Did you forget about me?

I am pretty sure all of my readers are gone now. It has been FAR too long since my last post. But I'm Back!!!!

It is fall and what is a better way to start blogging again than by.... sharing a delicious fall recipe. So here it is the first blog of fall. Did you get the impression that I LOVE fall?! Well I do....

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• LOTS of chocolate chips

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and egg and stir until combined. Slowly sift in dry ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips....eat some dough and bake the rest at 350 degrees for 10-12 mins.

Now GO make some!!!

to think about

"We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing"

Via Experiment in Poverty

"Do not waste time wondering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will probably come to love him."

C.S. Lewis

Teriyaki Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Want a delicious healthy quick dinner idea? I made the best dinner last night, and it was sooo easy.

You need:

1 lb. ground turkey

seasonings

Teriyaki sauce (I made my own) 1/2 Cup-1 cup (depending on how much sauce you want)

1 bag of shredded carrots

4 or 5 sliced green onions

2 celery stalks sliced

I head of romaine

Put turkey in skillet and cook on medium high seasoning while cooking. I used garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.

When meat is cooked through add remaining ingredients and cook for 4 more minutes, or until veggies are tender. Turn off heat and let sit. Tear Romaine off and use as cups for the turkey mixture.

Here is the final product: SO YUMMY

This dinner was a hit. Everyone loved it and it was super healthy and cheap to make. Which I love. Luke and I ate them whole and the kids dumped the turkey and veggies out onto their plates because they didn't like the romaine.

Now GO make it. I promise you won't regret it.

P.S. For my teriyaki sauce I used: Soy sauce, olive oil, sesame seed oil, Dijon mustard, and brown sugar *and it was way better than store bought, or at least I thought so ;)

Yesterday was a BIG day

I am so excited for my little Hayden boy he is a big boy now. He started Preschool yesterday, and he is really excited about it to say the least.

We made preparations before school like:

Making an awesome lunch in his new spiderman lunch bag he had a Star shaped peanut butter and honey sandwich, wheat thins, grapes, fruit snacks, and string cheese. I also wrote him a little love note and stuck it inside.

Picking out an awesome 1st day of school outfit (this is crucial)

Prepping Rylan for Hayden's departure. (he loves his big brudder, and I didn't know how he would do without him)

We took him into his class and waited a couple minutes to see how he would do. He did GREAT. Smiled and waved us goodbye.

He loves PreSchool and Rylan and I love our time alone together. It is only day 2 but so far so good.

I love this boy

My firstborn is a cuddle boy now! :)

Thank you my Hayden Boy!

Highlights

Oh my gosh, has it really been this long? July 4th? WOW...I am Lagging in the blogging department (and that's an understatement). So instead of trying to catch you up on all of the things in my oh so exciting life I will just show you the highlights. And I am proud to say there have been quite a few :). Hmmm...where to start?

We went on an awesome Road Trip to LA to visit some really great friends of ours, Kevin and Katie. We left the kids and hit the road. We stayed up late, did crazy things, ate the most delicious fish tacos I have ever had, tried Thai food, and really enjoyed the company and the freedom of the weekend.

An awesome trip to the beach with my family. Our beach house was right across the street from the beach. The weather where we live was 110 that week and the beach greeted us with 70 degree weather. Thank you ocean.

The rest of the Summer will be filled with a lot more fun. But I do plan on blogging ALOT more often. We will be: going to SanFran, visiting Luke's family, throwing a bachelorette party/lingerie shower, going to a wedding, being in a wedding, and taking the boat to the lake (multiple times, I hope).

Don't take any moments for granted. Live it up :)

Don't you wish

That you could of come to my parents house for 4th of July. You don't even know what you missed out on! Well...until now :)

Look at the menu:

It was Luke and I's first time to try oysters....I only have a picture of him... It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. (If you put enough lemon and tabasco on anything it would be edible)

I mean who else has a dinner that is this good on Independence day? Usually it is hot dogs and hamburgers...not at the Lowrey's

We all wore our cliche (everyone has them) Tshirts from Old Navy. But its like a tradition I can't break... even though I was thorougly embarassed when my brother and I went to get fireworks and 3 women that were in line with us had on my exact same shirt...

Dad even busted out some amazing blackberry ice cream (home made ice cream is the best). The boys devoured 2 bowls each...

Tanner and I had a diving competition. I think we tied... and that's ok I still feel good about myself considering I haven't dove into a pool since before I was pregnant with Hayden...

We enjoyed our very own fireworks show...Tanner was the pyro

Needless to say: you missed out! But I hope your 4th of July was just as wonderful :)

*disclaimer* Luke was there he is only in one picture because he is our photographer lol ;)

We like to play

A family that plays together stays together. Ok maybe that isn't how it goes, but we do have a lot of fun. I love hanging out with my 3 guys, family time is the best time. We spent our whole weekend at my parents house. They were gone and we went over there to watch the dogs, eat the leftovers, and swim in the pool. It was great. I am thankful for all that we have.

out of the blogging loop

I have been so busy lately that I have had no time to blog. Not to fret, cause I am back again with lots to talk about.

While I was gone, we found out that Rylan really enjoys bean dip.

We also had a lot of fun at the lake.

As you can tell we were unprepared (as usual, I am never prepared) and the boys had to swim in their undies! But I thought they looked cute, even though we may of looked a little trashy :)

Rylan finds "guns" where ever he goes. Here he is with his stick "gun"

And Luke has taken a lot of really awesome long exposure pictures at night. He is getting really good with the camera!

Our church also received terrible news. One of the pastor's at

our church

Jerrod and his wife Jen and son Cooper are without their little baby Tyler. Please be praying for their family as this is such a terrible and difficult time for them. For updates you can go to their family site.

Dear Luke,

On this day I want to tell you all the things that go often unsaid. Thank you for being the kind of Dad I always hoped would be the father of my children. You are always there for the boys, whether it be for hugs, wrestling, discipline, or movie watching....whatever it is you always step up. You are the most patient person, letting the boys help you with projects even when they are far from helpful. I am so glad to call you mine. Thanks for all of those times when I am about to pull my hair out and you step in and give me a break, and for all of those weekends I have gone away and you have stayed to take care of the kids. I don't take this for granted, I know that I am SO LUCKY to have a husband so willing to be there all the time. I know how much the boys love you and how much you love them. But I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you and all the hard work you do to provide for us... and yet you still come home (after being with 35 other kids) with enthusiasm to see your family. I love you and am so thankful for the man you are. I made a good choice when picking you, and I hope our boys grow up to be Dad's as amazing as you are. Happy Father's Day to an amazing father.

Love Cher

Reasons my dad is the best

He always knows just how to cheer me up.

He is the best at comebacks.

He can fix anything.

He taught me that being myself is the best that I could ever be.

He is an amazing husband to my mom.

He cooks better than they do in most resturants.

His smile lights up a room.

He is very supportive.

He means what he says and says what he means.

He is a great Grandpa.

He looks awesome on a Harley.

He is the best arm tickler.

He values family.

He is the first one to volunteer his help.

He makes everyone feel included and important.

He is funny.

He would drop whatever he is doing to help me fix a flat. (this has happened more than 1x)

He is the kind of parent I hope to be like.

For all these reasons and more Happy Father Day Daddy you are the best!

One stitch, two stitch, red stitch, blue stitch

My poor little Rylan True had an accident on Saturday night... the boys were just coming in from the backyard where they were running through the sprinklers. They were all cute and cozy, wrapped up in their towels when Ry decides that he is going to dive bomb a bunch of pillows that are in a pile on our floor.  Well dive bomb he did, but little did he know a wooden game box was hiding underneath the pillows. He smashed his face pretty good. So we took a look at the gaping cut above his lip and decided that we needed to take him in to get stitches, by "we" I mean I sent Luke because I didn't want to watch the terrible act of sewing up my little baby's face. 

Luke said it was terrible, but Ry was a champ as he always is. He is one tough kid. Minutes after he got home from getting his face sewn up he was back to wrestling with Hayden boy. Lets hope we don't have that much excitment again for a long while!!

Farmer's Market and granola

Last night was such a fun time at the OTC Farmer's Market...I think we ran into everyone we knew. It was crazy and we felt popular. The produce keeps getting better every week, take a look:

There was also a local news station there with a popular news personality, they made a commercial using some of the people who were at the Farmer's Market. It felt so small town. We would of been in it too but last night our children looked homeless. LOL they had so much fruit drippings on their shirts, they were a total mess!! But it was fun to watch even if we didn't participate.

Today I made granola, OMG we love granola we eat it like candy. But I had never made my own until today...and I think its safe to say that I will not buy store bought granola again. It is so delicious and easy to make, not to mention CHEAP. Seriously it was a total score! 

This is the recipe, you NEED to make it NO JOKE!

Honey Nut Granola

4 cups rolled oats (not minute oats)

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 cup honey

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tblsp. cinnamon

Mix together all dry ingredients, mix together wet ingredients. Then combine the 2 mixtures. Spread onto parchment paper on baking sheets. Bake @ 300 degrees for 1 hour stirring occassionally. 

Super delicious super easy super healthy. Try it and then tell me how much you love it. Hope you all are enjoying your Saturday :)

It's time for a celebration

Today is Luke's last day of the 2008-2009 school year. No more work until mid August! I am so excited that we will both be home for the summer. That means lots of roadtrips, family time, and fun!! I think he is excited about it too.

Tonight we are going to the Old Town Clovis Farmer's Market, I love the farmer's market. Tonight will be super special because my friend Ashley's dad's band is playing tonight. The Farmer's market has such a small town feel that I love. What are your plans for the weekend? Whatever they are enjoy!! 

Oreo Truffles

Steph and I had a wonderful time last night. We were joined by 2 other fun girls Stacy and Paula...we enjoyed the show very much. Vote for Jason and Caitlyn (I think that's her name), Jason is from Fresno....my hometown. And he is good! 

We also had an amazing dessert. Hanging out is not as much fun unless you are eating something sweet and delicious. We made Oreo Truffles, or oreo balls, or black balls (lol) whatever you call them...they taste AMAZING! 

Here is what you do:

Get 1 bag of oreos and 1 pkg. or cream cheese (room temp) and blend them together in a food processor.  It will be ground up and moist, you then roll them into small balls. They should look like this

Then you get 2 bags of white chocolate chips and melt them in a double boiler. Or a glass bowl over a sauce pan full of water (like we did). 

You roll the oreo balls in the white chocolate until totally coated. 

Put in the fridge to harden, it hardens very quickly like 10-15 mins.

 Then you eat them.

 I am told that it is really good with a cold glass of milk, but I don't like milk....so make these easy, cheap, delicious oreo truffles. people will be impressed and think that you spent a lot of time on making such a decadent dessert, when all the time you will know how easy it really was.