Awww......

The Original iPad

The original iPad (Etch-a-sketch).

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Laurel's first chocolate chip pancake! Happy birthday baby girl!

Happy 1st, Laurel!

Laurel, you really are the love of our lives. A worthy crown for our family.

Special thanks to Aspen for putting together this video!

Other videos of the kids when they were younger:
Aspen
Cedar
Olive
Linden

Merry Christmas Video

What trick does a doggie do, linden?

Happy birthday Olive!

Oh yes, our Christmas tree has a tail... Doesn't yours?

Merry Christmas to all!

Cedars state fair project!
(Not for the actual "State Fair"; the class did a project on U.S. states.)

We finally moved Linden to a "big boy bed." I love transitioning from crib to a tent on the floor. I'm not so worried about falls in the night and the tent gives a since of coziness. Linden has loved it. This is his 3rd nap. The first one he played for a long time. When I came in to tell him to go to bed he was so guilty about being caught. So cute! He played again yesterday but quickly went to bed when I came in. Today we are leaving in a few minutes to see Cedars state fair project at school. He was very nice to go right to bed. Not a bad start to the big bed! I'm under no illusion that it will always be this nice, but I'll take what I can get!

She did the entire walk way by herself! Thanks Olive!

We're not in Tennessee any more!

This is what it looks like when I cook.

What it looks like when I get in the shower in the mornings.

I love it when I happen upon something great. It seems to happen often. I notice it most when I'm paying attention. (Unfortunately I get busy and forget...)

I found one of those great things today. And would you believe it was right next door to another great thing. I took Linden and Laurel to Cortez today. The middle of November means that turkey's are on sale for amazing prices. So we loaded up the coolers and set off. An hour and a half (Record time for us!) in Wal-mart is about all I can ask from the kids, though I did ask for 5 minutes in two more stores with the promise of lunch at our favorite park ever. (Great thing #1.) the only problem with the park is it's lack of bathrooms. So we decided after a while of playing and eating and chasing ducks to walk over. The Cortez library has the best children's area I've seen at a library. A story time room with soft play mats, a kitchen and manipulatives. There is a full size kayak with rock shaped pillows and tons os toys and puzzles. There are of corse books and computers but the Heer
space that us devoted to the kids area is amazing an super fun. I now know where we'll go instead of the mcdonalds play place when we visit Cortez this winter!

Way to go Aspen!

Jonathon is teaching the kids to play with fire. The neighbor kids too. Hopefully we won't get shamed out of town...

It's pretty hard to believe I have a teenager now. Happy birthday Aspen. I am so grateful you are my daughter. You are turning into an amazing young woman. I love you!

Fun Recipes

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes
 2 T melted butter (or milk)
1/4 c. brown Sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 T flour Mix together.
Then, add enough milk to make it about the consistency of whipping cream (or so) Swirl in pancakes! Yum!

 Homeade Corn Dogs and Cheese on a stick
 6 cups Pancake Mix
2 cups Yellow Corn Meal
 2 whole Eggs, Slightly Beaten
6 cups Water, More If Needed To Thin Batter
 Hot Dogs
 Cheese,
 Cut Into 1/2-inch X 3 Inch Sticks Chopsticks Canola Oil, For Frying Spicy Mustard, For Serving Preparation Instructions **USE CAUTION WHEN FRYING WITH OIL. KEEP POT ON THE BACK BURNER TO PROTECT SMALL KIDDOS**
In a large bowl, combine pancake mix and cornmeal. Stir to combine. Add eggs and water, adding more water as needed for the batter to become slightly thick (but not overly gloopy.) Start out by adding 4 cups, then work your way up to 6 cups or more. Heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Drop in a bit of batter to see if it's ready: the batter should immediately start to sizzle but should not immediately brown/burn. Insert sticks into hot dogs so that they're 2/3 of the way through. Do the same with the cheese sticks. Dip the hot dogs into the batter and allow excess to drip off for a couple of seconds. Carefully drop into the oil (stick and all) and use tongs or a spoon to make sure it doesn't hit the bottom of the pan and stick. Flip it here and there to ensure even browning, and remove it from the oil when the outside is deep golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Repeat with cheese, allowing it to get as golden as possible so that cheese will melt completely. Serve with spicy mustard.

 Graham Cracker Treats
 1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips or M&M®s

 PREHEAT oven to 350ºF. MELT butter in 13 x 9-inch baking pan in oven; remove from oven. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over butter. Stir well; carefully press onto bottom of pan. Sprinkle with coconut and nuts. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over top. Sprinkle with morsels; press down lightly. BAKE for 25 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Tip: For easier cutting of bars, line pan with foil, extending over edges of pan. Coat lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake and cool as directed above. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut into bars.

 PB Playdough 
1 C creamy peanut butter
2 C powdered sugar
1/2 C honey Directions: mix.

 CHANGO BARS
 1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. margarine
 2 c. brown sugar
 3 eggs
2 1/3 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. mixed nuts

Melt butter and margarine. While this is melting, cream brown sugar and eggs, then add melted butter and margarine. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and stir into sugar mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour mixture into greased 9inch by 13inch baking pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees. (These are from the book Jalapeno Bagels)

 Graham Cracker Caramel Chocolate Bars (we do not know what they are called)
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
 1 cup chocolate chips
 Graham Crackers

 Set out graham crackers on a cookie sheet. Mix together butter and brown sugar, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When it is at a full boil, set timer to 2 minutes, and when it beeps take off heat and pour over crackers. Sprinkle on chocolate chips and spread.

See that one little flower? That is the only flower that is the only flower still alive. ALL the other ones died out weeks ago. Seriously I have not seen another flower except that one for like a month!

We went to Jones farm today. The haunted house was about as scary as you would want it to be to take a baby and 2 year old through. The scenery was beautiful and they had corn hole. We thought that was just a southern thing but apparently we were wrong! It was a fun way to spend a few hours on such a beautiful day!

There is a "Fancy Nancy" party for library story time today. The king costume is about a fancy as Linden would get today. We don't need to leave for a few more minutes so Linden got out the play dough. He made a caterpillar and when I cut out some leaves for it to eat he discovered a whole new way to play with play dough!

Why, you might ask, does linden look like a cute little Jewish boy? Because a half of a football exploded and linden thought it would make a cute hat, of course

Aspen helped with the 7th grade float for the homecoming parade. Here they do it at 12:30pm. The march up to the elementary school and back down the side street back to the HS. I took Linden (and a sleeping in the car) Laurel. It was fun. A perfect parade for a 2 year old at nap time. Lots if candy, not many kids and 2 minutes!

Yes, that's what you think it is.

Give me a silly face linden.

Ok, linden, give me a sad face.

How about a mad face?

Now give me a happy face...

It's crazy hair, socks and tie day at school today! Olive was up and ready early do we could do her hair. They were talking all through dinner last night about how to make their hair crazy. I think they turned out pretty good, don't you?

Blast From the Past

Click on picture to see larger version.

We love library story time! Today they got little "dragon" (aka alligator) finger puppets. And there was a RS meeting last night about taking better pictures. Is this better? How's my story telling with a picture? They told us about the app snapseed that is a fun photo editing app. I tried it out on this picture. What do you think?

Another fun thing about having the school in our back yard... Spying on Aspen while she runs the mile in PE!

Is there anything cuter than sleeping babies?

The real reason for our trip was to celebrate Gpa Loveridge's 90th birthday. He had all 4 of his children, 13 of his 16 grandchildren and 29 of his 38 great grandchildren there! (I think that math is correct.) Grandpa has accomplished many many things in his 90 years. I think though if you asked him he is most proud of the legacy that he has in his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and in securing the love of his life over 60 years ago.

Our super quick trip to SLC this weekend brought us through one of the worst rain storms I've ever driven through. I don't know what it's called, but the canyon north of Price on US 6 was wet! As in watch out for the ark wet! We slowly made it up and when we got into the valley near Provo we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow! It started off as a faint double but as we drove the top one faded and the bottom one brightened. It was beautiful!

Check out my teeth!

After we broke camp we headed to monument valley. It really is an amazing place to see!

Saturday was Cedars first game with the Moab travel team. He played 2 games in Ridgeway Colorado. He played well and had a blast with his new friends.

Gooseneck state park turned out to be a nice place to camp. The stars were amazing! We took the rain tarp off the big tent and it was just like sleeping in a planetarium.

Sunday afternoon we headed out to camp at Goodnecks state park. It's really just a big overlook if the San Juan river, but with a bathroom and it was ok to camp. (No actual developed camp sites, but plenty if flat spots to put up a tent it two. (We now need 2 tents to fit our family!) we drove there via the Moki dugway. Have you heard of it? It's 3 miles of UNPAVED gravel switch backs carved into the side of a cliff. There is a 10% grade and 15 MPH with 5 MPH on the curves. I made Jonathon drive. I wasn't even sure if it was wise to go down it in the van. We made it though the first view off the cliff gave us all vertigo.

After getting some work done around the house we headed to Cortez to visit their rec center then pick up Aspens new bike. The rec center was REALLY nice. It was small but every inch is packed with all the things a good center should. They had great family bathrooms. (4 of them!) the pool was fun. It has a 0 entry play area, water fountains, a little duck slide that Linden loved! A lazy river, a big slide, and a separate lap pool with a diving board. After we swam and got ready we went and climbed the climbing wall. The kids can scramble right up. Jonathon and Cedar made it to the top of the hard side, Aspen was working on climbing under a ledge, Olive loved climbing up then jumping off, linden geared up and we hooked him to a rope but he had no clue what to do. It didn't help that the carabiner was in his face. I even tried. Aspen took a very UNflattering video, so I do have proof.
You'll just have to believe me though, I'm NOT showing it to anyone! We had a great time!

My new rug came!!!

She stood up all by herself for the very first time!  And she started not facing the couch and playing with the wipes!  So cute!

My 3 matching Tennessee boys!

Linden loves to look "just like daddy and Cedar!"

She is trying to stand! She can't really crawl yet, but that doesn't mean she doesn't get around!