Adventures of babysitting

We were able to babysit our niece last weekend. She is so stinkin' cute even though she gives me stink eye and absolutely ADORES Mat. He likes to point out the fact that she loves him and that she won't go to me. It is funny because when she was younger she loved me and would not go to Mat.

This is such a cute face

Dinner time always takes a long time when kids are involved.

Mat's sippy cup and Payton's sippy cup.

Payton is trying really hard to balance her cup.

Payton was finally successful with balancing her cup.

Finally Payton was sleepy after spending much time outside and on our little trampoline. We enjoyed babysitting her.

Easter Weekend

We had a nice Easter Weekend. We spent time with friends and family and reflected upon the Saviors life, death, and resurrection.

We had a BBQ with the old Bishopbric. They all got released, including Mat, a couple of weeks ago. We had some good Kabob's. Mat did an excellent job of grillin' them up.

We had a nice evening together remembering all of their bloopers. Mat's all time best blooper was when he was making announcements from the pulpit about tryouts for a play, "The Miracle of Forgiveness" instead of the, "The Miracle on 34th Street."


Payton enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs.

On Sunday we had nice dinner over at Mat's moms home. The kids had an Easter egg hunt. It was pretty nice weather and so we all congregated outside to enjoy it. Mat's stepbrother enjoyed flying a kite as well. I thought kites were for kids, but I was wrong, kites are for parents. Easter weekend was pleasant.

Big Gulps...

Big gulps of water that is. I have been trying to drink lots of water lately. For about 4 weeks now I have been having at least 64 ounces of water. Most days I have quite a bit more than that. I have not missed a day since I have started this new adventure. My toilet paper consumption and use has also gone up dramatically, but all for a good cause. One thing that is truly amazing is even though I drink plenty of water I am more thirsty now. It is kind of strange.

Conference Weekend

I know I am really slow to post this, but I finally got around to doing it. We had a nice conference weekend. Mat and I enjoyed watching General Conference. We both felt uplifted by listening to the messages from the prophet and apostles. We felt inspired and know that God is always there in our lives looking out for us.

During the priesthood session the girls all got together (and Ben) and had a nice time.

This is the gang coloring Easter eggs.

This is Payton really excited about coloring Easter eggs.

The finished product.

My sister-in-law made some Delicious, with a capital D, chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. They were very scrumptious. We then finished the night off by watching movie. It was nice.

Sunday morning we started the day off by going to my moms for a huge breakfast that included: waffles, egg and bacon wraps, creme brulee french toast, egg casserole, and orange juice. We then watched conference. We had snacks in the afternoon. For dinner, we had a nice turkey dinner. I think I gained about 7 pounds which happens about every conference because we eat so much good food.

Date Night

So for our date nights I decided that I wanted to have a theme. Mat and I switch off planning our date nights and it was my turn this week. So I decided that we are going to do an alphabet theme. So this being the first date night with a theme I started off with the letter A. Everything we did for date night related with the letter A. We had a nice time.


This was some Avocado and Cilantro Chicken that I made for dinner. It was my first time making it and we both really enjoyed it. I found the recipe Online.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of basil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 avocado, sliced into thin slices
Few sprigs cilantro
Monterey jack cheese, sliced thin

Combine the olive oil, lime juice and spices. Marinate the chicken breasts at least 20 minutes.

Broil chicken until done, turning once. Remove from oven and top with a few leaves of cilantro, avocado and cheese. Return to oven and broil until cheese melts.

NOTE: Chicken may also be grilled.

Artichoke

Asian fried rice. I got the recipe from my sister. It has peanut butter in it, yummy! I put green onion, eggs, peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic salt, Season All, and of course rice.
For dessert we had Apples dipped in chocolate. I love anything with chocolate.

For one of our Activities we did some Arts and crafts and we became Artisans. We used play dough and took turns sculpting items while they other one guessed. Mat was up first and started making his creation. I kept thinking it was a bra or a bikini, but finally realized it was just sunglasses. I am really slow.




We finished up the night eating some Air-popped popcorn while watching August Rush.