(Red) Meatless Monday's

Starting January 4th,

Each Monday I will try a new recipe

and post it here.

I may even get crazy and put a Mr. Linky

so my 5 followers you all can join in.

Why?

Well, you see I don't eat red meat,
and I don't enjoy cooking

(meat in particular).
I'd eat salads and cereal everyday if I could
 however,
I have a family to feed.

I'm hoping this will force me give me the boost I need

to hop on out of the cooking rut I'm in.

Get ready,

Here are the rules...

1. Nothing with RED MEAT!

That's pretty much it.
 I'm super easy going

(so long as I'm not cold, tired, hungry, full, thirsty, late, have to pee or have a messy house).

  

So help a sister out,
start thinking of what you'd like to share.

Don't make me cook alone!

So Many Goals...So Little Time

This is my favorite time of year.

I'm all  for lists, Monday's and New Years.

 There's something about second chances,

starting fresh,

and re-evaluating life.

Setting goals is 'my thing'...achieving them is another story.

I start out with the best intentions.

I get super pumped,

planning,

even obsessing.

Only to get sidetracked by something

interesting, fun OR easy.

(BTW, did you see the Vikings game last night?

Poor Adrian!)

Oops, back to the subject...

I'm not gonna lie,

I'm sure I'll do the same this year

but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying.

The wheels are turning,

my heart is racing,

and I'm giddy with all sorts of resolutions

fighting to

make the list.

The photo is a hint at one of them.

What are your 2010 goals
 and how do you stay focused?

Arizona Winters

Picking oranges.

S'mores by the fire.
Running without water.
Playing at the park...

Arizona winters are the best!

Remind me of this

when it's 115 degrees next summer!u?

Merry Christmas 2009

We have been blessed beyond measure.

 I am truly grateful for

Him.

I am also grateful to Joseph and Mary...for their courage and faith.
Here is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

Merry Christmas!!
Love, Kimball, Jessica,
 Jaxon, Kade and Sophia Washburn

Christmas Eve 2009

I'm acting a little CURRRAZZZY!

The decorating bug finally hit me.

I just finished my decorating.

It's Christmas eve.

I just started and finished Kimball's Christmas shopping.
Let's just say a certain store had about 200 people in line.
For a moment I thought I was at Disneyland.
Let it also be known I was the only woman in that line.
What does that tell you?

There are a lot of sales,

how could I resist?

The kids tree (or as Sophia says, "MY TREE!"

Hot Pink (my love cave of course)!

Front Room

Back Yard

Front Entry

Kitchen

My Sidekick

 

Family Room

I'm pooped!

My only regret is I never got around to the

stairway garland
and more outdoor lights
Oh well, there's next year.

The kids are having a blast with their cousins.
Jaxon and Kade are thrilled I bought sugar cereal...
a sure sign it's the holidays.

We had lots of fun at the park today,

the weather is perfect!

We ate out at a Mexican restaurant for dinner

then did our family gift exchange

and opened Christmas p.j.'s !

Sophia got her first pair of slippers

which she LOVED.

My brother Jeff got his first Snuggie Fuzzie Wuzzie

(the 'knock off' Snuggie),

 which he LOVED.

It was a super fun night,

except for the fact that I

left Kimball's big gift sitting right on the counter...unwrapped!

OOPS!

Christmas Eve 3 Years Ago...

Let's see, it was  around 3:00 p.m. Christmas Eve 2006.

After a busy month of hustling and bustling,

I sat down to catch my breath.

The only thing I had left to do was wrap the gifts when...

Kimball informed me there was a problem.

He found our boys Jaxon (8) and Kade (4)

playing in my bedroom with ALL of their presents,

they had been playing for a good 20 minutes!!!

Earlier that day,
 I had forbidden them to enter my {locked} room,

however their excitement got the best of them.

They succombed to temptation.

They took the forbidden fruit.

Oh was I mad.

I was REEEALLY mad,

but worse than that I was sad.

I couldn't help but cry.

Moms Santa knows how much work it is to search for the perfect gifts.

Not only that,

we can hardly wait to see the looks on their faces when they

open the toys they've been hoping for.

Well, what did I do?

After throwing a bit of a fit,

I threw all the 'good stuff' into shopping bags and drove to the store.

I knew that I had to teach them a lesson,

not only did I have to teach them a lesson,

I couldn't let them know there wasn't a Santa.

When I got to the store it was a mad house!

The shelves were barren,

the pickin's were slim...very slim!

Let's just say they won't ever make that mistake again

AND

niether will I.

Now I box everything and wrap it right away!

I also inform them if they so much as touch them,

well you know the rest!

Resort Style Living

With all the snow birds wanting to come to Arizona for the winter,

we tend to get quite a few visitors.

 My husband always promises 'resort style living' so I had no choice but to use this title.

This Christmas my brother Jeff and his family will be staying with us.

They arrive in less than 48 hours...

so the countdown begins!

How to make your out of town guests feel welcome.

A Welcome sign.

My kids often make one and stick it to the front door.

It doesn't have to be fancy, they're garunteed to  feel warm and fuzzy all the same.

Greet them at the door step.

After a long day of travel, guests like to see their journey was much anticipated.

Kade's always got that covered. He's famous for waiting out front...for long periods of time!

A clean place to stay.

Having a designated guest room isn't necessary,

as long as it's clean with (fresh linens) and clutter free they'll be comfortable.

Mints
OK, this is kind of a stretch, but I love this.
My sister-in-law has done this for us.
Like I said, resort style living!

Toiletries.

A quick trip to the $1 store

and you'll have items they may have forgotten

...problem solved.

Towels.

Don't give them those ratty/painful to use, old towels,

Buy new if necessary.
Oh, and don't hand them a scrub brush when they are about to
 jump in the shower.
Sorry Carly, that's what you get for showing up
4 hours early!

Reading material.
Who doesn't enjoy looking at magazines?

Plenty of bath Tissue.

Nothing's more embarrassing than shouting

"I need some toilet paper!"

Thermostat.
If they aren't used to the Arizona heat, crank up your a/c.
If they aren't used to the freezing cold, crank up your furnace.

OK, maybe there is...

sheepishly asking for a plunger,

(so be sure to stock their bathroom with one).

Last tip for hosting company

Serve them breakfast.

I'll most likely be serving my breakfast quiche

with cranberry orange muffins and

freshly squeezed juice.

After that, it's cereal & toast.

Enjoy your friends and family!

Craft Corner Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of my new craft corner. I've been thinking, planning, and working on for quite some time. We have this large, fabulous room over our garage. It's so large that it's kind of a pain. I want to make the most of the space but don't feel that I've utilized it to it's fullest...until now. Move over play room, here I come!

I got some awesome deals this week on magazine subscriptions. I'm talking $5 and $10 for 12 months! Go to Amazon and see if the Christmas specials still apply.

Love plants and flowers so I had to include them and I've been collecting buttons since I can remember but finally have one central location for them...duh!

Quick pause for a photo shoot in my new Favre jersey, (thanks Tammy)...love it!

Taking a picture of my own back wasn't easy, but since I have such perfectly cute ears (definitely my best feature), I had to show them off too.

Go Vikings...game starts in less than 2 hours.

I saw this on lots of craft room pics on the Internet, what a great way to remember the decor/craft ideas!

Since I do still have 3 kids, this is also a play room. It's perfect for Soph to play along next to me while I do my thing. Of course Mom, I will keep the sharp stuff out of her reach!! That's all for now, you'll have to check back next week for the before & after photo's and also to find out where I got all my inspiration, paint color was found here.

Texas Trip 2009

Sophia and I just returned from a trip to Texas to see my parents and sister Amie. My niece Carly flew from Utah and met us at the Phoenix airport so we could travel together to Austin. As you can see Sophia was super excited to fly. It was fun because she's finally old enough to realize what going on an airplane means. Carly stayed busy with her gossip magazines, OK they may have been mine...what differnce does it make?

Sophia is REALLY shy and I thought it would take her a while to warm up since it had been almost a year since she'd seen them...not the case. As soon as she spotted them in the airport she started waving and smiling at them. She waisted no time being shy. My mom bought her a beautiful Christmas dress that she wore to church.

Dad was the brownie maker, this is their home which sits next door to Amie's. They own a 3 acre parcel together. It was very cozy and comfortable. I love sleeping with my kids and Sophia enjoyed our big attic room we shared. She'd sneak up there all the time to watch television. It was pretty funny.

My niece Kalina had several parts in The Christmas Carol play. She did a fabulous job and pulled off her English accent just perfect. Someone should have brought Amie flowers for driving the girls to Austin each week for their practices...she's pretty much super mom. She also made us delicious dinners. We went and saw the movie Blind Side and had to laugh at how similar Sandra Bullocks character is to my sister Amie. She's recently taken in a teenage girl who's parents have passed away. For that, and her 'say it like it is' personality...too funny!
What a great movie though, has me thinking about the years ahead when we can possibly get some 'live ins' of our own. That's how I was raised. I can think of 5 (not including family) that my parents took in when I was a kid. 3 Indians, 1 Mexican and an Australian. Sounds kind of crazy considering my parents had 7 children of their own.

This is Amie's house, the deer like to eat all their flowers. Sophia loved looking for deer and exploring all the wide open space.

My parents are currently serving an LDS (Mormon) mission at the Austin Bishop's Storehouse. They are really busy right now with the food orders for those struggling but they made the time to be gracious hosts to us. The boys (especially Kade) were sad they couldn't come, but they had some fun guy time with Kimball.

We had a nice trip and we look forward to the next. Thanks Mom, Dad and Amie for having us and Jason, thanks for the memorable night of family Christmas carols.

It's A Wonderful Life

I love this time of year! I had my tree up a week before Thanksgiving for the first time ever, the only problem is I really haven't had much time to do any other decorating. Here's a look at my decor, for loads of ideas go HERE. Tomorrow I'm going to put up some lights outside and decorate my front door step. Life with three little ones is keeping me super busy and I've been out of town...and sick but it's a wonderful life. Here's some things we've been up to.


Tonight was a great night all around. Jaxon received his Arrow of Light award for Cub Scouts and Kade sang in the Christmas program at his school.

To top it off, an old friend showed up at our door just in time for dinner. His name is Joey and he's a 52 year old man with autism. He can recall things like nobody's business! We met him about 6 years ago when our friend (his brother) introduced us. For some reason he's taken a liking to us and calls, emails and visits now and then. Tonight he took a bus from Mesa to Gilbert and by using Mapquest ended up right on our doorstep. We hadn't seen him for about a year and a half so it was a big surprise. He hadn't eaten, and luckily I had a decent dinner prepared so he joined us and then went along with us to the boys programs. It was a good time. I'm not sure why God has allowed certain people to have mental and physical disabilities like that, and Joey really struggles with that question too. He has hopes and dreams of having a wife and a family someday. It's sad to watch him worry about it so much. He thinks about it constantly and tries daily to somehow move toward that goal. I don't fully understand God's plan, but I do know that when he's around, I feel calm and peaceful. I'm certain he's a very special spirit and that after this life he'll have a perfect mind free of obstacles. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to know Joey and for the compassion and humility I hopefully gain from being around him.

All I Want For Christmas...

Kade lost his front tooth the other day while I was in Texas. I was kind of sad about it but he couldn't have been happier. To a seven year old boy, losing a tooth is like a rite of passage into manhood. The last time Kade lost a tooth, he cut a tiny hole in the window screen & left the window to his bedroom open. He wanted to make sure the tooth fairy could get in. He's so stinkin' cute I can hardly take it! Kade's other front tooth is about to fall out too so it looks like two front teeth will be on his Christmas list this year. I love this picture of him!

Any Given Sunday

Have I mentioned how much I love going to NFL games? The Vikings came to Arizona this weekend to play the Cardinals. Kimball and I got to stay with our friends at the teams hotel. It was a lot of fun. Really fun actually, it reminded me that we need to get away more with our friends...without all the kids. We started the weekend with a girls night out to the Elephant Bar for dinner, then Dolce Spa for an amazing facial. Oh, that also reminded me I need to pamper myself more...and take better care of my skin, even in the midst of a recession. :)

Unfortunately the Vikings were defeated and I had to wonder if it was because I was getting to cocky? The lady who sat behind us blamed it on the jersey she was wearing so during half time she spent $44 on a Cardinals tee shirt...go figure? She travels all over to see the Vikings play, yet she left wearing a Cardinals shirt, so crazy.

After the game we went down to the family area and took a few pictures with some of the players. Leber, Tahi and Allen (all great players). We got home super late and had a rough time waking up to reality Monday morning. Thanks Adam and Andrea for letting us crash your hotel room...great memories, lol. Go Vikings!!