This year for Thanksgiving we went to James' parents house in Bakersfield. The food was delicious and we all had a great time. Thanks Maile!!! The kids loved helping grandma bake and get ready for the big day. On friday James and his dad took the kids out shooting guns. It was a great little get away. The only downer was that Olivia AKA "naughty" figured out how to climb out of her playpen. Not good!!!! 
I tried a new recipe tonight that I saw on Rachael Ray. I figured with chicken, pasta, bacon and avocado you can't go wrong. We all loved it except next time I will add the blue cheese to individual servings. My kids thought it was a little too strong so on theirs I would put a milder cheese.
Ingredients
3 pints grape or cherry tomatoes
4 T. EVOO, (extra vigin olive oil) divided
Salt and pepper
6 slices bacon
1 1b. penne pasta
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 avocados
1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, grated
few dashes of hot sauce
4-5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
Preparation
Preheat over to 400. Place a large pot of salted water over high heat to boil.
Scatter the tomatoes onto a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 T. EVOO, some salt and pepper. Toss lightly to coat and roast them in the hot oven until they burst open and are tender, 12-15 minutes.
Fry up bacon until just crisp.
While tomatoes are in the oven, drop the pasta in the boiling water and cook to al dente. When the pasta is ready, reserve a large mug of the starchy cooking water and then drain the pasta and return it to the pot it was cooked in.
While the pasta is cooking, season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet with one turn of the pan EVOO, add chicken and saute until golden brown and cooked through.
While the chicken is cooking, scoop the avocado flesh into a small bowl and squeeze the juice of the lemon over it, tossing to coat.
When the chicken is done add garlic to the pan, cook for 1 minute then sprinkle in a few dashes of hot sauce and toss to coat.
In a large serving bowl, mash cooked tomatoes together with scallions, add the pasta water and pasta.
Top with chicken, crumble the cooked bacon over it, and toss with the avocado, blue cheese, basil and parsley.
So I was released from Young Women's yesterday and I was sad. As most of you know I love working with the youth and involved in their lives. The girls are so sweet and I will miss spending time with them. So now I am in the Primary Presidency. I went into primary yesterday for awhile and am getting excited for this new calling. First of all the women I am serving with are incredible and so I'm sure I will learn alot from them. Second I love kids so it will be nice to try to connect with and teach these little ones. However some of these "little" ones can get on my "little" nerves so I will be learning patience and tolerance as well!!! Anywho for the YW and YM who read this I'll miss you but it's not like I moved to china so I'll be around. . . . watching you. . . . .always watching!
Well I did it!!! I went to my first ever opening midnight movie. I have to say it was alot of fun talking with the girls and discussing the book, life, boys, and anticipating the movie.
There was so much energy in that theatre it was hilarious!!! We're talking tons of teenage girls, moms of all ages and even some ladies in their 60's, it was fun to see.
When the movie started the girls screamed. . . . when they showed Edward for the first time. . . . they screamed. . . . When Edward was close to Bella. . . . . they screamed and shrilled. It was funny to listen to them.
My review: I liked it. I wanted so much more but I know it would be impossible to fit a 500 + page book into a 2 hour movie but I wanted it to have everything!!! One of my downfalls was I wanted Edward to be more suave. In the book he is so charming and cool and collected always at ease. In the movie I felt he was a little stiff. There were moments where he would relax and be charming and I loved that. Bella was cute her friends were right on what I pictured. I also wanted Alice to be more "cutsie". A high pitched little ball of energy!!!
All in all it was "twilight" so that right there makes it awesome. I wonder if they would consider doing a 6 hour movie if they decide to do more. Ok so let me know what you all thought of the movie. 
Proof that I was crazy (or cool) enough to be at a movie at midnight. Can you tell I'm excited!!!
The girls: Elissa, Lindsay, me and Sadie (AKA HUGE smile)Taylor's preschool is just adorable!!! Today they had a Thanksgiving feast and a little performance. The kids were all dressed up as indians and sang some thanksgiving songs. They also one at a time said what they were thankful for. Taylor said, "my mom and dad and that we make cookies."
We then ate sandwiches and "stone soup". They read the book yesterday and made some. It was really cute and Taylor looked adorable in her little outfit.
I feel our family has been loosing' it lately. It seems we are always snapping at eachother and the kids are constantly fighting and talking mean. SSOOOOO I made 2 charts today to help us. The first is for the kids. There are thumbs up (which is obviously if they are talking nice) and sad faces (not talking nice)
At the end of the day we see how they did. If they have 3 thumb ups they get to put a penny in their jar. Once they get 10 pennies they get to pick a prize ( Dollar store item, baskin robbins, date with mom or dad, bike ride, etc.
If they have 3 sad faces at any point during the day they have to choose one of their 3 priviledges (on the bottom of the chart) and I take it away for 24 hours. I then take off the sad faces and start again. If they again get 3 sad faces they choose another priviledge.
The envelopes below the chart have the thumb ups and sad faces in them.
The second chart was for me and James. It is a "bee" patient thermometer. When we start loosing our patience, us or the kids, can adjust the thermometer to show how we are reacting. Sidenote: After only a couple minutes of hanging this up I needed to slide mine up to "take a breath". I guess I've got some work to do!!!
So I have a gripe about DVD's. It seems like only a few weeks after we get a new DVD it gets scratched, or fingerprints all over them. Then they don't play right and freeze up. I'm tired of DVD's!!!! I have many "old school" videos and they work great. Sure they don't have this amazing picture quality or dolby digital 5.1 or whatever sound but they don't freeze up and I don't worry about them getting ruined.
So here is my idea. . . . Someone needs to invent DVD's that come in a protective case. You cannot open this case only the "special DVD player" can. So you put it in the DVD player and then it somehow opens it up and drops it in. . VOILA!!! Great right. Great picture and sound without the hassle of peanut butter fingerprints and scratch marks. Ok so if you have alot of money, time, and an Uncle who has an inventing company you have my permission to carry out my thoughts and build this!!!!
Well it is all done and I think Fluffy likes it. It was alot of fun putting together. One feature we are excited about is the "poop catcher". You can see it about 5 inches below the wire floor. The kids can pull it out and take it over to the garden and dump it out. Very cool huh. I know it sounds crazy but we are pretty stoked about the "poop catcher".
On Veterans Day James and the kids built a rabbit hutch for our bunny "Fluffy". I think James had the most fun trying out some new tools of our neighbors and designing it.
Derick using the saw. This counted for one of his scouting activities.
I told Derick to go get some old clothes on or something he didn't care if it got paint on. He proudly picked an Oakland Raiders shirt.
We gave the kids 3 brushes a bucket of paint and let them go at it!!!It's that time of year. 3 out of my 4 kids have gotten sick this past week. Last week was Kaitlyn and I stayed home from church with her. The last few days it's been Taylor AND Olivia. So again today I was home from church with them. The first Sunday it was kind of fun, "a day off" from church you could say. But 2 Sundays in a row and I'm feeling it.
Olivia's eye is swollen and "goobery" (not sure that's a word)Today the youth went to the temple. I was nervous that there was going to be alot of protestors when we got there for prop 8, but luckily their was only a few. It was so great to be at the temple today with these cute girls.. . . and boys.
Some of my Mia Maids
Today I went through all 3 girls closets and sorted, switched things around and organized. It is nice when they out grow clothes or need some warmer stuff because I can go right in the closet and pick the size they are in and VOILA!!! A whole new wardrobe. Now lucky for us we have a neighbor who has a daughter who is just a little older than Kaitlyn and she sends over clothes all the time. We're talking clothes that are in great shape some still with tags. The key is to only keep clothes that are in good shape and that the girls like. I now have 2 big bags of clothes for charity.
Olivia loved watching me sort through everything. She set their forever totally content with her books and m&m's.Just in case you didn't believe me about how Olivia was totally freaked out about her costume, I now have documentation. Someday she'll get a good laugh about this. . . I think!!!!
We went around our neigborhood trick or treating with a whole bunch of friends this year. I have 1 picture of the older kids because they were going a little too fast for the "cowardly lion" AKA Olivia and the "wicked witch" AKA Baby Nana.
Olivia was too stinkin' cute. She cried when we put her in the costume but once she realized that because of it she was getting candy, she was good to go. Everyone on the street commented on how adorable she was. In fact I think she scored the most candy!!!
The one and only picture and you can tell they are in a hurry!!!The kids Elementary school has a haloween parade every year. The little ones get so excited to see all the costumes. Some of the older kids had scary ones on and Olivia would say"dat's scawy" as they would go by.
Taylor wanted to walk with Derick so he grabbed her had and off they went. She loved it and just loves her big brother. Derick and Kaitlyn love showing off the little girls to all their friends.
Kailtyn ready for the parade.
