Family Fun Friday... Game Night

Aniston has been begging to go on a family bike ride for the past week. 

Unfortunately, for those of us here in Rexburg, the weather has been super nasty and super cold.

Aniston is not impressed.

So instead of taking the bikes out for a ride, Aniston was more than happy to settle for a game night.

We let her pick the games and the order in which we played them.

All of them lasted an entire 3 minutes except for Chutes and Ladders which was played until someone won.

Can we talk about how long that game can actually take when you're playing with a 3 year old?!?!

It's a patience builder for sure!

But we really had so much fun.

Free fun!

She is at the perfect age when she is starting to understand rules, makes up her own rules and really turns the game into a huge part of her life.

We did have to wait until Benson went to bed to play, since he is mobile now, but we will make it up to him today.

I forget sometimes how much fun it can be to whip out one of our millions of games and just play as a family. 

Here's to more game nights!

Monday Munchies... Malibu Chicken

I love chicken.
Understatement.
And I am always looking for new ways to cook chicken.
I really don't like to bore my family.

This recipe was perfect and a total hit!

SHOPPING LIST:
Chicken Breasts
5 Egg Yolks
Minced Garlic
2 cups Bread Crumbs
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 TBSP Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Thinly Sliced Ham
Swiss Cheese Slices

1. Mix egg yolks and minced garlic (as much or as little as you like, I used about 5 TBSP and you could taste it well) into a ziploc bag. Shake then add chicken to bag. Marinate chicken in fridge for 4+ hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and salt and pepper into a bowl.

4. Pour dry mixture into 9x13 baking dish.

5. Add chicken to pan and coat chicken evenly with dry mixture.

6. Cook chicken for about 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

7. After 40 minutes place 1 slice of ham covered by 1 slice of swiss cheese on top of each chicken piece and bake for an additional 2 minutes until the cheese is melted.

ENJOY!!!

DAY 1468... We've Only Just Begun

It's only been 4 years?
We have only been married 4 years?

Isn't it crazy when you get married and you can't really ever remember anything about life before?

I seriously feel like my life now, is the life that I have always had, and more importantly the life that I was meant to have.

It's been a crazy 4 years!

We have moved 5 times

In 2 states

We had had 4 cars

We have gone through 3 years of school

Have graduated with 1 master's degree

We have had 2 kids

Countless jobs

Millions (literally... do the math) of midnight Taco Bell runs

and

Still no honeymoon.

Someday. Right?

Marriage is truly an incredible experience.

You are spending all day everyday with someone who you chose to be with.

You are spending time with someone who can make you happier than anything else

and can also make you more angry than you have ever imagined possible.

Marriage is an incredible experience.

The more I experience it, the more I understand why I needed to wait until I was 25 to start a marriage.

You cannot be selfish in marriage.

You cannot be dishonest in marriage.

It's so crazy to transition from everything just being about you, to every decision that you make now effects someone else either directly or indirectly. 

And once there are kids involved... forget about it.

There are times when I want to be selfish, and at times I probably have been.

I could blame it on the fact that I was older when I got married so I was more set in my ways.

There are a thousand different things I could blame it on, but in all honesty, it's just a flaw of mine.

Sometimes I have brief moments of weakness.

Marriage has taught me a lot.

I am learning to be more patient.

I am learning to say sorry.

I am learning to put others ahead of myself.

I am learning to compromise.

I am learning to love deeper than ever.

I am learning to respect.

I am learning to be open minded.

I am learning to communicate.

This list could go on and on...

I understand why people get divorced now.

It's an out when things get really tough, and let me tell you, things do get tough.

I will say that there are definitely times when divorce is okay,

but irreconcilable differences... BS.

Irreconcilable differences = laziness, impatience and selfishness

In my opinion.

Marriage is hard.

It takes time and effort and sometimes it's not fun.

But it is worth it.

Family is everything and I have had a blast the past for 4 years creating and loving on mine!

Happy 4 year anniversary to us!
9/10/11

Let's not forget our cute babies!

DAY 1459... Back to School Traditions

I spent so much time researching and exploring every outlet I could find in search of some fun back to school traditions for our family.

I know, I know, I probably could have spent that time being way more productive, but it is what it is.

Since Aniston is our first child to go to school (preschool counts right?), this was totally unexplored territory.

Setting up lifetime traditions distributes a crazy amount of pressure!

There are so many fantastic ideas and options!

I love traditions and I think that it's important to have traditions in your home. Traditions are what I remember most growing up. But it's really tough to figure out what is going to work best for your family and to know your limits and what you are going to be able to follow through with.

After several weeks of research we finally settled on our back to school traditions.

Back to School Feast

For our back to school feast this year, we chose Hawaiian Haystacks. This was the perfect dinner for this year because Ani ate a ton a vegetables and loves the options that this meal offers her. It's so awesome to have the ability to pick and choose what you want, and knowing that it's pretty healthy. Aniston loves options! I used rainbow colored circles on fishing line to decorate our dining room and made cute name plates for everyone, including Benny Boo.

Benson could not stop staring at the circle's hanging from the ceiling. 

He LOVED them!

While we were eating, we talked about what Aniston was most excited for when it came to school (the playground). We also talked about her fears. Her biggest fear?  Not knowing where the bathroom is. I made sure that she knew where it was and we practiced telling our teachers that we needed to go potty. I am happy to report that there have been no accidents (knock on wood).

I think it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed the feast!

Back to School Blessing

Every year, growing up, my Dad would give us each a Father's Blessing the night before we went back to school. This year Aniston got her very first back to school blessing from Spencer and it was AMAZING! For such a rowdy child, she was so quiet and so calm the entire time and then reached for Spencer to give him a hug right after he was finished. It was AMAZING!

Family Theme

So we I picked a theme for our family for this school year. This year I chose a quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley that I absolutely love! The quote simply says, "Try a little harder to be a little better."

Once I settled on a theme, I got onto publisher and designed the print and had it printed, framed, and placed in our living room so that we can see it every day.

Hopefully it will inspire all of us to be a little better in our daily activities.

School Clothes Shopping

School clothes shopping was always one of my favorite things to do to prepare for school growing up. I was surprised at how picky my little 3 year old was when it came to buying new clothes, but we were able to agree and settle upon some super cute clothes!

I'm sure that this is one of those traditions that will change in the future and that she will rather go with friends than with Mom so I just really need to enjoy this time while it lasts for sure!

Back to School Pictures

We took our very own back to school pictures. I know to many they aren't anything special, but it was another opportunity to capture an important moment in our lives and for me to get more practice using my nice camera. They turned out AMAZING!

You can view all the images here.

Back to School Treat

The night before school started, after our Back to School Feast, we let Aniston pick any place that she wanted to go for dessert. She picked frozen yogurt, for the gummy bears and sprinkles of course.

First Night Pizza

For dinner on the first day of school we hit up Papa Murphy's for an easy and delicious dinner option. Aniston is obsessed with Mini Murph's and it really made for a simple evening especially after such a crazy busy day. 

Yes, she is wearing gloves... Weird, I know, but she loves wearing gloves even in 90 degree weather.

I am completely aware that these may change or adjust as time goes on and we have more children attending school, but for now we are pretty satisfied with our back to school traditions. We had blast implementing them and I can't wait to do them all over again next year!