Nationals, Disneyland, County Fair and State Fair......

Here is a little HUGE update on our summer.

Nationals

Yes we made it to FBLA Nationals!  Justin did a great job fundraising.  He had to go to different clubs (Kiwanis was one of them - Thank you VERY MUCH to the Kiwanis for helping him get to nationals!) and give a little presentation about making it to Nationals and ask for money.  Talk about having guts!  You might think asking for money is easy, but it is really nerve racking!!

Oh, you want to know how he did?  So Justin had taken the Microsoft Word certification and passed it (and scored very high - the top 5 qualified for nationals) to get to nationals.  When he was at nationals he had to take the expert version.  And.......he passed it!  As if any of us had any doubt he would.  I swear the boy was born with a computer for a brain.  Although he passed it he did not score in the top 2 to qualify for the next competition in Washington DC.  Which was actually ok, because he already had plans that weekend.  While we were in Anaheim, Justin was able to go to several classes on recruiting people to join FBLA and classes on Leadership.  After sitting in on these classes he decided that he wanted to run for President of his schools chapter (yep he won!).  And to answer your question, since we were in Anaheim and could see Disneyland from our hotel window, yes we went to Disneyland!

Here are a couple pictures









County fair

Justin only showed two guinea pigs this year.  He is allowed to take up to 5, but the other two he had (that stayed home) he got after the cut off date so they couldn't come.  Justin did great at fair.  He got a blue and Grand in all of his competitions (knowledge bowl, judging contest, fit and show).  One of his guinea pigs won best in show!

Here are the girls waiting to be checked in and get their cages for the week


Some of Justin's ribbons for the week


He also qualified for Round Robin.  He had to show a guinea pig, rabbit, chicken, cat, and a dog








State fair
I actually don't have a lot of pictures from State Fair :(  Justin took two guinea pigs to state fair, one of them won best in her breed.  Justin got a blue in Judging contest, and a call-back for fit & show (which is a huge deal at the state level!)

Ok, I think we are caught up from the summer.

Hunter Farms

As many of you may know, Justin is in 4h and shows guinea pigs.  This year he has added photography to the mix.  This past Saturday we had our first 4h photography field trip!  I wanted the kids to be able to get some fall pictures in so I chose a pumpkin patch for them to go to.  If you have never been to Hunter Farms I highly recommend it.  Although I would go the first half of October.  Several of their pumpkins in the field had been kicked in :(  But there were still TONS left to choose from.

At first when I told Justin he should add a second 4h project he drug his feet about picking a project.  Why am I telling you this????  Because the kid who didn't know if he wanted to join photography took 138 pictures at the pumpkin patch!  We were only there for about 2 hours.  Here are a few of his pictures :)

For Kadie

This is for Kadie, because I am a slacker when it comes to my blog!

I think I am going to try something new.   Oh, you probably want to know what that is, don't you??  I am going to post some of the food I cook.  I know, boring right.  No it's not!  Recipes and pictures will be included.  Some are even great freezer meals!

I love having hot meals for lunch, but I can't cook a whole hot meal at work.  So why not have leftovers, right?  You obviously haven't met my teenage bottomless pit!  There are no leftovers in this house, at least not often.  Casseroles make great freezer meals two ways.

First way:  Double your recipe.  Make two pans of the casserole.  BUT just before you get to the put it in the oven part, wrap one of the casseroles, label with instructions and stick it in the freezer.  Yea!  Now you have dinner for another night too.  This doesn't work for all casseroles, but it works for most.

Second way:  Double your recipe.   I know, I know, you already did that for the first way.  Follow along.  Double the recipe, cook BOTH casseroles, eat one, and let the other cool. Once the second one is cool simply cut it into single portions and stick each one in a rubbermaid container and in the freezer it goes.  Now you have your own tv dinners to grab on the way to work :)

Yes, but you promised us recipes and pictures.  I did????  Ok, if you insist.

Here is what I made for dinner Tuesday.  One batch of the Chicken Enchiladas makes two pans.  So This recipe you can do either the first way and freeze one pan, or cook both of them.  I can get 14 meals out of the two pans for myself.  If my son is eating, I don't get near that because he eats 2-3 servings.  Like I said, bottomless pit.

Chicken Enchiladas

Sauce : 1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
Mix together and set 1 cup aside

Add: 1 medium onion, diced
1 small can Ortega diced green chilies (3 oz)
3 LB chicken or turkey in bite size pieces (cooked) (about 3 chicken breast)
Add to the larger amount of the sauce

12-15 small flour tortillas
1 LB jack cheese, shredded (original recipe only calls for 9oz, but I like lots of cheese and feel that it really needs a full pound to be split between the two pans)

Put large glob (about 2 heaping tablespoons on each tortilla and roll enchilada style

Place seam side down in pan (8 fit in 9x13 pan) (6 fit in 8x11 pan) yes it will all fit in one really large pan, but it doesn't cook as well.

Smear reserved sauce over top
Sprinkle grated cheese over top of enchiladas

Bake, uncovered @ 350* for about 30 minutes (until hot and bubbly)


Before going into the oven

Hot and bubbly coming out of the oven.  Yummy, yummy!!!

Happy eating!