Aniston Jenice

Aniston, Anna, AJ, Age, Anna-B's, AnnaBelle, she answers to anything! She is now 4 years old, and thinks she is a grown up! When Aniston was born, she came out with dark red skin and black hair. She has big dark brown eyes! We weren't sure where all the darkness came from, so Cassidy decided to do some reasearch in his family tree. His Grandpa was dark, but he wasn't sure why. What we found out was that Cassidy's Great Great Grandpa was African American, and his Great Great Grandma was from Switzerland, and Cassidy's Great Grandpa was from Spain. We found some old census records that showed us this info. It was really neat to be able to find this out. And now we know why Aniston is so dark!

Alyssa has said recently that she thinks Jesus gave Anna to the wrong family, because she is so dark. And Anna has said that her Mom and Dad died so she came to our family. (I don't like when they learn about dying and death, and all the yucky things they learn so early in life!!)I assure her that she is ours 100%, she is just lucky to have such beautiful dark skin, curly hair and big brown eyes.

She is such a happy girl, with a sassy attitude. Alyssa says she is so "moxie" I guess that's the new word that is going around in school.

Here are some of her favorites....

Color-Pink and purple

Animal- Dumbo's

Food- pizza

Fav thing to do- Play with her Daddy

Fav toy- doll house with little dollies

Fav ride at Disneyland(she's been 3 times)- Dumbo and SplashMountain

Fav thing outside- playing in the water

best friend- Daddy, Abbie, Alyssa, Mom, and Tanner
When she grows up she wants to be a Mom that is Hannah Montana

Fav Movie-The Little Mermaid and Princess and the Frog
Fav Princess- Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella and Princess Tiana-- pretty much all of them!

We took Aniston's training wheels off her new birthday bike, and she had no problems. She still crashes into cars and bushes every once in a while, but for only being out on her bike a few times, she is doing awesome!! And it helps that we live in a cul-de-sac that has no traffic, they learn so much faster in the street.

We love you so much Aniston and are very glad that you are a part of our family!

Bear Lake

Last weekend my little family and I headed to Bear Lake. I love Bear Lake, I went with my family every summer growing up. This was the first time camping on our own, and without my parents. We have been having lots of fun dutch oven cooking at home, so we already knew how we would be doing most our cooking. We purchased a camp stove (which is great for emergency preparedness) and a few extra sleeping bags, and we were set! We camped at the Rendezvous Camp ground and there were about 30 campsites, and only 3 were occupied. It was so quiet and my kids got to explore and walk around all the campsites. They loved it! On Sunday we went to the Beach and were only planning on playing in the sand, the water was super cold. Cassidy and I didn't even wear our swimsuits. The sand was fun, but eventually the girls had to make motes around their castles, so they needed water. So Tanner followed, and ended up in the water. But the shallow part wasn't too cold, so the kids all got in the water and played. They loved it!! Back at our campsite, we had a visitor a few times a day. A rabbit! Of course, we can't go anywhere without some little creature, and my kids trying to catch it. Cassidy and the kids also found a baby bunny and followed it home. He lived in a hollowed out log that had fallen over. We didn't let the kids get too close to the rabbit's because they were wild. The kids didn't mind just watching and following them. Other than a wild wind storm that passed through, the weather was wonderful! My neighbor taught us a new way to make smores. 2 striped fudge cookies and a roasted marshmellows in the middle. My kids love them! We have a fire pit in our backyard, and try and make the kids smores with graham crackers and Hershey's, it's a mess and the kids don't eat them. So we are so happy to have discovered this new way to make them. The wind storm hit as we were making the smores, luckily we were able to roast the marshmellows and eat them in the tent. Aniston's birthday was Monday June 7th, so on Sunday (right before the smores and the windstorm) Cassidy made her a dutch oven cake with cherries. It was yummy!! The kids didn't eat much of it, but Cassidy and I sure did enjoy it!
I love my little campers, we had so much fun and I am looking forward to when we get to go back.

The day we came home was Aniston's birthday, so we took her to Boondocks. They give a $25 gift card to the birthday person. it's good for 4 attractions and $5 game play. All you need to do is register online or show your birth certificate to prove it's your birthday. It was a lot of fun.

And the day after that we went to the Zoo. It was a great day to go! We finally spotted the Iguana in the Snake house. We have been going to the Zoo for years, and have never seen it. And the 3 tiger cubs (they are huge) Were playing in the water and were so active. I can't wait for 2012, when they have the Rocky Shores exhibit open. They will have seals and Polar Bears (MY FAV)!! It has been a great start to summer at the Keyes house! Can't wait for more fun!!

Dutch oven Peach Cobbler

I don't plan on posting all my Dutch oven meals, but this dessert was so yummy!! I was a little hesitant about the recipe. You add the dry cake mix on top of the peaches that are layered on the bottom of the dutch oven. And then you pour the peach juice on top of the dry cake mix. I have never heard of this. And all the recipes in all the cookbooks that are for Dutch Ovens are just like this. So I had to try it! The girls put all the ingredients in, and after they went to bed Cass and I ate it. My neighbor made a yummy strawberry dessert that she shared, so they didn't go to bed without dessert. After we took the peach cobbler out, non of it was stuck to the dutch oven. It all came out clean. That never happens in my home oven. I read in a recipe book tonight that the more you use the dutch oven, the more non-stick it becomes. This is my way of cooking!!

Dutch Oven Ribs

I decided last week that I wanted to start dutch oven cooking. So I went to Smith and Edwards (awesome store) and got a Lodge brand dutch oven. On Friday night I cured/seasoned it, and then Saturday I got some boneless pork ribs, and tried it out. First I added oil in the bottom of my oven, then peppers and onions. I put the ribs on top and seasoned them with italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Cassidy was there to help with the coals, I wouldn't have been able to do that part without him, but now I know, I will be able do it next time. That will be the hardest part. They cooked for a little over an hour, and I drained the juice and added some bbq rib sauce and let it cook for 20 min or so. Such an easy recipe!! It was yummy! So tender! The kids went crazy and ate tons. They loved it I want to try a dessert next.... possibly peach cobbler....yum!

New Adventures

We have found a few new places this week, and I am sad to say that I haven't had my camera when we have gone out. That's not a norm for me. We like to drive by Hill AirForce Base and watch the huge airplanes take off and land, take off and land. They do it tons of time practicing taking off and landing. We drive down the street and follow it as it makes it's landing and we try to get in the perfect spot so the plane is right over us. The kids love it. On Wednesday night, we wanted to go to Artic Circle for some ice cream, but the rode was blocked off and so we decided to go to Dairy Queen instead. We noticed a rode on the east side of the base (NOTE: There are signs all over the main road saying you can't park to watch the jets). We went down the road and there were no signs saying we couldn't park there. So we watched the jets moving around on the ground, but they wern't taking off. That's when we went to Dairy Queen, got some Dilly Bars, and went back down that road. We watched as the jets lined up on the runway, and at 9:00pm we heard recorded music playing the TAPS ( I think that's what it's called, the military music). And right after the music got done playing, 4 jets took off one at a time. It was awesome! We get to see jets flying above our house all day, and we always have to stop and look, but it was so much cooler going and seeing them take off, especially after playing the music. It was really cool.

Our next fun place we discovered last night was in Syracuse. Called the Jensen Nature Park. They had a pond/mini lake that you can fish in. There was a walking path all around it, there were families with bikes, you can walk your dog if it's on a leash. There were Pelican type birds, and lots of other smaller birds that I haven't seen before. It was really fun. Cass had his fishing pole and tried fishing for catfish (it was the only bait he had). The girls aren't patient fishers, so we walked around the water and watched the birds. It was really fun. There is a lot of grassy areas for picnics, and also a few pavilions with picnic tables. It was such a neat place. I am sure we will be going there often.

It's so fun finding new things and places. I can't wait for our next adventure. The kids and I haven't been to Antelope Island, maybe that can be our next destination.

Birds and Ducks!!

Layton Park Ducks

Disneyland Ducks

When Alyssa was small and we lived in Woods Cross, there was a neighborhood Pigeon that lived across the street. One day while I was at work, Cassidy and Alyssa caught the bird and brought it in the house. Ever since then, they have been on a qwest to capture and feed birds, ducks, and chickens. Anywhere we go, they try and catch some kind of bird. Last year at Wheeler Farm all the kids were holding pigeons. We had out of town family with us, and they were disgusted that my kids were holding these disease infested birds. It was funny to see their reaction. A few years ago Alyssa held a small rooster at Wheeler Farm, she was heart broken when she had to put it down, when ever we went back to the farm, she'd always look for her little friend. The kids have made pies for birds, and set up a trap to try and catch them, birds came and ate the pies, but didn't get caught in the traps. At the Layton Park, they feed ducks from their hands. The most recent encounter were some ducks at Disneyland that the kids were feeding. Now it really is Everywhere we go! I think it's teaching them patience. They have to sit and wait sometimes for a few minutes for the birds to come to them. They love it!! They also enjoy holding trianchulas at the Davis County Fair..yuck!!

Disneyland 2010

This year our big family vacation started on April 1st. We headed for Las Vegas to get some yummy tri-tip from Lucille's BBQ. We stayed at the Sunshine Station in Henderson and it was one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in.

We stayed at the Park Vue Inn when we got to Anaheim. It was directly across the street from Disneyland. We would walk outside the hotel and we were at the cross walk to go to Disneyland. This is where we will be staying every year that we go to Disneyland. The girls got to sleep in bunkbeds, so that was a lot of fun for them. They had a big deluxe breakfast every morning. There was a huge variety of yummy food! We decided to go to Disneyland for 6 days this year, which ended up being a great idea because it was really busy with spring break.

It's tradition that we always go on Peter Pan first. It was Tanner's first ride, and he cried through the whole thing. He cried lots the first day. It was a bit overwhelming for him. Once he finally figured out that it was fun, he would cry when we had to get off the rides. Finally he got it, and was okay with getting on and off the rides and waiting in line. His Favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear, he loved holding the lazer blaster and seeing all that was going on in the ride. We bought him one of his very own shooters because he loved it so much!

Aniston, Abigail, and Alyssa like the big rides. They LOVE splash mountain, the Matterhorn, and Sourin. When we got off Splash Mountain for the first time Aniston was wet and said "I am soaked, now I need to shake like a dog to get dry." One of our Favorite rides is the Jungle Cruise. It's fun listening to the "tour guide" and seeing all the animals. We went on Sourin over California for the first time, it was so fun to "fly" over California and see all the scenery. Sometimes it felt like we were really up in the sky. It was easy to feel a bit queezy! My parents came with us for the first 3 days at Disneyland. It was fun to have them there with us. it made me realize that 3 days is not long enough to stay at Disneyland. Grammy bought the girls all lanyards so they can start collecting pins. That was fun to go in all the shops and find fun pins to buy. On Easter we went on a Bakery Tour and the workers were giving out sour dough bread that was shaped like Mickey Mouses head. We also went in a tortilla factory and got to eat a fresh tortilla at the end. YUM! We have been to Disneyland 4 times, and there are always new things to see and do This year Sourin was new for us, the bakery tour, the tortilla factory, The new 3D Toy Story Mania ride, and the Aladdin Show. That show was awesome! They were flying in the air on carpets, and using special effects to make the characters get places faster, it was such a neat show. I reccomend that for anyone going to Disneyland. After my parents left, we had 3 more days left. I let Cass take each girl out on a special Daddy Daughter Date. The first night Abigail got to go back to DIsneyland with Cass, then Anna the next night, and on the third night I took Alyssa out for a bit, then Cass took her the rest of the night. When I went with Alyssa we went on Autopia. That was fun. I pushed the petal and she drove the car. She was wild. It was a good thing we were on a track! The kids said the funniest things, they had us laughing the whole trip! After our 6 days were over at Disneyland, we didn't hurry home. We went to the Beach, we went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas. We ended up being gone about 11 days. It was a lot of work, but so much fun!! I am going to post some of the funny things the kids said to the right by their pictures....

Oh yes, I can not forget the Tiki Room. We love the bird show. We even turned our family room into a Tiki Room. It's fun, we love it! Maybe someday I will post some pictures!