christmas rundown

Let's see, what did we do over the weekend?

Christmas Eve - we made a DELICIOUS turkey dinner with a turkey James got from work!

No kitchen table - so we eat at the computer desk, no laughing.

We each had our own turkey leg - yes!

 And then we made lots of yummy treats, watched Christmas Vacation (hilarious) and went to bed.

Porter was EXCITED on Christmas Eve!

 Christmas - we woke up super early!  We ate cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate and eggs - opened presents and took lots of pictures.

Thanks Amy for this awesome onesie! Look closely and it says "My first Christmas"

We drove to Draper to spend a couple of hours with James's family.  We ate lunch and opened more presents - yes!  Porter did AWESOME...he opened lots of toys!

Like my Christmas socks with black high heels?  Yeah I thought it was hot.

Our next stop was my sister, Stephanie's house.  We ate dinner, played with all of her kids new toys - including a knock off of Domino Ralley, which was Steph's new toy :)

We drove home and went to bed - completely exhausted.

Sunday morning we opened all of Porter's toys and put them together.  He liked that part.

We hope your Christmas rocked!

my seven month old baby

Today my baby is 7 months old.  Really?  Yeah, I know.  Time flies.

Porter loves to laugh, roll over, sit up, be with Mommy, be with Daddy, nurse (lots and lots of nursing), chew on my cell phone, chew on Daddy's fingers, be in the bathtub, try to stand up, try to crawl, and he absolutely loves to look at and touch EVERYTHING all at once!

Porter does not like food....nope none of it.  Porter does not like when we try to put him down for a nap - he likes to be with us all of the time.  Though he is okay with going to bed at night.  He does not like the first couple seconds in the car seat.  But if it's a short car ride or if one of us is next to him, he's great.

We love him so freaking much!  And he's so much fun right now but I'm pretty sure he's going to get MORE AND MORE FUN!

lately...

James is on campus taking his last final right now!

He was confused because he had to go to a different building and his teacher wouldn't even be there.

It reminded me of the testing center at BYU-Idaho.  And then I told him about my first semester when the administration has this GREAT idea that required all finals be taken in the testing center.  

Hello?  Did they not realize there were over 12,000 students and I'm pretty sure their fancy new testing center only held like 300 students.

Yup, I stood in line for over 3 hours to take my finals - I was only going to take one but after 3 hours, I was ticked and asked for all three.  When James left he said, "Hopefully I don't have to wait in line for 3 hours."  Ha!

Porter has 3.5 teeth.  He can almost sit up when he's laying down and crawling is totally on its way.

Um...me?  I don't do anything.

I think of yummy things I can make for dinner and insist on baking several delicious baked goods a week.  It's Christmas and it's fun.  So don't judge us if you see our Christmas card and I've gained a few pounds - ha!  Ok, I really haven't but still, no judging.  The picture looked so much cuter when I designed the card.

Now for my request....

You should come see me.  Yup...you.  I promise it'd be fun.  I'll make you yummy meals and you can laugh and play with my baby.  We can sing and dance to Christmas music (cause that's what I do everyday) We can walk Main Street with all of the pretty Christmas lights and decorations.

Don't come all at once....but come soon :)

OH!  And one more thing...

If you're eligible for an upgrade for your cell phone (with almost any cell phone company) go to Best Buy.  They have a ton of new and nice cell phones for FREE if you are eligible.  I got one, it's coming in the mail.  Hopefully it's here by tomorrow - cause it's getting annoying talking to everyone on speaker phone.

adorable

I love it when Porter talks.

sunday: roast, monday:?

I grew up having pot roast every Sunday after church.  I know there were Sundays we ate something else, but I mostly remember pot roast.  Mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, and pot roast.  It just isn't Sunday without pot roast.

When I hear that someone didn't have pot roast for Sunday, I'm confused.

My response:

"Wait, it's Sunday.  Why didn't you have pot roast?  I don't understand...what did you eat?"

And now, if we come home from church and there isn't that delicious aroma of simmering pot roast floating in the air, I'm quite disappointed. (even though I'm the wife now and I'm the only one to blame)  

So after we eat a freaking amazing meal of pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls (four crucial foods to a delicious Sunday dinner) I always put away a lot of leftovers.  And we sometimes waste the extra roast.  I know, I know.  What a sin.  So I'm always looking for ways to reuse that chunk of meat.

I've done beef stew, beef stroganoff (hold the ground beef), and hot roast beef sandwiches.  But I was getting tired of those one or two dinners every week.  So I found something new and yummy!

Layered Beef Enchiladas (again...hold the ground beef)

1 lb. lean ground beef (USE THE LEFTOVER ROAST - shred it)

1 large onion, chopped

2 cups Salsa

1 can  (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed

1/4 cup Italian Dressing

2 Tbsp.  Taco Seasoning Mix

6 flour tortillas (8 inch)

1 cup Sour Cream

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or mexican style)

Preheat oven to 400.  Heat shredded beef and onions in a pan.   While onions and beef are sauteing, mix salsa, beans, italian dressing and taco seasoning in a large bowl.  Add meat/onion mixture to bowl and stir together.  Place two tortillas on the bottom of a 9x13 pan - layer of meat mixture, sour cream and then cheese.  Repeat.  Top with two tortillas.  Do not cover!  Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.  

Top with tomatoes and lettuce (and more cheese if you want)

It is delicious!  I'm eating some of it right now (even though I'm cooking chicken right now for barbecue chicken salads!)

I hope you like it! :)

a little christmas preview

I like Christmas t-shirts.  I like Christmas cards.

BAM!

A reason for matching Christmas t-shirts.