Emergency Preparedness

A friend emailed me this cartoon, and I just had to share it.

Family Fun at Monson Farms

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Stephen is out of school for UEA weekend, so we took the opportunity on Thursday to take the kids to Monson Farms in Bluebell, Utah. There was only one other family there, so we basically had the place to ourselves. We've gone to the farm every year that we've lived here in Roosevelt. They have a really cool corn maze which is the big attractor for most people, but our family is young enough that we just enjoy use of the courtyard. Kids 4 and under are free and everyone else pays $3 for use of the courtyard. It is a really cute setup. They have a couple of pvc pipe slides, a huge swing made out of a culvert, a mini maze made of big straw stacks, a dirt box with toys, a shed filled with a several inches of dried corn kernals, a goat petting zoo, and a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. I love fall, and what a way to welcome it in!

Powdered Sugar Donuts Make Us SMILE!

Priceless!

It was a crazy Saturday morning for me- rushing around to get all the supplies to grout my bathroom shower with my dad- so nutrition got pushed down the priority list. I popped open a box of powdered sugar donuts and rushed out the door, grabbing a few for myself and leaving the rest for Steve and the kids. I think you can tell by Amara's and Lily's perfectly powdered smiles that they enjoyed breakfast that day.

The amount of powder on Lily's face as compared to Amara's is typical of their different eating styles. Lily is meticulously careful and concerned about how messy she gets, often times using only 2 or 3 fingers to hold the donut, and being careful not to touch anything else with those "dirty" fingers (not even her cup) until she's cleaned off. Amara takes a donut much like a dog would, as quickly as possible, chewing only enough to not choke, and many times she lives the theory, "if it doesn't fit, shove it," and does the palm press to squeeze morsels through her tiny mouth cavity. I wonder how old she'll be when we get to stop reminding her to take smaller bites and to chew her food more.

Zucchini or "Bikini" as Amara would say

Lily and Amara are trying to make the monster zucchini stand up. They were unsuccessful; however, the whole attempt delivered plenty of laughs.

We're loving being a part of our community garden. We've had lots of zucchinis, some more like the size of a watermelon! One such zucchini, we peeled and shredded and with it made 3 loaves of zucchini bread, zucchini mac and cheese, zucchini tempura, zucchini sushi, and froze 12 cups of grated zucchini. Above is a picture of that zucchini and below is the sushi.

It was a Sunday afternoon, Amara was napping, so Lily and I decided to take on the monster zucchini. We armed ourselves with the grating attachment to the salad shooter, and went to work. It took awhile, but we ended up with a good gallon of zucchini shreds.

More garden love...

The small zucchini is actually about a foot in length, but check out the monster beside it. That one is the largest yet- 10 pounds! Yes, we weighed it. I've used half of it to make a yummy zucchini parmigiana. Some of it also ended up in our garden salsa. What next???

Stucco is on.

September is here and the stucco is completed. Our sheetrock and stucco guys worked very industriously and efficiently, and I love their work. The picture makes the house look more grey than it actually is. In real life it has more greenish undertones to it. The concrete steps and driveway pad are being poured this week, our interior doors and trim are going up, my dad and I will be grouting the shower this weekend, and the painters will be arriving Monday! Yay for progress!

Construction continues...

Ah. Here are a few photos from August.

Roof done. They're prepping for stucco.

Roofing almost complete. Electrical going in.

Jaxon's lunchtime snooze...

When we were visiting Micah and Mandy, I had the opportunity to help babysit my cute nephew. Jaxon, fell asleep while eating his lunch. Glad I had my camera handy.

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