Ti's too cute,.....until it hapens to you!!!

This is what happens every time I try to load the dishwasher.

Something eerily similar to this also happens when I open the fridge,....

I'm not quite sure what the attraction is but Lily and Tink are both drawn like bees to clover every time a new door opens.

It is cute.

Little Miss Personality

Today, because it's her birthday, here's a few pictures of Lily just being Lily. Enjoy!

One year ago,....

......this beautiful little baby came into our lives. Somehow a year has already passed and now she is a chubby little toddler, chock-full of her own funny little personality.


Happy Birthday Lily!!! We love you so very much!!!

I had NO idea!!!

How cute is this baby pig? I totally want one! Forget that we would have to name it pork-chop & the fact that eventually it would end up filling our freezer,...... The girls would just have a blast playing with it.

This pic is copied from Pioneer Woman's website. She is currently having a photo contest featuring 4-legged friends and there are some awesome entries!

Sarah's Warm Cheesy 2 Bean Dip

I just made this for dinner tonight, making it up as I went along & it turned out awesomely delicious so I decided to share,...


You need:

1 can refried beans
1 can kidney beans, rinsed & drained
3 slices, about(3/4" total) Velveeta cheese
1-2 cups shredded cheese, I used Colby Jack
1 sm can sliced black olives, drained
4 oz cream cheese,...more if you want it-room temp
1/2 can Rotel drained (1/2 cup drained salsa would work too)
1 TBSP burrito (or taco) seasoning


Preheat oven to 450.

Spread cream cheese around on the bottom of a casserole dish(about 8" across).

Sprinkle about 1/3 of the olives on top of the cream cheese.

Put Velveeta & refried bean into a bowl & microwave until melted. Add Rotel, stir together & spread over the top of the cream cheese/olives.

Toss the kidney beans & burrito seasoning together & spread over the top of everything that's already in the dish.

Sprinkle about half of the remaining olives on top of the beans.

Put your shredded cheese on next & top with remaining olives.

Bake 15-20 min.

Serve with your fav tortilla chips! Yummy!!!

The Lily :)

Bethany :)

an update :)

Hello my little blog. Sorry I've neglected you so much since I created you. I keep trying to make it better but life is crazy! I promise I'll make it up to you someday.

Speaking of crazy life, I guess hectic is more of the right word, things have been kinds nuts here. Cody is getting a promotion to Project Lead of a new development group. Very awesome huh? I think so too. The downside is that it's alot of work(hours) upfront trying to get the new group started. That translates into looong days. The past few days Cody has been getting home after 8pm. Bethany & Lily have been missing him since they are already in bed when he gets home. He is working all day today too, and maybe Sunday as well :( I'll be glad when this part is over & my man can be around a little more. I miss him too.

Last night Cody & I enjoyed a candlelit dinner with wine and an AWESOME new recipe. Tasted like something from Olive Garden but without the waitress.

Speaking of new recipe's I'm still averaging at least one /day. There are some really great ones. Like Cajun Bowtie Pasta (Amazing!!! & I get to have it again for lunch today), Chicken Juice (which is chicken thighs simmered in golden mushroom soup & served over mashed taters or stuffing), Sausage-stuffed jalapenos(and mushrooms), & my sister's jalapeno potatoes (OMGoodness!!!).

With all the yumminess around here it seems I've gained a couple lbs back. Honestly though? IT IS WORTH IT! :)

The kids are growing like crazy. Lily runs now, so she's that much harder to keep up with, and her personality is showing itself more every day. She likes to make goofy faces & is jibber-jabbering alot more. She loves to run & throw herself in people's laps & she is my little cuddler. Last night she woke up with a fever so we gave her Tylenol and it went down some but it was back up this morning so we gave her Motrin that broke the fever. I don't know if it's from her teething or maybe her ear infection didn't go away completely. We'll watch her and see what happens. Why does stuff like that always happen on the weekends when the Dr is out?

Bethany is doing great too. She has recently started talking ALOT more. She's always playing pretend with her toys & sometimes us too. Her coloring skills are amazing. That girl can stay in the lines now. She loves to sing & dance.

Both girls love playing with(torturing?) the cats. So far everything is going good on that front. The cats are a HUGE source of amusement for all of us(Yes, we have no lives. Why do you ask?) Lizzy seems to be growing quickly while Tink is still a bitty little thing.

I'm coming down with a slight case of writer's block so TTYL!

Ongoing project

Well my recipe project is well underway now. I have all kazziliion recipes printed out and about half of them stuffed into page protectors in a 3 ring notebook. I ran out of room in it though so Cody picked me up another one last night. They are both 3"ers too so you can imagine I'm going to be doing a TON of cooking! I don't have an official recipe count yet but I'll get one soon. So far we have tried 4 of them.

"Stuff", not great & definitely needs the addition of cheese-it is cheap to make though so that's a pro. Probably won't make it again, unless we are going bankrupt or something.

"Roasted Broccoli" Just broccoli florets tossed in EVOO and sea salt then roasted. I made it 2 different nights, it was good the first time but I though it needed to cook longer so we tried it that way the second time. Def will be keeping that one.

"Bourbon Slush" a mix of orange & lemonade concentrate, fresh brewed tea, sugar, water, & you guessed it, Bourbon! You freeze it and it turns into an amazing(for those of us who like bourbon), adult slushy. Will be making it again whenever we run out. I love that you can just keep it in the freezer and it's available whenever you want it.

"Butter Chicken" Cubed chicken breasts marinated overnight in lime juice, garlic, & spices then cooked in a tomatoey sauce with cream (I used 1/2 & 1/2) and fresh cilantro added just before you serve it over rice. SOOOOOOO GOOOD!!! My only regret is I should have made more. We all Loved it, Lily included. Will be making it many times over :)

We watched Julie & Julia last night (at the recommendation of my MIL). It was really good! It is a little similar to what I am doing now but without the time limit. Bad thing is now I want that cookbook and I already have so many things to try my hand at already! But someday I WILL buy that book! French cooking just looks like it would taste AMAZING!

Anyone know of any French restaurants in the OKC area?

Is it noon yet? I want to eat my leftover Butter Chicken :)

kitty update

Cody & I picked out names last night. The little one is Tinkerbell but will go by Tink, and the older one is Lizzy. Tink has a decent little motor but Lizzy's is very loud and I just love it! They both slept in our bed last night, and for 1/2 the night so did Bethany. It was rather crowded!

Bethany has been being a big sister and telling/showing Lily how to pet the kittens right. We have to keep telling Lily, "Nice! Be nice!", she's heard it so many times that she now says it! So now her vocabulary includes hi, bye, dada, mommy, & nice!

We have the baby gate set up about 4 inches off the floor so the cats have access to the kitchen/entry(where all their food, water, litter is) and the kids can't bother them. So if they want to get away they can but for the most part they've been playing in whatever room us humans happen to be occupying at the time.

Thanks Baby for letting us get them! :)

I plan never to be cat-less again. EVER!

we have some new additions!!!

We got a couple new additions to our family today. So far they don't have names but they are just adorable and very tiny. One of them is about 3mo old and the other is only 5wks. Both are girls(spayed). The tiny one just got spayed yesterday poor little baby. They are both very loving and playful and seem to like it here even though they've been home only about an hour. I'm looking forward to us all enjoying them for a long time!!!

Someday, because I love you,....

I will be making my friends/family who have(or do) requested it a binder full of recipes. First though I am making TONS of new recipes, or creating new ones, and (ONLY) if they are really good I will include them. I have a few recipies already picked out and many, many more waiting to be tried. In addition to those, today I am printing out 550+ recipes from Tasty Kitchen to try as well. Sadly, about 15 of those are for adult beverages so I will be FORCED to test taste those too since I want so include some in the book. Oh the trial that will be!!! ;) If you want to come over and help me try them, be my guest!

If you want a copy of the binder when it is finished just let me know and e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y, you will get one. (It's going to take awhile to try all those recipes!)

My Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti-try it sometime!!!

Sarah's Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

1 1/2-2 cups cooked, diced chicken 12oz angel hair pasta
1/2 cup water sm can sliced black olives
Sm can sliced mushrooms 1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup shredded cheddar salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Bring pot of water to boil. Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
Dice olives and mushrooms. In lg bowl mix soup, sour cream mozzarella, half
of cheddar, olives, mushrooms, & chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook
noodles ONLY 4 min. Drain and stir in 1TBSP butter. Add noodles to chicken
mixture. Mix and spread evenly in baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheddar over
top, and drizzle 1/2 cup water over all. Cover tightly with foil and bake 30 min.



This stuff is GOOD!!! Really good. I have some in the oven right now. I'm going to serve it with garlic bread and a veggie. FYI even if you don't really like olives and mushrooms you might try it with them (although you can certainly omit them), they are so small thet they don't have much flavor themselves, they just add to the overall flavor and of course they add color.

I know,....

I KNOW!!! It HAS been forever since last time I posted. So much has happened since then that there is really no point in trying to catch up on it all so I will summarize,...

Shortly after my last post we bought a new camera complete with an 8 gig memory card. It was so much better than my previous camera which hasn't been working correctly for some time. Less than 2 weeks later we headed out on vacation. It was time to take Garrett back to NC so we decided to use the opportunity to visit family. So we headed up to Iowa to visit one of my Uncles, and Grandmas we also went to see my Dad's Dad whom I haven't seen in over 10 yrs. (he is house ridden) It was nice to get to introduce the kids to him, take pics, and such. After a couple of nights there we went to Ohio to see one of my sisters and stayed a couple days with her and her man. Then we headed off to NC and stayed there with my Mom a couple of nights. We also saw my other 2 sisters and my Dad. Then after heading to my Grandma's for a night and seeing a cousin I haven't seen in awhile we headed home. Somewhere along the I40 on the way back I lost my beautiful new camera loaded with hundreds of priceless photos :( So NOT cool!!!

Back home again and the girls are growing like weeds. Bethany is talking in more sentences and adding new words to her vocabulary left and right. Lily is "talking" more too, learning cause & effect, and trying to imitate noises we make. Over Labor day weekend she took off walking and hasn't stopped since.

Unfortunately Lily's new achievement wasn't the only exciting thing that happened over that holiday weekend. That Friday we were at a friends house very late (it was actually early Sat morning) ridding a Polaris around a dirt track in their yard. When we climbed in the car to head back to Cody's parents we realised we had each missed dozens of calls. Turns out our front door got kicked in by 3 people, kids probably, and the police had been calling EVERYWHERE trying to locate us. Luckily we have an alarm system and it scared them enough that they turned tail and ran without taking anything. However we did have to replace the door/storm door & will have to hire someone to do some sheet-rock repairs. Cody has been working on the doors and misc stuff relating to them every weekend since and will have to do more work on them this weekend. It's almost done though so hopefully this will be the end of it.

This past Thursday was our 3rd wedding anniversary. I surprised Cody with 3 new shirts that morning, one of which he wore to work that day, and told him I had something else to give him that day when he got back home. The something else was a new leather Tony Lama wallet. (His other wallet was like 6-7 yrs old and really showing it's age.) I printed a bunch of photos that day & filled the photo deal up with pics of us & the girls. I also put some bigger photos into his card. I was really excited to give them to him because he has been saying for months that he would like some photos to have in his desk at work. Well needless to say he really liked it. The kicker though was his gift to me. He bought me a camera. The exact same kind (complete with memory card) as the one I had lost. There was also a card with a very sweet message handwritten inside that just made my week. I really am a lucky woman. He was very thorough, he even matched the gift bag/tissue paper with the design on my card. Even I wouldn't have ever thought to do that. And I have proof too! I took a pic of it!

Anyways, the irony of me giving him pics and him giving me a camera aside, The night was really a very good one. I made a steak dinner and we cracked open a bottle of wine and it was very nice. I really couldn't have asked for anything better. Truly I am blessed.

This past weekend while working on the doors, Cody got a piece of metal in his eye and had to have it removed this morning but he is feeling better now.

I made a You Tube account and am putting movies of the kids up so all of our relatives (& friends) can take a peek at the kids. I think you have to search four our channel and it is thepotts83 Enjoy!

The BIG, BAD,.....Long John Silver?

Cody and Garrett play with K-nex. It's just their thing. Garrett decides what he wants and what he wants it to do and then Cody finds a way to make it happen. This is their latest, greatest invention. When they gave it it's test run, Garrett was going on and on about how awesome it was so Cody suggested he name it. Garrett decided to call it, "Long John Silver" how awesome is that! :P

A Fun Weekend In Kanas part 1

We went to visit a friend in Kansas this past weekend. She has a nice pool that we all enjoyed swimming in. The kids really loved it. And of course we all enjoyed hanging out with Kim too. We found an awesome little meat shop and bought some incredible steaks to grill up. YUM!!! Hopefully we will be able to go visit again before Garrett has to go back to NC.