Happy Veteran's Day!

The Beals Family started the festivities at the Mesa Veteran's Day parade and capped it off with Stephen's free veteran's meal at Applebee's. Hope everyone had a great day!

Little Miss Strawberry Cake

Tonight we went to a Halloween party for my sister's ward and Kensley dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake. The costume came from her Aunt Cathryn and I think is so cute. I love Strawberry Shortcake and remember watching it all the time when I was little. Kensley has no idea who she is and has never seen the show so when I was dressing her up tonight I told her she was going to be Strawberry Shortcake. She got all excited and started giggling and kept saying over and over that she was going to be a strawberry cake! She was so excited. :o)

Pumpkin Carving

Stephen was all excited to go to a pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin with Kensley so they could carve a jack-o-lantern. I have to admit, this is really not my thing and we have never done it as a family. In fact, I have never been to a pumpkin patch in my entire life. I still can't say that I have ever been to one because Stephen couldn't find the one he thought he knew where was so we ended up buying a pumpkin at Fry's. Carving pumpkins just isn't fun to me, but I am happy to be supportive and to let it be a daddy daughter fun time between the two of them. :o)

















I made the mistake of saying "gross" when Stephen got the lid off the pumpkin. The smell of pumpkin guts is gross to me and all that yucky gook inside. So, when Kensley started helping all she could say was "gross" and now won't even try the pumpkin seeds we roasted. Sorry Dad.







The Finished Product!

Kensley was walking down the stairs when she saw the picture of my ultrasound on the refrigerator. She asked, "Mommy, is that a picture of me?" I said, "No, that is Pyper". She then said, "Oh! Is Pyper swimming or spinning?". I told her that Pyper was swimming and spinning. :o)

I Am A Moron and a New Recipe

Now that I am finally over the morning sickness, aka all day sickness, I have been trying to cook more and try out some new recipes. Last night for dinner, I cooked a Rachael Ray chicken recipe that I thought turned out sooooo yummy....recipe will follow this post. Which brings me to why I am such a moron. The recipe calls for you to brown the chicken in a skillet for a couple minutes and then transfer chicken and skillet to a 400 degree oven to finish up cooking. While I was making dinner, Stephen took Kensley to the park to play. While I was finishing up and taking the chicken out of the oven I was thinking to myself how I need to make sure to tell Stephen I cooked the whole pan in the oven so he knows not to grab the handle and burn himself on it. Not 10 seconds after having this thought, what do I do???? I grab the freakin' handle and burn my hand to a crisp! I haven't been in so much pain in a very long time. What a dork! I used an entire bag of ice for ice packs on my hand and it was still burning up like crazy. Stephen finally went to the drugstore to try and find something that might ease the pain. He bought 3 different remedies. I sprayed the 1st on my hand and it still hurt like crazy so I busted out the 2nd remedy which was a cream and spread it all over my hand. It still hurt like crazy, but I decided to try and wait a few minutes to see if it would help and it finally did. Today I feel completely better with a couple red marks but at least no pain. Oh, by the way, I was a moron twice. When I burnt myself I put a hand towel over the handle so it wouldn't happen again. So, Stephen comes home from the park and as I am clutching ice and explaining to him what I did to myself he is washing a knife and takes the hand towel off the pan to dry it and I grabbed the stupid handle again! Yes, I did it to myself twice! I really enjoyed this chicken, but I am wondering if I should suffer through making it again since it seems to put my life at risk! So, anyway, here is the recipe:

Pan-Roasted Garlic and Herb Chicken Breasts
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 6- to 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a shallow dish, combine the garlic, parsley, hot sauce, 3 tablespoons of the EVOO, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken breasts and coat in the mixture; marinate for 5 minutes.

Preheat a large nonstick oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the hot pan and brown on each side for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the chicken for about 15 minutes, or until it is cooked through.

BTW, if you don't like hot stuff, don't worry, the hot sauce does not make it hot, I promise! So, still use it even if you think you are a wimp! Happy Eating! Wear Oven Mitts at all times!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!

I FINALLY had my ultrasound today and it is official, we are having a baby girl on or around January 25! Everything looks good and is right on track, the baby weighing in at 1 lb so far. :o)

Corn Husker

Kensley LOVES corn and especially loves to husk corn with Daddy. She did this one all by herself and as you can see, is quite proud of herself!