or triple recipe)

2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. orange juice
1 1/2 tsp. dijion mustard
1/2 tsp. cumin powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil

Whisk together and refridgerate ( I made mine the night before and let it refridgerate)

Island Pork tenderloin salad

3/4 orange peeled and cut
1 1/2 c. fresh spinach
3/4 red bell pepper cut into strips
2 tbsp. golden raisins
1 1/2 c. napa cabbage, shredded (I used iceberg)

Put salad together and top off with slices of pork and then drizzle dressing over top!!

This is a bit spicy!

Enjoy!!

Rub a dub dub

kenzie and daddy had too much fun with the foam tonight in the tub!! I am not sure who had more fun, kenzie or daddy?

Smoked Ribs anyone??

My dad finally got him a "hands free" smoking machine!! This Bradley Smoker is all automatic, you put the meat in, set the timer, fill the tower with wood briquettes, and let it go. It was great! It will automatically put in a new briquette to burn and will shut off once the time is up! We had a great feast of ribs and brisket. For the first round it was good, but have time to prefect it before the holidays!! Good job Dad!!

Halloween

Our cute cowgirl heading out to fill her princess bag of candy!! It was a rough start of the night, but she had fun taking candy out of people's bowl, whether they handed her some or not!

Welcome to phoenix Yoda! Dad did a great job playing the part, but scared Kenzie!

Kenzie at Dance

So our cute cousin Morgan invited kenzie to "bring a friend" day at her dance studio. Kenzie was constantly going all over the place and not standing where she was supposed to. The dance teacher was really patient with her and she had a great time.

High Heels

As I am folding laundry Kenzie has decided that she needs to be wearing my high heels. Daddy is in so much trouble if a 2 year old has a shoe fetish!

Saturday-O- Fun

First we dressed up Kenzie and took her to the Bass Pro Halloween. It was kind of a let down, but she had fun painting a pumpkin, seeing the "fishies", and playing a fews games.

Then, my parents came over and saw us. Kenzie loves to see "Bampa" as she calls him! She enjoyed seeing my mom too, who has been gone for 6 weeks.

Then we went to the ward trunk-r-treat and fall festival! We saw so many people we had never seen before, but it was really fun to see my primary kids all dressed up and some of the parents were decked out too! Good thing my parents were there to help pass out the glow bracelets! There was a whole bunch of kids- who knew we would go through 150!!

Here is Kenzie in her cute cowgirl costume. She looked really cute and has become quite attached to her new boots!

Heres the Fam!!

A new syrup for breakfast foods

Try this great syrup recipe with waffles, pancackes, or french toast! It is AMAZINGLY good!

Buttermilk Syrup
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. butter or margarine
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine all ingredients except the vanilla and bring to a boil. Let gently boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla immediately. Serve warm!

***USE a large saucepan, because the syrup rises up and will spill all over your stove top and burner. Trust me, I know!!!

Updates

These past few weeks seemed to have flown by!! I cannot believe that the semester is more than half way through! I have been playing volleyball once a week with some other girls and that has been a blast. I have realized how out of shape I am but it is a great way to have some competition and be having fun! my teammates are all really great and I just love it! Garrett has been super busy with his calling in the church. He is in with the Priests and helping with all the scouting and activities. He is doing such a great job but there is always something going...meetings, mutual, training, camp trips. he is totally in his element! The first week of October I had a fall break so kenzie and I headed up to Winslow and visited Garrett's family. We had a great time and kenzie enjoyed playing with her cousin Rhyan! While we were in Winslow garrett had a big camping trip with his boys. He had tons to do in preperation for it, but once they got there they had a great time! they shot guns, fished, ate lots of food, and had fun doing it. i have had the bug lately to decorate and bake!! Anyone else? It seem like fall gets me all in the mood to bake. Garrett and I made some paper mache decorations for the house and Kenzie loves them. We made a cat and painted him and Kenzie thinks that she needs to hold it and cover it with a blanket. Here she is with him...

Kenzie is saying more and more as well as her tantruming more and more. If she doesn't like wha we say she just lays on the floor...no matter where we are! So many times I have to pick her limp body up off of the floor while everyone watches!! We bought her some cute boots for her cowgirl costume for halloween and she has become quite attached to them. She just loves to wear them. Here she is getting ready to go on a wagon ride with her boots on...

i will post pictures of her on Halloween!! She is going to be adorable!

Something is wrong with this picture!!!

Prostate Check-up in the Wild!!

Garrett, you lucky dog...

Tonight after class Garrett walked out to go get his bike only to find that the bike was gone and is bike lock, left cut in half. He walked to his truck pretty bummed about his bike, that we had been putting some money into, had been stolen. So, he began his ride home and while crossing through Rural and University, he sees his bike next to the bus stop canopy. He furiously pulls the truck onto the sidewalk, throws the truck into park, and approached the man sitting next to his bike. (I am sure at this point he is going on adrenaline alone!! )The man denies that the bike was his and tried to walk off. Garrett called the cops, they showed up, and oddly enough the man got away. Turns out that since the man was not touching the bike, Garrett couldn't prove it was him who stole it. When Garrett got his bike back, he looked and the man that stole it had alreadybegan tearing things off of it to deface it. So, when all is said and done, at least Garrett got is bike back and now we get to invest in a much better bike lock to prevent further theft! What a blessing though. What are the odds that Garrett would find his bike that was stolen 20 minutes before he got out of class!

While in Charleston...

I hitched a ride with my sister and her new baby. Kenzie of course sat in the backseat with the baby and a few occassions the baby was really upset about being in her car seat and not being fed immediately. As Eve is screaming, i could hear cute little Mackenzie saying, "Baby, baby crying. Shh,Shh,Shh. " and of couse i heard her say " hey, hey baby, hey". She was so diligently trying to get the baby to stop crying. She is such a cute little girl. And it makes me laugh that she was saying hey to Eve, because that is what I will say when I pick her up and start to calm her down. Kenzie doesn't skip a beat. She picks up on everything that I do.




We needed a day of distraction while we were there and i wanted to take Kenzie to do something fun, so we headed out to Folly Beach one afternoon. Kenzie had such a blast chasing the seagulls, and of course scooping up sand and throwing it. She enjoyed being in the water and playing with her cousin Carson, who loved to follow her.

Here is Kenzie trying so hard to catch the birds!

I do think that she is looking more like me!?

Cousins just glued to the tube! They both were totally tired!!

So, my sister Kim, who doesn't have any kids got put with me and Kenzie to share a room. Thanks Kim for being so flexible and having fun with us. Despite kims ability to instantly get Kenzie hyper and all riled up, she is the best aunt ever. Kenzie loves her so much. She cried when kim would leave her! i love you kim!

Carlton Tabor Woodard December 17, 1927- September 11, 2008

Papa fought a good fight with cancer for 13 years and on September 11, 2008 his struggle here on the earth ended and he returned home where his family members were waiting for him. I have many special memories of my grandfather that I will cherish forever!

Kenzie and I flew out of Phoenix last saturday to attend his funeral back in Charleston, South Carolina. All of my siblings and of course my parents were all there to attend the funeral. I was able to visit with Nanny, and my heart just ached for her. I can't imagine the heartache she has right now. All I could do was to hold her hand and let her know I was there for her and tell her that I loved her. I am really glad that I brought Mackenzie with me. She definately helped to lighten things up and brought a smile to her great-grandmother's face.

We were able to have a family viewing before all the friends came, and it was so hard to see a loved one lying there. i am a cry baby anyways, but death is hard for me. Regardless of the plan of salvation and the assurity of me seeing him again one day, I hurt to know that he is gone, and to see who he left behind. The one thing that brings me peace and comfort is that his pain and struggle is over. He is happy and I know he is watching over us! After the viewing, the funeral started and then off to the cemetary. All of us granddaughters sang "I am a Child of God" before they lowered the casket.

Overall, the funeral went well and I know that my grandmother was pleased with all who came to pay their respects.

Salt Lake City

So we headed up to Utah over the labor day weekend to see my sister who had her baby, and to be there for the blessing. We had a great time seeing everyone, went up to Mill Creek where we hiked and ate dinner, had the blessing, went goofy golfing, and just had a great time visiting.

Here is Kenzie who was too busy pushing the baby stroller to notice the fire pit. So she tumbles right into the ashes face first. And no, we hadn't had a fire so she was ok. She is pretty entertaining sometimes!

Here we are along the creek while we were there to hike. It was so pretty! It reminded me a bit of Oak Creek Canyon. We head farther up the mountain and went on a hike, and it was so beautiful. As we got closer to the top you could see out over some of Utah. So, we we talked about going on a hike I was thinking any easy stroll, but once we got the the trail I quickly realized how out of shape that I was. it was straigh incline 99% of the way. Theres my sign!!

Here is all my family after the blessing of Evelynne Fellows. She is such a cutie and I was so glad to be up there with everyone.

On this trip Kenzie enjoyed being with her new cousin. Of course kenzie was so confused when the baby cried all the time, but she loved to hold her hand and give her kisses!