Summer Fun!!

We've had a busy summer of projects but are still having time for fun.  The Trampoline has been GREAT!! Phillip LOVES to jump on the trampoline.  Lily loves it too.  She makes me nervous when she runs straight to the edge and sits on the bum right before she gets to the edge.  Phillip loves to do tricks.  Here is a picture of him doing a 'kung-fu panda' move.

Lily is showing off her love of shoes.  Here she is in one of my 4 inch heals and some BCBG flats.  She'll go and play in her play house with her babies, cookie cutter bracelets and wear my shoes.  I keep buying shoes for her at garage sales because she seems to have a talent for hiding her little shoes around the house.  

We haven't gone swimming much this summer.. the weather and projects seem to get in the way.  It doesn't mean we aren't ready.  :-)

I was telling Pete, "I don't know what's with me this summer.  Last summer I had tons of barbecue parties, and play-dates, etc.  This summer I haven't done anything and I'm still tired."

He said, "yeah, you're pregnant."  Ha!  So far so good!  

Saturday Morning Ritual: Garage Sales

Well, this morning we were out the door with both kids at 8:00 AM.  We usually start south in North Salt Lake and make our way north to Centerville.  There is a girl in my neighborhood who goes garage sale shopping every week too, and we usually see her.  On our way to Bountiful we will stop at the Corner 22 gas station and get a fountain drink and some treats for us and the kids.  

Because of other plans and Pete working, we haven't been able to go garage sale shopping for a long time.  We definitely made up for it today!!

My favorite finds:

• American girl bitty baby doll with a carrier and outfits ($10).  Lily was reaching for it and I let her hold it for a little bit.  When we were leaving I had to take it away from her and she had a FIT!! I realized it was an American girl doll, and then I probably wanted it more than Lily.  I'm saving it to give to her before the baby comes.
  
• Trampoline ($50) - It's a pretty big one and was in really good shape.  The kids are a little young now, but I'm sure they will like it!
  
• Little table and chairs ($5) - I really like the colors even though it's a little worn.  I debating whether or not to paint it into a little girl table.  
  
• Animated Scripture Series ($10) - I was about to buy the same thing at a garage sale for $70 a few weeks ago, but couldn't justify it.  I saw it again and bought it.  It wasn't a complete collection but was glad to have most of the videos.  We then saw another garage sale that was selling them for 25 cents a piece and I was able to complete my collections. Even-though it's VHS, I'm glad to have them.  
• A sled - free - I wanted to go sledding with the kids last January and couldn't find one at the store.  Now we have one for next year.

Pete's favorite finds:

• Weedwacker - He got 2 for $2.  He got two in case there were missing parts and he needed to fix it.  This is something we were going to go out and buy
  
• A animated nativity music box - We both love christmas stuff!  We tried it out and it has all of the pieces and Phillip was fascinated with it.
  

We got even more stuff from Pete's sister's garage sale: Bike kid seat, extra car seat, and some baby toys.  I also bought some little toys, spider-man t-shirts, a chicken salt-and-pepper shakers (something EVERYONE needs) and a pair of shoes for Lily.

Wow! what a day!  

Our Backyard Surprise

Pete came home the other day and saw a family of deer grazing in our backyard. Scroll down to see a picture.


































Ha!! Pete played the same joke on me and I thought I would try it in our blog. We picked up 3 more reindeer at DI. We now have 9 reindeer, ha! Enough for Santa's Sleigh. We may have to display them in our backyard until our basement is finished. I think they look pretty classy :-) I thought it would be nice to send some power to the deer so they light up at night. Christmas in June. Maybe our neighbors will want to replace the chain-linked fence. HA!!

Here's Phillip, their cousin Brinklee, and Lily sitting by another Christmas find. We had some time before my Mom's birthday party so we drove around their neighborhood. They had the 'Spring Cleaning' trash day and we found a home-made light-up christmas tree and candycane on the side of the road. Pete knocked on the door and asked if it's o.k. if we took it home. It turns out they are friends of my parents. Ha! Someone's trash is another person's treasure!

Lily seems to be more like a little girl than a baby lately. She LOVES her babies and tries to take them everywhere. She LOVES shoes and is always wearing mine or Pete's shoes around the house. She even says, "sh.." for shoe. Her new favorite thing to do is to get cookie cutters out of the drawer and wear them as brecelets.



















Phillip is funny as usual. I can't seem to get good pictures of him lately. I say, "Smile" and he looks at the floor. I say, "Look at the Camera" and he looks at the sky. ha! I guess I have to be satisfied with candid shots. Phillip got some new sandals and always wants to go on walks. He said, "Mommy lets go bumping." I asked what was 'bumping?' I turns out 'bumping' is jogging because it makes your body go bumping up and down.

Honey Teriyaki Chicken

Well, I am at the half-way mark for the pregnancy and feeling good. I wanted to get better at grilling this summer. I finally figured out how to grill without the outside getting too burned ... still learning though. :-)

This is a Tyler Florence recipe for grilled teriyaki chicken. It turned out really good. I think it would be easier to buy a bunch of wings or drumsticks. That way you don't have to worry about cutting up the chicken breast and leg quarters. We added some red peppers to the grill to have some vegetables.