What a week!

It all started at the fair.

These are a few of my highlights.

I look forward to these all year, and they did not disappoint!

This goat followed the foam padding with a nice big drink from the communal water bowl. But, you do know goats eat everything, right?

Usually my favorite exhibits are the photography and the painting, but the cakes may have won me over this year. Isn't it awesome? And, Damon assured us that they smelled as good as they looked. This race car game was a hit with the boys, and everyone always loves the puppies.

Damon was a good boy and had $4 allowance money, just the amount of this gun which he can't stop talking about. Why can't he love books as much?

Damon's first soccor practice of the fall. He was pretty excited, and so was I when we tried a new league, which I thought was less expensive. That was before I knew that we had to buy a uniform in addition to the registration fee. And, I couldn't even find the right one when I went out shopping for it on Friday!

Saturday was lots of fun. My family came over to cheer Damon and I on in the races we competed in.

Damon was so cute preparing for his race and I am sure I was beaming about it all. I reminded him that he was racing with me in utero and he just said, "I know." I guess he has heard that before. Hmm.

I was so impressed with his attitude about the whole thing. He took it seriously, but had lots of fun. Coach G (my dad) noticed his good running form, Tyler and Grandma took some great pictures, and I ran around like one of those really annoying parents at their kids sporting events. You know the type.

Just after Damon finished I had to hurry over to my event, 25K duathlon. I wish I hadn't missed Damon's trip to the athlete's food table. Afterwards Tyler told me Damon had a power bar, but he didn't think he liked it since he only ate half. Are you kidding me. A 6 year old eating 1/2 of a power bar. I don't think the problem was he didn't like it, I think he was probably about to explode. Those suckers are dense.

After the races we hurried home to spend a lovely afternoon with Tyler's family. I can't believe I didn't snap one picture. We had so much fun visiting with everyone. And the food was fabulous as always.

What a week!

Relief!

That's what I am feeling. I just got home from Enrichment and even though I really didn't have to do very much to get ready for this one (except a bunch of running around today) I am so relieved. I think it is just the thought of being incharge if anything should go wrong. It turned out great. It was back-to-school night, Relief Society University that is, theme; Goal Setting. Complete with school lunch ladies wearing hair nets (wish I had a picture of that).

Because I am not very organized and a procrastinator (remember family back to school night goals), I had a lot to do today. In addition to Enrichment it was Jay's birthday. Jay is a handicapped guy we take care of and he doesn't have any family to celebrate with him. Well, after setting up for the meeting I mentioned I still had to go home and make a cake for him. This nice lady in my ward ran to the store and showed up at my house 20 min. later with cake, ice cream, candles, and decorating frosting. It was so so super nice. If it weren't for her we would have ended up celebrating tomorrow.

We cut the cake just before I had to catch the bus.

So, now that it is over I felt to fully relax I needed to do a little web surfing. I just happend to come across this fun idea for the 2nd time. What are the chances? I decided that I really need to take this challenge. Any guesses what my goal will be? I think it will be really fun. Try it, even if you have to start a day or two late.

Also, I would love any ideas on fun Enrichment activities! Please share any that you have really enjoyed! It is so nice to have ideas that have already worked! Thanks!

I know it's almost fall when

the pears are ready to be picked.

I also feel it when the nights are cool but the days are still hot, I start wanting soup more often, and Tyler is gone hunting all the time.

We canned our peaches and early plums this week and I can't wait for the smell of pear butter in my kitchen. Yum!

It's so much work, but worth it. Now for something that's not so much work. A couple weeks ago a friend shared this yummy recipe with me. Cake mix and assorted baking chips have now become some of my essential pantry items. This is one of those things you can whip up really fast at the last min.

Cakemix Cookies

1 box of cake mix

1 c. baking chips, or candies, or nuts, or dried fruit, or oatmeal, or ...

1 egg

1/4 c. oil

1/4 c. water

Mix everything together, drop on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 min.

The best part is you can mix and match. My friend used chocolate cake and peanut butter chips and they were so yummy. Last week I tried lemon cake and white chocolate chips. mmmmm There are so many combinations to try.

Another one I love is Italin pasta salad. You know tri-color noodles, italian dressing, tomatoes, olives, capers... I just throw in anything I have that sounds good.

So, I want to hear your quick and easy recipes that you can make in a hurry!

We survived!

The first week back to school, that is!
The mornings were the hardest. We are night owls at this house.

The first day was tough. The only thing Damon was excited about in the morning was his new "Master Yoda" shirt. He came home happier than when he left so I think that is a good sign.

We had our 2nd annual Back to School Night FHE. Aren't our party hats sweet?

We ate yummy food and Damon was so cute when he wanted to make a toast.

Our goals this year are to be more motivated and no more procrastination. When something needs to be done, just do it! These are in addition to last years theme, Be Your Best!

We're Back!

Back home.
Back to school.
Back on schedule.
It's good to be back, but we sure had lots of fun.

We are sure going to miss summer.

Goodbye Summer

We want to make the most of this last week of summer before school starts.

On Monday my parents and Taylor came and we played disc golf.


And, Damon and Grandma climbed this crazy tree.

Yesterday Damon and I went to Raft River.

This family has a bunch of property and they made these big water slides on the hills by their house.

Damon had so much fun. He was up and down these hills the entire time we were there (about 6 hours) except to quickly eat lunch and then catch candy out of the "candy cannon."

They also have this fun zip-line and all kinds of fun summer things. It was a good day, but at a cost. Damon has been in bed all day today, not feeling well. And, what makes it worse is that I think he is just dehydrated after the super long day yesterday. So it's all my fault and I feel so bad. Hopefully he gets feeling better tonight because we are still planning on camping, fishing, 4-wheeling, and boating this week. And, he has a pool party at a friends house tomorrow. We really are trying to make the most of this last week. Hope everyone else is able to enjoy the last of their summers.

Best Fruit Salad Ever!

While shopping the produce section on a recent trip to the store, Damon saw some strawberries that he wanted, and them some blueberries, and then he said, "Mom can I make a fruit salad?"

I could not wait to get home and see what he would do with the stuff he picked out. He washed all the fruit and cut it up, using some kid friendly kitchen tools. Then he poured yogurt on top, some dried fruit and candied pecans.

It was so yummy! He took his job so seriously and acted so grown up. It was the sweetest thing! He couldn't wait for grandma to get here so he could show it off. He was very proud of his culinary skills.

Thanks to Lindsay for our fun new triffle bowl.

Did we just skip past summer this year?

We are back home after a week away. We had lots of fun and I have plenty of pictures to share sometime. Right now I wanted to recap our fun Saturday with our little visitor, Devon.

Our city is celebrating it's 60th, and there were lots of activities planned. Too bad it rained for most of them.

That didn't stop us from attending the parade. Tyler will never miss an opportunity for free candy. We did have to fill Devon in on our "Parade Rule." Tyler and I are free to any of the candy, because, let's face it, without us they wouldn't have any. Right?

The boys are having lots of fun together and it is nice that Damon is entertained all day.

After the parade we had to hurry home from some hot, herbal tea. Not something I am used to fixing in August.

After everyone was warm and dry we headed back out. Home Depot had a children's project and Devon and Damon had lots of fun building these birdhouses. I am sure if a Dad would have been helping they would be a little more square, but I did my best and the boys actually did most of the work.

Our last stop was the bouncy house and then it was home for dinner. The kids were worn out and ready when bedtime came. They had one little hiccup on their way to "dreamland" and that was a very interesting conversation about aliens. I was called in a couple of times to clear up a few things (which I couldn't really do, since I am not well versed on the topic) and finally I heard the happy sound of quiet breathing. What a day!

Another summer weekend....

We had lots of fun this weekend. Yesterday I got to compete in a triathlon with some girls in my ward. It was lots of fun and I am so glad they wanted to do it or I'm sure I wouldn't have.

Here we are post race. Not glamorous, but happy to be done.

I am excited to compete in another one of these. First item of business; get a bike (I was loaned this one which I was so grateful for,) and second I think next year I will actually ride a bike and swim more than once before the actually race.

Then, last night we went to our neighborhood party and had so much fun. I think Damon's favorite part was getting to climb all over this old firetruck. Good Times!
Another fun weekend memory, this morning I woke up to quite a bit of noise in the kitchen. What was it? Damon making us breakfast. He was so excited about having gotten up before me (he told me a few days ago he wanted to sometime, but I wasn't so sure it would happen) and fixed us each a toast. Look at all that butter! Yum! He set a place for each of us with assigned seats. He was so cute about it I couldn't tell him it was fast Sunday. I just ate my breakfast. We'll fast next week.