My helpers

 Helping make dinner

 Helping unload the dryer

 Zenock helping Gideon read a book

 Gideon helping Daddy eat some nachos

 Helping with the laundry

Helping make dessert by doing a puzzle on the counter

Dry onion soup mix recipe

I have been out of dry onion soup mix for a while now and I keep forgetting to go buy some. Last night I wanted roasted potatoes with our sloppy joes, so I did an internet search for homemade onion soup mix. This is the recipe I found.

1 T onion powder
1/4 cup beef boullion powder
1/2 cup dried onions

Mix it all up and sprinkle away.

I had all this stuff on hand, and it turned out so well on my oven roasted potatoes. I doubled the recipe and I think can use it 5 times. Wow!! Love saving money :)

Observations

Some observations I have made in the last little while:

-          It is easier to change a wiggly baby when he has something to play with that is not a toy.

-          I really like to cook, but if the kitchen is messy, my motivation is quick to dissipate – bet you didn’t know I knew that word.

-          Gideon doesn’t crawl around stuff, he just goes over it.

-          Me time is way important to my sanity. I got 3 hours to myself yesterday to go to a bridal shower and it was so fun. I came back energized and happy to see the boys.

-          I feel so productive when the kitchen gets cleaned first thing in the morning. It gives me energy for the rest of the day and makes the day seem longer – which is a good thing when we have fun stuff to do.

-          Gideon loves to eat off my plate

-          Mormon Tabernacle Choir is in Pandora’s database, so I jammed to Church music while making dinner today.

-          Trying new recipes is awesome!

-          It is an advantage to be a Vegas local. Lion King (the broadway show) tickets are ½ price so we have an awesome Anniversary date planned already, we are getting in free to the NASCAR Truck Nationals on October 15^th just for spending $5 on Little Debbie snacks, and we are going to more races at the LVMS on Ammon’s birthday for free.

-          Today was the first day since the summer began that Brady was awake enough to attend all three meetings of Church today. I got to go to Relief Society kidless, and it was so awesome!!!!

 I love the big and little men in my life. They make me happy J

Love to laugh

Stuff I've been meaning to share but never did for some reason

 Ammon's Kindergarten graduation with his teacher Mrs. Prickett

 Solid foods......blek! Of course, he loves to eat it now, but then not so much!

 Dinner date at Cafe Hiedelburg.....fabulous German food!

 Making a racecar cupcake creation with my friend Alexis

 So tired he fell asleep mid play

 Gideon's baby quilt I made him

 The cake pops I made for Ammon's spring pary at school. They tasted great but look really uncute. I had major trouble dipping the cake balls and rolling them in sprinkles. I really need to figure out how to make them cute.

One of Ammon's tball games

 Swimming at a friends pool. It was lonely until we got there :)

 Playing a game with Dad

 Ammon's whole tball team. It was so great to watch him play! He loved it so much, we're doing it again next spring.

Today my thoughts are with those thousands of families who were directly impacted by the terrorist attacks ten years ago. I remember hearing about the incident's on the radio as I was getting ready to go to class at Ricks College. Later that day I went to a memorial service at the Kirkham Building, held via

satellite from President Hinkley in Salt Lake City, UT. At one point during the day I watched the CNN reports from the Manwaring Center, and later I went to my parents house to watch CNN for a while. I remember crying and watching in disbelief as planes crashed into buildings and later buildings falling and people running for their lives. How sad that day was. I am eternally grateful for my testimony today that families can be together forever. I know we are never given more than we can handle, and I know through prayer and faith, we can conquer whatever trials may fall on us. God bless America!!!

4 teeth

I made this one huge because all of his teeth can be seen. I have a budding vampire in my midst. He loves to bite shoulders and noses.

This is Gideon's new favorite thing to do. He climbs up on everything! He has also started cruizing the furniture. So the golden question is, when will he be walking? Sooner than we all think.

My men

 Just happy to have attention from someone

 Proud of the shotgun he made out of Trio blocks

He begged and begged to hold Daddy's cowboy gun

At the races

 Touring an ambulance on the way to finding our seats.

 Late model race finals

 late model race finals

 All the cars waiting for the track to be cleared because of this dude

 All the boys. Zenock, Kyle, Chance, Ammon, Kevin

The King was there! In the mini form anyway.

To kick off the three day weekend, and to celebrate the final day of my birthday week, we went to some awesome races out at the Motor Speedway. We had so much fun......even with a grumpy baby. Our friends the Hedden's came too, with their three boys. Terri and I held down the Mom front pretty nicely amongst all these men in our lives. We get to go again for Ammon's birthday for free, and that's something we are all looking forward too. I am planning on getting a babysitter for Gideon, since he doesn't have much fun at these kinds of things yet. I look forward to the day when we go do something somewhat feminine and I get to drag everyone along.........someday.

Standing, and climbing

Hey.......look what Gideon can do now!!! One day last week he was trying to climb out of his crib because he was really upset that I didn't go in soon enough to get him from a nap. Brady caught him as he was balancing on his tummy about to go over the edge head first. And that evening we lowered the crib ALL the way down. No more of that monkey business!!!!

Mt. Charelston

Last Saturday a bunch of us from our ward went up to Mt. Charleston to have some last fun times before school starts. It was such perfect weather. We watched the temperature drop from 106* on the freeway to a cool 69* when we got out of the car. It was pretty cloudy and sprinkled on us a few times. We finally left when the clouds opened up and poured at about 5pm. We had so much fun! 5 families were there making a fun time with 9 adults, 15 kids, and 4 babies. And some VERY dirty kids they were!!!! Trowing dirt, building dirt castles, playing games with sticks, climbing rocks and sliding down the hill on bums, and lots of yummy treats made for a wonderful afternoon. I wish we could do it every weekend! It takes an hour to get from our house to this awesome meadow, which is just a mile or so below the ski resort.

Mr. First Grader

Ammon is in first grade!! His first day of school was the 29th, and he loves it so much. We all got to walk him to school on his first day, and he loved that too. So far, Brady has been home to go with us to take him on that first day - as long as he keeps the same schedule he has now it will happe next year too. He loves his teacher, loves eating lunch at school, and he loves playing with the kids from his kindergarten class. Have a great year buddy!!!! We are so glad you love to learn!