You Aren't Allowed to Have Fun

We've been party central around here recently.
On Monday Rusty had the great idea to hold our own neighborhood parade - The trailer (on a break from hauling the motorcycle) was duly decorated and pulled around the neighborhood. Kids banged pots and pans, and sang "The Star Spangled Banner". Like the siren call of an ice cream truck, any child that heard the ruckus begged to hop aboard. Too much fun.
Carter's 7th Birthday - He loved the Sparkler Cake, but being a boy, the temptation was too much and he grabbed the hot stick. Result - finger in the mouth yelling & yelling "I burned my finger!"
Spencer really likes to run around following designs on a sidewalk, but he's also content to sit while the world goes by.
Cami and Brooke had a great time at the Splash Pad, and the adjoining playground

Rusty enjoying his Father's Day present
Paige playing dress up, she especially likes jewelry. Like mother like daughter.

Canning

Green tomatoes turned to relish, and apples to applesauce. Many thanks to Charity and Carolyn for the loan of their 'labor saving devices'!

The Curse of the Black Thumb, or Two Red Tomatoes

On the left you see the 'fixins' for an end of season tomato sandwich grown in our garden. On the right you see the 14,725 green tomatoes that did not grow larger than an inch. (it seemed like that many when I picked them yesterday, one more bag is out of sight.) Thank goodness for a recipe for green tomato relish.

It began innocently enough- two new raised beds w highly touted dirt a la Square Foot Gardening. Chard, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash,and cukes with tomatoes against the fence. They began to grow nicely, and we enjoyed some meals of yellow squash.

There were literally hundreds of blossoms on the tomatoes and the cukes. I pinched off the suckers to encourage larger fruit growth. We were thrilled, thinking of the bounteous harvest to come.

One morning we woke to find monster plants. They had spread all over each other, and were threatening to take over the entire yard. The blossoms produced nothing. They simply sat there, tantalizing us.

Our entire take was 1 'mess' of green beans, 4 of chard, 8 cucumbers, 16 pieces of zucchini and 32 pieces of yellow squash. I kept looking for a partridge in a pear tree.

The last photo is dead plants. Note that 3 marigolds on the left are even bigger. I pulled them all up because I began to have nightmares of vines coming thru the windows at night to strangle us. So much for gardening.

Double the Fun

I love to see happy babies and hear them laughing! Spencer is 8 mos old, and Paige is 6 mos.Bet you can't tell they are cousins.....

Fun on the 4th!

We had a great time going to a Colonial Days festival - it was like a mini version of Williamsburg, Va. We heard Patrick Henry give his entire "Liberty or Death" speech,(amazing length for the actor to remember!), met Abraham Lincoln, ate some yummy Shephards Pie, and stood inside a full size replica of the aft section of the Mayflower.
As you look at the scale model, and the replica, remember that the Mayflower carried 126 people. The ship was only 102 feet long, and 19.5 feet wide. There were 2 levels, and the captains quarters (the part you see here), but there was no privacy, no bathrooms, AND they carried various livestock along. Measure it off and think about the stink and sheer claustrophobia of it! What brave people they were.

David had a nite of fun away from us w his buddy Leslie. They had a cook out, worked around the stables, and stayed up til almost midnight watching fireworks. He was so tired that he took 2 or three naps on Sat, and 2 on Sunday. We went to Tracie and Robs (post pix next time) and enjoyed watching Carter and fireworks.
Leslie has 16 horses and took David on the tractor to help feed them.

She also has a donkey named "The General". In this pix he had sneaked around behind the truck and came up to the window braying loudly.Hope you all had a great day too. We're grateful for this wonderful country.

Rodeo Week

Well, we TRIED to take the grandkids to the Lehi Rodeo. The city has a full week of festivities surrounding the Rodeo. They were excited to see the horses and "buckin' bulls". We've taken Cami, Carter and David to a smaller rodeo and had a great time including "Chicken Chasing" - just what it sounds like.
30 minutes into the fun, we were sitting in torrential rain, high winds and lightning bolts. Rusty and I were trying to cover the kids with blankets and sheets of plastic but everyone got drenched. We trooped home, and spent the evening playing Candyland and "jump on Grampa" which is a perinnial favorite.

All was redeemed the next day at the Lehi Parade. There were Firetrucks, Beauty Queens, Marching Bands and Floats throwing candy to the children. They danced and cheered amid running out in the street picking up fist fulls of the loot. Pulling them back to safety was my job while Rusty held David. Brooke had a harder time reaching candy before the big kids, so she was especially excited when she got some herself.

Brooke and Cami got really scared when a Mountain Man shot off a musket close by. When they saw him head our way again they covered their ears and backed up. Then they resumed scrambling for candy, or tree climbing.
We really enjoyed the day, and look forward to the next time.

Happy Guy

I caught him smiling! The lady who drives David back and forth to STEPS was on vacation for a week. He hates that 'cause who wants to ride to work with Mom or Dad?
He looks great in his new red shirt, and the cute half grin - (turn down your volume-the voices are loud). He's eating & sleeping better, down to 1 blood draw per week and see docs only 2 x month!