New Porches

Just some pictures of the great job Jeff did on our porches. Thanks again to my dad, Brody, our Bishop and his son for their help!


You can see more of the work we've done on our house by clicking here and here

Thanks For Your Comments!

Today's the big day of the vinyl lettering drawing and the winner is...Dana! Ethan chose your name out of the bowl but thanks again to everyone for all of the great comments that have been left over the last week and a half, I've enjoyed reading them and hearing from everyone. And don't worry, I have lots of vinyl left so I just might have to do this again!

HaPpY (late) BiRtHdAy KyLiE!

I can't believe you are 18 and heading off to school this weekend. I can still remember the day we went to see you in the hospital and I was an Aunt for the very first time. I was only 8 years old and thought I was just about the coolest thing, having a niece. You are such a beautiful, talented girl and I hope you enjoy college. We'll miss you Kylie-Wylie!

On The Bandwagon

So I've been hearing about the Twilight series for months now and I've jumped on the Bandwagon and started reading them yesterday. (Thanks Mindy for loaning them to me!) I was a little skeptical when I heard they were about vampires but I have heard nothing but good things about the books and now I can't stop reading! It's times like this I wish I was a speed-reader because now I just want to get through all four books and find out how all the craziness ends. I guess I'd better get reading so I can be finished before the movie comes out in December!

Stoker Reunion

This weekend we went to the Twin Falls temple open house on our way to visit Jeff's family for a reunion. While in the temple, Ethan was asking when someone was going to get baptized and Kamden kept saying "Oh, wow!"
We stopped at Shoshone Falls and let the boys run around and watch the water before getting back in the car. That night we played games with family and stayed up too late.
Saturday morning we all got together for a yummy breakfast before going swimming and having a picnic in the park. We all went to the fair and rodeo that night and the boys liked seeing the animals and the big tractors. They both got tired of the rodeo pretty fast and Kamden kept getting scared when the horses would come out and go crazy.
We had a barbeque before heading home from a fun weekend.

Growth Chart

I finally finished Ethan's growth chart which has been in the works for quite awhile. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though my biggest issues were getting all of the paper the same width and not getting air bubbles under the paper when I Mod Podged it to the board so if anyone has any tips on how to avoid that please share!
I got Ethan's growth record from the pediatrician and I'm going to look for some sports embelishments to use to mark his height and I need to get a bracket for the back so I can hang it in his room.
I ordered the inch and foot marks, the numbers, and his name, birthdate, and weight from Chit Chat Creations if you're interested. Thanks Megan for the instructions!

Pilates With Ethan

The last few days I've been doing Pilates with Callie (my abs are killing me, by the way.) and today Ethan wanted to give it a try. His attempts were pretty impressive and he went through the entire video and asked to do it again after he finished. I'm not sure if it was funnier when he went and got a pillow to put under his head or when he decided it would be more comfortable to work out while lying on the couch...

So Handsome!

On Sunday Kamden wore a tie and he was so proud of it, he kept saying "Oh, wow!" and pulling on it while saying "See? See?" It's hard to believe he is 21 months old now and his 2nd birthday is just a few months away.

Fruit

Tonight we picked the pears and peaches but we still have a tree full of nectarines. I don't know anything about canning fruit. Do you can nectarines? I read that you should pick them before they ripen on the tree and store them at room temperature in a paper bag and that they'll keep in the fridge. I even read that you can freeze them. We'll never use an entire tree full of them so if anyone wants any please take them off my hands. I'd rather someone eat them besides the birds.

I can't wait to try these:

Nectarine and Peach Cobbler
Ingredients
1 1/4 lb. nectarines and peaches - about 2 each
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1. Preheat to 375 with rack in middle position. Score fruit by cutting an X on the bottom of each. Blanch in boiling water 10 seconds, then transfer with slotted spoon to bowl filled with cold water. Once cool enough to handle, peel off skin, starting from X and discard. If the fruit is ripe, the skin will just slide off. If not, remove the rest of the skin with a peeler. Halve and pit the fruit; cut into real thin slices.
2. Transfer fruit to heavy saucepan and add lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly, then boil, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Pour melted butter into 13x9 or 12x7 glass baking dish (if you use the smaller dish, put a cookie sheet in the rack underneath it to catch what might boil over). Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a bowl, then whisk in milk until combined until the consistency of pancake batter. Pour batter over butter. Do not stir. Then pour fruit over batter. Again, do not stir. Bake till cobbler is bubbling and top is golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan until warm.
Serve topped with whipped cream.
Serves 8-10.

Or this recipe for Fresh Peach Salsa.

Comments?

I've been blogging for about a year now and really enjoy it. It's much easier than scrapbooking which-as a mother of two-I hardly have time for. Hopefully when the boys are in school I'll be able to scrapbook and use this blog as a guide to remind me of what was going on in our lives but for now blogging has been the best way to document things.
My one and only issue with blogging has been getting comments from those who read our blog. I know a lot of people read it because they tell me about it when I see them and I can look at the tracker we have on our blog and see who's visited. Sometimes there are people from other countries who visit and I have no idea who would be reading our blog in China but still, it's nice to know you actually have readers.
So. Since begging and bribery aren't beneath me, I'm going to entice our readers from out of the shadows and ask you to leave a comment on this or any posts made after today. You can comment as many times as you'd like on any post-the more often you comment, the better your chances of wining. Commenting is easy, you don't have to have a google account but if you click 'Annonymous' be sure to let me know who you are in the comment in case you win. Then, on August 20th I will randomly select one of the comments and the winner will receive this:

What is it, you ask? Lettering in dark brown vinyl that spells 'Always & Forever' and can be applied to just about any surface. It is 15 inches long and 3 inches tall. For inspiration or more about vinyl lettering, click here. Thanks for reading!

On Tuesday I took the boys up to 'the lake'. We played in the water and had a picnic. Ethan and I made a sand turtle which he later destroyed with buckets of water and he tried to bury Kamden's feet in the sand while telling me that my baby was going to be there "forever and ever".


Brian, Sierra, Wade, and Lauren came over for dinner and Ethan kept them entertained with his capgun and we got to see Brian and Sierra's wedding pictures, which they have on their blog if you want to take a look. Today we are working on the porches-and by we I mean Jeff-and getting ready to stain the wood which needs to be done soon. So Wade, be ready for another dinner invitation and we'll put you to work!

Babysitting 101

I have a confession to make. Ethan will be four in December and we have never hired a babysitter for either of our children. When we go out without the kids, they are left in the capable (and appreciated!) hands of family members. However, I sometimes can't escape the guilty feeling that perhaps I'm taking advantage-despite their claims that I'm not and that they love having the boys-or that I might be interrupting others' plans by adding my children to their evening while Jeff and I go out. I've wondered for awhile what the rules/expectations are for paying the sitter among other things. I came across this blog where there is a series on 'What Babysitters Wish We Knew' and found it really helpful and just wanted to share, in case you're in the same "We-need-to-get-home-and-get-the-kids-before-they-wear-out-their-welcome" stage and find yourself ditching your evening plans and hurrying home after dinner.

Kamden's Thirsty

Sorry the picture is so blurry, but it's the only one I got before Kamden quit doing that.

How Many Does Your Gun Shoot?

"This is my gun. I put gas in it and it shoots 5 or 6."




















Not sure where this comes from, but this morning Ethan has been using a curtain rod for a gun and making sure it's full of gas and telling me how many times it shoots before asking me how many times my gun shoots. When I take a guess at how many times my gun will shoot, I'm always wrong unless I answer "Nine." I'm pretty sure he got this from being at my parent's house over the weekend where my brother Jeff and my husband Jeff were shooting my brother Jeff's handgun (not that Ethan was any where near them while that was going on) but he could hear the gun and now has one of his own in the form of a curtain rod. He also stood like that for his picture, I didn't pose him, which I thought was funny.

Weekend Recap

Our weekend was spent mostly around the house where the biggest project going on has been to replace both porches. It started last week with Brody's help (they had too much fun tearing apart the old porches) and we appreciate his time and the work he did. They spent several evenings during the week replacing the old boards and on Friday night my parents came over for dinner and Dad helped Jeff work on the porches some more. Dad and Jeff worked all day Saturday before Jeff and I took the boys to have dinner with his parents who were passing through town. We thought Dad was heading home too, but when we got home we discovered that the back porch had been finished while we were gone!
We still need to stain the wood and then we'll move onto the project of sanding down the posts around the porch before repainting those. Remodeling is a never-ending process and we appreciate the help we've received!