Yard Happies

Ahhh, a deck that isn't peeling. Yet.


We finally got our 3 quaking aspens for the back yard. I could listen to the sound of the wind in those leaves all day. It makes me happy!

Fun at Jester Park

Jester Park is still one of my favorite summer outings. Bison, elk, water play, picnics, nature hikes, and this time is was with buddies. Good times.


They LOVE building a dam with rocks. It's a project everyone works together on as a team. I like it when that happens.

Moments that matter

Sometimes it seems that all they do is fight. All day. But every now and then, a sweet moment perks it's head into our lives, and I stop to see that they are buddies, after all.

Random snippets of summer

I have to hand it to Leo, he puts up with a LOT. But he really is a glutton for punishment. He seems to have just settled right into being the boys' little play toy.




The younger two never tire of finding toads in the backyard. I usually let them play with them for awhile before I feel it is my duty to save the poor creatures from an early demise, when I find them being stuck to the sides of screens over cement patios to see if they can "climb," or because they've been thrown from a bucket of water into the sandbox too many times doing "American Ninja Warrior."




Jack has made a nasty habit of getting up every morning at about 5:45. We put a timer on the t.v. so it can't be turned on until 7am, since for awhile he was sneaking out of bed at the crack of dawn to put on movies. Now he just finds things to do. Our kids have been going to bed later since it's hard to get them in bed when it's so light out, and we have a lot more nightly activities that keep us up in the summer. Even so, my kids are classic cases of going to bed late and still getting up early. Bad. Cranky kids. Bad bad. You know your almost-7-yr-old is tired when he sneaks away to pet the cat and falls asleep under your shoe rack.

The little chemist

Benjamin has a new favorite activity, and that is making "experiments." He pulls out my big mixing bowls and goes through the pantry, spice cabinet, and refrigerator looking for ingredients for his experiments. This is exactly the kind of thing I want him to be doing, creatively and independently. And yet it is exactly the kind of thing that drives me mad. "No, you cannot use the organic yogurt in your experiment." "Truffle salt? Sorry, too expensive to be mixed with vinegar and baking soda." "NO!! Not the sea salt caramel!!" As much as I want to avoid telling him no when it comes to these types of exploration, the entire process is "Can I use this?" "No, try this." But I've whittled him down to the same 10 ingredients and I think he's getting bored. The kitchen and I are good buddies, and I work hard in that space. It's really not easy for me to give up the tools and materials that go into feeding us without a fight.

I do hope I have a budding Jamie Oliver on my hands so that all this experimentation with food comes to fruition in the future. Or a chemist that doesn't blow (too many) things up.

Today he got his brothers involved. It was one big master mess, but they really bonded over it. I believe the ingredients in their concoction today were corn starch, cinnamon, cocoa powder, flour, salt, water, vinegar, Tapatio hot sauce, ice, chocolate syrup, lemon juice and canola oil.


Uummm, yummy. Anyone want a taste?

Self Defeat in the Making

I've been thinking that running a few times a week might help me get ready for a half marathon, but unless I adjust my eating habits for a month or two, running may not be enough to shave off some of the belly I've obtained in the last year. And yet, this doesn't help one bit:



Fresh peach pie and homemade chocolate chip cookies are not easy things for me to avoid. Not to mention we baked all of this on the hottest day of the season this year. Talk about living incongruent with the seasons!! Today I am thankful for air conditioning. It aids me in making silly decisions, but I sure do like it a lot.

Millions of peaches

This can only lead to good...


Yep. All good.

4th of July festivities

We went down to Osceola for the parade on the 4th this year. It was supposed to be a big family event, with Mike's brother and his kids/grandkids all joining us, but when we got there we discovered that the night before my sister-in-law's son was in a terrible car crash that left his co-worker and friend dead, and he himself air-lifted to the hospital. He's home now and doing better, but there is still concern about the legal ramifications, since Michael ran a stop-sign and we don't yet know if he was drinking. I hope very deeply it was truly just an accident, and no nasty legal battle will ensue. My heart aches for his friend, who had a 4-month-old at home and was to celebrate his 31st birthday the very next day on the 4th. This holiday had a shadow cast over it.

The kids had fun, though, and we made the best of the day.