Tony's vacation, part 1

July 18th was a Saturday, but we considered it the first day of Tony's vacation from work. Our neighborhood had a children's bike parade that morning, but the kids woke up a little late and we didn't get to the starting point on time. When we met up with it, Faith took off and I didn't get a picture of her! But Buddy refused an offered ride on an ATV trailer and wanted to ride his trike instead. Here's Tony running along, pushing the trike, and trying to catch up (spoiler--it didn't happen!).
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It was pretty cool, there was a fire truck leading the way and an ambulance brought up the rear.



We finally gave up and drove the car to the ending point where there was water, frozen treats, and sitting in the fire truck!

That night we decided to go out to dinner and Tony let Faith pick the restaurant. Of course, we ended up at "Chuck-a-grandma's". Christian was on one that night, he kept laughing and screaming and being crazy.



Then he stuck a napkin on my head and took a picture of it.

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And got Faith to join in on the silliness.


Sunday morning I just had to get this shot of Tony & Crumpet snuggling so cute. They were both asleep until I got out my camera. Note to Tony's truck driver coworkers--this is how tough guys should spend their early Sunday mornings :)




That evening at Tony's parents' Christian came up with a fun game. You sit in the wood bark wearing no pants,




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then you stand up and see how many've stuck!
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Faith showed off her creativity with some rad washable marker tatoos. Buddy's is a horse and hers is a dolphin jumping out of the water.



On July 21st we had Ann's family including Mike and Natalie's family including Scott (aren't the guys so lucky to finally be included?) over for a barbeque. The kids started off on the trampoline while I grilled up some hamburgers & hot dogs.





The dads congregated to chat,

as did the moms :)

Lots of swimming was going on. Faith's showing me that she can float on her back. Her little friend Hunter (on the dolphin floatie) loved it so much that she hardly came out of the pool!

The guys got up the badminton net and played a few games. The kids had fun with it, too.

Sparklers were a hit!

The kids couldn't get enough of roasting marshmallows. Many weren't eaten, though and ended up as a sticky obstacle course on the patio.

We ended the night with a fun firework display. I'm so glad our friends came over, we had an absolute blast!

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Tony's vacation: to be continued . . .

pioneer party

On July 16th we had a Pioneer Day party with our friends. We actually missed the beginning of the party where they fed the ducks at Layton Commons Park because we were making freezer salsa at a Relief Society thing. But we made it just in time to tour the Layton Heritage Museum!

Christian threw a fit when a curator told him not to touch the antiques, but other than that we had a fun time seeing all the displays.

I think the weirdest are the old blow dryer and perm machine!

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After the museum, we headed to our house to eat pizza and breadsticks from The Pizza Place. I hadn't tried theirs before, yum!!

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For an activity/treat, I had the kids pull salt water taffy. They were so funny, they got pretty annoyed that it was sticky in their hands :)


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I was doling out the taffy and had sticky hands myself, but Natalie got these awesome shots of Christian's attempt.

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I pulled a lot of it and we enjoyed it all the rest of the afternoon. It turned out so yummy! I've made taffy many times before, but it had been years and years. Yet another recipe I'll have to post soon.

We sure had a lot of fun that day with our friends!

temple tour & petting farm

On July 11th our family toured the Oquirrh Mountain temple in the Daybreak area of South Jordan. Traffic was crazy and we arrived a few minutes late for our tour, but the main problem was that we had to wake Buddy so he was a bit grouchy at first. That's why we all look crappy in the family photo and Christian won't even look at the camera, but I wanted it taken because I knew it would be dark by the time the tour finished.


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Buddy cheered up and actually loved the tour! Of course, I think the kids' favorite part was the cookies at the end, but they each seemed really interested and excited about seeing the inside of a temple.



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They loved this fountain and all the lights on the outside.

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The funny part was that even though we were surrounded by to-die-for marble floors, dreamy crystal chandeliers and breathtaking wall murals, every time we came through a room with plastic carpet protector matting Christian would point to it and comment, "This a special room!" I have to give it to the kid, it was shiny and had a pretty diamond texture to it and I'm sure it looked extra fancy to him since he'd never seen it before :)

On the 14th I decided since it was only supposed to get up to 76 degrees (and then the temps would soar into the nineties) that I would take the kids to Carver's Cove Petting Farm in Eden. We'd never been before and I'd been meaning to go there for years! When Sarah heard I was going, she asked if her family could come too (of course--yes!!!) so we also invited Joy's family and mom to make it a family event. Soon after we got there, the owner handed Faith this baby goat.

(Sorry for the glowy photo effects on all of these, I think my lens had something smeared on it. Of course, the kids are always playing with it so it ususally does, but it seemed worse this day.)





Grandma and Sierra couldn't resist that fuzzy little head.




Christian looks a little surprised that the donkey is eating the molasses coated corn he offered.






There were llamas,

and sheep.
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Don't Alaura (in the red) and Celeste (in the pink) look adorable in their cowgirl hats? Noah wore a straw hat, red bandana kerchief, & a cow print vest. You can see a bit of him on the left of this one and the llama pic above. Cute!!

We were all enamored with this little foal.

Then the kids got to hold a kitten

and a bunny.

There were also pigs, ducks, chickens, turkeys, cows, and dogs.

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Finally, the moment that they had been waiting for came--the horse ride! Buddy desperately wanted to go first, but I knew if he did that he would throw a fit because he couldn't have more turns so I tried to hold him off until the end. Faith rode first and is quite the horsewoman. She really wants her own horse, but I told her that she would have to settle for riding lessons.

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Christian kept shouting, "I next! I next!" so my plan was foiled and I let him follow his sister. He LOVED it and was especially happy to feed the horse an apple wedge at the end of the ride. As I feared, almost immediately after his turn, he stared throwing a fit because he wanted another ride, so I just left him lying, stomach down, in the dirt, kicking and screaming, and went to feed the goats again.

After a good ten minute cry, he picked himself up and joined us. I had them pose on the tractor
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and the buggy, but Christian got really upset with me that I wouldn't make them "Go!" I guess his mood hadn't fully recovered since it was past naptime.

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Just before we left we saw that the baby bunnies had come out of their dirt tunnels, so we took a peek at them.

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It was such a fun place that the kids have already asked several times for a return trip, and I'll have to be sure to make it a yearly occurrence.

That night when Tony got home, he had a surprise for the kids-- firework snakes. They loved watching those gross little things grow!

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Seeing those snakes brought back memories for me of when I was young and doing them with the Peterson kids (my dad's half brothers and sisters). I kneeled in the aftermath and ruined some brand new pants mom had bought me for school. I haven't thought fondly of those things ever since!

Mitchell Family Potato Salad

8 medium Russet potatoes
10 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
3/4 cup finely chopped candied party pickles*
one large can olives, finely chopped
1 tsp. Lawry's seasoned salt
1 ¼ cup Miracle Whip
2 Tbs. yellow mustard
2 Tbs. milk
paprika

Boil potatoes with skins on for 12-18 minutes, until tender but firm (not mushy). Keep checking by pricking with a fork. After draining and cooling, remove skins and dice.
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In a very large mixing bowl add potatoes, boiled eggs, pickles and olives. Sprinkle seasoned salt over the top. In a separate bowl, mix Miracle Whip, mustard and milk.

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Mix dressing into salad well. Taste test and add more Miracle Whip until desired consistency is reached. Sprinkle top with paprika and chill.

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*I use Storey's Sweet Memories distinctively flavored fancy candied party pickles which can be purchased at Macy's grocery store and possibly other Associated Foods stores. Sidenote--the picture is a stock photo. These pickles are a crazy bright neon green color and look realy fun in the salad!