September September

Since I've been terrible at posting lately, here are some pictures from the last month.

Alex is doing well in dance although it seems she likes the tumbling part much more.

 

She is learning the shuffles and tap steps but I don't think she understands why at the moment.

 Heidi cracks me up.  She is a little ball of personality and is always doing something worth watching.

Every other day Alex picks a bouquet from the backyard and insists we get them to Grandma Asay.  So here you are grandma, Alex's latest bunch of flowers for you.

Last week we went to this wonderful farm in Mapleton to pick raspberries.  I helped Heidi find the good ones and each time she picked a berry she would say "Thank you Mommy".  It was my favorite part of the trip.

I think It's called Mcbride Farm and they have rows and rows and rows of berry bushes.  It's quite easy to lose children there.

It was a wonderful way to spend the morning, just me and my girls.

 Randomly, when you get to the end of the long rows, there is a neighboring farm with about a hundred goats and reindeer I think.  It's almost like a petting zoo, because once they see people they run over to investigate.

 This is Heidi's favorite part of raspberry picking.

Alex LOVES holding cousin Annie and always asks if she can.  Annie is such a trooper! While Alex and Annie are becoming fast friends, Archie and Heidi have developed a special bond.

 Alex got to hold Annie, so Archie wanted to hold Heidi.  She let him for about 4 seconds.

 Then Heidi wanted to hold Annie.  She gets so excited around the baby, although we have to watch her close, because she likes bopping Annie on the head.

 It won't be too long before all 3 of these girls will be running and giggling together.

 Heidi saw Annie on the floor and promptly lined her self up and laid down next to her.

 There was a good 30 seconds of cuteness before she started pulling and poking again.

Archie got a bike with a basket, much to Alex's envy.  So Grandma Brady saved the day and got Alex a basket, complete with bell and handlebar pom pom's.  She has never loved riding her bike so much!  On Saturday we took her on the river trail and even though she stopped every 10 feet to look at something new, we made it about 3 miles!  The greatest success of the trip was when Alex found and adopted a fuzzy caterpillar, which we have only lost in the house once so far.

In non picture news, I've started an oil painting class and after 2 weeks I think I'm enjoying it!  It's a lot more intense than I ever thought!

Tyler spent last week shadowing P.A's at the hospital and it seems he had a good time.  With him split 7 ways between school, church, volunteering and work, I'm glad that we are living with my in-laws so I'm not lonely all the time.

We are busy as ever and looking forward to LDS General Conference this weekend!

Toddlers and skateboards

A few weeks ago, in the midst of the moving mess, I came across a skateboard.  My thought process went something like this "  How fun! What can we use this for?! There is no way the kids will figure out what it's suppose to be used for, I will convince them that skateboards are just used for sitting.  What a great activity, rolling down the driveway, it will entertain them for hours."

That was the entire extent of the skateboard toddler experience.   I then re-hid said skateboard to the wails and screams of every child in the neighborhood.  It was not my best idea.

Delicious door stops

For the last 6 months I've been on a crusade to get Alex to stop chewing her fingernails and putting her fingers in her mouth in general.  I've tried just about everything and have stepped up my efforts now that summer is ending.
Yesterday on a trip to the doctors office I was lecturing Alex on putting random things in her mouth, once again.  In the middle of my sentence, she walked over to the wall doorknob stop, looked at me, and licked it.
I about lost it right there.

A super easy way to get your fruits and veggies everyday!

I just had to write and put my plug in for green smoothies.

Awhile back a friend told me that she put spinach in her daughters morning smoothies so she was always sure the kid would get some veggies in her day.  I thought that sounded disgusting, then I watched some documentary about a guy who did nothing but drink juiced veggies for 3 months and how it completely changed his life.  I figured if I did it once a day at least it would be something right?!  This went along with the the idea I got from a TED talk that you need to eat a variety of veggies each day because they work together to keep you healthy and fight diseases and cancer.  I think it recommended like 10 different veggies and 7 different fruits DAILY?! No one does that.

So I tried it.  It started out with a few leaves and whatever fruit I had in the house now I'm packing 3 cups of leafy greens and pureed carrots into my daily drink.

 Lessons I've learned.........
-You are going to need blackberries or blueberries to give it a nice deep purple color.  Otherwise you might have trouble gulping down the nasty looking green concoction.
-Straws are wonderful.  Sometimes I make mine into a thinner consistency, and I've found I can down 2 large glasses in a few minutes with a straw.  Otherwise it takes forever to sip through one glass.
-Bananas (especially ripe ones) overwhelm and kill the flavor of anything, as does Mango peach flavored V8 splash.  You could put in a raw steak into that smoothie and have no idea as long as you had your blackberries for color and a plenty ripe banana.  This could be good or bad, use this information wisely.
-Unless you have a fantastic Blendtec blender (or similarly wonderful machine) you are going to want to put the spinach and some fluids in first and blend it until it's liquid, THEN add the rest.  Otherwise you are going to have little bit of leaf reminding you what you are drinking.
-The more juice you add the thinner the texture becomes and the easier it is to get down.  I started out with really water smoothies.
-There is no need to measure anything or follow any recipe.  My breakfast smoothie usually consists of..... half a blender of spinach, a cupish of V8 splash, a scoopful of concentrated OJ or a glass of the real stuff, a 1/2 banana or full one depending on the ripeness, a handful of frozen strawberries, a handful of frozen any berries in the freezer (I try to get as many different fruits as possible, even if it's just a little), a jar or 2 of carrot baby food (I'm working through the Heidi leftovers, I don't actually buy it for this purpose), 7-10 blackberries, a baby food jar of peaches or applesauce or both, whatever fruit might be in the fridge ( a handful of grapes, cantaloupe, peach, something)  I recently read you can add oatmeal and it doesn't change the flavor either (just the thickness).

So there is my plug.  If you have trouble getting fruits and veggies into your kids or yourself, this is a really easy way.  Today I convinced Alex to eat a bowl of princess smoothie mush for lunch, made from green smoothie and baby cereal.  She loved it, and so did Heidi.  Yesterday I fed half a pitcher to the neighbor kid, she couldn't get enough. I'll have to suggest it to her mom.
I've really notice a difference when I have my morning 10 fruit and veggie blend and when I don't.  If I wait until lunch It's a real pick me up in the middle of the day and now and then I do one for dinner.  Spinach is cheap at Costco and you can get a good price on frozen berries there to.
So go for it. It's worth a shot.

We don't swing all the time, but apparently it's the only thing I take pictures of anymore.

 For Grandma Jakes Labor Day birthday all the family gathered to help spruce up the yard and clean the house.  I got the fun job and ran around in the yard with the kids.

                                                        Alex adores cousin Toby.

                                            Tyler high up on the ladder  tweaking the swing.

                          The best part about the magic swing is that it fits 3 small children.

            Heidi was surprisingly content to be crammed in the back, and I probably pushed them for 15             minutes before we took a break.

                                                     I think it's Heidi's new favorite place.

This week Alex's great grandma came to watch her at dance class.  Unfortunately Alex developed a fever and spent the class laying on my lap.  Grandma was still full of praise and smiles regardless and I think Alex felt pretty special to have her there.

My little Ballerina

Last week Alex started dance class and Joy school!!!

 Since it's been a rush to get her to Joy School on time I haven't gotten a first day of school picture yet, but she is loving it.  I am so excited for our program this year, we have a great group of mom's and kids and we are much more organized!

Alex is a smart kid who catches on to things quickly so I was excited to get her signed up for something structured and fun that I couldn't teach her myself.

I'm not one of those crazy dance mom's I swear.  Starting while she was still in my belly and up to a few months ago I planned on making Alex be my violin playing gymnast. But a few months ago it became clear that all this girl wants to do is dance.  I gave her the option, dance or gymnastics and despite our visiting a gymnastics gym every friday for month at free play time, she insisted on dance classes.

We found a great dance class for her, from the teacher who taught her Aunt Kara!  She will be learning tap, ballet and tumbling and so far she loves it! 

There are about 8 kids and gauging from the first class, only 2 seem to want to be there.  Each Mom has to come and help their kid since it's the 3 year old class.  Some kids throw fits and don't want to be there at all.  Some only listen half the time and run around distracted the rest of the time.  Alex is the kid with her eyes glued to the teacher, copying everything she does and yelling at me to "Go sit down, I can do it by myself!"  I'm kind of proud and kind of sad at the same time.

She just wants to run around in her dance outfit all the time.  Heidi just loves the tap shoes.

Things I've forgotten

My mother in law and I have similar cameras and interests in Photography.  It is a given that on any occasion, at least one of us will have our camera to document the activity.  Here are some of the summer pictures that either she captured, or I captured using her camera.

 South Pass becomes a dirty word in the winter when we are trying to drive to Montana or back, but in the summer it is a beautiful drive.  Gotta love the mix of red and green.

 This was only 2 months ago but Heidi already seems like an entirely different child with twice as much hair, I swear.

 I've tried to make a habit of being that person who offers to take group pictures for people who obviously want one, in front of pretty places.  I was thrilled when a nice stranger offered to capture a group picture of us on top of the Worlds Largest Mineral Hot Springs in Thermopolis.

 Susan caught this cute moment in front of my grandparents house.  The girls stuffing flowers into the mailbox.

 My brother in law Devin celebrated his birthday this summer and because we had decided to grill pizzas for his birthday meal, I decorated the patio instead of the house.  Of course It decided to pour and all the streamers and banners melted before he even got there, so I ran out and snapped a few pictures for proof that I had actually tried!

 Trust me, it looked really cool

The Swing of My Dreams

When I was a kid we used to have family reunions at a camp up in the mountains of Wyoming near Lyman.

I remember there was the family brand, a smiling A, nailed into the ceiling beams. The Lodge was big and fun to run around in, and the cabins had bunk beds and mice. Sometimes there were horse rides, we would play horseshoes or just go exploring. There was a giant swingset and I remember one of my aunts pushed me so high I slipped out the back of the swing and landed flat on my back on the ground. There were games, contests and volley ball. It was a wonderful place.

But the best part of this particular camp, was the tire swing. Right in front of the lodge there were two tall straight pines growing side by side, reaching all the way to heaven.

Tied between them was a big old tire that had been cut and hung from chains so perfectly that you could cuddle up right in side them and with one big push you could swing forever.

I have many fond memories of that camp, and that swing. I've been dying to replicate it for quite awhile now and finally, with Tyler's help, we got pretty close.

There is a real trick to finding the perfect tire for a good tire swing.

We discovered that it needed to be big enough so you arn't curled in half trying to sit in it. And wide enough so that your hips can fit.

The sides have to be high enough so you don't feel like you are going to tip out midswing.

And you have to find a husband that loves you enough to cut through two tires and string up two separate ropes in a tree, to make your dream come true.

In the end we decided that there might not be a tire big or perfect enough to fit this grown woman. Especially if it's being compared to a tire, ridden 16 years ago and idolized in the mind of a 10 year old on summer vacation.

But maybe this can be the perfect tire swing for them.

This is the Place Heritage Park

A few weeks ago we got to celebrate a belated birthday for my father in law. He decided to take the family to the Pioneer village at Heritage park. It was a blast! It was a great way to spend the day, the kids loved it, and we all went home happy and exhausted.

Alex favorite thing was the pony rides. I think she ended up riding them 5 or 6 times before we left. Heidi wasn't so keen on the whole thing though.

This was Alex's favorite horse. She is so independent, she kept waving me away and saying "You don't need to be here, go back. I can do it."

Heidi on the other hand, just wants to be held and loved all the time. Or she is kicking, head butting your face, and flailing to be set free. Kind of a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde thing.

Heidi savoring her cookie.

The kids always like it when there are places to run, and plenty of adults to give them attention.

Grandpa graciously shared his ice cream cone with Alex so I didn't have to.

All the "kids" minus Annie crammed into the tiny kids train ride around the pond. Everyone but Tyler had an excuse (wink).

Here I am with a dozen 6 year olds panning for gold. I didn't realize how much I stuck out until I looked through the pictures and saw I was the only person over 10 participating in that particular activity. We didn't want the kids to get soaked so they went to the Indian Village while I tried my luck in the stream.

Heidi made a necklace and rode the train.

She has inherited Alex's knack for sarcastic facial expressions when asked to smile for the camera.

There was a lot to see besides horses and trains I promise. It was a fun place to walk through and see all the old houses and people dressed up as pioneers.

We discovered the petting zoo at the end of the day. It was probably best for the animals though, as the kids were running on empty by then and would have terrorized the goats and pigs much more if they would have had any energy.

Heidi was feeling a little out of her element and cautious around such strange things that were so close to her size.

The pig however was not afraid of Heidi and when he tried to get a closer look at her. She took off for the hills. She went from squatting and watching in curiosity, to running for Daddy in 2 seconds flat.

Annie was a trooper.

The last thing we did was teach Alex how to rope Heidi.