a spree.

you must understand how rarely i cook these days to truly appreciate this post. my family has had lots of cheese quesadillas & cereal for dinner lately. and there is no excuse, really. just plain laziness is all. well, yesterday i went on a cooking spree!

popovers for breakfast. {they didn't turn out... but still.}
broccoli cream soup. {frozen for sean to take to work for lunches.}
lemon bars. {my very most favorite dessert!}
homemade spaghetti sauce. {half for dinner. half frozen for another night.}

yeah, i'm pretty proud of myself. just thought i would toot my own horn for a moment...

that's all.

august via phone.

lots of time at the park.
lots of bubbles with our new bubble machine.
girls playing with my childhood dollhouse.
lagoon. lake.
growing photo wall.
homemade pizza.
silly girlies.

august has been good to us so far.

ten months.

harper is 10 months old.
unreal. here's what she's up to:

loving the bath and swimming! what the heck. it was like one day a light bulb went off and she thought "hey... this is actually really fun... why was i making such a fuss about it??"

crawling all over the place.

eating all kinds of foods. she especially loves peaches and beans, but will pretty much eat anything.

getting 2 more teeth! goodbye vampire, hello chicklets. :)

fighting with her sister. now that she's mobile {and can get into serena's toys}, things are getting crazy around here.

learning how to use things. putting on sunglasses and hats. holding the toy phone to her ear. attempting to use the pen to draw on the magna-doodle.

waving when we say "hi" or "bye".

clapping when we say "yay" or "pat-a-cake".

hamming it up for strangers. {stares at them with a big grin until they look at her and smile back.}

still eating any paper/cardboard she can get her hands on. i'm scared for the board books.

bonking her big head on everything. she always has a lovely display of bruises on her forehead.

time is flying. i need to start thinking about her first birthday party!

{i really need to get a scanner so i can start sharing my instax pics.}

pony.

it was so worth the
30 minute wait in line in
90 degrees for this
3 minute free pony ride.


it was so not worth
3 dollars for this
5 minute ride with only
1 lonely rider.
{she was so bored.}

bear lake 2011.

some people think fun at a lake has to involve boats, jet skis, and the like. we are satisfied with an umbrella, some floaties, and a well-stocked cooler.

our girls trip to bear lake was so fun. the day included the traditional stop in logan for subway sandwiches, perfect weather, shady parking spot, 5 hours at the beach, showers at the marina, cafe sabor for dinner, and a beautiful sunset on our drive home.

serena had a blast digging in the sand, collecting seashells, bothering heather, floating on the lake, and sneaking lots of cookies. i enjoyed laughing with my mom and sisters, soaking up the sun, loving the beautiful view, and watching serena love my favorite lake.

looking forward to introducing harper to the lake next year!

8:20

a.m.

p.m.

{sunday is my day of indulgence...}

peachy.

harper is loving finger foods these days, and peaches are a big hit.

they are a big hit for me too. lucky for us, they are in season!

it's a wonderful time of year, isn't it?

lagoon at night.

my summer dream come true!






finally went to lagoon at night!
it was perfection. totally met my high expectations.
too bad sean and gina got sick from the rides.
i totally would have gone on the colossus again... :)
{sorry i crowded you out of those last two pictures, gina. geez!}

also,

lagoon in the day:

we took the kids earlier in the afternoon. it was fun... for the most part! serena can't handle not having a nap, so there were some serious tantrums. but it was fun to spend time with our friends :)

to do.

summer is slipping through my fingers! and i never even made a summer list. so here goes.

to do this summer:

day trip to bear lake.
lagoon at night.
pedicure.
outdoor concert or movie.
swiss days.
state/county fair.
finish my book.
more friendship bracelets!
picnic with my real live picnic basket.
{with food from home. no kfc.}
get out of town.
finish memorizing the living Christ.
visit temple square with kids.
splash pad.
snow cones/shave ice.
buy a bubble machine.
steal more veggies from mom.

and on a side note:

harper has been crawling for a few days now.
and
serena ate a mouthful of red pepper flakes this morning while we weren't looking. and then she cried a lot.

sunday drive.

today we went for a little sunday morning drive.

we needed to fill up the long morning with something other than movies, laziness, pajamas, whining, boredom, etc.

1:00 pm church is the worst.
{ok, 2:30 pm church is the worst, but 1:00 is still rough.}

serena still whined {"grandma's house! grandma's house!} but hey, she's 2... i had better just get used to it already. i think we will have to make the sunday drive a ritual for the next 5 months. it might just save my sanity.

what do YOU do with little kids on long sunday mornings when you have late church??? please help! seriously. HELP.

dear summer,

please stay forever. we love you.

colorful cookies from parson's, swimming at grandma's pool, bubble gum ice cream, stuck in a huggies box {"mommy! i stuck!"}, beeeautiful sunset, road trip, harper likes swimming {her very first time!}, brand new baby boy cousin {roman}, mommy-serena date at lagoon.