Zuppa Toscana in my tummy!

Alright all you Olive Garden lovers out there.... I just made this Zuppa Toscana soup knock off recipe that my sister gave me tonight, and wow... it's pretty amazing. Here it goes:

3-4 large Russet Potatoes
1 lb or less Italian Sausage (mild or spicy depending on how you like it!)
5-8 slices bacon, depending on thickness, quality and preference
Kale- however much seems good to you!
A dash or two of Fennel (optional. I didn't use it cause I didn't have it...I guess its usually in the sausage too)
1 cup or so heavy cream
Several cups Chicken stock (I used 2- 14.5 oz cans)
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
Salt and Pepper

1. Chop up potatoes (Thin slices like they do at the restaurant). Leave the skins on. Cover with chicken stock and some water if needed and bring to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, brown the italian sausage along with a clove or two of crushed garlic.
3. In another separate skillet, cook bacon until crispy, then chop into little pieces.
4. Whenever either bacon or sausage is done, use skillet and grease to sautee onions.
5. Whenever sausage, bacon and/or onions are done, go ahead and put them in w/ the potatoes anytime. Keep covered with water or stock.
6. Add a dash or two of fennel.
7. Add a cup or so of cream at some point (you can do this anywhere from the beginning to the end to made for more or less "chowdery" potatoes) *I put it in with the sausage and onions.
8. Add chopped kale when you have about 5 minutes of cooktime left. Also add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Its done whenever the potatoes are softcooked (about 15-20 minutes maybe). All ingredients are however much you like and can be adjusted.

Enjoy! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we love it! I'm not going to lie- it was banging.

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great time this Father's Day, complete with Magleby's french toast, sausage, a sleeping boy during church, a nap after church (for all 3 of us!), dinner with the Burch's, cupcakes, and watching some Seinfeld. Jaylen gave Aaron a book he picked out, Just Me and My Dad, and we finally replaced our Spongebob mouse pad for a "My Dad Rocks" mouse pad with a picture of Aaron and Jaylen. Its fun to have a day to spoil Aaron and let him know what an awesome father he is. Jaylen couldn't have a more fun, awesome dad. Whenever we come home from me training and Aaron's already at home, I tell Jaylen, "We're going to go see Daddy, Jaylen!" and Jaylen will keep looking out the windows with a big smile on his face saying, "DadDY!, DadDY!" while he giggles. Then runs into our room and giggles when he sees him once we get home. Jaylen loves his time with Aaron and they sure have fun together and are great pals. Aaron has said he wants to be the Dad and guy who is down on the ground wrestling and playing with the kids, even if its not the cool grown up thing to do (I hope i kind of explained that right..). I know he's always looked up to his uncles and relatives who have gone out of there way to play and make him feel special as a kid. He is definitely a fun dad for Jaylen.

Just one more story about Jaylen and Aaron. Aaron and I were going somewhere and Jaylen had this adorable little grin on his face in his car seat and I asked him what he was so smily about. He pointed to Aaron and said, "DadDY!" It was so cute. Aaron and I were completely melted by his cute response.
I absolutely LOVE the father/son relationship. Its just too adorable. I love seeing the two most important men/boys in my life bonding together and being so cute with each other!!

Water loving boy!

I really need to get a video of Jaylen at the baby pool, and even better would be to get the other mom's reaction to Jaylen in the baby pool. He has started going under water completely and stays under and moves his arms and legs for quite a while. Its kind of nerve wracking- but he comes up without any water in his mouth and I can see him blow bubbles out under water. Whenever he goes under the water, more than a few times another mother will hurry to pull him up. Its pretty funny- Jaylen loves every minute of it. I don't really know how he's learned to be such a fish- He loves to splash and splash and bends down to blow bubbles. Any one know how long a baby can hold their breath under water? I let him wiggle around for a few seconds and pull him up- but have no idea what his capacity is (and not wanting to test it...).

I wanted to make sure and record this embarrassing, yet really funny, story about Jaylen that happened at the pool. Well, to begin, Jaylen has this funny fascination with belly buttons, and Aaron's nipples if his shirt is off. Well, a mom and a baby girl only wearing a swim diaper was in the pool- and Jaylen goes right up to the little girl and squeezes on her nipples. Oh dear. How do you explain to the mom? "Oh, sorry about that; he loves playing with his dad's nipples at home." Such a funny little boy!

5 wonderful years!

Yesterday marked our 5 year anniversary! I can't believe how fast time has flown! It's amazing what all we've done and experienced together in 5 years! Here's my rundown of our time together:

-We first "met" in 1995 at my oldest sister's wedding to Aaron's youngest uncle! (Age 11 and 13)
-Throughout high school emailed and "AIMed" and chatted on the phone about sports, girlfriends, boyfriends, you name it! Great buddies...
- Kept in touch by random letters throughout his mission.
- I moved to Washington for the summer and lived with my sister, surrounded by Aaron's aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins...
- Edgley family comes to visit family after Aaron returns from his mission (FINALLY the first time we actually meet face to face after years of being pals!)
- Love begins- Aaron visits me at BYU during General Conference, he comes to Kansas for Christmas break.
- Let's just do the thing- we decide to get married June 12, 2004 in January.
- I moved to Maryland before the wedding.
- SEALED IN THE ST. LOUIS TEMPLE JUNE 12, 2004! YAY!!!!!!!!!
- Moved from Maryland to Pleasant Grove, Utah to live with and take care of old people in an assisted living home while attending BYU/working.
- Moved to Wymount in Provo Utah/I graduate.
- Moved to Virginia for Aaron's schooling.
- Graduation/ Baby Jaylen is born in February 2008
- Move to Maryland for work/to avoid going mentally insane with new baby
- Accepted to New Mexico Sports Administration master's program- move to New Mexico
-Here we are and we love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Aaron and I before our fun night eating at Olive Garden and getting a couple massage.

The beautiful flowers Aaron surprised me with!

Aaron surprised me the weekend before with a great dinner at La Placinta (a great New Mexican restaurant in Old Town) followed by an awesome performance by THIRD EYE BLIND at Sunshine theatre! (Don't worry- no one was smoking anything- we walked there and it was VERY windy so our eyes are struggling!)

It was awesome! I sure feel so lucky to have such a fun, loving husband that makes my life SOOOOOOOO fun and exciting! I can't imagine a better husband/father than him! Keep the good times rollin'!

Our climbing boy

Jaylen is hilarious. He climbs on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he can and of course, one of his favorites is to climb up on the high chair- and then he laughs at himself in the mirror. When I know he's done, he starts yelling, "YAYYYYYYYYYYY" for help down. Can't help but to love that cute little smile!

Isotopes baseball game!

We had a fun family night at the Isotopes game on Monday night, and enjoyed the $.50 hot dogs! It was an absolutely beautiful night!

Jaylen loves pulling up grass and throwing it!

The entrance to the park

Jaylen loves climbing on everything.


Cute boys. We didn't plan the matching shirt thing, but they sure looked really cute together!

Button up shirt party...

Aaron, Jaylen and I in our button up shirts

Christine and Rob

Beth, Chance and Bailey

We had a fun time Saturday grilling up hot dogs, eating some chips, pasta, red vines, brownies and wearing our best attire. Beth and Rob won 1st and 2nd place for their outfits.. while Christine took home the best "mother pants" attire..

Jaylen's new tricks

This is a very frustrating new talent Jaylen has discovered, but pretty smart and funny at the same time. I was admiring Jaylen sitting on our couch, thumbing through the Ensign for a whole 15 minutes! Come to find out, he was using the Ensign as "reading on the toilet" material and had a blow out on our couch. I stripped him down, put him in the tub, took him out and went to scrub the couch down. It got quiet, and I got concerned. I went in the kitchen- and Jaylen had discovered he could open the oven, climb on top, pull the strawberries over and was happily eating away.


I was making all kinds of noise to get Jaylen to look at the camera, and this is how he looked at me...

Jaylen also figured out how to climb from our Lovesac up to the kitchen table and I found a few of our tomatoes with bite marks, and this one was almost demolished so I let him go at it in his high chair...

After wedding fun...

Jaylen on the ride home to Albuquerque

flying!

Rachel

Going in!

Rachel flying

Love it!

Rachel, Christian, Braden and I waiting to go in!

Jaylen finally knocks out..

Getting ready to skydive

Rachel and Birgita

Family watching people skydive

Braden, Christian and Jaylen after the movie..

Aunt Rachel and Jaylen!

Playing in the hot tub at hotel

Aaron, Jaylen and Christian

Baby Lyndon's first swim


Adam and Lyndon

Jaylen "jumping" on the bed


Jaylen loved bouncing on the bed!

We had alot of fun around Denver with Grandma Betteridge, Rachel and Ben's family, Adam and Crystal's family and Merilee and Brian on Sunday and Monday morning after the wedding. We enjoyed a fun time in the pool, indoor skydiving, a couple movies, and eating (of course!)

Ring ceremony/Reception in Ft. Collins

Alex and Jen cutting the cake

Jaylen and Birgita

My sister, Rachel and me

Jaylen loving the grass

Birgita and Jaylen-


Christian and Braden find some frogs and toads..

Us out on the deck

Aaron, Ben and Adam

Rachel and I with our 1 year old babies!

Aaron and Jaylen at Olive Garden after the wedding