Remember this?

Junior High Taco Salad.

Did you know you can buy 4 big taco shell bowls at

FOOD CITY for only $1.69?

And let me tell you, they are delicious!

And authentic.

They were

a huge

hit

at our house!!!




But I'm pretty sure I made them even better
than the ones from school!



2nd favorite lunch item: The Salad Bar

3rd favorite lunch item: Bagel and Cream Cheese



What was your favorite lunch item in
Junior High?

Cherished Moments...

Chris worked extra late yesterday so he didn't have to start work

until 8 AM today!

He walked the kids to the bus stop and they were thrilled!

I got to make him one of his favorites-

fried eggs and toast.

Thanks for working so hard everyday honey!

Hope you have a great day!

Love you!

Pinetop- Saturday and Sunday

Beautiful Sunrise area.

On Saturday we drove 30 minutes away to go quad riding.
(The neighborhood we were staying at doesn't allow it there.)
So we get there and start riding and a Forrest Ranger comes and tells us that

it is Arizona law that children under 16 require a helmet.

We had no idea it was the law.

(Guess it's time to invest in some now)

We were just always really careful when giving our kids rides and let the older kids

ride only in 2nd gear near us.

So that was a bummer.

Luckily there was a horse near by and the kids had fun petting it

while us adults took turns riding.

Taylor and Sydney


Preston and Peyton waiting for dad or mom to come give them a ride.



Preston driving before we got stopped by the Forrest Ranger.
He's such a good little driver.


Chris and I went for a ride and got back just before it started to rain!
Thank goodness!
It hurts when it hits your face!


Ellie and Taylor staying warm in the truck.

Blake and I getting cozy out of the cold rain.

After we got the quads all loaded up it stopped raining!

So Murphy's Law.

So Chris pulled out his trustly metal detector and unfortunately didn't find a whole lot.

Right outside of Mama Bears and Honey Bear Antiques.

We had a good time checking out all the fun antiques.

Then we went to an old fashion Car Show.

It was so fun to see all the different old cars.

They were driving all around Pinetop when not sitting at the Car Show.

We got some fun pictures that I will post later....maybe.

Sunday we woke up and slowly cleaned up and tried to soak up the last tiny bit of relaxing.

Then we headed home around 2pm.

The ride was okay until we hit Payson then the screaming started.

That was enough for me to send Chris to get fixed!

Now that we aren't in the car anymore I think I've changed my mind :)

Pinetop- Thursday and Friday

Thursday night we got into Pinetop at around 8:00.

We were all starving so we picked up some semi-yummy

pizza from Little Ceasar's and devoured it in minutes .

Afterwards the kids got in their jammies and played on the steeeep stairs.

This is the HUGE cabin we woke up to.
It has 7 bedrooms!
We were living the high life for sure!


We spent most of Friday riding around on the Polaris.



And some went fishing.
(I really wish I sent the camera with Chris)

More to come tomorrow.

It's Monday and not my turn to babysit!!!

(I do a babysitting swap on Mondays from 9-12 with my sister-in-laws)

I gotta go drop my kids off and come home and clean up from our trip- interruption free!

And we're off!

We are off to Pinetop to stay in a cabin for the weekend!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

I know we will.

(for any of you weirdos out there, we have an alarm so don't even think about it!)

Going Completely Insane!

I am seriously going to cry...not even kidding.

I had hoped this day would never come and I actually thought there was a pretty good chance

since my other 3 children never learned how to do this.

Tonight my glimmer of hope has been completely shattered!

Oh, no. This can't be happening.

I'm getting nauseous...

I think I might throw up.


Then I collapsed to the floor in despair!

Seriously, you have no idea how much harder this is going to make my day to day life.
Well, maybe some of you do.
If this means he's done with naps then I need to make an appointment to get some meds for myself!


(please try to ignore the mess in the room, when I go to the gym things get neglected. I'm still trying to figure out how you other moms do it all)

Mangos + Blog Friends = Lots of Laughs!

Kim, Julie, Melanie, Me

On Monday I went to Mangos with my sister-in-law, Kim, and met IN PERSON 2 other blog friends! I had such a great time! It was almost a little weird, not because we didnt' know eachother, but because we did, but felt like we shouldn't because we hadn't met before. Kinda like, Hi nice to meet you, but I already know you. So the whole time we talked as if we'd known eachother our whole lives. (especially how comfortable we got with some of our topics) Don't worry girls, what's said at Mangos stays at Mangos! Unless of course that guy behind us was eaves-dropping and tells a bunch of people! HAHA!

Thanks for a great time girls! Can't wait to do it again sometime! And now that it's starting to cool off we should go to the park with the kiddos!

Anybody else wanna come?!

If you're Happy and you know it...

While helping Ellie put her pj's on last night...

Ellie was singing, "If you're happy and you know it pick your nose!"

Mom: "Eewww Gross!"

Ellie: "Well, Dad said that."

Mom: "Well, tell Dad he's gross."

Ellie: "No, he's yummy!"

(no pun intended ;)

My morning start...

Chris called to remind me to go open the irrigation valve

RIGHT AFTER

I got out of the shower.

So I had to quickly get dressed and prepare for

THIS...

....the hard part.

Not exactly what I want to go do right after getting all nice and clean.

This was the easy part.

Anybody want a SUPER hyper 13 month old Lab?

Come on, anybody? She'll be a great dog in about 3 more years.

Celebrating Preston

Preston isn't into big parties, so he invited his cousin Oscar over to hang out.

They played, watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ate pizza, played,

opened presents, ate cake and played some more.

Ellie isn't going to like seeing herself grab her crotch in these pictures when she gets older.

Haha!

Happy Birthday Preston!

Six years ago today you joined our family.

We were so thrilled to have a little boy.

You came right on time, on your due date.

I couldn't be happier since 21 is my favorite number.

(and since your sister, Taylor, was 8 days late)

You were such an adorable baby, a full head of black hair and

the most gorgeous full lips!

For the first year of your life you slept horrible!

Waking up every 2 hours or less.

You just LOVED to nurse and nurse all the time!

But during the day you were the sweetest little guy ever!

You are growing up so fast!

I love how you love to do anything and everything with your dad!

I love being your mom and hope you are always glad that you are

one of my babies!

Best Friends/Worst Enemies

Dear Kim,

Remember when my daughter

WACKED

your daughter on the head

with the point of this?

And gave her this nice little mark.

Remember when I said, "Ellie you gave her a little hole in her head!"

And Ellie said, "Well, we can tape it!"

But then they ALWAYS go back to this!!!

They are funny little Best Friends.

Sunday's Lightening Show

So cool

and beautiful!

Too bad it didn't even rain at our house.

The End.

* I can't take the credit for these pictures. I stood there talking to my neighbor while Chris shot away. I did go run back in to get the camera though! *

Canning Utah Peaches

Start with:

A box of Utah Peaches.

Blanch

(only takes 10ish seconds)

Peel

The most perfectly blanched peach.

Cut in halves or slices.
(I like them sliced best)


Put in jars with sugar water and give them a gentle boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

And give some away!

Any takers?

I need to go to the bathroom!

(Ellie all ready to go to her friend, Livvy's, princess birthday party on Sept. 1st)

While at Stake Conference this past Sunday-

Ellie: "Mom, I need to go to the bathroom."

Mom: "Are you sure you really need to go?"

Ellie: "Yes, I surely do."

Another Animal!

Taylor couldn't have picked a better day to beg for a hamster,

than the day of her baptism.

While I was cleaning the house and making food for a few guests to come over

after her baptism, Chris took the kids to the pet store

"just to look."

(or so I thought)

Taylor has been wanting a hamster for a little over a year now.

She would beg off and on for one.

We always said, "No, our house is already a zoo."

While at the pet store she begged and begged and Chris finally said,

"a guinea pig would be so much more fun...and durable."

So she begged and begged for a guinea pig.

So Chris called me and asked if they could get one.

I said, "NO."

Chris said, "OK."

Then he told Taylor and I heard the crying and the whining so I said I gotta go.

Meet Chloe

I know you are probably confused now.

I was too.

I had been crying (long story) and Chris walks in the door and says,
"you need some cheering up so we got her anyway."
Somehow this actually worked.
Crazy I know!
It should have made me more upset and given me the right to give him

evil death looks

for at least the rest of the day.
I asked him later that night why he got her anyway when I said no.
He said, "well, this was Taylor's special day and I didn't want her to be upset on her special day and always look back on her baptism day and remember how her mom and dad wouldn't let her have a guinea pig."
I rolled my eyes and then leaned in to give him a kiss and told him he was
rediculous and a big softy!

(Heather, I hope you are not offended that we named our pig Chloe!)

Oh, by the way, I made him get rid of the lizard.