nature is the best playground

Saturday we spent the day playing in the Uintas. That place is beautiful.

The boys couldn't have been any happier that we got to spend it with cousins, the dads got to fish and enjoy nature, and I got to enjoy time with my sister. Perfection right there.

Oh these two. I love how much they adore each other and Rudger is always in very good hands when this girl is around.

We found this pond full of lily pads. Our most favorite spot. The kids could have spent hours searching for adorable, teeny frogs.

Getting away from electronics, phones, mundane tasks and just spending time in nature is so good for the soul. There is less fighting, more connecting, and more peace. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing.

Plus, who doesn't love to stop and get a hamburger and shake at the end of the day?

egg drop

The boys had their boy scout egg drop recently. Luckily Corbin had one with all the 4th graders last year, so he knew what design would work. They cut up a pool noodle and left our house with lots of confidence. (do you notice Corbin's shirt)  

Those firemen were up way high and Justin was having his doubts that any egg would survive. The outcome. Zero cracks in both eggs.

They were both quite thrilled!

strawberry reservoir

This kid knows how to travel. We hadn't even started camping yet and look at the bottom of those feet.

We made our way east a little to Strawberry Reservoir this weekend. Right as we pulled up the camp host said we had better quickly set up our tent. Just as we were getting our tent up the wind came ripping through and the rain started pouring. It was very eventful. As soon as Justin got everything staked down, the wind died down and the rain stopped. Go figure. But mother nature showed us that she still loves us.

The rest of the trip was blissfully uneventful. Just fishing, canoeing, hotdogs, peach cobbler, card games, harry potter reading, red vines, and hanging out with some fun people.

This is how exhausted some of us felt when we got home. 

five steps to saving our food budget this month

Last week I sat down to punch in some numbers on our expenses that I hadn't bothered to do for half the month. And like usual I spent way more than I thought I had. I had 53 dollars left in our food budget for the month of July. Fifty three dollars. And it was July 17th. (I find the graph of our spending on the tablet hilarious. We haven't seen the inside of a store in days.)

I was determined to not overspend this month. So I challenged myself. 

First Step:
I searched out all the ads and found which store had the best deal. Kents was my hero that day. 

* 3.99 for 5 dozen eggs - we love our eggs
* 2.50 for a gallon of milk 
* 8.99 for tillamook - we can never ever not buy cheese

My total at the grocery store to get us through until the end of July. $53.46. Boo Ya!

Second step:
No buying unnecessary foods. Goodbye adorable-small-prepackaged applesause, pudding, and fruit leather packets.

Third step:
Cheapest meals possible. Many of the ingredients for these we had in our freezer, fridge, food storage, pantry, or garden.

* BBQ chicken pizza
* Black bean pizza
* Omelets
* Black bean burgers
* Chicken Enchiladas
* Skillet Summer Vegetable Lasagna
* Crisp Bean Burrito
* The ultimate stuffed zucchini
* Tuna Sandwich
* Chili over potatoes
* Pancakes, Eggs, Hashbrowns

Fourth step:
Make as many things from scratch as possible. Bread and treats.

Fifth step and my favorite:
Eating from our backyard.

* we have had green beans with half our meals
* we pickled some beets
* I love walking outside and grabbing an onion or green pepper
* potatoes are our favorite 
* cucumbers for snacks
* stawberries for something sweet
* zucchini and yellow squash are taking over
* we had our first corn on the cob last night
* we are sort-of patiently waiting for our tomatoes. 

 Someday soon we will have cantaloupe and watermelon.

And a little later we will have an abundance of fruit off our trees. (plus cute pumpkins to decorate our porch with)

Hope I can do this.

Why did I bother posting this. Our posterity will totally 
be fascinated by this someday. Right? 

how we weekend - july

Wow, the boys hat looks stylin on me...

Friday: watched some Harry Potter and had pizza.

Saturday: I got to go to day camp with Corbin - where he told me that this makes up for all the times I didn't go on field trips with him. We got to shoot bb guns and arrows. It was good. The other boys went to the pond where they swam and rode in the kayak. At the end of the day it was so good to all be together. We even made cookies to celebrate that.

Sunday: Church, of course. We made more pizza with leftover dough from Friday. It felt so weird to have pizza on Sunday. Taylor helped make Lime Pie. Then we went downstairs to enjoy the fact that it was actually clean and we built legos.  

^^separating eggs, pizza waiting to go in the oven, blokus game that daddy and corbin just played, and Rudger eyeing up the pink lemonade on the table^^

 ^^this kid loves treats^^

^^and so does this kid^^

We have been reading Harry Potter every night while the kids are in bed (we go through Harry Potter obsessions quite frequently.) Starting last night, to celebrate Pioneer Day this week, we will be reading a few pages from Our Heritage before reading Harry Potter. (they listened so well, because I told them I wouldn't read HP if they didn't...mwah ha ha) We will be reading chapters five, six, and seven. We'll also be talking about some pretty amazing ancestors we come from.

get it done

I kind of like Mondays. I don't love that Justin goes back to work. But what I love is a fresh start. If Mondays start off well, it's a good sign to how the rest of the week may go. 

Summer is half over for us. At the beginning of the summer we needed something to make sure things got done before we had a lazy summer day. The month of June was hit and miss for us with this checklist, but the first half of July the boys have rocked it. They wake right up and get just about everything done. 

For the yard, they each have a zone in the front that is their area to take care of. Instead of overwhelming them with one huge weeding day. They just weed on Tuesdays and Thursdays, first thing in the morning. (same goes for me). It has been so great this year to not feel the pressure of always needing to be out weeding. (even if I secretly enjoy it)

And extra is whatever I assign to them. Some days it's taking out the recycle, or vacuuming the stairs, or sweeping the front porch, or washing windows, or whatever needs to be done. I am just allowing these boys the opportunity to learn hard work. Right??

The great motivator to getting their chores done. Screen time. 

Seriously, mine craft is HUGE over here.