Family Pics

While Grandma & Papa were here, we decided to have them help us take some family pictures. We had a lot of fun and got a couple of good ones!

Which is your favorite?

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Aspen

While Grandma and Grandpa Neel were here visiting, we all got to attend Aspen's very first Young Women in Excellence program. It was really fun to go and see everyone who participated, but we couldn't wait to see Aspen perform on her guitar. She's been taking lessons since the middle of September, so almost 3 months. I can't believe how well she is doing. She loves playing and has started to write some of her own songs with Sierra. It's really nice to see them get along and do something together that they both love.

Aspen will probably kill me when she finds out that I posted this, but I know that her other set of grandparents and ALL of those aunts and uncles would love to see it. She did awesome and we're so proud of her. Her friend helped her sing last minute because Aspen was super nervous! I'm so grateful that she is surrounded by such wonderful young women in the ward and we love that she hopped up to help her.

Enjoy!!

White Turkey Chili....Mmmmmm....

I have been trying to clear out my deep freezer and get all of the meat used up that's in there. So, on Sunday, I decided to cook up the turkey that has been buried in the bottom of it for awhile now. I really wanted to make this chili, so that was motivation enough to get it cooked up. I can not even begin to tell you how yummy it was! Seriously, I think it's one of the best meals I've made to date...which really isn't saying much, but who cares??

CLICK HERE to see the original recipe. Those of you that know me, even a little, know that I left out the onion and the green chilies. I also didn't have any white pepper or chile flakes. So, I just didn't add any white pepper and I substituted chili powder for the flakes. The recipe also says to use a food processor to process one of the cans of beans...I just used a fork and mashed it up really good.

This chili is just the right amount of heat. It's not spicy at all, but it has a little chili kick to it!

So here is the recipe, exactly how I made it...


Slow-cooked White Chili
• 2 15.5-oz cans north white beans, -keep cans separate, you'll be adding them one at a time- rinsed and drained
* 1 can cannelloni beans (white kidney beans)
• 32-oz fat-free chicken broth
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 T chili powder
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1/8 t ground cloves
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• 1 T black pepper
• salt (as needed)
• 3 cups pieces of cooked turkey (you could also use chicken)
• 1 can kernel corn
• 3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar cheese

1. Pour one can great northern beans and the one can of cannelloni beans, broth, chili powder, turkey and corn in a slow cooker on high heat.
2. Combine the other can of great northern beans with the rest of the spices (garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, cayenne pepper, and black pepper) and mash up with a fork. Add a couple ladles of broth from the slow cooker. Keep mashing until it’s a smooth paste and then pour in the slow cooker.
4. Cook on low for about 4 hours (if you’re in a hurry, it’s not all that necessary to cook that long, but heating all the ingredients together helps with blending all of the flavors).
***If you want to freeze it, do it now, before adding the yogurt.
5. Just before serving, pour the yogurt in and stir.
6. Ladle into bowls, top with a dollop of sour cream and/or shredded Cheddar Cheese.


ENJOY! All of us did....yes, even the kids loved it!!

Apple Orchard

One of the parents in the kids' school put together a field trip to the apple orchard. We had never been, so we were so glad that we were able to make it. We drove about 45 minutes south to a really fun orchard. The kids got to pick apples, go on a tour, and learned so much. Did you know that there are like 65 different types of apples? This particular orchard had 7,000 trees and every spring they bring in about 400,000 bees to help pollinate them. It was really fun. It was also beautiful there. The Fall colors are really starting to show on all the trees.

The kids really enjoyed everything there. They had farm animals and some pretty cool swings and then they had this slide. Thomas said it looked like it was made from some storm drain pipes. It was pretty tall, but there was NO curve at the bottom. So, you always knew when someone came down, 'cause we could hear a "OH!" Then they would come out holding their backs saying how it hurt, but 2 seconds later went running back up to go again. It really was hilarious!!

I've never in my life had an apple dumpling before, and for some reason, I thought they were noodly like chinese dumplings. Anyways, I bought a couple of pans from them, and I have died and gone to Heaven! WOW! They were awesome! We also got some fresh apple cider which tastes like you're biting into an apple. YUMMY! We've decided that we need to take Thomas down there in the next week or so, just so we can get some more.

Angie Seaman Photography Giveaway!!

I have been following Angie Seaman and her photography for a while now. She is super talented and has given me some inspiration to go and learn more about photography. She is giving away a fun new camera in the next few days! So, get on over there and comment on her blog to be entered!

CLICK HERE TO GET TO HER BLOG!

It's Fall!

The weather here has been so nice the last week or so. I'm not sure if I'm ready for Winter, but I do love Fall. The leaves are starting to change, and there is just that crispy smell in the air. I just love it! Our ward has a little playgroup that tries to get together once a week or every other week. Today, we went to the Fall Festival at Waterman's Farm. I just had Marina and 3 other little ones that I watch. I think Marina liked that none of her older siblings got to come. It was our little secret, and she kept it! She didn't tell anyone else that we were going. So funny! Here are a few pics. I didn't get too many because I was holding a baby for most of these. (I think I did pretty well, if I must say so myself!!) We got to go on a hayride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids got to pick out their own pumpkin. Marina had to make sure that she got one with a good stem so she could carve it like an elephant. Grandpa Jim taught them that a few years ago, and it has stuck! They only try to find ones now with long curvy stems. She kept telling everyone that she found an elephant one, but nobody understood what she was talking about! Anyways, it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get back there and go again with all the other kids. Next stop....apple picking!!

Off With Her....

Training Wheels!!

Disclaimer: These videos are kinda long with the important parts at the beginning. I just kept the video rolling.

By the way...Marina came in this morning around 7am asking to go out and ride her bike!! She's so proud of herself...and we are too!!

Another One Bites The Dust

My Hillbilly

Harley is quickly becoming our toothless wonder! She has just lost another tooth. It was one of her top front ones, and the other one is not going to take much longer to come out either. She also has some more loose ones on the bottom! She's not going to be able to eat if she keeps this up!

Oh, and Ryker is NOT all to happy about Harley loosing all of her teeth. He has yet to even get a wiggle!! He'll be 9 in November and we don't see him losing any teeth in the near future. Poor kid. When he saw Harley pull her tooth out, he just let out this sad sigh. I keep telling him, he's gonna be missing teeth when he goes out on his first date!!

Aspen starts Volleyball

Aspen started playing volleyball!! She's been asking to play since before we moved to Indy, but I haven't been able to find any youth leagues. Well, I found one. It's takes us 45 minutes to get there, but we found one! Ha Ha This organization has a club volleyball league, but we just have Aspen in their recreational league. We don't have the time or the money to start doing travel ball! She did a summer camp with them during the summmer and loved it, so we signed her up for the 5 week league. They hesitate to call it a league, though, because it's just their own group of girls. They just end up playing more scrimmage type games. She does get more of a "training camp" type atmosphere, though, since it's just them. I really love the group of people involved in this, so that makes the drive for us worth it. It'll be over October 3rd, so I know she'll be sad, but hopefully they'll have other programs like this soon.

Under The Sea

We had a great Under the Sea Party for Marina's 5th Birthday. It all came together so nicely! We spent about 4 hours and used over 1500 feet of streamers to make it all happen, but it was totally worth it.

When Marina's friends arrived, we had them color a coloring book that I had put together until everyone had arrived. "Everyone" included 11 4-6 year olds! It was crazy and loud, but super fun. After they all arrived, we ate octopus hotdogs, goldfish crackers, and blue jello w/ fish gummies. The octopus hotdogs were a hit! Do a search on Youtube for them to see a tutorial. They are super easy and the kids got a kick out of them.

Then, we played lots of games. We played "Fish, Fish, Shark" (Duck, Duck, Goose), we let them jump up and down on bubble wrap, we had crab walk races, and mermaid races, pinned the crown on Ariel, and did the limbo. Aspen and Sierra had lots of fun taking that over and helping the girls.

Then, we opened presents. Thomas certainly had all the girls' attention! Obviously, all of the presents she got were totally girly, and so as she opened each one, he would say things like, "I love to wear those!" or "Those are my favorite!" She got blendy pens from her cousin, and Thomas said, "Ooooh, I'm gonna color in my underwear with those!" Thomas said it was the most fun he's had in awhile. He LOVED all the No's and giggles and looks he got from all the girls.

After we opened presents, we made these sand art seashell necklaces. Only, we didn't use colored sand, we used colored sugar!! They turned out really cute, and the girls, of course, didn't mind that it was pure sugar. Then we sang Happy Birthday, and ate the ice cream cone cupcakes that Marina helped me make. They turned our really yummy, and the icing that I found was awesome!! You gotta try it!! It's from Pillsbury and it's called Easy Frost. I loved it, and it made frosting the cupcakes a breeze.

Then the girls just played with balloons and did the limbo until their parents came to pick them up. Overall, I think it was a complete success, and am so glad that we could make Marina's first "friend" party a memorable one! I am going to be trying to take some better pictures of how we decorated. We changed the light bulbs in the room to blue ones, so the pics came out really dark. The ceiling really looked like waves when we had the fans blowing on the streamers. It was so fun!

Wish you all could have been here!

Happy Birthday Lil Red!

The Birthday Countdown Has Begun!

I can NOT believe that I haven't posted since MAY!! Holy Moly!! Believe or not, that's mostly because there just hasn't been much going on around here. Just the same old same old. Well, that's about to change as the birthday marathon is about to begin. We've got a birthday to celebrate EVERY month through December, and in December we've actually got 2!

Marina kicks off the marathon with her birthday in just 7 days! She's been waiting a LONG time for this. She is really bummed now, though, because she finally understands that just because you turn 5 doesn't automatically mean you can start kindergarten. Yep...she misses the deadline here in Indianapolis by 2 whole days! Bummer!

Marina has never had a "friend" birthday party, so we decided that turning 5 is a pretty big deal, and that it would be fun to let her have one this year. We've been tossing ideas around for some time now, and have finally decided on an Ariel-Under the Sea party. Today we made her invitations to hand out. We had lots of fun, and I think they turned out so adorable!

Pure Indiana Beauty...and, yes, it really is that green here!

I Got Nothin'!

I've been trying to think of something I could post about lately, and I got nothin'!

Everything in the Garyson household is pretty much the same old same old. I'm still babysitting, the kids are rushing to get all of their assignments finished before school ends the first week of June and Thomas is finishing up his semester at school.

One thing I guess I could share is that Thomas got a job with FedEx as a package handler at the airport. He had to leave his job during the day because they were not working around his school schedule very well and, right now, school is our top priority. He will be loading and unloading planes that come into the hub. We are really excited for him to have this job...#1 because it will bring in a little bit of money and #2 it will give us some much needed insurance. They have an awesome benefit package for part timers which even includes tuition reimbursement up to $3000/year. That'll help!! He'll be working 3-4 hours Mon-Fri between the hours of 10p-5a. So, the sleeping arrangement is something we are gonna have to work on, especially since he will still be in school full time. We are so grateful for this job and hope it works out just the way we hope!

We'll be in Vegas from June 13th -23rd to see my brother and his family. They just adopted a beautiful baby girl from China and we can't wait to go and see them!! The kids will have a busy summer spending time with grandparents and going to camps and such. Thomas will be taking classes all summer and I will be babysitting, of course!

Well, hopefully I'll have something blog worthy to post soon!!

Caught!

It's 11pm and all the kids are safe and soundly in dreamland. I come out of my room to tell Thomas to stop studying and come to bed, when I see what is really keeping Thomas awake so late.......

Look at that face....boy has totally been caught!!!

Grace

There is a family that I knew growing up that had twin boys. These twin boys are both married now to 2 wonderful ladies. One of the twins has had 2 biological children that have both passed away due to 2 different diseases. The other twin has one healthy girl (born the same day as the other twins daughter) and another little girl who has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which is what the other twins son died from. I know it's kinda confusing, but it is so heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time. These 2 families have gone through so much.

Grace had heart surgery at only a few days old and had to spend the first 90 days of her life in the hospital. After being home for only 4 months, she had to go back for some more heart surgeries and other countless procedures which kept her in the hospital another 2 months.

Well, now Gracie's family has the chance to get professional pictures done. This is a huge deal, as Gracie's non-existent immune system has prevented them from being able to go and get professional pics done. This would give them chance to finally have some nice family pictures.

So please go HERE and vote for Grace! You can use as many email addresses as you have, but only use each email address once. I used my 2, Thomas' and the my 4 older kids' who have theirs.

Thanks for reading and helping!!

If you would like to read more about Grace, go HERE! And you can read about the other twin's amazing family HERE!

Playing Catch Up...

There a couple of things that I haven't posted about, that I would like to mostly for journaling sake....Enjoy....

A few weeks ago, Ryker received his Bobcat award in Cub Scouts. He LOVES going to scouts and was so proud of his very first award! A few things he did to earn his Bobcat was to cook the family a meal all by himself and do the dishes and he made the birdhouse he is holding. I just love that he loves scouting. I know that it will be a great benefit to him in his life and I hope he continues to love it!
There have been some really beautiful days in the last month here in Indy, and we took advantage of them!! One night, we put a picnic together and went to the park. The kids had fun shedding their winter coats and enjoying the nice weather.

Easter was pretty laid back. We invited a cute little family from our ward over to eat with us, which made it so much less lame for us! The kids had a blast eating and playing with their adorable daughters and we had fun having some adult conversation for once. The Easter Bunny came and filled their baskets with sweet goodies and something else, as you'll see in the pics! So funny!!

Aspen is growing up so fast! I'm still getting used to the fact that she gets to go to Young Women's every week, and then they send her home looking like this.....

Aspen is pretty much the only active Beehive, and I'm pretty sure there are only Laurels with her. So, the other girls are much older than her and they just adore dressing her up and doing her make up. I thought it was cute, but she can still wait awhile before looking like that on a daily basis. I think Thomas almost had a heart attack when she walked in. All I could think of was how her Papa was gonna strangle her and any boy who even thought about looking twice!!!!

I Have Furniture on My Eye!

Okay, well, maybe not furniture, but an infection. Marina keeps telling me that there is something wrong with my eye and that there is furniture on it. She also thinks that Chapstick has something to do with it...don't ask me why!

Anyways, yes, this is my 2nd eyelid infection in 6 months. Apparently, I have baffled my optometrist. She said that it is pretty rare to get it once, let alone MORE than once, so close together AND in the exact same eye! UGH! It hurts so bad, and has made my eyelid swell up so big. It's not pink eye at all, as my eye itself is just fine. But, if the infection gets too bad, it can spread to my brain. Yea, that kinda scared me! I am on some antibiotics and hopefully, the swelling will go down fairly quickly like last time.

Why me???

Lost Generation

They showed this video tonight at the Mother/Daughter Dinner before the YW General Conference. I just love it's message. Enjoy!

Say It On A Sign

My sister in law had a link to this site on her blog and I just thought I'd share! (Plus, it gives me an extra entry into the give a way!!) Yup, go to this site and enter to get a FREE sign! I just scrolled through most of them, and they are super cute. Have fun!!

http://www.sayitonasign.net

Heavenly Experience

We had such a great time at the cabin last weekend. It was nice to get out of town (only 45 min.) and not have anything to worry about. The kids had lots of fun playing outside and in the hot tub. When we got there, there was a note telling us about the friendly neighbor's dog that like to come and visit the guests and bring his friends. They even left dog treats in a canister on the counter for us to feed them. The kids really were in heaven after meeting those dogs. Frances and Lucy came and hung out with us for most of the day on Saturday. The kids were just begging and begging to take them home with us. Thank goodness for me, they already had owners!

The kids couldn't wait to get into the hot tub, and frankly neither could I. It felt so good to sit and relax all my aching muscles in there. Some day, I'll get my own, but for now 2 days with that one had to do. Thomas and Ryker LOVED hanging out in the basement and playing pool. Ryker was so adorable trying to maneuver that big ole pool stick around.

Later Saturday afternoon, we decided to go into the sleepy town of Nashville, Indiana to get some homemade ice cream. I saw an ad in a little magazine for it. I had no idea that there was such cute shops to go window shopping in. The kids had lots of fun walking around and taking in the country shops and sites. They were really freaked out, though, by the life size dolls that were in the ice cream parlor and really played a piano. I must admit, they freaked me out as well!

During the day on Saturday, we played lots of fun things. We brought all kinds of palls and raquets and bubbles. We had a blast just playing all day together. Then Saturday night, Thomas built a fire. The kids had a little too much fun helping him with that! Plus, right around that time Marina got real crazy! She hadn't taken a nap in two days, and it was certainly starting take its toll. Just watch these videos...oh yea, this girl NEEDS her naps!!




There were also journals on one of the side tables next to the couch, where all of the guests would write down there experience there in that cabin. It was fun to read how everyone's trip went. One guest awhile back started a "money" game. They hid like $15 in one dollar bills all around the cabin, and the next guest was to try and find it and then sign the dollars and re-hide them and add more dollars if they wanted to. Supposedly, there was about $30-40 when we got there. We only found $10, and we searched every where. I couldn't believe some of the places we found those dollars. One was up in a crack betweent he cieling and the logs of the cabin. I just happened to notice it while sitting on the couch! Aspen had to climb on a chair to get it. The kids definitely thought that was one cool game!

We loved it there and the kids keep asking if we will be able to go again. I definitely can't wait to go again!!

Heaven is Less Than 24 Hours Away

This week is Thomas' spring break. We really wanted to get out of town, but all of the hotels were gonna cost us an arm and a leg because now that there are 7 of us, we have to get 2 rooms in most hotels. Plus, then we would have had to pay for whatever recreation we were doing. Well, I found this totally last minute...like yesterday! For 2 nights it will cost us the same as 2 hotel rooms. BUT, we get the added bonus of NOT having to pay for any additional recreational activities, like an amusement park.

We are renting a cabin named "Almost Heaven." We told the kids that we were gonna go down there without any Nintendo Ds or Psp or computer and just spend some quality time together as a family. It is 3 bedrooms, has a hot tub, pool, pool table, fire pit, horseshoe pit and is on 5 acres that we get ALL to ourselves!! We plan on taking our groceries with us to make all of our meals there and not leave the entire time. It truly is gonna be Heaven!

Happy St. Patty's Day & Happy Birthday Papa!!

I had a lot of fun getting the kids' lunches ready for St. Patrick's Day. It took some doing separating all of the green items out of their groups, but I love doing fun things for them!! Leprechauns are also leaving the kids some Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast. I can't wait for them to see!!



I also want to wish my daddy, a.k.a. Papa, a Happy Birthday!! I miss being able to sit and talk and hang out with him on almost a daily basis like we used to be able to do when we lived in Vegas. Anyone who knows Papa, knows that he is the "Real Deal!" He is so caring, understanding, loving, extremely generous, kind, funny, talented, smart and the best Papa my kids could EVER ask for! I am eternally grateful for everything he, and my mom of course, has done for me and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to be their daughter. It's been a rough/weird year in more ways than one, and I'm just so incredibly happy to call him my Daddy!!

Happy St. Patty's Birthday Papa!!!
Can't wait to see you in June!!!

What a Quack!

Harley did this quacking last week and I thought it was super funny!! I have NO idea where she came up with it....



THEN, of course, Marina had to try it! This is even better....

Face Numbing Smiles

Aspen, Ryker and Harley had to go to the dentist of Friday. Aspen was supposed to have 4 teeth pulled to get ready for her braces, but only ended up having 2 pulled that day because it was so painful. She'll have to go back and have the other 2 pulled in a few weeks. Ryker and Harley had cavities that needed to be filled. When they came home, I couldn't stop laughing because these were their smiles.......



Seriously...I was in tears from laughing so hard. Don't worry, I wasn't laughing at them, I was laughing WITH them because they couldn't stop either the minute they looked in the mirror!

Priceless!!

A CROC of a deal!

I just finished buying all of the kids Crocs for $4.98 each!! I am super happy about this deal! It is at www.finishline.com. The shipping is a bit outrageous, but even with it, the deal is still pretty good. They also have a deal going on that if you buy $75 worth of stuff that your shipping is free. So, seeing as I have so many kids anyway...I bought a few extra pairs to get me up to that point.

I ended up getting Ryker 2 pairs of Crocs for $4.98 a piece and then I also got him some Pumas that were on sale in a bigger size for him to grow into. I got Harley & Marina 2 pairs of crocs (a regular kind and some maryjanes for $4.98 a piece) and I also got them some mammoth ones in a bigger size for next winter. The mammoth ones were $9.98. I also got Aspen and Sierra some regular ones for $4.98 each too. They are in women's sizes now, and there wasn't much selection for them.

Anyways, just thought I'd share the great deal. The Finish Line website was so slow today and the server kept going down, so if you are going to try and get some of these, be ready to be patient!!

Can You Guess What Movie Marina's Watching??

Marina just put in a movie. We asked her which one she picked out, and here is what she told us....

Marty and the Gas Yard

So...can you guess which movie she is watching??

My Future Fashion Designer

Aw, man, this girl CRACKS me up!!