Once a Month Cooking!

So I have been MIA once again. :( my bad! We have been dealing on and off with a little boy sleep walking which cut into my quilting time. Speaking of the quilt is still about half finished :/ I will get to it....eventually. 

Scott applied to med schools at the beginning of the month! He is already got a secondary application to the University of Cincinnati! I am so excited for him that his dreams are starting coming true. 

With Scott's applications and (cough) my less then great spending habits we have noticed that we need a budget. Over the 3 years we have been married I have gotten used to using the credit card for everything. Not such a good habit I know. We decided to start doing an all cash "envelope" budget. I found this great site to download and print your envelopes and you can track what you have spent on the front.Click here! We started on Friday and so far I am loving it. It cuts down my impulse buying by a ton! 

I love to cook but during the summer it gets really hot in our small house without air conditioning. I was looking around pinterest for ways to save money on food and found once a month cooking. I almost bought the book from amazon and lucky for me my mother in law had a copy I could have!  Most of my recipes for this month came from there but I am a recovering picky eater and so I knew I was going to need a few other choices to replace the few I wouldn't eat. (Like Baked Eggs.... yuck) Pinterest to the rescue! I found 3 other recipes to add in to the mix! Here is my menu for the next month! I planned it out on my calendar and we have meals through the first few weeks of September! And before all of the crazy recipes here is picture of all of my hard work :)

Once-a-Month Cooking Menu 7-21-12

1. Ham & Cheese Braid Bread – 2 meals Recipe here

2. Chicken & Black Bean Chili – 4 mealsRecipe here

3. Pineapple Pepper Chicken – 1 mealRecipe here

4. Cheddar Ritz Chicken – 3 meals- my own recipe

5. Chili Verde – 2 meals- once a month

6. Chicken and Wild Rice – 2 meals- once a month

7. Chicken Packets – 2 meals- once a month

8. Calzones – 3 or 4 meals- once a month

9. Mexican Stroganoff – 2 meals- once a month

10. Balkan Meatballs – 2 meals- once a month

11. Marinated Flank Steak – 2 meals- once a month

12. Lasagna – 3 or 4 meals- Recipe here

13. Potato Soup – 2 meals- Recipe here

 Shopping List 7-21-12

Burrito Tortillas - $1.78

4 oz. green chilies - $0.58

1 loaf French bread- $2.44

Bread Crumbs- $2.44

Croutons- $1.36

Corn Torts- $2.16

2x 12oz. bags egg noodles- $2.00

3 loaves Rhodes bread dough- $2.62

Shredded mozzarella cheese- $2.14

8oz. Sour Cream-$0.96

2 pk. Crescent rolls- $1.78 each

1 1/3lbs. Flank Steak- $6.53

2lbs round steak- $9.32

Celery- $1.28

Onion- $0.54

All Spice- $1.96

Chili Sauce- $1.08

Spaghetti sauce- $0.86

1 qt. freezer bags- $2.98  coupon $0.55 off

1 gal. freezer bags- $11.99  (153) Costco

 8 oz. dry pinto beans- $1.38 (WIC)

1 gal Whole Milk- $2.25 (WIC)

Chili- $0.86

2 Jello- $.74 each

Strawberry Lemonade Mix- $2.00

Lemonade Mix- $2.00

28 oz. tomato sauce- $1.24

1 Green pepper- $0.68

Potatoes- $1.97 (10lbs)

Italian Dressing mix- $3.26 (4 packets)

Vinegar- $2.38 (bulk size)

Hydrogen Peroxide- $0.68  coupon $0.50 off

Garbage bags- $6.57

Aluminum Pans- $1.06 for 2 $1 store

Butter- $7.79 costco

Sliced Ham- $2.98

Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning mix- $1.48

Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice- $3.06 Smith’s

Total: $101.75

Budget: $200.00

Granted I had a lot on hand already

Recipes

Lasagna

1 lb. Italian Sausage

1 (26 oz.) Jar Spaghetti Sauce

 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce

1 (8 oz,) pk oven ready lasagna noodles

1 (15 oz.) container ricotta cheese

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Crumble and cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Remove from heat and stir in pasta sauce and tomato sauce. In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and Italian seasoning.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread 1 cup sauce into bottom of a 9x13 pan. Top with 3 noodle. Cover noodles with 1/3 of ricotta cheese mixture, 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup sauce. Repeat layers two more times. Add last 3 noodles. Top lasagna with remaining sauce and with remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with parmesan over mozzarella. Cover and bake 45-50 minutes or until noodles are tender. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Potato Soup

1 Tsp. Olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3 Tsp. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried basil

½ tsp. seasoned pepper

3 cups chicken broth

3-5 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 cup half and half

½ tsp. hot pepper sauce

Shredded cheddar cheese

Bacon crumbles

In a large pot boil potatoes in chicken broth. In a medium sauce pan sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil, and pepper. Mix well. When potatoes are soft add onion mixture to pot. Bring to boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add cream and hot pepper sauce, heat through but do not boil. Garnish with cheese and bacon.

French Bread Pizza

1 loaf unsliced French bread (not sour dough)

3 cups Spaghetti Sauce

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

3 oz. pepperoni slices (half a package)

This recipe is assembled on the day it’s served. Put sauce in a 3-cup container, cheeses in  2 1 qt. bags, pepperoni in 1qt. bag; wrap bread in heavy foil. Freeze the together.

To prepare for serving, thaw bread, sauce, grated cheeses and pepperoni. Slice loaf in half lengthwise. Layer sauce, parmesan cheese, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese on each half. Set oven to broil and/or 550 degrees. Place on a baking sheet and put in oven. Broil until mozzarella is melted. Cut pizza into servings sized pieces. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Chili Verde

8 oz. dry pinto beans (1 1/4 cups)                                          3 chicken bouillon cubes

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( 2 cups cooked)  1 tsp. minced garlic (1clove)

1 (4oz.) can chopped green chilies                                         1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cumin                                                                 2/3 cup finely chopped onion

¾ tsp. dried oregano leaves                                                    1 cup grated Monterey jack cheese

1/8 tsp. ground cloves                                                              1 dozen corn tortillas

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper                                                          1 (11 ½ oz.) jar salsa

3 cups water

Rinse pinto beans, soak them in cold water overnight, then drain them. Cut chicken into 1 in. cube; cook until no longer pink in small amount of water. Combine chicken with chilies and seasonings; refrigerate until needed. At the same time, combine beans, water, bouillon cubes, garlic, salt, and onion in a large pot; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are soft, about 1 hour. Add more water if necessary.

Combine chicken and spices with beans; simmer 10 more minutes. Cool and freeze. Grate cheese, put in a 1 pt. bag, and attach it to the freezer container with the chili. To serve, thaw chili and cheese. Simmer chili 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Top with salsa and grated cheese serve on warmed tortillas. Makes 5 [i] servings

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Wild Rice Chicken

1 (6 1/4oz.) pk. Quick cooking long grain and wild rice

1 cup cooked, chopped chicken

1 (8oz.) can sliced water chestnuts drained

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 ¼ cups finely chopped onion

1 cup light mayonnaise

1 (10 ¾ oz.) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Cook rice according to package directions. Combine rice with chicken, water chestnuts, celery and onion; put mixture in a 1 gal. bag. To prepare for serving, thaw rice mixture, remove from bag, and place in a 2 ½ qt. baking dish. Stir in mayonnaise and condensed soup together, and spread over top chicken. Bake covered in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour. Makes 6 servings

Chicken Packets

2 cups cooked, chopped chicken

1 (3 oz.) pk. Cream cheese, softened

1 Tbs. chopped chives

2 Tbs. milk

Salt to taste

½ cup crushed, seasoned crouton crumbs

2 pks refrigerated crescent rolls

¼ cup melted margarine

Mix chicken, cream cheese, chives and salt in a medium bowl. Mix with hands to make filling and store in a 1 qt. bag, attach it to bag of chicken filling, and freeze them. Refrigerate crescent rolls. To prepare for serving, thaw chicken mixture. Unroll crescent rolls. each tube will contain 4 rectangles of dough with a diagonal perforation. Press dough along each perforation so the rectangle halves with no separate. Place about ¼ cup of chicken into the center of each rectangle. Fold dough over filling, and pinch the edges to seal tightly. Dip each packet in melted margarine and coat with crouton crumbs. Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Packets are good either hot or cold. ( serve early in the month so the rolls won’t expire) makes 8 packets.

Calzones

2 loaves frozen bread dough

6 oz. sliced mozzarella cheese

5 cups spaghetti sauce

Thaw 2 loaves of bread dough. Divide each loaf into 5 parts each. One at a time roll each dough piece on a floured board or stretch with your hands, making 10 7-in. squares. Fold each dough square over half of cheese slice to form a turnover, and pinch edges to seal. ( you can also ladle 1/3 cup sauce onto square before making the turnover but the sauce tends to seep out). Place each turnover in a small sandwich bag. Put 5 turnovers in a 1 gal. bag. Divide sauce in half, and store in 2 1 qt. freezer bags; enclose each bag of sauce in a bag of calzones. Do the same with the remaining 5 turnovers. To prepare for servings, thaw sauce; heat in a medium pan 10 to 15 minutes until bubbly. At the same time, take frozen turnovers out of the bags, and place them about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet sprayed with pam. Preheat oven to 350 degrees  for about 15 minutes. Turnovers will be golden brown when done. Ladle sauce on top of turnovers, and serve. Makes 10 servings

Mexican Stroganoff

2 lbs round steak                                                           1 ¾ cups water

1 cup finely chopped onion                                         ½ cup chili sauce

2 garlic minced garlic                                                   1 Tbs. paprika

2 Tbs. Vegetable oil                                                      1 Tbs. chili powder

1/3 cup red wine vinegar                                            2 tsp. seasoned salt

1 tsp. soy sauce                                                             1 (8 oz.) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained

1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream or low-fat yogurt         3 Tbs. flour

1 (12 oz.) package wide egg noodles

Cut steak into bite-size pieces. Cook and stir steak, onion, and garlic in oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until brown. Drain off oil. Stir vinegar, water, chili sauce, paprika, chili powder seasoned salt, soy sauce, and mushrooms into steak mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 hour until meat is tender. Cool and store in freezer container.

To prepare for serving, thaw meat mixture and heat in saucepan until bubbly. Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Stir sour cream or low-fat yogurt and flour together; combine with stroganoff. Heat to boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer and stir about 1 minute. Serve stroganoff over noodles. Makes 6-8 servings

Balkan Meatballs

1 egg                                                                          1 lbs. lean ground beef

¼ cup milk                                                                 ½ lb. ground turkey

1/3 cup crushed seasoned croutons                    2/3 cup finely chopped onion

¾ tsp. salt                                                                  1 (8oz) package wide egg noodles

¾ tsp. sugar                                                               2 Tbs. margarine

¼ tsp. ground ginger                                                ¼ cup flour

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg                                             2 cup milk

¼ tsp. ground allspice                                              parsley for garnish

In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat egg with milk. Mix in the crushed croutons, salt, sugar and spices. Add beef, turkey and onion; mix thoroughly. Shape meat mixture into meatballs the size walnuts. Place meatballs on a rimmed cookie sheet; broil until lightly browned. Cool; put meatballs in a large bag, and freeze them.

To prepare for serving, thaw meatballs. Cook noodles according to package directions. At the same time make white sauce in a large skillet. Melt margarine over low heat. Add flour, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute until thick and smooth. Add meatballs to sauce. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cover pan; simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve meatballs and sauce over wide egg noodles. Chop parsley; sprinkle over top. Makes 4 servings

Chicken and Black Bean Chili

4 chicken breasts- boiled and chredded

56 oz. tomato sauce

30 oz. black beans

30 oz. corn

2 onions- diced

4 stalks of celery

2 packets chili seasoning

Garlic

Chop everything up, throw it in a crock pot and let it simmer for an hour or two.

Freeze in 4- 1 gal. bags

Ham and Cheese Braid Bread

1 loaf Rhodes bread dough

¼ cup butter or margarine

½ cup envelope hidden valley ranch mix (not generic)

¾ lb. thinly sliced ham

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 tsp. poppy seeds

Roll bread dough out into a rectangular shape so its approx. ½ inch thick. Combine margarine and ranch mix. Spread about 5 Tbs. of mixture on the rectangle. Layer ham and cheese down the center of the rectangle. Use a pizza cutter to cut strips along each side of the dough (even numbers on each side). Starting at the bottom, take each piece, cross and twist. Continue cris-crossing until your pizza is braided. Brush remaining butter/ranch mixture over top. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Wrap loaf with plastic wrap and then foil.

To thaw overnight. Place in fridge as is if you wish to cook it on the foil. If you do not wish to cook it on the foil unwrap it and place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap. Let thaw overnight. A couple of hours before you are ready to bake place it on the counter to continue to taw and begin to rise. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Pineapple Pepper Chicken

2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice

1 cup sugar

1 cup vinegar

¾ cup water

½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

¼ cup ketchup

3 Tbls soy sauce

1 tsp. ground ginger

4 chicken breasts

1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained

1 medium green pepper, julienned (optional)

In a gallon freezer bag combine the first 10 ingredients, then add chicken. Seal and freeze. Set aside pineapple for pantry and freeze sliced pepper in a separate bag.

Thaw ingredients enough to place in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. 30 minute before it is finished add pineapple and green pepper, cook an additional 30 minutes. Serve on rice.

It was a miracle that it all fit into my tiny freezer but it did! :) 

I know that was crazy long! Let me know if you have questions and I hope it made sense! :)

Quilt-A-Long ....

The last couple of days have been filled with a LOT of mishaps with my quilt. Yes I am admitting to it! Scott made me promise haha. I have 3 new best friends this week too, my seam ripper, pins and my iron. haha for Example: I let myself sew after Sloan went to bed on Friday night and over an hour and a half of the three hours I worked on my quilt I spent unpicking mistake after mistake. I was about ready to pull out my hair. First I attacked a row backwards, unpicked it, flipped it over, stitched it again, pressed it, realized it was upside down this time... then I had my light bulb moment! Instead of sewing onto the bottom (the correct way) I was sewing on to the top. I had mixed up my labels after showing off at my grandma's house...

Anyway! Here is my progress! I have 8 rows pieced together and 6 of those rows sewn together!! It is coming together wonderfully even though my weekend was full of headaches! I just realized that I have more than half of my quilt front done already!!!
I will be posting about how to sew the rows together soon but I wanted to make sure I had all of my kinks flushed out from the weekend!

Also my grandma gave a GREAT new tip to piecing together each row! It may take more time but it makes life SO much easier! You need to press each seam open after each seam not just when you are done with the whole row like I was doing!!!

Happy quilting!

Quilt-A-Long Part 2: Piecing

Now that you have cut all of the triangles (its ALOT I know!) you can start assembling the individual rows!!
First sort the fabric you will need for each row. The key is to label every Row as you sort it. I then stack them in order with Row L on the bottom and Row A on top just to make my life easier!

Row A: (under fabric 1 in the cutting section I specified what to cut for Row A) 

Fabric 1: 2 small triangles and 4 large triangles

Fabric 2: 5 large triangles

Rows B,D,F,H, and J: 

Fabric 1: 5 large triangles

Fabric 2: 2 small triangles and 4 large triangles

Rows C,E,G,I and K:

Fabric 1: 2 small triangles and 4 large triangles

Fabric 2: 5 large triangles

Row L: 

Fabric 1: 2 small triangles and 4 large triangles

Fabric 2: 5 large triangles

Now that you have the fabric sorted you can start pinning! 

Lay out Row A starting with Fabric 1 small triangle, lining up the long side with a Fabric 2 large triangle. Now alternate Fabric 1 and 2's large triangles until you end with the second Fabric 1 small triangle like you started. (The pictures will help I promise!)

(The white is my Fabric 1 and the Teal print is my Fabric 2) Does that make sense? 

Now to the same process with Rows B-L always starting and ending with the small triangles and alternating the large triangles!

(I don't have space to lay the whole quilt out so I like to lay out and pin at the same time.)

Pin your triangles together. When pinning them together offset your corners like in the picture below (not very much though) and it will make sewing/ pressing them SO much easier... I made the mistake of not doing this on my first row. Needless to say I redid it!

Next sew your pinned edges together. All seam allowances are 1/4". 

(If you don't have one of these nifty tools, GET ONE!!! You can slide a piece in the center to your seam allowance and make sure you are sewing a straight line. This is a life saver for me!) 

I did each side separately instead of trying to turn the whole row at the corner.

Once you have it sewn, press your seems flat starting on the back. Make sure the seams are completely open otherwise your seam won't look straight even if it is. Flip it over and press the front.

TADA!! Row A after being pressed! 

Repeat for all of your Rows.

Here is Row A and B after being pressed! You can start to see the zigzags all ready!! 

That is all for now! It should be enough to keep you busy for awhile! I have to piece from Row C on and only after Sloan goes to bed do I have a chance! So it might be awhile before I can post the next step.

Happy quilting!

A Zig Zag Quilt- A- Long Part 1 : Cutting

So most of you don't know but my Grandma White actually bought me a sewing machine for graduation. That summer my crazy Grandma Jo decided I needed to learn how to quilt! (Just what ever 18 year old wants to do right?!) We each made an awesome quilt that looked liked a puzzle and to my surprise by the end of the project I actually loved it!!! And I have been sewing ever since!!!

I have now decided to make a Zig Zag quilt! And I am going to share step by step how to make it so you can make your very own! This is my very first tutorial so if something doesn't make sense or you have any questions please ask!!

Fabric Requirements:
Zig Zags- 2 different fabrics, 2 1/2 yards each
First Border- 3/8 yard
Second border- 3/4 yard
Binding- 5/8 yard (I am using the same fabric for both the binding and the first border so I bought 1 yard)
Backing- 3 yards


Other Supplies:
scissors or rotary cutter
batting
self healing cutting board (optional)
Pins
Matching thread

Before you cut any of your fabric always press them to make sure you are getting an correct measurement!

Cut: all directions based on 40" wide fabrics

First Border- cut five strips 2" by width of fabric
Second Border- cut six strips 3-3/4" by width of fabric

Fabric 1-

For row A :
-cut one square 9-1/4"; cut this square in half diagonally in both directions to make four large triangles. See pictures.
-cut one square 4-7/8"; cut this square in half diagonally only once to make two small triangles

For Rows B-K:
-cut fifteen  9-1/4" squares and cut diagonally in both directions. You won't use all of the triangles
-cut five 4-7/8" squares and cut diagonally only once.

For Row L:
Cut two 9-1/4" squares and cut diagonally in both directions. You won't use all of the triangles

Fabric 2:
-cut eighteen 9-1/4" squares and cut diagonally in both directions. You won't use all of the triangles
-cut six 4-7/8" squares and cut diagonally only once.


There you have it! Happy cutting! I will be back with piecing it together within the next couple of days!

Sloan's First Big Boy Haircut!

After 4 hair trims since July, I finally decided to get him a big boy haircut. We cut off almost 4 inches all over! He was super good and sat on my lap perfectly still until the very end. My grandma came with us and at the end he reached out to her....and fell asleep as Jen (one of my mom's best friends since kindergarten) finished styling his hair! So here are his before and after pictures!
These are the best "Before" pictures I could get.

 Passed out!

 SAfter!! So Cute!

 HHere is a better "After" picture! Isn't he just adorable!

TThis last weekend we went down to Utah to visit some of our friends. Scott took their family pictures (if you would like to see them head over to www.syndragonphoto.blogspot.com) and while they were doing that Sloan and I played at a park! He decided he was big enough to swing in a regular swing all by himself! He did great! He also found the tallest side and went down all by himself without even waiting for me to catch him! 

My Semi Annual Blog Post!

So yet again I have forgotten to update my blog! I am very sorry. There will most likely be LOTS of pictures again. It has been a fantastic 6 months! Sloan is now 15 months old! Where did the time go!

So here we go!! Lets rewind back to June from when I last posted!
Scott and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on June 20! It was a great day! Sloan had his first sleep over with my parents and Scott and I got away to Lava Hot Springs. We stayed at the Lion's Gate Manor again and stayed in the same room we had on our honeymoon!

Fast forward to the Fourth of July! It was Sloan's first and he absolutely loved the fireworks! My uncle Ryan and his family came up from Denver and bought fireworks in Wyoming on the way! Besides almost blowing up a few of the guys and almost setting the park on fire, it was extremely fun! It was crazy hot, over 100 degrees.... In Mackay, ID ... with a hot wind! And our little cabin has no air condition, poor Sloan was roasting! Sadly I can't find any pictures and I can't remember if we took any...

Next on the List: Sloan's first hair cut!

 This is Jen! She has been one of my mom's best friends since kindergarten! She would kill me for this picture but she is computer illiterate so it doesn't matter hahaha!

Afterward we let him play with the mirrors!

In August we went with our friends Brett and Mickenzie Bringhurst boating for Brett's Birthday! It was great and Sloan was way funny in his life jacket!

Later in August we went for another hike up in Mackay! This one is called Bear Creek Lake! It was SO hard! But you get a beautiful lake at the top! Scott and Sloan swan but I didn't want to hike back in wet clothes so I just put my feet in! I can't believe we made it up and back and carrying an extra 30 lbs ( I started the hike carrying Sloan but it got STEEP fast so Scott took him and was a trooper!)

Later in August my cousin Ericka came home with her boyfriend and their son Taysen! It was the first time we got to meet him and he is super cute! We took some fun pictures of our little families while they were here. Here are a few pictures of the boys. Taysen was about 5 months I think and Sloan was 10 almost 11 months.

In September we took Sloan and his favorite Sock Monkey to the hospital's annual Teddy Bear Clinic! He had a blast and we got to watch the Life Flight Helicopter take off which he thought was really cool! This is Dr. Sock Monkey. He was a patient but Sloan didn't like that much so we made him a doctor. oh and yes that is a cast on his tail and yes Sloan kept it on for almost 2 weeks!

Sloan turned 1 on October 2! We had a fun little get together with our families. My brother Kyle was actually home too which was a fantastic surprise!  Here are my favorite pictures of his special day!

Oh Halloween! Sloan was Yoda! He loved his costume and put it on by himself many times! I recently made his fabric lightsabers to go with his costume and he LOVES them! We also watched all of the Star Wars movies and he sat and watched them all it was SO funny!

Sloan decided one night that he wasn't done with his bath. So after we got him out, dried him off, put lotion on him and got him dressed we noticed it was oddly quite... this is what I found (Scott had forgotten to drain the tub.. oops!)

We spent Thanksgiving with both of our families again and it was wonderful! We didn't take any pictures though!

My Mary Kay National Area had a Christmas Party this year! It was a blast! We drove down to Heber City, UT and rode the Polar Express! They give you hot chocolate and cookies and while singing and doing Christmas Trivia and then Santa comes on board and gives each kid a silver bell! We stopped by the Salt Lake Temple on the way home and looked at the lights! Sloan would look around and say "Oh wow!". We had gotten rid of his binky at the beginning of the week and he was so good that we didn't even have to  break one out all day!

 And last but no least CHRISTMAS!!! We has a fantastic holiday this year! We started a week early with Scott's family as they went to Saint George to spend the holiday with Cindy's parents, then we spent Christmas Eve with the Morgans and then we got to spend all of Christmas Day with my family! (I'm not sure how happy this made Scott seeing as we are crazy and better in small doses but he was a trooper!) My brother got to come home again and it was SO fun to have him home and watch him play with Sloan!

 The one and almost only day we had snow! I am so glad we got to put that snow suit I bought him to use at least for 1 day. He loved it!

 He was watching his breathe!

 Santa came!!!

 He actually opened a few of his presents without help this year! He LOVES those bear slippers too!

 One of the BEST presents ever!

 He freaking loves this couch! It folds out into a little mini bed! I don't know who likes it more him or me! It is super comfy!

 That little spinning thing in the corner is a remote control car that Kyle bought for him in NYC... It says for 5 and up on the box... they obviously don't know my son... without having us show him to it works he did this... I love him!

 I made this basket FULL of handmade goodies for Tom's present! He loved it!

This is how we ended the night after a BUSY day! We were all spoiled! Thank you to everyone again!

Oh and I guess I should mention New Years! Scott worked so Sloan and I watched movies and then when he went to bed I baked and did special spa treatments while watching Star Wars! I thought it was great!  I am really going to try and be better about updating this.... We shall see