Baby Names...???

Chris and I have been talking about baby names and guess what? He now says he doesn't like any of the names on my poll...What the? I wouldn't of posted them if he didn't like them...but, if you know Chris you'd understand...brief history...When I was about 6 months pregnant with Grady I found his name in a 5 Little Monkeys book, the lady dedicated it to 5 kids and Grady was one of the names...I loved it and so I mentioned it to Chris...He said he thought it was the stupidest name he had ever heard of...Really? So come delivery time and then time to go home and we still don't have a name for him...Chris says...and I quote..."What about Grady?"...SERIOUSLY!!! I almost passed out laughing...Basically Chris does this sort of thing all of the time...but what do I do about a name?

We thought of a couple more that we both like (I still like either Emery or Avery maybe the best)...so we'll see...

Shelby
Peyton
Jesi

I have always loved these names too but Chris didn't like them before...GO FIGURE!!!

The name I guess will remain a mystery until I (and I mean I) fill out the paperwork at the Hospital...

Oh and BTW...the cherries are coming soon...it's still too early to taste them and I can't wait to see how they turned out...

What have we been up to?

First day of School for Taylor...(the boys stayed home sick)

First day of School for the boys...

My baby will be 2 years old soon and so we had a party for her in Richfield over the weekend...

Yummy Cake!

Swim bags all around...courtesy of Grandma!

Presents for the cutest little red-head ever!

Some visiting around the fire at the Cabin!

Collecting rocks...a new found hobbie!

Displaying rocks on chairs!

Watching the deer in the meadow...

Trying to get some laundry done...

Nammy and Papa's dog has puppies...5 of them!

The little guys...

Proud mama!

Good mama!

They wish they could have one...

Cha Ching$!$...$850.00 a pop if you want one!!!

Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppies...ready in about 7 weeks!!

Stay tuned for my first attempt at bottling...CHERRIES!!!!!!

No more Sickies over here...

The kids and I are still on our antibiotics but we are mostly par...Jenner and Chris escaped unharmed and are happy about that. Rhett did miss his second day of school as well because of a little tummy ache...nothing that a bowl of cereal could fix! We are hoping for a fun filled 24th of July holiday...hooray!!

I think I've found it...

The perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever!!! I think it's safe to say that my endless search is over...I feel like I just won the lottery...the cookie lottery! I found this recipe off of Rookie Cookie's blog, I was skeptical because I had tried recipes before with pudding in them and they didn't blow my skirt up...if you know what I mean! This one did...and I think it's perfect!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together well:

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

Add:

1 small (3.4 oz) box vanilla pudding

Mix until well incorporated.

Add and mix well:

2 eggs

1tsp. vanilla

Add and mix well:

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 1/4 cups flour

Then add:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Refrigerate cookie dough overnight.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

This is exactly how I made them, I baked them for 11 minutes and it made 4 dozen cookies! YUM!

Sickness again...

He we are, about to start school tomorrow and my kids are all sick...and I am starting to feel it too. Taylor started us out on Friday with a torrential fever and cough, and had crap in her lungs. We took her to the Dr. and then again on Saturday and the Dr. Saturday gave her antibiotics...she is a different child today so I know whatever it is, it's bacterial. This morning it hit Rhett, we called the on call Dr. and explained everything so he started his antibiotics after we got home from church. It hit Grady this afternoon. With him and his past, I have to take him in to check his lungs...ugh! Just now Chris told me that Jenner feels warm and I am starting to feel like crap...really?

Cutest ever almost 2 year old & a Pack Meeting...

First let me get this picture up...isn't she HILARIOUS!!! Apparantly in her little world, floaties and her headband are mandatory when she swim (in 2 inch water)...this is how she roll!!

We had the annual water rocket pack meeting the other night and Rhett loved it. I have to admit, it was really fun! I'm not that into pack meetings but this one was better than the usual...I guess being in scouts for two years did me in...Here is Rhett with his cute smile and a half cut off rocket...way to go photographer (me)...

Loading the rocket...

Say "Cheese"

Oops...missed the action shot...Dang it!
But this is a much better picture than the above! He is so cute!

(notice the missing numbers on his sleeve...I don't sew and neither does Chris and so...we break out the glue gun, it doesn't hold so well I guess!)

Basically you load your craftily weighted bottle with some water and put it on a very intense contraption machine that blows some water into it until the pressure is broken and the rocket soars through the sky...how about that science talk! Rhett's did really good and had a nice spiral on it...He was so proud of his rocket, can't you just tell!!

More...

Got a new snake at the Layton Petco...seems to be doing fine...likes to cuddle with Slither...cute!

I have a story...

Remember this little guy...his name was Cherries...

Well, about 2 weeks after we got him we noticed he wasn't doing so well. His skin was all wrinkly and his nostril looked like he had a cold...we thought he was going to shed the week before but never did and that made us worry...oh, and he wasn't eating. So we took him back (PetCo has a 15 day warranty) and traded for his brother. The same look and everything, Connor named him Curvy because he liked to curve around the logs in the tank. Curvy and Slither got along really well and even cuddled a little bit, if you can imagine such a thing. The time came to feed little Curvy and he ate his little mouse within a few minutes...we were so excited cuz he was eating! Well, about two days later we noticed a regurgitated mouse in the tank...and Curvy was the culprit...What do you do? Regurgitating is a really bad sign for snakes...so back to the pet store we went. We ended up with a few more pointers on how to keep him healthly and so we headed home with Curvy one more time...and we fed him...and he regurgitated AGAIN!!! This morning Chris took him back and got store credit...Poor Poor Curvy!!!

Rhett is devistated and I would really like to get him another snake but I am so leary about buying one from them again...My two little boys literally play with their snakes every single day and they love them...I feel so bad...What do I do? We have $40 bucks credit at PetCo but I REFUSE to buy another one from the Bountiful location...should I go to the Layton one?...Help???

More Work?

Some of my neighbors have commented on how hard Chris works...I mean, he goes to work before 8:00am and gets home around 6:00pm and then...he works in the yard! Right now he is resetting some sprinkler line somewhere and then he'll probably weed or mow or push some more dirt around...Really? (maybe he doesn't like to spend time with me...) I don't know how we ended up together because he always has sooo much energy where I am always lazy...willing to buy me some energy sometimes...or just another diet coke! He is seriously one of the hardest working guys out there...up there with my dad and super heroes!

Things learned...

Tonight for Chris' family I decided I would make them some fritters...with cherries. I posted a recipe before for apple fritters and they were really good but...these cherry fritters will blow you out of the water, they are THAT good! And, with the leftover batter, we made funnel cakes cuz Jodi had never eaten one...and she loved it when she did! The fritter literally burst in your mouth and you get the dough with all this yummy cherry juice and some powdered sugar with it...dreamy!!!

The basic batter is: (it is different slightly than before)

2 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups milk (might need a little more)

2 Tbsp. oil

dash of salt

Mix this all together. Get your frying oil ready in a deep pan at about med-high. Chris' mom has this Awesome little cherry pitting tool that I have teased her about for years...so we opened it out of the package and it worked really well, so we pitted them and then threw them in the batter. When it was time to fry them we pulled them out one by one and dropped in the oil and browned them evenly. Let them rest and then sprinkle generously with powdered sugar...YUM!

With the leftover dough I just swirled it around in the oil until it resembled a funnel cake design and let it brown and then turned it to brown on the other side...worked out perfect! After they have rested for a minute...really generously sprinkle them with powdered sugar!

BTW...I shamelessly stole these pics from flickr...I get too excited to try things that I forget to take a picture first...

Chicken Carbonara

I saw this recipe on Everyday Italian the other day and I was so excited to try it...of course I made a few changes to make it more my own and it was Delish! And it's practically fat-free...hahaha!

Chicken Carbonara

Saute in a large sauce-pan with olive oil:

4 oz. pancetta, cut into small pieces (Wal-Mart has it for about $2.50)

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Add some cooked chicken either cubed or shredded, however much you want. Turn down heat to med-low and add 1 lb. cooked pasta...any kind.

Mix together:

1 pint heavy cream

6 egg yolks

1/2 bag italian shredded cheese blend (I got mine at Wal-Mart)

1/4 cup more parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. italian seasoning

Pour mixture over pasta and chicken and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle extra parmesan on the top of each serving.

This makes a ton of carbonara, I doubled the recipe for 13 people and we had leftovers...It is soooo sinfully good! Even my funny picky Rhett loved it!!!

Good ol' Summer Fun...

If you haven't figured it out by now....WE LOVE TO SWIM!!! and here are some awesome pictures to prove it...I think I gave birth to FISH!!!

Grady's cannonball...

Rhett

Taylor
Grady, Taylor, Rhett and Amanda...

Rhett...goofball!

Jenner and her Giant Sized Floaties...funny thing about this little girl...she thinks she can swim...I mean, she jumps into the pool no matter where I am and even goes all the way under only to come up laughing and wanting to do it again! Really? My kids are born with gills!

Probably my favorite picture!

Pictures of our Fabulous 4th...

Here are some pictures of our night before the 4th...the illegal fireworks show...so fun. I am sad to say that these are the only pictures we got of the weekend...we suck!

Rhett, Connor and Grady

Grandma holding Jenner, Ashley with a very sad Sophie...

Chris, Nate and Brandon waiting for their lighting of their roman candles...BRIAN...Where The Heck are you?????????????

The kiddles enjoying the show...they were the closest to the show...mommy's were nervous!

These are the All-Mighty Protectors for the kids who were not so into the fireworks...Great work Ladies! Hey, where's my baby?

Mishaps of my life...

Sorry, no pictures here...just a little note of my pregnancy and midlife mishaps...nothing too good...but you might giggle!

So we went to Richfield for the 4th of July and it was peachy...we hadn't been down there for this particular holiday for 5 years and so it was somewhat of an adventure. The Tractor Parade didn't let us down and the kids of course enjoyed it. The night before the 4th we did our family fireworks and they were spectacular. Uncle Bobby had gotten the fireworks in Seattly where they are legal there...very illegal here. The best part about the illegal fireworks in Richfield is that most of the cops buy them too, so you are pretty much off the hook when you light them. I don't know if I will ever be able to buy fireworks from Smith's again...I forgot how good the real ones are. Only a few mishaps with the fireworks this year...Brandon's roman candle backfired on him and put 4 holes in his shirt (Becky sort of PHP) and Uncle Bobby was being his ridiculous self and tried to light his wife Lisa on fire...typical for him. When they were dating, he shot her in the bum with a BB Gun just to see what it would feel like...and she still married him...typical.

On Saturday after the 4th we braved the city park activities (AKA the Oakley convention)...if you know Chris and I than you know that a huge park jam packed with people is totally not our thing...well, about 15 minutes into our huge adventure....I was walking down the sidewalk with the stroller and...you guessed it...it totally ate dirt IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!! I was SOOOO EMBARASSED!!! And, being pregnant and all...I was TOTALLY CRYING under my sunglasses....needless to say, we high-tailed it out of there and went back to Grandma's...whew!

I was totally sore from my fabulous fall and so miserable in the heat (I think my fingers were the size of sausages) that I, Amy Barton, MISSED the firework display done by the city that night...BIG DEAL for me...I LOVE FIREWORKS...and I was so totally bummed that I couldn't go...UGH!!! I cried again...and again!

Basically you can tell that my 4th of July wasn't so great but...the kids had a great time and let me tell ya, at this point...It's all that matters!

What did you have for dinner?

Mmmmmmm....doesn't that look DIVINE!!!!

It's so hard to cook in the summer and double-y hard to cook when I am pregnant...this was the only thing that sounded good for today and it delivered beautifully!

Basically all I did was melt a generous amount of butter in a very large skillet and added the crookneck squash and zucchini slices. Salt and Pepper to taste. I like the crookneck better so I sliced 2 of those and 1 zucchini. It was a perfect summer dinner for Chris and I...YUM!

I'm thinking next time of adding some halved cherry tomatoes, some cooked small noodles and topping it all off with some mozzarella cheese...sounds delish!

Proper Slurpee Documentation...

We are really enjoying our time with Connor and like I said before, he has been a little awestruck by some pretty normal things according our standards....and tonight was no exception... we were talking about Slurpees and he had never even heard of a Slurpee before (since Richfield doesn't have a 7-11)...we felt that this was truly UN-American and decided that it was our responsibility to properly introduce him the an All American favorite drinky thingy...here is some video!

The people at 7-11 seriously thought we were physcotic for taking some video and pictures of a kid getting a Slurpee...but they were very understanding when we told them it was a first for this little guy...

Chocolate Chip Muffins...

Either you love them or you don't...I happen to love them and I found this recipe online. It's an Otis Spumkmeyer copycat...Grady helped me make them and we couldn't get enough of the batter...sooo good!

1 box white cake mix

1 4 oz. package vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 package chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet) mixed with a little flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin pan.

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix the batter well, about 1-2 minutes; overmixing will result in a 'heavy' muffin. Batter will be thick. Add chocolate chips and fold them in. Scoop into greased muffin cups with a large pampered chef scoop. Bake for 18 minutes. Makes about 18 muffins.

P.S. Haley...I'm bringing them to your house tomorrow...YAY!