Does anyone know what this is? Of course its beef... BUT not just any beef. It is beef from a place called Snake River Farms here in Eastern Idaho. This is American Kobe beef!!! :) Since we purchase our food for the Deli through a food service provider, we receive deals on items that they are trying to blow out or stuff like that. We got an email a couple weeks ago that they had this Kobe beef for like 1/4 of the regular price. If you know anything about Kobe beef... it can sell for as little as $100 per steak. We were able to pick this up for $7.49 per pound where it is usually whole sale for like $28 - $32 per pound. It was like a dream come true for the FOODIE that I am! If you can't tell from the pictures, I was very excited and happy to be slicing my own 1 1/2" steaks!!! And let me tell you.. they were awesome. They could not have been any better. We still have one more slab of steak to cook up. We are waiting for a very special occasion for that one.. maybe when the next little munchkin comes into the world. Anyway, This was one of the highlights of my life! :)

Easter 2009

WOW, does time go by when you're having fun?! It has been a while since I updated this blog. Not a whole lot has happened... so no one missed much. :) The kids are of course all growing up very fast and Josie is getting more and more pregnant as the days go by. Hayley is now 3 years old, and Jack is starting to go into nursery at church.
Today, we had a great Easter Sunday. We ate a super delicious dinner. It included a secret recipe ham (Dr. Pepper and Fanta Strawberry soda) that Josie and I did along with some garlic green beans, scalloped potatoes, homemade southern style biscuits, and an awesome trifle that Josie made with strawberries, pound cake, and a pudding/whipped cream topping. Boy was it good!
We did our Easter egg hunt yesterday with the kids and their cousins Bobby, Cody, Jake, and Madi. They had blast doing that down in Grandpa's basement. Today they got their Easter baskets... it was like Christmas all over again. They got a couple movies, coloring books, and of course the Easter candy!!! I think that Zac (I mean SUPERMAN) ended up with the most eggs... he kinda got a head start and took all the eggs before any of the other kids even got downstairs!

The weeks leading up to Christmas Day

Thanks to all of you that shared your thoughts on the Santa question. I am a lover of Santa and my kids are too. We do have lessons and figurines and pictures of Christ and the Nativity scene. We have been teaching them that Christ is the most important part of Christmas, but Santa is also a big and fun part of Christmas. And let me tell you, they are SUPER excited!

We had a blast building a ginger bread train this year. The kids had a blast putting it together and eating the candy that was left over. They ate so much that Zac ended up throwing up his candy about 20 minutes after we finished the train! He felt a lot better after that and we actually laughed about it with him.
We had a fun time tonight (Christmas Eve)! We had the opportunity to go over to Josie's brother's house. We sang Christmas songs while Bobby's wife Mary played the piano like a pro. We had a wonderful cake to celebrate the birth of Christ and had the kids reenact the birth of the Savior. Hayley played Mary and Zac played Joseph. Those pictures will be posted later because I forgot my camera! :)
We then came home and had the kids open their two presents for Christmas Eve. They first opened their new pajamas!!!!! Zac got some Star Wars pj's, Hayley got princess pj's, and Jack got Tow Mater pj's. They all look very cute in them of course! Zac got some reindeer food from his preschool teacher, so we put that outside and we got the cookies and milk ready for the big man as well.

We also have some pictures of the kids with Santa at the ward Christmas party. Last year, both Hayley and Zac were freaked out by Santa. Neither of them would even get close to him! But this year was a little different. They could not wait to get onto his lap and get the candy cane he was handing out. The older the kids get, the more fun it is!!! I do wish they would stay little though!!! We hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas Day!! We are so blessed and wish only the choicest of the Lord's blessing for each of you!

Christmas Time is here

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!! We are soooooooooooo excited for Christmas. We put up our tree a week before Thanksgiving Day and probably should have done it sooner. The kids absolutely love it, with the lights and ornaments and now a couple presents are under the tree! We have our Christmas lights up as well and we wish we had a couple more strands to put along the ridge of the roof. Maybe next year!
The kids are asking so many questions about Santa and the flying reindeer. The ask about if he is real, how he gets into the houses, do the reindeer really fly, is the Santa at the ward Christmas party the "real" Santa, and other stuff like that. I have been telling them that the "real" Santa lives in Finland at the north pole and that these other Santas are just people who are helping Santa because he lives so far away. We do not want to lie to them about Santa and that is why I have told him about the Santa in Finland! :) I feel that Santa is a very fun part of Christmas and the Santa figure can stand for Christ, or even us as we give to others without gaining anything in return except the good feelings from giving. What are some things that you guys have done with your kids?
We are trying to think of some traditions we want to start with the kids during the Christmas season. We are singing Christmas songs all the time now that Zac and Hayley are learning them. Zac's pre-school teacher is awesome and teaches the kids all the songs there at school. Its fun because Zac came home one day and it seemed like he new all the songs already. I was like, "Where did you learn all the words to the Christmas songs?" He is such a fast learner!
We are trying to instill in their young minds the importance of CHRIST in Christmas! Its hard when EVERYTHING is saying that presents is what makes Christmas. Zac said that one of his friends told him that there would be no Christmas without Santa. We tried to explain that without CHRIST there would be no Christmas. He seems to understand, but gives us that blank stare and says stuff like, "well my friend said that without Santa there would be no Christmas" just to get us riled up! :) Its funny how they know exactly what pushes our buttons. (Krista, no pun intended!)
Well, I hope that everyone's Christmas will be fun and Christ filled. Merry Christmas!

Halloween

We've decided we love Halloween! Any holiday that involves a plethora of cake and candy is tops in our book!!

Jack and Hayley were caught red-handed enjoying the spoils of the evening. ;0)

The 3 blind mice...They were soooo cute together! The only "problem" of the evening...It was warmer than expected so the mice had to take off the top halves of their costumes for most of the night. ;0) (Jack is in the middle with cousin Cody on the left and cousin Bobby on the right. We love to play together and would you believe we were all born within 8 months of each other in 2007... so fun!!)

The Dumping Crew

We had a great summer with the dump trucks this year!!! They actually stopped working us a couple weeks early, but it turned out to be a good move for us. I do look forward to next season working in the beautiful Grand Teton's shadows!

Topp Dawg Cuisine

So, the Topp Dawg is officially closed for the winter season. Since we have taken over the Gandolfo's, we are putting all our efforts into building that location! We are going to attend the events this next season that we attended this past summer. We are also in the works of putting our hot dogs into the Gandolfo's after we learn all there is to know about the deli. It is going to be a challenge, but I am sure it will be a great time and we are up for it!