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i'm a little excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dear blog,

you have been neglected. is there a good reason? oh yes. can i tell you yet? nope. will i post on saturday what the big news is? oh yes. maybe even friday if your lucky. i'm excited. super dooper excited.

xoxo.

Happy

Valentine's

Day!

Y

One week later...

Last weekend we made our annual Portland trip for SuperBowl sunday - stayed with our amazing friends Josh & Suzanne (with a friday night layover at Nan & Pops! thank you !!!). Their beautiful home was filled with 42 people on sunday - 16 of them were under 5 yrs of age!! And you know what? J&S's oldest girls, Sam and Emma were such AMAZING helpers with the younger kids, it really was not that chaotic... or at least not what you would imagine with that many kids! We LOVE this little tradition and treasure each and every memory from our trips to stay with the Mac's. Our kids are in absolute Heaven playing with their 4 girls, and Jack who is just 6 months older than Jake. FUN TIMES!!!

My dear friend Suzanne and I managed to take a LOT of pictures - she's awesome!

{girlfriends}

It had been 2 years since Aaron and I had visited with Jolyn!!! (middle)

Jolyn and Sam's knitting tradition during superbowl ;)

Just a few of the 19 kids...

Adorable little buddies - they even look alike! :) Jack on the left, Jake on the right

Sam helping out the younger kids.

Emma and her friend Delainey (sp?? sorry Jenny!!!)

Good for the soul

There is something wonderful about a good soup on a cold evening. This one hit the spot the other night.

Chicken and Squash Soup

(adapted from Taste of Home)

1 whole chicken pre cooked (got mine at WinCo's deli)

6 C water

2 cans broth (chicken or vege)

1 large butternut squash peeled and cubed

6 carrots, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

half a bunch of collard greens (it called for kale - spinach would work too) chopped

Salt & pepper

*boil water/broth and add squash, carrots and onion and boil for 20 min or so till tender. Add chicken and collard greens - warm and serve!

this part took awhile - especially with little hands helping!

had to taste the raw squash

definitely worth the wait...