Bragging

So Quinn and Ava were in the family room picking up their toys, when I overheard Quinn telling Ava "good girl" and "big girl Ava picking up your toys". It was such a proud mommy moment for me, I guess they really are listening to you, even when you think their not. He was even holding the bag open for her so she could put them in, he's such a good big brother.
Ava's cheesy grin, she's so funny, and cute.
Here is Quinn at the science center seeing how fast he can through a wiffle ball, he averaged about 14mph, the highest he got was 16mph. I thought that was pretty good since he is only 3, and grown men were throwing it and getting about 35mph. I think he's going to follow in his Daddy's and Papa's footsteps and be a baseball pitcher.
Quinn, Ava, and cousin Lucia riding on the back of a centipede. Aren't they cute!

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta

So I was at the Cheese Cake Factory last week and I had this really yummy creamy marinara sauce and I have been craving it ever since so I decided to see if I could recreate something close to it and this is the result:

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta

1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbls. olive oil
1 14.5oz. can diced tomatoes
1 15oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
4 small chicken breast, cubed
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound pasta (I used penne, but would also be good with spaghetti or linguine)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Saute onion and garlic in 2 Tbls. olive oil, add can diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. While the sauce simmers, saute the cubed chicken breast in 2 Tbls. olive oil. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. When the sauce is done simmering add the heavy cream and heat for 1 minute. Add the cooked chicken and serve over pasta. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top.

This was a big hit with the family, let me know if you liked it too. Oh, and if any one wants to think of a better name for it, that would be great.

Halloween

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

The kids are still too young to carve up their own pumpkin so we had them use paint and decorate theirs. As you can tell they had fun with the paint. luckily this year more paint ended up on the pumpkin than them. As you can tell in the pictures Quinn was spiderman and Ava was the cutest peacock. We got complements from everyone on her costume. We had a blast taking them trick or treating. This is the first year that Quinn understood Halloween, at least the part about wearing costumes, knocking on doors, saying trick or treat and getting CANDY. They got a ton of candy. Last Saturday was our ward harvest party and trunk or treat, which completely filled up their buckets of course Quinn's bucket was a spiderman head. Then on Halloween they got it over half full before they were wiped out and ready to go home.

Christina did the pirate skull

Matt did the Explorer finding the diamond and on the other side the Scream