Happy New Years!

I know a lot of us are trying to shed some pounds this time of year so I just thought I would share some of these recipes with you that I came up with. Just two light versions of two of my favorite things Quesadillas and Ranch Dressing! Surprisingly Derrick LOVED both! (I don't really measure things, Sorry)


Turkey or Chicken BBQ Quesadillas 6+servings

2-3 cups cooked and chopped chicken or Turkey (I used our Christmas Turkey Leftovers)
1 chopped bell pepper ( I had an orange pepper in the fridge)
1 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar, you could cut even more calories using a reduced-fat cheese)
Handful of cilantro chopped
Handful of White Mushrooms sliced
3 sprigs of Green Onions sliced green and white parts
3/4 cup(ish) of your favorite BBQ sauce ( I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
6+ large whole wheat tortillas

Mix ingredients minus tortillas and spread onto half of a tortilla, finish cooking however you cook quesadillas, (Skillet, Microwave, George Foreman or Panini Press) Feel free to serve with Fat-free sour cream.

Low Cal Ranch Dressing makes 3 cups of dressing
(about 35 cal. for 2 tbsps.)


3/4 cup fat-free sour cream
3/4 low-fat mayo
1 1/2 cups fat-free buttermilk ( I just made this by mixing skim milk with a tbsp of lemon juice let it sit 10 mins)
3 tbsp of Hidden Valley Ranch Mix

I just put all of the ingredients in a air-tight storage container and shook it together. Let stand at least
30 mins before serving

Cilantro Ranch Variation:
Make above recipe but add it into a blender with a handful of Cilantro, some Green Onions, and Jalepeno.

We will be eating the above dressing with a platter of veggies tonight for New Years, and the Cilantro Ranch Version later on in the week with some grilled Tilapia on a bed of greens.

I hope you try these out and give me some feedback!

A little bit more of catching up...

Yesterday, we went to a lighted boat parade.  It was awesome! We found this little beach that wasn't crowded, and put our blanket down. Max and Hudson were running around loving life, and we found out that our dog LOVES water.  (Pirate's Cove, Newport Beach, CA)

 Super Dad.

Sponge Bob boat.

I also wanted to post some pictures of our fantastic Thanksgiving celebration with the CUSHINGS, and the Missionaries. The pictures were too good to not post.

Merry Christmas! Love, the Sheen's

Monster Blog

 Max finished up his first season of soccer! Yay! He did a FANTASTIC job and we are so proud of him!
This is Max and Coach.

He got a little medal and a t-shirt, he was so happy. He's pretty good at soccer, but I can't wait until next year to see how much he will improve. Next sport that Max says he wants to play, "BASKETBALL!" we'll see how that goes.  I can't even imagine 4 yr olds playing basketball.

Also, Maggie had her BIRTHDAY! We kept it small this year, but we had a ton of fun, and some really awesome cupcakes! She didn't even make a big mess. Bummer.

Our good friends to Markham's came by.  I get to start watching little Calvin in January, I am excited to have a job!

The Markham's also helped us out with our family pictures this year, we took some but Lynn took all of the family one's. He did an amazing job! We love going to the beach, it is so beautiful there!

And last but not least we would like to introduce you to the newest member of the Sheen Family.
Hudson Pilot Sheen (he was already named Hudson, I gave him the middle name)

Hudson is a Maltese mix (maybe shi tzu, or poodle), he is less than 2 yrs old, and weighs 12 lbs. We got Hudson from the Orange County Animal Shelter. Hudson in a stray that was found roaming a field somewhere. He must have had good owners at some point because he was already neutered.  He is super playful, doesn't bark, and loves the kids! We are so happy to have him in our home! He needs to be groomed pretty badly, so he will probably just get shaved and start all over. (Some of his hair is pretty matted), but after that I am going to do some research and HOPEFULLY do the rest of the maintenance grooming myself.

We are crate training him right now and so far we haven't had any accidents. Hudson is the perfect addition to our family!

Cat's Out of the Bag!

We are 99% sure that we will be moving to FORT WORTH, TX at the beginning of March. That's the big news, no baby, but we do see a dog in our very near future.

Surprise!

Expect a huge catch up post and a big announcement coming soon!

1 on 11.11.11

Happy Birthday baby girl! Seriously it has been a year? You are too little to be ONE yet! In honor of your great achievement here are 11 awesome things about you:

1. You are WALKING!

2. You started shaking your head no when you are done with something.

3. You have the craziest hair on the planet!

4. You are super tough when your brother isn't the nicest.

5. You love to spin around super fast and hang upside down.

6. Winnie the Pooh is your favorite ride at Disneyland.

7. You only have 4 teeth!

8. You don't drink out of bottles, and you gave up on formula a month ago.

9. You have the cutest little dance, it is the cross between a shimmy and a shake.

10. You don't mind that your bedroom is the closet.

11. You're all OURS, and Daddy and Mommy and big brother Max adore you!

Addendum

Building on my last post...yesterday while taking a deliciously sunny afternoon bike ride to pick up the Neon, I thought about why it was that this week hadn't lived up to everything I thought it would.  Like, why is it that when I ate an entire dish of easy peanut butter treats that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would?  Why is it that going to bed early/on time  was didn't feel as rewarding?  What about the Rise of the Planet of the Apes--why wasn't going to the movies by myself as thrilling as I had anticipated?

I've never thought that having a family limited my happiness, but occasionally I would wonder what life would be like without them--when I do wonder, the imagined life is never better, just different.  After this past week, however, I realize that having a family--being a husband and a father--exposes to me an added measure of happiness.  When I am away from my family, that added measure disappears.  

I appreciate the time I had this week to work on projects and have some free time, but I am ready for my hottie-of-a-wife and fantastic kids to get back.  Texas, give them back to me!!

Bachelor Week

I'll let Traci recap her and the kid's adventures in Texas this week when they get back on November 1st.  As for me and my week of bachelorhood?  I know what you're thinking..crazy parties, movies every night, junk food, no showers, no shaving???  The life, right???  Well, here's how to best sum up my week:

[insert quiet, blank stare here]

Pretty blank, huh?  I had some fun watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes the night they left, but other than that, it has been pretty BORING.

I have, however, just completed half of the jcp training program!  As part of the midterm mark, this week I had to give a presentation on the work flow of the Retail Logistics Center.  Click here to see the Prezi presentation I made!  It might not make much sense/flow well without me explaining it, but you can at least see how I tried to make this presentation interesting--keep in mind that every trainee has to give, basically, the exact same presentation, so it's one that the core senior management I presented to has seen multiple times.  Overall, I think I did pretty good--they liked the Prezi, and had zero questions afterwards, saying that I had been very thorough.  That's good, right?

In other news, we had more work done on the Neon this week.  It's really frustrating to know that I am paying a mechanic for a job that I could do myself, had I had the tools and the time.  Engine mounts?  Seriously...child's play.  To finangle the movement of cars to the mechanic, however, I had to attach my bike to the Neon, drive a few miles to drop off the car, unhook my bike, and ride home.  Today, I get to ride my back back to the mechanic, hook it up, then drive home.  I'm not complaining though--It's been good exercise and fun to ride around.

Chew on this nibblette of classic happenings - I rode my bike to Disneyland/California Adventure last night.  Just as I pull up to park my bike, my back tire went completely flat.  CLASSIC!  I decided to shrug it off and have some fun anyway--chalking the issue up to the Lord knowing that I need all the exercise I can get.  I rode four rides in about 3 1/2 hours, which I think is pretty good for a Friday night!  Then I walked the 2.5 miles home (no biggey!), made a mountain-man-sized plate of potatoes, eggs, bacon, and sausage, and topped the night off resting my dogs, fillin' my belly, and watching Psych.

Five years already?

First, Happy Birthdays go out to Pa Hoke and Wade-o!  We hope you guys had/have a great day!!!

Second, BIG congrats go out to Brant, Chris, and Greyson!

Third, we celebrate 5 years of marriage this week.  Two kids, two college degrees, two colleges, five jobs, six apartment moves, three states, a few fights (which have totaled much, much fewer than the count of make-out sessions), and three cars and a scooter later, we are still extremely happily married.

To celebrate, we got a sitter and went to the show where you slap these on your shirt:

You know, the place where you stand in front of a blue screen to take pictures like these (which then had to be kifed from the internet to avoid the tremendous price of getting them printed):

It was poorly executed on my part, however, so we left after three hours of contestant processing and didn't quite get to step foot in the studio.  I failed to understand or find out that, in addition to 4-5 hours of taping, there were three hours of contestant prep (a.k.a. waiting in line) before the show really gets started.  Instead of squeezing an extra three hours out of a very gracious sister from the ward who was watching our kids, we decided to head home early.  Next time, right?

My wife is awesome.  She is my best bud, a smokin' hottie, and the best mom my kids have ever had.

Update

Other than it being CRAZY expensive to live here, we are enjoying our stay in California so far.  In the past month Derrick started work, we visited the Cushings, we've been to Disneyland a few times, Max had his 4th birthday, and Max started soccer!  Enjoy the photos and videos at Derrick's Picasa page.  Below is a samples of the goodness found at the link above.

Happy baby!

Motherhood

I am not going to lie, I am still adjusting to full-time motherhood. My last class ended 2 months ago, but I still feel like I am catching up to speed. Honestly, I am feeling overwhelmed. I'm sure that every mother feels that way, but I just don't know how to get everything done. How am I supposed to to keep a household clean, cook three meals, clean up after those 3 meals, play with children inside and outside, discipline those children and teach them the gospel, do laundry, and somehow take a shower for myself?  I tell Derrick all of the time, "I just don't know how anybody does it. If my house is supposed to be clean, I would be cleaning 24 hrs a day!"  and I only have 2 kids!

Sorry I am not trying to sound pessimistic, or to be complaining, but is there a secret that I don't know about? Does everyone's homes look like mine, where one child is pulling off the cover to the AC vent the other child is splashing in the sink of the bathroom, my living looks like World War III has started and I am still in yesterday's clothes, with no bra on, and covered in baby food?

I better get off my daughter is starting to eat the map to California Adventure, but I was just wondering if there is some magic fairy that flies to desperate mother's homes and watch their children so that they can take a shower, or a nap? Maybe someone like this?

There isn't? That's too bad.

What's up hommie?

tres no MAS

Max is no longer three, now he's FOUR! Here are some pictures of the day, we had a really spectacular day last Friday. We woke up to donuts and a special video left by daddy, and a phone call from Verity and Wade. The Party was train/Thomas themed, and we had a really fun time.

The presents, Max got a train table, a HUGE Thomas wooden train set, a big talking Captain America, and ton of musical instruments.

Max wanted to eat his favorite food CORNDOGS plus some soda.

Max loved his train cake even though mommy thought that it was a hot mess. (Hey I tried)

Out little back porch/yard area, I made the banner.

Dad and Max ended the day with a late night trip to California Adventure and a movie camp out in the living room. Max is a crazy boy, but we love him. Happy Birthday, you teach us new things everyday.

Good Times

We have some of the best friends in the world. We had a little going away temple night with our best friends before we left Utah, and it was awesome. We went to a session at the Provo Temple and then followed it up with trip to Yogurtland. What a perfect way to say goodbye without any sadness. I just had the spirit testify that we would be having this reunion again someday. Derrick and I have made some wonderful lifetime friends while we lived in Utah.

Us with our buds at the Provo Temple - Scott and Christie Foley, Steven Williams sans wife (We missed you, Crystal!), us, David and Brittany Scott, and Lindsey and Bob Harper. (Sorry about the weird picture--I got it off of facebook)

I want to recognize one family in particular, the Scott's, David, Brittany, and little Coleman. What an amazing family! They have been our best friends for about 4 years now. Brittany is an amazing artist (check out her ridiculously awesome portraits here), soccer player, and mom. David is handy man, world class photographer, professional swimmer, and an avid rockstar. And they are OUR friends! Anyways they have been amazing to us, helping us move a THOUSAND times, watched the children while I went to school, been a shoulder to cry on when we needed it, taken family photos, and even let us sleep over when we were locked out of our apartment over a weekend, and therefore homeless for a few days. Most importantly they are centered around the gospel, and some really loving parents, too. Here are some good pictures we have of some memories with them:

We miss them! It was hard leaving such good friends.

Transition | In other news, we are getting excited about Max's Thomas-the-Train-themed 4th birthday on Friday!! It is just going to be the four of us, but I am kind of stoked about it. Sorry we are not blogging more, but we are just getting used to this new chapter and having fun at the beach, Disneyland, our complex pool, and with frequent bike rides, a new ward, and extremely beautiful weather. Expect posts coming up on the big 4, and photos of our new pad. I know you can't wait.