Stinky Dirt

The last few weeks we have spent all our time in the yard.
Mike is in the process of building some planter boxes. I was only going to grow a couple of pumpkins, but was motivated by my friend Rachel to grow more.

I went to Lambert's Floral in West Valley and came home with

about 20 plants; 12 of which are just tomatoes. It's hard to pick just one.

Our

flowers are starting to bloom and the colors are so refreshing. Some of our flower beds don't have their drip system set up yet, so I am the default "waterer". I am trying really hard to remember. The plants are good reminders. You can tell when they are thirsty because they start looking pretty limp. Between keeping my kids and plants watered I will be pretty busy this summer.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we went to support Mike in a possible "new hobby."

I won't say any more on the event because Mike is going to write a post on his experience.

Collin is so fun and growing cuter every day. How about those eye lashes?


Tess is our hippie/granola girl. Those flowers ended up in her hair.


This is Davis' classic pose. I think we have dozens of shots with him and his head tilted ever so slightly. Davis was so excited to cheer on his dad, he had a permanent smile for the first two hours.

Picture of a picture

In my efforts to finish decorating my redecorating project I was looking for new art. I happened upon my sister's flickr account and found the picture she had taken of a palm back when she was in Hawaii. I loved the colors, had it printed at Costco, bought a frame at Ikea, customized a mat at JoAnn's, and Voila! I know there were a lot of steps, but there is method to my madness.

As I was searching for art, I also found this awesome rug at Down East Home. I have been looking for rugs for quite some time, and was losing hope of finding something I liked that was affordable. Rugs are expensive! The salesperson at the store unrolled two feet of this rug and I told her I would take it. I was so excited.

I still am in need of some kind of picture or painting to go above the new couch. So the search continues....

Heads Up

I found a super easy hand band slipcover on mmmcrafts.

You only need a small amount of fabric, interfacing and a skinny head band to make this. I made one without the interfacing and it was a little floppy. If you used thicker fabric you probably wouldn't need the interfacing. If you look at the bottom of the head band, in my picture, you can see a little blue dot. That is the hole you use to slide the head band through. The pattern has you leave and opening for turning and then you top stitch it closed. I used a turning tool and turned it through the hole.

I didn't want to take a silly picture of myself wearing the head band. Collin was the only other person around, so I have a picture of him sporting it.

I found these heart pins at JoAnn's craft store. I loved them and had to have them. For a buck fifty you get 30 pins. They also had pins with pearlized feathers.

Love 'em!

Drink up

I love to get fresh lemonade at carnivals and street fairs. One of my favorite drinks is the Texas Twister. I have tried to recreate the Texas Twister, but with out the secret base I get no where.

Last year I was drinking a lot of lemonade, per doctor's orders, to help reduce kidney stones. I was using lemon juice concentrate, water and Equal. When I got pregnant with Collin the Equal started giving me extreme headaches. Weird I know. I switched from sugar alternatives to real sugar. Talk about sweet! To make it even better I started juicing lemons myself. Through all of this I discovered the best lemonade ever...

-Juice from 6 lemons (about 2 cups)

-2 cups sugar

-2 quarts of cold water

If you don't have a pitcher big enough to hold two quarts, the recipe is just as perfect cut in half. I am warning you, the kids won't stop drinking it.

Sugar Tooth

To say Tess likes candy is an understatement.

This past school year while Davis is in class Tess and I go to the store. I usually let her pick something out for her self and then something for Davis. This last trip she decided on a bag of Dum Dums.

When we got home I was busy putting things away and tending to Collin. Tess was quiet and yelled to her to see if she was okay. She replied, "I OK Mom!" I didn't think much of it at first and kept on doing whatever I was doing. A couple of minutes later it dawned on me that the lollipops were on the kitchen counter. I walked in the kitchen and found her unwrapping all the lollipops and sticking them in her Hello Kitty purse. I told her 20 was enough. Later that night I found her down stairs on the lovesac watching t.v. with her stash of goodies. Mike came down and asked if he could have one. Tess is always good to share, and she said yes. Upon further inspection of the loot, Mike noticed every lollipop had been slightly sucked. He quickly recanted his request.

St. George

We spent the first weekend in May in St. George. Breana and Mack caravaned down with us on Friday. We stopped in Fillmore to eat at Cluff's of course. Then proceeded to Noelle and Kurt's house in Enoch. Kurt put up a horse shoe pit, and the guys couldn't get enough of it. Noelle is car sitting Cherie's car for the summer, so Bre and Mack drove the red beast down and left it in Enoch. The weather forecast for Saturday was gloomy and rainy. We got lucky and had sunny skies with a cool breeze. Kurt, Noelle and the kids came down Saturday and joined us in the pool and for a BBQ.

On Sunday, Kurt blessed baby Alia, and after church Noelle had a potluck at her sister in law's house.

The big kids had fun playing tether ball, and the little kids played on the trampoline and play set.Thanks Noelle for taking pictures of my family for me. I carry my camera in my bag all the time now, but still forget to get it out!

We had such a good time on our first vacation of the summer. Mike and I are anxious to go on another outing with our little family. I don't think Bre and Mack feel the same. Three + hours in the car with our kids did them in. They both got colds from our kids. They must not wash their hands ;) Actually Mike got a cold too. I am the only one that ended up cold free. Mack and Bre are in San Antonio, Texas for the summer. I told them the cold was something for them to remember us by. It will be a long summer with out them. Tess is already asking for Mack.

A Sweet Treat

Today was the day kids dread... errand day. I dragged my kids all over today trying to jam all my errands into one day. What is better- One horrible day of dragging your kids into every store in town, or spacing it out through the week for only a couple of bad hours each day??? I haven't decided yet.

The kids and I stopped in at a new doughnut shop in Draper. Beyond Glazed is the name and it's just west of the freeway off 123rd. They had over a dozen different types of fancy doughnuts all made fresh daily, with real fruit. We opted for chocolate ganache, and strawberry cream cheese. Tess wanted the purple raspberry mango, but since I can't have mango, I talked her into the strawberry. The doughnuts very yummy, and I know we will be back.