A call for help

Most of you probably already know this about me but I am not the best cook. Not that I am inept just lazy. With everything I do obsess about somehow cooking and nutrition slipped through. The point? I am starting to feel bad about it. I feel like I should be better for the sake of my kids. I realized recently that we are still eating like students. Now we are not "rolling in it" by any means but we can definitely afford to eat better than starving students. But it is so much easier to open up a can or a box and and call it good (before you think me too horrid, I do cook real meals occasionally) . So why am I telling all of you this knowing full well that most of you are great cooks and do give thought to the nutritional value of the meals you are serving? Well that is kind of the point, I need help. I need ideas and recipes that are easy, nutritional and that picky kids will actually eat. Keep in mind that if the ingredients list is more than 5 ingredients long I tend to glass over. If you have anything that might help bring it on!

Meet Hazel

We are so excited to have another new niece, Hazel May Case. It's official I am no longer the soul baby maker for The Neiswenders or The Cases! You don't know how exciting this is for me. Anyway back to baby Hazel. She is adorable and tiny. She only weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. She still has that newborn smell and was so sweet and quiet I think I heard her cry once in 2 days and that is with my, very loud, family around. I only wish they lived closer. Now we have 2 nieces and they are both in different states. Apparently our siblings missed the memo that said once you have kids you have to move back to Utah. Oh well. Here are a few, ok a lot of (unedited) pics from our trip.

I think this is my favorite picture of Hazel. Isn't she adorable!
The next one is pretty cute too.

You know me I love baby feet.

This is Kirk, Heather and Hazel in front of the Rexberg, Idaho Temple, which is actually right behind their beautiful new church building.

This is just a funny picture of Van...it is so him, I love it!

This is my parents with all of their grand kids, they were so happy to have everyone together. And no Van is not floating behind everyone, Ben is crouched down holding him up because he wouldn't let anyone else hold him.

This is my cousin Jason and his cute pregnant wife, Deanna.

This is just cute I love this pic.

My parents.

So there is this really cool place in Idaho called Yellowstone Bear World. You drive through an actual bear habitat. It was so awesome, and if you know our kids at all you know that they all love Bears so this was a pretty amazing experience for them.

This bear tore of the front license plate of this car. It was coming toward ours but one of the workers shooed it away. We found out later this car was a rental.

After you drive though you can go into the petting zoo and amusement park areas. They had a big area fenced off that was full of bear cubs. They were so cute.

One of the rides.

If you made it through all of those pictures just be grateful I didn't post all 356 pictures (I am serious). It was a great trip and I am glad that we made it.

Too many good things

How can that be a problem? Well let me tell you. We have been so busy this summer that we have hardly had a chance to breath. And this weekend is no different except that this weekend we had to choose between 2 good things. One was the obvious priority, but we were really looking forward to the other option as well.

My brother and his wife had their first baby a week and a half ago and they are blessing her this Sunday. The other was a trip with friends we have had planned for quite awhile. Originally we thought that we could fit both trips into one weekend but it just doesn't work. I hope this does not sound like I am complaining about the blessing because I am not. We are so excited for this baby and to have a chance to visit with my brother and sister-in-law. My point is I hate it when there are 2 (or more) good things to choose from and you can only pick one.

So to everyone we bailed on we are sorry, I know you all understand and we love you for that. And to Kirk, Heather and Baby Hazel, we can't wait to see you! By the way for those wondering I will post pics of her as soon as I get back! I can't wait to get my hands on that little girl and take tons of cute pictures.

Happy Birthday Lillie

For Lillie's birthday this year we had a Luau. It was tons of fun and tons of work. I know it has been over a week now, but here are the highlights.

It was so much fun planning and decorating for this party. I may have gone a bit overboard but it was totally worth it. Now I have all this great Luau stuff so I can do it again!

The kids had lots of fun playing on the tramp, doing a beach relay race, hula hooping, doing the limbo and of course hitting the pinata...
However the pinata was less than co-operative so we had to ask some of the big boys to join in the fun. Well uncle Sam got a bit overzealous and as you can see broke the pinata off of it's hanger. Not to worry we got the fish hung again and the pinata fun resumed.

This cake was so fun to make. Although I had my share of panic moments throughout the process, I think it worked out well in the end.

I am so grateful to have Lillie as a daughter. She is kind, thoughtful and compassionate. She has an amazing imagination and can turn anything into a toy to keep herself busy. She is feisty and passionate and we love having her in our family. There is rarely a dull moment when she is around. I love you Lillie I hope you had a great birthday...and have a wonderful year to come.