We found an kiddie swing for our swing set. He loves to swing! 

Love this face!

Corn from our garden

First time shucking corn - she was amazed!  Then we ate it for dinner - so yummy!

My cute babies!

Can't believe he's almost 1!?  How did that happen?

Would barley sit still long enough to take this, so cute and so busy!

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. 

Yod-de-le-hee-who

Miss Peanut LOVES Jessie from Toy Story and today while I was getting dinner ready I was serenaded by this.

I'll get to our Yellowstone pictures soon...I hope.

Our GREAT adventure.

We went on a great adventure to Yellowstone last week - lots of hours in the car! The kids were great. More pictures to come, but this was how great out little travel buddies were.

Kitchen Remodel

It's done! Thanks to all the hard work from Officer, my dad, and my brother our new kitchen floor is done. We still have a couple things to finish up, but I rather like it. Of course, now I would love a new countertop and to get a new table that would go better - but for now the counters will have to wait and I'll just find a cute tablecloth and center piece. Overall - pretty inexpensive to really update it. After we finished the kitchen floor we had new carpet installed in the family room area, love it! It will totally hide kid dirt so much better and it's so soft I could sleep on it, okay maybe not quite that soft.

okay the flash makes the bar look more like it did originally, but it's really not that color - it matches the rest of the cabinets.

A little pick me up.

For all of you mothers out there, if you haven't already - you should watch this. I started watching these a few months ago (I know I'm a little behind) and have found that if my day is crazy and my efforts to do something spiritual are thwarted by two-year-old-ness and and busy babies. If nothing else, I can sit for just a few minutes, listen, feel the spirit, be uplifted, and go back to my kids with just a little more patience.

Lucky Number 7

I am a pretty lucky girl. Today Officer and I celebrate our 7th anniversary, can't believe it has gone so fast. We'll actually celebrate it tomorrow when Officer isn't working, but while we were running errands this morning he picked these out for me. Thanks love! You know - I'll just never have the right words to cover it all - but in a cracked nutshell - it's been fun, thank you, and just so ya know, I love you!

Before and...in the middle.

This week I got busy with the cabinets in the kitchen - I'm loving the new look so far. Here is the before. Here's my progress - I finished all the bottom cabinets. We're hoping to get the new floor in soon!


Handsome discovered the kitchen this week, so much freedom for him now that he is crawling.

A few of my favorite things.

Chicken Spots are almost gone - I don't know that I would have survived this week without:
Good old rolled oats - I knew it was good for your insides, but I didn't realize how much it would help on the outside. I just filled an old sock with about a cup of it and used it like a sponge in the bath with the kids and it was amazing for their spots. Both of my kids have always had little eczema spots too and it really help that as well. And my over washed hand actually benefited from it too!

This was our pretty pink lotion and another awesome lotion that I tried and they both seemed to really helped:


This also helped keep Miss Peanut from itching! Of course with the recalls it was the off brand - but worked really well.

I didn't have any milk in my house and I didn't want to take the kids to the store so I called in reinforcements. My mom came by to drop off some milk and brought us some goodies to survive being quarantined for the next week or so. Thank You MOM! She also brought a Jesse doll from Toy Story and Miss Peanut has barely let it out of her sight hence the reason it is not pictured.

Handsome learned a couple new things this week. I finally decided it was time to wean him just a couple weeks ago and he has done pretty well with it. He loves having a sippy cup at meals and even decided that he wanted to hold his own bottle.

He learned this week to sit up on his own from laying/rolling/scooting and of course sleeping. If he wasn't so darn cute, I might get more upset after laying him down 20 times for bed - but how can you get upset when greeted by this face?

This doesn't really qualify as a favorite thing - but I laughed when I discovered that while unsupervised for Miss Peanut decided to bite her brother. I didn't discover this until I noticed a bruise on Handsome's arm a few days later. No wonder he got chicken pox too - he didn't stand a chance. I don't know if you can see it, its kind of light but it's there - a perfect pair of half circles.

And tonight we sat and watched/listened to the rain out the back door. It's been quite a week! Happy Father's Day Officer - We missed having you home this evening.

I'm still counting my blessings

This is going to be a long one...just to forewarn you.
This week has been anything, but what was planned. If I hadn't lived it myself I don't know that I would have thought I would survive it, very well. Officer has been in charge of planning a Pioneer Trek for our ward (We've kind of joked all along that I've been his secretary). It has been a lot of planning to say the least and this week, was the week! I know that life just gets kind of busy sometimes especially in the summer but seriously - the last couple weeks have been packed! In addition to all the last minute Trek things, callings, work, etc we've had several family gatherings since my brothers' were here to visit. I took the kids for the weekend up to the cabin to see all the family & cousins while officer had to work, and to top it off Officer and I got asked to talk in Church. I was mostly kidding when I said sure - we can give talks - we could really use the blessings this week. Anyway - had a blast with the family and we made it to this week.

Then Monday night the the little man (we'll call him Handsome - that's what I call him most of the time now anyway - forgot about giving him a real "code name" on here). So Handsome wakes up most of the night with a 103.4 degree fever even with Tylenol/Motrin. I knew he was teething, but that was too high - so I took him in the next morning to the Dr. The verdict - Double ear infections. That day - got him antibiotics, then Miss Peanut has a 101 degree fever. Nothing too serious... Officer and I continue packing everything hoping that by morning they'll be okay to leave with Grandma. No sleep that night between packing and kids - so I decided I would stay home and possibly come up later in the week. I was really disappointed, really. I worked so hard to help plan this and then I even sewed my own skirt/apron/bonnet! Anyway I was just really looking forward to this - I even said last week when some last minute changes were made - I don't care about XYZ, once we get there that won't matter I just want to see that the youth have a great experience, that will make it all worth it for me. I should have kept my mouth shut.

Anyway - Miss peanut wakes up that morning legs covered with little bumps/still fevered. I was really grateful that I didn't go because I wouldn't wish those long nights on grandma, but then to see this rash - I was glad I was there. I had my Dr. brother come take a look at it - he thought Chicken pox, but She had the vaccine - so he kind of ruled that out - said watch it... I watched it - and by today it had spread and wasn't looking any better so I took her in. Sure enough - Chicken Pox. The Dr. said Miss Peanut was her second case already that day. So to add to all of this - Handsome is not old enough for the vaccine so since he's already exposed I knew it was coming - and it has, gratefully not very severe. So - teething infant, double ear infections, and 2 cases of Chicken Pox, husband gone all week and possibly weekend. I'm really starting to feel like a "real" mom. Officer has been gone since Wednesday and will be gone until Saturday, then he works the weekend; I don't know if I'll even see him much for Father's Day. I haven't been able to talk to him yet. I'm still really bummed about missing the Trek - I just really hope that everything is working out okay for them. They seriously have had 2 nights in the 30's and the creek they were going to cross was a river, so I'm anxious to hear how it all goes. In the meantime - I'm still counting it a blessing that Handsome got ear infections because if he hadn't I would have left them with Grandma for the week. I'm glad I was here - my poor sad girl. I keep telling her that we're using pretty pink lotion for her spots. I just want them both to feel better. I know this is gross - but I took pictures of her spots - how many of us have chicken pox pictures - exactly - had to do it, for the books. If you don't want to look - then this is the end of the post, other wise scroll down.




















Both of her knees and her poor bum look like this, I'm so glad she doesn't look like this all over.



She's still so cute - so tired after a bath and our pretty pink lotion. All things considered - the kids have been so great. I'll be glad when they feel better!

Wildlife

Observing him in his natural habitat. Some think he is kind of shy, but really he talks all the time. I constantly find him growling to himself - I think it's very entertaining - so much that this video is like 2 minutes long. Grandmas' will love it - the rest of you will probably only need to watch a little to get the idea. I wish it was a better quality video - I'm still learning.

My baby brother

We just don't see him enough! It was really great to have him in town this past week to visit and to entertain our kids. We'll miss you, visit again soon!

These boots were made for...everything

In the winter, I let Miss Peanut choose between 2 different pairs of snow boots. She chose the ones pictured above. Of course of the 2, these were more than what I wanted to pay for them, but for kid shoes that they usually grow out of so fast - she has definitely gotten out of them more than they are worth. It's June and she still pulls these out of the shoe basket over everything else to wear when she plays outside. They go nicely with the dress, don't you think so?