Playing catch-up

WARNING. This is a photo dump. And may contain a LOOOOOOOnnnnnGGGGG post because it's been a long time. But I know you don't mind. You still loyally read my blog and constantly check for updates....right? (hello out there? )

OK, le'ts start with summer.... One morning in June or July I woke up and it was so cloudy and delightful outside I packed the kids in and we headed up the mountain for an impromptu hike. And they were so tough. We made it most of the way without a breakdown.

 After the hike we had to replenish our energy stores at the candy shop. The kids spent their own money and loved it.

 We camped at the beach. Have you ever CAMPED at THE BEACH? It's like doubly as dirty. But the view from our front porch was pretty amazing.
 

And some people have been there WAAY too long and need to pack up their flags and go home and shower. This summer I took it upon myself to re-do my bedroom. The color was light brown and the whole room was just...hideous. I also decided to become a MASTER furniture re-doer. So far I've refinished a dresser, a chair and a table. Here's my dresser after it was done (I can't seem to find my stinking before pics!)

My new old chair and table:

And the chair and table now:

 Not too bad, eh? It's amazing what sanding, priming, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, glazing, sanding and sealing will do for a piece of furniture. And only like 25 steps! Here's my new bedding: And yes, I made the pillows (as if you could mistake these for being professionally made!)

Okay, back to summer... We went on a big, long trip to Utah and hit up Zion National park for a day. It was so beautiful and we hiked the whole day. The kids were awesome. Carter chatted with the squirrels.

 And we ate lunch on the lawn under a big tree. We drank like 10 gallons of water that day.

 We got to see my parents up in Utah. I loved this moment.



 Then school had to start. I didn't even cry the first day. I swear! I bawled like a little baby last year. It was ridonculous.

My kids had to test out their new shoes and make sure they were fast enough to run away from the girls.


Awkward first-day photo:

And finally, my kids with Grandpa's chickens just because they are so dang cute. And the kids aren't bad, either.

SLAAAWWWW

Some words strike you wrong. Like "loaf". Meat "LOAF". Eww.
It just sounds nasty.
Another one of those words? SLAW. I don't know why, it's just always made me wanna gag. Maybe cuz it sounds like "SLAUGHTER" or something. Just doesn't sound appealing. Plus I never really liked it (I think it was the miracle whip) so that confirmed my suspicions that it was nasty.
But did you know that "slaw" means "salad" in another language? (not sure which one and don't care)
It's just salad.
I LOVE SALAD.
So I tried SLAW.
Only I didn't want it to be all mayonnaise-y.
So I found this recipe and tweaked it and now it's MINE!
MINE, MINE, MINE!

You gotta try this. It's really yummy and I think you'll love it. The trick is lots of fresh yummy basil. I also tossed in a bit of fresh cilantro (I love mixing these two). Even my kids liked it. Alright, I'm fibbing. Carter liked it.

The Adorable Troll

Two blog posts in one week! I'm on a roll!
Okay, first off I've got more catching up to do...
One day Carter came home with a letter from his teach telling me that they were going to put on a kindergarten play (an "opera", to be exact). They were going to be doing The Nanny Goats Gruff and Carter, MY Carter, was going to be playing the troll. Like THE troll. The ONLY troll. Of course, he had known it for days and just hadn't mentioned it. Such a guy thing. At the end of April they performed their opera and we were just bustin' our buttons watching our adorable troll get up in front of a whole audience of parents and belt out his songs and lines like a pro. He's such a natural and stole the show! It was so great. Here are some pics...
He's wearing troll hair here:


See him under the bridge?


There's one of the nanny goats on his bridge. He's telling her to get off or he'd gobble her up.




Shortly after his play Carter turned 6. We had THE BEST day at Disneyland. Spencer took the day off and we went to Disneyland one last time before our passes expired. We are so sad to watch them expire this year. We have had such a wonderful time going to Disneyland so much.



We bribed Carter with cotton candy and a dollar and he rode on the Tower of Terror with me. He was terrified. But he totally did it and didn't cry and therefore totally earned bragging rights for like the next year.
Here's a few pics from our trip. Here's us in front of the Matterhorn, me on Small world and my little Padwan Carter being trained to be a Jedi. He was the first one up to fight the humongous Darth Vader and was victorious.



Pics I took of the kids lately. Carter's loving being 6. He just learned how to ride a bike without training wheels!





Nolan is my climber. And he's good at it, too. He loves climbing up here and swinging on these handlebars. Even in his church clothes.


Also, he has some awesome karate moves.


He's become my garden companion. Helps me water, pick, plant, weed. We spend some time out there together pretty much every morning.


We've been eating peas, zucchini, mulberries and beans like crazy. Our pomegranate tree is also loaded with these beautiful red buds and we're excited to have a bajillion of them come November.



Nolan somehow appears in my bed every few mornings. I say "appears" because I swear I don't hear or feel him climb in the bed. But I open my eyes and he's just....there. The other morning when I opened my eyes he put his warm little hand on my cheek and said, "Mom, are you waking up now?" It was the sweetest way to wake up and made the whole day wonderful. I mean, how could you have a bad day after waking up to this face??

Texas, oh Texas..

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. I have two good excuses. One, I haven't had time and two, I haven't really cared about it. (yep, I said it).But tonight, I make up for my absence with an overload of pictures from our family trip to Houston at the tail end of March. (good grief I can't believe it's been that long already)

First of all it was a LOOONG trip to our final destination which was my parent's lake house in Henderson. Oh how I love this place. We played hard and slept hard and it was a blast.


We at brisket that was smoked by my dad for 14 hours. It was awesome.



The kids loved the big swing. Papa gives good swing rides. I would know. He totally pushed me when I was a small child. (Then one time he hid in the woods and after a couple minutes I realized he wasn't there and it freaked me out because he told me stories about the ghost that lived at my school and I started to cry and then he came out and he thought it was a pretty funny trick. Yes I do sometimes wonder how I have turned out as normal as I have...)




We played in our jammies all morning


We fished a lot. The kids loved it.


The lifejacket we first put on Carter was a bit...well, it was made for an infant but we didn't realize that until I noticed it was kinda riding up in the crotchal area. Poor kid.


All the boys went on a fishing trip. It was the only piece of sanity us women got all weekend.


Logan caught a lunker (can you see it?)


Here it is..




I got to kiss and munch on my stinking cutie of a nephew Cody who loved me. Probably because we're both awesome.


(Do I need to say, "We roasted marshmallows" for this one?)


Then we were off to Dallas for a visit to my brother's house. On the way to Houston after our trip there I had to stop and get some pictures of the gorgeous wildflowers.


(See the butterfly?)



(Doesn't this one seems like it needs to be a motivational poster with some cheesy caption like, "Stand out in the crowd"?

In Houston we went to Brazos Bend State Park which is basically where us wierd-o's go to spot alligators and get as close to them as possible. (it never occurred to me before that other people find this behavior strange but this is what we do for thrills in Texas)



Can you see the alligator?


This is my dad trying to look like a bird-legged Tarzan hanging 3 feet off the ground. He's so cute.


It has some seriously gorgeous scenery here




(can you spy the blue bird?)


Here's another one..


This turtle was making a nest and my dad was going to pick it up but it was hissing at him. So he was going to get behind it instead then I noticed he was standing in a pile of fire ants and they were all over his shoes and that sent him dancing around trying to shake them off. It was pretty funny.





We had an awesome time there and no one got eaten! We got to pet some baby alligators in the ranger station and the kids had a blast. Yay for vacations!!


Alright, I have more to update with but it'll have to wait. It's late and I'm tired and ready for bed. Until next time!