Recipe for White Bean and Chicken Chili Soup

Today for picnic at the park I quickly made this soup. My friends wanted me to share the recipe, so here it is. I didn't actually saute onions and garlic this time because I was in a hurry. I just added some deydrated onions and garlic granules. I even used canned chicken this time.  :) It was fast and easy.

White Bean and Chicken Chili Soup

2 quarts drained small white beans (1 lb dried beans cooked)

2 C chicken, cooked and diced

1 quart chicken broth

1 large onion, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt (to taste)

1 tsp dried oregano leaves

pinch of cayenne pepper

2 cans green chilies

In a stock pot, sauté onions. Then add garlic and cumin.  Then add chicken broth and the rest of the ingredients.  Heat through.

Optional:  In each bowl, top with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and fresh chopped cilantro.  Serve with corn bread on the side.

Jaren's pack meeting - receives Wolf badge

Tonight was Beau's Kindergarten Round Up at 6:30pm and then Jaren's scouts pack meeting. He earned his Wolf badge last month and they gave it to him tonight. Sorry I look so aweful. Next time I will try to remember to look presentable for pictures. hahaha!

Jileigh's art 2

This is the first picture Jileigh created with all her new markers. She calls it: Zentangled. I love it!

Day at the Dunes

The kids had the day off school and Matt took the day off work. First we cleaned the house up and then Matt and I made bar soap. I have been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't have the guts to do it by myself. Together, we made our first batch of bar soap.

The soap is resting on top of the ledge for two days. Then they are cut into bars.

This is the link for the instructions I followed: http://millersoap.com/soapproc.html

This is the link for the recipe I used: http://millersoap.com/soapanimal.html#BlendedCoc

Then we went out to the dunes with the 4-wheelers.

These are two videos of my little Beau riding with his Dad. He loved it!

Jileigh and Angelique
Jileigh and Angelique
Safia
Jaren
Talon
Talon, Jaren, Beau and Jileigh
Angelique, Talon, Jaren, Safia, Beau, and Jileigh
Jileigh, Talon, Angelique, Jaren, Safia, Beau, Elody
The family - We used the timer on the camera
Guess Who's covered in sand?
It's Jaren!
Angelique half covered in sand
Safia Covered in sand
Talon covered in Sand
Jileigh on her 4-wheeler
Elody, Matt and Beau
Beau and Matt
A very sandy Talon

Jileigh

I put a meal in the crock pot before we left, so all I had to do was make rice while all the kids showered. Then we ate and went to bed. We were all so tired.

Easter Morning and Happy Birthday Jileigh!

This little baby bassinet was hand knitted by a lady at Matt's work.
This is Easter Morning. We woke the kids up at 9am, lined them up, and they received their baskets. It's also Jileigh's birthday, so we gave her the present we got her, a webcam and Phoebe's present and card.

Baptism day for Branden and The Robinsons

Matt, Dan, Branden, Nate, Bishop Jones, Bro. Beagly
Beau, Miranda, Safia, Hannah, Sariah, Myka, Angelique, Branden, Jileigh, Elody, Jaren, Colton

In back: Morgan, Matt, Isaiah, Dan, Talon, Molly
My Elody
Saturday was Branden's baptism, Nate and Candy's boy. (Nate is Matt's brother.) After the baptism, we went to Nate and Candy's for a luncheon and Easter Egg hunt. A couple of Matt's sibling filled their eggs that they brought with candy. So, when the first round was over, they all brought the basket to me, I dumped each egg out onto the table, and gave them their eggs and basket back. Those (of Matt's) siblings took the candy back into their own baskets and that was the end of it. I won't apologize for being concerned with my children's health and they all know it. Elody did end up eating a little bit of candy without me catching her. She is the only one that ended up getting sick, and with a high fever. (My camera's batteries died after only a couple of pictures at the egg hunt.)

After that, Matt, Jaren,and I went to the Robinson's baptism. Matt and the elder's quorum president along with the missionaries have been teaching this family for months now. The mom Venice is a member and now her husband and two children are members.

Later that evening, Jileigh and I went back to Candy's so Grandma H could give Jileigh her birthday present: a package of Jileigh favorite Sharpie Markers from Costco. She's been wanting that for about a year.

Ben and Julie's wedding day!

I just have to say that I love this picture! Those are some awesome shoes.
Elody and Hannah together!


Ben is Matt's brother. He is divorced. He has three boys that he gets 50% of the time. He met Julie at least a year ago and they decided to marry in the temple. They have spend a good part of that year getting the paper work so they could be sealed. She was sealed to her first husband who has now left the church and he is still sealed to his first wife but needed to have the clearance to be sealed again. So Finally all the paper work was completed and they got Married!

Here are the pictures of the wedding cake. Matt's sister Esther made this! It's amazing! My favorite so far of all her work.

Family pics at the Temple

These are the family pics that we took at the temple after Ben's wedding. Unfortunately, most of them have a blue hue to them. I was rather disappointed. Some of them don't and I don't know how to make them not. I am guessing it's the white background.