Just For Fun

I was looking at some of my summer pictures and came across these beauties.

This is when we went up to Grandma Lynda's campsite for dinner. I love this picture because it has all of us in it and we all look decent. That's quite the requirement for a blog!


Jeremy's mom goes up the canyon quite often and everyone is always welcome to come up and spend the evening. We went up and roasted hot dogs, hung out around the fire, and later made smores. It's nice that our kids are getting a little older and can be more responsible around the fire pit (for the most part).

This was taken the next day. We were all playing outside and I sent Alexandra in to get some shoes. She found Samantha's boots. I guess if she is able to walk in them, then it works!

They're All Out to Get You

This year has been the year of the wasp at our house. We have them swarming on everything! It's been very frustrating because they especially seem to love our back deck and the playset. Every time we go outside, there is always a wasp coming to check us out. I have had to keep the kids away from the playset for fear of them getting stung. Jeremy has sprayed all the hives he can find and has knocked them down, but they still are everywhere and seem to be constantly scoping for the next building spot.

I was outside in our front yard and noticed that the wasps are now swarming around our trees - the white birch and the maple. If any of you know a special trick that REALLY works to get rid of them, I'd love to hear it!

Well, all of this stupid swarming did actually claim a victim. Jeremy took Max out to go potty and he was sniffing around as usual. He got curious about something in the grass and then started whining after a minute. Jeremy brought him in and sure enough, he found a wasp and there was a little stinger hanging out of his lip! Jeremy removed the stinger while I held Max down. He was putting up quite a little fight. Once the stinger was out, Max just laid down and didn't want to move. I looked over and saw the damage. Notice the fat lip?

Here is a little better view. Sad as it was, it was kind of funny to watch Max because he just couldn't figure it out. He kept sticking out his tongue and licking his lips, then shaking his head.

I just hope he is the only victim and rest of us are spared. Dumb wasps.

First Day of School

This year Athena is in 4th grade and Samantha is in 2nd grade. It's so crazy for me to see them growing up so quickly! As usual, they had their school clothes all picked out a week ago and have been so excited to put them on.

I always tell the girls they can't wear their new clothes until the very first day of school. They say their clothes are "locked". They are very excited to have their clothes "unlocked" now.

I curled both their hair special for their big day. Athena was saying to me this morning in a very grown-up voice, "I bet all the girls will have their hair curled today."

Here they are at the school ready to go in.

It's a little sad to have them back in school again. This summer went so fast, but I think it mostly went so fast because we were busy doing so many fun things. So, I guess it's a good thing that we had a lot of fun together. The structure of school will be nice too - I'll just miss having them around.

What I've Been Doing

I haven't posted to my blog lately because I've been playing FarmVille on facebook. Thanks a lot, Cynthia, for getting me hooked!

I have also gotten back into indexing and I finally indexed another 150 names this past week. :)

We finally finished school shopping and I got the girls enough clothes to allow them to express their individual styles without spending an over-the-top amount. I'm just glad it's done because spending all that money REALLY stresses me out!

I've been canning the stuff from our garden. I have finished 14 jars of tomatoes and have another big bowlful to work on with plenty more tomatoes still ripening in the garden. We attempted to grow and bottle green beans this year, but all of our beans turned out gross. They were kind of hollow and tough. I think we picked them too late and also didn't have a very good variety. My mom and dad were kind enough to give us some beans from their garden to bottle this year. I don't even like green beans and claim to be allergic, but Athena and Jeremy both gobble them up.

Unfortunately this week hasn't been warm enough to go swimming, so we have been spending a lot of time at home finding other things too do (FarmVille). LOL I decided this last week of summer I would let the kids get in a lot of playtime. They have played outside a ton, played with friends, enjoyed the DS, and the playstation. I hope they have had a great kid summer and will be ready to go back to school.

Gummi Bears Work Wonders!

Tonight for family home evening, our lesson was about reverence. All 4 of my kids were reverent throughout the whole lesson! Even Nathan (4 yrs old) and Alexandra (2 years old)! That is a MIRACLE.

Why? Good old fashioned bribery - and it worked like a charm! At the beginning of my lesson, I asked them all to zip their mouths closed and fold their arms and I was going out of the room to get something they all want. None of them moved a muscle as I went to the kitchen, shuffled through the cupboard, and found some gummi bears.

For the rest of our lesson, the 3 older kids were quiet, respectful, listened, and even answered my questions by raise of hand. :) As they answered questions or were sitting nicely, I would throw out a gummi. Upon seeing this, the other kids were prompt to sit up or refold their arms. Awesome!

My New Job: Wedding Photographer

Before the ceremony got started, I took a few bridal shots.
What a perfect model, she looks so blissful!

On second thought, maybe she is having doubts after all.

Looks like we are going through with it. The wedding is about to begin.

Here is the wedding party.

Samantha had the privilege of helping them take their vows.

Then the pretend ring exchange.

You may kiss the bride!

. . . and off they go!

Athena and Samantha put together this wedding ceremony. They dressed the bride and groom in their best attire and then got themselves dressed to the hilt as well. I especially thought it was cute to watch Nathan. He was the first one they dressed and he was so proud to be wearing such a handsome suit. Then as they got Alexandra and themselves ready, he just patiently sat and waited the whole time - in his suit! He was actually excited to play this game and he just played along the whole time - happy to be the groom. Alexandra wasn't especially fond of her wedding dress, but she managed to make it all the way through the wedding before ripping it off.

Ahhhh . . . summer! Kids are forced to be creative with all their spare time and they actually find that it's a lot of fun. :)

Our Last Day Together

After going to the mountains for 2 days in a row, our Hungarian girls were really wanting to see the lake . . . as in, Utah lake. We told them it was gross and really wasn't worth seeing. Apparently they have a large, beautiful lake at home where everyone goes to swim and play. They really wanted to go to Utah lake anyway, so we packed up all our stuff and drove out there. Right away, they understood why we told them it wasn't worth visiting. The beach was really disgusting and the water was green and too shallow to swim.

We tried to make the best of it, so we unpacked our chairs and stayed for a little while. The kids didn't seem to mind the conditions and had fun playing in the water anyway.
This is our little area. We moved from the first area because there was a rotten watermelon sitting on the ground and a bunch of roofing pieces and nails scattered everywhere. So, this is the "better" spot.

Athena and Samantha gave us a good laugh. They took the noodles out into the water and sat on them. Then they would blow water out the ends. So all we could see is a little fountain of water and then a bunch of giggles - over and over.

We stayed at the lake for about an hour. I apologized to Bori and Aggie that the lake was so yucky and Bori said, "Well you did warn us!"

We thought it would be fun to have the girls cook for us and they were excited to do it, so on the way home we stopped at Walmart and got the ingredients they needed and they cooked up a quick Hungarian meal for us.

It was a tasty combination and really simple. They just cooked up some pasta and bacon. Then they made a sauce with cottage cheese, sour cream, and basil. They put the pasta in a casserole dish, poured the sauce on top, the bacon on the top of that, and cooked it for about 1/2 hour.

It was actually really good and the kids loved it! Bori said it was just a fast meal because normally they eat things that take quite a bit longer to put together. We really didn't have much time, but it was fun to let them make something for us. :)