Saltwater Taffy

Saltwater Taffy

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 & 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. margerine or butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla, peppermint extract, or other flavoring
few drops food coloring (optional)

Butter a 9x13 baking dish and set aside. Butter the sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan. In saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Cook and stir over medium-high heat to boiling. Clip on candy thermometer and cook over medium heat without stirring to 265 degrees (about 40 min.). Remove from heat and stir in margerine, flavoring and coloring. Pour into prepared pan and cool for about 15 minutes or till easy to handle.

Butter hands. Divide candy into 6-8 pieces, then twist and pull each piece until it turns a lighter, creamy color (about 10 min.). Stretch into a rope shape and, with buttered scissors, snip taffy into bite size pieces. Wrap in clear plastic wrap or waxed paper.

H is for Horses

On August 11th we met up with Ann & Natalie and the gang in South Ogden for a little McDonalds food picnic and water park fun. Faith got right into it and ran around like a crazed woman, trying to get splashed, sprayed or dumped on by every water feature!

Christian was far more reserved, but he finally understood that the whole point was to get wet, not to avoid the water. It was so much fun! I wish there was a park like this closer to home (hint, hint, Kaysville city!).

That night we went over to Joy & Jordan's for some "H week" festivities. Right behind their house are fields and a barn, and just south of that is where their neighbor keeps his horses. The kids loved feeding them. (The horses are wearing special masks to keep the flies out of their eyes.)



















The neighbor told Joy to make sure and see the horses across the way, as well. There were two miniature horses with foals!























They were so tiny and fuzzy. I'm sure you can only imagine how hard it was to drag Buddy away from them!

After we had so much fun visiting with the horses, we went back to Joy & Jordan's and made sushi (California rolls, to be precise). Faith had been asking for it ever since Joy made it the first time and we were so lucky that she shared it again!

fun night with friends, and family fun at Lagoon

Friday August 7th Tammy took the kids miniature golfing and then for a sleepover.

The next morning the kids did another Lowe's craft. This time it was power boats!

After that, she took the kids to Dinosaur Park. The kids had so much fun!!

That evening, after we got our kids back, we went to a barbeque. It was at the home of some great neighbors, the Weeks'. They were so gracious, they even had the kids and Tony ride their ATV's. Here's Buddy on the little Power Wheels one.





Faith donned a helmet and started off on one by herself.






Tony took Christian on another one. Doesn't my baby look adorable in a helmet?!





There's a huge field behind our homes and it's a perfect place to ride.

Here's Faith driving up over the gravel mound. She did pretty well and only got stuck once. I was a little worried about her since she'd never been on anything like this before!

After riding, they fed us a delicious dinner of barbecued ribs. It was so much fun spending time with them and getting to know them better!

After we got home, the kids enjoyed the suckers that Tam got them from Dino Park.

Monday the 10th we went with my whole family (minus Eric) to my parents' stake Lagoon day. We were so excited to go because we'd been missing having our usual season passes! Tony even took off work to go.

Buddy rode in his own swing for the first time.

I saw someone else taking pictures next to the "you must be this tall" measuring sticks and thought that it was such a fun idea. Faith was just over 51 inches,

and Christian was just over 39.

They loved riding rides with their cousins and each other.

Buddy with Noah,

Faith with Alaura,

and Lily with Sierra.

Faith told me that morning that she wanted to ride the "Dinosaur Drop & Ladybug Bop" a million times, and she was on it so much that I think she nearly met her goal!

Buddy also drove his own bumper car for the first time. He managed to kind of figure it out by the end!

Unfortunately, the price of the dart game went way up so the kids only got one each. I love how Christian's eyes are closed while throwing and the dart is way below the balloon line :)

Mom & dad bought us pizza and subs for dinner and then we went back to the rides.

For our last rides, we (the four uf us + dad) rode the skyride over to the north end and then got on the ferris wheel. Buddy fell asleep while we were in line and missed the whole thing. We had such a great time--thank you so much mom and dad!!!!!!

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Of course Christian woke up as soon as I put him in the car to come home and then was difficult to get back to sleep. Maybe part of that was because Faith put him in her pink High School Musical p.j.s! (Here they're just eating a quick snack of ramen noodles before bed.)

farmers market

On July 30th, we decided to check out the Kaysville farmers market. The kids got cute balloon animals and made an egg carton flower craft,


and I bought a apricots, raspberries, corn, tomatoes, and zuchini!
The kids tore into that fresh produce right away.








They got so crazy in their gluttony that they shared this tomato.


Then they helped me make my favorite zuchini side dish. Here, Christian's using my new Slice Wizard that we got on sale at the kitchen store in Park City.



Just put a layer of sliced zuchini, top with a sprinkle of salt Kraft powdered parmesan cheese,




then repeat to fill a square baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 6-7 minutes. Delicious!




My kids can't get enough corn on the cob this summer. Our favorite corn comes from Day farms in Layton, but this was good, too.

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Next, we made fresh salsa with the vegetable chopper (similar to the Vidalia Chop Wizard, but seemed a little sturdier) that we also got in Park City. We just chopped some tomatoes and onions with it, then added fresh cilantro, a bit of lemon juice and garlic, a few pinches of kosher salt and just a tiny bit of chopped jalapeño.




Everyone loved it! (Although Tony added nearly the rest of the can of jalapeño to his portion.)

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Friday the 30th I took the kids to eat at McDonald's because I had coupons for a free premium salad and two free apple dippers that expired the next day. The kids have been obsessed with the beanie babies that came in the happy meals for June & July! They love the little stuffed animals and also how you can play online games with them.






I love this picture, you can almost taste the joy!

Tony actually got home a little earlier than normal that night, but it was hard pulling the kids away from the playland.

The next morning we did the woodworking project at Home Depot.

Christian had his tongue out-in full concentration most of the time he was putting in the screws!

This project was the cutest yet, they're little memo boards with a white board side and a cork side.

After that, we drove to Day Farms to get even more produce. Faith's snapping beans in this picture. I was surprised how much my kids loved them.

And here are the little monkeys demonstrating how fun and dangerous my bed is. They're always treating it like a playland/monkey bars/fort!