May

 Our baby turned ONE the beginning of May! What a crazy, fast year that was! He got into a great sleeping routine and once he was mobile was a much happier baby! He just always needs to be on the move! We celebrated at Oma and Opa's and Garrett got his own cake that he just wanted to eat the whipped cream frosting off of.

My parents had a big tree in their backyard cut down so we went over and watched one afternoon. It was cool and I could have sat and watched that all day. There was one guy up in the tree with ropes and pulleys and a chainsaw and he'd cut small sections and then a guy on the ground would hoist it down and then throw it in the grinder. Pretty slick setup they had.

The boys really kicked up the fishing and went to Kleiner Park many times. They got real good at catching and Spencer didn't mind holding them.

Spencer and Nate had a neat experience, our friends kid has a training dirtbike with training wheels and they invited them to go test it out one night. They had a blast and Spencer now thinks he needs one.

We had all the nephews over one day and Nate took us all to go launch rockets. The launches were impressive, I kept losing them in the sky, they were going so high! The boys loved chasing them down once they landed.

Spencer had kinder graduation, drive thru style! Not the way we planned or wanted the year to end but the teachers and school did a great job trying to still recognize all the kinder graduates. We made him a dinosaur themed cap and Kade thought he needed one too. We let Spence stick his head thru the sun roof to say hi to all his friends and even to accept his "diploma". He thought that was pretty awesome. One thing I love about his school culture is that the people go ALL OUT for celebrations of any sort. I mean all the cars were totally decorated with balloons, streamers, window paint, signs, plus the music blaring, honking, they just know how to have a celebration! 

We went to visit my grandma's grave at the veteran's cemetery over Memorial day. I love to see all the flags on the graves. Garrett was entranced by all the flower, pin-wheels, and other exciting things at the headstones.

We made another trip up to elephant rock because the boys think its the coolest.

Nate made it to the 3D archery range a few times and did pretty good!

We worked REALLY hard in May to just knock out the rest of the painting inside the house and we DID IT! It was sooo much hard work and we still have some touch ups we need to go back and fix but we finished! It looks SO much better and it WAS worth it but sheesh...what a feat!

More from May.

Shingles update.

Good ol' Pot Roast with Green Beans

 I always forget how much I like pot roast. Plus it's so easy and the leftovers are just as good!

Ingredients:

• 4 medium potatoes, cubed (peeled if desired)
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 2-3 lb roast (we used venison this time)
• 1 T dried parsley
• 1 t garlic salt
• 2 c beef or vegetable broth
• 2 T minced garlic

Instructions:

1. Begin by placing all vegetables in slow cooker.
2. Rub garlic and seasoning all over the cut of meat.
3. Place meat in center of vegetables ad pour broth over the top.
4. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3.

For green beans:

• 1 lb green beans, ends trimmed
• 3 T of butter
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 t garlic salt

Instructions:

1. place green beans in large pot and cover with water.
2. Bring water to a boil and boil beans for 5-7 min.
3. Drain the beans and add butter, garlic and salt and stir to coat the beans well.

Venison Chili with Sweet Potatoes

(I actually made this with elk but I think it would be very similar with venison or whatever meat you choose).

This was a win! After dinner tonight my husband said, "Make this again!" It would be just as good with ground beef and next time I'll be adding black beans as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 lb ground venison, elk, beef, etc.
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 3 mini sweet peppers
• 3 T minced garlic
• 2 cans diced green chiles
• 2.5 cups diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 sweet potato
• 1.5 T chili powder (more if you like it spicier, but I'm a wuss)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil and cook the meat, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is browned.
2. Add the tomatoes, green chiles, broth, sweet potato, chili powder and salt and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat, and bring to a simmer.
4. Cover and let simmer 25 min or until potatoes are soft.

April

Spencer decided after seeing his dad and brother with mohawks, that he needed one too.

The church had announced general conference would look different this year, and boy did it! No patrons were allowed in person at the conference center and only the speakers were in the room, they were all 6 feet apart. That was weird to see. I spent the weekend trying to make some masks. Nate found some free pallets and made me a few garden boxes that turned out beautiful and now we just need to make some decisions on how we want the backyard to look so we can put them in their final resting place.

We had our first backyard fire of the year. S'mores galore!

We had a great Easter, the boys got a bucket of sand toys to share (and fight over). They've spent lots of time in the sandbox playing and I call that a win. We had dinner and an egg hunt at Oma and Opa's.

On a nice windy day, Nate took the boys over to the park to fly kites. Spencer thought that was so cool!

We tried to get outside and do lots of hiking and exploring when the weather was nice. We went to celebration park with my sister and boys. Nate rode his bike all the way out there. It was a beautiful but windy day.

Nate wanted to mix up her workout routine so got himself a giant tire to flip around and beat up. It 

is heavy and it does make for a good workout! The boys even enjoy beating up on it occasionally.

The boys' favorite spot is elephant rock. Mr. Independent refused the hiking backpack and walks the whole trail himself. Pretty cute, but pretty slow. 

We finally updated to a bigger, newer vehicle. I wasn't quite ready, but Nate was eager. That camry was good to us! It was beat up, one of a kind, and had more than 255k miles. I thought we could get a few more out of it but it was time. And we said goodbye to the camry.

We heard a great horned owl had babies in a tree downtown near some good hiking trails so we picked up my nephews and went to see the owl and go for a hike!

Can you spot the owls? Their eyebrows make them look very grumpy! :)

One morning I woke up with a killer headache. I tried ibuprofen, napping, coke, excedrin, and nothing helped. For almost 72 hours I had this killer headache that I could not get rid of. I had never had a headache that was there when I went to bed and there when I woke up. It was pretty miserable and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then I started getting an itchy, rash looking patch on my back. Something clicked and I was pretty sure I had shingles!! After researching and talking to other people, I was convinced that's what it was and that I needed to get on an antiviral ASAP. To make matter worse, covid. I could not get seen anywhere! I went to one urgent care but because I had a headache I had to go get tested for COVID first. Not a chance, I knew this wasn't COVID. I called my boys' doctor, they weren't seeing new patients. Called another urgent care and just got recordings. I was so frustrated and miserable. Nate finally called and got through for me and made me an appointment for the next day. Turns out I was right, I had shingles. The rash wasn't as bad as I'd heard, but the neurological pain was pretty extreme for me. Turns out lots of younger people are getting it now!

More fun from April.

Nate took the boys fishing and you can see how that ended.

Sweet Potato & Sausage Breakfast Casserole

I am a big fan of breakfast casseroles. Maybe it's only having the one pan to clean? Maybe it's everything I love about breakfasts in one bite? I'm not sure but this is a favorite! Plus I love that it was full of vegetables but my kids still ate it!

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, diced (I liked smaller better)
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 lb sausage
• 3 mini sweet peppers
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 c almond milk
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• dash of salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook sweet potatoes in oil until they start to soften.
2. Add the zucchini and pepper and cook until all are softened.
3. Preheat oven to 350.
4. Spread vegetable mixture onto bottom of 9x13 baking dish.
5. Cook sausage in the same pan the vegetables were in.
6. When done, spread onto the sweet potato mixture and mix/spread around the pan.
7. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in medium bowl.
8. Pour evenly over sausage mixture, stir to combine if needed.
9. Bake for 40 minutes, or until eggs are cooked.