Snowbird

When Strider and I escaped for a night, Grandpa took all the kids (but Rosebud) to the tram at Snowbird.  They had a lot of fun.  They love adventures with Grandpa!

I dusted off the crockpot

I sit here looking at the little clock down in the corner of my screen. 3:52. My fifth and third graders will walk in the door in about 7 minutes.

What a quiet day. Yes, I still have three kids with me (till next week, for two of them). But I put all my energy into my homemaking today. I have missed that feeling of being needed, grounded. Purposeful.

I have a big dinner ready. I have a relatively clean working space. I did two loads of laundry. The kids at home didn't fight too much.

I love this feeling. Schedules and predicability. My back-to-school life.

Thumb be gone

Princess starts Kindergarten next week, although she has hit an even bigger milestone already.  She actually stopped sucking her thumb. 

If you know her you know that never seemed like it would happen.  Even a week ago she showed no signs of responding to our pleading, begging, bribing, etc.

And as with her big brother, she stopped exactly when she was ready.  She quit over a period of just two days.

Nearly a five and a half year habit, GONE!  Here she is over the years:

I am so very proud of her! (And so thankful she stopped before school).

So close, and yet so far

So the hubs and I needed to blow this town.  In a really big way.  The pressures of school, the kids/summer/heat/stress/trials were overwhelming.  I made a last minute decision to whisk him away for a night. I called siblings.  I arranged care for the kiddos.  And we took off.

How wonderful it was to drive a mere hour and feel worlds away. We went to The Homestead Resort and it was just perfect. 

Pool? check.

Hot tub? check. 

Private balcony? Golf? Food included? check, check, check.

Look how gorgeous this place is

We loved strolling the shady walkways

The flower arrangements were seriously 10 feet high

360' views from the crater we climbed

The coolest thing was sharing a little in his love of golf.  I have wanted to try a driving range for a while now so I told him to bring his clubs along.  They have a gorgeous course there, and while I know he would have loved to do 9 or 18, he was perfectly happy to show me how to swing.

I might have been a decent softball player back in the day, but for the life of me, I can't do much with a club.  I had about 5 balls out of 30 or so that went in the general direction they were supposed to.  But it was tons of fun. 

After about 15 minutes, I didn't know where to even put the ball because my whole spot was full of divots.

Look at the same area on his side. 

Um, I think they might not ask me to come back any time soon.

Gosh, he's cute.

We had breakfast on a deck over a stream and watched the ducks, fish, and hummingbirds go by.

 We played air hockey and ping pong like little kids.

We even had the pool to ourselves about half the time.

If you live here, check out the hot deals part of the website for their specials.  I recommend it!  Even if you don't live here, please don't forget that any time or money you invest in your marriage will be returned to you tenfold.  What a great 24 hours - close to home but SO far away.

Personalized baby blocks

Time for another niece birthday.  Last time I made puppets, this time I opted for wooden baby blocks.


I started with a 1.75" balluster from Lowes; it was about $2.75. It was a good choice because it was already the width I wanted, and it had finished, rounded sides. I had Strider cut it into perfect squares.

I went to my scrapbook stash and pulled out coordinating paper and rub-ons.

I went through my own pics plus my sister's blog and found a photo of every single person and pet on both sides of the family (my sister's and her husband's sides) and printed them on cardstock. I borrowed a square punch (Thanks, Rach!) that was the perfect size!  Phew, no cutting.

Each block had two photos on it.  I also included every number, the letters to spell her whole name, pairs of patterned circles to match up, and other animal stickers to round it out.  I even included all the logos from the colleges her parents attended.  (I may have snuck in a Y, too, just for good measure :)

I was worried about the modpodge smearing the ink, so I waited two days after printing them to let the ink "cure".  Not sure if that's what did it, but there were no smears.  The colors stayed very vibrant, too.

It was so very fun to make.  I think she'll get a good use out of them and Ash's reaction was cute.

Ignore my narrative in the video.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sam!

Garden, August 9

The garden is actually doing pretty well!




We've had boatloads of rain here in the desert this year. Some of our plants are a little confused. But mostly it's looking good.

These are our mounds of potatoes; Yukon Gold and Red

This is the healthy, non-squash bug zucchini

finally starting to produce nicely

cute little peppers

the tomato jungle

the squash-bug infested zucc, that is doing better now that the stupid little buggers have moved on to the sorry summer squash plant

our sunflower, lonely but tough

the pathetic beans

and corn!  we have silk, even. 

Here is our lunch from Saturday, straight from the backyard!  Gardening is pretty awesome.

Go Aggies!

Last Wednesday, Strider officially finished his Masters work and now has his M.Ed.

There is no Summer commencement (nor Winter, for that matter - only Spring) at Utah State, so I did a little family party so his efforts would not go unnoticed!

Thanks to some generous friends who lent me a bunch of logo stuff, we were all decked out for USU.   Of course I love any excuse for a party!  He hates being in the limelight, but he knew how much it meant to me. After all, we did this together, right?!  Gosh, I'm proud of him!