Chicken Taco Soup
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 oz.) can chili beans
1 (15 oz.) can black bean
1 (15 oz.) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 (10 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 (1.25 oz.) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
Directions
Stir onion, beans, corn, tomato sauce, dice tomatoes, and taco sauce into a slow cooker. Lay the chicken breast on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly so that it gets covered by other ingredients. Set slow cooker to low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hrs.
Remove chicken breasts from the soup and shred. Stir shredded chicken back into the soup and cook for 2 more hours. Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips if desired!
***Great trick for shredding chicken. Just removed the chicken breasts from the chili, place in a bowl, and beat the chicken breasts with a hand mixer. It shreds it perfectly even and fine. It works great when making chicken salad!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monster Party!
Because my blog is dedicated to Halloween this month, I thought I would keep things scary....
Always asking to go see Baby Thomas, Bones, Damma Bawkers, Bompie, Patsies, Brotha Child, and Clay (we don't know why on that last one :)) She loves all of her extended family so much. We are lucky to live so close to them.
Hates to brush her teeth. I have to bribe her with daddies deodorant. Yeah, while I'm brushing she can rub deodorant all over her jammies arm pits. Whatever works right!
Nice eyeliner Pete!
Way to much birthday fun.
....Ava just turned TWO!
Jeremy and I are a little worried about what's in store for us this year...."the terrible twos"... is it possible for her to be any more of a monster? I'm kidding!! Life would be so boring without our little crazy Pete! She can dish out some "Avatude", as we like to call it, that is for sure! But she is also the sweetest little teenie tiny thing. We love her sooo much! So here's to all the cute things she says and does and the many, many things she gets into! Happy Birthday Ava!
Ava quotes:
"Oh, trucks!"
"Cycle cycle!"(motorcycle)
"Jeeps!!!"
"Bulance, reereereerr!"(You know, the sound of an ambulance.)
"Bulance, reereereerr!"(You know, the sound of an ambulance.)
"Copter! Copter...hi Clay!" (She is in love with Clay and he flies helicopters.)
(She can spot all of the above from a mile away. As long as it has an engine and makes a lot of noise, she is totally impressed!)
"Ooooh, beee beee, ooooh." (This is something else she can spot from a mile away. She loooves babies!)
"I no want to." (Avatude)
"Doe!" (Her Homer Simpson way of saying no. More Avatude.)
"I feed it." (She loves to feed and hug and bug and climb on and ride her Duce the dog.)
"Where daddy go?"
"Where daddy go?"
"Scare me!"
"Probably...."
"Oh, shoot."
"Oh, man."
"Yead me, guide me, yead me guide me, rock beside me..."
(Her favorite songs are I am A Child of God, I Love to See The Temple, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Monster Mash.)
"Yead me, guide me, yead me guide me, rock beside me..."
(Her favorite songs are I am A Child of God, I Love to See The Temple, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Monster Mash.)
Fun Facts About Her:
Loves to dance to any music she hears. (It looks like the chicken dance.)
Loves to play with her Brother Bear, Yuke.
Loves to go feed the ducks.
Loves to go to the park.
Loves to be tickled. (Something I don't understand.)
Loves to be tickled. (Something I don't understand.)
Favorite foods are #1: The Milk Chug with "cho...co..late", then anything chocolate (I don't know where she got that from?), Chinese food, soup, cheese, chicken, spaghetti, zucchini, french fries and usually everything has to be eaten with dip.
Always asking to go see Baby Thomas, Bones, Damma Bawkers, Bompie, Patsies, Brotha Child, and Clay (we don't know why on that last one :)) She loves all of her extended family so much. We are lucky to live so close to them.
Hates to brush her teeth. I have to bribe her with daddies deodorant. Yeah, while I'm brushing she can rub deodorant all over her jammies arm pits. Whatever works right!
....So my sweet little girl goes to bed in some pretty nice cologne smelling jammies. It makes me laugh.
Brings me my shoes so that I'll take her on a walk. She reminds me of a little puppy dog. She looooves walks! (Right Em!)
The list could go on and on. I just wanted to get a few things down because I know I will forget most of this stuff and who knows when I will actually get around to writing things down in her baby book. For some weird reason this blog I will do once in awhile, but photo albums, journal, baby books, you can forget it! :)
Two years ago!
One!
One! 
Ava & her Luke
.
Nice eyeliner Pete!
The party, the birthday bed and birthday lunch at The Mayan!
Way to much birthday fun. Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wall to Wall Creeps
I have decided to dedicate my blog for all of October to HALLOWEEN!!! I know it's not quite October yet but I can't wait any longer... my little old house is going to be transformed into a totally awesome creepy house! That's right. Get ready. My kids call Halloween decorations "scaries" and what's funny is they love the scary stuff. Jeremy's Mom has this cool life sized Mr. Bones Pirate Man and my kids looove him. Luke hasn't had a Halloween without the creepy singing thing and Ava doesn't stop begging me to go to Grandma's to see him. My sister Sarah is also a serious lover of the Halloween. She and I love to search out the creepiest most Disney Haunted Mansionish decorations out there, it's fun! In this family we've got a lot of birthdays on and around Halloween so that makes for a lot of fun parties.
Halloween plus cooler weather, gorgeous fall leaves covering the mountains, eating out of the garden, football and hunting for Jeremy, and pumpkin "bussert" dessert (right Alison :)), makes up a pretty perfect time of year! I love it and I wish it could last longer! Oh and don't even get me started 
on Halloween Candy!
on Halloween Candy!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
One Big Fat Blog!
Things have been a little crazy busy... so here is a big fat blog of most of the stuff we've been up to lately and all my tons of pictures, enjoy!:)
1. Karen, Sarah, and I had a fun girls night out, to celebrate a certain book release :) We are such dorks but we can't help it!
2. Spent the next few nights up reading and also made a lot phone calls asking "Where are you now?"
3. My mom and dad came home to visit for a few weeks! I love having them back even if it's just for a month.
4. The really big news is Ava got her cast off!!!! Yeaaah!!! We celebrated by going swimming the next day with some good friends of ours!
5. On one of my morning jogs I rescued 3 kittens from a dumpster! (How random is that!)
6. Went to a graduation party for Turner. Jackie went all out with a fountain drink machine, a snow cone machine, and what's a party without an ice cream machine... the kids loved it!
7. Ate at the Mayan restaurant for Laura's birthday. Luke and Ava love that place! Except for the "mans with feathers on his head" he's a little scary!
8. We actually made it to the Zoo! So fun! We finally got to see the "Ghost of the Bayou" he is a cool albino alligator.
9. Ate some Chinese food with the Barker Cousins. Ava and Luke loooove eating Chinese food and riding the crazy Chinese bucking horse.
10. Celebrated Grandpa Rice Kings 50th Birthday with a way good BBQ! He got a sweet speedo to wear on their cruise they were leaving for the next day. It was pretty funny!
11. Mowed the lawn. (I better throw that in since I'm putting in just about every other detail of our month.:))
12. The kids and I went up to the Carter Creek Cabins with my family. We love it so much up there. Luke did a little fishing with Papa John on the canoe and got to sleep on bunk beds and stay up late with his cousins! We had so much fun...thanks Grandma Patsies and Papa John!
13. Our way good friends from Wyoming came down to visit us! We did our usual eat at our favorite restaurant "All of these Gardens" and went swimming at their hotel. We even made it to the Temple and had a BBQ at our house. We love when they come to visit!
14. Then Todd and Elizabeth drove out to our house for dinner along with our usual Sunday dinner clan. It was fun!
15. We celebrated Sarah's birthday early so my parents could be there, they left Friday:(. It was fun to spend a little more time altogether.
16. The other day we went to Salem Pond to swim with Grandma Barker and Emmy. The kids had a really fun time. Ava always has a good time if it is something that involves swimming and getting really dirty and Luke loved building some pretty cool sandcastles.
I love the times we all get to spend together, mixed in with the craziness of summer, it's so perfect...or at least it is when you actually get to sit back and relax to think about all the good times you've had.
1. Karen, Sarah, and I had a fun girls night out, to celebrate a certain book release :) We are such dorks but we can't help it!
2. Spent the next few nights up reading and also made a lot phone calls asking "Where are you now?"
3. My mom and dad came home to visit for a few weeks! I love having them back even if it's just for a month.
4. The really big news is Ava got her cast off!!!! Yeaaah!!! We celebrated by going swimming the next day with some good friends of ours!
5. On one of my morning jogs I rescued 3 kittens from a dumpster! (How random is that!)
6. Went to a graduation party for Turner. Jackie went all out with a fountain drink machine, a snow cone machine, and what's a party without an ice cream machine... the kids loved it!
7. Ate at the Mayan restaurant for Laura's birthday. Luke and Ava love that place! Except for the "mans with feathers on his head" he's a little scary!
8. We actually made it to the Zoo! So fun! We finally got to see the "Ghost of the Bayou" he is a cool albino alligator.
9. Ate some Chinese food with the Barker Cousins. Ava and Luke loooove eating Chinese food and riding the crazy Chinese bucking horse.
10. Celebrated Grandpa Rice Kings 50th Birthday with a way good BBQ! He got a sweet speedo to wear on their cruise they were leaving for the next day. It was pretty funny!
11. Mowed the lawn. (I better throw that in since I'm putting in just about every other detail of our month.:))
12. The kids and I went up to the Carter Creek Cabins with my family. We love it so much up there. Luke did a little fishing with Papa John on the canoe and got to sleep on bunk beds and stay up late with his cousins! We had so much fun...thanks Grandma Patsies and Papa John!
13. Our way good friends from Wyoming came down to visit us! We did our usual eat at our favorite restaurant "All of these Gardens" and went swimming at their hotel. We even made it to the Temple and had a BBQ at our house. We love when they come to visit!
14. Then Todd and Elizabeth drove out to our house for dinner along with our usual Sunday dinner clan. It was fun!
15. We celebrated Sarah's birthday early so my parents could be there, they left Friday:(. It was fun to spend a little more time altogether.
16. The other day we went to Salem Pond to swim with Grandma Barker and Emmy. The kids had a really fun time. Ava always has a good time if it is something that involves swimming and getting really dirty and Luke loved building some pretty cool sandcastles.
I love the times we all get to spend together, mixed in with the craziness of summer, it's so perfect...or at least it is when you actually get to sit back and relax to think about all the good times you've had.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
No Bears Are Out Tonight!
Just a word of warning, this song is Jeremy's idea, so sorry.
I think this summer has been so much fun, it seems like almost every weekend we've been able to get out and do something fun! This last weekend we camped up at Mirror Lake in the Uinta Mountains with Jeremy's Family. It was quite the camping trip...while we were setting up camp we found out that 2 bears were spotted the night before down at the camp sites by the lake. That night Rangers had set some bear traps around the area to try and catch them. Lets just say that Emilee and I were total clean freaks after hearing that news! Then I found a nice clawed up cooler just down from our camp and the goose bumps never left me! But thanks to Thomi and Jeremy packin' the heat and big old Duce standing guard all night, I actually slept really good. In the morning we headed down to the lake with the canoe we stole from my dad (thanks Dad!) Luke, Jeremy, and Rice fished most of the day away. Little Luke and his good luck pole reeled in quite a few fish. So when he was done fishing Jeremy took over the lucky kiddy pole and did pretty good too. It is so beautiful up there, it's defiantly one of my favorite spots. Emilee took a great picture of the hail/rain storm that soaked us all on our way back to our camp site. The rest of the evening we all just huddled around the campfire and ate and ate and ate. You can always bet when you're with Jeremy's family that you are going to eat really really good!:) We had, lets see...steak, grilled zucchini and pineapple, cheeseburgers(with all the fixin's), hot dogs, and of course plenty of chocolate! I was sure the way that food smelled we would bring in every bear around for miles, but we never saw a one! That night all 7 of us crammed ourselves into one tent, ours was soaked with all the rain. Lucky for us Jeremy's Dad got a new HUGE tent/cottage:) for Father's day and it fit all of us! After popcorn and a movie we all hit the sack, except for me! It was still raining and it was WINDY! I cannot sleep in a tent in the wind! I don't know why that is, maybe because I can't hear the bears sneaking up on us! Anyways, I guess the storm finally blew over and I eventually fell asleep. On our way home the next day we stopped a the gorgeous Provo Falls (another favorite spot of mine). It was a very exciting camping trip and we all had a blast! Thanks so much Grandma Barker, Emmy and Rice, we love you!
I think this summer has been so much fun, it seems like almost every weekend we've been able to get out and do something fun! This last weekend we camped up at Mirror Lake in the Uinta Mountains with Jeremy's Family. It was quite the camping trip...while we were setting up camp we found out that 2 bears were spotted the night before down at the camp sites by the lake. That night Rangers had set some bear traps around the area to try and catch them. Lets just say that Emilee and I were total clean freaks after hearing that news! Then I found a nice clawed up cooler just down from our camp and the goose bumps never left me! But thanks to Thomi and Jeremy packin' the heat and big old Duce standing guard all night, I actually slept really good. In the morning we headed down to the lake with the canoe we stole from my dad (thanks Dad!) Luke, Jeremy, and Rice fished most of the day away. Little Luke and his good luck pole reeled in quite a few fish. So when he was done fishing Jeremy took over the lucky kiddy pole and did pretty good too. It is so beautiful up there, it's defiantly one of my favorite spots. Emilee took a great picture of the hail/rain storm that soaked us all on our way back to our camp site. The rest of the evening we all just huddled around the campfire and ate and ate and ate. You can always bet when you're with Jeremy's family that you are going to eat really really good!:) We had, lets see...steak, grilled zucchini and pineapple, cheeseburgers(with all the fixin's), hot dogs, and of course plenty of chocolate! I was sure the way that food smelled we would bring in every bear around for miles, but we never saw a one! That night all 7 of us crammed ourselves into one tent, ours was soaked with all the rain. Lucky for us Jeremy's Dad got a new HUGE tent/cottage:) for Father's day and it fit all of us! After popcorn and a movie we all hit the sack, except for me! It was still raining and it was WINDY! I cannot sleep in a tent in the wind! I don't know why that is, maybe because I can't hear the bears sneaking up on us! Anyways, I guess the storm finally blew over and I eventually fell asleep. On our way home the next day we stopped a the gorgeous Provo Falls (another favorite spot of mine). It was a very exciting camping trip and we all had a blast! Thanks so much Grandma Barker, Emmy and Rice, we love you!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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