Monique's Beans

These are super yummy!

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound bacon, chopped
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans (or other beans)
1 tsp. mustard
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 can pork and beans

Cook onion and beef, and bacon, discard the fat, add to other ingredients.

Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in the oven. Or, cook on low in the crockpot until warmed through. Or, cook a double recipe in a dutch oven with four bricks on top and 12 bricks on bottom for 1 hour.

I've also substituted 1 1/2 cup of corn for the ground beef, and that works well too.

It's a perfect summer side dish!

Grilled Chicken Cola Marinade

I've been trying out a bunch of new marinade recipes lately, and this one was definitely a hit!


2 C (16 oz) Coke or Pepsi
1/3 C soy sauce
1 T minced garlic
1/2 C brown sugar
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T lime juice
6 chicken breasts
1. Combine all ingredients but the chicken in a medium sized bowl. Stir to incorporate well.
2. Place chicken in a large gallon sized Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over the chicken. Seal tightly and store in the fridge for 4-24 hours (The longer the better in my book).
3. Discard marinade and grill until cooked through.

Pioneer Day

My mom ran the Deseret News marathon (her 58th!!) on Pioneer Day, so w got up early (although not nearly as early as her!) to watch. We saw her at mile 16 coming out of Emigration Canyon, and at the finish line at Liberty Park. We also got to see a bit of the Days of '47 parade inbetween and after.

Here we are at mile 16, by the zoo... it was a bit of a chilly morning!

Her she comes! You can see her running down the road, this is just around the corner from the finish line.

High-fives! That was a definite highlight for the girls, they talked it for quite a while afterward. After a tasty lunch, meeting up with Shad and Jen, and naps-- for some of us-- we hit the pool. Luke got to swim for the first time! It was pretty noisy in there, but he loved it! He especially liked kicking his feet and splashing his arms in the water.

Pre-swim
Cute cousins!
Luke and Bailee, Kissie and Pata

I'm not sure if it's because we haven't been swimming for a while or because she was tired, but our normally adventurous Violet was pretty clingy in the water. She did have fun though!

Bailee really enjoyed floating on her back!

We stayed after for dinner and a game, and then headed back just in time for sleepy kiddos to fall asleep in the car. It was a great weekend! Congratulations on your 58th marathon Kissie!

Pioneer Day Eve

We got an early start up to Albion Basin on Friday. The girls were so excited that Kevin didn't have to go to work and that we could all go and play! We hadn't been to Albion Basin before, but it certainly lived up to all we had heard about it. Beautiful meadows upon meadows of wildflowers. (Lots of people too, but maybe that was due to the holiday.) We took a little hike up to Cecret Lake and had a picnic afterward. The girls especially loved the stream crossings and spying newts in the lake.

Luke rode in the backpack for the first time and did pretty well. There are lots of straps to chew on!
Do you think they're tired of taking pictures yet????
We made it! With both girls walking the whole way there (and back!), with very little complaining, and even a decent amount of elevation gain (for little legs).
Out of the many yellow, white, red, pink, blue, and purple flowers, this one was my favorite! Prime flower-viewing time is still on for the next few weeks, go check it out!

After the lake and a few errands, we made a spur of the moment to go into Salt Lake to spend the night. We got to go to the Friday night Concert in the Park series that is right next to my parents' apartment. It's so fun to listen to the live music outdoors-- and it was a great concert. The girls had fun watching the amazing amount of dragonflies and trying to catch a gnat in their hands. I hope we can catch a concert this summer again! They are lots of fun.

Who wouldn't succomb to this lullaby?

Reunion add-on

I got a few more pictures of the family reunion from my aunt and had to add them on.

My mom and two of her sisters going down the water slide.
A sitting landing for Kissie!
A standing landing for Kissie!
How could I have forgotten to mention our newest addition to reunion fun? The ROOSTERS! Here's one settling in the tree for the night.
Grandma and Grandpa Ellis
My beautiful Grandma

Silver Lake 2010

Silver Lake is another one of our annual playgroup highlights. It's a perfect place to be in the mountains, chase squirrels, take a stroller-friendly walk, have a picnic, and enjoy temperatures about 20 degrees lower than home.

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

Family Reunion

We look forward to the Ellis family reunion every year! I love the chance to hang out with family, catch up, soak our feet in the ditch, watch my kids get to know their cousins, do crafts, play games, have our annual activities, start new traditions, and eat great food. Who could say no to duck races, chicken in a barrel, Grandpa's homemade mini carnival rides, flying candy, water slides, and fish for breakfast?? I so appreciate my grandparents, my mom and aunts and uncles and cousins who arrange, organize, drive long distances, host and so much more to make these memories for me and my kids. We're especially lucky that my grandparents and Uncle Ron and Aunt Lynne have large backyards for us all to play, camp, and eat in-- and are willing let let us overrun them for 3 days! It takes a lot of doing to get 80 or so people and events together, and sometimes it's a little hot or a wait for a bathroom, but I'm so glad everyone thinks it is worth it! Here's just a little bit of what we did....

A new activity this year.... pinewood derby races!
Shad, Bailee, Butterscotch, Cora, and Violet on the hammock

Bailee and Luke. I was so surprised at how easy it was to have Luke there this year. He did great taking his naps in the baby tent while we hung out in the backyard. His tent and his bumbo, as well as lots of helping hands, made it pretty easy.
Cora loved, loved, LOVED the four-wheeler! Pata was nice to take her on a very long ride. Violet joined in a bit later... I thought she might be a little scared, but Pata said she kept saying, faster, faster!
Kissie and Violet watching the ducks come down the ditch
Here they come!
Cora, Anna, and Addy lifting their feet so the ducks can get through.
The kids scrambling for candy from the candy bottle rockets

Violet was pretty apprehensive about the slide... maybe next year!

Cora loved the big slide, water or no water, and went down over and over for at least an hour!

Pata and an exhausted Violet taking a snooze
Luke was too busy kicking his feet in the water to look up at the camera!
Pinata time!
Getting ready for the family slide show.... There are too many of us to fit in one picture! I'm not sure what the exact people count was at the reunion, but counting Grandma and Grandpa, their kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and spouses, there are 118 of us. Wow!
Family pics
We were also happy to visit Grandma and Grandpa DeGiulio in Idaho too, but forgot the camera in the car. Next time!

Summer Fun

The last few weeks we've done storytime and seen a puppet show at the library, went to our first neighborhood park play day, saw a friend's cute new baby, took at tour of the Mrs. Fields Gifts factory, played at the seven canyons part of Liberty Park, and went to our neighborhood beach. Cora even got to attend a kids camp that some teens and their moms from our ward were doing for 2 mornings. Lots of fun summer things!

Jaxon, Cora and Violet playing on the beach. The girls were even more adventurous in the water than usual, and I was really wishing I wouldn't have forgotten their floaties! I did have to make one mad dash to get Violet when she lost her footing in the sand.

Luke and Dylan hanging out in the baby shade tent.

Mama and baby ducks at Liberty Park-- she led them across the park and up the hill. Amber I and joked that the baby ducks were much better followers than our little 'ducks'!

I love the water play area at Liberty Park-- It is shady and so much fun. It's a great summer activity.

With our summer activities has come some sleepy (read peaceful) afternoons. Here's a zonked out Cora after some beach time.