strawberries everywhere!

Jolie and Genevieve picking strawberries on the beautiful countryside! They called themselves mighty farmers, I call them beautiful!

In the strawberry patch!

A picture of the whole crew....Jacob really shouldn't have been holding a tub of strawberries................

He ate them and ate them until...........

He looked like this.....................

and still wanted MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did my first solo canning. i was so happy. I made 9 jars of strawberry Jam and a little bit leftover into a tupperware into the fridge. This morning the girls had toast with there jam and LOVED it. Seriously was so not hard and really makes you feel like hey I can do this....now I just need to learn how to make bread!!!!!!!!!

My 30th B-day Party!

My wonderful husband put together the most amazing birthday party. He had everything you could think of for a dreamy Hawaiin Lua. White lights, tiki torches, sea shells and candles. Even Hawaiin dancers. Not to mention the margarita machines....with out the margarita of course :) It was so great and so impressive. He's not really into the whole throw a party...especially by himself. Luckily we have some really amazing friends who helped him and I just can't say enough about it. It really was that wonderful! I love you so much Brett!

Kristi and I having fun with the cut out!

One of the Hawaiin dancers. It turns out they are LDS and are getting sealed in the temple on Aug. 1st. How cool is that?

This is Coco, the other dancer...i'm sorry for some of these pictures being so dark, but I had to take at least a few pictures!

The pool was heated...but still pretty chilly, especially since i was thrown in...with my dress on...that's why i have mascara all over my face you'll see later!

This is the limbo line....so much fun. I did not win. Our friend Carl did, who also DJ'd. What a fun couple they are.

More of the limbo line, Sarah was incredible...but she is a personal trainer!

Having fun at the party....doesn't it look so fun????

I think we are getting ready to learn a hawaiin dance...that was too funny and very bad.

Kristi going way looooow....good job Kristi!

Me giving the limbo one more try!

Alex going down low...did she make it....yes she did!

You can see some of the decorations here...the food was so yummy, it went so fast!!!!

This is my friend Kessa, isn't she too cute!!!

My brother in law Larry, who was really bummed that he didn't have any of his infamous hawaiin clothing with him. Don't worry Larry, we'll have another party someday!

Ummm, this is Eric...yup nuf said!

Someone is coming out of the pool...i have no idea who? Sorry!

A shot of the cake.

A VERY unflattering picture of me just after i blew my candles out...note the mascara on the side of my face....and my dress still on...sopping wet!

Erik and Nichole loving the hot tub...it was very popular. Since it wasn't exactly hotttt outside!

This is Julie and Sam....seriously great friends, that helped SO much with the party. It never would've been so lovely without them. THANK YOU GUYS!

Another silly pose!

One more time!!!

Mine and Brett's turn, yup blonde is so not my color....i don't know Brett might be able to pull off the long hair look :)

Ooops, my head isn't exactly in!

M.I.A.

Sorry for no posts for SO long. We had a crazy month in April and then our computer crashed and I was without connection for weeks. We are finally back online, BUT our printer is not connected to our computer. That is how i get all of our pictures off the camera and on the computer. So I need to find the original disc and re install so i can finally update...i have so many great pictures just dying to be posted. So please stay tuned. I promise to be much better once we are fully connected again!

File this one under YUMMMM!

I love the blog picky-palate.com she has so many great recipes that are A: Not to complicated to make and B: Not crazy expensive.....my kinda gal! So I took a gander at her site and she had posted about a crock pot pork chop....ok i'm intrigued. I had pretty much all the ingredients, so I said let's go for it.



SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




All 3 girls and even a little boy ate all their dinner!
For some reason keeps throwing in hand signs....not gang signs...she has no idea what a gang is...thank goodness. * on a side note, tonight I took the kids to the elementary school for a magic show and all the kids were up on the floor. So Genna ran up first then Jolie went, i walked up with jillian and jacob and sat a little bit away from Jolie, i asked her to come sit with me and she shook her head and made this face like : You've got to be kidding me mom! AHHH, has it really already begun?
Here's the recipe:

Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup4 lbs peeled, cubed potatoes5 Tablespoons real butter1 Cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese6 cloves roasted garlic (click for directions how to roast garlic)1- 1 1/2 Cups warm skim milk (any milk will do, I just happened to use skim)1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste1. Place pork chops, Ranch seasoning and soup into a medium sized crock pot over high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 6 hours.2. Place potatoes into a large pot of cold water. Place onto stovetop over high heat and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and transfer to the work bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on low until potatoes are mashed then add butter, parmesan, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Season to taste if needed. For thinner mashed potatoes add more milk, slowly until your desired consitency.3. Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plates and top with pork chops and soup gravy from crock pot. Enjoy!
***** too add i used cream of mushroom, because that's what i had. I also used minced garlic instead of roasted because that's what i had....it tasted amazing. The potato's were like out of a restaraunt good.
I hope you try it...let me know if you do?

I'm so thankful for...

mommy's little helper's....especially during dinner time. Jacob was hungry and i was making dinner, then Jolie needed help with her homework. So I asked Jillian to help Jacob and give him a bite of his yogurt. She excitedly gave him a bite. A few minutes later i came in to see this. A HUGE pile of cheese ( we were having tacos for dinner) and yogurt ALL over him...you can't tell but she had gotten an extra yogurt out and that was tucked under his left arm. They both were happy as can be..so really what's a little extra clean up........

I mean look at that face so sweeet.............UNTIL.......... You see him do this.....Which i am of course thankful for disinfectant and bubble baths.

I hope this isn't the beginning of a career choice...unless that makes him happy!

A new cousin!

Nolan is the newest cousin on the fox side of the family. Aunt Jennifer was so nice to have all the little girls get a turn holding him. Some of these pictures are pretty funny.

Brett is in his favorite position for holding a new baby!

Jolie with her aunt...who at that moment had quite a bit of red hair just like jolie. Jolie was SO excited to go see him.

A close up of the little man!

Jillian's turn...Nolan wasn't quite as sure of this one!

Genevieve get's a turn with the baby...he's so tiny says Genna.

Jolie just couldn't get enough of him!