There's no place like the park

The girls' favorite thing right now is slides. Anytime Cali sees one she squeals and points. Katya on the other says "go, go, go" anytime she sees one. We decided to take them out to the park since it wasn't raining and wasn't hot either. We discovered that between 8:30 and 9:00 is an excellent time to o to the park. There weren't any kids on the playground so the girls had free reign of it all. They definitely enjoyed the whole experience.

Our first of many...

Since Jethro has a summer break for the first time in 3 years, I decided to make the best of it by planning out fun activities to do with the girls that are free that we haven't done before. The first of which was a trip to the LDS Church History Museum children's exhibit. We headed down their with Auntie Amy and had a blast. The gir,s had fun and it was definitely worth taking them too so that thy could enjoy something new. Since we went on a Monday, the place was relatively quiet. Here are some pics from our little adventure.

Cali's favorite chair out of the 25 that were there. She didn't want a different one.

Cali feeding a baby in the "hospital nursery".

Katya building a temple.

The girls practicing their temple building skills.

Making stained glass pictures.

Cali dressed up as an angel.

Katya dressed up as a little shepherd.

Playing doctor.

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Field trip with the girls ro the Church History Museum today.
2. Going to Temple Open House this week.
3. Father's Day.
4. Jethro on vacation.
5. It didn't rain today.
6. Play N' Learn.
7. Garden is growing.
8. Cali is making new words- her favorite right now is No, No No.
   

The Flood

Yesterday, it rained harder than we have ever seen it rain here. Lightning struck, thunder clapped, our basement apartment flooded. Luckily, the flood only reached about a foot onto our carpet. Nonetheless, it was still startling and a pain. Luckily for us, there were sand bags right outside the door, or I am sure the damage would have been worse. Pictures of our toweled back door and a video of the rain follow.

Yard Work

The girls love helping us in the garden and in the yard. They love putting on our gloves and Cali loves digging up weeds. They learned it all from Jethro and it is so cute.

Cali usually ends up pulling up grass or dirt, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Jethro is done with teaching!
2. Jethro comes back from his conference (I am such a pansy when it comes to him being gone.).
3. Our garden's growing- slowly, but it's growing.
4. Cali goes in for her 18 month check-up.
5. Bread Fridays with Brie.
6. Lots of scrapbooking to finish.
7. Cali says no to Katya when she tries to steal her food. It's cute.
8. I don't have to teach scouts.
9. Cooler weather- no 90 degree days.
10. Play N' Learn.
    

My new favotrite book: Hello, Cupcake!

I absolutely love this book, probably because it's so easy. Yeah I love to cook, but I don't like to bake or cook anything that is hard. This book is so fabulous because you don't need any fancy tools (just a ziploc bag) and it tells you step by step directions for every single cupcake. They also have so many fun ideas that I'm sure that you could find one for any occasion. I've probably gone a little overboard with this book, but I love making the cupcakes in it. If you want to try something fun and different, this is a fabulous book and I highly recommend it. You will love it.

Easter Eggs in grass for Easter

Goldfish bowls for Katya's birthday

Petite Fours for a BBQ

Sunflower's for a girl's night out

Panda's for Memorial Day picnic

T.V. dinners for Jethro to take to work

These by far have been my favorite. I just love how they look.

It's that time of year again...

Canning Season! I just love to can! My favorite thing to do is jam. It's easy and so good (probably because it's loaded with sugar.) Our garden got in really late this year because of our late winter so the only thing ready to can are the berries I find at the store. I've spent the last couple of weeks doing jam and I think I need to take a couple of months of because (a) I have about 70 jars and (b) I ran out of jars and already bought 48. I'll probably up for some more come August when I can buy a bunch of berries from the local Farmer's market (especially raspberries and blackberries).

19 jars of Raspberry- Blackberry Jam

All these strawberries- about 16 pounds

Equals about 42 jars of Strawberry Jam.

Not included in picture form are the 20 jars I did last Friday.

Memorial Day

It is a week late, but at least I'm posting. We had a big family picnic on Memorial Day with my extended family. Most of them live around here, but sadly I rarely see them. It was a blast to get together with them and I'm glad we were able to go. (Sorry it took so long for me to get them up Mom and Dad, but here you go.)

My sisters, their husbands/boyfriends, and kids. I haven't seen some for a couple of
months so it was a good time.

My fabulous Grandpa.

Chattin' it up.

My cousin Christina and her family, minus a few kids.

Katya liked the food.

Cali playing catch with my cousin's little girl.

I think my nephew Taylor likes dogs.

Taylor

The sisters- Candi, Beka, Susan, Megan, Staci.

Megan sliding with Taylor.

My cousin Lyndsey and her adorable little baby.

The Hawks girls with my Grandpa Ray.

Grandpa Ray and Cali

Grandpa Ray with both my girls.

Grandma Marie with the girls.

My aunts, Debbie and Nancy, with their dad.

The girls really like rolls.

They all look so tired and bored. I think it was time to go home.

Jethro, Nate (Beka's boyfriend), Beka, Brent (Candi's husband), and the kids.

Brent, Candi, and my cousin Meri.

More cousins.

Cali playing with my cousin's little boy.

He (my cousin's kid) is such a cute little boy!

Saturday before Memorial Day, I met my Aunt Nancy, Cousin Meri, and my sister Susan at the zoo. The girls always love the zoo and it was a blast. I think the kids favorite part was sharing their snacks with each other.

When we went to look at the giraffes, one was really close and bent over to eat
some leaves- about 3 feet from the fence. Awesome!