Family Hike!

The weather has cooled off and it is nothing short of beautiful right now. So we went for a little hike this past weekend near Red Rock. It is so fun to see our girls learn to the love the outdoors as much as we do. Lizards, leaves, rocks and anything else are such treasures of wonderment to our girls!

A lone ranger- who was actually a lady.

I carried Haley in her sling, and Rod had Abby in our hiking backpack. Abby was like a little boss, telling Rod what to do every step of the way. Haley slept through most of the hike- she likes her sling!

I made Haley a little hair thingy. You can't see it exactly in this picture, but it looked so cute on her! I LOVE this baby!!!!

Summer's gone - Harvest Time!

Is this not a beautiful hot dog? End of summer bbq.

This is called a Ratatouille Riff. My tomatoes and zuchini.

It is really delicious and pretty.

Ahhh, the grape harvest . . .not too great this

year, but still good.

I only did about 24 quarts this year, compared

to grandma Gubler's 80 quarts! Which is down

from her usual 200.

Here is some of my harvest. I had miracle strawberries

this year. I've gotten a bowl full every other day since June.

They are the plants grandpa gave me, I like to think he

has something to do with it.

Us Update!

It's been awhile since I've posted...having 4 kids is exhausting! Brooke, why didn't you warn me! We had a great time while everyone was out for Haley's baby blessing- I'm assuming you all saw the pics on facebook. Haley is beginning to be ticklish and laugh, and she'll have coo-ing conversations with us now, too. I'm trying to get a video of those things, so hopefully I'll get one one of these days! Here's some more updates:

Caitlin is a "slightly above grade level" reader! She loves being able to read books- a whole new world has opened for her. She's really enjoying 2nd grade. Lizzie is loving kindergarten. She's moaned a few times about having to go, but everyday she comes home SO HAPPY!! It helps that she already knew a third of her kindergarten class from church.

Here's Haley enjoying Caitlin's reading skills:

And Lizzie ready to go to Kindergarten! Her school has uniforms, which I think is insanely boring, but maybe it's a good thing for my extremely-picking-about-clothes daughter. The first day we dropped her off, Abby cried "Lizzie! Lizzie!" and was upset! She didn't understand that we'd pick her up later. Abby LOVES Lizzie!

Here's the girls in the spa at the Cannery hotel, where mom and dad were staying. This picture cracks me up because it was after hours of fun, but just a few minutes after I informed the girls we were going to wrap it up and go soon. Caitlin's expression is pure betrayl!

So I have some vegan friends (though they'll tell you they're not vegan...they eat a 90% whole foods plant based diet. In other words, vegan). Anyway, we went to dinner at one of my 90% vegan friends' houses and I was assigned dessert. She said it didn't have to be vegan, they'd eat whatever, but I didn't want to bring something that would be regarded as a carcinogen. So I found these vegan cupcakes from http://chefchloe.com/sweets/chocolate-strawberry-shortcake-cupcakes.html They are delicious! I got to thinking this is a great recipe to have for when we're all living off our food storage and really, really need a chocolate cake but have no eggs or milk.

Speaking of chocolate, this is called semifreddo (Italian for half-frozen). It's pretty easy to make, and has a frozen chocolate mousse texture. I also made my own Nutella recently from this webpage: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/02/homemade-nutella-recipe-chocolate-hazelnut-spread/ I don't think it's as good as the real deal, but mom and dad said they liked it! It was fun to make, though I don't have a picture of it.

....and I haven't lost any baby weight. Any guesses why?

Auntie love

I wanted to post a few pics of little Parker. He's such a cute little guy!

Emily came over one day and he was pretty tuckered out...so sweet!

Not the most flattering of me...but I had to post this one.

Em and I went on an outing to a bird aviary (way better than Vegas, sorry Carrie). Parker had to wear his hat for some protection.

Baby blessings & Birthdays

Just a taste of my great birthday dinner! Yum.
I know you girls will appreciate this picture.

Dad and the cute Lambourne girls! Hayley

looked like a white puffy angel.

Parker's blessing day! Brett's family also came.

A lovely day, and Parker was so good until his

dad held him up at the end! Waaaaaaa.

Happy Birthday Day Mom!!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Mom!! We love you so much. Not just for all our fun girl trips either :) Mom is patient, thoughtful, funny, easy-going, compassionate, selfless and just the best mom we could possibly ever ask for. Thank you for all you do for us, we love you!

Happy Birthday DAD!!!

Happy Birthday to the Best DAD ever!!
Dad is funny, smart, caring and great at bike riding :)
He cooks good sunny side up eggs and artichokes and he is a really good chocolate chip cookie eater!!

thanks dad for being such a great example and for always being there for all of us- we love you!!