Horses and Airplanes and Sparklers (oh my!)

Even though I currently live in the suburbs, I grew up on a farm in Wyoming. It was a dairy farm, so I am familiar with cows, horses, sprinkler pipe, and various farm equipment.

My boys on the other hand don't get to experience life on a farm. So when we went to Wyoming last weekend we tried to remedy that a little bit. We went to my sister's ranch, and she was kind enough to let us ride one of their horses.

Both the boys were really excited to get to ride a horse. We gave them each a turn with Honey Daddy and they rode around the pasture.

Then we lead them both around on the horse by themselves and then together. Don't they look cute up there on Ruby? She was a really nice horse!

The boys also got to go on an airplane ride in the morning with Grandpa. I just love the way my little boys look with those headsets on!

They just love getting to go up in the plane and fly!

Little Audrey did not go for a ride in the airplane (even though she went twice in vitro) because we didn't think she would enjoy it very much. But she did pose for a picture with the pilot (grandpa!).

And if all that wasn't enough, they also got to play around with sparklers that night!

We had so much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house that we ended up staying one more night! I love that my boys get to experience some of the fun things that I did growing up in Wyoming.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

On the Apricot Tree

My two favorite kinds of jam are apricot and raspberry. So when we bought our house, I was ecstatic that it had raspberry bushes in the garden AND an apricot tree!

Unfortunately Utah has crazy weather in the spring and the apricot blossoms usually freeze and we don't get any fruit. We have lived here 5 years and have never had a good crop of apricots.... until this year!

Today I went out to pick the apricots from our tree before the rain and wind of the coming storm blew them off. I had to get the ladder and become a contortionist to get to all the fruit, but it was worth getting scratched up and sweaty to get these beauties!

Yum! Guess who will be canning some jam in the next couple of days?!

Crazy Days in Afton Wyoming

Did you know that in the great state of Utah the 24th of July is a state holiday? It is called Pioneer Day, which is when we pay tribute to Utah's pioneer heritage.

So you are probably expecting pictures of covered wagons, handcarts, or parades, right? Well, since Honey Daddy had Monday off, we took a trip to see my parents in Wyoming. Pioneer Day is not a holiday in Wyoming, but we did find ourselves in Afton for their "Crazy Days".

 It was great fun! They blocked off main street and had street vendors and an antique car show. I ended up buying some dang cute jewelry, and taking some pictures of some really cool cars.

My boys were impressed that this car had "white wall tires" just like Lightening McQueen does at the end of his visit to Radiator Springs in the movie Cars. I am not usually into car shows, but since my boys had just seen Cars 2, they were pretty enthusiastic about the cool cars.

They really liked this "flame job" like Ramone has in Cars. I have no idea what kind of cars these are, and neither do my boys! But hey, we found our own way to enjoy the show!

I fell in love with this awesome-looking, chromed-up Indian. What a cool motorcycle!

My favorite picture of the day turned out to be one that I took on a whim. I like the valve stem on this car, but after I took the shot the shiny hub cap (and my reflection in it) really caught my eye.

Another thing that caught my eye was the woman who was carving a bear into a tree stump using a chainsaw and a little Dremmel tool. How cool is this?

 

Talk about build-a-bear! I thought they were so beautiful that I went into the gallery to see if I could get one. When I checked the price on one and found that it was $280, I decided that a picture would have to do!

So how was your weekend? Do anything Crazy?!


Linked up to Wordful Wednesday, Wordish Wednesday, and Wordless Wednesdays all over.

Fruits of Summer

Would you believe that when we went to the park today I saw not one, but TWO kites stuck very high up in the trees? Poor kids!

The first thing I thought of was Charlie Brown and how that mean old tree kept eating up his kites. Know what? My kids would have no idea what I was talking about if I told them that. Does that make me old or what?

Speaking of my cute kids, here is your daily dose of Audrey.
You're welcome!

She is berry sweet, don't you think?

Speaking of berries... later this evening (when the sun goes down and it's not so hot) I am going to go out to my garden and pick some of these:

Yummy! So there's my random post for the evening.
What are you up to?


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

You Capture: Beautiful Flowers and Little Cute Babies

When I saw the theme for this week's You Capture, I knew exactly what I wanted to take a picture of! After all, I have the cutest little baby at my house!

So after her bath last night I dressed little Audrey up and snapped some impromptu photos. I don't usually go for the HUGE flower look, but was surprised by how much I actually like it. Isn't Audrey a doll?!

I love that she is getting better at holding her head up! It makes taking pictures of her even  more fun!

Next I went out into the yard to see if I could find any beautiful flowers to take pictures of. I was actually surprised by what I found! Can you guess what plant these flowers are from?

I thought these little white flowers were so beautiful! They are actually the flowers on the top of one of our onion plants that is blooming. Beautiful, right? It goes to show you can find beauty in unexpected places!

Walmart Box Tops for Education~ $25 Gift Card Giveaway!

Since Jonah is starting Kindergarten this year, I’m starting to pay a lot more attention to things like Box Tops for Education. In the past I have sporadically collected them for a friend’s school, but now that Jonah will be going to school, I am sure I will have to be much more diligent about collecting them! 

Walmart is making is easy for me to get a head start on collecting box tops for the upcoming year by putting FOUR Box Tops on each package of participating products, starting in Mid-July (that’s about now, for those who haven’t been paying attention to the calender this summer). General Mills has numerous participants in the Box Tops For Education program, including Cheerios, Nature Valley, and Yoplait.


If you don’t have school-age children, you can always donate those Box Tops to your local school, a teacher friend, or a friend with kids in school. I do almost all my grocery shopping at Walmart now because they ad-match and I can get everything I need there (and more!).

You can learn more about what’s going on at Walmart by visiting their Facebook page or following them on Twitter. Now for the giveaway!

GIVEAWAY

One lucky winner will win a $25 Walmart gift card to buy up all those Box Tops for Education double boxtops!

To enter: tell me which Box Tops items from General Mills you plan to purchase OR which back to school item you’ll be buying at Walmart.

Bonus Entries:

• Grab my button and post it on your blog.
• Follow my blog (or tell me you are a follower)
• Spread the word about the giveaway using whichever social networking method you prefer (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) One comment per method used.

Please leave a comment about each entry and include a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

This giveaway will end at midnight on August 1. The winner will be picked via random.org. 
Open to US residents only.  Good Luck!

Disclosure: The information and $25 gift card to Walmart has been provided by Walmart and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Audrey at Four Months

I can't believe my baby girl is already four months old!

But I guess she has already had her four-month well visit with our pediatrician and got the shots to prove it!

(see the bandaids on her cute chubby thighs?)

Babies change so quickly the first few months! It seems like only yesterday she was just a tiny baby who didn't do much of anything. Now she is so much more aware of what is going on around her and just look what she can do!

I have to confess that the little baby stage is the hard for me. The first couple of months are so exhausting and sometimes they don't seem very rewarding. But now little Aubrey and I are finally getting to the part I love the most. She is smiling and cooing and interacting with us. I LOVE it!

She is such a happy little girl and quite possibly the cutest thing ever! Oh I love her so!

Linked up to Wordful Wednesday, Wordish Wednesday, and Wordless Wednesdays all over.

Double Rainbow

We have had a very wet Spring and Summer. The rain has been abundant to the point of flooding, and at times I have grown tired of the rain and humidity.

Then on our way home last weekend we saw this.

The brightest double rainbow I have ever seen. So I climbed from the front seat of the van to the back so I could get a better picture.

I guess it really is true:

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up with the rain.

~Dolly Parton

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Summertime is Sand and Swimming Lessons

We are finally feeling the heat around here! Most days it is sunny, although a little more humid than usual. This leaves me feeling sticky and hot. The boys don't seem to be bothered in the least! They love to play outside in the sand box, even if they need the shade from the HUGE umbrella.

They have also been LOVING swimming lessons in the past week. With my long lens I have been able to discreetly take some great pictures of them at the pool.

Eli is finally getting less afraid of putting his whole head under the water.

Jonah is in a more advanced class and is learning how to do strokes. It makes me laugh when they sit on the side of the pool and practice their backstroke with "chicken-airplane-soldier".

He is doing amazingly well, especially considering the fact that he is only 5!

They are both taking the plunge and I am proud of them!

I am so glad that my boys are learning to swim and LOVING it!