Funny Thing...

Well I was so excited to see the new episode of Grey's on Thurs. but believe it or not, it is still on my DVR waiting to be watched! At about noon on Thursday, I got a call from Patrick that he needed to be up in Salt Lake by 9 am Friday morning!! YIKES! (for a meeting for work) And despite the fact that my kids were a little sick, we decided to all take a road trip up there! (they weren't too sick!) Since it was such a fast, and last minute trip, we weren't able to go and see everyone up there. But we did have a good time visiting our wonderful friends, The Frankowski's, in Herriman. Kym and I of course had to hit my old favorite stores up there, Roberts and Quilted Bear. Man, I miss those stores. And Patrick and Chris did guy things, like watch movies and go to lunch. It is so nice to see our friends agian! We sure miss them! Our boys had a blast playing with their old friends and jumping on the trampoline. Thanks Chris and Kym for letting us crash at your house at the last minute!!! We had fun playing Guitar Hero and Mau (sp?) late into the night! We came back to Vegas Sunday night, and was I glad to get back to the nice warm weather! I'm not so used to the cold anymore. It was a little of a shock to have to wear a jacket everywhere we went! I even had to dig out winter clothes for my boys to go, cuz I had already packed them away for the year! Can't wait for another trip up there! Hopefully I'll have more the 3 hours notice next time though!

My light at the end of the tunnel...

The knowledge that there is a new episode of Grey's on tonight is what will get be through this day! I have 2 sick kids, and I am so stinking tired, and I have a TON of laundry to get through! So this is what I'm looking forward to today....finally a new Grey's will be on. It's been so long, and I have missed it. So you will all know where I will be tonight @ 9, either passet out in my bed or watching Grey's...no worries, it will be DVR-ed if I fall asleep!!

It's official....

So if you read my previous post about a Cafe Rio possibly being built by my house, then you will remember that I was skeptical of it because I hadn't seen a sign for myself. Well I was over in that shopping area last night, and saw a glimpse of a sign that said Cafe Rio!!!! WhooooHoooooo!!!! Patrick and I drove by a few times to make sure, and it is now confirmed that, YES they are building one so close to my house! We are excited!! It was hard to see the whole sign, because the wind had blown most of it down, so I don't know when it will be opened, but you can bet we are going there for dinner as soon as we see it opened!!!! :)

Happy things

I have been having a bad day for the past few days and been really discouraged about a few different things. So I decided it might be good to make a list of all the things that make me happy. Very "self-help" of me, I know! So here we go....

There are of course the obvious ones, my husband, kids, and family, the gospel...so I'll get a little more specific.

I love.....

~Fresh clean sheets on my bed

~Talking on the phone to a friend or my sister or mom

~Going out to eat, then I don't have to clean up! :)

~Springtime, because its not to hot, but not cold either

~Gerbera Daisey's

~Red things, especially red things that I can decorate my house with

~Scrapbooking, totally a stress relieaver for me

~Hearing my kids sing, even if it's the wrong words to the song

~Laughing at a great story someone is telling me

~Finding something that I really want on sale for a steal!

~Conner's crazy curly hair!

~my cricut

~hot fudge sundaes

~pork tacos from Cafe Rio

~Going to Costco and getting everything on my list for under $100 (that is a challege!)

~"Washing machine" kisses from Conner (those are a bit slobbery!)

~"sticky" kisses from Brayden (that is a game we have where we kiss each other with "super sticky" kisses, that way they won't come off!)

~Back scratches from Patrick

~Hearing Conner say in his prayer to "please bless Jesus"

~Listening to Brayden as he tells me what he has learned in preschool or primary that day

~my kitchen sink when it has all the dishes out of it

~cleared off counter tops

~getting a call in the middle of the day from Patrick just to say "hi and I love you"

~new episodes of Grey's Anatomy (hopfully coming back soon!)

~Pedicures

~Cherry Sprite from Sonic during happy hour, so it is only half price :)

~finding pants that are long enough for my freakishlly long legs

~being in my pj's

~Watching my babies grow up

~going on trips

~my new (kinda I got it in September) bed

~my Scentsy

~Seeing family members who live far away

~Clorox Wipes (those are the best invention EVER!)

"When you are discouraged thinking all is lost... count your many blessing name them one by one.... Count you many blessing see what God has done!"

First soccer game!

Today was Brayden's first soccer game, and man, did he have fun! That kid sure can run fast! (he is in the white uniform, and is #4) He was running all over that field chasing the ball, but was too nice and let the other kids kick it. The age group that he plays in doesn't keep score, but if they did, our team totally dominated! We scored so many goals! Right at the end of the game, one of the little girls on our team was generous enough to kick the ball in the other team's goal. It was very cute watching all the kids running around playing. They really didn't know what was going on! Patrick had a good time coaching as well. Bradyen thinks that it is cool to have his dad be one of his coaches. He calls him "Coach Dad"!

This is Brayden at practice the other night, he was learning to dribble the ball down the field.

Here are they are ready to go to their game. Conner doesn't want to be left out of anything, so he had to be in the picture too.

He is so cute and all grown up looking in his little uniform! Go #4!!!

It's so fun to watch him run all over to get the ball. He really doesn't know what exactly to do yet, but he'll figure it out soon. He loved it! He especially liked the treats at halftime and after the game. I love that he is old enough now to do things like team sports!!

Rumors...

Many of you may know of the goodness that is Cafe Rio. While living in Utah, Patrick and I were, I guess you could say, "frequent diner's" at this wonderful establishment. Meaning we ate there like once a week. It was just down the street from our house, how can you NOT eat there?!!? So when we moved to Vegas, that was one thing that we REALLY missed, no more Cafe Rio, the closest one being 1 1/2 hours away in St. George. And don't think that the thought never entered our minds to take a quick trip up there for a little "Rio" as we call it. So one day after living here about a month, Patrick had been driving somewhere for work, and as he is sitting at a stop light, sees a wonderful sign....it said "Cafe Rio Coming Soon". What a wonderful day!!!! (I'm pretty sure angels were singing that day!) Vegas was a great place to be after all, because now it too would have a Cafe Rio. So there was much rejoicing when it opened up last summer. The only down side being that it was about a 30 minute drive from our house. Sad, but we will make due, 30 minutes is better then 90 to St. George right?!?
So now I am hearing rumors (yet to be confirmed with my own eyes) that they are building a Cafe Rio by Costco. FYI, Costco is only 10 minutes from my house!!! I got this info from a fairly reliable source (someone Patrick works with and lives close by there). However, today while at Costco, I drove around to see for myself, and didn't see a sign announcing such a wonderful event. So I'm a little skeptical. This would be so awesome to have one close by again! It's our favorite place to eat. Even for our kids. If you ask them where they want to go, many times it will be Cafe Rio, and if you even suggest it...well you had better go there, cuz it's a hit with them. Conner talks about going there anytime you suggest going out to eat. Can't beat the free kids quesadilla's they have! Oh, and pork taco's...yummy! Now I wanna go there for dinner tonight!

Recipe...

Okay, I guess that would have been a good idea to post the recipe too, but MaLaan, you totally should have this recipe already! These are a Shumate classic!! Anyways, here it is, and just so you know, I'm eating one as I type it! YUM!

Aunt Cherie's Home Made Oreo Cookies (aka proof that Jesus loves us!) :)
2 boxes Devil's food cake mix
1 1/2 cup shortening (hey I didn't say they were good for you, I just said they were YUMMY!)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and roll into small balls. (I use my Pampered Chef cookie scoop so they are all the same size) Bake @ 350 for 8 min. Cookies may not look done, but be careful not to over bake them. Cool for 5 min before removing from the pan.

Frosting: (the best part!)
6 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 lbs powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla
a little milk if needed

Mix and frost between cookies.

I also have found that if you let them sit in the fridge before you shove them in your face, they are even better! Enjoy!!

My addiction...

Many years ago, while visiting my wonderful Aunt Cherie, she made us all some home made Oreo's. They were sooooooo yummy!! Pretty much everyone was instantlly hooked on them. I recently made a batch, and the addiction to them still haunts me. You can't have just one! And I fear that there may be something wrong with my children, because they don't like them! Shocking!! How can that be possible?!? Probably because they are so used to the cheap ones that I buy from the store for them, that they don't know what a truly heavenly cookie should taste like. They usually get to enjoy the $.94 cookies from Wal-Mart. And while they think those are great and all, the home made Oreo's are just about the best thing ever!

Friends for the weekend!

Our great friends, and former neighbors in Taylorsville, came to Vegas to visit us this weekend. We had TONS of fun!! They have kids the same age as ours, and they just played and played till they ran out of energy! We went to the fun Dinosaur Park that is close to our house, and all the kids loved that. Melissa is my partner in crime when it comes to crafts and scrapbooking, so we went to craft and scrapbook stores, and did some of our own too. She helped me make a beautiful clock, that when I get a new house, I will proudly hang in my living room. Patrick and Morgan went to the ESPN Zone for dinner and watched the college basketball finals there one night. They also took advantage of the wonderful weather and went golfing on Saturday morning.

Patrick and I have become huge fans of Guitar Hero on the Wii, however, we discovered it to be a whole new ball game when you have someone else to play it with. We rocked it on the guitars late into the night. It was a blast!!

We also went to the Bellagio to watch the fountains one night. They are super amazing if you have never seen them! There is also a garden inside the Bellagio that is just awesome!! These are just a few pictures. Everything is made of flowers! There were frogs, swans, ladybugs, etc. all made out of flowers. It smelled SO GOOD in there!

Brayden and Bailey have been great friends from the start, so it was only fitting that they pose for a picture together! They are so cute!!

We had so much fun with our old friends! Hope to see more of you come our way!! There is always something fun to do in Vegas!!!