Salsa

I was given a TON of yummy tomatoes! I had no idea what to do with them, then I remembered that a good friend of mine had a way yum recipe for bottled salsa. I have never canned anything before (I know sad) so I asked my friend Allison if she would give me a lesson. Luckily, she had to use up her tomatoes also, so we made salsa together.

Here is a picture of Allison's huge tomatoes that she grew in her garden. She let me use some in my salsa.

These tomatoes were the size of my hand, no lie!

Isn't this tomato cool? It's yellow with red veins.


I would like to thank Allison for letting me stay at her house for seven hours and for allowing me to make a big mess in her kitchen.


Yes, that is me wearing sunglasses. Let me tell you what happened. My eyes must be really sensitive to onions. As soon as I started to cut them my eyes started to burn and got very watery. So much so, that I had mascara running down my face. I decided to wear some sunglasses to help with the fumes from the onions :) Don't know if it made a difference.

When I was done cutting up the onion, I started to cut up some anaheim peppers. Allison had told me that the seeds in a anaheim pepper were not hot, so I wasn't careful when cutting them up. I touched the seeds and was fine. Well I had an itch and rubbed under my eyes and they started to BURN like crazy!! It hurt so bad! I had to get two ice cubes and rub one on each eye. It was terrible.

Since I had such a bad experience with my first batch of salsa, Allison and I traded jobs. I peeled her garden grown garlic, and she cut up my onion and peppers. On my first batch I just used anaheim peppers, on the second batch I added some jalapenos. Allison got a little a lazy towards the end of cutting and wasn't careful about touching the seeds. After a while her fingers started to burn and no matter how much she washed them the burn would not go away! They even hurt into the next day. What a good friend.

After seven hours and 24 jars later, we had some super YUMMY salsa! Well worth the time and effort.

3 years and counting

Two years ago we went to Salt Lake. Last year it was Logan, and this year it was St. George. For three years now, some gal pals and I have made it a tradition to have a girls getaway once a year.
I have to say that George will be our spot to stay for years to come. What better way to spend a getaway than with shopping, dining, laughing and even going to see Grease at the Tuacan!
Next year, we will go see The Wizard of Oz!

Our four hour drive was not as bad as I remember. Maybe it was because I didn't have a car full of ornery kids. Instead, we had giggly adults who laughed over the funny saying of Scipio :)

Thanks to Michelle, we were able to rent a condo in St. George. It was perfect.

Way to use that mop Michelle.

One of the ladies took a picture of me sleeping with my body pillow. I can't sleep without it.

"jumping on the beds"

Shopping always has it moments where you just have to laugh. There was no way anyone could have gotten their head through that head hole. It didn't even stretch!

The night we went to see Grease at the Tuacahn we ran a little late. We got there just in time, due to Allison's lead foot. Here we are running up the stairs hoping not to walk in late.

This was the first time any of us had ever been to see a show at the Tuacahn. The outdoor stage and rock background was so neat. We had awesome seats too.
Yes, we had to act like little girls and get pics with some of the cast.

Kenickie and Rizzo

Frenchy
Eating out was a lot cheaper and much quieter when it was just the gals.

On our way home we decided to go see the Temple. Right after we took this picture, a heavy rain storm hit. That was the only rain we had all weekend. Clear skies until the very end.

I'm so lucky to have such great friendships with these amazing ladies. I'm thankful to the hubby for allowing me to go and get away for a few days. I can't wait til next year!

GO UTES!!!

It's that time again! College football baby!! YAY!
Morgan and I were lucky enough to go to the first Utah game of the season. As always it was a big deal for us, but this game was an even bigger game than usual. That's because the Utes are in the Pac-12 and this was their first game in the conference! That means it wasn't just another football game. This was history. In their first ever Pac-12 game, Utah took on Montana State
and won 27-10. Yeah buddy!

Morgan and I had to have matching Pac-12 shirts.

Before the game. Players done warming up.

Gotta love the Utes marching band.

It's game time!!!

Here is to a great season. Go Utes!

It's preschool time

When Bailey and Logan went back to school this year Carson was so upset. He wanted to go to school so bad. He cried for about 45 min until I told him we could drive past his school and that he could wear his new school shoes. Luckily for him preschool day has come!
Carson started preschool a week after his brother and sister. He goes to school at Sharon Newbold's preschool. It is the same preschool Logan went to when we first moved into our house. This lady is great! She does the preschool out of her home. Logan and Carson just love her. Carson is in school three days a week from 9-11:30. That means I only have Avery on the days he is at school. I think I can get used to it :)

Stud muffin all ready for school

Waiting to go inside

Here are two of Carson's buddies. They to go to Newbold's preschool and they also live in our neighborhood.
Carson is 4 1/2
Weighs: 39 lbs
Height: 3 feet 3 inches
He loves Toy Story
Loves to eat anything sweet. (takes after his mother)
He looks up to his big brother
Loves to color
Hates being messy
Loves to learn
Says some pretty funny things
Has a wild personality
Loves to cuddle
Loves to look at books

No more trampoline for you

On Sunday, right after our home teachers left, and Morgan left to go work the night shift, I heard this cry that sounded like none I have ever heard. Little miss Avery had taken a bounce from one of her brothers while on the trampoline. When she landed back down she buckled her leg. I thought she was ok until I tried to set her down to walk. She started to scream and had nothing to do with putting any pressure on her right leg. After about 45 min of crying and crying non stop, I called Wee Care and made an appointment to have her leg looked at. The bad new was that I had to wait two hours for the next available appointment. Bummer! But I figured that we would have probably had to sit and wait at the ER for two hours, so I might as well be at home and not have pay the ER price to be seen.
At the doctors office Avery was not a happy camper. She cried and screamed during her x-rays and wanted nothing to do with having her half cast (splint) custom made for her leg. First, they measured her leg and then wrapped her leg with some soft cotton. Next, they applied the measured plaster up around her foot all the way up to her knee. Finally, they wrapped her leg with two ace bandages. We then had to sit while the nurse held her leg in place while the plaster dried. By then Avery was screaming that she wanted her shoe back on. Yeah the shoe didn't stand a chance getting back on that foot. It wouldn't fit.
The doctor at Wee Care said that the x-rays looked like she had a buckle fracture, but that he wanted to send them out for a second opinion. We were told we would hear back form them by the following afternoon. So the afternoon came and no call. So we called up the doctor and he had not received her x-rays yet. By the end of the day, after four phone calls, we still had no answer as to the results. I was so bugged. I wanted to know what was exactly wrong with my daughter.
The next morning I decided to go on a walk. While I was gone guess who called? Yup, the doctors office. Lucky me. When I called them back I talked to the radiologist. He said that her break wasn't as bad as they thought, and that Avery didn't need to have a full cast put on! Thank goodness! Avery only has to wear her half cast for two weeks, (instead of four) and then we need to evaluate how she walks after that.

Avery held her nay nay (blanket) and her favorite lip gloss from the time she hurt her leg through to the next day.

Here she is getting ready for bed. Still holding her blanket and half gone lip gloss. She would squeeze that gloss until her lips were just caked with glitter. Oh and she had to carry her Motrin around until I laid her down for bed. When I went to put on her pull up for bed, I almost had to cut off her pj's. I couldn't get them off. Eventually I wiggled them off and we were good to go. It's a good thing Avery has tons of dresses and skirts :)

These are some shots to show how swollen her foot was.

After about four days, Avery was sick of not being able to get around on her own. She was always having to wait to get things she wanted so she decided to try and get mobile again. Here is Avery after she fell off the couch while trying to grab a school bus that was on the floor. All she did was laugh and laugh.

We had to get pretty creative when it came to giving Avery a bath. I came up with a pretty good plan. I would fill the tub up just enough to scoop up water in a cup. Then I put her stepping stool in the tub and then wrapped up her leg with small garbage bags. She hated it.

We have spend a lot of our days on the floor playing games or sitting on the couch watching Tangled. It's a good thing I love that movie :)

I'm glad that nothing to major happened to my princess. I thought out of all my kids, it would be one of the boys that would get an injury like this. I better knock on wood eh?

First day of school!

It's that time again. School time. Also known as quiet time for me :)
This year I have two full time students!
Logan is finally in 1st grade. He has Miss Wangsgard. Here is a little bit about Logan at the start of this new school year.

He has lost 4 teeth, all on the bottom
His shoe size is a size 12
Weighs 52 lbs
Is 47 inches tall
He loves to skate board
Loves to eat bologna sandwiches for lunch (everyday)

Bailey is in 4th grade and has Mrs. Housley.
4th grade? Really? I can't believe it!
On the first day of school Bailey's class made a Who Am I poster that had questions they had to answer about themselves. Here is what Bay had to say about herself

What I want.....
To do when I grow up: Vet and hair stylist
To accomplish in 4th grade: Humdinger
For my birthday: Go on stage with Justin Bieber (this one cracked me up!)
To read: Fable Haven
To do in my spare time: Draw
To learn: Math

Favorites
Food: Spaghetti
Game: Checkers
School subject: Reading
Travel: California
Animal: Wiener dog and a Yorkie

My teacher doesn't know this, but.......
I like to jump rope and play with my dogs. Zoe and Parker. I love seven peaks and Lagoon. And boondocks, I love Soul surfer.

Quick Facts
Age: 9
Height: 4 ft 4 inches
# of teeth lost: 8
Pets: 2

I have a way with words
I'm known for saying: friends
I like to quote: My brothers
I frequently misspell the word: Where

And that's my kids in a nut shell :)

Pine View

We went to Pine View a few weeks ago. The kids loved it! I have to say this little adventure was pretty relaxing. I went with some awesome ladies that live in my hood. I was brave and went to the lake with the kids by my self. Morgan had to work. I love the stage of life my kids are in right now. I can sit back and relax. I did have to watch Avery pretty closely, but she only stayed at waist deep water.

Here are some of the wonderful ladies I went with! Love them!

Avery was getting tired towards the end and wanted to lay under her towel. She would peek out once in a while to say, hi mommy!

Some of the kiddos that came with us. Yes we have a lot of girls in our neighborhood. Actually these girls all live on my street.

I'm glad we had one last hoorah before school started.