The BEST and WORST

Lately it seems our life is one of the two extremes, GREAT or TERRIBLE! Here is a little glimpse

Last week the kids and I decided to run to Walmart...and it turned into THE most eventful and awful trip I have ever had at the store!

Spencer and Cooper were fighting (that wasn't a shock) so I took Spencer out of the cart and he held onto the side of the cart! For some reason (I wish I knew) Cooper PUSHED Spencer off the cart and his toes were run over by the cart! So he started screaming and Cooper started crying! I soothed Spencer and put him back in the cart he went on to smack Cooper so hard in the face that his nose started bleeding! All the while these little old Polygamist moms were STARING me down! Spencer was screaming his toe was broken Cooper was balling and bleeding! It was beyond a ruff shopping trip it was a full out disaster!!!!!!!!!!!

SO I LEFT

Got the kids in the car, I pick up Graham and he had peeded out! ALL OVER ME! Now all 3 kids are crying and I feel like running into a hole and dying!! After we got home and calmed down we ate some watermelon and stayed inside so we didn't have any more public bloody battles!! At the end of that terrible day when we went to bed I prayed that we could ALL have a better day tomorrow!

Well that weekend my prayer was answered; we went to St George and on Saturday I had a WONDERFUL day! I was able to go yard saleing (my favorite thing!!!) BJ went hiking with his friend and then that evening we all got together and played on the trampoline! There weren't any rules or fighting or hurt feelings just fun... TOGETHER! It was just what we all needed!

The boys had SO much fun with BJ!

Graham didn't love it as much as we did! He was really startled!

Spencer LOVED jumping the higher and harder the better!! I know I looks like a dork but I was lovin it! I forgot how fun it was, it made me feel like a kid again!

Cooper DIDN'T want to jump with out someone there to hold his hand! So when he got nervous he would sit on the side and wait till we calmed down!

We snapped a family picture, it was the best night!

12 Loaves

SO today I finally found a Low Fat Zucchini Bread Recipe! I don't know about any of you but I LOVE LOVE LOVE zucchini bread but its SO fatty! SO here it is a low fat alternative that is REALLY REALLY GOOD! Its so good I made 12 loaves to give away to friends!

Low Fat Zucchini Bread

· 1 cup whole wheat flour

· 1 cup all-purpose flour

· 2/3 cup sugar

· 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

· 1/2 tsp baking soda

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 1/2 tsp nutmeg

· 1 cup grated zucchini (tightly packed)

· 1/4 cup canola oil

· 1 egg, lightly beaten

· 1 egg white

· 1 tsp vanilla

· 1 tbsp lemon zest (or more if you like lemon, I DO)

1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt, drained

Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 8x4-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.Gently spoon flour into measuring cups (do not pack). Add flour to a large bowl, followed by the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Stir well with a wire whisk.In another bowl, combine the zucchini, oil, egg and egg white, vanilla, lemon zest and yogurt.Add zucchini mixture to flour mix, combining until just moist. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Yield: 2 loaves 12 servings each Per Serving: Calories 194, Total Fat 5.2g, Fiber 1.7g, (for all you other Weight Wathchers out there:)

So I doubled it and made 4 loaves each time! It was really easy and I just love it! Its not as sweet as the usual kind but the lemon adds a little zest! OOOoooh I need to go have one more piece!

I was so proud of myself after I finished my last 4 that I turned up my She Daisy and just twirled and danced around my living room while the kids were sleeping! And I haven't done that since I was 16! It felt so care free!!! I think I need to start dancing around just for fun again! Why not??

(I dont know why its doing the white boxes around the recipe...sorry!)

Memories

This weekend I went to two different parades and at each one I had a very strong memory hit me that just stopped me in my tracks!

At the first parade there was a group of Vietnam Veterans who walked while holding flags all done up in their uniforms! All I could think about was my Grandpa King who was a Vietnam Veteran but died of lung cancer when I was a teenager! All I could see was him holding that flag waving at me and smiling! Oh how I wish he was there!

I have a select few memories of him. One of my favorites is visiting him in his small home in Corning California when I was little. I must have been under 10. I remember rocking back and forth in his lap while he relaxed in his very comfy and worn recliner! I remember the next morning waking up early to him cooking green pancakes. They tasted so good, i can remember feeling so happy talking and laughing with him while he flipped more and more of his famous green pancakes!

I remember all 3 of us kids going to the fire station where he worked. I remember being so impressed and amazed that MY grandpa was a fire fighter! I remember my excitement when he took us, just us, out for a ride in the fire truck! I felt so privileged to be there with him! And in such a shiny big fire truck of course!

I remember him visiting us in Minnesota when I was just barley a young women. He pulled up in his camper with his co-pilot puppy! I remember walking outside to the driveway and climbing into his little camper and just enjoying him being at our house!

My very most favorite thing about Grandpa was his cards! He NEVER EVER forgot me! Right on schedule 2 weeks before my birthday or any major holiday he would send me a card! It wasn't fancy or filled with money all that mattered to me was that HE REMEMBERED ME! After he died I am sad to say it didn't change my life much! I didn't even really notice a difference until my birthday came around and NO card arrived! I know he still remembers me now! His cards don't arrive in the mail anymore but he shows he remembers me by touching me at a busy parade! And saying I am still here, I still care about you and I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN please don't forget me!

I WONT FORGET YOU GRANDPA! I LOVE YOU!

The Zesty Lemon Premier

Well the day has come and gone and our booth at Peach Days went well! Am I glad its over? YES Am I exhausted? Yes! Do I think we will do it again? FOR SURE! We (Amber, Allison Sommer and I) are going to do a few things differently!We had a bit of a set back on Friday night because after we closed there was a thunder storm and the ADORABLE sign we made was ruined and the table clothes were soaked! But we rolled with it and had a much better day on Saturday!

So I am going to start the tour around the booth!

Allison made all the jewelry and a few of the purses! Amber made all the adult aprons and kids aprons! We got the wood crates from Ambers parents store and spray painted a few of them to go with our Zesty Lemon theme! We also used a few canvas crates for stacking and dimension! But in the future we want to come up with some more professional ways to display our products! ANY IDEAS?

I made the onesies and SOmmer made the blocks! Her blocks were so unique because she hand paints them and put these really modern watermarks on them! They turned out SO great!

I made flower headbands, little boy ties and pumpkins for decoration for fall! Yo u can see one of the cute adult aprons amber made and a couple of the smaller handbags Allison made!

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Amber made a bunch of I-Spy bags, she made them so different from the others but having the window on the front be a fun shape that made up the theme of the treasures inside! You can see my trick or treat bags and the large purses I made!

We wanted out booth to be like a boutique where things werent lined up in rows but more of a eclectic set up! If you have ANY ideas or suggestions we would love them!

Before the fair started a took a few pics of the the things I made so here are a few close ups!

Flower headbands (there were lots more colors and choices but here is a little sample!)

Solid headbands in a skinny size and a wider size

Little boy ties! I made a large and small size! I made them because I can never find cute ties for less then 10-15 dollars!

Trick or Treat bags!

My very time consuming purses! I learned a lot from these! Like how to do pleats and how to gather and mostly how to pick and re-sew when I mess up!!

These are the little decor pumpkins I made! In the picture they don't have the stems yet, oops!

And finally I made these onesies!

So there it is, all the blood sweat and tears that went into our first craft booth! PLEASE PLEASE leave some suggestions! I need some opinions from friends who haven't been up until 12 or 1 every night staring at my stuff!

Growing Boys

We had a week and the kids didn't slow down one bit! Graham started army crawling even faster this week and even pulled himself up (on my VERY dusty shelf, don't mind that!:)

The garden has taken off! We have harvested a million zucchini, about a dozen tomatoes, a LOT of broccoli, one pepper, 2 dozen or so strawberries, bowls and bowls of lettuce!

We had a few things not work out like the yellow squash, the cucumber, the watermelon and the peas! But for our first year I am super proud of it! Spencer is VERY excited about his "veggie tales" sunflowers! He reminds me he needs to check on them every day! Once they became taller then him he couldn't stop talking about it!

Brylie and Ryker are back in town for a few weeks and so all the cousins have been playing together AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! This was labor day weekend BJ was cleaning off the trampoline and they all got in on the action! Later that weekend I went out and jumped with them and then we all played duck duck goose! It was a blast! Cooper and Ryker would run every time even when it wasn't their turn! It was darling! They all love being around each other!

Spencer started riding his bike without training wheels, on the first day of trying!! He is still working on starting and stopping by himself but he is sure on his way!

1st Day Preschool....and all ready to go!

So the day has finally arrived! Spencer was up and ready and could wait to get out the door! Unfortunately Beej had to work but my Grandad and Jenise spent the night so they could see Spencer off! He was so excited to go and insisted on wearing his tennis shoes because he said "Big kids only wear tennis shoes to school NOT sandals!" I just laughed at his awareness of school fashions!!!!

(BJ took him to school on Tuesday and Spencer brought his first homework assignment in his "All about me board")

I had planned a fun breakfast but all he wanted was a bowl of cereal and to be on his way! Dad came with me to drop him off! He wasn't the least bit timid he just went right in signed in dropped his stuff in his cubby and went started checking everything out! As we walked out I said goodbye and told him I would be back to get him and very VERY casually he said "ok bye mom!" I am so proud of him for being so curious and ready to learn!

Funny thing happened when I left to go get him, my BATTERY was dead! I left 30 minutes early so I could go get a few ingredients for a Disney themed lunch and oops the car was dead! I panicked but a very friendly neighbor gave me (and Coop and Graham) a ride! I was late picking him up but he didn't even notice! First one there last one to leave! Just what he wanted!! I am sure good at stressing FOR the kids when they DON'T even notice a problem! :) Another lesson I can learn from my kids!

I want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU to my parents who made it possible for Spencer to go to preschool this year! We really wanted to send him but with BJ still looking for a new job we weren't able to afford it! So a very heartfelt THANK YOU again from all of us! I cant wait to see how much Spencer grows from this year in school!