Reaping the Rewards

I am starting to believe that all of our hard work on getting a garden together this Spring will be paying off. I picked my first zucchini last night and made two loaves of zucchini bread this morning. I have about 10 tomatoes almost ready to be picked, some corn on it's way, 3 heads of cabbage, and some pumpkins. It might be worth all the work and fuss to enjoy a few fresh items home grown. I don't think our spot was quite big enough, maybe we will have to make room in another area next year. Now that I know that I can grow a garden I might get ambitious next year and really do a lot. I was surprised that the vegetables survived the two hail storms we had and seemed to recover quite well. There is something really wonderful about truly enjoying the fruits or your labor!!

Day like this...

I was looking through some pictures and was reminded of how wonderful it is to be a mother. I know that sometimes it is difficult and some days my kids do drive me crazy, but I DO love them. I am so grateful that I am blessed and given the opportunity to be a mom to 2 healthy kids. Kids that are smart, funny, noisy, talkative, and very energetic! I know they are growing up so quickly and the days seem to go by faster and faster I am trying to remember all the little things, some things more important than others. I hope my kids to know that they are loved and that they can always feel safe and loved in their home!

Parker sees me taking pictures and instantly wants one taken of him. I hardly ever get a picture where he isn't saying "cheese" and this is one of the times when I was too slow to capture him in the moment of what he was doing. He saw the camera and turned and said "cheese" but he sure is cute.


I am a little bit of a sneaky mom, when I find something that will contain, entertain or amuse my children I abuse it. Well this day I had put Paige in this chair, which she can't get out of on her own, for a little while hoping to get some chores accomplished. When I went to check on her she was completely zonked out. Her poor neck seemed a little kinked, but I was afraid to move her. She took about an hour nap in this little chair and I was able to accomplish more than I thought I would.


My kids love milk, they would drink it more than any other liquid, especially Parker, this morning they were having a cup of milk and watching cartoons and Parker climbed up in the chair with Paige and stayed there for a little while. He usually likes to be by himself or on Dad's lap. So it was quite shocking for me when he wanted to sit by her and that she allowed him to sit by her (they usually pester each other too much to sit by one another). Days and moments like this I love!!!


Paige was taking a nap and had been asleep for a really long time. I was kind of worried about her so I went to check on her and this is what I found. I almost started laughing, but didn't want to wake her up. So I grabbed the camera to document the crazy sleeping situation she had gotten herself into. Shortly after I took the picture she woke up, confused and frustrated at the position she was in. She is a crazy sleeper!


One day I got the kids pool all ready and decided they needed to eat lunch first. I made them both a sandwich and I ran inside to get them a drink and when I came out this is what I saw. I just love love love it when my kids are nice to each other and play well and show one another that they love each other. It makes my heart melt!

Cookies, Cookies, and more Cookies

Yesterday I baked 20 dozen cookies for Matt's cousin's weddng on Saturday. I tried to bake them early in the morning so my house wasn't heated up by the oven, but it was still sooooo hot in the house the rest of the day. I don't think I will be making cookies for a while after this.

July Update

I can't believe how quickly the summer is going by. It is already the middle of July and it seems like summer just got here. Well I guess the summer weather just got here and that is why I am feeling this way. We started out the month with a family reunion in Utah with my mom's side of the family (her siblings and their kids). We had a great time getting together and visiting, swimming, laughing, and of course eating some great food. We even had a fireworks show, which Parker had a blast watching. We spent some of the 4th with Matt's family hanging out and visiting and the rest of the night inside!! The weather on the 4th was horrible and not warm at all for July!
Last week I took the kids to Ross park with a friend to the swimming complex. They both had a great time and enjoyed playing in the water. We are making plans to go again soon. That pool is so great for little kids and makes it so easy for parents to keep an eye on the kids and have a good time as well.
Matt finally put in an air conditioner in our bedroom last night and it was great. I have not been sleeping very good because it has been hot and muggy the last week. I finally told him he had to put it in soon. I don't think he minded either, because he enjoys being really cool while he sleeps too. It was a good nights sleep. Now we just have to get Parker to stay in his own bed the entire night and we will be all set.
Paige had her last bottle on Sunday night. So we are on day 2 of weening her off the bottle. They say it only takes 3 days, so I think we will make it. She was getting to the point where she would carry it around all the time and be sucking on it, but nothing was getting in her mouth. She was getting too comfortable with it and so I decided that it was time to ween her. So far she has done really well. She threw 1 tantrum yesterday when it was naptime, but I got her calmed down and she fell asleep without milk at all. Then when it was time for bed, she didn't have a problem at all. So I think she will make it and learn that if she wants a drink she will have to learn how to drink from a sippy cup better. (not that there is much difference between a sippy and a bottle except the name and the nipple maybe) I just don't want to be cleaning up spills all day long!! So that is what has gone on at our house lately. Nothing too exciting, every day life!!

Couponing

I have really been interested in getting started couponing and just didn't know how to do it. A friend in my ward went to a coupon class and told me it was very informative so I decided to check into it. Well I emailed the lady that does the class on Wed night and on Thurs morning she called to see if I wanted to take the class that night. YES!! Sign me up. So my mom and went to a coupon class last night and learned so much about couponing. (Probably more than I will remember) Then we were able to go on our first shopping trip with the lady so she could help us out. I think it was a success. I spent $37 and got 28 items, including 8 lbs. of meat!! I was pretty excited. These are all the things I got. 2 bottles kraft bbq sauce, 6 cans chef boyardee, 1 bag fritos, 1 box ritz crackers, 1 box wheat thins crackers, 5 bottles ragu pasta sauce, 1 6-pack klondike ice cream bars, 1/2 gal. Breyers ice cream, 1 45-ct hefty trash bags, 4 bottles suave shampoo, 5 lbs hamburger, 3.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, and 3 boxes banquet brown and serve sausage. I even got the Breyers ice cream for FREE with the coupons I had! I think that I am going to like this!! I am sure it will take me a few months to get the hang of things and how every store works, but I am all about saving some money and stocking up my storage.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day and Happy First day of Summer!! (I hope the summer things means that it will quit raining and start being nice!!) I was looking at a few web sites the other day and instantly fell in love when I saw these. I knew that I had to make them for Father's day here at our house. We are having a get together with my family this evening and also going out to visit Matt's dad and I thought these would be a fun little treat to celebrate the dad's in our life! I was surprised how easy they really were, a little time consuming because I had to make cupcakes, brownies, and cookies, but they went together really quickly and turned out sooooooo cute. I think they turned out quite well. I do have to give credit to Bakerella for the idea. I sure loved it, if you have never visited her site, give it a try, it might inspire you to try something like this out one day. (http://bakerella.blogspot.com) Oh did I mention they taste great too!!

Now I would just like to say what a great dad Matt is to our kids. I really am so lucky to have such a great husband and father to my children. He helps me out so much with them and plays with them and makes them laugh. I just love to hear the sound of my kids laughing and knowing that they are happy. Matt has taught Parker so much and I know he looks up to his do so much. I am glad that Parker has a good example on his life of what a great dad should be. I love you Matt, Happy Father's Day!

Dinosaurs

I have sure had a hard time keeping up with the blog lately. Today I am attempting to play a little catch up. Last weekend my kids and I went with my parents to visit some family. One of my cousins is having a baby and her shower was on Sat. and another cousin on the other side is going on a mission for the LDS church and spoke in church on Sunday. So we were there for the weekend. While we were there we decided to take the kids to a Dinosaur museum. Parker has really been into dinos lately and we knew he would just love seeing all about the dinosaurs. We had a great time and he especially loved the areas that he got to play in the sand and build rivers and streams and dams. He also loved the part where he got to excavate the dinosaur bones from the sand box. The museum was fun with a ton to see about dinosaurs, I think we will go back when the kids are older and can really walk through the museum and talk about each dinosaur and what they were like. Unfortunately Matt had to work that weekend so he wasn't with us, another reason to go back. The kids also loved the fact that we got to stay in a hotel and go swimming in the hotel pool. It wasn't very big, but we were the only ones using it at the time so it worked out perfectly. Parker said he wanted to stay in the pool "all night" good thing it was only open until 10, I for sure didn't want to stay in there all night. We had a really good time and the kids were really good on the drive there and on the way back!