Making pretzels

Have you ever made home made pretzels? The big, yummy, soft kind? The kind of love drenched in butter and salt? Nope...no mustardy sauce for me. Well, my friend Megan had made a post on her blog for making pretzels, here's the recipe

And here are our pretzels. Not so pretty--but they were still yummy!!


Yes, that is Kyle trying to eat the dough.

Justin is showing me his "nest" he made out of his dough.


Kyle had a bit of dough with some flour in front of him. He proceeded to eat the dough, with no hands and of course ended up eating flour too.

Kyle's 1st haircut

After 17 months of "growing out" his hair and his pretty curls, Kevin had had enough of him looking like a "girl". He said it was time to cut his hair. So here he is! He sat very still while Kevin was buzzing it. He looks so different with his short hair and no curls. I'll grow it out again, maybe this time they'll stay the same length.






These pictures are of Kyle attempting to put my mascara on his face. He had gotten into my makeup last week and had actually put the eye makeup around his eye. I have to watch that kid like a hawk. Justin never really got into things like that. Just different kids. He is so much fun though, to see him pushing his trains and making the "woo-woo" sound and all the things he is learning. He is definitely attempting to talk more. I can get "touch it" out of him, Kevin denies it. Just a fun cute, cuddlly, boy.

Wow...a bit of a break

Okay...I was told that I needed to wake up and do my blog. Things have gotten a bit crazy over the past few weeks, 2 months.

So, one thing that has been consuming time is my new "education" adventures. I've decided to go back to school for nursing. The first two steps are pre-reqs and a CNA class. I'm almost done with my CNA class. i took it at the local hospital here, so I can work there and gain experience and hopefully be able to use my lactation experience there. (I sit for that exam in July '10). I have my pre-reqs to take now. I thought I had 6 classes to take, then I decided to go a different route for school. The University of Utah has a program for those who have a 1st bachelors, to go back adn get your BAchelors in nursing in 15 months...but I have 10 pre req classes now. So here's wishing me luck to applying for the program in May 2011. It sounds so far off. As someone told me, Time will Always Pass!! After that, it's 3 more years for nurse practitioner. I wish I had known what i wanted to be when I grew up...when I was like 21. Rather, had the guts to do it. So, alas, I am starting again.

James had a fun time playing soccer this season. His team didn't do so swell, but he had some great goals and really improved well this year. Now he wants to do wrestling. I guess my influence is coming through! And Justin had a great time trying to play soccer too.






A few weeks back, Kevin and I took the little boys to the zoo again. We saw so many cute babies. The giraffes are my favorite! We saw the giraffe baby, the elephant baby, but missed the lion cubs. Justin is always so helpful with his little brother.







I also caught this picture of Justin reading to Kyle. Sorry about the sun coming through the window! I didn't want to interrupt them.




We did some peaches and chili sauce this year. I got really busy and didn't even do plum syrup! That one I am ticked about. My fault though. I didn't seek any out. Next year!

That is us in a nutshell, with a few pictures!

Joes Valley 2009

Every Pioneer Day weekend (July 24th) we go camping with our friends, the Pursers. This is our second year at Joe's Valley. SSHHH, I really don't want to say where it is for fear more people will go there! We love that it is a small reservoir and not a lot of boats. It is PERFECT. It's quiet, quaint, and the best place to ski and boat.



Justin's favorite thing was to jump off the boat, again! the kid is a fish with no fear. He loves swimming and loved the tube ride with Daddy! He was so happy it was going "fast". Kyle liked his feet in the water, that was about it. James loved kneeboarding. He even got a little "air". Kevin accomplished a 360 turn with the kneeboard and had some nice jumps! All in all, it was a great weekend. James came home for 16 hours and went off camping for 6 days with the scouts. His smell when he came home was apparently, "the smell of adventure". We quickly washed it away. It's amazing how teeth don't get brushed for a week!! They had furr on them! He had a blast and loves camping.


It has been a great summer. We've done 2 camping trips, swimming, boating, skiing, kneeboarding, zoo trips, visits from family, jam, garden, etc. I can't imagine summers where kids are off to different camps all the time! Phew, we were busy enough! and not to mention two beautiful nieces that were born on the Potter side and Peless side! Congrats jackie/Kirk and Jared/Aimee!

 

And this is what we were privileged to see all weekend, the kid has no butt, and his pants are constantly falling down!

Thank you

Justin is getting so much more understandable, almost daily. He still can't say the "f" sound, it sounds like an "s", so if he says "oss"...it is really "off". Anyhow, I am sitting here typing while he is coloring with markers and he asks me to take the lids on/off. Every time I do, he says, "Thank you, mom". He is so polite, almost all of the time. He's so good at saying, "Thanks, Dad/Mom". It's great to see him just picking up on the word and always saying it. It wasn't me, I promise.

Hogle Zoo

Okay...I need to start this post out with a yes, I am finally back into blogging all the time. Why, you ask?! Because I got a new camera and I am LOVING taking pictures again. I can't take enough pictures. Any excuse to use it, is fine with me. So, you get lots more posts (notice there are more this month than all of 2009, well, close enough anyhow!)

Tuesday we decided to head off to the Hogle Zoo. On the way back from lake Powell, Justin was singing a song he made up about animals. I have NO idea what he was doing, except I heard him doing his "song voice" and signing/singing animal names. Then says, "mom, Zoo!! Go see amimals!!" James seconded (is that a word?) the motion and so on Tuesday, we went. We go every year for Justin's birthday because he loves it so much. I had 2 extra boys (daycare kids during the summer) so it was me and 5 boys. Really though, going anywhere with James is a breeze. He's a natural with kids and is going to make an amazing father some day. He has passed his training requirements. He's awesome with his brothers.


The kids standing by the Ball of Water!!


I loved seeing this. Jonah was helping Justin get up, because it was too high. They love each other!!


Justin and Jonah in the egg.


James and Kyle

Kyle is so cute!!


Kyle had climbed onto some rocks, like the big boys and wanted to walk on them. So James came over and was helping Kyle walk. It shows the love James has for his brother. So patient.

James and Justin

Lake Powell 2009

About a month ago, we decided we needed a break. We hadn't been on a vacation in a long time and even longer since a vacation with JUST our little family. Off we headed to Lake Powell. I had never been before and didn't really know what to expect. I knew you parked on the beach, next to the water, pitch your tent and enjoy the scenery, heat, sand and water. Water, I mean, what isn't there to love with that word?!

We learned some fun facts:
-Justin loves to say "oh gosh!!" for everything new that happens!
-Justin had a panic attack because the wind knocked down our tent. He thought it was broken and was so upset, it took hours to calm him down that we would be able to fix it.
-Babies hate port-a-cribs. Why do we use them?
-Justin learned to swim, well for a 3 year old in a life jacket. He can "tread" water on his own, stay upright in the water and swim to what he wants. It's a beginning!
-Justin is absolutely fearless in the water.
-James is great at knee-boarding!
-Laying in hard sand is NOT comfortable
-Kyle loves to just run in circles on his own. Crazy boy.
-All the boys in our family LOVE LOVE LOVE licorice.
-Sand and water are great entertainers for kids. Content for hours.






I'll continue and post more pictures over the next few days. All in all, it was a great trip with only a few things forgotten. We rented a boat, a little Sea-Doo boat. It's like two wave-runner engines in one. It has 4 seats and was PERFECT for our family. James got to go knee-boarding, tubing and lots of swimming. Justin couldn't stay in the water long-enough and was extremely upset when we had to leave the "beach". Kyle was happy and content to sit in the sand and play with buckets. The boys did great we all had a relaxing weekend.