Tater Tot Casserole

Whenever I find a new recipe on Pintrest I'm pretty excited when I have all of the ingredients. When I found the tater tot casserole last night I decided to look because I had literally just bought some tater tots. After looking at the recipe I found I had all the ingredients and it looked really easy so i decided to try and make it tonight.

Like I said its a really easy recipe. Nothing too fancy but the end result as pretty good!

The original recipe is here. But I'll type it out for you as well.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Diced Onion(I learned I can't dice an onion so next time I'll use dried onions.)

1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup

1/4 cup sour cream or milk

1 Cup grated cheddar cheese

1 bag frozen tater tots

Pre-heat oven to 375. Brown ground beef in a skillet. Add onion when the meat is almost done. When browned remove beef from heat and add soup and sour cream/milk. Try it and season to taste. Pour mix into a 8 or 9 inch square glass pan. Top with cheese and put as many tater tots as you can fit in one layer on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Some things that I noticed were:

~I could have cooked it longer. I like really crispy tots and 30 minutes was just barely crispy.

~I had to use mozzarella cheese because I forgot our cheese grater broke. It tasted fine with the different cheese but I think cheddar would have been better. 

~Obviously this recipe is pretty basic so next time I have a few ideas to spice it up a little!

It was an easy, fast recipe and I think it's going to become a regular for our house!

You've had a birthday, Shout Hooray!

Its about a week and a half late but Dax turned one on the third and got to celebrate a lot! On his actual birthday I made him pancakes with fruit for breakfast. Also he got a drum with different shaking instruments from Ryan and I.

Then after Ryan got home from work his family came over. We didn't do much more on his actual birthday because the party was planned for Saturday.
The big party was supposed to have both sides of our family but a lot of my family was sick so the party was done in two parts. On the day after Dax birthday his Gram and Grump Dean and Aunt Lea had pizza with us, played games, and had cake and ice cream. It was pretty fun having them for the week-end even though the original plan was altered. We also got to open presents from Ryan's Aunt Margaret which I had wanted to open since we got the package before Christmas.

This past Saturday, My family came down and we had Dax's birthday part two. We did pretty much the same thing as the other party but we had more people! Dax probably didn't really care what was going on but he seemed to enjoy his visitors both times.

Here are some pictures of mainly the second weekend because Ryan took the pictures on his phone the first weekend.

A Wonderful Christmas Time

Happy holiday season! It has already been a busy one here at the Dean's. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with just the tree of us. I was supposed to help Ryan cook but Dax ended up wanted to take a nap right when almost everything needed to be prepared. I made breakfast though! I wanted to start the tradition of making cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving so I did. They turned out pretty great the second time after doing a test run on Monday. After breakfast we went to a turkey bowl that some guys from church put together. I had every intention of watching Ryan play while taking Dax for a stroll but Dax decided to fall asleep on our way over so I just watched from the car.
On Saturday morning we went to my parents house for breakfast and decorating the Christmas tree. My mom had a little toy nativity set for the little boys to play with but they weren't to interested in it. Dax was much more interested in the sparkly red balls that go on the tree. After that we headed to Barstow to spend the rest of the weekend with Ryan's family. When we got there his aunt and uncle were there and we got to catch up and play card games with them. Playing cards is a staple at Ryan's parents. We play some kind of card game every time we visit. Then on Sunday we relaxed and played more games. Ryan helped his mom print some family history to send to family back east and Lea made a delicious dinner of prime rib and fish. Its definitely a blessing to have someone who went to culinary school in the family!
Now we are geared up for a busy December. We've already been to Christmas parties and have a few more to come. We both finish school about the same time and then we are heading up to Utah for a little bit. Also, we will be getting ready for Dax's first birthday at the beginning of January!
 We hope everyone of our family and friends has a lovely, safe holiday season!

To get you in the mood here is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

And just for some fun Dax and I had a little photo shoot this morning. These few are my favorites of what I took.

Protect the Children

Last October, while watching General Conference, I was particularly impressed by the talk Dallin H. Oaks gave entitled Protect the Children. He spoke of children's welfare and what adults do to help or hinder children. A particular quote I like was this: 

"Children are highly vulnerable. They have little or no power to protect or provide for themselves and little influence on so much that is vital to their well-being. Children need others to speak for them, and they need decision makers who put their well-being ahead of selfish adult interests."

I was impressed to not only care for my children to the best of my abilities but to also care for other children who need help. I have always wanted to foster and adopt children and hope that someday I can help by providing a stable, welcoming home to children who don't know or have forgotten what that is. Right now in my life there is no way to feesibly start with this goal but I have found a family who is looking out for the welfare of a little girl who has come into their lives.

Though I don't know Camilla well, I have always been in awe of her. She has three little girlies, two of which are twins, that are the cutest little toddlers. She takes care of them as well as knit hats and manage by herself while her husband, Michael, goes to school full time, works graveyard as a CNA and works part time for the National Guard! Even with all of this she and her family are lookin out for te welfare of a girl who is in a bad situation.

I'm not entirely sure how Camilla and her family came to know Evie but even before her situation was in its current condition Camilla helped her. Camilla, and her family would have Evie over constantly. While in their home they taught Evie basic principles of the gospel and showed her what a family centered in Christ was like.

Now Evie is in a bad situation where she cannot live with her father any more. Camilla and Michael want desperately to help Evie by becoming foster parents so that she can come live with them. They need to move to a bigger home to do this and do not have sufficient funds to do so right now. I'm writing this blog post in hopes that after you read it you will share it with your friends as well as go to the links I will provide to help them. You can either donate money to them or buy a cute knitted hat from Camilla to help them toward their goal of becoming Evie's  foster parents. It is my sincer hope that this blog post will reach many people and that even if you do not know Camilla and Michael that you will help them in some way so they can in turn help Evie.

Camilla and Evie

The whole family

http://www.gofundme.com/4avefk

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Chic-Mommy-Boutique/192838590796603

Autumn is coming!

There are so many things to report on! Especially because it has been a couple months since my last post.

Last week marked Ryan and my two year anniversary of living in Northridge. Also, we have lived in our aparemt for a year and a weekish which makes this the place we have leaved the longest since getting married.

Also, on Tuesday not only will Dax be eight months old but I'll be going back to school. Thankfully, I have a friend who will watch Dax on Tuesdays and my mom will be able to come on Thursdays and stay the night so I won't have to take Dax to a day care. While I have no problems, other than cost, with child care I also want Dax's first experiences away from mom for long periods of time to be with more familiar faces.

Ryan is also back to school now. We've been pretty excited for it. After a summer of ten plus hour days and only Sundays off we are really looking forward to him getting home from work at four and having the while weekend together as a family.

So much has happened over the past couple months so

I'll just leave some pics to show you what we have been doing to pass the time.

Spring with the Deans

Our little Dax is three months old. He is a whopping 14.6 lbs and two feet long! He and dad like to practice rolling over and standing up. Also, he and mom like taking walks in the afternoons.

April has already been pretty exciting for the Deans. Monday I went to Glendale to meet with a counselor about my financial aid situation. I had to get an appeal because I exceeded the amount of credits they thought was enough for my academic goal. While talking to a counselor I decided to get my associates at Glendale. Originally, I was going to get my degree from Vvc but since I never applied for graduation it made more sense to get the degree at Glendale along with my certificate in Dance teaching. I'll have to go a semester longer then anticipated but it'll be worth it to get my certificate and my degree.

Tuesday Dax and I took the train to Rancho Cucamonga to have lunch with my mom and my grandma along with My Aunt Kimberly and Cousin Rachel who were visiting from Virginia. though it takes two hors on the train to get there it was worth it to see them. And it wasn't to bad traveling with Dax, on the way there he slept and on the way back I was able to keep him pretty happy even though he was in his car seat.

Over the weekend we got to listen to General Conference. It's a wonderful bi-annual televised event where leaders of the LDS church speak to us the words the God wants us to hear. Two new temples were announced and a new General Young Womens Presidency was announced. Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the former president gave a wonderful talk before being released. I'm sad to see he go but I am equally excited for the new presidency!

Here a couple favorite quotes from this great weekend:

 

 

 

 

Yesterday Ryan had the day off before working this whole week so we decided to go to Santa Monica pier. We only went for about an hour but that was perfect for Dax. We walked about halfway up the pier and then went down to the water. We didn't put his feet in the water but we did let him stand in the sand.

 

Dax was indifferent about the whole experience. He didn't seem phased at all about having sand between his toes.

 



 

Marchin'

Over the past month we've been pretty busy. Dax and I went up to the High Desert at the beginning of March for Uncle Andy and Aunt Mary's birthdays and for Mary's Baby shower. The next week we got to make a quick trip to Gram and Grandpa Dean's house. And the weekend after that Grammy and Grandpa Whitlock came to see Dax.

Throughout the semester Dax and I have been meeting up with Ryan at the institute for lunch. This month has been more fun because Dax is actually awake. Even though its only about forty-five minutes its nice to see Ryan during the day.

Over Easter weekend we were able to go to a family picnic for my Dad's side of the family. Though I don't know many of the family members that go I like going. And it was kinda funny to see my dad and a bunch of ladies sitting around talking about their parents and grandparents. Also, Dax got to see some family.

After we got back from the picnic, my parents watched Dax so that Ryan and I could go out for our Anniversary. Ryan wanted to surprise me so I didn't know where we were going. After getting sandwiches we gave each other gifts. Ryan's gift for me was ice cream, which doesn't seem like that great a gift for some but I LOVE ice cream. This is where the surprise comes in. On Ryan's mission there was an Italian Ice shop that he really liked. While working he came across the same shop and wanted to take me. Sadly, it had not opened for business yet but it has since then so we'll be going out to Santa Clarita soon for some Rita's!

Easter morning Dax got his first Easter basket from Grammy and Grandpa. He also got to wear his really cute blue Easter suit. He got a pair of swim shorts so as soon as it warms up some more Ryan will take him out in the pool.

Though I had to take Dax out to feed him, Sacrament meeting was really great. There were a plethora of spiritual musical numbers and great talks given by some of the amazing people in our ward. I was able to teach in Young Womens about the Atonement and the Resurrection. I had a really great time preparing and teaching the lesson it was nice to focus on those things for the Easter season.

Here are some of our Easter pictures:

Dax with his frog basket

Ryan even has a blue suit so he matched Dax