Rise and Shout the Cougars are Out!

Today marks the first offical day of BYU Football season. BYU football is pretty big at our house. We've hosted many games at our home in the past, but since the new move, we haven't sprung for a new projector yet. But no worries, Josh and some friends went in on some season tickets so they'll be watching many of them up close and personal this season. Yeah, for me! That will cut down on the loud boisterous men screaming and yelling and dog piling on my floor this season. But let's face it, the best part of football parties is the food...am I right ladies? BYU started the season off right today by beating Northern Iowa 41-17. Hopefully that's a glimpse of what's to come this season. Otherwise, we're gonna have some grumpy hubbies. For the sake and happiness of our household the next few months...GO BYU!

Vitamin Isle Nightmare

So today I was shopping at Walmart, specifically the vitamin isle. Josh and I recently took Katelyn off of her antibiotics that she has been on for many years to prevent her chronic urinary tract and kidney infections. Her infections have become resistant to many antibiotics so we've decided to try something new and give her little body a break. I've been hesitant to trying herbal supplements but when what your doing isn't working too great, it's time to give it a shot. So I've been doing some research on what might work and asking around and discovered this great supplement that should work fantastic for her problems. So intead of spending a fortune at a health food store, I thought I'd try Walmart first, just to see.
So I'm walking up and down the the vitamin/herbal supplement isle which is very foreign to me, with my 2 tag-alongs Mason and Riley. I realize quickly that this is going to be difficult with so many options, trying to find this specific item, with 2 small children running up and down the isle. As I'm trying to concentrate at the task at hand Mason and Riley have found the children's vitamins. Ever notice how they put these things on the bottom shelves, well I did today. Children's vitamins have come a long way since I was a kid, because there were more choices than you can ever imagine. How do I know? Because they had them all pulled off the shelves, some out of their boxes, and were feverishly trying to get those bottles open--it was actually more Riley than Mason. (It didn't help that is was lunch time.) We had Disney Princess, Transformers, Hello Kitty, Dora, Spiderman, even Hannah Montana--which came in chewable, liquid, gummy and bubble gum varietys. What ever happened to good ole' Flintstones? As I was picking up the mess, while trying to block out Mason begging for the Transformer vitamins, Riley had found her way down the end of the isle. When I looked up and saw Riley running towards me with a box of men's contraceptives in hand I knew my time in the vitamin isle was done!! I cleaned my mess, put the kids in the cart and left. And no...I never found what I was looking for.

Stubbed Toes

  Yesterday my little Riley stubbed her toes. Now I've dealt with my fair share of scrapes, bumps and bruises but this time was a little different. You see, Riley doesn't like to keep her shoes on, so she gets lots of stubbed toes. She has stubbed them time and time again, so she's very familiar with the associated pain. But yesterday the pain was more than she could handle. As I swooped her up and bandaged her little toe she continued to cry. Normally by this point she's off and playing and forgotten all about it. But not this time. She cried and cried and cried. As I held and rocked her she wimpered and tossed until she actually began to fall asleep. As I sat there with my little girl I realized how long it had been since I had rocked my baby to sleep. They grow up way too fast. I didn't want to put her down. I'm grateful for opportunities like "stubbed toes" to put things into perspective and remind me just how quickly time goes by. I need to learn to slow down and take time for the little things, yes even toes, because they don't stay little like this forever.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Here's a couple funny things the kids have said lately.

Riley's new favorite song is "Jesus Wants Me for a Sun BEAP!"

Josh says, "My back really hurts."
Katelyn replies, "You should go see a Choirpractor."

We were at the lake and Emma made an observation: "I can't believe how many girls here are wearing zuchinnis!" What she meant was "bikinis".

Then just tonight I was pulling some zuchinni bread out of the oven to which Mason says, "Mom can I have some bikini bread?!" You've got to be kidding me?!! Pretty funny.

The next one is more worrying than funny. Emma came home from her 2nd day of school seeming kinda sad. I asked her, "Emma what's the matter don't you like your new teacher?" Emma replies, "Yeah, but all we do in class is watch movies and play games, we don't do any learning!" I may have to look into that one. Hopefully her enthusiasum for learning will stay with her in the years to come!

My 2 New Sets of Wheels

My first new set of wheels is a new bike I got for my birthday last month. I love it. Riley loves sitting behind me while singing songs. I thought she would hate the helmet, but it's her favorite part. The two of us went and picked up the girls from school the other day on my bike, and they followed us home on their bikes. The bike also has made me realize how out of shape I am. I'm pretty much winded after 1 lap around the neighborhood. I blame it on the extra weight of Riley behind me. It makes me feel better that way. But it's fun to ride around with the kids and Josh, now we all have bikes. So I'm pretty much in love with my new sweet ride.
My second new set of wheels is our, or should I say MY, new lawn mower. Our last one just wasn't cuttin' it...literally! Josh and I are big Honda fans so this was the natural choice. People ask why we didn't get the riding lawn mower, and honestly, I really do enjoy mowing the lawn. I'd take mowing the lawn over dishes any day. And Josh will gladly trade, so it works out great. I mow and he edges, we make a great team.

Back to School!

The last several days as I've noticed the looming Back to School ticker on my blog quickly turning from days to just hours it dawned on me...it's finally here! Don't get me wrong, I've loved having my kids home this summer and it definetly has been action packed that's for sure. We've done so many fun things, but I'm ready for change. Change seems to always come at the right times, just when we need it. Summer was perfect, not too long and and not too short. Today is a perfect day for the kids to start school again and get back to a regular routine again. The kids even look forward to that. Katelyn starts 4th grade this year. She is growing up so fast. Emma is in 1st grade. I can't believe my little Emma will be at school ALL day now. As I was making their lunches this morning, I was feeling kinda sad that she won't be here in the afternoon with me anymore. But Emma on the other hand, was so excited about eating in the cafeteria with her new Hannah Montana lunch box. Little things make my kids so happy. As we took the kids to school this morning I had my video camera with me. Just as we got to the school Katelyn said, "Mom, please don't take any video of me at school." It's kinda sad when your kids get older and they become more easily embarrased. Emma on the other hand was grinning ear to ear as I video taped her walking into her class waving me goodbye for the day. I can tell the girls are going to have a great year!

11 years...and counting!

Saturday was mine and Josh's 11 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to Bar J Wrangler's in Jackson Hole for a dinner show with some friends. We had never been so we didn't really know what to expect. It was a lot of fun and the food was really good! Josh and I are not as young as we used to be, because it is getting harder and harder for us to stay up late. We got home around midnight and I was so exhausted I could hardly get ready for bed. (It didn't help that we got no sleep the night before on our camping trip with the kids.) Our next anniversary we may have to stay a little closer to town, I'm getting too old for this staying out 'till the next morning stuff.

Camping at Heise

Friday we took the the kids camping at Heise for one last hurrah before school starts. We've camped there many times and we always have fun. We decided this year that our tiny 4-man tent just wasn't cuttin' it anymore and so we sprang for a new 8-man tent which we've all been anxious to try out. Well, lets just say it's a good thing I got a picture of the kids with our tent because that was the last time we will ever see it again. The darn tent was so hard to put together, that first thing Saturday morning, it went right back to the store. Thankfully, we did manage to get it standing though...barely. Despite our tent fiasco, Josh feeling pretty sick, Riley playing musical sleeping bags ALL night, and having to share a campsite with total strangers (don't get me started with that one) we did manage to have a good time. How could you not have fun with swimming, water slides, foil dinners and s'mores? Anytime s'mores are involved you're guaranteed a good time!

A Good Day Fishing

Josh and Mason went fishing today to a little nearby pond and Mason caught 8 fish! He loves fishing with his dad and can even reel them in all by himself. However, he's not quite to a point where he's comfortable picking them up and touching them. Thus, the fish on the ground a good foot away from Mason while leaning the opposite direction. Josh says he's gonna to have to get over that one real quick!

Emma had a Birthday Shout-Horray!

Saturday was Emma's 7th birthday! We celebrated by taking the family to Ross Park in Pocatello. All of my sisters, my mom, Josh's mom, a few nieces and nephews, plus one friend of Emma's joined us for the festivities. Not everyone from Josh's side could join us on Saturday so we had another small party today after church. A good time was had by all.

Katelyn's New 'Do

The other day I took Katelyn into the salon and she got a much needed 4 inches cut off. As if that wern't enough, after a year of begging and pleading I finally caved and let Katelyn...are you ready...get bangs!! I know this may not seem like a big deal to some, but for a mom who's daughter fixes her own hair and is completly self-sufficient in the mornings this is a big deal to me. I was worried it would become a hassel and create an extra step in the getting-ready process in the morning. It's only been a few days, so far not too bad. But I have to admit, she does look darn cute and she couldn't be happier with them!

Fun week with sisters

Although Josh was in New Jersey all of last week for work, I was lucky to have my sisters Caroline and Lauren come up for a visit from California. Lauren went to EFY at BYU-Idaho all week, and Caroline stayed back and hung out with me and my other sister Holly. It was so great to have her here and we had something fun planned to do every day. Monday morning we dropped Lauren off at EFY, to which she gave me strict orders not to embarrass her in front of all the cute boys. Me...embarrass you?? Being back on campus brought back so many fond memories of my time at Ricks. It was fun to go back. Later that day we went to Porter Park and let the kids play in the water toys. I love that park. The rest of the week was filled with movies, eating out, Rigby Lake, a luau with the Bradshaw's, a hike with my scouts and a great walk around the river while feeding the ducks and eating snowcones. So what could have been a crazy, boring week with Josh gone turned out to be a crazy, fun week with my sisters.
Here at Porter Park the kids had more fun riding this bench like a horse than playing in the water!






Josh's aunt threw a family luau for the Bradshaw family. The kids loved the yummy smoothies in the coconut cups.

Family Home Evening Hit

Last week Katelyn volunteered to present the lesson for Family Home Evening. She had taken the lesson from a recent Sharing Time in Primary. What she did was get bowl and titled it "Eternal Life" and put a boat in the bowl and titled it "Me" representing all of us. We were then asked to read slips of paper, some listing good things and some were sins. If it was a good thing we got to add a cup of water to the bowl. If it was a sin we had to put a rock into the boat. The object was to get our boat to float. After we had read all the slips of paper, our boat was barely afloat with all the rocks in it. We then were given the chance to repent of our sins and list ways to right the wrongs and remove the rocks from our boat. The boat was then floating with no problems. But the water was still not filled to the top of the bowl. So she pulled out a pitcher of water representing Jesus and filled the bowl to the top. She explained that even when we do all we can, we still can't fill the water to the top of the bowl by ourselves, we need Jesus' help. It then led to a great discussion with the kids about the Atonement. It showed me that my kids really are learning important principles in Primary that they are taking with them beyond Sunday.

Homemade Doughnuts

That's right homemade doughnuts...well, as homemade as I get these days. When I was younger I used to make homemade doughnuts and my parents would give them out to family and neighbors. For awhile I was known as "the girl that makes the doughnuts." They were so good! I've since lost the recipe and haven't made them since. My sister-in-law Melissa just recently gave me this very easy recipe for doughnuts. (Much easier than the ones I used to make). But really yummy and a big hit with the kids. So I give full and complete credit to Melissa for this one!

1 16.3 oz tube of Pillsbury Original Grands Homestyle BIG Biscuits (Not the Flakey or buttermilk kind)
Oil for frying
Cut a hole in the center of each biscuit with a pop bottle cap or whatever you can find that will cut a small hole in the center. Place biscuits in a fryer (set at 375 degrees)for about 2 minutes then turn them and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from fryer and let cool and then add your toppings. You could use whatever you like, I just used sugar and cinnamon. If you don't have a fryer you can use a pot on the stove and it still works well.