Random Sampling of September

Our first heirloom tomato was large, juicy, and so tasty! 

The girls and I stayed at April's house in Spanish Fork for a few days after the Renaissance Faire, since we would be attending the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival a few days later.  While at April's house, we had a lot of fun.  April decided on a whim to whip out her wedding dress, and we took casual phone camera bridal pictures, just for kicks.  Our odd idea of fun got plenty of raised eyebrows from the neighbors and April's hubby, Spencer.  

 But we had so much fun!

The first weekend in September is the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.  The girls and I went and really enjoyed ourselves.  The best was the night events known as "Favorite Stories," and "Laughin' Night."  We loved having Mandy's and her boys join us, as well as my dad and Debby for the Favorite Stories event at the Scera Shell.

 The girls had gotten their faces painted at the Storytelling festival earlier that day.  They waited in line for 1 hour to get it done, which felt like forever, but they sure looked cute all painted up.

 The girls also got to sculpt and make pottery for free at the festival.

Amara made dragons with her clay named "El Drago" and "Flame."

Lily made a tea set with bread and cookies with her clay.

Also from September, I found lots of selfies on my phone.  Enjoy!

Lily is apparently a cat whisperer. 

Our family went on an awesome hike to the Moonshine Arch, just outside of Vernal.  It was a first for us, but now that we know where it is, I'm sure we will be back.  It's a hidden beauty!

Can you see that rock in the middle that looks like a face?

I can't NOT see the face when I look at it.

There was plenty of sand to hike through.  Amara couldn't go further without dumping out her boots.

The arch is stunning.

More Random Pics...

This is our neighbor, Bro. Meacham, who spearheaded a project to help us get our weeds cleared out.  Bless him!  I wrote an entire post about it on our garden blog called, "Weeding With Kindness."

 More Randomness...

Lily taking a selfie with her friend and neighbor, Jax.

Some good ol' befores and afters of our weeds cleared out.

My heart was full having those weeds cleared, and it was just the push we needed to get some landscaping done.  You should see it now!

This is the centerpiece at one of the tables at our stake family history fair.  It was an enjoyable event.

 Our neighbors, Matt and Mary had a birthday party for their sweet little boy, Jantzen.  He turned one and they went all out and invited lots of family and neighbors.  They rented a bounce house for the kids, had hotdogs and nachos, birthday cake, and yard games.

Lily's hair is straight on top and curly on the bottom.

 We got to help puppysit these 4 little cuties.  It was hard work at first to keep them on their feeding schedule, but things got easier as we went.

April came up to join us for the General Womens Meeting. We took the opportunity to go to the temple, just me, my mom, and April.  

 That evening, we got to take my 2 little girls to the General Women's meeting.  Can you believe they are old enough to go?

We tried to get school pictures, but unfortunately, it was a little dark and they didn't turn out, so we had to try on another occasion.

More puppysitting...  They grow fast from week to week!  The puppies belong to my friend, Salina.  She was trying to feed them every 3 hours, which is hard when you work as a dental hygienist, so I volunteered to help out.  It was such a good and fun experience for me and my girls.

The Renaissance Faire- August 28-29, 2015

 We had some very good times at the Utah Renaissance Faire at Thanksgiving Pointe this year.  Steve took a day off school, and the kids and I studied a unit on the Renaissance prior to our visit.  We spent two days there, and each day was filled with things to do and see.

There was a guy who collected old swords, and some of the blades we held dated back to the time of Christ.

We saw James and his friend, Landon, there, as well as an interesting satyr we just had to get a picture with.

There was a pirate ship for the kids to play on.

We watched some crazy demonstrations of armored battle.  They used real armor and real weapons and just went at eachother until time ran out.  Their only rule was no hits to the spine or the back of the neck.

We got to help unweave the maypole.

There were knights that rode horses and did jousting demonstrations.

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There was a group that brought birds of prey for people to take pictures of and they did a show with their owls, falcons, hawks, and eagles.

Steve's camera got some nice shots.

Here's one of the fully armored participants.  Check out that helmet.  They have to make all their own armor.

The guy in the red reminded me of Shredder from the Ninja Turtles.

The armored fighting was probably our favorite event.

Yes, there were women participating in the armored battle.

We loved hearing the authentic renaissance music that was being played along the walkways.

Amara really loved this Fresian horse and wanted to be in a picture with it.

There were shops set up selling their renaissance goods.

We bought some coin purses for a dollar or two each.

Lily wished that she could ride on the Fresian horses.

There were other street entertainers that did little shows throughout the faire.

There were people everywhere dressed to the hilt!

Here's one of our own renaissance princesses.

I purchased a loaf of artisan sourdough that was baked in a stone oven that morning.  The only 3 ingredients used in this bread were flour, water, and salt.  It was light warm, sour, and so very tasty!  We also bought "Joe Frogger" cookies which were like a dark gingersnap.

No one really bowed when the king's procession walked by, except some of the other actors.We all mostly just started at their extremely hot attire.  It was 90 something degrees out there.

There were a couple stages with entertainment, including puppetry, magicians, musicians, falconry, fire blowers, dancers, etc.

Equestrian Vaulters had some girls Lily and Amara's ages performing tricks on moving horses.  They're out of Saratoga Springs, just a short drive from there.

I never got a picture of my delicious $10 Scottish meal, but I remember it vividly.  It was a steak pie which was served with gravy, and sauteed cabbage.  Amara got a tornado potato, Lily got breadsticks and Steve got firebaked pizza.  It would be fun to go again sometime!