Ainsley's follow up

Ainsley's follow up appointment was on Friday and it went very well. Her weight is up to 16lbs. 8oz., three weeks ago she was at 15lbs. 13oz. so she has improved and the doctor was very happy with her progress. Although, she is not where they would like her to be on the growth chart she has improved so we will stick with the diet for a little while longer. They want to see her in three months for another follow up, and to see if we still need to do the scope. So right now everything is great and we're just so thankful!

Our Garden

When we heard that we were going to be moving up to Washington the one thing I was excited for was to have a garden. Not that I couldn't have had one in Arizona, but there's just some things that can't grow there because of the heat. So Mother's Day 2007 Ash and the kids bought me my first plants to start my new garden. And slowly but surely, it has been evolving. The winter has been long here but things are starting to bloom and fill out. It's been an exciting process and the kids are starting to get involved as well, which I really love! This past week we put in a kitchen garden, it was so much fun. So here's some photos, I'll post more as things start to grow bigger.
This is a pic of my Mother's Day garden
This pic is of my birdhouse that I have had forever and what an awesome job my genius husband did making the stand for it. I think it looks perfect! And if you look on the ground you can see my little rock pets the kids made me for Mother's Day this year, they're so cute. Thanks for the idea Erin.
My rock pets in their happy home
These are pics of our kitchen garden, we're growing two kinds of tomatoes, two kinds of peppers, strawberries, potatoes, carving pumpkins and "wee be little" pumpkins(so cute),sunflowers,and cantaloupe(we actually planted them last year, but as I was planting the other plants I dug up a couple seedlings, so I just put them back). So it will be fun to harvest. If only I had more land...
The green bushes behind our fence are blackberry bushes, they grow wild out here. So we'll definitely be picking those for pies this year!

Open for comments

So for awhile I didn't know if anyone was reading this blog, until a friend of mine said she had logged on and tried to post a comment. But I guess it was blocked and she couldn't post it, I'm not the most computer savvy person so she told me what I needed to do. So if I did it correctly you should be able to leave comments now, but there is only one way to find out. So please write to me so I know you are out there.

Our little piece of Arizona

Today for our anniversary we got this fun little package in the mail, and opened it up to find a little piece of Arizona inside. Thanks Erin and Stephen for remembering, and for putting a smile on our faces.

An Amazing Journey

Today is our eighth anniversary, but we've been together a total of eleven years. Man, it's gone by fast! It's been an amazing journey, I've loved every minute. Even the bad, we've grown from all our experiences and I'm so glad to have gone through all of them with Ash. We have pretty much grown up together, we met when I was 16 and he was 17. Got married when I was 19, he was 20, and have been having babies ever since. Wow!, five kids, who'd have thought? Definitely not us, we had only planned on three, God was just laughing at us thinking I've got other plans for you guys. We've lived in four different homes, this last one being here in Washington. I never knew we would be here one day, but it just adds to our adventure. So anyways we can't wait to see what happens with the next eight, I'm sure there are many more surprises in store. So as I was thinking of the past a ton of memories came to mind, so I thought I'd share all the blessings that have happened to us in these eight wonderful years.
Our special boy
Silly Tatum
Baby # three, precious Avery, with those baby bluesSan Diego Trip 2005, a few months pregnant with Madi
Baby # four, Sweet Madi
Our little monstersFlagstaff trip
Grandparents 50th Anniversary
Trip to Disney land 2007
Moved to Washington, Easter 2007 Mother's Day 2007

Baby # five, Ainsley bird
Our Monkeys
To my wonderful husband, thank you for all of these blessings. I'm so proud of what we've accomplished, we are very blessed people. Thank you so much for your love and support, I love you with all of my heart. I do, and will always promise to love and cherish you, honor and obey you, to stand by you in sickness and in health, through the good and bad times, to forsake all others, until the day that I die. Love Forever, Danielle

More pages

Here's a two page layout I did the other night of Ash and Prestin in the snow
I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Recipe of the Week

So this recipe isn't really new, we actually eat this quite a bit and all the kids like it. I don't know what the name is, we just call it "Cheesy Chicken Tortilla casserole", if you have a better name for it please pass it on.

Ingredients:
-16oz. tub of sour cream
-2 10.5oz. cans of cream of chicken soup
-2 4oz. cans diced green chiles
-1 16oz. bag of shredded cheese(I use cheddar, but you could use Colby and Monterrey jack or Mexican cheese as well)
-2 large cans of chunk chicken in water
-3-5 large tortillas

Line the bottom of a 13"x9" baking dish with squares of tortillas( I just tear them into small squares, it doesn't have to look pretty no one will see it). In a separate bowl mix the first three ingredients, spread half of the mixture on top of the tortillas. Next, drain water from can of chicken and spread evenly over mixture then cover with cheese(there's no measuring, I just sprinkle what I feel like).Then add a second layer(tortillas, mixture, chicken, cheese). Some people like to add olives to the top, it's all up to you. Bake @ 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Enjoy!

Spring is here

Finally, it has been such a long winter. And raining constantly, but for the last couple of days it has been sunny and warm. So finally the flowers are starting to bloom. These poppies are from my little garden, their colors are so vibrant. it makes me smile to look at them out my kitchen window. I'll take pictures of the whole garden when everything is blooming, I can't wait!

It's out!

So Prestin has had this loose tooth forever, actually he has three more that are loose as well. But this one has seriously taken forever. So he's been working on it to get it to come out.And working on itTaking five
And finally today it came out, well Ash tied some dental floss to it and I yanked on it. It was getting so annoying waiting for it to fall out and we were getting impatient.
He's such a silly kid. So anyways you know who will be visiting our house tonight. It's bittersweet for me, because while it's a milestone in his life it also means that he's growing up. It makes me a little sad. So I just have to cherish each day and look forward to pulling those loose teeth. I'll give the next tooth another week(hee hee).

Today when we were walking Prestin to school, Eagle Eye Tatum saw this...
Can you see it? Look closer
It's two pieces of wood mulch and a little stick that just happened to be placed together to make a smiley face. Just goes to show you there's happiness everywhere, you just have to look for it.

Recipe of the Week

Well if your like me you kind of get in a routine of cooking the same thing over and over again. So I've been trying something new every week to get a little more variety and I thought I'd post the recipes that were a hit in our house. This one is called Chicken Pillows.

Ingredients:
- 2-3 pieces of cooked chicken breasts, cubed (I used two 10oz. cans of chunk chicken in water).
- 8oz. cream cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
-2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
-Pillsbury Grands( the mixture I made there was enough to fill 16, so buy two tubes of the Grands)
-Stuffing mix (I used Stove Top Chicken)
-1 10.5oz. can of Cream of Mushroom soup
-1/2 cup milk

Combine first three ingredients. Flatten dough a little and add a spoonful of the mixture to the center. Fold over and pinch edges together(some of the mixture will squeeze out, because they're so full, that's okay). Next, dip in butter and roll in dry stuffing mix. Bake @ 325 for 25-30 minutes. Serve with mushroom sauce(combine soup and milk in saucepan over low heat until smooth and creamy), would be good too with cream of chicken or a chicken gravy. Enjoy!

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day, I know I did. The kids all made me the cutest gifts in Sunday school class. I got cute cards with their pictures on them from each kid. Madi and Avery gave me hand print pictures and Prestin and Tatum made me these cute rock pets and they each gave me a bouquet of flowers, so sweet!So I've been scrapbooking quite a bit lately, trying to get caught up on all the kid's baby pics and past trips we've taken. Needless to say I'm a little behind, but here's a few that I've done lately. I'm pretty proud of them, so I guess this would be my art on the fridge,so to speak. This is a pic of Ash at five months old.
This is our trip to Tonto Creek.
Sweet baby Prestin.
Ash and Prestin on our first camping trip to Lake Kinnikinnick(I totally slaughtered that name I'm sure).
Halloween 2005.
Prestin riding a horse on a ranch in Chino Valley.
Ash free falling at The Arizona State Fair.
Avery's birth day.
Grandma Anna with Tatum a couple hours after she was born.
Baby Avery.
Prestin a couple days old.
My kindergarten class picture.
Uncle Matt, Ash and Prestin at our camp in Payson.
So I hope you all liked those. Talk to you later!