Taco Dip Recipe

I promised to put my taco dip recipe out here for a few people that asked (you know who you are). Enjoy!



Taco Dip Ingredients

1 can (16 oz) refried beans
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp taco seasoning mix
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 cup (2 oz) grated cheddar cheese (I usually put more than this)

Optional toppings such as: diced tomatoes, thinly sliced green onions, sliced pitted ripe olives, snipped fresh cilantro or additional sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread refried beans over bottom of pan. In a bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, taco seasoning and garlic. Mix well.

2. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over beans. Grate cheddar cheese over the top. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

3. If desired, sprinkle tomato, onions, olives and cilantro over dip. Garnish with additional sour cream if desired.

Belated Gotcha Day celebration

(l-r) The Harmon Family, The Smith Family, The Smith Family and our family
Elisabeth, Jenny, Olivia and Katherine holding hands and jumping

Elisabeth and Olivia enjoying a popsicle

All the girls eating popsicles and cake

The beautiful cake Amanda made (thanks Amanda!!)

(top to bottom) Ansley, Elisabeth, Jenny, Katherine (you can't really see her), Olivia and Emily

(l-r) Olivia, Jenny, Elisabeth and Katherine

This afternoon we had a good time relaxing with our China travel group. We try to get together once or twice a year so the girls don't lose touch and because we enjoy each other's company. The weather was beautiful.....not too hot and not humid at all. The girls had fun playing together and as usual Elisabeth cut up in most pictures. It's hard to get a picture where she is sitting still and looking at the camera!

Field Day

Drip, Drip, Drop game (Duck duck goose except it's with water). Ansley got Elisabeth so Ansley had to chase her around the circle.
Bradley Bott squeezed water on Elisabeth's head and she had to chase him around the circle.
The goal was to squeeze the sponge full of water into the bottle to try and fill it up. Most of the water went on the person's head instead. It was so hot I don't think they cared!

Mrs. Wright played the game too but instead of just getting water from the sponge they came up behind her with the hose and gave her a surprise!

Pulling as hard as they can....

Elisabeth participating in the parachute activity

Eating popsicles to cool off

(Kayla, Ansley, Elisabeth and Sarah)

Sack race

Who knows......

Hockey relay with a potato

Noodle race

Yesterday was Field Day at Ansley's school. Elisabeth and I go every year and follow her class around and help where we can and of course take pictures. Yesterday was VERY HOT! We were outside non-stop for about 3 hours and it was exhausting. There wasn't any shade! There were 15 different stations/games that they had to rotate to and thank goodness for the water games and relays to cool them off. Elisabeth got to participate in a few of the activities but there's alot she can't do because she doesn't understand the rules and would get trampled by the other kids. Afterwards we came home and took naps (except Ansley). I was totally exhausted! It was a good day though and there are only 3 more days of school (including today). Today is their class party where we are bringing tacos and nachos and then are having ice cream sundaes afterwards. Yummy!

Memorial Day in Savannah

Spanish moss......beautiful
Elisabeth isn't sure about this "old lady" that we found in one of the stores

Ansley decided to pose with her

John decided to go for a kiss :-)

On the steep slippery steps from River Street

Travis and Elisabeth looking at the river

The Georgia Queen taking a ride down the river

Dad and Elisabeth strolling along

We spent the Memorial Day weekend in Savannah and even though it rained the entire time we still had fun. We went down to River Street and walked around (in the rain) and ducked inside the candy store to get away from the rain and get a nice treat.......warm pralines. Yummy! We also bought a few other treats to snack on later. Glad I don't live down the street from that place! The girls went swimming on Sunday afternoon and the water felt like ice cubes. I couldn't put anything else in besides my feet. Ansley went all the way in and even went under water. Her lips were purplish blue the whole time. Why do that to yourself? It was just too cold to swim! We also went to see the movie: Night at the Museum 2 - The Smithsonian. Very cute and very creative movie. The only bad thing is that they cussed twice in it which was totally unnecessary. It really irks me that they do that! And when you are in a theater with a huge screen and the volume turned up loud there is no way to avoid those cuss word moments. We just have to tell our children those aren't good words to say and hope they don't repeat them. I guess they didn't want the movie to be rated G so they stuck a few cuss words in it to bump it up to PG. I better stop now.......the issue of movie content for kids really annoys me and I could talk about it for hours but I'll spare you.

School is almost over and we go back to Savannah for a few days at the beginning of June. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this time and we'll be able to go to the beach and go to the pool and swim in warmer water.

Hope every one had a safe and wonderful Memorial Day!

A Weekend of Camping

Elisabeth couldn't quite reach...
Taking a break from our bike ride to feed the ducks

Our home away from home

The duck that came to visit our campsite and wouldn't leave. It just followed us around.

Looking for some treasure

Some of Ansley's treasures from gem mining
Some of Elisabeth's treasures from gem mining

Ansley looking hard for treasure!

John helping Elisabeth sort through her sand

Playing on the playground

Aren't they cute?

He is huge!

Waiting for the train

We went camping again this past weekend. We went close to home this time to Salisbury, NC. It's about an hour and a half from here. We camped at Dan Nicholas park which is a Rowan County park. It's big and pretty nice. The campsite we had was by the lake and was nice and roomy and private. It's a very wooded campground so most of the sites had a good deal of privacy. We got everything set up and settled on Friday night, slept in a little on Saturday morning then headed out to explore the park. They have a nice lake with pedal boats, splash park, little animal reserve, petting barn, gem mining, train ride, carousel and a large playground. We did everything except the pedal boats and miniature golf. We arrived at the splash area just as it was closing on Saturday evening so we didn't get to do that either. Maybe next time. The nice thing about that campground is that checkout time isn't until 4 pm so we were able to get up on Sunday and take our time getting out of there. We would have explored more on Sunday morning but it was raining so we decided to call it a weekend and pack up and head home. Good thing I brought movies with us to watch in case it rained......we did a lot of movie watching. But that's OK. It was nice and relaxing and there wasn't any laundry or yardwork to do! We could just sit and enjoy each other.

It rained (actually poured would be a better word) quite a bit on Saturday but in between the rain we went out riding bikes around the lake and to all the different activities around the park. The girls had a blast as usual and they really liked the gem mining. The buckets are seeded with rather large stones and jewels as the girls call them. They had a blast sifting through the buckets of sand to see what treasures they could find. Since we've been home they've washed their jewels several times to get them sparkly clean and have sorted them and looked at them over and over. They are so proud of what they found!

We are getting a little better and a little faster at setting up and taking down the pop-up. It still takes us a while but we're getting there. This was the first time we weren't connected to sewer though so we had to go to the dump station on our way out of the campground. The smell that comes from that hole in the ground is enough to make you sick. Nasty. And I had to touch the tube which is gross in itself and promptly had to go wash my hands and santize them. John calls me a princess. I am and I know it. The girls are too. John just shakes his head. It's hard living with 3 princesses. :-)

Oh yeah...on a side note.....I took my van to be repaired today. You know from when the lady rear ended me several weeks ago while I sat innocently at a red light. Well, guess what they gave me as a rental car? A silver mustang. I feel so sporty...especially since I usually drive a van which people call the loser cruiser. I'll enjoy the sportiness for the 2 short days that I have it. Ansley will be so excited to see it when I pick her up from school today. I'm sure the 1st thing she will ask me is "does the top come down?" No, sorry........the top doesn't come down like Grandaddy and Nana's did! It's too cold today for a convertible anyway. It feels more like a Fall day here instead of a Spring day! Brrrrr.....

Enjoy the pictures!