Fair fun

We usually end up hitting the fair the last night, and it is always so packed! This year we decided to go on opening night. Partly because the kids weren't in school yet, so it made it a bit easier. The big kids each brought a friend (well D brought his new "girlfriend") so we had to wait until they got out of school and then we headed out. The weather was perfect, and the crowds were manageable. Hardly any lines at all to get on the rides (well Carissa rode them).

Carissa went through the little farm exhibit. She rushes right through it, and wants to trade her "ticket" for a goodie! But she did manage to plant a few veggies, and harvest them. She even milked the cow and brushed the sheep! She also got to go on the ponies! She absolutely loved that. We thought we would have to walk with her, but she sat up there on that pony and just held on and loved every minute of it! And because it wasn't that busy (yet) she got like a 10 minute ride! When we went back later, it was a bit busier, so she only got to ride for 3 minutes!

We were a bit unsure if she'd be able to ride the rides. The height minimum was 36" and she is only 37"! So we had Nikelle and her friend go on some of the rides that she needed a buddy, but we were surprised that she wanted to go on the little dragon coaster all by herself! She sat there in the seat by herself and looked like a little toy doll-barely held in by the bar! But the squeels of delight, and the smile on her face made it worth it! Then she wanted to ride the little race cars. I didn't know they did anything other than go around in circles. How wrong was I! The first time she rode it, she sat in a car that was positioned so it would "whip" around the corner first. When the ride first started going, she had this look of TERROR on her face! I thought for sure she would start screaming hysterically, but by the time I had time to worry, the little car was being whipped around the next corner! This time she looked back at us with a huge grin on her face! Then by the 3rd corner.......she was squeeling and laughing! I think she rode that ride at least 10 more times!! The guy working the ride was so cool, and just let her switch to another car, rather than coming out and going back through the line! If only all the "carnie" guys were that cool!

Then we went over and watched the rodeo for a bit. They were doing bucking broncos and calf roping. Both events were pretty cool! I really don't know what possesses these guys to get on a horse that jumps around....but oh, well! (sorry no pictures of that, I need a longer lens, and a knowledge of how to not get blurry shots! Believe me I tried to get pictures of them, but every one of them was blurry!)

As we left the rodeo, I started noticing all these photographers armed with tripods, and I got curious and observed for a bit. I guess they love the challenge of taking pictures of carnies! So I shot a couple of the ferris wheel. One was before the sun went down, and the other was as the sun was going down. I guess next year I'll have to take the tripod so I can use a slower shutter speed. But for now I can see why it is a challenge!

Wasn't this a beautiful sunset??

I also have to show this silly picture! My mother-in-law and one of the cousins from St. George came up for the weekend. We met them at the fair, and this is what I see when I found them by the gate, and I just had to snap a picture of her socks and shoes! She is equally as cute, but I REALLY love the socks!!

I know you are all dying to see the first picture of the girlfriend. Her name is Sherrill. He met her at work. She doesn't work there, but one of her friends does. She seems really nice and I guess if I wasn't ready for this......I better be....right?? I can only keep him from growing up for so long...........then he takes over!

First day of school photos

It was REALLY hard for one of these guys to get up this morning (judging by the pictures, can you guess which one??) But they are official now, freshman and junior!! Brand new school, and so many opportunities await these two! I'll take Donavan out for his photo shoot on wednesday (he had to work last night) and then hopefully he'll be more awake!!!

Nikelle's photo shoot

I took Nikelle out to get some back to school pictures. She wanted to go with the "urban" look. I'll have to scout out some really cool locations downtown, but for now, this is what we found! These are my favorites out of 250 shots!!

End of summer wind-down

We had been trying to find a day to take the kids to the big waterslides this summer, but the weather and schedules just didn't want to cooperate. We started questioning whether it was a good idea to take Carissa, and after 2 months of rescheduling, we thought that we finally had a day figured out. Andrew took the day off of work (again), and even though the weather wasn't going to be super hot, we decided to go anyway. Well the night before, Andrew had a dream that Carissa was drowning..................so ..................... we decided to try again next year.......after some swimming lessons! And instead we went to the zoo, and then downtown to the gateway plaza! The zoo was lots of fun, and Carissa likes to watch the animals outside, but doesn't really like going in the buildings. But I'd have to say the highlight was the new carousel! It is really beautiful! She wanted to ride every single animal, but we had to put a stop after 5 rides!! I'll spare you all the pictures I took, cause I will use them on a layout (someday!).

Here is a picture of her getting a drink out of the lion fountain. She's always been too afraid to actually stick her head in there, but always fascinated by it. Yah-oo for growing up and trying new things! Cause I love this picture!!!

We even took her to the bird show, where she didn't want to sit on the steps, and wanted to play in the grass. Even after the "bird lady" told her she couldn't play there. Once the show started then she was captivated by the big birds flying over her. Here's a picture Andrew took (nice one hun!) This was right after the owls flew right over her head, and she was still in shock!

Then we went to lunch and headed to the Gateway! Nikelle brought a friend along and they jumped right into the fountain, but Carissa was a bit more reserved! Andrew finally took her to another part of the park, and let her climb into a little fountain area. (*Notice* the sign that says "No climbing or wading") Needless to say, we had to be on guard for the security guys, and only once had a close call, but she had to go potty and he whisked her away before he got there! But she had so much fun splashing around!

Her favorite part however was riding the escalator up and down, up and down, up and down! She insisted on sitting on the step, so she got ultra dirty!! But I absolutely love this picture! One of my favorite daddy-daughter shots...like......EVER!

Then we've been spending time getting the big kids ready for school. The new building that they are moving into wasn't quite finished, so they were delayed 3 weeks. But after spending around 60 hours of moving/cleaning/setting up/unpacking over the last 2 weeks, the school looks amazing and they are both excited to finally go back!

Only been 8 months!!

I knew it had been awhile since I took Carissa to get her haircut, but I had no idea it's been since January! I guess next time we'll wait a whole year and then be able to donate to locks for love. This time they cut off at least 6 inches! I just wish my hair would grow that fast! I've avoided taking her because the last 2 times I've taken her, she was horrible and wouldn't sit still! But this time, she was very cooperative! She chose to watch a Dora movie, and she was glued to it the whole time! And the highlight of it all, was that she finally chose to sit in the pink car!! Maybe there's hope for her being "girly" yet!! I originally thought that all the stylists were the same that work at Cookie Cutters, but I've had Melanie twice, and both times she was SO FAST, and she is so good with Carissa (which means she can handle ANY child!!). The other time, I won't even go into any detail, cause it was just a HORRIBLE experience! So if you decide to try out the Cookie Cutters in South Jordan, make sure you schedule with Melanie!!!

And this is the finished product! Isn't she adorable??

We've been gearing up for school to get started around here. Donavan has been working on getting his license. He's taking an on-line course, but still has to go and drive with an instructor. Hopefully he will be able to pass the course very soon, so we don't have to drive them to school for very long. But they will be in the new building which will be located just east of the District. Next week they get a sneak peek at the school, as they are helping to move furniture over and get everything set up. It's going to be fun to have a "real school" instead of office buildings converted to a school.

And here is the sum-up of the summer...."why does it have to end????" I'm really not ready for

the season's to change just yet! And she would be happy to just run around in a swim suit everyday!! And the thought of wearing socks again makes me cringe! Oh if I could wear flip flops all year 'round!

Yummy recipe

I've decided that I would start posting some of my most favorite recipes for you all to try.

This one is called:

Tomatillo Shrimp Fajitas

Ingredients:

cooking spray (olive or canola oil preferred)

1 1/2 cups red bell pepper strips

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 small red onion, vertically sliced (I like to slice them in half too.)

1/2 cup green salsa (store bought, I like the La Victoria Salsa Verde medium )

1 teaspoon ground coriander

salt to taste

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

8 (6inch) corn tortillas ( like to use wheat flour tortillas or even wheat pitas!)

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper, garlic, and onion; saute 4 minutes. Stir in salsa, coriander, salt, and shrimp; saute 2 minutes or until shrim are done.

2. Arrange about 1/2 cup shrimp mixture down the center of each tortilla, sprinkle each tortilla with cilantro to taste.

Sometimes I will put in some chicken, mostly cause Nikelle doesn't care that much for shrimp, but I LOVE it, so I have to have some in there. And you can tell by the picture that I added the green pepper this time. I know this looks like a hard thing to make, but I swear it only takes about 15 minutes of cooking time! REALLy fast!! The chopping is what takes a while, but I find that I can thaw the shrimp in some cold water while I'm chopping and then everything is ready to go about the same time. Then I sliced up a mango on the side and I felt like I was in the tropics!! Hey, whatever it takes to get a little "vacation"!

Let me know if you try this one! And I'll be sharing some more very soon, so stay tuned!!

Good Fun & Good Read!

Well it seems that nothing ever happens here, and then WHAM.....everything happens! We started the mnnth of August with a BANG! First off we had Andrew's brother and family and their mom in town. So we decided to head out to Lagoon, yes we knew it was going to be HOT, but it was for the kids, right? We got there right when the park opened and Carissa found her favorite spot on the carousel! Her favorite animal was the kitty, but unfortunately it was every girls "favorite" too! Then we ventured over to the "kiddieland" and she had a good time, not great. She didn't really enjoy the rides that went up and down in circles....which is pretty much AlL of them! She did like the boats and the little cars too!

Then when it was just too hot in the shade (thanks to whoever planted all the HUGE trees all over the park!) we went into the water park. I thought this was a funny sight......9 tubes for the crowd of 17 people! Carissa loved the lazy river, but I was a bit dissapointed to see that there really wasn't anyplace for the littlest kids to play. Yes they have the big shooting water fountain, but it's not in the water park area. So we made LOTS of laps around the lazy river while the big kids went down all the slides! I still prefer Disney Land or Universal Studios, but for a close place, it really is fun!

Check out all the people!!!!

Then the fun continued that night when NIkelle and I went to get our copy of Breaking Dawn, the fourth in the Twilight Series (and if I have to explain that....well....you've been living under a rock!). Barnes & Noble decided to distribute wrist bands for the books, even though months ago I pre-orded it. (which tell me why is that if I placed my book on order back in May did I get wristband #451????) Really angers me that it wasn't a "guaranteed copy", and they didn't tell you that back in May. Anyway.....back to the saga.......I get down to B&N along with about 1500 other people for the "party". About the time they started lining everyone up in their groups, my friend Teresa is on the phone talking to a friend who is in line over at Wal-mart (no wristband required) and she is only about 30 people back. We finally decide to head over to the good 'ol WM, joined them in line, and had the book in our hot little hands by 12:04!!! There was no way we would have been leaving B&N before 1:30am with that many people, so we all got to go home and start reading!!! (Dont'cha just love the pic of the stack of books.....so lovely....ahhh...sigh!) I know that there are only a handful of people that know nothing about this book series (my husband was one of them....but after seeing the line for the wristbands, he now understands I why I couldn't just "put it on hold at the library"!!) but this last one doesn't dissapoint at all! And it just makes me more anxious for the movie in December! I really can't wait for all the movies now! (hopefully they will do them)

Remember....I get to read it first Nikelle......"I know Mom"!