A New Snack...

My Mom introduced me to these when we were in Utah and I love them! I have been so good only allowing myself a few a week. And just to make sure I could allow myself a few a week indefinitely I stocked up on them when they were on sale for $1.50/box! Garth says I am easy to please (he isn't a black pepper fan, more of the serrano/habanero/red bell pepper type-me I love them all!). I snacked on these when I was driving back from Utah and boy, they really helped with the mundaneness of driving! Anyway, if you like black pepper-give these a try! :-)

Ethan's school report

(If Casey thinks it is a little embarassing-tough luck. E loves you!)

My Hero

My hero’s name is Casey Tanner. My hero is my uncle. He is my uncle that made me a football fan. Through the end of April they (he, my Aunt Jenna, & my cousin Weston) will live in Provo, UT. In May & June they will be staying with us here in Alpine and then in July will move to Sacramento, CA where my uncle will start working for Ernst & Young. I chose my uncle because he is one of my family members and he made a difference in my life. My uncle has made a difference in lives by tutoring football and basketball players at BYU while he is finishing school. He also helps my Dad with his homework. My Uncle Casey makes me feel loved too and is always a good example. Uncle Casey chooses the right, went on a mission to Brazil for our church, and plays with my brothers and sisters and I whenever he can. I love my Uncle Casey!

A "walk" to the pond

I just thought this was cute, no specific reason-I just like walking pictures!
The love each other just a little bit...
and often walk holding hand lately. (As their Mom I love it.)
We finally made it to the pond, it wasn't exactly a short walk.

My Ry...
Playing at the pond's edge...
And Starlee again (she just likes to smile for the camera)

And Ryden walked the dog on the way back...I know, gasps are heard around the world.
And another gasp worthy shot.
Oh, this is out of order (this was before the dog), but I loved this picture. I wish Jenna had been here with her camera so I could have zoomed in a bit better. And until we can afford to replace my completely beat up camera-just imagine it zoomed in, 'kay? ;-)

Ry got a little tired towards the end...
and seemed to like his comfy slave. (Please ignore the lack of makeup, hairdo, all of the wrinkles, and everything else-just focus on the smile I have because I love my kids!)

Simply Starlee...

Starlee loves to take pictures...especially with handsome men! :-)

And on to Easter Dinner...

My Mom with only part of the spread. It was fun to have dinner be presented so pretty, just like it always is with my Mom. I think I probably need to get much better at that (oh, the things I need to work on...).
I love ham! And potato casserole...
Obviously the food was taken to quite well...notice the asparagus (one of my favorites)!
This was Ryden as he was anticipating eating. You didn't want the pictures in order, did you?
The beautifully set table. Jenna wrote everyone's names on the eggs and then we dyed them.
Here is Garth's!
And the three kids that sat at the counter. (This was the coveted spot growing up when we would visit my Grandma Pitt's house. It was fun to see that continue!)
The pretty tulips, I love tulips! Especially in vintage bottles and vase! I think I am going to have to start checking out thrift shops, DI in Utah, etc. to add some of these to my stuff. I loved the simpleness and beauty of the flowers!

The Hunt...(still getting caught up with Easter)

My Mom has pictures on her blog of the hunt for Easter eggs, so click on her name if you would like to see them. Here are a few I took as well!

What do you think they are looking at? The egg that fell down into the window well? ;-) Or Jenna's totally cool camera?
I know, I know he obviously looks so quiet and shy!
Do you get the feeling she thinks she is cute? Mmmm...
I love that smile!
And these dimples (oh and the lack of front teeth-he lost another one yesterday)...
And of course I am so grateful for two princesses in addition to the blessing of so many handsome men in my life.

Weston Douglas Tanner

This is our newest little nephew, Weston Douglas. We are so very excited to have him here with us. There were a few complications after he was born, namely there was meconium in the amniotic fluid and he has a bacterial blood infection. So, feel free to add him to your prayers. He is such a cute little guy and we are all already in love with him even though we are so far away. I love being an aunt more than words can express (and I know Garth loves being an uncle-especially when his nephews take a quick nap right next to him-which he will be getting that time with Weston in May) and am looking forward to the moment that I can hold him and snuggle him right up. I am sure visits to Sacramento are going to be high on our list. So, not to beat out Casey & Jenna on their blog since they are busy taking care of their cutie, but we couldn't wait to welcome the incredibly handsome Weston Douglas Tanner! We couldn't be more excited that he is here! :-)

PS Isn't he cute?

Costa Vida

There are a couple of places that I love to eat at when we are in Utah. One I have mentioned before, Kneaders, the other is Costa Vida. The first time we went I ordered the Mango Chicken Salad (on Jenna's suggestion) which was very, very yummy! This last time they were out of the mango chicken so Jenna suggested the sweet pulled pork. Oh my goodness, it is yummy too! I have been searching for recipes today so that I can perfect that sweet pork. I am hoping that I can get it down before Jenna & Casey come down since I know it is one of his favorites. So far I have about 6 different recipes off of the web. If you know of one that you have made that is close, please send it on...(and any recipes for the mango chicken would be much appreciated too)

Oh, and when I do try a recipe-I will post it on The Isom Ate with our review, etc.

A Quick Easter picture of the kids...and the not so kids ;-)

Here is a quick picture of everyone 20 and under on Easter morning. We really enjoyed the time together as a family. We had the greatest Easter. It was fun to have everyone together for the holiday! We ate, played games, hung out, went on a great walk, ate some more, and stayed up later than I have in ages (at least more nights in a row!). I will try and post more pictures later!

Bells has her ears pierced...

Shelby had her ears pierced the day before Easter. She wanted to wait until she could have some Aunts and Mama there. (Not everyone was there which was a bummer, but we managed quite a few.) Anyway, Bells now has her ears pierced and she loves it! She has faithfully been taking care of them and we are pretty excited for our princess! :-)

Cowboy Trev

My Mom has a cowboy play closet for the grandkids at her house. Here is Trev all dressed up in Cowboy gear! The kids had so much fun with all of the dress up clothes, lasso, a horse, etc. (oh-and I would say Garth & Casey enjoyed playing with the lasso too).

Our Easter celebrations...

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law sent us a very cool book last year called A Christ-Centered Easter by Janet and Joe Hales that gives things day by day that you can do with your kids and as a family to follow the timeline of events

in relation to Easter. Things have been a bit crazy here with getting ready for our trip to Utah, but we have taken the time every evening to go over at least what was happening at the time along with the applicable scriptures and a story. We have really enjoyed this book! Last year we used it as well. I am hoping that as we use it every year I will get better and better about doing more and more. For now, I am happy with the scripture reading, discussions, stories, and discussion of the stories. Next year I would like to make the oil lamps and the palm fronds (sp?). Anyway, we have done a small square of posterboard where we can write little notes to one another as well. Since we leave on Friday it isn't huge, but I will try and take a picture later on today. For now I am off to the store to grab some groceries for a baby shower tonight.

As a side note, this book is great for more than just Easter celebrations. We are using some portions of it for our Stake Primary Leadership Meeting. My friend, Crystal, our Stake Primary President has the book as well and we were both going over some of the things we love and decided it would be great to use for our ward primary leaders! It has been a great addition to our library!

The Isom Ate...

Okay, so we have the first post up. Some cookies I made awhile ago. But, the recipe and picture are there. Follow the link to the left and we hope you enjoy just a little of what the Isoms ate...

March Madness...

I am thinking a certain brother-in-law may have thought that our family would forget something like March Madness. Maybe this is because we don't watch a ton of sports-okay, nothing if you exclude BYU games and the Super Bowl. However, I (yep-me) remembered that March was here and just in the nick of time had our whole family fill out their picks. (Thanks for the reminder call Casey!) :-) And, hopefully, I will be on top of checking and keeping track of the rounds. I put them in rings instead of on the wall since they will be traveling to Utah with us (maybe I should switch it all to cardstock since it is pretty flimsy)! Once again, as a family, we are excited to see how we all do. And we are grateful to Casey (the certain brother-in-law) for introducing this fun thing to our family. I can't promise we will ever be a serious sports watching family, but you can bet on the fact that we will look forward to March Madness every year.

PS We started pretty lame and didn't even watch the game last night...Garin is so sad!

Brady for a day...

We had Brady yesterday while Joanna went to the dentist. It was so much fun! We love this little guy so much! We played outside with him (him with either myself or Ethan while I was taking pictures) on the grass. The kids climbed trees, played in the dirt, watched as Brady rode the horse thingy, and of course enjoyed Oreos evidenced by Ryden's face, Brady's face, and Brady's shirt (sorry about that Joanna). Anyway, Jonathan came over unexpectedly so we all got to hang out with him a bit too. I didn't get any pictures of that, though-mmm...that stinks. In a nutshell, we had the greatest time with Brady and look forward to the next time we get to watch him. (Joanna-we hope it is only while you are shopping or something, though, instead of the dentist!) ;-)

PS How cute does Brady look standing and clapping! He is so fun!

St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day we didn't do a traditional Irish meal, instead we went with the whole green theme. I have been wanting to try to make Tallarin Verde (sin Milanesa de Pollo). So, I did. And it came out pretty well. I cheated a bit and bought the pesto base and just added the varying ingredients since our basil plant has no basil on it and it was HORRIBLY expensive at the store. Tallarin Verde is one of my favorite Peruvian dishes. It is basically a pesto mixed with spinach, evaporated milk, and some spices. Maybe this should be my first recipe post...we will see. Anyway, instead of green french bread we went with a green swirl instead (I thought it would be prettier)and of course broccoli and a green jello salad (my Mom sent green Jell-O as part of her package so I came up with a salad to use it in). This picture is of Garth's plate and is followed by pictures of the kids during dinner and afterwards enjoying their St. Patrick's goodies from their package from my Mom and Dad. We hope all of you had a great day! Luck O the Irish to you all! :-)

PS Oh-and they reminded me just now we had green lemonade. Our lemon tree produces all year and so we have a lot of homemade lemonade. The kids thought it was even more fun green!