Trip To DC

Thanksgiving morning after my parents headed out to Jerusalem, we packed up and headed out to DC. I love that we live here in Indy and can drive there. There is absolutely no way we all could have gone to visit my brother if we didn't live so close. And by so close, I mean about a 10 hour drive away. Which is still fairly close.

Before we could even leave, we had to break into our house! Yup, you heard right. We locked up ALL of the doors, and since we had rented a van, we left all of the keys to the cars hidden in the house. Well, the keys to the house are also on those key rings. We realized it too late, and had to figure out how we should go about getting in. Thomas ended up having to go up in the attic in the garage, walk across the rafters to the back of the house and bust down the drywall sealing up the attic access in our room. Definitely NOT as easy as that sounds!!

So, after all that hullabaloo, we were on our way. The trip wasn't bad at all, and the kids did great! As lond as we had movies, they were GOOD! We got there that night, and just relaxed and played with cousins for the night.

The next day, we decided to go to Mt. Vernon, which is George Washington's home. I am so glad we went! I love going places where my kids will enjoy themselves, but also learn a TON while they are there. If you're ever in DC, go to Mt. Vernon. I think you should go, at least, once.

The next day, we headed out to the National Mall. We did the Museum of Natural History first, and then we walked around the Mall to the Air and Space Museum. My kids LOVE the movie Night at the Museum, so they really enjoyed finding all of the stuff that was in the movie. Then we walked back around to our cars, and headed to the Lincoln Memorial where a few of us jumped out and went up and took pictures.

Sunday, we woke up, got packed and headed home. It took us about 2 hours longer than going because of an accident, but it was so worth it to go! We loved spending some one on one time with my brother and his family, and hope to get together with them once more time before they head out for Cairo Egypt for a few years. We will definitely miss them!

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Harley's Baptism

We had a wonderful day for Harley's Baptism. It was so nice to have some family come. We are so proud of Harley and are just loving being her parents. She got her new set of scriptures the night of her Baptism and started reading them. She didn't put them at all that night. It was so sweet! We definitely missed those who couldn't come, but we're so thankful you could all be there in spirit. Enjoy the slide show!

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Getting Ready for the Big Day

Wow! I can't believe the day is almost here. Harley is 8 now, and will be baptized this Saturday. My 2nd to youngest child will be baptized! How is it possible that my kids keep getting older, and yet, I stay so young?!? Ha ha! We're so excited to see her take this big step in her life and couldn't be prouder of the young woman she is becoming. We will miss those of you who can't make it, but I know that your hearts will be with us on Saturday. I will try to remember to post pictures soon after.

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.