Our original plan for this past weekend was to leave on Saturday morning and drive to Lubbock for the Ball Family Reunion, commemorating what would have been my Mammaw’s 100th birthday.  We got a brilliant idea on Friday after dinner to leave town once it was Cohen’s bedtime and drive to Lubbock while he was sleeping.  This worked out great until about midnight when he woke up in the car just SCREAMING.  I know I am running the risk of being scolded for this, but I finally just climbed over into the back seat, took Cohen out of the car seat and held him the rest of the way to Lubbock.  Cohen didn’t like staying in the hotel either…it was a rough night.  But…once Saturday morning came we were good to go.

Our first stop was the family reunion.  I’ll be honest…I only knew a handful of people there.  However, it was great to see my grandparents and aunts and uncles who I don’t get to see that often.  They all were happy to see us…I mean, Cohen.  Here he is with my grandparents.

My grandad fed Cohen his first bite of ice cream.  He didn’t like it very much…he’s not a huge fan of cold things.

After mingling with the fam, we changed clothes and headed to my cousin’s wedding.  Sorry I don’t have a picture of the newlyweds…but here’s a picture of us…

After the wedding was over, we packed up again and headed to Portales, NM to stay with Monga and Ponga.  Cohen had a fabulous time in the hot tub with GranZ.

He also had fun hanging out with Daven, Logan and Aspen.

We headed back home yesterday morning and I don’t think Cohen has ever slept as well as he did last night.  He went down without a peep and was so incredibly happy when I got him out of his bed this morning.

Here’s to family…we have a great one.  It was so good to see all of you and we’re looking forward to the next time!

Honey Mint Glazed Chicken served with coucous, steamed veggies and our favorite King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls.

I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of whole chicken pieces.  This was okay.  Christian and I both gave it 2-3/5.  It was one of those things that wasn’t bad, but if we’re going to grill chicken, there are other flavors we much prefer to this one.

I didn’t really know what would go well with the chicken and I’ve always wanted to make coucous (mainly just because I like the word) so that’s what I did.  It was ok…didn’t really have much flavor.  They had some flavored varieties in the store, but they were like mushroom, sundried tomato (none of which Christian would’ve eaten) so I went with the plain.  I might make it again, but it would definitely need some tweaking.

So, we won’t be adding this one to the dinner rotation.  This week I’m going to try Chicken Ranch Tacos.  Christian claims he doesn’t like ranch dressing, but he also claimed that he didn’t like Chick-fil-a when I first met him (and now he loves it) so…we’ll give it a shot!

And a special thanks to my wonderful hubby for surprising me with this fabulous redesigned blog.

Well…it’s official…Cohen is making forward progress and is now crawling!!!!

Teenagers Delight (courtesy of Angie)

1 pound cooked hamburger meat

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 can of milk (use soup can)

1 8 oz bag of medium or sharp shredded cheese

1 2 lb bag of frozen tater tots

Cook the meat and put into a casserole dish.  Mix all ingredients together except for the shredded cheese and tater tots.  Pour the mixture over the meat.  Cover with tater tots and sprinkle shredded cheese on top.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Served with pinto beans and a salad.

Ummm…how to put it nicely…it wasn’t bad, but neither of us would call it good either…sorry Angie!!

Christian caught me in a lie when he was drilling me about the ingredients and I assured him there was nothing else in it but meat, cheese and tots (left out the ‘ol cream of mushroom) thinking he would never be able to taste it if he didn’t know it was in there.  Of course, he just happened to walk into the kitchen as I was pouring it into the bowl…set back #1.

Set back #2…it’s a casserole…automatic disqualification in Christian’s opinion.

Set back #3 is for me…not one bit healthy.

Christian ate one bite of it, one bite of beans and then ate a granola bar…followed by some popcorn later this evening.  That’s the one thing I hate about trying out new recipes.  I’ll usually still eat whatever it is even if it doesn’t blow me away…but Christian will either not eat or end up having the previously mentioned items for dinner.

So, to continue this cooking quest or not…that is the question…