Toaster Strudel Art

Simple and quick!- description of what breakfast is around the Seamons' house. Probably due to the fact that we get up at the very last possible moment that we can. ;) We are NOT morning people, people! Anywho- the Toaster Strudel Company gets a gold star from us! Fruit (pretend with me), pastry (let's count that as grain?), and white stuff (that should count for something)! Add a glass of whole pink milk and you got a breakfast of Champions, my friends! And if think that wasn't enough.... add an Artistic Mommy with a bit of Toaster Strudel Art! If people knew--- they would be beating down our door to join us! Thank goodness no one knows! lol



When Toaster Strudels ARE for breakfast, Glory & Victoria make requests for the artwork. Glory's usually is always a puppy! I'm getting really good at puppies! Victoria's depends on the Holiday coming up or her mood. Liberty & Justice enjoy it if I write little notes or they do it themselves. We are one artistically talented Fam!

LobsterFest 2011

Anytime we see the commercials for LobsterFest, the kids ask "When can we go to Red Lobster?"  It's not exactly the most child-friendly or budget-savvy place to dine so the answer has usually been, "We'll have to talk about it." Well, with Brett coming home after being away for 2 weeks- we felt like celebrating! So yummy seafood... Here we come!!!

The kids were so excited to see the lobsters. At least until we actually got one out of the tank. They took a bit to warm up to the idea but thought they were awesome by the end. They had a humongous 3 pound-er in the tank as well. He was GIGANTIC! The kids spent half the time up there.

And the food was amazing! Liberty and I shared a Ultimate Platter. All of us had plenty of food and got to try tons of different stuff. YUMMMY! The kids thought the crab claw was the greatest. Cute kids! Thanks Love, for coming home, giving us a reason to celebrate and spoiling us with a bit of delicious seafood! XOXO!

Freezer Meals Galore

Any evidence of our last Freezer Meal Exchange has long since vanished from our home! So what's a girl to do? Make more, I guess. Craziness of life or sheer boredom created a Kitchen Monster in me this week. I was supposed to make 3 of 4 different kind of meals to exchange with the ladies today- total of 12. Well, I went a little overboard. I figured it didn't take anymore time to just make 2 of each meal for myself while I was making them anyways. Then, I figured I had all the stuff for Cream Cheese Chicken and Taco soup. Two stables around here so I made those as well. Final total- 20 meals in 2 days! Wahoooo! Let's eat!

Freezer Meal Exchange

McKenzie, Kristen & I had a Freezer Meal Exchange this week. I am so excited!
I do NOT love spending hours in the kitchen cooking. If I could magically just make food appear- that would be ideal. No pans to scrub, no stove top to wipe down, no oven to stink up the neighborhood when something overflows, no tired feet from standing up for hours, no huge sigh as your family consumes in a matter of seconds what took you hours to prepare! LOL! Although eating it all is heaven! With freezer meals however, one messy day and I can crank out 13 or so meals (with a few multiples). Isn't that just amazing? Better yet, you get a couple friends to do the same and whoala you have enough different meals for more than half the month. [Especially if you are willing to eat leftovers- which at the Seamons, it seems like "Leftover Night" is pretty frequent. Obviously, I must be cooking sometimes- if we're always eating leftovers, right?]
We ended up with Taco Soup, Cream Cheese Chicken, Meatball Minestrone, Bean & Sausage Soup, Tex Mex, Best Bean Soup, Chicken Parmigiana, Sweet Potato Corn Chowder, Canadian Maple Chicken, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Pot Pie, and Pineapple Chicken. YUMMMY!
Here's the beauty of our labors:

Can't hardly stand it- They are so beautiful!!!!! Let's do it again after the Holidays!

Utah Vacation: Temple Square & Cafe Rio

Today is our 14th Wedding Anniversary! Can you believe that? Holy Cow! I guess time flies when you're having fun! ;) We drove down from Layton to SLC to start out our morning with a session at the Salt Lake Temple. I LOVE this Temple! It's gorgeous and has an amazing history. We got to sit together in the Celestial room for a while after the session. It is so beautiful & peaceful! It's hard to believe we sat in that exact place 14 years ago with no idea what future was ahead of us. What a future it has been! ;) Many there be many more to experience. I love you so much, Honey!

Here's an article with pictures of some of the rooms inside: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=4d3530b157edb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1 (It's called In His Holy House in the 1993 Nov issue of the Liahona found on lds.org)

We finally decided to NOT stay in a Hotel for the next two nights but to just stay up at the Davis'. (After 14 years, you'd think we would have the communication thing down, right? or NOT! Oops! Sorry, love! You are so patient with me!;) It eventually worked out great though because like I mentioned- we LOVE staying at the Davis' house! Well, after a fun Anniversary lunch in the Temple cafeteria (Pretty good food I would say), we headed back up to Cheri's to get the kids. [Thanks lady for watching them for us- we really appreciate it!] After naptime, we headed back down to Salt Lake to take the kids around Temple Square. There is SO much to see and we had very limited time so we took them to the big stuff. At Temple Square, the Christus statue is a MUST! It's gorgeous! We also went ot the North Visitor's Center and went inside the Tabernacle. One of the Sister Missionaries did a sound demonstration without a microphone. Pretty amazing!

Next, we did a shortened tour of the Conference Center. We LOVE the rooftop! We did the tour with a couple from Ohio. We made sure they saw the really important parts. ;) It was fun to be able to do a bit of missionary work while we were there. Glory ended up pretending to be a puppy the whole time and ruined the toes of her shoes on the granite floor. Silly girl! We even got to see a double rainbow while we were on the roof. Magnificent! We are so lucky! The pictures don't give them justice. After the roof, we got to go inside the auditorium. That place is humungous and beautiful!

We had planned to meet several of Brett's fam for dinner so we headed over to one of our favorite places- Cafe Rio! YUMMMMMMY! Love that place! Brett's mom-Lana, Shauna, Charlene, Jayden, Jordan, Miley, Janet, Skyler, Ky, Brett, Liberty, Justice, Victoria, Glory and me all were there! Let me tell you--It's always fun keeping kids together and quiet in a restaurant. Gotta love 'em!!! LOL!

After dinner, we headed back over to Temple Square where we met up with Shauna. We made a stop at the South Visitor's center. They have a miniaturized replica of the Temple and it's insides. HOLY AMAZING! That is a doll house my girls would love, love! We made a stop by the fountain where Brett proposed to me. AHHH- too sweet! (Tilt your head to the side- it sounds cuter;) And of course, we had to touch the Temple. A family tradition! I even took Liberty to the back door so I could show her my doorknob.

[STORY behind the knob: When we got married, it's tradition to take pictures on the steps by the doors. Well, people were teasing me about trying to break in. (These big doors are locked for obvious reasons) I played along and tugged hard on the door. Well, I guess I'm Superwoman or something because the doorknob popped off and rolled down the stairs. Oops! We all about peeped our pants (or dresses) laughing! I, of course, put it back on the best I could and we told the Temple workers about it but now whenever we see the doorknob- we laugh! AND then even better -a couple years later, my Uncle Bud found a belt buckle made from a mold of the front of the knob. He ended up giving us one so I actually have my own SLTemple doorknob at home! Too funny!]

Shauna got to explain some of the symbols on the outside of the Temple to the kids, we threw coins in the fountains, did a mooshy Anniversary photo shoot in front of the Temple before it got too dark and checked out the looking-glass lake. The Church turns everything it touches into something beautiful! It's truly amazing! I'm so glad we got the kids there!

Here's a picture of the inside of the replica. It's absolutely perfect!:

Even despite our little communication gliche, our Anniversary was pretty great! Thanks love for being such an amazing hubby! I love you so much! XOXO!

Happy Anniversary!

Utah Vacation: Partay @ the Davis'

The Davis Family is AWESOME!!! We ended up invading their home for 6 nights- 2 more than they had even expected. They were way more than generous. Thanks guys! We sure luv ya!

We had so much fun with them! Like I said, the kids ended up being inseparable. Victoria & Halle are soul mates= Dora-loving, swimsuit-wearing, talented artist, girly girls. Too cute! And Brett & I love visiting with Cheri & Dixon. We laugh the whole time. Cheri fed us like we were Royalty- seriously- this woman can cook and clean ;) like no other. Just get her sink full of suds ready and she's set. LOL! Love ya, lady! We laughed, played and kept them up till all hours of the night EVERY night. Hopefully, they got some sleep when we left. LOL! Here's some of the fun we had with the Davis family:

The little girls wanted to swim in Halle's pool everyday.

The Davis' have a program that came with their computer. It's so totally hilarious! Everyone had a blast except for Liberty. She wasn't a fan. (Sorry sweetie!) But the faces were pretty funny! We laughed so hard!

They even spoiled us with an Outdoor Movie Extravaganza! Aunt Shauna joined us for the fun. After a fabulous dinner of delicious Teriyaki bowls and a elite-restaurant-worthy Red Velvet Cake, we made our way outside. They set up a big screen and the projector for a movie under the stars. The little girls had a movie night of their own all snuggled in Dixon & Cheri's bed- an Island Barbie Princess paradise. Outside, there was Eragon, popscicles, popcorn, fire & sm'ores- what more could you ask for? Cheri & I never made it outside. By the time we cleaned up the kitchen- (did I mention her sudsy sink?)- & putting the little ones to bed, the rest of the fam were coming in. What can I say?- us ladies can chit-chat, for sure. ;) Thanks for the fun memories! We had a blast!

There was tons more fun to be had at the Davis Hotel. We could have stayed there forever.

And of course, I mentioned the food, right? Cafe Cheri- AMAZING!!! She is fabulous. We had fresh fruit smoothies every morning- like "pick raspberries and strawberries from the garden" kind. Treats galore- good enough to look fake AND delicious meals. It was heaven! I wasn't sure that my family would actually come home with me. LOL!

On our last day with them we went to see little Miss Halle perform in the South Weber Fair. (We missed her in the Parade because mornings are NOT our thing) But we did get to see her dance. She was so darling! Awesome job, Missy! You looked beautiful! We all enjoyed a snowcone when her performance was through. There had to be like 50 flavors to choose from. Crazy & yummy!

That night, the Dads took the kids to the Fireworks. They had lots of fun! Cheri & I were supposed to go shopping and clean out my vacation-mess van. I do think Cheri made a trip to the store fast but then we spent the rest of the night talking instead. Oops! Oh well- who needs a clean car, right?

We had so much fun with the Davis family. Thanks guys! You are such an awesome family. Thanks for letting us be a part of it for a few days. Luv ya! (Even if you don't read my blog;)

1st of the Year Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven Partays are a MUST for Summertime fun! Bishop Z offered to have the 1st one for this year. It was delicious and fun and rainy as it always is! LOL! On our way over, Mother Nature decided it would be fun to remind us of last year's Dutch Oven and poured down a few zillion buckets of heavy rain. Her sense of humor just kills me sometimes. It turned out that the weather cleared up as the Eater-guests arrived so it was fabulous. I LOVE Dutch Oven Partays!!! Thanks to the Zees. The next ones at the Cooks on the Pioneer Day. Hurray!

Kitchen Fun

I am the first to admit that the kitchen is not my favorite room in the house. Now, don't get me wrong-- I LOVE food!!! It's just that it's better when someone else makes it! LOL! However, I have been inspired lately by my amazing friend and her fabulous cookbook and her delicious meals! So, I have been on a roll lately. I picked the recipes from Brooke, got all the ingredients, made a plan and ended up making 11 meals in one day to put in my freezer!!! YEAHH!!!! Don't they look fabulous! I even ended up looking like a very domestic Visiting Teacher when one of my sisters had a baby this week and I delivered 4 ready-to-heat meals to her family. I'm so excited to be like Brooke! Yeah for me!

Also- kitchen related.....after 13 years, I finally broke down and bought myself a nice knife set. Not the $500 sets I saw out there (OMH!!!- who pays that kind of money for knifes!) but a really nice Chicago Cutlery set. The problem is that they are so sharp, I'm almost afraid to use them! LOL!

Look at me- all domestic and everything.

My family won't know what to do with the new me. (If it lasts, that is!)