Tonight

Taylor's at class. Here is what I am up to...after I get the booger off Katie's finger. She is yelling at me, "Mom I got a booger." Nice. At least she isn't wiping it somewhere for me to find later!
Making Chicken Stock. Eating these cookies I made for play-group this morning.
Sewing a rod-pocket for new curtains for Katie's room. These are an old shower curtain.
Watching Flicka 2 and reading Cold Sassy Tree. I know I am a dork for the movie choice...but I love movies like this. Horses, bad-acting...woohoo here I come!

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a new project up on the craft blog too! Inspired by miniBoden.

11 Mile Canyon

We drove up to 11 Mile Canyon this past Saturday. We were supposed to camp but it hit below freezing the night before so we decided to pass. We visited The Donut Mill on the way up and then spent a few hours at the river. It is so beautiful there. Playing with sand toys and Grandma.
Fishing with Daddy. We will have to get her a pink pole for Christmas I think.
Can you see where Jasmine ate the toys off the exersaucer:) She chewed all the stuffed toys up. Jasmine is Taylor's parents dog.
Hiking with Grandpa.

Bagels Blogging Bossiness

I made homemade bagels this morning. Yum-O. I made 8. There are 3 left. Katie had 1/2 of 1. I have been using the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day and really like it. I want to try some of their Heathy recipes because I think a lot of the recipes I have tried taste similar.

I am trying to blog more. I like getting my thoughts out there and feeling all interactive and productive. Blogging can tend to be such a braggy thing. "look at me - I make homemade bagels, and craft and am wonder-woman!" Which though true in some areas, does not mean in all areas. Thought in the interest of being real and honest I would show some of the other side:)

And this is a good day! The food on his tray has been there since lunch.

Not a fan of the chores that are uber-repetative!

I have one very bossy daughter. She gets it from one of her parents. Any guesses which one? She likes to tell Levi what to do. Put things in his face and say "no, Levi." She loves to tell Mommy what to do and when and where. Someday it will serve her well. Right?

Waiting...

Life has felt a little incomplete lately...



Taylor and I have been missing something...



It comes in a small package...






Should come in the mail tomorrow! Think we can fit season 3 in before #4 starts? I might need to get a few more tubs of ice-cream.

Balloons

We started checking off the fall list this weekend by going to the Balloon Classic. I was worrying about being late,but we ended up seeing tons of balloons, para-gliders and parachutists. Katie has been looking forward to this for weeks! She was running around pointing saying,"Wow! That's amazing!" She loved it and we are looking forward to making this a family tradition.

The Fall List

September 1st and we just got back from the pool. It is hot out and probably will be for another month or so...but it still feels like the beginning of fall. We made a "summer-list" of things we wanted to do. Almost everything got checked off and now it is time for the "fall-list." Here is the list for the next 3 months!

• Make homemade potato soup the first time it snows.
• Watch the balloons take off at the park.
• Make a 2nd turkey so we actually have lots of Thanksgiving leftovers.
• Go up to the mountains to see the aspens change color.
• Bronco Sunday with all the snacky fixin's.
• Work out 3 times per week.
• Date night to Denver (maybe to Cavalia??? hint hint Taylor)
• Collect leaves with Katie and make some fall crafts.
• Go see Harry Potter 7 in the theater!
• Continue slashing the grocery budget - the goal is by half!
• Go to Montague's for tea.
• Make lefse for Thanksgiving...freeze some for Christmas.
• Carve a pumpkin.
• Visit the apple orchard.

Now to start checking things off. I love fall. It is possibly my favorite season. I love curling up with a blanket and tea while it is chilly outside. I love dressing my kids up for Halloween. And Thanksgiving is such a great mix of food and family. A new season always gives my motivation a burst. And all my shows are coming back on TV! Chuck, Survivor, Parenthood and Glee. I have tried to cut back some but I do love these shows. Taylor watches all of them with me except for Glee. We save them up for Tuesday or Thursday night since Taylor has class Monday and Wednesdays. I'm happy just thinking about the fun to come. Happy Fall!

My cute kids and some challenging books.

Katie's Aunt Emmie works at a gym so Katie got to tag along with her. I told her she was going to swing on the bars and she talked about the "granola bars" all morning. She had a blast! I love this girl in pig-tails:)Look at the smile on that boy. He makes my heart melt. I had to take about 10 pictures to even get a smile this good from Katie. She was being ornery and dunking her head in the water. And trying to steal Levi's toys.

He is pulling up on everything! And putting any little thing he can find in his mouth. He is still very wobbly and is falling over a lot! I think that is just the boy part that I am going to have to get used to.

I have been reading a lot of books lately. I call it my drug of choice. My recent selections have included Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and Relentless by David Platt. They were top-sellers on the Amazon Christian books list so I added them to my "to-read" list. (Do you have a Goodreads.com account? I am an addict.) I started with Crazy Love and from the first few pages almost didn't want to read it. It is one of those books that challenges what you believe and isn't content to just challenge your perceptions...it has to challenge you to change the way you live. Well, I did finish reading Crazy Love and am still reading Relentless. I am hearing God tell me to follow and pursue him whole-heartedly. I am taking time to listen to what he is saying and am trying to discern what action he would have me take and actually take it. God has given me examples in my friends and family of what it looks like to act on the leading of God. My pastor at church is challenging us to live in community. This following God thing is hard. I can't do it on my own strength. Which is exciting. And scary. Keep me in your prayers as God continues to challenge and grow my relationship with him.