Lucky

My hubby won a new iTouch at a charity banquet last night! It did cost us $80 worth of raffle tickets, but that is still a great price. We feel so lucky--we never win stuff like this. My hubby was sad he didn't have enough time last night to get this thing synced and loaded with apps, games, shows and music. He is very excited.
And have you ever met a more loyal Apple man than Joseph?

Peach Cobbler

Enjoyed this tasty treat last night with our first of many (many, many) fresh peaches:
(found it here.)

Joan's Easy Peach Cobbler:

I use fresh peaches in this recipe, but drained canned peaches will work as well. Serve this cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or drizzle with a little cream.

Ingredients:

* 1 stick (4 ounces) butter, melted
* 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 to 4 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, thinly sliced
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation:

Heat oven to 375°.

Pour melted butter into a 2-quart baking dish (11x7 or 8-inch square). In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the sugar, the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir to blend. Stir in the milk and vanilla until blended. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Toss the peaches with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Arrange the peach slices over the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. The top will be browned and the cake will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Serve warm with a little heavy cream, whipped topping, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Serves 6.


Yummy. A ripe peach is hands down my favorite fruit.

Today

Joe and the big kids woke from their backyard campout--can you spy my littlies in the tent?

Mary (my sister-in-law) came out for a training ride. We had a ball together and almost joined the Fort Herriman Days Parade (but we weren't sparkly or shiny enough...)

And this darling girl worked on an impromptu organizational project of her very own. This just melts my heart :)

Hidden Mess

Found this post the other day and it inspired me to action. I love this kind of quick and easy project--over and done in less than an hour (plus, I quite enjoy shopping for the perfect bin or liner or basket to hold things...and why is there not a Container Store by me? I am a little depressed about it...)

And so--under my kitchen sink:

Before:

After:

I really must have no shame posting such gross "before" pics. Blame it on my HS friends--"no shame" was one of our favorite war cries and it must have stuck with me. Actually, a little shame is a good thing. A very good thing...

**The patterned liner, garbage bags, and clear bins are from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Training Plan

This week I plan to:

--Bike 25 miles
--Run 10 miles
--Swim 1000 meters

And teach dance for a total of 9 hours, do (roughly) 10 loads of laundry, attend 1 YW presidency meeting, meet with old (amazing) girlfriends for a lunch date, teach the Mia Maids on Sunday, and feed and dress and play with 3 little people each and every day.

I think I kind of thrive on full and busy schedules. Not all the time. And especially not since welcoming little lady #2 into our family. The simpler the better with 3 kiddos to tote around. But this week, I'm ready to deal. Bring it. Today we already tackled dentist appointments for Bentley and Cares, a Target run, 1 hour of teaching, grocery shopping, FHE, 4 loads of laundry, and a 12 mile bike ride. It was a good, full day.

**Please remind me of the ambitious words above if I start to get crabby, worn-out and/or moody come Friday. Or Thursday. I am a woman of big plans but I've been known to loose my steam. Next week we plan to take it easy.

Father's Day

This guy is kind of a big deal around here...

I love when Joseph:

...falls asleep before Bentley or Cares during the bedtime ritual of reading, lullabies, tickling and quiet laying by.

...plays in the pool with the kids--with complete abandon.

...works every day (and many, many nights from his home office) to provide for our family.

...sings in the shower--I wonder if he even notices that he does it so often but it's fun to hear him belt out tunes in there.

...works in the yard. I swear he turns into some kind of work horse because he can just go and go all day. On the day of the kids' birthday parties last month Joe's dad brought us a truck full of mulch for the yard. It was such a crazy day that my hubby didn't get to working in the yard until after dinner. Around 11:00 pm that night he unloaded the last wheel barrow of mulch from the truck and dumped it in the flower beds. He was beat but got the job done and made our yard look lovely for it.

...does monthly interviews with the kids. He loves them, Beans and Cares love them and needless to say they are a welcome and anticipated event in our home. I love that they allow Joseph precious one on one time with our children but I also love that he is following Priesthood council by having them. We are well aware that this world will test and tempt and try our children far beyond what we ever experienced in our youth. As the father in our home, my husband definitely feels the weight of preparing them for the future. By doing all he can now to keep them safe, show them his unconditional love, teach them by example, and help them develop a love for the Savior he is being an amazing father. I am in awe of him in that role and so blessed that he is ours.

Happy Father's Day to him and to my own special Dad.

I love looking at this picture and thinking of my Dad at roughly my same age with 3 (darling) little kids. I am reminded to savor the naive and youthful moments at this stage of parenting, and to prepare myself for the conflicts and trials which will come as my babies grow up. If anyone has been through the struggle of parenthood, it's my own sweet parents. And yet they still love and still try--a testament of their faith. Much love to the both of you today...

Summer Weekend

Ours included:
a trip to the local splash pad (Livs was loving it and totally fearless, the big kids just wanted to play at the playground next door and Connor wanted nothing to do with water but loved wandering around and trying to join every picnic he found)

Cafe Rio dinner and Cold Stone dessert

and a trip to IKEA

Livs lounged happily in the shopping cart while Connor found a random, perfectly tiny maintenance broom and wandered the store with it. He also clung to a paper measuring tape all night (see below).

We ended up with some new curtains from IKEA (which I had to hem myself--yikes! Surprisingly, they turned out really well and are almost perfectly even). We also found a new set of kitchen chairs--our current ones were hand-me-downs from my parents and even then they were past their prime. The new chairs are from DownEast--hooray for our Utah State tax return!

Twins

As of Wednesday afternoon we gained a new child/brother! We are babysitting my nephew Connor while his family escapes to Lake Powell (17 month olds are just super tricky on a houseboat--the reason I'm leaving mine behind come July...) He is exactly 5 weeks older than my Olivia but as far as schedules go, these 2 are right on the same page. Life is certainly busy with 2 toddlers but they both still take 2 naps a day, love to eat and eat fastened nicely in their high chairs, and crash for the night around 7:00 pm for a full 12 hours of sleep. They are good little babies and very contented to play in the toy room with the big kids and wear themselves out wandering all around the house and checking everything out.

Connor has boosted Livs desire to walk everywhere in just 24 hours and it's so cute how she is trying to keep up. And Bentley and Cares are fully entertained by 2 babies--especially at mealtime. Bentley has eaten all his meals sitting right across from Connor so he doesn't have to be in the middle of what he calls a "girl sandwich" (girls on either side) while at the table.

watching Olivia laugh it up in matching Hannahs

Our Baby

Remember back in April when Livs took her first steps? Well right after that she decided walking just wasn't for her. And she basically took to crawling with new gumption--still cruising around on everything in site but never trying anything on her own.

And then last weekend it was like she finally had the courage and just went for it. It is still such a new thing for all of us to see that we cheer and praise her all the time. She now thinks it's an integral part of her walking and likes to stop and wait for our applause before continuing on. Here's a little snippet of her success:




And this video from last month is just plain fun. When that Livs gets laughing...

TV Nerd

Just thinking...

..how satisfying was the season finale of House? That's how you do a finale folks.

...I am pretty sure Kent will win SYTYCD. He is adorable and endearing and all the tweens must totally love him, right? OK, I kind of love him too, but honestly I could watch him dance all day.

...did anyone else love the Journey medley from the Glee finale? Maybe I'm just old, but those songs are so classic. Good stuff.

...bring on Wipeout already! That show is so random but if I watch it late enough at night it makes me laugh so hard...such fun :)

...who will The Bachelorette choose? I think I'm really liking Frank for her but it's still early in the game...

Snowbird

on the Peruvian lift Wednesday evening

Another summer adventure! We spent Wednesday and Thursday up at the Cliff Lodge (thanks to my Papa's yearly timeshare--a few cousins had spent time up there earlier in the week and then I used the last 3 days). It's funny how spring is just starting to make an appearance up at 8000 feet while summer is well on her way down in the valley. At any rate, it is always fun to get away--to escape the rigorous chores of daily life and just play for a few days. Joseph met us up there after work on Wednesday and then took Thursday off to hang out with us for the whole day.

We swam, soaked in our private, balcony hot tub, played games at the arcade, the kids did "a little art" during Liv's naps (while I read The Lost Symbol--finally...) and played Little People Uno with me, we did puzzles, watched movies, played at the Iron Blosam Lodge playground, went on a little hike to Lisa Falls, and enjoyed the company of both my parents and Joe's as well as tons of LeBaron cousins on Thursday evening.

You know how it goes...here come the pics:

our balcony hot tub

a visit from my parents Wednesday night--they brought homemade ice cream to share with us and then we played Ticket to Ride once the kids were in bed

snuggle buddies--even on a king size bed they found each other and slept soundly like this. cute.

heading up to Lisa Falls

Olivia loves the water--freezing, spring run-off or not she wants to touch it and play in it nonstop. I convinced her that throwing rocks into it was quite fun too.

our sweet baby--she is such a good sport on all of our outdoor endeavors

playing at the pool with grandpa Neil and Jim and his kids

warming up when Tillie arrived

the 3 four-year-old girls (Till's face is hilarious in this pic--love it)

Nanny and Grandpa with 5 of their 8 kiddos

the Johnny and Krista LeBs. We were so exited to see all 4 of them that night before they were off to CA and an Apple internship all summer.

On Friday morning we sent Joseph to work, packed ourselves up and checked-out on a brisk, wet 42 degree morning. Sadly, it wasn't much warmer or drier at home but our yard looks amazing from all the rain...kind of jungle-like in places but very green and in full bloom. As soon as it warms up a bit we will get back in gear and shape it all up. Seems like we have already been doing that since May and yet there is always more!

gray day

A Little Fieldtrip

Our last preschool gathering for the year--a fieldtrip to the petting zoo:

Cares and a few of her little buddies with their "diplomas"

Olivia loved the animals and squealed with delight over and over again

Brave Caroline (she's blocking her eyes because of the sun--not the llama :)

Bentley and Mason checking out the peacock. When we first saw the bird he was quite calm with his feathers settled down. I told Bentley and Cares to do a crazy dance for him--and they took to it whole-heartedly! Sure enough they fired him up and we got the full plume :)

2 years ago--I love this pic. Look how much she's grown!

petting a baby goat

and a silky soft baby bunny (now I wish we had one of our own--he was too soft and cute!)

Officially

Summer.

Bentley had his last day of Kindergarten on Friday and his last soccer game today. After the game we spent the day in the yard pulling a million weeds and mowing the lawn, and then playing at the pool to cool off (and get some laps done).







The hubby and I squeezed in a date night too--shopping for Father's Day gifts, sharing some Marble Slab ice cream, and seeing Iron Man 2 (classic guy movie but still entertaining). It was still warm outside when we exited the theater at 10:00 at night. It felt amazing. I think I've always been a summer girl...

The Rest

Sunday: We took it easy but did manage to organize a big family picture before Tye and Stacey had to leave. And in the afternoon we attended church in Orderville. Small towns are super cool.

Please ignore my silly/naughty little Bentley in this picture...he has decided all pictures require a crazy face/lazy-eye pose lately. He pulled that face on every picture we took that morning--Joseph is totally fired for teaching him such antics...

Monday: ziplining and more ziplining!

...and one last hike in Zion before heading home

We really loved this trip. It was so fun to have: all 10 cousins around, silly adult game nights, cool cabins and gorgeous view, lots of active play for the kids and grown-ups, calm time for each little family when we needed to wind down, beautiful babies to snuggle and happy kids to tease, yummy treats, warm sunny days and cool canyon nights, proud grandparents and great company.

Thanks for all of it Mom and Dad! When can we do it again? ;)