Productive Day

I canned 2 {32lb} boxes of peaches (minus the ones we ate of course) and made some peach raspberry jam that I am hoping turns out, but I'm not betting any money it will. I should have worn a bad shirt!!!! Oh well this is one now I guess. After work Scott mowed the lawn and planted the winter garden. I guess we can go to bed tonight feeling a little more prepared than we were yesterday!

Scott's Chicken Coop

He's so proud of it.

He built it a while ago and I haven't posted the pics yet!

Enjoy.

I'm Going to be Busy Tomorrow!

Tate's {4}

My {4} year old Tate!

Since Tuesdays are always crazy around here we celebrated Tate's birthday on the Monday before. We tried out a bounce place we've been wanting to try for a while and it was lots of fun! They don't let adults on the bouncies but it was plenty fun socializing with the adults so I didn't mind, but I know Scott was itching to get on them.

That was the only picture I got because I was having so much fun socializing:)

We didn't want to make it a big deal party or anything just something fun to do for his birthday and Tate requested his cousin Kyle's presence for sure. They brought him a present and here he is opening outside the bounce place on the cement... Tate loved the planes Kyle picked out and was saying "you're my befst friend". It was so cute and as I type he is standing next to me saying Kyle is his best friend.

Then we got home and gave him his presents from the family. He got his "truck" (Tonka) bike and has been begging to ride it pretty much all day everyday. He thinks he can ride it in the house or just take it out front (via the front door) whenever he wants to ride it.

Some things about Tate and why I love him so much!!!

1. He is truly a sweet caring boy and has the best manners most of the time(he is still a boy ya know).

2. He loves baseball. Playing it and watching it. A boy after my own heart!

3. He has funny lisp because of his missing tooth in the front (which was pulled by the dentist because it died and started to be infected)

4. He loves cereal. He would and sometimes does eat it for every meal if I let him. His favorite is Quaker Oatmeal Squares even if he has other sugary cereals to choose from. Again a boy after my own heart.

5. He is always in a good mood even though he never sleeps (maybe this is just the difference between boys and girls) The never sleeping part is he is half nocturnal but that is not really a good thing.

6. He still loves his cars and trains and plays with them every day.

We love Tate and we are so glad he chose to come to our family! We wouldn't have it any other way!

Annual Queen Creek Mesquito Fest

It has mandatory participation wether you want to or not and trust me, it's no celebration.

The show must go on every summer rain(best after rain) or shine.

**** only cancellations are due to the West Nile virus nevermind the insane nuiscance ********

It's still going on so come check it out if you want to. This is Claire's experience from this week to get an idea of what to expect.

****not pictured legs, belly and arms, but I am sure you can use your imagination of what those look like*****.

Oh, don't worry this won't be her only experience.

This was the morning after her experience at the mesquito fest (aka palying outside). Multiple bites on the face and both of her eyes were all swollen.

Poor girl!

Scott's Idea

When Scott gets his mind set on an idea there is no stopping him.

Today he just had to go and get some of these....Ya those are little chicks that grow into chickens.

I didn't fight the idea too much because...
a)they eat scorpions
b)they produce eggs which we love so they are also part of our food supply:)
c) Everyone else in the neighborhood is doing it so why not?!?!?
The kids all picked one out so they know which one is theirs and they decided that it was Claires that Mugsy tried to eat :(. So now we are down to 5.

It was so cute to watch Claire because she just kept reaching out her hands and making a noise trying to get the chickens to come to her but she didn't actually want to hold them when we tried to help her.See the hands?

We'll see how it goes.

Labor Day Weekend {2009}

Scott was playing in a softball tournament and I have never been there so we packed up the family and spent Labor Day weekend in good ole Snowflake, AZ. It rained off and on all weekend, but it was still beautiful!

After church on Sunday we went to see the Snowflake temple. It sits so beautifully on top of the hill and you can see it from the whole town. It is still a goal of mine to attend a session there one of these days.

While Scott played softball...The kids played...

The weather was awesome and made it hard to come home.

The kids played in the creek and caught crawdads.

I am LOVING this chair!

Seriously?!?!?!?

I know it's time to clean the bathroom, but come on!!!

Are they even getting any of it in their mouths???

Dirtbags Summer Gathering

This last weekend we had the annual (well for the last 2 years alteast) dirtbag getaway to Prescott where one of the dirtbags lives. We just camp out (when I say we I mean the dads and kids:)) in the backyard. We had pizza at a park where there were bees, mesquitos and.....

tarantulas!

It was the real wilderness! The kids seriously caught this in the parking lot of the park. I have never seen one of these in the wild.

Of course we stayed up way too late playing games and having lots of laughs!

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast thanks to Ryan and Krista. Then we ventured to the local farmer's market-I wish we lived closer so I could've bought some of the produce.

We headed home after that, but the rest of the group headed to a lake and canoed and hiked.

It was great to get away! It was still hot, but definitely not as hot as the valley so it was nice.

Thanks for having us Ryan and Krista!!!

Dirtbags 2nd generation...

The adults...