Thinking of Spring

Yesterday was cold and windy. It snowed a little too. It makes me sad because on Saturday it was in the 60's and feeling like spring. So, while I was waiting for Garrett to come home from school, I happen to look down at my flower bed and guess what I saw? A flower! I knew that the tulip and crocuses were poking up but I never guessed that one was open yet. I had to take a picture. This poor little flower is trying to brave the cold and the wind. Makes me hopeful for spring to arrive...soon.

Blaine's birthday part 2

Blaine blowing out the candles on his birthday cheesecake.


The Purcell grandkids (minus Ryan)
L to R: Garrett, Jayson, Remi, Liam, Hannah


Blaine and his beer.

So, we had my family over on Sunday to celebrate Blaine's birthday. My family is pretty good about getting together for each birthday and its easy because we all live so close. We had nachos to eat. (When we were growing up, we had nachos almost every Sunday night. I think it was because it was a serve yourself type of meal with easy clean up). Blaine requested cheesecake and had purchased a sampler type of cheesecake...4 different flavors. Yummy! It is always fun to hang out with my family and also to let the kids play. As I mentioned in the earlier post about Blaine's birthday, I gave him the beer can chicken cooker. Beckie and Chet did their part and gave him two whole chickens and a 6-pack of beer! Lets get grillin'!

Ryan's Photo Shoot

I love his little grin!

My little angel!

Ryan had his pictures taken for the 1st time yesterday. I try really hard to get pictures of my kids at approximately the same ages. I'm a little late with his, but not much. He did so good and is such a happy baby. I thought I'd share some of his cute pictures with everyone!

Blaine's Birthday

Family photo. Ryan is, of course, asleep for the excitement of opening presents.



Garrett and Hannah last night after decorating cupcakes for Blaine. They were so excited for this birthday suprise.



Blaine's i-tunes gift card from Garrett.

Hannah is showing you how old Blaine is. She is holding up three fingers on each hand.

Look at the smoke!

Today was Blaine's birthday. He had to work a night shift last night, so the kids and I made some cupcakes, frosted them and Garrett wrote "Happy Birthday Daddy!"on them. Then Garrett wrote Blaine a note that said happy birthday and that we worked really hard on the cupcakes and he hoped Blaine liked them. We set them out on the table for Blaine to find when he got home this am. I think he was surprised and really liked them. This evening we gave him his presents. The kids were so excited for him to open them. I don't wrap anything usually, they just come in the plastic bag I bought them in. He got a new air pump from Hannah (so he can blow up her hipity-hop), an i-tunes gift card from Garrett (so he can purchase fun games for him to play on the i-pod), a double beer can chicken cooker and a 3-burner size griddle for his camp cooker. Becky and Chet came over and watched the kids and Blaine and I went to dinner. He wanted to try Red Robin, which is new in Idaho Falls. The food was great and the service was even better. Our food came in record time, which I thought was impressive. We rented movies (Blaine gets a free one because it was his birthday) and came home to blow out the candles. Garrett put one candle in each cupcake...note the smoke in the picture. After they were blown out, Hannah kept saying, "Oh no! Smoke!" Yep, it was a lot of smoke, but that is what happens when you get as old as Blaine and have to blow out so many candles! Haha! Just kidding, babe! We love you Blaine! Hope your birthday was the best!

Ryan's Blessing Day

My family, ready for church.



Ryan with his cousin Reagan. She and Jordan (in the background)
were such great babysitters this weekend.


Ryan and Daddy. See any resemblance?




Hannah and cousin Isabel...double trouble!!

We blessed Ryan this past Sunday, March 8th. He wore the cutest little white and blue tuxedo that was made (for my nephew Jason) by my cousin Maren. All of my family came and most of Blaine's family was there as well. All in all, I think we had 35 people for dinner. We had ham and baked potatoes and ice cream sundaes for dessert. Blaine's brother Clifton and his family came Saturday afternoon and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. It was a huge help to have them here, especially getting dinner on. Ryan's blessing itself was very sweet, just like him. He is such a happy baby and so smiley. He slept through the whole thing, which is good because he is 3 1/2 months old and tries to sit up in your arms. Those guys would have needed to hold on to him tight. Anyway, I have a great family and so does Blaine. We are so blessed!

Thats nuts!

So I have to tell you all about my new favorite snack. I'm usually a chocolate lover but I love this. My new favorite snack is almonds. A friend of mine at work had to go on a strict low carb diet and she found these and now I'm hooked. The brand I have in front of me is Blue Diamond and the label says they are oven roasted almonds. There are a few flavors like cinnamon and brown sugar, garlic & herb ( I think), plain and my favorite vanilla bean. They are lightly coated with the flavoring and are just yummy. Besides that, they are very healthy for you. A serving size is 24 nuts with 160 calories. Now don't get freaked out by the next part but they have 14 grams of fat per serving. Only 1 gram of that is the bad kind. But looking past that, and remember it the good kind of fat...the kind you need...they are chocked full of potassium and magnesium. The best part is they have 7 grams of carbs per serving BUT subtract the 3 grams of fiber and that equals only 4 grams of carbs per serving. Plus 6 grams of protein (thats a lot-look at labels). Anyway, I know I sound like a commercial or a nutritionist or whatever, but those numbers above mean these nuts taste good, are good for you, help you to feel full longer and keep you regular! Now thats a great snack! Oh, and the bottle is shaped like an hourglass. Subliminal messages anyone?

Mind over matter

Sunday night my brother Doug and his wife Kara came over to hang out. Blaine had made dinner and we ate when I got home from work. Blaine made a great pork roast with green beans and cauliflower. He started cooking the cauliflower while Doug was there and just didn't say anything. When we sat down to dinner, Blaine had mashed the cauliflower in the pan to make it resemble mashed potatoes. Everybody dishes up their plates and starts eating but we were all watching Doug. He kept saying, "What?" We asked him how he liked his mashed potatoes and he told us they were fine but he thought we made them from instant hashbrowns. We just started laughing and Garrett looks up and says, "Its cauliflower." Well, I don't think Doug believed us at first but as soon as he decided that it realy was cauliflower he was eating he stopped right then and there. He wouldn't take another bite. We were all laughing and telling him he liked it just a second ago, whats wrong now? I told him I would have to make fun of him in my blog and he just grinned...but he wouldn't eat anymore "potatoes." Whats wrong Doug??? Hahahaha!!