I Wish I Was Joking...

I guess the good part about taking so long to name a kitten is when she accidentally gets run over in the garage maybe it isn't as hard (although poor Mark was so broken up about it last night he could hardly sleep). R.I.P. Holstein/Dairy, we'll miss you!

In case you're counting, this is the fifth kitten we've had in our family that has either died or run away (we had two kittens in Texas named Buzz and Woody who also didn't make it into adulthood.) We also had two cats, Bailey and Pogo who we ended up giving away to friends for different reasons. Not a very good track record. The girls think it's a sign we should have gotten a dog. (Not gonna happen.)

Kittens: Take Two

Even though we haven't had the best of luck with kittens so far, our friends had another batch and we decided to try again. (Did I ever tell you that our neighbors found Ginger when we were out of town and gave her away to their daughter in Utah? Who does that?) So here are our newest cuties:

Problem is, we can't really decide on names. They are both female, and right now Kenzie wants to name this one Maple. Mallory and I like the name Autumn...she has fall colors so we want something maybe to do with the season.

This one looks like a milk cow, so Mark calls her Holstein (not gonna happen) and I call her Dairy. (A tribute to you, Brandon and Lindsay.)

They are both very sweet and they stay in the garage unless we take them outside to play.

So any suggestions on names? Maybe I'll send something to the winner (how about a new kitten? I hear there might be some left!)

Shortly after moving here last fall I was at Enrichment and they asked everyone who had done any canning recently to raise their hand. I am not joking when I say I was the only one not raising my hand. Believe me, home canning and storage is alive and well here in Meridian, ID. After attempting to grow a garden I knew it was time to take the next big step. With the help of my expert-in-all-things friend Michelle, I learned how to can salsa along with another friend Amy. Look at all this gorgeous home-grown produce (I only contributed a few tomatoes, the rest is from Amy and another friend Malia's gardens.)

This was a major production and it took up most of the day, as well as every inch of my kitchen island.

The finished product; 40 beautiful bottles of delicious salsa to be enjoyed all year long.

While it was a lot of work I thought it was really fun and am excited to try it again!

RISE AND SHOUT!

You probably haven't heard yet, but BYU beat Oklahoma Saturday night. What a great game! We had five families over to help cheer on our favorite team. You know you have a full house when your entire entryway is covered with shoes:

It was completely crazy but lots of fun and we're excited for the rest of the season. GO COUGARS!

Firsts

Lots of first times for our family this week. We had a fun last week of summer with Trevor, Lindsay and Brandon visiting. On Friday we went to the local waterpark Roaring Springs for the first time thanks to some free passes from a friend of Lindsay's. We had a great time and it was the perfect last day of summer break.

Saturday was the first day of football games for the boys. Dallin got to be quarterback for the first play and completed a perfect pass!

August 31st, first day of school. Brady was so excited about bringing his lunch that he started packing it on Saturday afternoon! Hooray for first grade!

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Also a big first having McKenzie start high school at Mountain View (Yeah, I don't think I'm old enough for it, either. That's what happens when you get married young!) I'll admit I was a little nervous dropping her off that morning, but she seems to be liking it and I'm so glad she has a good group of friends there.

Middle School (7th grade) is old hat for Mallory, always our confident one.

So now here I am, sitting in a quiet house wondering what to do with my time. I feel like this week is the first week of the rest of my life. Any suggestions on what I should be when I grow up?

A Taste of Summer

There are some foods that just say summer to me. Fruit, garden vegetables, salads, anything grilled...I love them all. Of course there's my mom's famous potato salad and baked beans that I can never quite replicate. And watermelon....oh I just could eat it all day. Here's some of our favorites this summer:


For a Laurel activity we went and picked cherries in an orchard about 30 minutes away. The cherries were just falling off into our hands. It was messy but so fun and delicious! Here's Mallory and I after pitting some for a yummy cherry cobbler.

Corn on the cob is one of my favorites and you can get it fresh on almost any corner around here. Shucking corn always reminds me of summers on my grandma's back porch in Beaver.

Some of the "bounty" from our garden. OK, so it's not much, but we're learning. We've had plenty of zucchini, a few tomatoes, but several other things never grew very well. Next year we'll definitely prepare the soil better (I told you so, Mark!) and fertilize more. It's been really fun going out in the evenings and checking to see what's growing.

Last week we had a fun day at Settler's Park in Meridian. The kids climbed, splashed in the water and played tennis.

The highlight for me was the shaved ice we got at the end. Nothing says summer to me like a Tiger's Blood shaved ice, yum!

So what are your favorite tastes of summer? Hope your last days of summer are filled with special treats!

Are you ready for some football?

Seriously, how cute is this kid in his oversized jersey? He wants to wear it every day! The boys are going to play football this fall. Dallin's first practice was yesterday and he actually looked pretty good! (Of course, being the biggest and oldest kid on the team doesn't hurt!) I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, D or Mark, who was definitely reliving his kid grid days. When we came home Mark made all the kids put on their tennis shoes for some football FHE fun:

I hate to see these beautiful summer nights end, but I do love fall (and that always includes football!)