More Florida - - - Cooking with Pop

Well, we are home from our Florida Adventure. We had a very nice time seeing our family. We didn't do any of the typical FL attractions. We did however take walks, play at local parks and enjoy our time with Nana & Pop and a few other Family members along the way.

One of the things that Cami really enjoyed was helping Pop cook. She helped with biscuits one morning and made mini cupcakes with a little chef set they bought her. Here are some pics of the fun.

Florida Day 2, 3, & 4

Day 2(Thursday):

My mom, Cami and I drove to Oviedo and picked up my Aunt BJ and went shopping. There is a big outlet mall in Orlando and we went there. I didn't take my camera so dont have any pictures. We had fun. Spent most of the morning and early afternoon shopping and ate lunch there as well. It was a huge outlet mall and had a bunch of stores that I had never seen in an outlet mall before (express and victoria secret just to name a couple).

Day 3 (Friday):

We went to the Daytona Flea Market. It is a huge market with fresh baked goods, local fruits and veggies, souvenirs and pretty much anything else you could think of. If was rainy and chilly out, so it was good to do something inside.

walking in

Cami scored a new chair for Nana and Pop's house

Rows and Rows of stuff

Later that afternoon....

Playing in the kitchen with bowls and spoons

She even got Pop to put a bowl on his head

Playing the bowls...I mean the Drums with Nana.

Cheese. Its so funny cause everytime I get the camera out she says "cheese...see?" Often time she asks to see the picture before I even snap one. ahhh, the joys of a digital camera.

Day 4 (Saturday):

Saturday we met my Uncle & Aunt and Sister at one of my favorite little restaurants in Daytona Beach the deck down under. YUMMY

The fam enjoying seeing the water from our table. It was really windy and a little too chilly to sit outside.

Aunt BJ and Uncle Jeff back at the house relaxing while mommy and nana were cooking dinner.

Florida Day 1

Florida Day 1

Well actually yesterday was our first day of vacation. But Travelling with a toddler isn't much of a vacation. With that said...Cami did PERFECTLY on the plane. We watched DVD's until our DVD battery died, played and ate snacks.

We arrived late last night and then drove to Port Orange where my parents new house is. This is our first time to their new house so we were very excited to see their new place.

First thing this morning we ate breakfast and went for a walk to explore around thier neighborhood. Did I mention how beautiful the weather is here today....supposed to be a hi of 70.

We found a park

sitting by a pond watching the ducks...QUACK QUACK

Playing in Nana & Pop's living room. Lots of new toys to play with.

Rib Night

Rib Night

Last Night we made ribs for dinner. One of our specialities. We make them pretty often and they are delicious and as often as we eat them it is always a treat!

Cami is really coming into her own eating them and giving mommy & daddy a run for our money.

After Matt and I were finished, I started cleaning up the kitchen. Cami was still eating, Matt came back into the kitchen and found her liking the BBQ sauce out of the cap.
YUMMY

Dinner

Well. Normally I blog about our sweet daughter and our family adventures, but today I am discussing another passion of mine....COOKING. So I have included this first picture about Cami Whenever I am in the kitchen cooking or cleaning she takes it upon herself to help. So as I was cooking this meal this is what she was doing.

Now, on to the main event. If you know me, you know that I love to cook and bake. I have always enjoyed it, but at the beginning of our married life I never had the time to dedicate to new recipes. Now that I am a stay at home mom I have more time to plan our and prepare meals (and more help from a sweet toddler girl). Also if you were to show up at our house at any given time there is a pretty good chance you would find the TV on 1 of 3 choices cartoons, ESPN or the food network.

I was at the store about a month ago and decided that I would buy some arborio rice. I have always wanted to make risotto, but have never tried it before and honestly was a little intimidated. Well, last night was the night.

Baked garlic, lemon & herb chicken with risotto and garlic lemon fresh green beans. All I can say is YUMMY!


I will tell you that this was a great side dish away from our ordinary potatoes, but it was definitely time consuming. Worth the effort.

Risotto Recipe

I skipped the wine and the asparagus

This Weekend

Well, we had aspirations of having a great weekend. Getting together with friends to watch the Chiefs Playoff game, Church, breakfast with my sister & her husband, a few errands and a few things around the house....but most of all enjoying some fun Family time. Well, that hasn't exactly been how things have turned out.

Friday late afternoon (after nap) I noticed that Cami was running a low grade fever. Nothing too terrible (high 99's) but I could definitely tell a difference in her mood. I thought it might be teething as she hasn't gotten her second set of molars or her canine teeth. As the evening progressed she got worse and worse. Matt also came home from work feeling bad. So needless to say we have been locked in our house trying to rest and recover.

It took a lot of coaxing to get this good of a smile today. She has moments when I think she is feeling much better and then the next moment she'll starting coughing and crying.
This is a better representation of what she looked like most of the day.

Unfortunately the outcome of the game was not what we had hoped.... but that pretty well goes with the theme of our weekend.

Williams Family Christmas Picture

Williams Family Christmas Picture

Thankfully we got a family photo done this visit. Albeit at the end of service with a bunch of tired kids, but we got it done. This is the first really organized family photo since Josh was born and he turned one in August. Can wait to get it printed and hang it up in our house!

Christmas in Kansas

Well, we are back from our Holiday trip to KS. We had a great time. I decided that I would take some time to post some photos and details of our trip.

We left 12/22 from Albuquerque and drove to Yukon, OK. Cami did fabulous in the car. Nana and Pop Pierce bought her a portable DVD player and she was perfectly content watching DVD's and taking naps. Matt and I took turns sitting with her in the back seat.

We arrived in Holton around 3pm on the 23rd. Cami was really excited to see her Grandma (Mana) and Papa and cousins and quickly warmed up to everyone.

We woke up to snow on the ground on the 24th. Cami still wasn't sure that she liked the white stuff.
Cami and Mana walking in the snow
Cami and her Mana

The evening of the 24th we all got dressed up and went to Christmas Eve Church service. Matt and his Family were in charge of most of the music for the service, so we went early for them to practice. The kids played and burned up some energy by running around in the Multi-purpose area in the church, which turned out to be a great time for a mini-photo shoot.
Joshy
Cami trying to help Mana play the piano

All the cousins Left to Right Parker (6), Josh (16 mos.), Paige (8), Cami (21 mos. ), Peyton (12) & Carter (10)
Grandkids with Grandma and Papa

The service was very nice. The music was great and I did get a bit of video of everyone singing and I'll try and post that....eventually!

After service the babies were exhausted and they went straight to bed. The rest of us stayed up and opened our Santa Bags (instead of stocking because they are bigger). The big kids were lobbying to open all the presents, but they were pretty tried too!
Parker and Carter
Paige and Peyton
Jill and Rick

Christmas Morning. The babies got to open their Santa bags before all the family arrived ...we might have eaten cinnamon rolls too! :)
Aunt Heidi and Cami (Heidi don't be mad at me for posting this pic....its too cute!)
Mommy and Cam working on a present
Sissy Peyton helping Joshy

Showing off the outfit that Aunt Heidi and Uncle Eric got her for Christmas.

After the present were open, everyone went to other family event except for Matt and I. So after nap Matt, Cami, Mana and Papa and I went to see Tangled in the theatre. This was the first time Cami had been to the movies since she was an infant. She loved it and did so well. The only part that she got upset was when the mean lady fell off the tower and she yelled "oh no". Matt and I really enjoyed watching her expressions and interest.

On the way home we broke up the drive a bit more than usual. We stopped and stayed with Matt's brother Eric and his family in Wichita. This was a great way for us to break up the trip and spend a little extra time with our niece and nephew who we hadn't seen in a year.

Hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful and you all took time to reflect on the meaning and took time to be thankful for the Gift God has given to us all.