First day of school

Gretchen, she's a third grader

Taylor, in first grade now
With friends right before school started

Gretchen and Taylor both had good things to say about their first day of school. Gretchen said her favorite part of the day was making new friends and Taylor said his favorite part was

doing the monkey bars at recess. I'm excited for them and I know they'll have a great year!

Rainy Day Fun

Last Saturday we had some on and off rain showers and sunshine. The kids got out their umbrellas.
Then they got soaked jumping on the tramp during the rain and the boys decided to take off their wet shirts.

From our deck...we took turns holding and eating a rainbow. Taylor and Mike said it tasted kind of fruity (hee hee).

Take me out to the ballgame...

On Friday we had a fun night at the Salt Lake Bees game. The kids loved watching the game. After the game, they had a fun fireworks show. Then we got to go down on the field and the kids got to run the bases. They also got to pose for pictures with the Bees' mascot. It was a great summer activity!

Gretchen and Taylor rounding 3rd base and heading for home. Mike and Dylan a little behind them.

24th of July

We had a fun day celebrating our Utah Pioneer Heritage with my mom's side of the family. We were at my Grandma's house. My uncle brought this fun blow up water-slide with built-in squirt guns. Everyone had a blast on that! We had some yummy dinner and dessert and it was fun to catch up with all the relatives we don't get to see too often.

This was taken from my Grandma's backyard, what a great view of the best letter around.

My cutest little nephew, Briggs. Ooh he is so adorable.

Memories

This is my Grandma's house on the right and the little one to the left is the house my mom grew up in. Mike and I also lived in that little house for 2 1/2 years when we were first married. It was so fun to live next to my grandparents and be in their ward. I learned a lot from them, especially about gardening. They have the most amazing garden.

4 generations, now (2008) and then (2000). My Grandma, my mom, me, and Gretchen.

Days of '47 Youth Parade

Our Stake got to participate in the Youth Parade last Saturday! It was hot and we had to wait a long time until it was our turn on the parade route, but it was fun and we got to see ourselves briefly on tv. We all had to wear white shirts and blue shorts and hold our suns that the primary presidency spent a lot of time getting ready for us! Afterwards, we had popsicles and the kids got to play on some bouncy blow up slides.

Playing store

Last week the kids were on a kick of playing "store". It was cute and a fun game, but very messy. They would drag all kinds of toys, shoes, items from Mike's work desk, and other random items to a room in the house and set it up to look like a store. Then they took turns going "shopping" and even had Mike and I shop for some of the items we already owned. Luckily most things cost around 30 cents, because we were dealing with real money.

I have to just add as a sidenote. Since Taylor was maybe 18 months, he has been obsessed with money. He loves to play with it, talk about it, ask how much things are, transfer money from his piggy bank to a wallet to a plastic bag and around and around. And of course he loves to buy things at the store. Mike and I have remarked many times, that we will be interested to see what Taylor does for a living...I swear he'll be a banker or a wallstreet tycoon.

Open Wide...

On Tuesday the kids had their 6 month check up at the dentist. This was Dylan's first official visit where he sat in the chair by himself and they did a full cleaning. He was so cute and brave. I could tell he was nervous, but he did a good job. He had his mouth open very wide the whole time, even when the dental asst. stopped what she was doing for a minute, he kept his mouth big and open. Gretchen and Taylor also did great. Taylor had one cavity (his first one). Gretchen's teeth looked good. Here they are with their goody bags with new toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. They also got to pick a prize from the treasure box, which they love to do.

Proud moment

Last Sunday Gretchen recited her last memorized article of faith to her primary teachers. Her teachers are so great, and actually gave a little treat for each one memorized. Then gave her the cutest necklace for having all 13 memorized---(that was too much, Amber, but thank you!) I have to say, Gretchen really did this completely on her own, Mike and I didn't help at all. She has that articles of faith poster in her room and then her cousin had given her a cd with the articles of faith songs on them--I think that is what helped her the most.

Making salsa

Today at Wal-Mart, I was shopping in the produce section and a gentleman came up to me and asked if I had ever made fresh salsa. I told him I had. Then he went on to ask if he had the right peppers for it and he said he had onion and then asked what else he might need. I said that he might want garlic and cilantro. Well, then he asked how much of everything he should use. Then I told him, I would probably follow a recipe, at least the first few times you make it. He said that he had done a few searches on the internet and couldn't find a recipe. I said that I use a recipe from one of my cookbooks. Then I pretty much told him "good luck". Well, I thought in case he tried to find a recipe online again, I would post the recipe I use. Maybe it will come up in the search and he'll be able to use it!

Fresh Tomato Salsa (from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook)

3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped (3 cups)
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup sliced green onions (5 medium)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno chilies
2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients in glass or plastic bowl. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

A couple of tips: Use a food processor to chop everything but the tomatoes. I like the tomatoes chunky and cut by hand. Also, handle the jalapenos with plastic gloves or even a little sandwich bag over your hand. I speak from experience, it is not fun to get jalapeno juice on your skin, it burns and keeps burning for a few days.

Memory Game

I got this from Barbara's blog...

Memory Game
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Hiking up Big Cottonwood Canyon

Saturday we had a great time hiking in the beautiful mountains! We drove up to Brighton ski resort, parked there, and headed up on the Lake Mary trail. The trail was pretty steep starting out, right under the ski lift. As we got further up the mountain, there were patches of snow, melting snow, and mud. That all made the trail tricky in some spots. But, I was so proud of the kids, they did a great job especially on the way up. There were such beautiful mountain meadows, the pine trees smelled so good, and it was so nice and cool... in the low 70s. I love hiking and being in the mountains and I'm so glad we got to take the kids and let them experience the wonders of nature.