Monsoon Season

I love the monsoon season. I enjoy playing in the rain with my children. Yesterday I looked out the window and discovered that it was raining. I called the kids and told them it was time to go play in the rain. I opened the front door and remembered that all we have is dirt. We don't have a driveway or any cement we can play in the rain on. So what is usually a bunch of wet clothes that will dry, became a big muddy mess.
Maddie didn't want to get her hair wet. (What a girl !)
Even little Emily enjoyed the rain. This is my sister Hanna who is staying with me for a few weeks. She wasn't to sure about playing in the rain but we were able to talk her into joing us.
I do believe that Hunter had the most fun.

Madelyn's 3rd Birthday

Maddie celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday. I tried to make it a special day for her. It started off with having french toast for breakfast (her favorite). After breakfast I did her hair in big braids (another favorite). We then painted her toe nails sparkly pink and then her finger nails sparkly red (her choice of course). For lunch she had good ol' Mac & Cheese. Maddie has been asking for a flower cake so after lunch that is what we made. It was a fun cake to make. She got to help outline the flower with cookies and of course her favorite candy M &M's for the face.
When daddy got home she opened her presents. This dress up skirt was given to her by her Grandma Christensen. After dinner we headed to the park where we had cake and ice cream. Overall Madelyn says she had a very fun birthday.
I had to take this picture. Ever since Maddie could sit up we put the two of them in the same infant swing. It was great only pushing one. Last night they were complaing that the other was squashing them. I'd say it's probably the last time they swing together like this. Being one is now 3 and the other is 4 it's time to move on. Hunter's been swinging on the other type of swings for some time now and does a great job. Maddie's still a little shaky but she's catching on.

4th of July outfits.

Yesterday I realized that the 4th of July is in 2 weeks from today. As I mentioned a few weeks ago I was going to make matching 4th of July outfits for my kids. I started on Maddie's almost a month ago but then got side tracted on helping the Young Women sew their bonnetts and apron's for the Pioneer Trek next month. Last night realizing I only had 14 days to get my big project done with Girls Camp this week and a family reunion next weekend I decided I had better bust a move. I am very pleased to say Maddie's outfit is finished. All I need to do is make her some bows to go with her outfit. One down two more to go.

G.G & G.G.Pa

To avoid confusion my Grandma decided to call herself GG (for great grandma) and GG Pa ( for great grandpa) for the great grandchildre (my kids). This past Saturday GG and GG Pa were passing through. We were blessed with a wonderful visit with them. They brought us a cooler full apricots, zuccini, and squash fresh from the garden. Along with 5 trees to plant around our house. We fed them lunch and had a great visit. My children loved having them at our house. Madelyn is our cuddler and loves to sit on laps. GG endulged her lovingly.

Hunter is old enough now that it is very rare for him to sit on anyones lap. However he sat on his GG Pa's lap for quite some time. GG Pa doesn't remember Hunter ever wanting to sit on his lap so this really made his day.

This was our first visit from family since we've been living in our new house. It was great to show it off and have so much more room to visit. We hope this is just the start and hope to see more family this summer.

Strawberry Jam

Strawberries went on sale this past week at our local grocery store. I bought 2 flats of strawberries, 8 boxes of Pectin, and plenty of freezer containers. We ended up with 20 containers of freezer jam and 3 canned jams.

Dirty Faces

We recently were given a few loads of dirt. We are trying to build up our front yard. We have about a 3 foot drop between the road and our front porch. In order to build this up we needed to move all the rocks around the house. These rocks were placed per Flood Control because the hired contractor didn't want to haul dirt in himself to build it up. The rocks look like decorative rocks so we want to use them later. It was cooler outside than usual but the wind was really blowing. By the time Kory and I were finished for the night this is what the kids looked like.
Emily ate more dirt last night then ever before.
Of all of them Hunter was the cleanest. He was helping mom load the wheel barrel with rocks and helping dad move dirt with his little shovel.
Maddie said she wasn't eating dirt.
Rub-a-dub-dub...

Wiped Out!

I put Emily in her"Johnny Jump Up" so the kids could help me entertain her. She is cutting tooth #4. She was happy and laughing at the kiddo's running around her. I was sitting at the kitchen table working on a project and realized she had gotten awfully quiet. This would be why.

Forks

About a month before we actually moved we started eating off of paper plates (thinking we were moving earlier than we did). We had paper plates and cups but continued to use our regular siverware. We very quickly discovered that both Hunter and Madelyn were throwing their forks away along with their plates and cups. Apparently Kory and I didn't do a very good job rummaging through the trash looking for forks as we are down to possesing 6 forks. Before every meal we are having to wash forks. While in Utah I went to D.I and searched their forks but I could bend them quite easily which is one of Kory's biggest pet pieves. So I didn't buy any. We haven't been able to find sturdy forks by themselveswith out the spoons and knives.


This past Saturday after having the dilema of not having enough clean forks we headed off to Stepping Stones (thrift store) as it is just down the street. They had containers full of knives and spoons but when it came to forks they had 3. They were flimsy and different designs on all of them. Not buying them we then went to Good Will.

Good Will had a tub of forks. They had even taped matching designs together. They were grouped in 4's and were .99 for each set. To top it off it was 50% saturday meaning everything in the store was 50% off. We came home with 12 matching sturdy forks for $1.50. YEAH!!!!

A trip to the park

This past weekend we went to Fain Park.
Fain is my favorite park. They have grass, benches, grass, ramadas, grass, barbeques, grass, water and ducks. They have grass!! We do have many other parks with grass but the one nearest our house is surrounded by weeds, rocks and dirt. Absolutely no grass.

There aren't any play sets at Fain Park but the kids manage to find other things to occupy themselves with.

This is the favorite rock. It's just big enough the kids can climb up it and then jump off without hurting themselves.

Emily is most definitely one of ours. Just like the first 2 kids she prefers to be outside. She doesn't care to much for the grass on her bare toes but sitting on daddy's lap she is quite content.

There are always so many ducks to feed at Fain Park. After searching for quite some time we finally found 2 ducks. After throwing 1/2 our bag of bread into the water these little featherly friends made it over to us.

We all had fun spending a few hours in the great outdoors. Next time we've got to pack us a lunch.

Our 1st Primary Activity

The kids and I attended a Primary Activity this afternoon. For Hunter and Maddie this was their first primary activity. They had so much fun. Being a water activity who wouldn't.



At the beginning all the kids were gathered together to go over the "rules".










There were 2 blowup water slides. This is Hunter trying to climb up the slide.









When they were tired of the water there was plenty of sand to dig, kick, build and toss aside.












Near the end Hunter with some older kids built a sand castle. This mom was too slow to get a pict. before it was knocked down and destroyed.















Of course there was plenty of food. All the watermelon the kids could eat, hot dogs and chips.

It was a great 2 1/2 hours spent together in the sun. On the way home Hunter was asking if we could go back tonight with his dad.

It's great to have my kids at the age that they can interact with other children, make friends and have fun away from mom.

Cooking Disaster

I recently discovered a friend has started a blog of her favorit recipies. I was so excited to see a recipie for Fish Tacos. There is a little restaurant we recently discovered that has the best fish tacos. Kory who does not like fish even enjoys them. So yesterday while at the grocery store I picked up all the ingredients with the intention of making the best Fish Tacos ever tonight.

I followed the recipie. I wrapped the tortillas in aluminum foil. Put them in the oven to get warm. I pulled out 2 jars of left over oil I had in the fridge from last week. I dumped the oil in the pan to get hot. I made the coating sauce for the fish. While waiting for my oil to get hot I noticed an odd smell from the oil. Not only did it smell different but it was turning darker then usual. I figured one of the oil jars I had used must have been older than I thought. As I started to fry the fish I noticed my tongs were sticking together. I had to use both hands to pull them apart after it had closed. What's up with that! I pulled out my first batch of fish put them on a plate and then tried to slide them over. I couldn't. They were stuck to the plate. The oil was continuing to get darker. How Weird!!!

After a few minutes of frying the fish. I chopped up the cabbage and realized instead of limes I had purchased lemons. Oh well who needs the lime juice??? I was still so excited to try out our fish tacos. I pulled out the tortillas called everyone to the table. Said the blessing and started to dish the kids up. Although the tortillas had been in the oven for 20 min. they hadn't gotten very warm so the tortillas were falling apart. Maddie bit into her fish taco and she said it was hot. I figured she meant temperature wise. Hunter bit into his and said that the chicken was YUCKY. We said ha ha its not chicken its fish and it is very good.

Kory bit into his and said "What is on the fish?" I told him the ingredients and he said it tasted like burnt maple syrup. I bit into mine and it did. It tasted like burnt maple syrup. The sticky tongs and browning almost burnt oil all came flooding back. I've decided one of my left over oil jars was actually left over maple syrup. (It DID NOT look like maple syrup. I swear.) The cabbage I had bought was not very good it was hot. My mouth felt the zing.

Fish fried in burnt maple syrup put on dry flaky tortilla's topped with hot cabbage and salsa just didn"t cut it for our family tonight. It was such an easy recipie I'm still amazed I messed it up so badly. Now all I need is a recipe for memory loss. I don't think Kory will ever let me live this one down. In a few days when tonights dinner has been forotten (ha ha) I'll try it again. After all it can't get much worse than tonight's disaster.

Emily's 1st tooth.

Last wednesday Emily cut her 1st tooth. OUCH!Her little gums are currently working on tooth #2 . We think. I can't believe we've had a week of tears, tylenol, cold cloths and of course sleepless nights. All this just for 1 tooth. And we are only just beginning. All Emily wants is her mommy.

This is what happens when Mommy puts Emily down. The poor child has mastered the reaching of her arms.

The tooth is still too small to get a picture of. But I try.

Of all weeks to start a new project I of course picked this past week. I was recently given some fabric and thought it would be fun to make something. I didn't care too much for this fabric and for a practice run decided to make Maddie her 1st nightgown. Having to deal with Emily and her teeth it took me much longer than expected.

I cut the pattern on day 1. Cut the fabric on day 2. Pinned the fabric together on day 3. Went to our ward campout on day 4. Sewed on day 5. Went to church on day 6. Finished on day 7. Despite having to deal with pins, scissors and a sewing machine out a full week it was fun to do.

As a youth I recieved my Young Women Medallion. I am currently working on my Young Women Leader Medallion. I am going to sew matching 4th of July outfits for the kids as one of my 10 hour projects. Am I crazy???

Maddie loves her nightgown. Despite a few mishaps we will chalk up to learning experienes I think it turned out pretty well. I have some cute Strawberry Shortcake fabric. She wants another nightgown made out of it.

Headen out to the Arizona Strip.

Last week our family headed out to the Arizona Strip to help Kory's family brand. We camped out in the middle of nowhere. We hung our hats at night in some old sheep wagons that Kory's dad stayed in when he was a little boy. People have etched their names and dates they stayed in these wagons. The oldest date we could find was 1952.
This would be the outhouse. There wasn't any running water but at least we had some sort of privacy.
Hunter had too much fun kicken' the dirt around.

Cowboy'n It...

The cows were hearded into a make shift fence.
Many different operations were going on at once. Some were being castrated and branded while others ears were being tagged and medicine injected.








Uncle Klynt and Emily had some one on one time together.









Hunter was a little cowboy. He was able to help brand. All he needs is a cowboy hat, chaps and spurs with his own horse to match his Uncles.









Grandpa Heaton took some time to talk with Madelyn during all the hussle and bustle.












Hunter and Grandpa Heaton deep in conversation. After a couple of days playing Cowboys on the Arizona Strip. We headed to Alton, Ut.

Hurricane, Utah

I had an appt. to get my haircut so the girls and I headed to Hurricane. Maddie loves to swing on Grandma Christensens porch. This is her with Aunt Hanna and G.G. (Great Grandma Grow).
Emily was quite content to swing also with her Aunt Sheri.
Needless to say a lot of our time was spent swinging and visiting. After a few days the girls headed to Alton, Ut to meet up with Daddy and Hunter.

Back in Alton

The kiddo's had plenty to keep themselves occupied. They all had cousins their own age to play with. These two are 2 days apart.








All the animals in the barn to feed. The horses
have never been fed so well.







The barn was the hot spot this trip. Hunter and Madelyn could always be found messen' around inside.