Spicy White Bean Soup

My friend Alisa is a FABULOUS cook! Even last night she was saying how she had just tried a new recipe. So if your stuck like me in a rut of the usual recipes here is a tasty one! Tis' the season to start warming up with yummy soups for dinner and this is my FAVORITE soup. Thanks Alisa!

2 Tbl. olive oil
saute 1 med onions
4 garlic cloves minced
2 4oz. cans chopped green chilies
2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper
6 cups chicken broth
4 cups chopped chicken
3 cups Monterrey jack cheese shredded
3 16oz. cans northern white beans (Alisa prefers Busch's brand) do not drain

I hope I didn't just give a secret family recipe away:)

Tagged

What are the last 3 things you purchased?
1.Baskets to get organized.
2.Popcorn and drinks for the movie IGOR.
3.Cupcakes from So Cupcake to surprise my hubby with at work.

What are the last 3 songs you downloaded onto your iPod?
(Derek does all my downloading)
1.Mama Mia
2.SOS -from Mama Mia, me and Derek sing this very well together, he agreed that if we were ever at a Karaoke party this would be our song :)
3.Miley Cyrus (I'd like to say for Kasidee, but that was already downloaded onto her ipod this time it was for me)

What are your three favorite movies?
1.Juno
2.Steel Magnolias
3.Mama Mia

What are three things you have not done yet?
1.Gotten ready for the day
2.Laundry
3.Talked to Suzie

What are you three favorite TV shows?
1.The Office
2.Grey's Anatomy
3.SNL

What are three things you can't live without?
1.Family
2.Flat Iron
3.Friends

What are you three favorite dishes?
1.Lasagna (my moms)
2.Chicken Madeira from Cheesecake Factory
3.Eggplant Parmesan from Olive Garden

What are your three favorite desserts?
1.Sugar Cookies (home made or from Schmidt's)
2.Peach Crisp
3.Anything Brooke and Kevin make

What three things would you buy if money were not an issue?
1.I've always told my mom I'd pay off her house first
2.Vacations with my family
3.A house that my kids as teenagers would like to be the hangout (I know I'm going to need to keep an eye on them)

If you could have three wishes what would they be?
1.To be a kinder more patient mother
2.Not have to work
3.More time, I'm always running out of it!

Three people I tag:
1.Brooke (because she also hates tagging)
2.Sonya
3.Katherine

State Fair

It's a Kuehne tradition to attend the state fair. And what a treat the fair is. When we first started going when Kasi was a baby, I remember wiping down all the rides she rode, using a TON of hand sanitizer, and getting angry at the carnies for smoking while kids were around. All those things still bother me 7 yrs later, it's just that my kids have always lived through it, so I've decided to relax a little. Dillon was quite bothered by all the smells this year. He plugged his nose through most of the night. And Kasidee was in animal HEAVEN!!! My favorite part (for those who know her) was seeing Sister Dunn manning her own booth. I still have no idea what she was selling/showing people. Hopefully I've gotten some of you excited about the fair and we'll see ya next year!

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a fun weekend. Friday night I went with my girls to dinner then to see the movie Mama Mia (my second time seeing the movie. LOVE IT). Saturday I went with my parents to the Farmers Market downtown (somehow I lived to tell the story girls :) ) That was fun, my mom LOVES the market so I felt like I should check it out. Came home and threw in a couple hair appointments, then headed up to Washington Lake to camp. We've probably been camping 3 times since we've been married and Dillon has never been. He was the happiest kid alive!! He kept saying "This is the awesomest night ever! Camping ROCKS!"

Hanging around the camprfire roasting marshmallows.





The kids loved sleeping in a tent. It rained all night, luckily we stayed warm and dry.



Todd told Dillon he would take him fishing so Dillon stayed right by his side. They only had one pole, so we decided to give them all sticks with strings attached. Dillon and Kasidee had a hard time understanding why the fish weren't jumping onto their strings. My kids are not patient. Saving himself the torture of listening to Dillon whine about not catching a fish, Todd grabbed a dead one and tied it to Dillons string. Dillon was so proud of himself! He sat their for a good 30 min. making the fish swim around in the water. Dillon reminds Kasidee that he was the only one who caught a fish!









To finish off the trip we went four wheeling. We went on some really fun and really rocky trails. Dillon fell alseep and I'm not sure how. And Kasidee was able to drive for a little bit.






My cute neices and nephew were so much fun to hang around and kept asking us to stay one more night. Luckily we didn't because it snowed! Thanks Tiff and Todd for showing us such a fun weekend!



Monday we stayed home so I could paint Kasidee's room. Derek was off so we let him pick lunch (Chik-Fil-A) then shopped IKEA. We wished the weekend lasted longer!

Class is In!!

Yeah! Kasidee's first day of 2nd grade was yesterday! She absolutley loved it. I thought for sure she'd be exhausted, but not that kid, she's the energizer bunny! But me on the other hand, I think I might have to start taking naps again! This getting up at 7:00am deal is not what I'm cut out for. And of course I forgot to take a picture before school, so I pulled Kasi out of class so I could get one:) I can't believe my little girl is a 2nd grader. The drama of a 7 yr. old is crazy! We also started having Ella again today. She is a sweety. She loved this baby so much she wanted to bite it's head off. It's a good thing we had her today because Dillon is SOOOO lonely without Kasi around.

Donut Falls

Don't let the name trick you. It's not at all what you think it is! Just a great name that got my family to go on a hike with the Christen hiking club. It was a fun hike, a little cooler than we had anticipated, so Ella had to wear Dills jacket. That girl can pull any look off:) Kasi brought a little girlfriend and they explored together. On the way back down the canyon we were following a big white truck, it was swerving a bit and going o so slow. Finally it pulled over and what looked like waved us by. But then as we passed the guy was flashing us, so we turned back. The guy was crying and said that he needed help. He asked us to drive him to the hospital- He was on a bike ride and fell and broke his collar bone. I guess the pain was a little more than he could bare to drive. Derek told me that on the way to the hospital the guy kept saying "This is not good, it is so painful", Not to laugh at others pain but we get a kick out of repeating that. Crazy fun night.

A Staycation

We've had our nephews from Arkansas here for a 3 week visit so we are doing everything we can in that amount of time-





Hill Air Force. I highly recommend! It's free for one thing and they have the funnest kid area. This is the same model of plane that my father-in-law first jumped out of!



Lagoon! I didn't get a picture of Kas because she's so brave and goes on all the rides I'm too scared to go on. (We are going again tomorrow:) )







Our Boys Only/Sydney Sleepover. First we had pizza at my house, then Derek took them to Boondocks, then they came home and watched Dumb and Dumber (I think the kids were up until 2 am! I'm getting too old for this!) In the morning Derek made his awesome crepes!



My sis-in-law blessed her twins.





We hit Seven Peaks- very fun!!! And HOT!!!

My nephews are such good, sweet boys and we miss them so much inbetween visits. And then when they are here all our kids cling to them the whole time!



Brodie with Kasi's glasses on upside down.



Braxton taking Dill for a sweet ride. (in a BARBIE jeep)



Brice and Dill mowin the lawn.

Things not pictured (bad mom) Ensign Peak, Lots of Swimming at grandmas, 24th of July Parade, Bee's Game, and we saw a couple of movies.
What a fun Staycation! Now I have to save back up for the visit in December!

Heaven Help Us!!!

This was Kasidee's prayer tonight- "Dear Heavenly Father please help my mom to remember to turn the stove off, so she doesn't burn my Baby Alive doll and all of my dogs. Amen."
So about 1:30pm my kids say they want Mac and Cheese, I boiled the water and as soon as I put the noodles in -the power went out. So first I called the power company and made sure Derek paid the bill. And yep, we did, so it wasn't us. So the power was off for like an 1 1/2 hours. My kids were getting hot and wouldn't stay out of the fridge (I didn't want the food to go bad). So we packed up and went to my in-laws. Of course as soon as I got there my girlfriend called and said it was back on. About 4:30 pm, on my way home I realize I never turned off the stove!!! I left the stove on HI for 1 1/2 hours!!! I start FREAKING out, crying and praying that my house would still be there when I got home. As soon as I got out of the car I could here the fire alarm going off. I was kind of scared to open the front door thinking it was going to be a scene from Backdraft and have the house explode. I could barely see through all the smoke!!! These are some pictures of the pan, and yes, the bottom got so hot it turned blue. The teflon burned off and the sides were starting to melt down. If I had used an old pan and not my brand new one or been 15 minutes later- my house would have been toast, literally. So as I'm sitting here in this nasty smelling house thinking I am SOOOOOO grateful for all that I have.

Girls Only Night (Sort Of)

I decided to have a Girls Night with my cute neices. My oldest neice Syd couldn't come because she was at Oakcrest. But here they are, and Dillon, because he was more excited about the sleepover than Kasi was, there's no way I would have said he couldn't come. So first I gave them all up-do's, then they put on their own makeup. (I have glitter everywhere in my house now).They looked so cute and you could tell they felt good because they walked with some sass:) Then we loaded up and went to dinner. After dinner we stopped for treats and a movie, we painted toes while we watched it, and gorged ourselves with candy. But mainly we giggled.

Free to Be

Happy 4th! We did the usual, breakfast at the church, parade, swim, and fireworks! Hope you all had a great time with family and friends too!



Here's a funny little video of Ella and Dill. She only does this to my kids and to Brooke. We think it's hillarious. The best is the puke at the end. Enjoy:)

Double the fun!

Dereks sister Amber had her sweet twin babies July 2nd. Amber has been the very best aunt to my kids for the last seven years and it's finally my turn to love and spoil her kids! She did such a great job cookin these kids! And I know that she will be such a wonderful mommy, they are lucky to have her!

Sadie 4lbs. 7oz. Sawyer 5lbs. 11oz.

Shall we call it a week?...LETS!!!!

Wow, so summer has gone off with a bang! Monday me and Dill went swimming with friends (I got fried), and Kasidee came home. Tuesday I decided to take the kids to the downtown library for some book time, but didn't know where to transfer over and ended up at temple square. So instead we went to the Church History Museum, very fun. But I have to say Trax isn't cheap $3.50 per person roundtrip. I'll take my clean car and not sit in a seat where a sweaty person had just been sitting for that price. Yeah, we got nice and cleaned up after that ride. But the kids had fun. Wednesday- I worked like a mad woman-Kas stayed at Brookes. Thursday- We went to the Zoo. My mom thought it would be a good idea to get my dad out of the house, he had surgery on his foot 2 weeks ago. So, I wasn't thinking-the Zoo has crazy steep hills. Try pushing a 200 lb. man up a hill and also trying to bring him back down without letting the wheelchair pull you?!?!? My legs were Jell-O this morning. Seriously I'm glad he came, my dad hadn't been since I was in elementary school. It was fun- hot -but fun. Then today, Friday, back to the pool (fried again). I LOVE SUMMER!

Dinosaurs!!!!

It feels like I have been gone forever! And really you probably hadn't noticed:) I went to YW camp this week- Remember Girls! Up at the JR Stake Property? Things have changed so much- they have done away with the SYCAS. That was my favorite year! And being a leader now is crazy- I definently have a new respect and am grateful to all my old camp leaders!(Thanks everyone for helping with Dill and thanks Alisa on such short notice.) And then my girly Kas has been gone for a week and a half now!!!! I MISS HER! She went with my in-laws to Arkansas. But she is coming home tommorrow and has had so much fun with her cousins. Dill is not liking being an only child. I've really had to keep him entertained- here are pictures from the Dinosaur park. He had a blast, it's a long drive but fun!
We went with my friend and her lovely bunch :)



Dill was a bit nervous about these huge dinosaurs, but his friend Ryan kept telling him it's okay because Dinos are extinct. Dill didn't know what that meant so I think he was even more scared :)



Brushing off the bones.




Trying not to get eatin.



I bet your lookin at this picture going "Is that what I think it is?" And yes it is. You may think gross or bad mommy. But seriously when you were a kid didn't you want to eat a can of frosting? And here's something that will make my sister gasp- I think it was his breakfast, he is in PJ's (that doesn't mean much though.)

Summer is HERE!

Finally! We've got some fun summer weather! Kasidee's last day of School was last Wednesday- she had the usual Heartland traditional dance festival. Very cute.
And because the weather finally turned warm (or stopped raining) we took the kids to Wheeler Farm. Ella loved it! We have big swimming plans for the summer if any one wants to join in on the fun!


This is Kasi and her teacher- I mainly wanted to show her teachers outfit. Turtle neck and shorts, hmmmm. I guess it's perfect for Utah weather.



Yeah, I know the glasses are a bit nerdy.
Quote from The Office, "Will you say these books are due back Wednesday."



Our little drool bug. I couldn't resist-had to blog the baby-she melts my heart.