Earth Day

Darin had the day off on Earth Day.

We celebrated by going to J&J's tomato frenzy.

We bought a TON of plants--and we got two new trees too!

These kids love working in the garden with their awesome dad!

Blackberries for Days

Our blackberries are starting to get out of control.  Out-of-control AWESOME!!

We picked SOOOOO many berries.  They are HUGE, beautiful, and delicious!!

The only problem is that if I leave the back door open, Andrew escapes and eats them and makes a MESS!!  Half way through the summer I just started taking his clothes off every time we went into the backyard.  No stained clothes, but MESSY Andrew!

One day I picked all these berries.

A few days later, I picked the same amount again!

We have been eating all things blackberry!

Blackberry Smoothies

Blackberry Clafoutis  (Recipe HERE).

Blackberry Salad

Blackberry Jam

Blackberry Ice-Cream (Recipe HERE)

And my favorite, 

Pecan Chicken with Blackberry Sauce (Recipe HERE).

Conference Weekend!

I LOVE conference weekend.

A few days before conference Darin's cousin, Amy, did a cute dinner with a "special guest."

She did a different member of the 1st presidency each night.

I stole her idea, but we only had one guest, President Monson.

We had him over for dinner, and enjoyed learning a little more about the Prophet.

We found out he loves tomato soup from Little America.

So, we had grilled cheese, and tomato soup.

(Although, I will admit, I REALLY would have rather been at Little America).

His favorite food is ice-cream.  

And since we're trying to be more healthy, we all shared one scoop of ice-cream in honor of President Monson.

During conference, the kids loved doing their packets from Grandma.

And between sessions, we did a final harvest of our garden.

And we picked, juiced, and bottled all of our grapes.

Can't wait for the next conference is 6 months!!

Apple Picking and Apple Pie

Yesterday Matt, Lindsay, and I made my favorite apple pie.

We started out by picking the apples from our own back yard.

I love these kids, and decided to make a little movie to go with it.

The words in the song describe a lot of how I feel.

"It's not perfect, but it's everything I've dreamed of."

"It's pure bliss....It doesn't get better than this!"

Andrew's First Outing!

With the exception of going to the doctor's office, we hadn't left the house once.
I was starting to get a little cabin fever, so we ventured on our first outing with Andrew!
We went up to J&J for to buy some tomatoes and other plants for our garden.
I know it may not seem like a big deal, but it was a really nice break!

Darin let each of the kids choose their own plant.

And we had to look at the fish!

Davis County Fair

A few weeks ago, someone jokingly said that Darin’s turnip was so big he should enter it into the fair.  I thought I’d surprise him and do it!  The morning of the fair I decided to enter his blackberries too.  Well, I was glad I did, because….

They BOTH took FIRST place!!

Here is his turnip:

And here are his blackberries:

(not only are these blackberries HUGE but they are DELICIOUS!!)

While we were at the fair Matt played a ring toss game. 
We waited in line behind like 10 kids, and MATT was the FIRST to win!!  

Good job little buddy!!

Next we looked at the chickens.

Then, we went to the petting zoo…definitely a HIT!!

We looked at some of the fine arts.  Lindsay looking at some pictures.  Isn’t she cute!?

A little side story:

They had a cute baby contest at the fair, and every kid who entered got a prize.  So, since Lindsay is pretty stinking cute, I entered her in.   While she was on stage, she was smiling, and waving, and being “perfect.”  Then, I noticed the judges keep looking and pointing to Lindsay, and one other baby as they discussed.

First, they called out 3^rd place……not Lindsay.
Next, they called out 2^nd place…..not Lindsay.
Last, they called out 1^st place………….NOT LINDSAY!!

What!!?  Now I know why those pageant mothers are crazy, because you literally think that your kid is the cutest on the planet, and what is wrong with someone who doesn’t agree!?  (There were over 200 babies in her defense).  We will NOT be entering ANY more contests that are remotely similar to pageants.  Lesson learned. 

And last, who can resist a head cut out picture!