Baby Shower Menu

I never ate any of this, but everyone raved about it!!

Wake-Up Casserole

INGREDIENTS:
8 frozen hash brown patties
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 lb. cubed fully cooked ham
7 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place hash brown patties in a single layer in a greased 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and ham.
2. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt and mustard. Pour over ham.
3. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until edges are golden brown and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Fruit Salad--with no "filler fruit" :)

Fresh pineapple chunks, cut strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, green grapes, red grapes and black grapes. Mix together all fruit with the juice of one freshly-squeezed orange. I chill it together for at least one hour.

Ducks and Frogs were the theme today.

The really delicious cake along with candy corn, peanuts and pretzles.

Jamie's Baby Shower

Today, I hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law. Jamie will be giving birth to Kane next month and we are all very excited to meet him. Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good pic of the mommy to be. She is the beautiful blonde in the black and white dress. We had a nice time and had some good food and cake. She got some really lovely gifts. I love Shirley's cakes!!

Cute AND delicious!!!

Happy Birthday Peggy

Today is my Mother-In-Law's birthday. While we were celebrating the upcoming arrival of Kane, Peggy wore Littlest's "Birthday Girl" crown. Hope your day is special!!!

The New Whitman Family

I love, love, love these pics!!!

J turns 10

My brother has a little tradition for his boys that when they turn 10, he bakes and assembles a 10-layer cake for them. Luckily, I was there to enjoy the tradition this time. It sure was good. J felt like a superstar! Happy Birthday to my wonderful nephew!!

Tommy and Jessica's Wedding

I had a wonderful time at my brother's wedding to his sweetie!! I am so grateful that I was there to see such a beautiful and touching ceremony. I have never been so moved at a wedding as I was at theirs. You can feel the love they have for each other. I have never seen Tommy so joyous and Jessica was a beautiful bride.

This is the gazebo where they had their ceremony. The rest of us were right up with them. The moms were literally 3 inches from their kids. My Mom says it was AWESOME!!! I was behind Jess's mom and step-dad, but got a great view of Tommy's face. What I saw was pure joy and his eyes never left hers. Magical! The view just breaks your heart, doesn't it???

Brandi and I went down to the beach during the rehersal the previous night and she carved this into the sand with a stick. I was still having some trouble with my ankle.

Tommy and Jessica are thrilled to be married!!!
After the ceremony, I asked them to look out into "their future". Tom said, "Our future sure is BRIGHT!!!" I agree little brother!!

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Whitman September 20, 2008

Sprained Ankle

Last Tuesday, I was rushing out of the pharmacy to pick up Middlest from band and fell flat out on my back. How embarrassing!! Luckily Oldest was there to drive me to get Middlest (We were already 10 mins late) and then to the ER. After they completed X-Rays and sent me home, Littlest decided to be sweet and made me supper. I "ordered" a ham and cheese sandwich, which I got along with a PB &J, butterscotch pudding(YUCK!!) and some grapes. Imagine my delight to open the sandwich and find this cute little smiley face.

LA INK

On Thursday, Brandi, Tommy, My mom and I went to some fun tourist spots in LA. We went to LA Ink. Unfortunately they were filming an episode and we were unable to go inside. There was a guy guarding the door. Brandi isn't even a little bit shy and found out he makes $175/day to make sure nobody goes into the shop. We went around to the back and got these pics of Kat's mural, Kat's car and we were actually able to purchase T-shirts for Oldest and Brandi's girl. One of the guys that was hanging around at the craft services table went into the shop and got them. $30 bucks each!! We were like giddy school girls.

Bowling-Week 1

Littlest is all smiles on week 1

Middlest is happy to have a new sport

Have you ever seen a happier bowling team?? This is my friend Jena's boy and girl.

I don't know--It looks like they are plotting something to me.

Middlest does her own hair

The Weekend From HELL!!

The weekend started out ok. I got Middlest's room all cleaned out and we have quite a huge pile of stuff to donate. Saturday Littlest and Middlest had bowling league. I got some cute pics. The bowling alley hasn't gotten the teams divided quite evenly, so we were there f-o-r-e-v-e-r!! Later on, Middlest asked if she could have an ice cream sandwich. I said sure. She asked me why was it so soft? I assumed that the freezer was going through a defrost cycle. You know what they say--NEVER ASSUME!!!
Sunday morning I walked into the kitchen and slid because the ice had all melted and dripped out of the ice/water door. I thought "Oh Shit!" I tried to convince myself that there must have been ice stuck in the door. Wrong. I opened the door and everything was thawed out.
I realized very quickly that the freezer was kaput! I was kind of flipping out because Mike is in Utah for two weeks and this is definitely his department. I got busy cleaning out the freezer and putting some stuff in the fridge. I decided to gut the freezer completely and clean it out. It looks awesome!!--It's not cold, but whatever.
After that I decided to start cooking some chicken for lunch and noticed that the lovely 3 lbs. of ground chuck was BROWN! It was wayyyyy to soon for that so I quickly opened it and to my amazement it didn't stink at all so I browned it all with onion and made chili w/ 2 lbs. and kept 1 lb. for something later. Who knows what?!
I was calling Mike this whole time to see if he could work his machine fix-y magic over the phone. No such luck. I called our friend Tami to see if she knew a guy who could come out on a Sunday. She laughed and then sent her wonderful husband, Randy and their son Ryan over to lend us their garage fridge. I figured that they would put theirs in the garage and I would be putting on the miles between the kitchen and garage. They decided to remove ours from the kitchen and put theirs in its place. I was soooo happy and thankful!! Our refrigerator is a Kenmore and only 5 years old. It is a large side-by-side and they had to remove our front door to get it outside. By the time all of this was accomplished, it was 8pm and I had 3 garbage bags full of groceries. (I had just gotten groceries on Friday for $174.00) The kids had chili and warm milk for dinner. The knot in my stomach prevented me from eating until lunch today. Nobody has vomited from the milk yet, so I think I am ok.

Wedding Bells

My little brother is getting married next weekend in California. I had a friend of mine stitch this darling little piece. I love it!! I may order one for Mike and I. I found an awesome sale on scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby and only bought 1 piece of it. I left the store having only spent 21 cents!! I was able to pay cash. LOL!! Brandi and I are leaving for LA next Thursday. (She grew up next door to Tom and I) I am planning to do the pictures of the wedding. I did them for my brother-in-law and his bride Jamie last year. Happy Anniversary to them soon!!! I will blog some great stuff after that trip. I am excited to get away and see my little brother marry the love of his life. Welcome to the family Jessica!!

Oldest is driving really well

Tonite my beautiful oldest daughter took me all over town driving. She did so well that I wasn't even nervous this time. I have been attempting to steer with my right hand on the arm rest. Since my shoulder surgery 1-1/2 years ago, I have been in a lot of pain, so that isn't good.
She surprised me with her confidence this evening and I was really proud that she decided to run through the carwash with her own money. Then to really delight me, she treated me to Dairy Queen. I only ordered a small cone, but I think it was the most delicious cone I've ever had. I am beginning to understand how special I must make my mom feel when I spoil her.
I am a HAPPY, HAPPY MOMMY!!
Mike is on a two-week trip to Salt Lake City. Middlest is sad, but daddy has been playing games on MSN with her. I spent the entire day in Littlest's room organizing and purging. I promised Middlest that I would work in her room Friday. I feel like I'm nesting. NO!!-I am NOT pregnant!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDI!!!!

Happy Birthday to my oldest, dearest, bestest friend!!
Love you!!

Oldest turns 16!!!

I have been extremely busy lately getting rid of old junk. We have had our third flood in 4 years in the basement. (None of which is due to rainfall, by the way) Everything is out to survey the damage and make decisions about. I have found boxes of clothing that I was saving for the littlest to grow into. Well, of course I am too late. They are too small already! I am so frustrated! I plan to donate all of this stuff!

We did celebrate Oldest turning 16 at her favorite restaurant. She got to enjoy her fave meal of chicken schnitzel with spaetzles. Her party will be later in the month. Her friend, Ryan joined us for the event. He said "Chic-fil-ay is just as good" He won't be joining us there again!!