On October 26, 2013...

...We had this girl sealed to us. More photos to come in the next few weeks. I saw a preview of the and I love them. Mucho.

A Sweet Recipe

1 can sweet condensed milk
Water
Crock pot

Put unopened can of sweet condensed milk in the crockpot, without the label.

Fill your crock pot with enough water so the can is completely covered.

Put the lid on crock pot.

Cook on low for 7 or so hours. Mine cooked for 10 and it's perfectly fine.

Viola! Caramel. (aka dulce de leche) And it's delicious.

*I cooked two cans and they did leave a rust spot on the bottom of my crock pot. It will come off with soap and water. You can also use whitening toothpaste to get that stain off.  This trick works on porcelain bathroom sinks and tubs too. You are welcome.

*Although I have seen this recipe several times on Pinterest, it was Kate who finally got me to try it. Rather, she did it so I wanted to do it too. However, fear not. I would not jump off a bridge just because she did. I wouldn't even walk on that bridge to the center to watch her jump. Me scared.

The End.

Memory Tuesday

I just saw on Instagram (Dedrac4 for the one person who was wondering) that a friend of mine was locked out of her house today for a couple of hours. It made me remember a time Ken and I locked ourselves out of our apartment when we had been newly married. I thought I'd share.

The day was July 13, 1998. Does that sound familiar? Yep, that's the day Nicole was born.

I was scheduled for an 8 am induction. We left the apartment, locking the door behind us and when we got down the stairs to our car, Ken and I both thought the other grabbed keys. There were no cell phones to use and we didn't live on the ground floor so there was no window to crawl through. We had to walk down the road to my Mom's house and she drove us to the hospital. Nicole was born at 5:30 pm that evening, a girl. Not a boy. That story is for another time. A time that may never come because I hate hate hate birth stories. The End.

The maintenance guy came and let Ken back in that night and it cost us $50.

We will bill Nicole after she gets her first paying job. It was the first sign that our brains would never function properly again, after having children.

A video for you. Is for fun.

I am imagine if a cat was a person, it would make the same faces Nicole does. The End. For real this time.

Choir Concert

Last night I went to Nicole's choir concert. It was pretty good. It was short, which I love. Less than an hour long was perfect for me last night.

I have a couple of clips from the concert you can listen to. I also have some one liners I heard from teenagers as they walked by.  Enjoy both.

• Because I'm that cool.
• It was like completely random and uncalled for.
• Bohemia is an area in Germany.
• I knew what I say saying man! Learn our language.
• Blind dudes don't worry about power outages.

The girls' choir teacher has encouraged the girls to sway back and forth during their performances. 

Pennsylvania Photo Dump

I am home from THE BEST TRIP EVER! to Pennsylvania. Here is a list of the awesomeness that commenced.

• Amish were stalked
• New states were discovered
• Cats were scared
• Fabric was bought
• A quilt was made
• Much food was consumed
• Late nights were the new normal
• Presents were gifted
• I saw family I'd either never met before or don't see very often on my Dad's side. His sisters Sheila and Stephanie as well as Stephanie's children--Vanessa, Roger, Margaret and Allen. I also saw one of Sheila's boys--Scott, for about 4 seconds.
• Quilts were coveted
• Many YouTube Videos were watched
• Prizes were won
• Tantrums were had--by the children
• Much laughing and friendly banter was present
• No baby was born
• Candy was purchased
• Blizzards, ice cream cones, dole whip, sticky buns, skittles and twix were eaten
• Pounds were gained
• A party was had.

I arrived at SeaTac at 4:30am on the 2nd, bound for Pittsburgh PA, with a brief layover in Chicago.

On the pane while in Chicago. We weren't allowed to leave the plane during our layover.

My Aunts' house

Me, Kate and Paul--Kate's Padre
We went to the Animal Hospital most evenings to do the books and eat Paul's snacks.

Ohio!

Sheila

Stephanie

Sheila, Stephanie, Vanessa, Margaret, Me.

Candy Molds

Homemade Cafe Rio. the best meal I had in PA.

Welcome to West Virginia!

A whole cooler of sweet tea. 

Steubenville. This is only important to a true 'That Thing You Do' fan. Like ME!

My first time in a candy store.

Wedding Soup. It was delicious.

Downtown Pittsburgh

Giant Duck

??

I haven't had ice cream like that since Kansas at Braum's

Then I came home to see this guy. I love him. 

Anna's adoption is final.

We had our hearing this morning at 8:30am. Anna is officially a Cheney, (like she wasn't one before.) Her legal name is Anna Rebekah Cheney. She will be sealed to us on October 26th. If you'd like to attend, email me or message me and I'll give you the info. We'd love to have anyone who has supported us along this journey of 1,049 days to be there!

Proof Ryan Loves Cats.

This is his car. He's crazy. Cat crazy.