New Family Pictures

Okay, so around Easter we got new pictures taken. I've just now gotten around to them. Matt's brother, Clint, got some new photography equipment and thought he'd try it out on us! I think they turned out pretty nice, and the price was nice too (free)!

Thanks Clint!

101 uses for SQUASH...

Okay, so my garden has been a lot of fun and we are constantly bringing in yummies to eat, and preserve. We have had a lot of really big squash... you know the yellow straight ones... mine have been about 12-18 inches with a few REALLY big ones. I've been tasked with the challenge of coming up with a way to get my kids to eat (and enjoy) all this squash. I've tried steaming, saute-ing, and grilling only to get scrunched up noses and negotiations of how much one is required to eat before being able to leave the table. Then I tried something strange... I just gave it to them raw with a little bit of ranch dressing! Yummy, mom, why didn't you tell us squash tasted like cucumbers?? I also had the idea that squash and zuccini are very similar... right? so why not squash bread? Hey, there's no "green things" for my kids to reject! Squash and chocolate chips huh? Whooda thunk? Last night I also made "stuffed squash" similar to how one would make stuffed bell peppers... Yummy (to the grown-ups)! The kids thought it was okay, if only it weren't for all that "cooked squash". Oh, well, at least the bread is disappearing quickly!

Fourth Fun!

Happy Independence day!
(a little late...)
We had such a FUN weekend celebrating the holiday with friends and family.


Saturday afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa McLaws came up to play. We went swimming at the local pool, BBQ'd, listened to dad's bagpipes, and attempted to shoot off some fireworks. I say attempted because we got a few off before the wasps decided that they didn't like fireworks and chased us away. It's all good though because the neighbors had way better fireworks and lots more of them for us to watch, from comfortably inside the house.

Sunday evening we went to a really neat fireside our ward did about Independence Day, and enjoyed some yummy patriotic desserts. Then we discoverd a new favorite place to watch fireworks! It turns out that the edge of our ward building parkinglot is a high spot in town and not only is it a great place to see the show shot off at the fairgrounds, but also all the fireworks being shot all around the county. We also got to shoot off some of our own, and watch our friends fireworks too. Woo Hoo!

Monday, after doing some yardwork around the house, we met up with Matt's parents and sister Christy's family at the pool. We had a lot of fun swimming with cousins and then came back to the house to grill up some yummy burgers, rock out on Band Hero and after dark we...again... shot off more fireworks! Thanks to Christy and Leonard's savvy shopping we had quite the show and only one person almost lost a foot.... Dance Leonard....DANCE!


Jack Loves Fireworks! he likes them big, he likes them loud, he likes them bright, and he especially like the ones that shoot off little parachuters.

Megan did not like them at first, they're loud and they surprised her, however by the end of the weekend she started to accept the idea that despite the fact that it's way past her bedtime, we are going to stand out in the dark and scare the snot out of ourselves lighting noisy things on fire and them screaming in delight.

Brianna, although she enjoyed them and knew she was safe, is a drama queen and liked to pretend that she was in danger and terrified. Despite complaining about the bugs and being tired she did share something with me. Sunday, sitting in my lap, watching all the fireworks off in the distance, she dreamily stated, "Mommy, I wish I could be a firework..." Do you think it's because they're pretty? Because they get to fly? or because everyone is watching them? Or maybe it's all of the above.