Beans, Beans and more Beans

I got a phone call from my parents.  Please come pick beans they said.  So I went and this is what I found:

Yep it's really that much.  As soon as I got home we started snapping (thanks a ton Tara) and snapping and snapping.  Then it was on to washing, snapping, filling jars, snapping, processing and snapping some more.  Guess how many quarts we got?

96

That was even after we sent two boxes to the neighbors because we just couldn't do anymore!

This was all my sterilized jars waiting to be filled.  Now onto to tomatoes, I sure hope we get some red ones soon.

Back to School Haircuts

In preparation for school, I gave everyone a haircut.  Seth did not want his picture taken (I swear I didn't mess up his hair he just is becoming camera shy).  Enjoy!

                                              Before                                                   After

We had to give Kathryn bangs because she decided to cut her hair right at the front and I really like how they turned out, we just might have to keep them.

Tin Foil Dinner Night

Every August before school starts we head up to the South Hills and have a tin foil dinner night with friends.  The kids love running around, playing, getting wet and being in the "mountains".  The adults get to hang out and visit.  We have lots of fun and really enjoy it.

Making s'mores, mmm...yummy (especially with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups instead of Hersheys).

The kids with t heir friends (poor Seth doesn't have anyone his age).

The group of us.  I also discovered a delicious treat to make in the fire.  If you want the recipe, check my blog and I will have it posted soon.

Itzhak Perlman

On August 2nd Seth and I were able to go to Sun Valley with our friends Heidi and Logan and see the most amazing concert.  Every year Sun Valley has a free summer concert series and their very first night they had Itzhak Perlman.  Some of you might say, "who is he?".  He is the most famous violinist in the world right now and is absolutely amazing.  You can also go here to read about him.  I have been wanting to hear him ever since I started taking lessons and many people there said that they have wanted to see him since they were little children.  Anyway, when I found out a couple months ago that he was coming, we decided no matter what I was going to take Seth and go and I was so glad that we did.  

Seth and Logan waiting for the concert to start.  We stood in line for a couple hours so we would be able to sit in the amphitheater instead of the grass.  We were one of the last people to get seats and we had an awesome view, right next to the violins (my favorite spot).

There are no words to describe how incredible it was to hear his music.  It inspired me and made me want to take lessons again and be able to make such beautiful music (maybe in heaven right?).  It was so worth the time it took and wish that more of you could come (you would of loved it Annalyn).

My Garden

I have been meaning to post this for awhile and keep forgetting, but here it is anyway with a picture a couple months old (yes my garden is much bigger than that now).  I love my garden!  As I water it and check how things are growing I have this internal dialogue going on constantly.  It goes something like this:

Me:  Wow you are looking really good.

G: Thanks.

Me:  I am so glad I get to have a garden and eat things that grow in you.  You are so pretty, organized, quiet, do what you are suppose to do and I just love you.

G: You take good care of me.

Me: I try to.  Sometimes you are my refuge.  You don't talk back to me, ask my "why" a hundred times a day, you listen and obey, you stay neat and don't trash your room every 5 minutes, you don't yell at me, you appreciate all the work that it takes to make you what you are, and you don't expect things from me (you know except for the basics: water).

G: I am glad I can help.

Me:  Me too.  Keep growing, I need to can a lot this year.

Hopefully this isn't too silly or you think I am a complete pyscho, but I love to be in my garden.  I love to keep it clean and orderly (atleast as much as you can for a garden) and I love to see the harvest that comes from such great care.  On bad days, I just go out there and look at it and it makes me feel so much better!!

Side note:  See those tomato cages?  I got those for my birthday from my parents and they are absolutely awesome.  They are made out of rebar that has been welded together and powder-coated.  No more falling over tomatoes for me!!  Thanks mom and dad I love them :)

The Big...30!!

Yep I finally made it.  Now as one of my friends told me, "I am finally in the same decade as everyone else".  Hopefully that's a compliment.  I do have to say that I have been looking forward to this birthday.  It has not bothered me at all turning 30, maybe that's because me, my mom and sister are going to Charleston, SC for a week in September to celebrate (I'll miss you Tara).  That morning started with Sam and Luke making me breakfast, mmmm Pumpkin Pancakes.

(don't mind the messy kitchen, this is how Sam cooks and I have to stay out so I won't bug him :)

I lounged around in the morning, taking a hot bubble bath and reading my book--one of my favorite things to do.  Some friends took me out to lunch and then Sam surprised me and took the rest of the day off to "hang" out with me and work on dinner while the kids went to another friends house to play (thanks heidi that was an awesome present!).  Sam made me ribs for dinner while we had some friends over to celebrate (really to help me eat my cake!!!). I did make my own cake, which I love doing, and it was a Raspberry Limeade Cake from Paula Deen and it was awesome.  I will post it soon on my blog along with the ribs recipe.  Here are some pictures from my day.

(sidenote: Sam loves to take "action" shots as he calls them and they turn out silly sometimes.  The t-shirt is a gag gift from friends and I loved it.  If you don't know Sam rides a scooter to work everyday)

SHE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She did what you are asking.....she quit sucking her thumb!!!  We are so proud of Kathryn, we have been diligently working on this since she was 2 and in speech therapy and she decided that it was possible and accomplished her goal.  A couple weeks ago we had a family night on goal setting and we each picked a spiritual goal or two (in my case) and another one.  For her other goal Kathryn said she wanted to quit sucking her thumb.  We said go for it and she did it.  A week and half later (the family reunion really helped keep her distracted) and she hasn't sucked it once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note:  the reason she is wearing this dress up dress is that when she was 3, almost 4, I took her to the toy store and told her that she could pick out whatever she wanted and when she quit sucking her thumb she could have it.  Well this is what she picked out.  It has been hanging in her room for 3 years, not worn once, just waiting for the day.  She was so excited to put it on and tonight we are having a party for her and the theme is "she did it"!!!

Family Reunion

We just got home from a week long vacation/family reunion and we had a great time.  We got to go to a very nice cabin above Park City in Oakley, UT and it was so beautiful.  The cabin fit all the 12 kids and their families plus lots of places to hike, reservoirs to swim in, a playground, a sauna, a volleyball court, a tetherball and lots of swings.  It was a blast.  We stayed up way too late every night playing games and talking but isn't that what a family reunion is for?  The kids had a absolute blast with all their cousins.  It was so refreshing to not hear "I'm bored" one time!

My older kids don't have cousins on my side of the family that are there age so they really look forward to coming, especially Seth.  All his boy cousins live in California (soon to be Kenya, Africa--by the way we are going in 2012, I am so excited) or Illinois.  The first picture is all the girl cousins that were there (minus the youngest babies).  The next picture is Seth with two of his favorite cousins, Collin and Parker.  Luke found a toy chain saw and was in heaven.  He carried it around all day and even slept with it at night.  Kathryn enjoyed all the babies and loved playing games with them.

One of the days we spent at the reservoir.  The kids had a blast.  The water was freezing cold but that didn't seem to deter many of them.  I realized I don't have many pictures of Sarah, that's because she was always off playing with her aunt's dogs.  Most of the time we never saw her, she was constantly petting them, taking them on walks, making sure they stayed by the cabin and so on.  She was so loving it and is just like her Aunt Annalyn.

It was a blast hanging out and this is what we did every spare minute--play games.  We played mormon bridge, canasta, settlers of catan, family guess who, skip bo, blink, five crowns, water balloon volleyball, water relays and many more I can't remember.

We also got to see Sam's sister, who sings with the Mo Tab, in a dress rehearsal with the Utah Symphony up in PArk City.  We have never been able to go to one of her concerts because they don't allow little kids in but this dress rehearsal allowed kids and was for free so we hung around, did a little school shopping at the outlet malls and listened to her concert.  The rest of the time we hung out in Salt Lake playing more games, having a family bbq with a rousing game of steal sticks (and yes our team won), staying up so late, playing the water and having a great time.