A Walk Along the Bluff.

Matt and I got home from work last night and it was so beautiful we just couldn't stay home. So after dinner, Matt and I took the kids down the road about 5 mile, where there's a bluff lookout, and a little trail that winds around the coast. We had blue skies, bald eagles flying overhead, wild raspberries the kids were eating, and a crazy mom with a nice camera to bug everyone with.
Enjoy! Don't I have a nice looking family? (ignore the boy's hair....all three need haircuts)

I love these kids. They are fun to be around, and are growing into such great little people.

Gabe is a great kid. He's funny, cute, and is always trying to do the right thing.

She was being such a stinker while we were taking pictures last night. Either she was making this smooshy face, or she was doing her newest thing, of "I've got my eyes on you" as she points two fingers at her eyes, then yours. Hilarious!

Can you believe this is my baby? Isn't he huge? 5th grade this year. It goes by way too fast!

What? Not a princess party?

....I know, its like Gabe not being a pirate for Halloween, but, we planned and carried out a successful Cooking Party for our big girl.

My baby turned 6 today!!! We had her birthday party on Wednesday, at Allen & Petersen. It was a cooking party, with a chef and everything! All 10 kids in attendance made their own personal pizzas, a Caesar salad, and then decorated their very own cupcakes.


Morgan insisted on wearing her chef's hat that grandma made for the kids this last year. Cute little Clayton was the only boy Morgan wanted to invite. What a trooper,

Chef Laurie showing the kids how to roll out their pizza crust.

We even got the VIP treatment and the manager of the store came over to light the candles for our special little birthday girl! (Don't tell my husband, but I think he's kind of cute:)

Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday dear Morgan~ Happy Birthday to YOU!

Mom insisted on taking her hat off for a few pictures, so we could see that cute little face.

She got 'em all I think!

What else? A cooking set for our star chef.

A Barbie from 'the brothers'. (I think she thinks that's really their name sometimes.) "the brothers did this!" or "the brothers did that!"

Grandma Bobbie even sent some baby doll clothes for the birthday girl. They were awesome, and went perfectly with the ones Grandma Christensen made.

The whole group. (minus one sick little girl who wasn't feeling well and went home early...I'm blaming it on the amount of chlorine she probably swallowed at her swimming lessons right before the party, not the food we ate.)

Happy Birthday sweetie!

Hiking The Butte

Saturday I got a wild hair and called up Renae and Karlie to see if they wanted to come hiking with me and the kids. Our destination? The Butte. Now, Renae and I got most of the way up a few years ago, but turned around due to little kids who were not being cooperative hikers. Then, two years ago, Matt hiked the Butte with his dad and the kids. They have been dying to go back ever since. My three little sweeties. They were such good hikers. While this is only a 3 mile hike, it is very steep, and these kids did amazingly well.

Me and my kids. We were all so excited to have made it to the top of the mountain. Everybody coming down from the mountain. There are two side of the butte to hike. One, is very lush, and thick, and has these series of stairs towards the top, that you have to climb before you get to another section that has steep back switches geared with ropes on the sides for you to grab on to to help you up the side of the mountain. Imagine doing this with 7 kids...

So, along the way, we took a break and let the kids climb some trees. Morgan posing. Big surprise, I know.

This is the kids getting ready to go hike a mountain that day!

All I want for Christmas (in July) is my 2 front teeth!

Well, it finally happened! My baby lost her first teeth this week. I've been threatening her for weeks that if she didn't pull them soon, (since there were permanents already coming in) that I'd take her into work and have Dr. Steve pull them for her. So, Wednesday it happened. The first one came out. When that happened, the other tooth, that was already loose, became looser, and tipped diagonally to the side. It was really funny looking. I played the organ in sacrament meeting today, and after the Sacrament hymn, I went to sit with my family, and Morgan was standing in the isle, jumping up and down with excitement, because her tooth had come out!!! Here's her very decorated envelope with her tooth in it for the tooth fairy.

I guess she's getting an early Christmas present, hu?

Homer Happenings

Have I mentioned before, what an awesome boss I have? Steve had 2 spots on his Halibut Charter this weekend, and invited Matt and I to come along. Well, big bummer, Matt wasn't able to leave the store on short notice, so I called my back-up, and Renae and I headed to Homer Friday night after work.
We dropped anchor about an hour out of Homer, Steve caught one immediately, but then not much action. So, we headed further out through the channel, towards Pearl Island, and found a great current to fish in. Steve's grand daughter Karlie brought in a monster 100 lb halibut, and Steve followed with another nice one, probably around 70 lbs. Then I managed to pull in this guy. We figured around 50 or so lbs. Isn't he a beauty? Steve and his girls out for a great day of fishing. We love this guy. (he's grandpa Steve to all our kids)

Here's me, pulling in my 3rd and final fish for the day. Boy, were my arms sore. Picture pulling a door up from the ocean, from about 80-100 feet down. (and these guys were putting up a good fight)

Us girls posing with our trophies. The big one hanging up is Karlie's, mine is one of the one's next to it, and then on the deck of the boat, in front of us, are another 8 or so 40 pounders. We limited out for the day, with 2 halibut each, (well, the girls each caught 3, but don't tell!) We kept our legal limit of 2 per person. Plus a few Irish Lords here and there.

Renae and I sitting behind the captain's seat. Enjoying the ride out on the bumpy waves. This was Renae's first Halibut charter ever! I've been a few times, and its been a while. We were so excited!

Here's where it gets exciting! We were headed back to the condo that Steve and Bobbie had rented for themselves, to get cleaned up and head home, when Steve suggested that Renae and I both stay an extra night in their condo, since it was paid for, and they were heading home early. I looked at Renae, (since she was the one who'd driven) and she didn't even hesitate to say YES!

So, here' me outside on the back deck of our beach front condo that night. We limited out on our fish, they were being cleaned and packaged by someone other than me, and we got to stay an extra night while our wonderful husbands watched the kids.

A view of the condo from the beach.

Wild life out our back door! Renae was reading on the deck when she yelled for me to grab my camera. I was a ways off, but managed to catch a few shots of this cute this sea otter playing in the water about 20 yards from shore.

Renae took this from the master bedroom loft above.

The Master bedroom.

We headed home the next day, and stopped at the docks for a few photo ops. Yes, we're aware we're twinners. But aren't we cute?

The jelly fish I took a picture of from the dock ramp.

A special thanks to my husband and mom for helping out with the kids so this trip was even possible. I don't know what I would do without the kind of love and support I get from them. Poor Matt was dying to get out and fish, and it just didn't work out. Lucky for him, dip netting and a 4 day weekend is not so far away. Can't wait for that adventure!

Heavenly Halibut

I have found a NEW favorite way to cook halibut! After my fishing trip this weekend, (yes, Matt and mom took turns watching the kids this weekend so I could go on a fishing trip with my boss) we had more fish than we could fit in our freezer, so I thawed out some halibut and googled recipes tonight after we finished painting our fence.
It is amazing to me that one of the ugliest fish in the ocean (complete with 2 eyes on ONE side of their body) can go from this.... to this....

to this!!!!!

Mmmmmmm. This is called Heavenly Halibut, and the name does not disappoint.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbsp mayonnaise

1/4 cup butter

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp chopped onion

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp chili pepper

2 lbs halibut fillets

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to broil and line a baking sheet with foil.

2. In a bowl, mix the cheese, mayonnaise, butter, lemon juice, onion, salt, and pepper.

3. broil the halibut for 8 minutes, depending on thickness, or until fish is just starting to flake.

4. Spread the sauce on the halibut, and broil for 2 more minutes or until top is bubbling and lightly browned.

Don't worry! Pictures of my awesome weekend in Homer to follow soon!!!!!

Fourth of July Fiest of Foods.

Here's some of my favorite red white and blue yummy's that I've made this season.

These mini cheesecakes were made for a Bunko Night with a Red White and Blue theme. And of course, I had to make a cheesecake for my sweetie when I left for Bunko that night.

These are nutmeg and banana flavored cupcakes made to look like blueberry pies. I used real blueberries and then frosting piped on to look like lattice work and pie crust.

Our kids have loved this one this summer. Take your favorite BBQ pork recipe, and make a sandwich, topped with coleslaw. Costco had these little slider buns that I used for smaller portions. They were perfect!

A long time favorite in our family has been Mom's Spinach and Strawberry salad with Feta cheese and Poppy seed Vinaigrette. MMMMMMMM.