a special thank you to the food network

Lately, (and by lately I mean for the past several months) I have lost all enthusiasm for cooking.  I'd sit down to write up a menu and find no joy in the task.  As a result, my poor family has had the same sorts of meals again and again.  But yesterday I found the love again.  I'm not sure why, but I think it may have something to do with the food network.  Abbie recorded a show called "chopped" and told me I would like it.  So, when I wasn't feeling too hot yesterday I watched it.  It was pretty entertaining and these people have such a passion for cooking, I felt guilty about my lack thereof.  I was inspired by their creativity and skills.  SO, I made a list.  I pulled up recipes I was excited about.  I vowed to change.

We went to WinCo in Murray after Kevin got home.  I love that place and I'll tell you why.  1.) It has good prices.  2.) It has a great bulk foods section.  And 3.) It's sort of trashy, so I don't stress if my boys are scruffy looking or if I didn't blow dry my hair (both of which were the case yesterday).

In fact, Taylor threw up all over himself just as we arrived, from car sickness I'm guessing because he was fine before and since.  We threw together an outfit for him using Noah's clothes, leaving Noah with a onesie and some of Austin's shorts.  We were a very cute little family.  But we fit right in and I was relieved to not be somewhere nicer where I would have worried about it more.  Is this just a step in the "I don't care how my children look" direction?  I hope not.   I may be eating these words as time goes by (or say, tomorrow when my children escape and go gallivanting around the neighborhood in their pajamas or without pants, yet again...) but it's important to me that my boys look somewhat well kept in public.  Except at WinCo.  WinCo is a safe haven of people who don't care.  It's like my little bit of Deer Park here in Utah.

We had a very productive shopping trip, came home, got the boys to bed, then I started cooking.  Our house gets HOT in the afternoon, so I decided to cook 5 pounds of hamburger, 1 pack of bacon, and one huge pork roast simultaneously at 10 pm.  Now, with all of this meat prepared and my fridge packed with produce, all I need do is choose WHICH of my planned meals to make.  After months of wondering WHAT in the world to make, (and usually coming up with something awesome like egg sandwiches) this is a good dilemma to have.

Also,
I'm dreaming of the Oregon Coast lately...my boys playing on the beach... 

 It doesn't have to be Oregon, any beach would do I think.  It's exciting to me that my boys are getting old enough for real family vacations.

But for now we'll try to be content with the splash pad and our slip n' slide.