New-Found FAV

This incredible looking dip is HUMMUS and let me tell you, can transform a piece of celery from tasteless watery crunch into something near heavenly. It is an awesome spread for sandwiches and wraps, and the health benefits are great to boot! I'm hooked! Here is a fantastic recipe for you if you get the urge to try hummus:

Turkey Hummus Wrap
Spread 3 tbsp. hummus on a whole wheat tortilla
Layer:
3 oz. skinless white turkey breast meat
1/4 of a sliced avocado
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts
2 slices tomato
romaine lettuce
Roll up and enjoy!

(Hummus is store-bought by the way, I'm sure you could make it if you wanted to, but it's very good and much easier from the store!)

That's My Girl

And it's time for another birthday at our house. Allie, our third baby, second girl, is celebrating her 6th birthday tomorrow. When she was a baby, everyone always told me she looked like a cabbage patch doll. And Oh, what a doll she is. Just can't get enough of this girl's million dollar smile.
Here is a peek at our sweet Alliecat. (I wanted to start with a hospital pic, but our scanner was being a bugger, so we'll start with: )
Age 1

Age 2

Age 3


Age 4

Age 5

Here is what makes our Allie so special:
*Her smile is contagious.
*She is 98.7% instantly obedient.
*She was so excited to get into this world, she came 4 weeks early!
*When she grows up, she wants to be a mom or maybe a bus driver.
*She reminds me at least once a day that I am the best mom in the world. I never get tired of hearing it.
*She is our best eater, always the first one to the table, and the last one down.
*She adores, and is adored by, her siblings. She makes the perfect older and younger sister.
We love you Allie, and hope you have a special day!

Hello out there?? Has anyone missed me???

Wow. It's amazing how time can fly without even realizing it. Here we are four months later and it still feels like Christmas outside. Yup, that's right. My kids just had thier first day of cancelled school because of snow, and it happened in April. Is this what it's like in Alaska? Here's a quick recap of our 2010 so far.


Cute Layton turned 8 and started scouts, and he is all business.


He was baptized in February by his dad. His little toe popped up, so he had to do it twice, but made sure to get it right the second time!




Did I mention the snow we've been having? Yeah, we've been pretty busy trying to get the most out of it. Quinn and I took a quick overnight trip to Big Sky for our 12th anniversary. We love to ski with our kids, but it was really nice to spend a quiet day together and enjoy the awesome slopes.

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We were able to get the kids up to Kelly's quite a bit...Allie is becoming quite the little skier. Her favorite thing is to play movie trivia on the chair lift. Morgan tried snowboarding for the first time this year, and I don't think she'll ever go back to skiing.

As much fun as it is to play in the snow, I am ready for spring!! My garden thumb is starting to itch.

Birthday Boy

Dear Layton,
It's hard for me to believe that you are turning 8 years old! It seems like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms and cuddling my brand-new baby boy. What a blessing you have been to our family. I always tell everyone, if there was ever a boy that was perfect for having 3 sisters, you would be it. You are so good to them. And they love you. I smiled this morning when Kate came in all ready for church and said "Look at me, Layton", and you responded with a smile on your face, "Ooooh. Pretty Kate." I am grateful for your tender heart and concern for others. You are and have always been my buddy. I love it when you come up behind me in the kitchen and give me a hug for no reason at all. I love that I can always count on you to do the right thing. I am proud of your decision to be baptized in a few weeks and can hardly wait for the day to come. I hope you have a wonderful 8th birthday and I hope you know how blessed we feel to have you in our family!


Love.This.Kid.

THIS.......

..is what I get to do today. ALL DAY. Seriously.

Comin at ya a little late....

Not the typical vacation spot!

Don't ya just love free trips? Quinn is in the process of building a new dental office and the headquarters for some of the equipment that he has to purchase is in Portland. So the first week of December we were able to fly out to the coast, mainly for the purpose of choosing dental equipment, but we decided to make a little mini-vacation out of it. When I think of taking a trip, Oregon is not typically the first place that comes to mind...but I was surprised at how beautiful it was! Here are some of the highlights of our quick trip.


We decided to take a drive out to the coast one of the days, and on the way we found this cool Air and Space Museum. Inside this building is the actual Spruce Goose built by Howard Hughes. It is huge!! On the lawn in front of this building they have another huge 747 that they are planning on turning into a water park...with 4 water slides based off the airplane itself. Way cool.

This is as close as I have ever been to the pacific ocean. It's so beautiful. The waves were roaring this particular day and I found myself awed at the amazing creations that make up this world we live in.

I love this guy.

We were driving up the coast and found this cool place to stop and watch the sun fade into the endless expanse of ocean. What an awesome sunset!

We drove out to this place on Sunday after we visited a ward in Portland (which is always very interesting). It's called Multnomah Falls and is located just outside of Portland. Very cool waterfall. I love the bridge connecting the two canyon walls.

Somewhere in the middle of all this we actually did pick out some dental equipment!!