Back To School Night #3!

I can't believe this is our 3rd Back-To-School Night Family Home Evening. The last 2 years we have made goals that we can work on all year. While we aren't perfect at our past goals, we are still working on them and adding more.

We mostly just ate a bunch of food (I love all of the fresh fruits and veggies we have available this time of year. I just added some grilled chicken kabobs and french bread.) While we ate we talked about our goals for the year.

I have it this quote framed and hanging up in our dinning room to help us remeber.

Damon is almost a big 2nd grader. Where does the time go?

County Fair!

A couple of weeks ago I followed these two boys around the good old county fair.


We spent a lot of time at the Super Slide, 'cause lets face it, it was the best ride there.

The boys were funny on the spinny rides, and I think they liked them, but we always ended up back at the slides.

I did ride the hammer with Taylor and I got sick. The crazy carnie worker offered us a 2nd ride, but I declined. As soon as my stomach settled I made a mad dash for the greasy fair food.

I can't wait for the funnel cakes at the state fair in just 2 weeks and counting. I wonder which topping I will get this year? Hmmm! Anyway, we all had a good time and I ran into a few people I haven't seen in such a long time. BTW, Taylor is getting big. I had to send this picture to Ryan to show him how much he has grown in a year. CRAZY!

We headed East, to the Wild, Wild West!

Yellowstone is so facinating!



We had such a great time. And, I learned how big Bison really are! Look at that thing!

Enjoying the great outdoors right in our own backyard!

This time of year, I feel extra greatful for each day I can spend outside because I know before long I will be forced indoors due to the freezing cold.

I was feeling that greatful feeling the other night while we were busy making tin foil dinners in our fire pit.

Damon was pretty excited since he was finally taught how to use a lighter, and really wanted to help start the fire. He tried to reassure me, by telling me he had been practicing. Telling me he had been practicing with a lighter was not exactly the reassurance I needed. I was reassured by the fact that Tyler was supervising.

Why is it that food tastes better outside? I have my theories.

After dinner and talking to our neighbors about their recently deceased dog, we started the smores. There was a marshmellow or two that would rather burn in the coals than fill our tummies, which brought on a few tears, but in the end we all got nice and full before we attempted a sleepover on the tramp. That lasted til about 3:00 a.m. like most tramp camping does at our house. That's when the thunder started. Tyler grabed Damon, I gathered all of our stuff, and we ended up right back where we belong, our nice cozy beds. Damon was a little disappointed when he woke up wondering how he got in bed, but I woke up a lot more comfortable than I would have outside. The star gazing was a lot of fun. Maybe we will just stick with that next time... Na, I'll never get off that easy.

First Harvest!

Arugula is all we have been able to harvest yet this year (and a little lettuce from thinning). We were really late planting our garden, but better late than never. Damon loves eating anything from the garden. He has also diligently watered the garden almost everyday. He has been a big help.
We tried a variation of this recipe and it was pretty yummy! Definitely something we all liked a ate a lot of.