Cherries, Anyone?

As we were eating the last of a bag of "pretty good" cherries from the store we talked about hurrying out for some more. I seriously still had the last one in my mouth when the door bell rang. A cute little boy and girl were behind it with a plastic bag in each of their hands. (Later Tyler told me he was afraid they were selling painted rocks, but now wonders if they were angels!) They were selling cherries that they picked off of their tree this morning. We bought a couple little bags and went right back to building on the pile of pits on the bar. Only this time, they weren't just "pretty good," store bought, cherries. They were so yummy! We have been planning to plant a tree in our yard and I think today we have been even further motivated. I love this time of year! When we are able to enjoy the freshest food. We have been able to eat a few things from our garden. Last night we picked some squash and the tomatoes look like they will be ready soon. I can't wait.

Chocolate Strawberry Tarts

I have a really easy and yummy recipe to share.

I have a little tart pan, but you could probably use a mini muffin pan as well.

-Pie crust (I sometime make it, but the ready made works great, too.)

-Strawberries, cut into quarters

-Sugar

-Chocolate chips

Fill pan with crust. Dip strawberries in sugar (I just put it in a bowl with the berries and stir them around). Fill each crust with a spoon of berries and a few chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 20 min.

Camping at Bear Lake

Camping at Bear Lake is my kind of camping! We enjoyed the fun camp fire and yummy food, and then went down to the water and enjoyed the beach. I was planning to only post a couple pictures but I couldn't narrow them down very well.



Coach G (a.k.a. Dad) taught us how to play horse shoes and it turned out to be so much fun!

Taylor was really excited about his tin foil dinner. They were delicious!

Damon and Devon played with these boats in the water all day.

We played water balloon volleyball, rode jet ski's, made sand castels, and funniest of all...

Taylor nearly caught this seagull. It was so funny, and he was so close. We are going to try again next time we go. I think we will make a sport out of it. I'm thinking, who ever can hold onto their seagull the longest wins, something like that. I am sure we have some kinks to work out, but we'll get it.

Taylor's Visit

While my parents were on an Alaskan Cruise, my brother Taylor came to visit. He and Damon had a lot of fun together. Here is their Play-doh masterpiece.

They had a lot of fun getting wet to deal with the July heat. This time Tyler convinced them it would be fun if he sprayed them. I guess they thought so, too.

Tennis and the Silly Old Man

A few weeks ago we wanted to play tennis. Tyler and I both have raquets, but we knew Damon would be sad if he didn't have one to play with. We decided to just make a quick trip to the D.I. on our way to the courts and see if they had something suitable to a five year old (works okay, but won't be bad if it ends up hitting a rock or gets smashed into the ground, all on accident of course.) We were very happy to find a cute little raquet, in good condition, for $2.00. As we were leaving we heard over the loud speaker, "We the owner of a red and white Buick please come to the front." When we got to the parking lot we realized why. This old man decided to park right in the middle of the parking lot. This picture hardly does the scene justice. It was so funny! You can see a lady staring at the car as she walks by and she was not the only one. Everyone going into the store could not stop staring in confusion.



Well, we made it to the tennis courts and played for a few minutes when who drives by? The owner of the car above. There was no mistaking that car. We had a good laugh. They must not have let him stay very long.


If it is a ball, Damon knows how to use it. He loves all sports and always figures out how to be good at them so quickly. I love how into them he gets. Look at his little tongue sticking out! He works so hard.

Fourth of July Weekend

It's always fun to spend time in Bear Lake! We spent the first of our trip camping. We had fun, but didn't stay too long. There were cows all over and it was a little stinky!

That didn't keep Damon and Devon from having fun. They really loved all the camp treats, especially the soda!

We went fishing in the morning. Guess what these two silly boys are doing? Checking to see whose fishing pole is the longest!



Here are some shots with the little, tiny fish they were catching!

These two boys have so much fun together. It is always nice when they get to play.

Back at Tyler's we had fun visiting, eating, and playing water balloon volley ball.

"Pop It's" are the best!

We knew it was crazy to go to the lake, but we went anyway and found a tiny section of beach to play on. I should have taken a picture of the beach, but anyone who has been there around the "fourth" knows what I mean. People everywhere!

Oh, what do you do in the summer time...?

I have been so busy lately that I feel like the summer is already slipping by much too quickly. We have been able to have a lot of fun already even though we have had so much running around to do. Here are a few of the things we have loved doing so far this year.

Picnic in the park! Damon loves to eat his lunch and then play with all of the other kids running around. I love to watch, and catch up on some reading while he plays.

Fly a kite! We have so much wind by our house that we can fly kites all through the summer.

Go on vacation! Tyler and I just got back from a cruise last week. I will post details later.

Go to T-ball games! Tyler and I got trapped into coaching T-ball this year. It has been fun and the kids are so cute, but I would so much rather be a mom on the side lines cheering. I know it is only T-ball, but I feel so much pressure from the parents.

Watch Ryan play baseball! He had a double header here a couple weeks ago. The games went pretty late and there were no fans, but we had so much fun cheering and yelling. It was a great night.
Weed the garden! Damon loved planting the garden. For days after he would say, "Mom do you want to go outside with me." I would ask what he wanted to to and he would say, "To watch the garden grow?" It was so cute. We have a huge weed problem, but we are hoping that if we controll them for a couple of years they won't be so bad. Damon is such a big helper with them.

Play at the park! We got together with family in Logan a couple weeks ago. We had so much fun at Willow Park, one of my favorite places to visit. I will probably post some more pictures of this, too.

Go for walks! Damon loves Mylee so much and he loved pushing her in her stroller.

We have loved the summer so far, but we have a lot more on our "Things To Do This Summer" list. So tell us, what do You do in the summer time. We love to share ideas.

Damon's Five!!!

I can't believe how fast time flies. Today we were watching some footage of Damon when he was just a baby and it doesn't seem that long ago. Already he is five. He is such a big boy. He is my little sweet heart and I don't know what I would do without him. We are leaving next week on a vacation and I am going to miss him so much. I know he is going to love visiting Grandma's, and I am sure I will be much more sad than he will be. Here are some pictures of his birthday.


He wanted a car cake. He added the little blue dots in the corner. They are flowers.

He waited all day to finally take the cars off and play with them. He was really patient and very cute about it.

He also reached a milestone on his birthday. He finally learned how to blow a bubble with his gum. He has been asking me how for quite awhile now. I am glad he finally figured it out.

Here he is in action.

Opps! One time the gum ended up on my pants. No harm done. Damon quickly picked it up and went right on practicing.

Damon had lots of fun playing with his cousins. We were in and out all day because of the weather.

We played some games outside, but the kids had the most fun just running around and doing their own thing. It is so fun to see them interact.

Damon loves his cousin Mylee so much. We are really glad they are visiting again. He loves to give her a little hug or help her sit up. He is so sweet with her.

We are so grateful to all of our family who came and helped make it a special day for our special boy. I forgot to get a picture of everyone who came, but we were so happy to have everyone there. Thank you all for coming and hope you had as much fun as we did.

Dad's New Toy

My dad finally got a new pool table. He has been waiting for a long time and finally gets to play whenever he wants.

Damon had fun learning how to play. Although he experienced some frustration, he got better and had a lot of fun.


Devon wanted to go to "Grandma Cherryl's", too and showed us all his pool skills. In the background you can see Damon chalking his que. I think that was his favorite thing to do. It is really cute when he blows it off after. He had little red chalk marks on his face all night.

When we weren't playing pool, we found other games to play. I like that you can see the tower falling in this picture. We had lots of fun visiting our families and hope that gas doesn't get too crazy and we can keep going down all summer.