are these not the cutest EVER?

I'm making one the second I get back from SLC.

Or maybe right now this very second. I'm kind of impulsive like that.

Thanks Megan for introducing me to this. I'm obsessed.

waiting for ice cream

Some good friends made us homemade ice cream last night and we got the taste and had to have more! Plus Winder Dairy is bringing me way too much milk and we had to use it up somehow. Plus my kitchen is never that clean, so I though pictures were in order to mark the occasion.

Plus I thought a pointless blog was in order.

I mean, who knows when my kitchen will ever be that clean again?

our pioneer day in pictures:

I'm not going to worry about putting these in order because life is just way too short. But I will say that we had a great day of lighting fireworks, planning our garden, and watching Alex in the parade.

But, again, not in that order.

This is the domino fountain that Jake created. It was quite successful. After the paradeQuite possibly my new favorite picture to date. It captures her personality so well. Alex got to throw candy this year. He loved being in the parade!I can't resist it when she poses. More fireworks.More parade:

After the fireworks, I was standing in my backyard in awe of the sunset. The sky is just so big and dramatic out here. In fact, when I first moved in, I was running in to get my camera ALL the time because every night it looks different. But I've finally gotten to the point where I don't take a picture every time. I just try to stand there and enjoy it. So tonight I was standing there drinking it in, completely forgetting I was holding my camera, when I mentioned to Alex how beautiful the sky was. So he looked at it and said, "Why don't you take a picture?" Like, why didn't I think of that?

So why not one more...

encouraging his writing

So ALex just walked in with an envelope and said, "Mom, I need Katelyn's last name and address".

Mom: "OK, can I read the letter please?"

Alex: "No, It's already sealed."

Mom: "OK, but if you're writing letters to girls I need to read them."

Alex hesitates, slowly hands me the envelope and says: "OK, but if it says

"Dear Katelyn, you look like a baboon and you smell like one too, "

I wrote that on accident. What I ment to say was You look like my favorite person and you smell like one too. That's what I meant to say."

Mom: "OK, why don't you try again. "

Alex: "OK".

a few things we've been up to

a little cutting practice. Guess who's is who's. It's pretty simple to do if you know my son.

A new tattoo. Daddy gave him this one.

What Buster's been doing.

This is some dinner I made. I include it here because my kids loved it, and that doesn't always happen. Especially in a dish containing mushrooms (which as you can see have been politely discarded). The original recipe is Macaroni and cheese, but since I modified it a tad (it is now tomato-based) and both my kids would eat it, we call it Macaroni and Woop! Woop!

And our appendages have been bathing. Don't worry, they're all in there somewhere. As far as what the hand is telling the foot, I'll let you use your imagination on that one.

not even coming up for air

This morning I was explaining to Alex how it was Mommy and Daddy's anniversary today and how we've been married for eleven years. And he said,



"Wow, that's a lot of years! That's one looong kiss!"



And we're not stopping any time soon. :)

should this concern me as a mother?

It's not crystal clear who is flying and who is standing, but I'm guessing the sad dude with the black eye isn't airborne. I guess he could have been thrown, but my gut says that Samurai Warrior over there on the right is coming in for the kill.

I'm not sure, but I don't think the stick man on the right survived. And the delighted look on Lefty's face has me a tad disturbed. Again, this guy just looks all to happy to be killing something, so I'll just call it target practice to ease my conscience. And when I turned around and found this it just creeped me out.

More because I wasn't aware he could sound things out that well than the fact that it was written in the midst of such carnage. Poor Katelyn has the disadvantage of being the only girl her age in our group of friends, and while Seth plays with her quite well, I'm afraid Alex has adopted his "girls are gross" platform already. Plus there's that whole love triangle thing between Seth, Alex and Kate. I just try to remind Alex that having such strong feelings about Kate will only reveal the huge crush he has on her, and Oh boy does that set him off.

I love it.

Thankfully, Katelyn doesn't seem too affected by Alex's bad manners. She's too much of a tomboy herself to care about what a stinky boy thinks of her. As a matter of fact, I keep thinking I should encourage Alex's little "infatuation". I know he and Jocelyn are betrothed, but he and Kate are a much better match. Just sayin. (sorry Seth)

choking on pictures

Between Lily's birthday and the fourth of July, I have a few pictures I need to post. And by a few, I mean more than I'll probably ever get to. But hopefully I'll get the gist documented. Until then, I need to post this one of MaKaty because I just love it. The girls had so much fun in this little tub on the 4th...

I'll post more soon. Someday.

anniversary dreams can come true

Jake always bests me on anniversary gifts.

Always.

Anyone remember the Canon EOS 1DS? Enough said.

But I think I have him this year. Mowahahaha! I just hope it can be ordered in time.

This post is mostly an attempt to drive him nuts in the off chance that he actually checks this blog. Which he won't. But if he does...EAT IT HON!

Oh, and Happy Anniversary:)