What a Great Life

When I picked up the girls from school today we went straight to the store for some soda. Buy 2 12 packs, get 3 free. How can you pass that up? My girls were starving, since they hadn't eaten in like 3 hours, so taking them to the grocery store was not by best move. Kennedy spotted some snowballs and went CRAZY! She kept calling them fat cakes. When I tried to tell her they were snowballs, she said that iCarly called them fat cakes, so that's what she was calling them. These are things I don't have the energy to argue anymore. I let her have the fat cakes!

I made her share one with Whitley, and said they could eat them in the car. Better known as a trash can on wheels (sorry Landon). On the way home she is scarfing this thing down. She said to me "mom the only thing that could make this better is if there was cream in the middle". And then not 2 seconds later she screams "there is cream in the middle. My life just keeps on getting better!" You don't really know how great your life is as a kid until you're not one anymore, do you? Enjoy Kennedy!

It's All About Colton Today

Colton is playing flag football at the Jr. High again this year. He loves it. They divide the kids into 4 teams, with 4 different coaches. He got the coach he really wanted, so that is even sweeter. They played their first scrimmage game today, and he did awesome. He play tight end, and is so much bigger than the other boys that he just pushes people out of the way. He ran down the middle for one play, and caught the ball. He then proceeded to drag 3 boys with him as they tried to get him down. Too funny. (number 92) I need to get some better shots of him. I forget what I'm doing at these games.

Later on was his Court of Honor. He worked really hard this summer, and is still playing catch up. He earned his Life Scout awards and 9 more merit badges. He is now finally working on his Eagle. Hallelujah! There's a light at the end of this tunnel.

Colton getting his awards with scoutmaster Dave. I love it when he gets to pin the mothers pin on me for all my efforts. Tonight he chose to pin it on my sleeve. He said he didn't want to hurt me. Really? Have I taught this child nothing??

Labor Day

Lately I have been into yeast. I know that sounds so random, but it's true. I really want to not be so afraid of it. I want to have the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through my house. I decided to start off easy, and not jump right into trying to bake 8 loaves of bread every Monday to have for the week. Maybe someday I'll be that mom, but I doubt it. So I've been practicing. I've tried a couple different dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, these swedish roll things (which is so far our favorite) and a cinnamon swirl bread (that one sounds better than it was. Needs some tweaking). Anyway today being Labor Day and all, we are having our families over for a BBQ. I decided to make some rolls. I got out my Lion House Recipe book, and found their rolls. My problem with dinner rolls has been the shape. Plain old boring round rolls is just not cutting it. I want to be a bread maker, not just some round roll boring maker. I told you, I'm in to it! So I got online, and found a clip of the Lion House baker and how she shapes her rolls. Now I'm in business.
See how they're all rolled up like that. Almost croisant like, and yet NOT! I'm giddy. I didn't get a shot of them once they were all puffed back up, or baked. Trust me, once they come out of the oven they don't stick around too long.

Whitley my trustee helper brushing these little beauties with butter. Everything's better with butter.

After the rolls were finished, we spend some time relaxing in the pool. These three goons crack me up! We had a great dinner with our families, ate too much, and watched a football game. I'd say we had a pretty great weekend.

PS. Happy Birthday to my little brother Matt. Love you

16 Years!

Landon and I left first thing Saturday morning for our weekend anniversary getaway. Usually I am in on the planning of these little getaways in some way or another. This time, Landon did it all. He picked the hotel, arranged for a babysitter, and even got a sub for our primary class. It took 16 years, but I finally have him trained! We ended up at the Desert Ridge Marriott. This place was gorgeous. We ate, swam, slept, ate some more, floated in the lazy river, ate some more, and just relaxed. It was the perfect way to celebrate 16 years together.

It's funny thing being a parent. You want to get away without your kids and just relax. But we spent the whole time saying "the kids would love this, or they would have a blast doing that". I guess there really is no "getting away". Thanks Lan for another great getaway.

LImbo Lower Now

It's still so hot here, that even though the kids are in school, they still want to play like it's summertime. One of the reasons we chose this neighborhood to live in, is that my kids have tons of friends that live here. Kennedy's friend Anna lives a couple houses down, and they have had a great time playing together all summer long. Anna and Kennedy are polar opposites, but they get along great. They were outside at the park after school today, and one of the neighbors had water in his gutter. Well, who can resist water in a gutter?? They started off just splashing in the puddle, fully dressed. Then they decided to change in to their swim suits. That's about the time Whitley joined in. Then the puddle wasn't big enough, so they brought out the big guns. The hose!Landon had bought me some glass canisters, and they were all wrapped up in bubble wrap, which spurred on this fashion show!

The girls capped of the evening by having a late night and watching Camp Rock 2.

Bundt Heaven

About a week ago I was heading home from the grocery store. I was stopped at a light, and out of the corner of my eye I notice the lady next to me waving and rolling down her window. I realize it's friend of mine, so I roll down my window. I ask her what she's doing, and she holds up this little white box. She is grinning like a school girl! Now I'm curious. She tells me she just made a sweet run, and then the light changes. I didn't have time to ask her where she went or what was in the box!
I wondered about that box the rest of the day. I called her the next day to get to the bottom of it. She says she went to a little place clear over in Tempe, and that the treats were delish. However, she thinks a little place in Ahwatukee is better. I had no idea where this little cake place was, so we make a plan to have lunch and head out there.

This little place it to die for! Now, I love cake. But this cake is crazy good. The best part is, they're a franchise so they're all over. You can get a whole big bundt cake, or just little individual bundt cakes in tons of different flavors. I am in bundt cake heaven.

Thanks goodness this place is 20 minutes from my house, or I'd be stopping in regular!

16 Years and Counting

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. That sounds like such a long time, and it is. But man has it gone fast.

We left the kids home doing homework, and such out for a quick bite to eat at Oregano's. We hardly ever eat there because it's always so crowded. We figured on a Wednesday night we would be safe. We still had to wait for almost 30 minutes! Anyway, as we were talking we started to try to remember what we had done to celebrate all of our other anniversaries. The first couple were easy. Then of course the big ones 5, 10 and 15. But a lot of those others I just don't have any idea. 8, 11, 14?? I'm sure we had dinner, and cards and gifts were exchanged. I realized that this blog gives me the perfect outlet to record what we did. So that's it. We went to dinner, exchanged gifts and cards, helped with homework and showers, and went to bed. Kind of pathetic! Luckily Landon has booked us a weekend stay in Scottsdale to really celebrate.