Choice and Accountability

This months Personal Progress night was Choice and Accountability. For the first half of mutual I had the girls divide up into groups of 3 and gave them newspapers (you could use magazines too). I had them find a story that was in the paper because of bad decisions. After that I had them find stories with good decisions and positive outcomes. This took a little longer. It kept their attention really good and I think it worked better than me just talking the whole time. Afterwards, we made our "choice"jars, made from baby food jars. We covered and filled them with candy. When they are faced with a hard decision they are to read the quote we tied on and eat their treats! The quote is, "You be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone," by President Monson.

Here are all the jars that the girls did. They turned out cute and they had lots of fun. We finished the night with some orange rolls that I made.

We Have Pets!!

It is against everything that I stand for and believe in, but we have pets! Michael brought home two baby desert tortoises the other day (still trying to figure out what I did to deserve this!!). He wanted to surprise the girls when they got home from school. They were shocked! Mallory's face says it all. She has been having so much fun taking care of her pets. We are still trying to figure out names for them.

My camera doesn't do great inside, but here they are.

Supposedly these little guys are rare and some sort of offense to take them out of the wild. So, maybe when they get too big for their aquarium we'll sell them!

But for now they are on my kitchen counter where I get to watch them all day!

Homemade Milano Cookies

Mallory and I tested a new recipe the other day and were so surprised that it actually turned out. In this months Everyday Food (the Martha food magazine) she had this recipe. They were really fun and quick to make. They totally looked like the Milano's that we all love SO much.

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (Watkins is the best)
1 large egg
4 oz semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract(Watkins is the best again!)

Beat butter and sugar on high for 4 min. Add vanilla and beat. Add egg and beat to combine. Mix flour and salt(already combined beforehand) into low mixer, gradually just till combined.

Transfer dough to big zip lock or pastry bag. Snip zip lock with a 3/4 inch hole. Pipe 54 2-inch cookies on parchment. Chill 20 min.

Bake on 325 for 15 minutes.

Melt chocolate.

Mix together powered sugar and peppermint extract.

Spread chocolate on one side of cookie and sugar mix on the other and sandwich together.

These are so fun to make with kids.

Back To School

Last week we started into another year...say good-bye to summer, fun, sleep, and my little Jilli! Some how the summer passed us by and hit us with a new school year. Jillian was so excited to start school. Unfortunately, we DO have to wear ugly uniforms which sucks any fun that might be found in getting ready for school.

Mallory is my big 4th grader now. I know she was nervous to start. She thought her classroom looked really tough. She had a great first week!

Jillian was so cute sitting at her table and meeting the girls that sit next to her. She did great up until Friday. I'm thinking things may have settle in by then. Her teacher called around lunch time to say she had been crying all morning. So, I went to pick her up. I just thought that she was really tired (which she was). However, Monday she cried all morning too. I went to meet her for lunch. She says lunch is the worst part. I will go again today. She was balling all the way to school this morning. I don't know how to help!!!

Last week was the longest week ever. Hopefully things will settle down and we can adjust to all getting up at 6:30(I do hate that)!

More Pool Fun

Mallory and Jillian LOVE playing with their Utah cousins. We got to swim with them before we left. They all got along so good too!

Jillian and Elie are two peas in a pod.

The big girls...Heather, Mallory and Katelyn.

Playin' In The Rain

Our favorite thing in Utah (beside Cafe Rio) were the awesome rainstorms. Living in the Desert Southwest we have forgotten all about them. We were having a BBQ and all the sudden it started pouring down buckets. Logan was so funny. I don't think he has ever played in the rain..so we let him. There was crazy lightning and thunder too. He had so much fun, but it ended in a huge tantrum when we made him dry off. It was raining so hard it was messing my camera up. Most the pictures came out blurry. Logan's cousin Sarah played with him in the rain...actually it was more of a chasing game!

The girls decided to get in on some of the fun too. I was glad I had been shopping earlier that day. I had new clothes for them to change into.

Check out that green grass....who has that??? So time to move!

I Love To See The Temple

While we were in Utah, we took a day and walked around temple square. It is so beautiful there, it actually made me miss Utah. We ate at the Nauvoo Cafe and saw the Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy Theater. It was such a fun day.

Logan was being a little bit crazy. He kept throwing grass on the girls head.

Happy Birthday to ME!

We decided to take a last minute trip to Utah to wrap up our summer. We left after work and made it about half way. So, we stayed the night in Mesquite. The next day was my birthday. We really split up the trip so I wouldn't have to be in the car ALL day with CRAZY children. We slept in as much as the kids would allow and made it ALL the way to St. George. We went to the outlets for a little bit and to lunch. It was lots of fun.

We stayed at the Falcon Ridge, a super nice inexpensive hotel.

We left the shopping area and tried to find a place for lunch. Those that know me, know that I hate wasting a meal on crappy food! I wanted something yummy! We turned the corner and found Wing Stop...our fav from Tucson.

It was so fun to go back and eat there...totally brought back memories of our days in Tucson.

The yummiest for SURE! Okay, so I don't really like meat on the bone, but they have really good chicken strips that I get. We really go there for the fries. They are the only fries worth eating. Try it...I know you will love it!

I'm getting hungry just lookin' at all that goodness!

Jillian is such a wing girl. She ate most of Michael's.

Logan was having some fun too...he was actually so crazy by this point, and we still had 4 hours to drive. It was a very LONG day.

So, my awesome mom was looking out for me on my birthday. When we lived in Bountiful we loved going to Parson's bakery to get yummy treats. She ordered a cake for me to pick up on our way. It was the cutest cake I have ever had. It was quite tasty too.

We finally made it up to Michael's parents house in Bountiful. We were wasted by the end of the day, and wanted to eat cake!

I actually had a great day even though we were driving. We had a good time visiting family in Utah too. It is SOO far away.

Swimming the Summer Away

We truly did swim our summer away. We were able to visit my parents for a month and swam like fish. We didn't even take many day trips, the kids just wanted to swim. Colors was the game of the summer.

We did get a little silly!

Little Logan sat here and watched Baby Einstein most of the day. He did not like the pool much and was a handful when we tried to like it.

When we were out of the pool we had Dr. Mario competitions! Pretty sweet summer!

(don't really know who took this picture??)