Tired AND Thoughtful

I think that Kindergarten has taken it's toll.

Fried Hot dogs!

Yes, I have heard about these on food network, but today we are speaking of a different kind of fried hot dog. This past weekend we went up Smithfield Canyon with the fam to have breakfast. It was a lot of fun. My brother Kavic and I love to make "McDonald's" breakfast. The McGriddles and McMuffins are our favorite. So today we set off to make some Mcgriddles. This is Kavic injecting the pancakes with the maple syrup (he works as a home nurse and promised that he only cleaned out a few feeding tubes with this particular syringe! He was joking, but it was still gross)
Brian, Jer and Kav were the main cooks. Teenie Weenie was loving life. A dropped hashbrown here, bits of sausage there she was in heaven UNTIL.........................
An un-named chef sloshed some of his grease off the griddle and onto the back or poor Teenie Weenie. She took off like a rocket yelping and barking and it took us a few seconds to stop her and figure out what was wrong and get water on the burn.
Good thing we have a doctor in the house. Yes, I know he treats children and Teenie is technically a dog and 42 dog years, but it was still comforting to have him there.
We called the vet and they said to treat it like you would any other burn, so we tried to put cold wet cloths on her back. It looks like it blistered pretty good, but it didn't slow her down for long. It wasn't too long before she was back under the griddles looking for food. (I guess she didn't learn her lesson)
In other exciting news, Will found these sweet glasses on a hike and decided they were a fantastic treasure, but who knows who's face they were on previously
My sister Keri gave these sweet sock to MO
And Grey for their birthday............and an awesome loud whistle. Thanks Aunt Keri! (I am completely aware that this is payback for the recorders that I got her kids for their B-days)
AND we cannot forget the Will started Kindergarten on Monday. I can't even believe that I have a kindergartner. He is getting so grown up. He loves his teacher Mrs. Spiker. (rumor has it that of the 2 kindergarten teachers, she is the best) She just got over chemo for breast cancer, so we feel lucky to have her.

I forgot my camera for Will's 1st official bus ride, so I had to use my phone. It was like Christmas Morning for him. When he got off the bus, he could not stop talking about it.

Visitors!

We love visitors! Yesterday Katie and Hailey came to visit.

Will was so excited to see his long lost friend Hailey.
There was Pole Dancing!?!
Bike Riding
Bike Swapping
I don't know why I find this picture so funny. These boys crack me up
Hailey's attempts to take pics of us were unsuccessful so we had to take one ourselves.
Thank You for coming to visit!

I am in Love with this picture too. Oh my little bear. He is so funny and he knows just what to say to make me smile. He tilts his head and in a high pitched, quiet voice he says "oh" (yes, it will not make sense unless you have heard him do it, but it melts my heart. He says it when he likes something, or when he sees something little or "baby" but Mostly I love it because it is usually followed up by "I like you, all the time"

I can't say it enough.....

Grocery Smarts rocks!!!!! I have not had the time or been here enough to get the Sunday paper and coupons, but this week at Smith's you don't need it. You can print all of the coupons and you get the catalinas (when you buy 5 fruit snacks or granola bars in a single transaction) and more coupons at the register.(These prices are banking on the fact that your Smith's also prints the GM cereal coupon, you may want to call)

I got

18 boxes of cereal
4 boxes of Granola bars
7 boxes of fruit snacks/ rolups/gushers
1 quaker quakes

27.50 but (it should have been 25.50 if I had seen the GM coupon on the 2nd transaction)

**I could have saved more, but my printer messed up and I didn't get my second set of coupons on a few things and I didn't know about the gm coupon till 3rd transaction.

That is about .90 per item. after taxes! (the granola bars were a little bit more, if you just stick to fruitsnacks and cereal it ends up to be about .80)per item after taxes.
I printed the trix and cheerios coupons and used them on my first transaction.
You will need to purchase 5 boxes of cereal AND 5 boxes of fruit snacks OR 5 granola bars boxes per transaction . This will print you a catalina for 3.50 of your next shopping order and a gm coupon for 2.00 off 5 cerels. On your subsequent orders, use your printed coupons, AND the gm coupons AND your catalina. The catalina AND the GM coupon prints every time. At the end, I just bought 10 more boxes of gm cereal, used the GM coupon and my last catalina.

tip:DON"T mix and match the fruit snacks and the granola bars, you will only get 2.50 off your next order they need to be 5 of each on along with the cereal to maximize your next shopping order coupon.

Fun Day at the Park

My Sweet sis KT and my Momma came to visit today so we ran to the park, went shopping at the DI and bought a bunch of cheep children's books and then ate Zuchini Brownies (well it is more like chocolate cake, but man was it good, and you are practically eating vegetable cake so you don't even feel guilty :) If you want that recipe, go here)

My Mom loves to play with the kids and I have to say that they adore her and I love to watch them interact with her.Will is such a poser. He makes me smile.
Miss Bea was being so funny. She loves to gives kisses and or try to eat your face if you even come near her! I love that little pudge.
Plus, she gets my jokes.
I love my little Claire Janer.
I was talking with my sis and we swear that we used to look alike, but I have to say that I don't see it anymore. Maybe that is what happens when you grow up and get old!
My little Mo playing in and eating the gravel as usual. Totally sanitary, and in a white outfit!
Here is the beloved aforementioned Miss Bea. Great blues right?
My little Mo loves her Aunt Katie, especially when she takes her on purple dinosaur rides :)
I like to call this one "One eyed Bear"
The boys and Gram

Mo Mo had too many blueberries for breakfast :)

Introducing My New Baby ........ ........................................Announcements

He he, I bet I had you all fooled there for a minute. Just designed some new baby wrappers thought I would share. As always, these can be found in my etsy shop :)

Meet Sophia

And Hollister

Chicken in Basil Cream....mmmmmmmmmmmm....

I have been in a cooking rut lately, just not in the mood. I decided that maybe trying some new recipes might spice things up a little so tonight I tried this one. I get the Allrecipes.com daily newsletter and got this one a couple days ago. It was really easy to prepare and was a hit for the fam, my kids even gobbled it up. I will definitely make it again. For full recipe details go here.

I followed some of the review suggestions and used half and half instead of cream and served with penne pasta. Couldn't find the jar of pimento peppers, so I used roasted red pepper instead. Some people used dried basil and said it was okay, but most reccomended fresh. I did it with fresh and it was soooo good. Sorry, I didn't think to take a pic. But I did get pictures that prove how deliciuous this meal was :)

She eventually got clean.

Now THAT's Entertainment

Of course after that rant about blogging, I had to post something or I would be a self-made hypocrite. Ah, the memories. It was July 10th and it was hot outside. The Merrill family reunion was winding down and what else was there left to do than to have a good old-fashioned family talent show. Speaking of entertaining, it was definitely that. My sister Katie "Deb" and her husband Jeremy "Kip" did not disappoint. They lit up the stage performing their rendition of "The Revolution of Dance" It might not be as funny if you have not seen the original, but still worth a look. Here are just a few truly beautiful shots from their performance. If you want to see the entire performance. Go here. I wish the music was louder and that my LOUD family would keep quit so you could hear the music better, but use your imagination.

Where have all the bloggers gone?

Seriously (I am as guilty as the rest of you :) What happened? I used to wake up in the morning and check my blog as a ritual, see what crazy shenanigans my nieces and nephews have gotten themselves into, or what wild thing happened to you last night. Nope, not anymore. WE all go weeks, even months without posting. Facebook is fun and all, but really, I am more interested in the different moments and stories that you have than what you are doing every 30 minutes. Maybe I am alone in this thought process but I need some substance and laughs back in my life and blogging used to give me that. So, I challenge you, bloggers everywhere unite and post something to entertain me. That's all I really want!
and ps, it is blog etiquette to post a freakin comment once in awhile and let someone know that you are not just stalking them think they are hilarious. Enough said. I don't know what drugs I am on tonight. Why all the anger you ask? Dunno, just being random.

Disclaimer: I was not put up to this by the blogger corporation, just genuine concern for the sake of my own entertainment :)