The Harvest

Its getting to be that time - and we love it!  I've done a small garden for the past several years - I usually only pick a few things to grow because we only have a small garden space.  Next year maybe we'll do a grow box....I'm hoping anyway.  This year we had tomatoes, romaine lettuce, pumpkins, corn, raspberries, and my cucumbers and peppers and green onions just didn't make it, which was actually good because this year we also tried growing watermelons. We had some strong wind storms the last few weeks and my tomato cage broke and fell over with the weight of the tomatoes...or so I thought. I looked closed to find that I had twin watermelons growing up inside the tomato cage. They have pretty much taken over the rest of the garden! 

I also tried a small planter for herbs, but Miss Peanut decided that it looked like a good place to dig, so we're trying those inside for now. Anyway we have had fun nearly everyday going out to see what is ready to pick - and there is so much more to come! We've already got lots of tomatoes and we just ate our first corn on the cob tonight and the last several days we've been able to pick a big bowl of raspberries! 

One man's trash = my treasure

I've really been ridiculous with garage sales/craigslist this summer - ask my husband - he'll tell you, I'm sure.  I'm been trying to find a swingset for not much because as much as I like going to the park - sometimes I don't like having to pack up both kids in car or bike trailer especially when it's getting close to dinner time.    Anywho - we didn't want anything that would take up our whole backyard, so we picked this up on Saturday and by Saturday night we had up with a few small improvements.  It's actually quite sturdy, so I've been thrilled with it.  And the best part is that Miss Peanut has been out swinging or sliding all day!

Before

After

Swimming Lesson

This summer was Miss Peanut's first swimming lesson.  For being 2, I think she has done so great - she'll blow bubbles and kick and she even went off the diving board with some help.  She loved having goggles to keep the water out of her eyes, and she was brave enough to put her face in the water so she could see.

Dinosaurs and Peter B. Concert

Officer was so good to go along with it, when I suggested that we try to be a little spontaneous (as spontaneous as you can be with kids) and make a quick trip to Salt Lake City for a concert.  We were able to visit "grandma-great," and lots of family. Gratefully, My Aunt and her family were willing to watch our little ones for a few hours so we could go to the concert.  While we were there Grandma took us swimming at their neighborhood pool and Miss Peanut and Handsome had so much fun - of course I didn't bring my camera to the pool and it was Handsome's first time swimming, but he was so good in the water.  Handsome also met a new friend Lukey (my cousins little guy)- they were so funny barking and laughing at each other.

 We shopped a little, but mostly we had made plans to take the kids to the Dinosaur museum.  

Handsome slept through most of it in the stroller and Miss Peanut was all over the place  - so glad many of the exhibits we hands on.

After all of the dinosaurs we came to this guy and Miss Peanut's face cracks me up - Daddy tried to take a silly picture with Miss Peanut in the Sharks mouth - she didn't think it was very funny.

Peter B Concert

Friday night we went to see Peter Brienholt at the Sandy Amphitheater. I was first introduced to his music in college.  I had several of his CDs and not too long after officer and I were married our car was broken into and all my CD's were stolen.  Just the CDs were in the car, so I still had the signed cases and I came across them a few months ago and  I looked into buying some of his music again.  I found out about the concert and decided that if I was going to buy them again I might as well make a trip/date out of it and go to the concert.  We really did have fun and although officer doesn't really admit it he knows Peter B's music - he sang along to just as many songs as I did.  It was a beautiful night and a fun concert/date.  They opened with the winner of the "Draper Idol" contest, I think her name was Allie Duke - cute name and she was just darling.  She's only 14 and write and composes her own music.  Officer was impressed and insisted that he get a picture with her after the concert.  I waited to have Peter B autograph my CDs and talking with him I told him about my CDs getting stolen.  He was so nice and said if I had come all way to the concert and buy his music again he told me that I should go talk with so-and-so and they gave me another CD that I didn't have.  It made my night - I still really like his music and it was fun to see him again live.

Here's a clip of the darling Allie Duke (I hope I'm getting her name right.)

And here's a little blip or two of Peter B.

Miss Peanut's New Helmet

Some of you may remember when Miss Peanut had to wear this helmet. 

There were a lot of reasons that we chose to get the helmet, one of the little things most people don't really think about was that if we hadn't she may not have been able to wear a regular bicycle helmet.  A few weeks ago we got her a new helmet - and it fit! 

Yellowstone

Warning: PICTURE OVERLOAD!  

We were lucky enough to get the chance to visit Yellowstone National Park for a week with some of Officer's family.  It was such a treat to have them come visit - and we had such an amazing week with them!  There are seriously so many pictures - so I'll keep my words to a minimum, but in summary we had a blast! 

We made pazookies one night with the kids - it was amazing to watch 5 little mouths make it disappear in a matter of minutes!

On our travels to/from Henry's Lake (that's where we stayed) we stopped at every Idaho LDS Temple.  Boise, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, and Rexburg.

Old Faithful, of course, you can't go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.

Yellowstone Canyon - BEAUTIFUL!   We really enjoyed the little hike.

Big Springs - it looks like it would be a river - but it's actually all water coming out of the ground from springs.

Day hike into Cascade Lake in Yellowstone.  It was about 5 miles round trip and the kids were troopers!  The boys did a little fishing while we picnic-ed there for the afternoon.

Hebgen Lake & Quake Lake in  Montana.  

Random pictures of our cute family.

Some of the beauty we were able to enjoy.

We saw a lot of animals - Buffawo (that's what Miss Peanut calls them), Mommy and Daddy Elk, Squirrels, a momma bear with 2 cubs, a cinnamon bear, and Osprey catching a fish, a pack of wolves, antelope, deer, and one mangy coyote.