Good Family, Good Eats

My wonderful Brother Nate and I have been working on our lack of grilling expertise. I am thinking that this meal shows no such lack! AND it tasted as wonderful as it looked! Mmm Mmm!

Nate found a smoker for an awesome price, cleaned it up and modified it (as per his name 'Nate Mod Anderson'), then asked if he could store it here while he hones his skills. Seriuosly!! HE ASKED!! Gotta love that guy! I have always known him to be a special gift from God, he just seems to be out to prove it these last few years :-)

Little Man LOVES to work on his 'Vooms". Spends hours doing it even. I think he is striving to be like Uncle Nate :-)

Here is a picture taken at church with some of Mini Chips buddies.

Wordless Wednesday - July 4th Style

Monday Musings

I baked a cake for a friends baby shower.

I love baking but it is not really the time of the year to get too carried away. It was 112 degrees outside when I seriously thought about skipping out and heading down to pick up a Costco cake. I am glad I stuck with it though. It turned out pretty cute, I think :-)

Grandpa and Grandma Cookie arrived and promptly got to playing and teaching the young ones. So grateful that they had a safe trip and are here to visit. :-)

Too cute! We were at our Pool Day with our Homeschool group and Mini Chip was getting tired. He built his own bed and tried to take a nap :-)

VBS Wrap-up Night's singing made the boy's eyes open and make him appear awake, but that doesn't mean he had to act the part. But Daddy sure makes a great recliner to safely check out the noisy business from. 

Mini Chip is plain pooped from all the learning, playing, and sweltering temperatures.

The big kids (including Mr. Cookie) swimming with Grandpa Cookie. After swimming around for a bit, Grandpa informed us that he had never been in a pool before. WOW!! The girls sure had fun showing him how fun it was to get a little excercise in! :-)

Grandma Cookie receiving singing lessons from the littlest one.

Sometimes random pictures turn up on my camera... LOVE IT!!

Oreo hanging out with her best buddies at Pool Day>

Our Favorite Mayor

This is Oreo Cookie. I would like to share with you the story of her life this past week.

Amy is the real Mayor of Junior Achievement's BizTown.

The story behind her running for mayor in the first place warms my heart and makes this Mama well up with tears.

Two weeks ago, as we were wrapping up our studies associated with attending JA BizTown, we looked over the citizens running for Mayor and DJ in the town. We discovered that there were 8 people running for DJ including our very own Butterscotch Cookie! Oh, the competition! So exciting!

However, there was not one citizen running to be the towns Mayor. This was upsetting news to Oreo. She was concerned that there could be no town without a leader. She seemed to be distracted most of the rest of that day. She approached her Dad and I late the same day and asked loads of questions, as her sweet self is prone to do, and then asked if it would be okay if she prepared a speech just in case no one else stepped up to run for Mayor. After all, if the town needed a Mayor, someone had to step up and do the job.

The next morning when we checked there were 4 others running for mayor. We went to church and afterwards Oreo told us that she had thought about it alot and was going to run for mayor anyway! So exciting!
The following day at BizTown she gave an awesome speech to her fellow citizens. She stood tall and spoke loudly and clearly. The other candidates did very well also. When the votes had been tallied, she had won! She was voted in by her peers and will make an excellent Mayor!
Due to an unforeseen and sad display of adult behavior, Amy was unable to perform her duties as Mayor that day due to absolutely no fault of her own. Many tears have been shed by her, this Mama, her dear friends, and their Mama's too. These people know who the REAL MAYOR of JA BizTown was that day. No one can change that. The life lessons, hard, sad, and real... will be with us always.

Amy is amazing to us as her parents. She is the most caring, sensitive girl we know. This has been a week so full of emotional ups and downs that it has left us exhausted. But God has got our backs! He has lifted us up, brushed us off, and prepared us for the next wonderful challenge this life has to offer. Go Oreo!!

Umm, Where's October? Part 1

I'm pretty sure every year comes standard with one, but this year it seems to have disappeared!

So, I am going through my pictures to see if I can find it...

Turns out it was a very good month!

It started out fast... Nate's new Corvette...

SWEET!!!

It was fun to drive!

We traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico with some friends...

Played games, acted silly in the mirror...

and went to the Balloon Fiesta and saw the special shapes balloons take shape!

WOW!!!

It was SOOO good to be chilly too!

This balloon owner asked us if we wanted to climb into his basket... ummm, YUP!

You REALLY have to see this in real life...

the pictures do nothing for the massive size of these balloons!

Off to Killeen, Texas... VERY long drive.

 But TOTALLY worth it!

 We really do love traveling, especially when at the end is someone so amazing and wonderful!

 Spending some time with Dad.

One of the greatest things about homeschool...

 It doesn't matter where you are.

 We LOVE homeschool!

This boy LOVES his Daddy's watch!

 It fits him well... well someday! :-)

 Snack time.

 LOVE THE KISSES!!!!

 It is a great adventure God has led us to...

Sweet!

 Aren't they just so awesome!

 Little man so proud in his little boots and overalls.

Such a happy boy! He is just such a joy!

Drove back to Albuquerque, New Mexico...

 Starbucks sword fighting...

 We stayed with friends in Albuquerque. While we were there we were able to visited Old Town... very fun!

 Oreo and her best buddy.
This family is simply wonderful!

We learned that we REALLY love New Mexico food...

Sopapillas with honey and Green Chili...

Mmmm, MMmm, MMMmmm!

Even Miss Chocolate Chip loved the sopapillas with honey!

Back in the car for the trip back to Phoenix we were blessed to see...

 Snow capped mountains!

Breathtakingly beautiful!!

 SNOW CAPPED MOUNTAINS!!

 We had only heard about them and saw pictures in books.

I think I need to make this a two part finding October post...

See you in Part 2!

Hugs,

Mrs. Cookie

Adventures in April

The girls love to have friends over and swim.

It is still pretty cold at this point, actually, but they are having fun and making memories anyway!

 Little fella is wearing his lucky shirt... well, that's what it says :-)

See his two cute little teeth there on the bottom :-)

He is into standing up on things now. He is still having mercy on me and is not walking! Yeah!

 The girls practicing archery with...

...the best coaches ever!

 Uncle Nate and Mr. Lloyd

The little boy really loves to do all things "climbing into"...

...even the oven drawer!

 And he LOVES it!

 AND he's super cute about it too!!

Yes. He turned right around and climbed back in!

BOYS!!

LOL!!

:-)

:-)