A whole week of family -

Jamie and the kids were in town for the week and we managed to have a little bit of fun family time. Lagoon was a big hit - we could not separate these two girls -

Cate and Papa on Puff

These two paired up and had a good time together too -

Jamie and our little Nix -

Ezra gave this little beauty a boat ride around the park -

And Cate also gave this little girl a boat ride

We were all super happy that Berlynn loved this dragon ride as much as Annie, and they could ride and ride and ride it together (so the rest of us didn't get sick!)

Ezra promised he'd give me a "dry" ride, and Annie promised she'd give Berlynn a dry ride too -

NOT - we were wet for a long time!

Ezra was so proud he drenched Grandma!

Brandon flew in late in the afternoon and joined us, it was so good to see him -

There was a lot of this (all week) going on between these two cute besties!

Oh, remember going to Lagoon with that special someone...

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!

Friday night we had a grand sleep over with lots of fun!

(Is it bad that Ezra is super, super good at the slot machine?)

Bubble machine for the little ones as the "Princess' wander around their kingdom"

Making a yummy salad -

Checking out the grill -

And to finish off the week, school shopping and twin outfits (too bad they live in different states!)

Thanks for the visit, we hope you had as great of a time as we did - come back soon!

Miss Cate turns 3!

Today is our Cate's birthday, she turns 3. She was excited!
The only thing she wanted was a green bike, and a cake - check and check!

It also makes the final stuffed animal I made for the grand kiddies. Cate got a dolphin -
She said "yeah!"

Then we watched them jump, JuMp, JUMP!

And swing, SwInG, SWING!

Happy Birthday little Miss Cate!

Moab -

We stole away for a quick weekend trip to Moab. It.was.hot.dry.and.beautiful! It usually is the end of July, just like a desert is supposed to be, but we chose to go then and had a fun time in spite of it. We took a quick morning hike to see the Corona Arch -

Here it is ---

and there's also another small arch right by -

We had a great time!

Ready for S'mores?

As if regular s'mores aren't perfect just the way they are - I found a receipe for s'more bark that sounded interesting - in case your needin a quick s'more fix.....you know, maybe it's in the dead of winter, or there isn't a campfire convenient and the microwave substitute just won't cut it.

The only ingredients you need are regular s'more ingredients - grahams, Hershey chocolate bars, marshmellows and one other - milk chocolate chips.
Break 8 grahams in half and place on a baking sheet covered with foil

Crush 4 grahams to crumbs and set aside Break 2 Hershey bars into pieces and set aside

Pour milk chocolate chips into a double broiler

Melt and stir until smooth

Pour chocolate over grahams and spread to cover

Sprinkle mini marshmellow on top and place in fridge for 10 minutes

Heat broiler and place s'more under for approximately 1 minute (or so), watch carefully so they don't BURN, but are nicely browned. Take out and pour graham crumbs over top, sprinkle with the Hershey chocolate bar pieces.

Cool completely (may place in fridge to quicken the process), and break into pieces

Yep - closest thing I've tasted to "real" s'mores yet. Now I'll be ready for those "dead of winter" cravings!

Moosman Gathering at the cabin

We had a quick family cabin get-together with my Moosman cousins, whom we hardly ever see.

It was really good to have the cabin so full with loved ones - especially ones we don't see on a regular basis! Yes, we made regular s'mores - and I brought my s'more bark!

Mr. Nixon turns 1!

Our grandson Nixon turns 1 today. I feel bad I don't have a better picture of him than this, but, I don't. He is celebrating his 1-year old birthday today at Lake Powell (lucky little man!) with his family. We are missing him, and want to say - Happy, Happy Birthday Nixon!
Here's his turtle -

Splish Splash

So have you been down to check out the new splash park/playground NSL has provided? It's in Foxboro and we decided to take our little ones for their opinion -
The people there told us the water is usually a lot higher than it was when we were there, but it was still fun. There was a lot more water than these pictures show, we just didn't snap the pictures at the right time.

The girls LoVeD it -

And best of all - it's FREE (well, compliments of our taxes), and it is certainly a place we will be visiting again....and again....and again!