My FAVORITE Summer Recipe!

"Try this... your taste buds will dance and sing..." --Aladdin

Chicken & Roast Vegetable Salad

Family Circle, May 2003, p.188

¼ C olive oil

1 ½ lb small red potatoes w/ skins, cut into quarters

½ lb green beans, halved crosswise

1 sweet read pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 12 slices

1 t. salt

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 ¼ lbs total)

2 T. fresh lemon juice (about ½ a ripe lemon)

¼ t. black pepper

2 T. finely chopped fresh parsley

6 C chopped romaine or green leaf lettuce

In large roasting pan, pour 2 T olive oil. Place pan in oven while heating to 425°.

When oven is heated, add potatoes, green beans and sweet pepper to hot oil in roasting pan. Season w/ ¾ t salt; toss to coat potatoes.

Return roasting pan to 425° oven and roast vegetables for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and vegetables are browned.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, bring enough lightly salted water to cover chicken to simmering. Add chicken breast halves; simmer just until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove chicken to cutting board; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into small pieces.

In large bowl, whisk together the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, remaining salt and the pepper. Add vegetables, chicken and parsley; gently toss to evenly coat all the ingredients.

Divide lettuce among 6 bowls or plates. Top with chicken & vegetable mixture. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

The Nose...

Will's famous look-a-likes....

Avatars and Russel from UP

Easter 2010 (report 2 weeks late)

Amanda here, I should be at Church right now... but minutes before getting in the car to attend our new ward for the first time today, Will took a face plant into the wall that resulted in a bloody nose... and a possible broken nose.

He's doing much better now (2 hours later-) after meds and a cold rag, unlimited and unhealthy amounts of M & M's and Cheetos, Thomas and Friends and then Buzz and Woody marathon snuggled up on the couch with a fluffy purple blanket. At this point, I'm ruling out the broken part, he's pretty much back to normal, but when he talks he sounds like he's plugging his nose and it's starting to get black and blue... ouch. We'll see how the next few days go...but he's going to have a new look after this, i can tell.

Later on in life when he complains about his nose, I'll remember this moment and say...remember when Daddy told you and Caitlin to settle down... and then bam... you ran right into that wall? Oh, these moments are the ones you wish you could take back... change... esp. as a parent, it's sad to see them like that...It seems like everyone has a 'nose' story. Justin gave a girlfriend of his a bloody nose once when he went to put his arm around her, her whole family being in the car with them, and BAM, with his elbow... ha.

I had an unfortunate run-in with a snow shovel when i was 13... my nose has never been the same since (remember that Chrissy?).

But poor Will...What is it about 4 year-old boys?? It's like they have huge magnets in their heads that just draws them to hard objects. Just last Saturday, (Moving day)...he decided to be a little adventurous and take a ride down our new drive way on his three wheeler! Only, our new drive way is known as 'the sledding hill' in the neighborhood! it did not go so well... goose egg city! (There's a reason why we call him Willy Bonka!) Love the kid...

So, I'm home and he's resting, Brinley is scooting around the room (Justin and Caitlin are at church) and I thought i'd take advantage and catch up on Z-blog, because I'm sUper behind... and so many fun things have happened!

Let's begin...

Wednesday before Easter, I met my Sisters Amy and Shelly at IKEA in DC... we had a fun afternoon having lunch, shopping and the three older kids enjoyed an hour at the play land!! Amy took Caitlin and Will for a few days so Justin and I could get a few things done at the new house!!

Will, Caitlin, and Enoch



After a long drive home from DC, Justin and I were able to load up "Mater and Lightning McQueen" (Caitlin and Will named our Pilot and Camry, how cute is that?!) over and over and move a majority of our smaller things. We got alot done over the next few days! Thanks Amy for taking the kids... i konw they had A LOT more fun playing with cousins and Grammy and Papa than with their mom and dad!!

Friday, On our way up to PA we detoured through Washington D.C. to enjoy the Cherry Blossom Festival (also, it was out 8 year engagement anniversary, it was fun to be in DC where it all happened!).

Pretty pretty! It was SO beautiful AND SO BUSY!! We couldn't find a parking spot... so we just enjoyed the beauty from the car!

Em and Sua hosted us that weekend. We had so much fun being together as family and watching conference! Here's Grammy, handing out Easter gifts to the kids! (big kids got a copy of The Blindside! LOVE LOVE LOVE That movie! Thanks Mama Sue and Papa John!)

Pepper found some eggs, too!

Lady bugs...

Brinley and Papa

Our Annual J & A Cra-Fam Easter Pic... (awesome!)

Sunday night we celebrated all the March and April Birthdays, we did a little walk-up-and-order-at-the-window-thing... the kids loved this! Enoch placing his order with Uncle Sua

This made me smile... (Will's Cup!)

babies: Isaac and Brinley

older cousins....

Micah, Enoch, Caitlin, Will, Ada

...sigh....

Wow. It's been a crazy-fun-wild-non.stop-unexpected-surprising couple of weeks...SO MUCH has happened... and I've got about 400 some odd pictures to prove it! Internet is FINALLY up and running (as of 3 minutes ago.) and Caitlin has the flu... so once things settle down... and i teach myself how to type again... I'll blog... Till then... pop some popcorn and watch your favorite movie! Hugs to you all!

wE'rE nOt BlOgGiNg bEcAusE...

wE ArE tOo Busy hAvINg FuN WiTh oUr Nans!

Closing Time....

We closed on our house on Friday! Lots of signing... expected. but there was a fun surprise for the kids... they all got to pick a stuffed animal.

Here's Caitlin with her new puppy "Hermioney" and the kitty she got for her birthday... "Soap."

'Ermioney and Soap= Best Friends!

Will with his new friend, "Harry"

Brinners with a pink monkey, "DaDa"

Ukrops Monumont Ave 10K

I ran my fist 10K on Saturday!

I had a BLAST! I was so happy I didn't have to run it by my self... because let's face it... it's always more fun to accomplish a 6.2 mile race with a buddy!

Pictured next to me is Linda!! When Justin and I moved to VA we were thrilled to hear that I had cousins that lived close!! Kurt, Linda and I all ran the race...and Justin stayed with the kids (all 6!) Thanks Just for your services so we could...as Napoleon Dynamite says... have "the time of our lives!"

Amanda and Linda

A's 10K Playlist:

I Got A Feeling.........................................Black Eyed Peas

The Sweet Escape....................................Gwen Steffani

Black Horse & The Cherry Tree............KT Tunstall

Holiday......................................................Green Day

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams................Green Day

Shut up and Let Me Go...........................The Ting Tings

Amber........................................................311

TiK ToK.....................................................Ke$ha

Decode.......................................................Paramore

Party in the U.S.A....................................Miley Cyrus "This is all so cra-A-zy!"

I Caught Myself........................................Paramore

*The Climb*..............................................Miley Cyrus

Gettin' Jiggy Wit It..................................Will Smith

Nod Ya Head.............................................Will Smith

Defying Gravity........................................WICKED

Fallin' for You............................................Colbie Caillat

Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).............Beyonce

Already Gone.............................................Kelly Clarkson

Freakin' It..................................................Will Smith

Hallelujah (feat. Charlie Sexton)..............Justin Timberlake (Hope for Haiti Now) All time fav. version of this song! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Amazingly beautiful!

Dudes... with a play list like this... i didn't know whether I should dance or run the race! I love my ipod and i LOVE running!

Dare I go for the Half Marathon in Nov?

Snack of the Week....from the $1 Menu

i LOVE this...
I saw this in Fitness magazine... thought i'd share! GO DOLLAR MENU!!

This week we....

...had another stylish Sam's Club field trip

...had a Big Roll race in the front yard

...picked up sticks with our mouths, and played in the yard bare foot

...gave kitty "piggy-back" rides

...built a farm for all our animals

...played inside while it rained outside

Other fun things this week:

...found a peanut butter sandwich under the cushins of the couch... apparently i shouldn't use the frase... "If you finish your sandwich you can have a cookie" BECAUSE i don't have eyes in the back of my head... and my kids are REALLY creative... and i'm just afraid where the next hiding place will be. [no picture, ha.]

...Justin found a super good buy at Home De Pot... 10 pack of Brinkmann LED flashlights for $10.00... Wad' up?? good deal, man... the Kids are IN LOVE, now they are really set for camping!

...AND...we've Packed A LOT of BOXES!! We close on our house TODAY!! We've been looking at carpet, paint and washer and dryers... It's an exciting time!!

B.Ball

Caitlin, "We're playing BASE BALL! " (me- "Basket Ball!" ) "Yeah...Basket Ball!"

Will, "I LOVE Soccer ball, mom, I do!"

Please watch!!

Hey, My buddy Melissa entered a YouTube Video contest... She needs you to watch this... like 100 times! :) or once works too! Thanks buddies!

1st time to the beach...

Caitlin Rose--
July 2006
I don't even think we let her sit in or touch the sand... Ha, being first time parents and not wanting her to eat it... (no wonder she loves it so much now!) We were visiting Amy and Kevin in CA for Enoch's 1st birthday! Newport Beach.)
Wilbur--
December 2006
Rocky Point, Mexico
Poor little guy had a cold, and needed some fresh air and sun... this beach was so peaceful and perfect! He loved the sand playing with it... and eating it!

Brinley Jayne--
March 2010
Virginia Beach, VA

She LOVED being in the sand... i swear she ate like 2 pounds worth of sand... oops. but at least she's happy... and looks SO cute! My favorite was when she took off (crawling) after Caitlin and Justin who were running into the waves... it was so cute...