Swaptastic! Swaperiffic! Swaptabulous!

OH Happy DAY!!!

My package for Mamarazzi's Favorite Things Swap came today!! OH MY GOODNESS...the awesomeness that is my partner Tanielle from ThePolka-dotDaisy blog. First of all the box was adorable. She made a darling mailing label that made me want to rip the box open before I even left the front porch. THEN i opened it and EVERYTHING was wrapped and labeled with the cutest little tags. The presentation and thought that went into this package of her favorite things is FABULOUS! Thank you so much Tanielle...you are such a cute, fun, girl...I love everything you sent me and I cannot wait until you open your package of goodness I sent to you!!

(clickety to biggefy)

1. "My Favorite: thing to carry all my junk" a D-A-R-L-I-N-G patch work bag.
2. "My Favorite: saying" beautiful sentiment, adorable pillow...love it!
3. "My Favorite: color on my toes" and it's PINK!!
4. "My Favorite: summer accessory" cute cute cute toe ring and anklet.
5. "My Favorite: skin softener" and it smells sooooo good!
6. "My Favorite: list maker" I am a big list maker this little postit notebook is perfect!
7. "My Favorite: snack" mmmmm popcorn!
8. "My Favorite: place to spend an evening" a beautiful postcard of Temple Square
9. "My Favorite: holiday. I love Christmas too and I can't wait to display this!!

Fellow Swappers...please grab the new code for Mamarazzi's Favorite Things Swap, take pics of your packages and link up HERE....we want to see the goodness that is arriving on doorsteps all over the United States..so much fun!

<a href="http://www.ourdandelionwishes.com/2009/05/swaptastic-swaperiffic-swaptabulous.html"> <center><img src="http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq48/aprildurham23/Swap4copy.jpg" /></center></a>

MR. Linky for Swap Participants ONLY

(Mr. Linky is working on some kinks just click to open box)

(only link once...if you make a mistake I will fix it)

Cooking with Jordan! #22 Cream Cheese Chicken over Rice

Time for another episode of Cooking with Jordan. You can view earlier episodes by clicking on these links Preview, One Dish Mexican, Grilled Chicken, Cooking(?) with Daddy, Tortellini Soup , Teriyaki Chicken, Buffalo Chicken Bites, Parmesan Chicken Pasta With Broccoli, Garbage Casserole, Cheeseburger Pie, Golden Crusted Chicken Asparagus Lasagna, Baked Rigatoni, Tuna Noodle Casserole, BBQ Beef Crumble, Feel Better Chicken Noodle Soup, Faux Sushi,Chicken Pot Pie on the Fly, Chicken and Dumplings, Egg Nog Pie, BBQ Beef Cups, Beef Pot Pie w/ Corn Bread Crust, Dill Crusted Lime Salmon and Grandma Lynn's AWESOME Dip. The whole point of the cooking lessons for J is to show her some basic easy meals, teach her how to plan a menu, learn how to follow a recipe and help her become more comfortable in the kitchen...this is not anything totally gourmet or culinary school worthy. We hope you enjoy Cooking With Jordan and try these recipes with your kids. They are totally J approved!

I found this one in a draft folder...I never posted it, and it's from FEBRUARY! craaaaazy!

Cream Cheese Chicken and Rice (crockpot style)

4-6 pieces of chicken (we like breasts for this)

1 package of dry ranch dressing mix

1/2 cups water

cook 3-4 hrs or until done on med high shred chicken

(use a liner for this recipe...i forgot)

combine 1 brick cream cheese,

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup of milk

season with pepper and garlic salt

(as you know we don't know how to cook w/out it)

dried parsley for color

blend until smooth

pour over chicken and blend

yummy over rice with a salad

Randoms and Monthly Winners

I just found the first part of this in my drafts for April...I can't believe I missed a month.

Did you know I do a monthly drawing for fun prizes EXCLUSIVELY from my list of followers? Yep, just for following. So yeah..follow me and you could be a winner!!

Well I do and here are the winners from April:

Eva from Daily Dose of Diva and Lynette from CRAZED MIND

and the winners for May are:

Mimi from Living In France and Allison from Slice of Heaven

Congrats to the winners. I truly appreciate you and your comments, thanks for following and for stopping now and then to drop a little love. Send me your addresses girls and I will get a little bit of goodness off to you the first week of June!

Also I have a really fun idea for a contest coming up and I am looking for the perfect prize. If you have an Etsy shop or product and would like to be featured on my blog drop me a note.

All of the participants for my THIRD Mamarazzi's Favorite Things Swap have sent their packages and goodness will be coming in the mail all over the United States...it thrills me that over 100 women are going to be getting Good Mail this week because of this swap. I love hosting these, they are a ton of work and can get a little stressful but they are always worth it! Thanks for the hostess gifts and cards that have already arrived in the mail...I plan on doing a post about the goodness you have sent me soon..thanks y'all, it was my pleasure! I will post Mr. Linky later in the week or so...once I start hearing about packages arriving....so take pictures, we wanna see what y'all are receiving.

I am thinking of hosting a Red, White and Blue Swap at the end of June...what do you think? Be sure to vote in my latest poll on my sidebar!

It's going to be a quiet day around here. J is gone and Big Daddy is trying to work a few double shifts. I am going to try and catch up on some deep cleaning and get a little relaxing done too, maybe I will even find a good book to read. Any suggestions? I am also going to try and do a little blog jogging and catch up on the bloggy goodness that I have been missing. We will see what actually gets done...I might just nap, or play Scrabble all day on Facebook who knows...gotta love having choices!

Moving In...

See this little blue house? This is the home of my super fun in laws. This is a home where people gather and celebrations happen, good food is eaten and a great time is had by all.

let's take a closer look shall we?

on the front step you are greated by a darling spring wreath....
but look closer...what is this behind the wreath?

a nest!

take a peak inside the nest...EGGS!

If I were a bird...I would have picked this home to build my nest too.

Family Addition

Look at this little man... he is just WAY. Too. Cute. Right?! My sister Meg had her baby today....

Corbin Mac Willardson

6:01 pm, 5/21/09

7 lbs, 11 oz

19.5 inches

I think he looks a lot like my nephew Brock, my brother Mark's youngest....


i grabbed this video from Meg's private blog...hopefully it will work...watching Quin and Reese giggle themselves silly is precious!

Most Awesome Uncle of Them ALL...

We went to Hollister last week to watch my sister Amy's boys (so she could go to Colorado for my little brother Scott's graduation...holla!) and help my sister in law Melinda get their new gym USA Sports ready for the grand opening open house last weekend. It was a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of work (I painted over 250 faces). Big Daddy is not only the coolest dad ever he is also the most awesome uncle and the kiddos were WAY excited to see him. Big Daddy soaked it up and we had a great time (clickety to biggify the pics).

a little football in the backyard
with Parker, Garrett & Zachary

5 boys taking on their FAVORITE Uncle
we also stopped the ice cream truck on our way to the park
note to self: wet wipes...oh the sticky goodness!

Big Daddy helped build some barriers for the gym and

Steven was his right hand little man...love these pics!

We had so much fun spending time with these little guys. We also enjoyed hanging out with our adorable niece Taylor...I think I have some pics of her and Jordan at Chuck E. Cheese...YES I am the coolest Aunt ever, I went to Chuck E. Cheese...I pretty much hate that place ALMOST as much as I hate McDonald's. BUT I L-O-V-E my nieces and nephews and this is the cleanest Chuck E. Cheese I have ever been to...sooo...whatevs.

Georgia's Garden

I am still trying to catch up on my blogging. Life has been busy and I am having a hard time keeping up with the pace it is setting for itself...let alone blogging about it.On our last visit to My In laws home I snapped a few pictures of Georgia's Garden after these two left me in the dust as they went on a little trek down the dock to check Grandpa's boat after all the rain we had....
It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since we lost Great Grandma Georgia. My in laws bought her darling house and have been living there for several months now. They are all settled in and the house looks different with all their stuff there but touches of Georgia remain, especially in her garden where she spent hours upon hours tending to the beauty there. This is really the first time I have ever really tried to take pictures of "nature" so my shots are not perfect but I couldn't help but get myself lost in drops of rain on the flowers, the new blooms and the blooms that the rain knocked to the ground. Just basking in beauty like this reminded me that I need to remember to stop and savor moments...that old saying, stop and smell the roses took on a whole new meaning that day. I have been trying really hard to pay attention to the beauty all around me. Not just flowers and nature, but in the company I keep, my family, my friends...every aspect of my life..just taking it all in and whispering prayers of thanks that my life is truly beautiful.

So take a little time to click on these little collages and soak up the beauty that is Georgia's Garden...what beautiful blessing she has left for our family to enjoy for many years to come!

We love you and miss you Georgia but we know that the garden you are planting in heaven is going to blow this garden away, I can hardly even begin to imagine anything prettier than the garden you created here on earth but I know it must be amazing!

Introducing Hermie

This weekend we went to a street fair and as Jordan was standing in line for the big slide we saw some people with a little cage and a Hermit Crab. Big Daddy gave J a choice; $5 to go on the big slide 3 times or $5 to go towards a Hermit Crab. The decision was simple...

Introducing Hermie

J spent her $25 Easter gift card from her Grandparents

on a kit to make her cage cooler
fixing up the cage

Hermie crawling around to creep me out

Hermie crawling on J's hand "ohh that tickles!!"

J and Hermie

a close up of Hermie!

this kid is tickled pink...I am a little grossed out but glad she is happy

the new primped out cage

cute video of J introducing Hermie

video of Hermie creeping around the table

From what we have read about Hermit Crabs we learned they are social animals, so we have plans for a bigger cage and a "sibling" for Hermie soon...stay tuned!