Cheesy Potato Soup

I had a few people ask for my Cheesy Potato Soup recipe. Honestly, I've never made it before today (other than opening a can of Campbell's). I googled cheesy potato soup and found tons of recipes but of course I couldn't find 1 that met my tastes, my families taste (except Preston, who eats anything, love ya), or had what I had in my kitchen pantry/fridge. So here is more-or-less how I made it.

6 medium potatos - diced
2 chicken boiullon cubes
1 can of evaporated milk, (I'm sure regular milk would do just as well)
1/2 lb cooked bacon, cut up small
1 cup of broccoli, cut up extra fine
4-6 oz of velveeta, cubed
pepper to taste
salt to taste (be careful, the bacon & cheese makes it pretty salty, taste before adding)
flour or cornstarch to thicken as you prefer

I boiled the potatoes, then drained about 1/2-3/4 of the water. Added evaporated milk, 2 chicken boiullon cubes, and velveeta. Heat over medium heat until cheese starts to melt, then add bacon and broccoli. Let everything get warm and melty, stirring almost constantly. Add conrstarch or flour to thicken as you like it, or milk to thin it out. Heat until the broccoli is tender. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Most recipes called for onion (which I refuse to eat, nasty!), celery, some for carrots, garlic (Preston complains I put too much in all the time, you can't go wrong with it in my opinion). Basically, I just took what I liked and what my family (mainly kids) would eat and went with it. It turned out great! It made approx. 3/4 a 5qt pot full, or about 5-6 bowls full.
If you try it, ENJOY!

The Best Christmas Eve!

It has been too long since I've updated my blog. We've done alot since then, but I really haven't taken very many pictures since our trip to WA and NM the first of October. Even then, I had sooooo many pictures it was impossible to narrow them down to just a few.
We have been anticipating this snow for about 4-5 days now and its finally here! We have at least 4 inches and its the perfect sledding and snowball fighting kind of snow. This is definitely been the best Christmas Eve to date!

Here is our own little Winter Wonderland in our backyard.

We ventured down to the park on the 4-wheeler this morning to catch the best sledding snow. Jezebel ran alongside us and we had an amazing time with our own little family! I look forward to seeing these pictures again years down the road when the boys are grown. We had so much fun!



Levi had a pretty good time with the snow, as long as it stayed off his face. He enjoyed the sledding and the 4-wheeling.




Unlike years past, Noah was REALLY into sledding, snowballs, and snow angels. He had a blast!


Mommy and her boys!

Daddy and his boys!

Our Wonder Dog, Jezebel. She LOVES eating snow and jumping 5 feet in the air for snowballs (she really jumps that high, no joke).



Of course, the whole family...and the dog who doesn't sit still :)

Birthday Events!

Friday, Sept. 24th, was Levi's 1st birthday! We started the day with birthday pancakes, then went to a park to play and go for a family walk. Afterwards, we went to the Runge (of course, one of our fave places) and then to lunch where we brought birthday cupcakes. Levi loved his cupcake so much he was aboslutely distraught when we took it away (as you can see in one of the following pictures, you'll know it when you see it). Later that day, we went to Dairy Queen and let Levi ride facing forward for the first time. He couldn't stop smiling and pointing at everything (which he does ALOT). After ice cream (yep, more sugar), he came home and opened one present, his swing. Preston plopped him in it and swung him back and forth in his arms. Levi loved it and couldn't stop squealing with excitement.

The next day, we had his party with all the family that could come. We had an awesome birthday party with lots of nice gifts, hugs, cake, ice cream, and love. He dug right into his cake (after the cupcake practice round the day before). Both boys had tons of sugar over these 48 hours, but it is an extremely rare treat (especially for Levi at this point).

Year in Review...

So I decided to sit down and pull some pictures in the order they were taken over the last year. Levi has grown sooooo much! It never ceases to amaze me, even after experiencing it with Noah already (and still). I'm not a wordy or descriptive person when it comes time to blogging, I just enjoy sharing our family through pictures and short descriptions. I like it short and sweet. Here are a few descriptors of my Levi: very content, happy, smilely, loveable, content, cuddly, sweet, friendly, content (did I mention content?). Levi can light up a room with his smile. The few times he's fussy is when he is teething or when big bro loves him "too much" (aka knocks him over when huggin him, etc.). Levi does everything at his own pace, such as standing which he did for the first time a week ago (but only holding furniture). Words can't describe how much our family loves him and how much he adds to our family! Noah loves him immensly and Levi wants to be anywhere that Noah is. Enjoy a few of the pictures I pulled from this past year!