My mad chili making skills

My ward had a fall festival party on Friday the 30th & part of the festivities was a chili cook off. I am pretty confident in my skills as a cook but I am not so confident that I would KNOWINGLY sign up for a cook off of ANY type! However, I did sign up for this (I originally thought I was just signing up to bring chili for a potluck, I didn't realize until AFTER I had signed my name in pen that it was actually a cook off!). Well, I decided to really go all out. Even though it has been FOREVER since I made chili with the beans made from scratch I decided to do that this time. I soaked my beans overnight on Thursday & when I got up on Friday they had done what dry beans do and that is they absorbed the water and tripled in size! My ENTIRE crock pot was full! Thankfully I mentioned this to my friend Kym & she graciously said she would take some of them off my hands. After getting those beans (Literally HALF of them!) I started my beans cooking. I diced up some onion & minced some fresh garlic and put them on low with LOTS of water! When they were nice & tender I started browning and seasoning the ground beef (all 2.25 lbs of it!). I added my diced tomatoes & tomato sauce & some seasoning. I have recently discovered how much I enjoy the flavor of cumin but I went INCREDIBLY overboard while seasoning my chili with it. It was ALL I could taste! I called my mom & sister for some advice on what to do to make my chili taste like something OTHER than cumin & the "helpful" advice I got was to add a ton more garlic & chili powder. Well, I did, and wouldn't you know it? It worked! I gone THIRD prize out of around 20 different chilis! I was SO shocked & excited. I didn't get to have a whole bowl of my award winning chili but I still have a little leftover & I have had one request so far to make it when the family is all together for Thanksgiving this year. Anyway, here is a photo of me with my "trophy" and a close up of the trophy.

In case you were wondering...

THIS is what happens when the baby & the big sister start sharing a room & nap time gets interrupted! Go ahead & laugh, we did!

Katy's BIG milestone

Katy started doing this (watch the video!!!!) earlier this week & Mark was able to catch her on video yesterday. We are SOOO proud!

Mr. & Mrs. Donnie Kaufman

My beautiful sister-in-law, Sarah, got married to a really great guy, Donnie Kaufman, on October 10th, 2009 in Billings, MT and we were so blessed to get to be there for that. Lizzie & Katy were the flower girls and Grandma Dee made them the CUTEST dresses. We had such a fun time in Montana, seeing family we hadn't seen for awhile & meeting and getting to know new cousins. We are so happy for Sarah & Donnie and so glad they are our family! Here are some pictures from the reception.

One of the favors were purple m&m's in cute little jars. This is the aftermath for Lizzie!


Jalen danced ALMOST as much at this wedding as he did at Mark's & mine!

Instead of a traditional cake Sarah wanted a cupcake cake. Her topper was a precious moments figurine, a tribute to the collection she's had since she was young.


Mark got to "play" DJ for the reception. He had fun & Lizzie liked being up there with him.


Jay was having fun, Lizzie wouldn't come near me so I nabbed my Katy for a quick photo. She was SUCH a good girl for both the ceremony & the reception. She did pretty good for picture time too!

Jalen's Birthday

This is the AWESOME cookie cake from Wal-Mart

The toy Katy "picked" out for Jalen

From Mark & me, does he look excited? Well, he was!

A Spiderman piggy bank from Grandpa Chip & Grandma Dee. He LOVES it!

His old Bumblebee transformer broke so Uncle Andy got him a new one. He was VERY happy!

A Ben 10 Omnitrix (whatever THAT is!), thanks Aunt Rachel, Uncle Spencer, Maddie & Ian!

No Girlfriends!

Too lazy to make a whole cake I made 2 dozen cupcakes instead!
Happy 8th Birthday Jalen! We love you & are SOOO glad you're a part of our family!

Jalen

So Jalen turned eight yesterday & while I am happy to have such a big boy around I sometimes miss what he was like when he was little. Here is an awesome video from kindergarten ( I think!) to illustrate how cute & fun he was back then. He's still cute & fun, just in a big boy, kind of grown up way!

Cute pictures of the kids & something unrelated

*DISCLAIMER: The following post has NOTHING to do with the pictures.
I just wanted to share my cuties with you.

I just found out this morning that the older brother of a friend of mine from childhood had died in a plane crash earlier this week. He was also best friends with my older brother & he and his wife came to my brother's wedding 3 years ago in California. He was 32 years old & he and his wife had (according to the article in the paper) 6 small children. He was a really nice & funny guy. I remember having a crush on him when I was a young teenager. He was handsome & he let me borrow his leather jacket once. I felt so special wearing it, like I was prettier & older & "cooler" just by having it on. His brother (my friend) was always there from 3rd grade all the way into my adulthood. We lost touch around the time I had Jay but I still consider him a friend. He was loyal and we always had fun when we spent time together. My heart is aching at the thought that he is sad and that I can't comfort him. I want more than anything to be able to tell him how much I still love him & how sorry I am that he has lost his brother in this way. I think of the wife and children left behind and I want to cry. I have been blessed with a kind, loving husband & beautiful, healthy children. I thank Heavenly Father for every day I have with them and pray for more days for a long time to come. My heart & my prayers go out to the families who lost this man.