Fathers Day Dirt Cake

I asked Eddie, AKA, the Best Dad in the World, what treat he would like for me to make him on fathers day.  His response was, "something with Oreos.  Yum, Oreos.  So I immediately took to pinterest to find something totally unique and mouth watering, yet not too difficult to prepare with little hands grabbing at me all the while.

I FOUND IT!

This cake hails from the delicious blog of Sweet Charlie and is absolutely AMAZING!

You know that yummy "dirt" pudding?  You know, the chocolate pudding with the bits of Oreo crumbs?  Yeah, the one where they stick the gummy worm in the top, thus allying it "Dirt".  Yeah, that cup- o - goodness is the basis of this cake.  I guess you could call this the adults version of Dirt.  Now we take that dirt idea and add Devils food cake, home made cream cheese frosting and OREO'S!!

This treat received rave reviews from the crew of sugar fiends  kiddos.  "Mom, this isn't good, its amazing".  "Mom, I don;t like this, I LOVE THIS".  The funny goes on and on and on.

Anyway, if you are looking for a unique bit of yummy, easy to make and crowd pleasing goodness, THIS is the cake for you.

This post is also featured on my Sugar Momma Blog.

Fathers Day

Today is Father's Day and I have to say that I am literally the most lucky wife and mother.  I married a man who is my equal partner in parenting.  He is the daddy of any child's dream.  This guy of mine is the best daddy to his 4 girls and a super hero to his son.

Eddie has been and continues to be a rock in our lives.  He has never missed a a field trip volunteering opportunity.  He attends every game, event, recital and performance.  He grocery shops, school clothes shops, cleans, cooks, does the dishes.  He combs hair and is mastering the french braid.  He wakes the girls to get their day started and puts them to bed at night with individual prayers , hugs and kisses.  He's up at 3 AM changing diapers and feeding babies.  He taxies the kids to all of their events.  Volunteers in class, both church and school.  He has been with me during every delivery, doctor visit, dental appointment and teacher conference.

I have been spoiled beyond my wildest dreams.  This is our normal.  This is our every day.  This is the way we have been able to raise our children.  Hand in hand, side by side.  We both take full responsibility for the wellbeing of our family, our children.  I am the mom and he is the dad, but there is no line of responsibility.  We are in this together.  I love him and am so thankful for this man in my life.

White Chicken Chili. AMAZING

I have to write this recipe down on my blog so that I can have it saved forever.  I had it up on my refrigerator, but my kids love playing with the magnets and I was just afraid that I would lose it.  So now anyone who stumbles upon my blog can have it too.  It is literally to DIE for.  Man, I just sounded like my mom.  Oh well.  Its worth it.

Here it is, April Daw's White Chicken Chili.  Thank you April!!!

2 Cans Costco Chicken.  This makes it easy, you can use 4 chicken breasts if you want to.
1 Medium Onion, chopped and sauteed in coconut oil. (I love my chopper.  Thanks mom)
5 Cups organic chicken broth.  (I now buy this stuff in bulk.  Makes everything yummy)
2-15 OZ cans White beans, drained and rinsed. (I use cannelloni beans)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
4 teaspoons cumin powder
1 drop doTERRA Oregano Oil. (you can get it here) If you dont have this amazing oil, use 2 teaspoons oregano.  Trust me, the oil is better, and has unbelievable health benefits.
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
24 OZ Sour Cream
2 Cups Monterey Jack Cheese
1 cup white quinoa

Put all of the ingredients in the crockpot except the sour cream and the cheese and cook for 3-4 hours.  Half hour before serving, pull the chicken breasts out and cut in bite sized chunks.  You can skip this step if you used the COSTCO chicken.  Add the sour cream and the cheese.

Oh enjoy this crockpot full of easy, delicious goodness.  My kids love it and ask for it.  DELISH!!!!!

Please Don't use the word Skinny.

I have a confession, I don't care about weight!  There, I said it.  I DO NOT CARE ABOUT WEIGHT.  I don't care that I have weight to lose, or that I have lost weight, or that I look skinnier or fatter or heavier or smaller or that I may be shrinking or anything else that would label the image that my children see.

I have 4 beautiful daughters and I am teaching them to love themselves as they are.  I am teaching them that health is the number one factor, and not weight.  Weight is just a number on a scale and nothing more.  That number does not in any way, shape or form, define them.  That number on the scale does not determine their value or their worth.  They a daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves them no matter that number on the scale.  They are more precious then anything else on this earth.  I will not devalue their life and existence by pinning a number on their back and forcing them to think that that number determines their worth in this life.

I have a history of anxiety, depression and guilt when it comes to weight and weight loss.  I have been bombarded with the words, "skinny", "fat", "weight loss", "diets" and many other of the same negative labeling words throughout my life.  I walked around believing that weight was the deciding factor of my worth here on earth.  My idea of happy and sad was literally based on the number on a scale.  My idea of a good day or a bad day was determined by a number going up, down or staying the same.  My idea of what I could and could not do in this life was decide by my size.  WHY?

Why do we focus on thin, fat, heavy, skinny, overweight?
Why would we teach this to our children?

STOP!

It is time to refocus what we are teaching our kids about health.  Health is not about skinny or fat.  Health is so much more then that.  And so very important.  Yet we are not teaching it to our children.

I have made it my quest to raise confident children without a focus on weight, shape, size or appearance.  They are beautiful because God created them that way.  God created them that way and it is my job to raise them with beautiful thoughts about themselves.  Help them see what he sees.

Phanotms

Phantom Facebook Friends don't care much for anything you say or do and they never comment or message or post unless it is meant to somehow make you feel small.  Yeah, I don't love PFF.  Oh well.  Be kind, Judge Less and Love More.

Not a fan of the move.

I really don't like anything about North Salt Lake.  It smells bad, the air is horrible, it is an unfriendly area and I just miss my home in Orem.  Worst decision ever to move.  Oh well, only 6 more months here.

Dr. Seuss Said.......

I will be the first to say that I am not at all the "silent" type.  Nor am I willing to "bite my tongue" on issues that I feel strongly about.  And I will never "let it slide" when someone crosses the line.  This frightens people.  They don't understand it because its not something they accept as normal.  but it is my normal.  I don't ever want to be silenced.  Standing up for myself, my beliefs and my values have always been part of my life.  So why should standing up period be and less "noble"?  Oh because it might offend someone?  Or maybe they are tired of reading  hearing it?  Whatever it may be, it doesn't matter.  This is me.  I deal with my life every single day and I have done a pretty good job thus far and will continue to do what I do best.  Speak up.  I will never allow myself to be hushed.  It is not in my nature.

Fostering

I was on Facebook several weeks ago when my cousin posted a picture of three puppies who were in a shelter and needed out due to over population.  Because these shelters are so over crowded, dogs are being put to sleep every day, thousands of dogs.  Its mind blowing.  Anyway, the post was sponsored by a rescue group called, Rescue Rovers Pet Adoptions.  This group finds dogs in over crowded kennels and pulls them out and gives them to their group of foster families.  I just thought this was so cool.  So I decided to sign up to be a foster.  I forgot to mention it to Eddie, or maybe just thought I would let him know after we took in our first foster.  Anyway, literally 10 minutes after I signed up to foster, I got a call from Jodi who is the director of fostering.  This group is so very organized.  There is a person in the lead of each phase of the process.  Pulling the dogs, fostering them out, medical, adoptions and follow up.  I loved the organization.
So I got the call and they asked if I would take in three sister pups.  A shepherd mix of some kind.  I was so hesitant to take three as my first fostering experience, but agreed to it begging Jodi to find two other fosters to take the other girls.  Thankfully she did and we only ended up with the one puppy.  A little black and brown dog that we named Mystique.

Well Mystique won our hearts very quickly and when it was time to take her to an adoption even, I just could not do it.  I FOSTER FAILED and adopted this sweet girl.

After failing as a foster, I decided to try again and take in another rescue, this time a wery active little beagle.  His name is Price.  He was with us for almost a week, super fun and the kids just loved him.  Last night he met his forever family and they quickly adopted him up after falling in love with him.

On Saturday our house will get super crazy when we take in two new puppies who have been rescued from death row.  I am excited and nervous at the same time.  TWO puppies!  One is hard enough, but two.  Please say a few prayers for me.

I can't deny it, I am hooked.  I love all these little fury friends who come and stay with us for a little while as we work to find them forever homes.  If you are ever looking to add a furry friend to your family, consider fostering or adoption.  Save a life.  They are so worth it.


Email Rescue Rovers at
Rescuerovers@gmail.com
Find them on Facebook

We up and left Orem.

Here I sit posting again.  I just don't do this whole blogging thing well.  I guess I consider Facebook my blog.  Why not?  I update it daily and add pictures and everything.  But some people (mom you shall remain nameless) do not think that facebook counts and that I should be blogging regularly so that every one of my faithful followers will know what is going on with the Crazy Mormon Family.

Here is the big news, we moved out of Orem and headed north up the I15 to North Salt Lake.  Why?  Because we wanted to.  Does that sound crazy?  To some it may, but to me it feels like freedom.  To be able to come and go as I please, move, move back and move again, that feels freeing.  I like that feeling.  Thankfully Eddie and I have worked our business to be in a place financially to do things like this.  We feel super duper blessed.

I have decided to venture into fostering dogs.  Again, why?  Because I felt like it.  Doing things that feel good is how I want to live my life.  Eddie and I sat for a while several months ago and thought about all of the wonderful blessing we receive when we act on our gut feeling, or intuition.  Things happen to us, blessings come that we did not foresee.  I have decided to live life without fear.  Fear keeps us from truly growing and I want to grow to my fullest potential and I do NOT want my girls to fear life.  I want them to embrace every opportunity that comes their way.  We has such strong influence on our children.  I gotta use that influence wisely.  So anyway, we moved, we are fostering dogs, Eddie is getting promoted like crazy at the new Progrexion office, the girls LOVE being near their Burgess cousins, Madison is in Clayton Productions USA, Jacquelynn is in Clayton Productions To The Top Purple, Brook in To The Top Blue and Sutton is making her CP debut in Kidding Around, doTERRA bizz is so much fun and is such a blessing in our lives.  So many awesome things.  And all because we decided to "jump".

So again, I will try to stay on this blogging thing, but I can't guarantee anything. Sorry mom..er...person to remain nameless.

Angela

Mom's are Busy and Insane.

I have seen a lot of cute cartoon pictures on facebook lately about being a mom with more then one child.  They seriously have me laughing out loud.  Because they are absolutely true!  I atomically share them on my facebook page and immediately my other mom friends are laughing and posting the picture on their own pages.

Yes, being a mom of 4 (soon to be 5) kids can make me go absolutely insane and want to scream at everyone, but honestly, I would not change it for the world.  Sure the "I love yous" are fewer then the "I hate yous" and the messes are more then the neatly organized home I have in my head.  Sure I want to crawl into bed more often then I want to get romantic with my husband (hey no judging, I'm 8.5 months pregnant).  But at the end of the day, when I am oiled up and in bed ready to pass out, I think how blessed I am to have all 4 of my little girls.  And how blessed they are to have each other.

I thought it would be fun to add some of my most favorite pictures to this blog on Insanity and Thankfulness.  So I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

My loves!

Keeping the girls busy with art

Brook after she fell into the fountain at the mall. A proud parental moment.

The last few weeks

This past week, my little Brooklyn was spotlighted as her classes Star Of The Week. I really wanted to make it a BIG deal because I am seriously slacking in the mom department with my Kindergartner.  I have missed or forgotten so many little things that have gone on in her class (I blame pregnancy brain).  I feel like such an A@@!  So I really wanted to do this week up BIG!  We made a poster all about Brook!  We had so much fun going through all of her old pictures and talking about all of them.  She was so sweet to sit and listen to her life in pictures.

On her first day as SOTW, She got to wear jewelry!  That was such a big deal for her.  She promised to mot touch or play with it through class, but to just wear it pretty, and she did.  

Brooklyn had to opportunity to go up in front of her entire class and perform her favorite nursery rhyme.  She did Jack Be Nimble because she thought the "burned his toe" part was hilarious.  Her class agreed and burst out in laughter.  LOVE HER!

This is my little doll about to take her poster into class on her first day of SOTW!  She was so excited and so very proud!!!!  I am so proud of you my Brookie Cookie!

Oh it has been so stinking cold here in Orem Utah!  Blah!  My girls and I are having serious cabin fever.  Yesterday it was a warm 32 degrees and I let them play outside.  I had to.  We have been so trapped indoors lately that I just had to let them out.  I am so glad I did.  They had fun being outdoors.  We did a few activities indoors to keep the girls busy.  For the most part they all worked.  Some of the fun things we did.....

Crafty Wood Cutouts.  We painted Conversation Hearts.

Baking Soda, Vinegar and food coloring fizzy fun.

2013

Don't be so shocked!  I am actually blogging.  I think I missed out on all of last year.  LOL.  I can't say I am upset at myself for not keeping my blog active, I just had way too much stress to worry about blogging.  Last year.....well, the last 2 years really, have just been the most difficult of my entire life.  I think I wanted to quit life 85 times just last year alone.  But I pushed forward and did my best to smile and keep on keeping on.  I am a big believer in knowing that the Lord will never give us more then we are able to handle.  Well, the Lord has tested me and I am still here.  I have my parents to thank for that.  I am not sure where I would have been if I did not have their love and support (in so many ways).  I think the literally picked me up and carried me through some of the hardest days of my life.  For this I am forever thankful.  I know that my trials are no where near over, but they are at least getting better and I can see a tiny glimmer of light at the end of the far, far, far off tunnel.

What is the biggest thing I have learned through all of this?  Be thankful for everything you DO have.  Don't ever complain about your husbands job or where you live or that you live in an apartment and not a home.  Because one day, all of that can vanish.  Without warning, just disappear.  I will never be ungrateful for the blessings that I have ever again.  That is for sure.

So onto bringing this blog up to date.

It is freezing here in Utah.  This morning when I woke up it was a freezing 1 degrees.  YIKES!  We don't leave the house much as it takes like 45 extra minutes to bundle everyone up.  So we stay inside and figure things out to keep everyone busy.  My girls have become very much addicted to Plants vs. Zombies (thanks a lot grandpa).  But at least it keeps them busy.

I am now 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant with our first baby boy.  We have still to settle on a name.  But are looking forward to meeting him and beginning to balance out our home.  I am in the stage of constant back pain and inability to sleep.  Weird, weird, weird dreams every night and undying thirst.  I love it because I love what all of it will bring.

Eddie started a new job and he really loves it.  We are going to enroll him in Real Estate School within the next month.  I think it is a step in the right direction.  I am contemplating Massage Therapy School after the baby comes.  But that is still very much up in the air.  I have wanted to do that for some time now.

Madison, Jacquelynn and Brooklyn are all in school!  4th grade, 1st grade and Kindergarden.  They are all doing well and keeping me busy with everything they are involved in.  Madison has been asking to be home schooled lately.  I am not sure where this idea came from, but she seems serious about it.  I am not opposed to it, I just like having a somewhat quiet house during the week days.  Who knows how I will feel about it once a new baby arrives. I told her just to finish out the year at school and then if she sill wants to home school, we can talk more about it.

I have pictures to add, but they are all on my phone.  So in an effort to cross blogging off my "to do" list, I am going to publish this and then add pictures later.

And that's a wrap!

The Livin is Easy

Yes it is summer once again.  This will be our second summer here in Utah.  I can't believe that it has been a year.  Once year since our life just up and changed on us.  Boy has this past year taken us in all directions.  It is super crazy to even stop and think about it.  

I say it every time I write a post, I am so sorry for being a slacker.  My days have just been non stop busy.  I am not complaining, because I find blessings in all things, just it is super crazy.

I have been traveling so much these past few months.  I was invited to participate in doTERRA's Diamond Club.  Basically, Diamond Club is the Amazing Race of Network Marketing.  LOL.  I stole that from another Diamond Clubber.  It can be hard to explain what Diamond Club is to people.  An yes I get asked all of the time what it is or why I am traveling so much.  I don't mind, but it does get old.  So that is what I have been doing for the past 2 months.  I am half way.  Two months down, two more to go.

My kids are having a super summer thus far.  They have done everything from slip and slide, camping, horse back riding, sleep overs, trampoline fun, park hopping, trips to Vegas with mom, bug catching, swim lessons (begins in 2 weeks) library visits and so much more.  Eddie is amazing with them.  He keeps them so very busy.  I love the attention he gives to his girls.  He is so involved and I am so blessed to have him as a husband and father.  Those girls have such a wonderful example of what a good man is.  Thank you hon.

And now I say goodnight to you all and leave you with a taste of our summer so far.

Angela

Madison's Baptism

My oldest daughter Madison turned 8 on November 22nd 2011.  In my religion (LDS) when a child turns 8, they get to choose if they want to be baptized.  Madison made that choice with such drive and purpose. She was more then ready!!!

It was such a very special day.  Grandma and Grandpa Burgess came out from California to be there for the baptism.  Grandma played the piano for all of the songs and she also gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost.  Daddy gave a talk about Baptism and it was so special.  Brooklyn, Jacquelynn and Madions all sang a song together.  Although it did not go off as rehearsed, it was special in its own special way!

Daddy performed the baptism while Uncle Josh and Uncle Kim were the witnesses, and it was wonderful.

It was a very beautiful and special day!