Mallory is Home, CLEAN garage & food storage muffins!

OK, highlight of the day is that Mallory is home! I missed her dearly. She had a wonderful time. This was her first trip away from everyone in the family for that long. The Branoms said she was perfectly behaved and loved having her--very polite and she and Kiley never got in a fight. I think they spoiled her--she came home with all the money she left with.

Michael cleaned the garage! Yeah! Lowe's is awesome--he got some great shelving and bike racks and hanging thingys for tools.

Face on Nick--he ate applesauce muffins with wheat flour and pureed pinto beans in them! And he loved them! Please don't tell. Ok, I'm out of control with the food storage experimentation. Stop me!

Food Storage

Ok, so I'm on a little kick with food storage. I'm trying to organize what we have, what we need (we had a year supply before Carter so we need to update for two people), and what we need to use. So of course in that process I'm reminded to use wheat and beans etc. and have some recipes. This morning I made cracked wheat cereal--Michael and I loved it, Carter liked it, and Nick thought of every excuse why he couldn't eat it all: "The wheat pieces are getting stuck in my braces", "my stomach is hurting." (he used that one because he knows that high fiber foods can give you some intestinal discomfort if you are not used to it--yeah, in several hours from the time you eat it, not immediately! But good try.) Nick, just shut-up and eat it. And no, I did not actually say shut-up to my kid, so you can cancel any comments you were going to send.

Carter's First Sleepover

Carter went with Caleb Hunt to the rec center tonight. He called from there to ask if he could sleepover at Caleb's house after swimming. I paused and then said yes. His response was a noise I have not yet heard from him--it sounded like he was crying (Had he mis-understood me and thought I said no?) Anway, he was telling Caleb that he could in a voice that was, I guess, overwhelmed. Carter's reactions are halarious--complete emotion. When Heidi came by to get his stuff, I told her that we need her to sign a disclaimer--take Carter home overnight at your own risk! Just kidding--I just don't know how he will do! I'll post a photo if she takes one. . .

Update on "Dark Knight"

Interesting. . .Tonight on the news, they had a little segment about this movie and psycologists from Primary Children's strongly advised for children under 14 or 15 not to see this movie and why. The type of violence and how children feel afterwards I guess is just over the top. Thanks news for your support. I've never seen a news segment that chooses a specific movie to review like this.

Summer Re-Cap

I'm feeling kind of bad that we haven't done as many fun things this summer. I'm the one that's kind of holding that back. I forgot that pregnancy during summer not only is hot, but you give up lots of fun stuff. It about killed me to turn down boating with Scott and Tracie last Friday. I think I'm also getting depressed from not being able to excercise like I'm used to. But, we have done some fun stuff, so I thought I would re-cap the summer so far:

First of all, we finished out baseball and softball. Mallory played on a team that Michael & Rob Caldwell coached. It was a fun season--a great learning experience. Mallory's first year was a bad experience for her so she skipped a year, then tried again--much better. She gets very upset when she makes mistakes, so the emotional part was the hardest, but she did love it this time. Their team did pretty well but improved overall during the season.

Carter played baseball for the first time and really enjoyed it. It was pretty halarious to watch all the boys, including Carter, try to make plays in the outfield. But also play around! Their attention is pretty limited at that age, but it was fun to see the progress through the season. As you can see, in this particular game, it was very hot. Carter dramatically displays this with his last picture:

Nick played on his own team and umpired for the last four weeks of the season. Watching him be confident and having to deal with angry coaches with maturity made me step back and take a moment to realize he is growing into a young man. He played first base all season (twice catcher--the only time I brought my camera) on his own team--he thought they were going to be terrible at the beginning of the season and they ended up taking 1st or 2nd (depending on who you ask)

The new rec center has been a nice addition to our lives. The kids have wanted to go almost every day that they could--swimming, rock wall climbing and basketball for Nick. Nick rode his bike down there many times to play and practice.

We went camping with Scott and Tracie Peterson to Spirit Lake, which is a beautiful place high in the Uintahs. But the mosquitos ruined it! (Carter's swollen eye is from a mosquito bite on his eyelid!) I'm not going to pretend that it was fun because I was miserable. The kids and Michael managed some fun with fishing and 4-wheelers, but I was a loser and stayed in the cabin most of the time to escape the swarming mosquitos. They were a constant problem 24 hours a day. I would love to go back there another year in August when the mosquitos are gone. Other photos: Michael in his fishing vest, Michael with his fish, 4-wheelers!, the beautiful scenery, treasure hunt, the loot!, "fire works" (as close as you can get in the mountains) Cute cousins, Carter with his sickening spider (this is an example of Mom going way out of her comfort zone to be a good sport), paddle boats.










Last weekend, we went to Orem for a Peterson Family Reunion. Everyone (but me) went on a walk together up Provo Canyon, then had lunch together at Chuck-a-Rama. Then to Mary Lou's for a program about Donl and some distant family members that had a run-in with pirates. It was a great day. Our kids played non-stop with Scott and Tracie's kids, since we did stay at their house.

Nick got to spend a few days with his cousin, Bruce, in Draper. Me and the kids drove out later and spent a couple of days with my parents and then back to Draper with Bruce and Aimee. We got to see their new cabin in Heber Valley, went to IKEA, hung out on their deck and hot-tub and had a BBQ. I got to spend a lot of time with Bruce, talking and laughing. His little girls are so cute--Mila came up with some halarious observations like, "You will put food in the baby if you put food in your throat!" And, pointing to my stomach, "that baby looks like one big tummy ache!"

Well, that's about it so far. Oh, and scout camp for Nick and Lagoon for Mallory. Oh, and the kids have read quite a bit--Mallory has read two huge chapter books this summer--that is huge for her. (NOT her choice, I might add!)

The Dark Knight

Batman, the Dark Knight, has been a movie we have all been waiting for, especially Carter. After several people have seen it and commented on how dark and disturbing it was, we decided we better not see it. Michael has a friend at work who's pretty laxed about movie watching for his kids and even he said he regretted taking his 10 year old son. Anyway, we broke the news to Carter--he sobbed on the couch and then said, "the only reason I wake up in the morning is knowing I get to see the Dark Knight!" He cried for a while longer and then said, "The movie makers are so stupid! Super hero movies are for kids!" I feel so bad about it. I'm about to cave in. I've just heard that the violence is so over the top and an 8 year old little boy does not need to see that. Michael and Nick have agreed not to see it either since Carter can't. . .

First Ever Blog

I'm going to try this for awhile. I've heard it's a great way to keep a journal and organize photos. My biggest fear is that it will be boring! Oh well, at least we have a record being kept of some sort. I don't know why it's taken 16 years to finally keep a journal of my family and kids. I think that this method may work for me--the motivation being that I'll get to read some of my friend's blogs, then once I start typing my own, I think I'll finish. Hopefully.

Today is July 24th--normally a day we would go to the Vernal parade and do something fun, but I can't stand the heat being this pregnant and Nick hurt his back yesterday. Motrin is a great thing, but he's not really up for it. Michael hates (ok maybe not hates, but would NEVER initiate) parades anyway so he is happy. I think he'll go fishing later.

Mallory is at Lagoon with a friend--camping for 3 days with their family and another family. She called this morning to tell me she misses me--that means a lot, coming from her. She's not the most expressive child. I'm so happy for her that she gets to do something like this. This summer she's watched Nick do stuff she's never done like go to scout camp or staying for a few days at his cousin's, so it's finally her turn. But I miss her. I missed her when she left the house with her backpack & pillow, riding her ripstick to her friend's house.

I think I'll crochet and read now--maybe plan a meal for later. Like I said, pretty boring.