Silly Dances

The other night after the kids were in their jammies, they kept being so silly and doing little dances, I decided to take a video and share so those who don't live close can see how big Amy is getting. She was so excited she knew where her tummy was!

Sick Week

 This last week has been a tough one for our family. Above is a picture of my new large mirror for the front room I talked about finding in Washington. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but so you get an idea.

 The day after I got back, I went to check on prices for canning items and my friend asked if I could get her some corn. I ended up getting corn for us as well so we could get it a little cheaper and did 5 dozen ears of corn and three batches of cookies in between. It was a long, messy process, but got it all done and now my freezers are filled to capacity. Hopefully Robert will find some time to go down and get our new freezer soon!

I tried a new method for my corn this year, though. I baked it in the husks in the oven. It was so much simpler because you cut off the large end and then slip the corn out of the husk and then you are ready to cut the kernels off! I would recommend it to anyone who freezes corn! So after that, I got hit hard with some sort of illness that I am still fighting 5 days later. It changes each day, so I think I am about to get better, and then I have something else. But I have to get better fast because on the docket for this week is one last fun YW activity of Mintue To Win It games before the wards split, canning peaches and hopefully pears, turning plum juice into plum jelly, and the Primary Program on Sunday.

Potter Week

Amy playing with the only thing her size

 This last week we made our annual trip to Washington to visit my older sister and her family. We love doing girly stuff with "the girls" when we go & look forward to this trip each year while Daddy works long hours for harvest season. This year we made our trip a little earlier than usual because my sister is having baby #6 and we didn't want to stress her out, so we came 4 weeks before the due date to help get ready for baby.

Lucy doing the monkey bars

 Some of the usual things we do when Auntie Christine comes to visit are painting nails, doing each girl's hair (4 of them) each day, watching movies, hitting up the local park, etc. But a few new things were added to the agenda this year. We tried making our own lip gloss and using clay you bake in the oven to make key chains. The lip gloss was a big hit, but we left the key chains until THE VERY LAST SECOND, so those didn't quite turn out because we were so rushed, but I think we all had fun attempting it at the very least.

Camilla

 Here we have pictures from our day at the local park where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. Don't ask me where the pictures are from everything else we did, but just take my word for it that we had a blast!!

Serious Camilla

 My sister and I were also able to get out and sort through the baby clothes which is always fun. And my brother-in-law volunteered to watch all seven kids so my sister and I could head out to do some shopping kid-free. That was soo amazing! We went to a place called Craft Warehouse first. Need I say more?! This place was huge and awesome!! They had so many things and ideas, it was so fun to just browse and talk about the different ideas we saw. My sister was kind of wanting a new nursing cover, one that was large and kind of cutesy, so we found her some adorable purple and teal fabrics to make a reversible one. I also found two really cute fabrics that I just bought (they were only $4/yd) for some project in the future, be it a nursing cover, carseat canopy, or something else. They were just too cute together to pass up. Then we hit the big jackpot for the day. I found a huge (2 feet by 3 feet) framed mirror that has a really neat design in the frame in a pewter-ish finish. And the best part? It was 50% off! So I made my first major house decoration purchase. My plan is to hang it in the front room with a large shelf below it and then various decor items on the shelf that will be reflected in the mirror. I think it will be super cool........when I can get it all together. I have some inspiration, so we will just wait for the funds and time to follow.

This is the REAL Camilla

 This trip was also really great because I was able to stop and see two different really good friends on our way. One set we hadn't seen in almost two years and the other it has been at least six months. These are both dear friends from nursing school and both have kids my kids could play with. The friend we stopped to see on the way home we actually spent the night and part of the next day with, so we took the kids to play at a really awesome park after we mommies had our fun looking around Hobby Lobby. That place is dangerous!! And before heading out, I stopped to shop at the factory outlet with the kids getting stocked up on great clothes from Osh Kosh B'Gosh and Carters. I was hoping to find something for me at Dress Barn, but no such luck this time.

Natalie

Karalie trying to do the monkey bars just like her big sister

 So, all in all it was a fabulous trip! We were so sad to leave as it was shorter than usual thanks to Sam being in preschool now, but it was enough to just see our family again. Things like that are important. It is good for us to get away and have something to distract us from how much Daddy is working and it is also a relief for Robert to not stress about how much he is gone from us and just focus on the job. I think he also secretly enjoys five days of bachelorhood, but that's just me ;)

Sam

Caleb

 So that's all about our last week. The kids did awesome on the drive there. The drive back was a little tougher, but still really good. Today we've been winding up for more errands, YW stuff, preschool, and canning season. Started it off with freezing 5 dozen ears of corn - yum! And for those of you who are skeptical of cooking your corn in the husk in the oven, it really does work!! And I feel like it saves so much time! If you have no idea what I am talking about and want to know more, just give me call and I'll convert you! :)

Sam showing off

Amy trying to figure out how to play on all the big stuff

Busy Week Catch-Up

 Again it has been a busy week for us here in Idaho, so we are playing catch up. Monday morning we picked up Grandma and Uncle Kurtis from the airport. Daddy was able to take most of the day off and so we introduced Uncle Kurty to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and all that it has to offer (mainly the good food)

 Tuesday was Sam's first day of preschool. He was excited, just not about me taking his picture, so we got him started with a picture with Uncle Kurtis since it was almost his first day of school, too. Sam is in preschool three mornings a week now (TWT) and is enjoying it lots so far.

 Amy has really bonded with Kurtis and it is so sweet to see how she loves her uncle. Lately this little gal has been getting really sleepy around 11, so we try and hold her off until lunchtime and then she can have a nice long nap after, but as you can see she doesn't always make it.

 Then a friend of mine I went to nursing school with is expecting her first baby and so I offered to do the cupcakes for her baby shower (her older sister is in YW with me and was hosting the shower). The theme was sports and so we did Devilishly Good chocolate football cupcakes and Lemon Lover's White Chocolate baseball cupcakes (mini M&M's for the stitches for those of you who were wondering) Very fun!!

 And then for her baby gift I made a gathered carseat canopy/cover thingy. Her baby is due the first week of November so I thought this would be highly useful. A friend of mine and her mom came up with this idea to gather the bottom and top of the canopy with elastic so that when the wind blows the blanket doesn't flap around, but it attaches to the handle so it's also not right next to the baby's face. I love the idea and am saving it for a project to do for my next bundle of joy.

 The colors are kinda random, but I found the grey dotted fabric and loved it, but it was hard to find anything that went with it without it being too bland. So I decided to go bold instead.

 We also moved Jake and Stacey back to Rexburg this week - so fun!! It is going to be great having family back close again to do dinners and fun stuff with!! We ended the week with one last trip to the state fair. Here is a picture of my sugar flowers which did win first place, but only because I was the only contender in my category. But I got some good feedback from the judges, learned alot from the two professional entries, and have some great ideas for next year's entry. And I can't lie, it is fun to have that big, blue ribbon to show for all my hours of work!

 Here are Sammy and Daddy waiting in line for the caterpillar ride (a kiddie roller coaster)

 Me and Amy hanging out watchin' the boys

 Uncle Kurtis took Sam on this slide to use the last of the tickets we had and I think they both were taken by surprise with how fast they got going! :)

 Lastly, before we headed to the annual Demolition Derby we let Amy play for a little bit in this free baby playland area. She loved this little car until she couldn't figure out how to make it go forwards, then she got frustrated.

Some of the food we tried this year included: Prime Steer burgers (always a must), Foot long corndogs, Inside out burgers, Indian tacos, Corn on the cob, Tiger ears (another must), Funnel cake, giant Cinnamon rolls, and last but not least, Reed's dairy ice cream!! Ahhh, the fair. We love it! But it is a really good thing it is only once a year!