Smorgasbord

There has been a lot going on so here's a little smattering of the haps. Not in any particular kind of order. We have spent the last couple of weeks going from here to there and everywhere in between. I think we've slept about 3 nights at our own house this last month, which I think makes it a really expensive storage shed for all of our stuff.
We spent more time at the River, and I got some good shots of B on the swing, and some "brother" pictures too. Nevermind that I have to bribe Brenner to stand and put his arm around Clark.


It's harvest time at Trav's Mom and Dad's house and we have been staying there while Travis helps cut grain and get other things ready. While we've been in Weston B has sported the same uniform just about every day:


Pipe boots, gloves, sword down the back of his shirt. You never know when you might need any or all three.
I love this time of year so much. The air is different and crisp in the morning and the nights are cool and we can sleep with the windows open. I'm excited for September, which is, undoubtedly, the best month out of the whole year. Not only is it my birthday month, but the weather is the best, the fall colors are in full bloom, and the garden food is all ready to harvest. What's not to love. Also, this year my Nancy surprised my sister and I with a trip to Hawaii, so it's pretty much a month of gold.
Clark had some minor surgery this last week on his eye. He has had a blocked tear duct since birth and his Dr. finally decided it's time to do something about it. So we took him to the Cache Valley Specialty Hospital and they sedated him just long enough to stick a blunt object in his tear duct. I was super excited. I wasn't sure what to expect and they brought out a little gown and booties for him, took him away and told us to wait about an hour. About 20 minutes later they plopped ol' C-man down on our laps flailing and screaming, all done. It took quite a while to calm him down and then he slept a good part of the day. We're all thankful that's over with and hope to not repeat it.
Here's a couple bedtime pictures.

This is one of Trav's favorite things to do before the boys go to bed. It gets them nice and hyper right before I want them to go to sleep. I love the shirt Travis is sporting in this picture. I'm sure you all know someone who went to South America, or Central America, or somewhere they play a team sport that is really popular. The missionary always comes back with one of these gorgeous jersey's and they think it's the neatest thing ever. They say things like "This team was number one in the country! I got this thing for 15 pesos!" And we as wives or friends or whatever are supposed to say "WOW! Can you please wear it everywhere we go every single day!?" Anyway I don't need to go any further because I'm sure you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Clark got his first hair cut from his Dad, the boy's personal barber. Why is it that some hairs on a baby's head grow freakishly long and others do not? Clark had a lot of those straggly hairs and a little bit of a mullet so we took care of him.

One more thing which is of major importance that I failed to mention when it happened.
Brenner is fully potty trained.
Read it again if you can't believe your eyes. One day I decided to try real underwear for what seemed like the hundredth time and we haven't looked back. There were accidents but not many, and he has never wet the bed, so I am one happy Momma. I need to get some pictures of him in his little boxer briefs because it is so awesome, so I'll post those later.
That's it.

To Jody

My cousin Jody has been posting lately about her cooking adventures. She is living in New Orleans and has been whipping up local fare like a master. Last week, she posted about a dinner with pork tenderloin and as fate would have it, I had one sitting all alone and waiting in my freezer. So, feeding off her cooking bonanza energy, I decided to give it a go. Here are the results:
It was definitely a domestic day. Earlier I made apricot jam and it was perfect to drizzle over fresh buttermilk biscuits, another recipe I swiped from Jody's blog.

I love apricot jam. It looks so pretty and orange in the jars sitting in the sunshine.


The meal turned out fabulous: Rosemary Pork Tenderloin, buttermilk biscuits with apricot jam, watermelon, and spaghetti squash from the garden. Delightful. We snarfed it right down until we could eat no more.
Jody darling, I could not have done it without you. Keep the good recipes coming. I don't think I'm ready for the roux yet, but maybe after breadsticks from heaven or roasted corn grits I'll give it a try.

corndog hangover

Once again, it has been quite a while since my last post. Between crashing our cars, Rodeo Weekend, class reunions, and trying to write, blogging has definitely been on the back burner.

Many have asked about how we like Idaho Falls, and my best answer is "I'm not really sure, we haven't been there much, but I love the house." I think we've spent about 10 nights there this month. Anyway I thought I would post a picture of the house we're renting. They haven't laid sod yet but it is promised to come soon, so we are counting down the days for that. It is much bigger than our house in Logan and brand-new, so you can't beat that.
That beauty on the left in the driveway is my new mommy car. We ended up buying our silver truck back from salvage, and then we bought my dad's truck from him- which is a great deal for us. I have always loved this truck, and while it is slightly odd to be a 2-truck family, I really really enjoy "my" new truck.

This past weekend was one of my favorites of the whole year. RODEO TIME! It's "That Famous Preston Night Rodeo" (that's really what it's called!) All the carnies come and bring rides and delicious food, there's a parade and a fabulous rodeo. I eat as little as possible the days before the rodeo so I can stuff myself with hand dipped corndogs, rodeo-burgers, and fresh squeezed lemonade. I practically have to roll myself out of that place. This year we attended the festivities Thursday AND Friday. Brenner was dressed in his official cowboy outfit and we stayed up until the wee hours eating and screaming at the buckin' bulls. We again had the pleasure of having Aunt Jana, and cousins Blake, Tanner, and Hannah, although this year Jana failed to teach Brenner some amazing expletives like last year. Real expletives were replaced by the less offensive "FREAKIN-A!" which actually doesn't end up sounding less offensive when it comes from a three years old's speech impeded mouth. The teacher of said "new phrase" is still under investigation.


Brenner has a REALLY hard time keeping his eyes open in photos these days. It's annoying to try and take a million to get one with his eyes open so I've given up on that.
Clark slept through the whole thing, but he sprouted another tooth, which I'm sure was a result of all the excitement. He also learned how to crawl up and down the step under the chairs around Grandma's kitchen island.





As you can see, he is one of those kids who has their tongue out a lot. This is new since the teeth have sprouted. He has to feel up the new one for a few days and so the tongue stays out. After initiation of the new tooth, the tongue goes back in until another rookie tooth appears.

Saturday we attended Travis's 10 year high school reunion (I know, he's an old geezer) Following the reunion we drove to Grace and went through the flume at Last Chance Canal. For those of you who have never been "fluming" I will explain, but sadly, I have no pictures. Farmers have big metal flumes for irrigation purposes, and these flumes run above roads, through mountains, etc. The flume itself is a canal about 10 feet wide in a half circle of sorts. The bottom usually gets all mossy and slimy, making it easier for the "flumer" to float down without getting hung up on anything. The flume at Last Chance goes through a mountain about 5/8 of a mile. It's dark and quite frightening for the average ninny. (me) When we exited the mountain we had Trav's mom drop Brenner in and he clung to Travis the rest of the way. When you get to the end you usually have to walk on some boards that people have rigged up along the top of the flume, and at Last Chance, you're what seems like hundreds of feet in the air. I know I have made this out to be scary and dangerous but it really isn't, and we had a lot of fun.
We ended the spectacular weekend with fresh raspberry shakes at Big J's and a few extra pounds on our bodies.

See you next year rodeo. Until then, I'll be thinking of you.