A good, packed week

Monday night, my good husband sacrificed his own desires to do something that he hates to do, just to help me stress less--clothes shopping for the girls. I LOVE shopping. Love it. But shopping for the girls stresses me out because I would love to buy everything cute that I see. But I can't because we're trying to stick to a budget. So I have to decide which cute things to buy and how many, and which new things to buy to go with old things. And it just helps to have another decisive person around. Plus, clothes shopping with three girls that like to run off, pull piles of clothes off shelves, hide in racks, and generally make chaos while I'm trying to make decisions, doubles the difficulty.

Tuesday night the kids went to bed early because they'd been up late with us shopping on Monday. My good friend Gina came down to visit and arrived right about the time they went to sleep. We had a great night chatting and eating good food.

Wednesday night, the young men and young women in our ward came over on a "service scavenger hunt" and we had them move the pile of dirt that has been sitting on our back patio since we dug out the leaking part of our foundation a few months ago. I was super grateful for the service and it only took them about 20 minutes.

Thursday was a pretty regular day and it was nice to have it be calm. Then Friday, my mom and dad came down to help me can some salsa. I despise canning. I am terrible at it. I mean, it usually turns out pretty good in the end, but the process never goes right. After they left, I headed out to go to writing group, and Steve took the girls to Emilia's school carnival. They all said it was a blast. And I enjoyed talking writing and eating good food with my writing group ladies, as always.

At the carnival

On the way home. They look happy to me.

Yesterday, Haley, our niece, played at a concert at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. They didn't allow kids under 8, so I stayed home with the girls while Steve went with his family to tour Temple Square and go to the concert. Nick took them to Cheesecake Factory. I am a little jealous. Though Steve let me have his leftovers for lunch, so that made me feel better. :)

The group at the Conference Center to watch Haley's performance.

Steve and his parents.

While he was gone, I took the girls to Art City's Heritage Days. The girls got wooden nickels to spend at the Penny Candy Store and free popcorn. They got to race paper boats down the splash pad, get their faces painted, watch a potter make a pot, create their own button (the kind you pin to a backpack), and do a weaving stick thingy. It was a lot of fun. Emilia ran into a friend while we were there, who ended up coming home with us, and then after dinner, we did Cecily's favorite family activity--playing Mario 64.

Getting ready to race bananas at Heritage Days.

Watching the potter(ess?)

Today (after church) has been spent hanging out with the Coombs family at Grandma and Grandpa Watts' house. Haley and Emilia orchestrated a "Marble Madness" park, where they set up a marble run in the basement, sold tickets, and handed out "food" and prizes when your team's color won the marble race. They made the tickets, and signs directing us to the park. It reminded me immensely of our adventures with the Richau cousins when we were little. Good times.

They were so beautiful walking into church, I had to snap a picture.

Labor Day vacation

You didn't get a post last week because of Labor Day weekend. Our family had an exciting weekend, and I didn't get home until Monday night at bedtime, so blog posts were set aside.

(Cut off is Febe) Mira, Dylan, Cari, and Emilia with their faces painted on Saturday.

The girls and I went up to East Canyon where my parents and Megan bought memberships at a small resort. Mostly it's for camper/trailer camping, but they have a block of condos where the members get a few days a year. They were nice enough to use their days on us over Labor Day, so eighteen of the nineteen members of our family stayed in two adjoining condos for 2 1/2 days. The resort has lots of activities for families, too, so besides playing games and watching movies, we had the option to hike; play tennis, miniature golf, shuffleboard, or ping pong; swim in the pool or splash in the splash pad; fish; do some target practice at the gun range; or the kids had two play areas--one playground outdoors, or a bunch of toys and games and kids tables indoors. Plus we had lots of tasty food and treats. I think everyone had a blast.

The one member who was not at the family gathering was Steve. He stayed home because he entered the 3-day Novel Contest. This means, he signed up to try to write a 50,000 word book in only three days. The contest starts at midnight the Saturday before Labor Day and ends at midnight on Monday. There was no mobile network or internet connection at the resort, so I only got to talk to Steve once during the weekend when I called from the lodge's land line. Steve didn't make 50,000, but he did get 30,000 and a complete story. I think he could have done more if he could have turned off his inner critic and just wrote down whatever came to his head. But he finished and I think it was a good experience for him. I'm glad he did it.

My kids and Megan's kids waiting for the adults to check out.

Shuffleboard

On Monday, Labor Day, we had to check out at 10am from the resort, and since Steve wasn't finished writing, I took the girls to go see their cousins Jane, Meg, and Kate. They were out at the swimming pool when we arrived, so the girls read books while we waited (Cecily napped). I love that Mira can sit for close to an hour pretending to read anything that strikes her fancy. In this picture, she's reading a hymnal.

This last week, I was in recovery mode again. Steve hadn't touched the house all weekend (I didn't expect him to) and I hadn't left it in a tidy place. Plus, I had laundy to do and groceries to buy. Emilia had two soccer games and Mira had another day of preschool.

A reservoir called Little Dell that is up East Canyon.

On Thursday, we had some friends come over and we baked and decorated sugar cookies. I enjoyed the process and having friends there to help and to keep the kids engaged. Usually, I end up helping them all decorate one cookie, which they immediately eat, and then decorate 40 more all by myself.

friends and sugar cookes

Saturday night, we had our friends the Childresses over again and we all watched the BYU football game. Our quarterback is out for the year with a broken foot, but our freshman second string did an excellent job, considering.  We won the game on a hail Mary toss in the last 24 seconds, so there was a lot of shouting at the end. :)

I set a goal with my writing last month and this month to average 500 words a day. I was able to stick to that last month, and I'm on track this month, but we have another vacation at the end of September that I'm worried will put me behind. So I'm gonna go work on that.  Happy Sunday!

Homemade Fresh Tomato Soup

I made this soup last night with fresh tomatoes from the garden and it was delicious with cheese sandwiches. I told my mom I would post it so she could try it out.

Ingredients

1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
5 large fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 cups water
1 can tomato paste
2 tablespoons sugar
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions
Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook until juices are released. Add the tomato paste, water, sugar, bouillon cubes, basil (if using dried--if you're using fresh, add it with the cream), parsley, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine, then heat almost to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream. Serve warm.