Potato Soup

Last night Gwen and I made Potato Soup. It was a total hit with Ryan, and today when he brought left overs to school for lunch, I guess it was the envy. A recipe post was requested, and I'm happy to oblige! And here's a shout out to Precious!!

Baked Potato Soup
5 bacon strips
1 med onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T flour
1 t salt
1 t basil
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper

4 C chickem broth

2 large baked potatoes, cubed

1 baked potato, mashed

1 C heavy cream (that's why it's SOOO good!)

1 t Tabasco

1 C shredded cheddar, plus more for topping

In stock pot, brown up bacon. Set aside and crumble to top soup. Reserve 1 T of fat and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in flour, salt basil and pepper. Add broth and bring to boil. Boil 3 min. Stir in mashed potato, boil 2 more min. Add cream, cubed potatoes, Tabasco, and cheddar. Heat through and garnish with cheese, bacon, and green onions. Enjoy!

I'm back!!

Okay, so I'm trying the public blog again.
My sister, Tara, called out my stalker ex-boyfriend on Facebook and his friends found out about the creepy stuff he's been doing (he emailed her denying everything of course-what a bonehead! I've got proof!). So here's to hoping he stops and I don't have to hide anymore!

Thanksgivingness

Our Thanksgiving holiday started with the Turkey Trot. Jasmyn and I ran it again this year, and then were able to meet up with my SIL, Emily at the finish. Nothing like burning 600+ calories on a day of feasting. And feast we did!!!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the beautiful spread.

But I've got a picture of the well fed!

Then the next day instead of shopping, we put up the Christmas tree and still had Jack and Aubrey around to help.

Unfortunately the fun had to end and the Taylors went home. :(
But I seriously LOVE this time of year. Can't wait to finish decorating and start Christmas baking!

bake sale

Yesterday Gwen kept asking if she could have a table out front to do a bake sale. I told her I'd make some goodies and she could do one tomorrow. So today while she was at school I whipped some up and when she got home Tara helped her make a sign.


She sat in front of the house for an hour and a half and had four non-family member customers. Eli was the number one customer buying a rice krispy treat for a dollar! (we sold everything for a quarter) It was so adorable! Funny thing is, she came up with all of this all by herself! What a little entrepreneur we have!!!!

In other news, the kids are loving having the Taylors stay with us!

my running baby

So Gwen has loved going to my races, and envies my medals. She has been saying that she wants to do a race and earn a medal. Well, I found the perfect first race for her. Part of the Arizona Ironman is a kid run that I entered her in. She's been practicing and this morning was her time to shine!

It was 48º so Drake stayed huddled in this blanket for a while.

They grouped the kids according to their grades, so Gwen was with other kids her age.

So Gwen's making a funny face here, but this was the only picture with her medal that she's so proud of in it.

Way to go Gwenny bum, we're sure proud of you!

my kind of mudflap!

Seriously, I want this. I mean really, how is it okay for dumb men, excuse me, I mean boys to drive around with a naked silhouette of a hooker on their cars? Smart is sexy to me!

Holy cow!!!!!

Seriously!? So uncalled for. Good to hear that she's been suspended indefinitely.

Phoenix Children's Museum

We ventured out for the free night at Phoenix Children's tonight. So we learned, played, explored, and crafted to our hearts content. Or at least my heart's content, the kids could have stayed all night. Luckily the lure of Golden Spoon got them in the car.

oww

Last weekend, we were moving some stuff from the old house to the new one, and I was carrying a load, couldn't really see around it until it was too late. I saw Drake sitting on the floor in the garage, doing a wind up with Ryan's long board, and sent the long board sailing into my feet. Well I was carrying year supply food. So oatmeal and beans went everywhere! And I was left with a bruised foot. It was so tender where my toes meet my foot. And I saw the look in Drake's eyes while he was putting his evil plan together. I know it was no accident. I now lock the door to my room when I go to bed so I don't wake up with all my hair cut off or my pajamas lit on fire.
Then yesterday I was unpacking- STILL, and I picked up a giant glass jar by the lid. (dumb I know) Well the lid popped off the jar, and it fell right on my same foot. So that bump pictured above doesn't mean that I'm preggo with a swollen foot. Instead I just have a mutilated foot.

H&M

Everybody be excited. H&M is coming to Scottsdale! And for some reason I got an invite to the VIP event for it's sneak peak before opneing last night. I RSVP'd a while ago, but when it came down to it yesterday I didn't have anyone to watch the kids and I was sweaty and yucky from the gym and didn't want to get dressed. But when Ryan didn't go to his meeting last night, I called up Tawnya (at 9PM) and we drove on up so we wouldn't miss out on 20% off total purchase. When we got there we knew we were out of our element. Tawnya had on jeans and a t-shirt and I was in my sweaty gym clothes with my crazy sweaty hair pulled back with a head band. Well this place was valet parking, red carpet, and models in their mini skirts and stilettos and GQ guys in tuxes! We still got in in time to hurry and buy some goods before it closed, but not before I was on the live NEWS!! Yep, trying on head bands on my sweaty nasty hair. At least I thought "it's 10:00 PM, no one is watching". Well I know of at least 3 people who were watching and recognized a no make-up, stinky Kristin on the news last night. I'm so embarrassed!

So anyhoo, it opens tomorrow. It's up at Scottsdale Quarter right across the street from Kierland Commons.

Halloween aftermath

last night

we went to Owl City instead of my high school reunion. And it was AWESOME!!!!!!! I'm sad I missed seeing old friends, but really I see most of the people I'd want to see anyways. (or at least read their blogs!) But honestly, the sound was amazing, and the venue was perfect for this show. It goes down as one of the BEST!

But the band before, the Scene Aesthetic, they were pretty good, but one of the singers was wearing that stupid Barack Obama shirt with just his face on it. What's up with celebrities (or wannabe celebrities) worshiping him? What's up with Barack winning the Noble peace prize? Wasn't he only in office like 20 days before he was nominated for it? And what's up with Barack saying Fox News can't have news feeds because they're not a real news station. I'm so sick of him.

dot you just love it!?

More Halloween Dots!

These "ghost" ones are a variety of fruit flavors. Basically they're regular dots, but you can't tell which color you're eating. So I really like to eat them and close my eyes and figure out which flavor I've got. Kind of like Rod (in Hot Rod) with his Jelly Bellies.

And the Bats, are Blood Orange flavor. These are great! The flavor is a more intense one than a usual Dot. Just like with the Candy Corn ones, it took me a while to get used to it, but now I love it!

back to our trip:

after our blood ordeal at BYU, we...

went to a pumpkin patch and Drake posed on tractors,
went to a Chump reunion show in Provo to watch Gavin (Ryan's bro) relive the glory days,
went to Temple square,
Drake learned how to use a urinal,
had lunch with our friends, the Stathams,
met up with my preggo friend Desiree,
went to SanFran and saw homeless people SMOKE CRACK!, pretend to be pregnant while begging for food, and went to Nike town to pick up my run stuff,
got a bed on Craigslist that we painted, (like Gwen's painting clothes?)
bought A LOT of gas,
almost fell off a cliff,
fed animals at a mini farm,
rode on a little STEAM ENGINE train,
slid down a cement slide on cardboard,
ate CHEESE BOARD pizza, oh baby was that good!
And got up at the crack of dawn (or before) to go run,
and this girl was inspired,
finishing the 1/2 and wishing I just did the full,
and then had a long drive home.
At least blue push pops make the time go faster.

nike women's

Tomorrow I'm supposed to run a marathon. But I tried running Thursday morning and was definitely feeling the stress fracture. So I'm taking it easy and am going to do the 1/2 instead.

That's my name on the windows of Nike Town.

It's for real now.

I'm so excited!

BYU

We're cheap. I mean really cheap. So when we went to BYU with the intention of getting new BYU shirts and saw that a blood drive was going on, and donators got free BYU shirts, Ryan and I signed up. The kids loved it. They pigged out on all the snacks available to donors while we were waiting.
Gwen was so cute while we were giving blood. She kept saying, "oh, mommy, I love you....mommy are you okay?....oh mommy...etc"
Once we were done, Ryan chilled on the couch drinking juice and eating cookies for about 15 minutes, and then when we got up to leave, we didn't get very far before he had to sit where he was, and then just laid on my lap for another 10 minutes. Poor guy. Look how pale he is!
Then we met up with Ryan's buddy from his mission, Ken Prince and his three adorable kids. Look at Drake and Stockton. Doesn't Stockton look like he could be Drake's brother?
We took the kids to roll down the hill that goes down to the library. They loved it!

Gwen and Brinley

The kids loved each other, it was so cute! We miss BYU so much. So we did a lot of brainwashing, doing what we can to make sure the kids go there. ;)

She's been at it again. This little girl loves photo booth! I love getting on my computer and seeing new pictures of her.