My new ride!

Say hello to my Madsen Cargo bike! We've been looking at cargo bikes for awhile, they have a gazillion different kinds. But they are a little expensive. So when we saw this one, used, for sale outside a bike shop in Boulder City we knew we had to pick it up. I love it! We've had it for 5 days and I've already used it to take Lizzie to school, pick up Abby from a playdate , get groceries, go yard saleing, and get Caitlin from the bus stop. Everywhere I go people ask me where I got it, or say how cool it is. And they are so right. It is so cool!

There's a bench on one side (newer models have a bench on both sides with belts) that can come out, and the seat belts are similiar to car seat belts and anchor into the bucket itself. This week's task is jimmy-rigging an infant car seat I got at a yard sale to fit into it so Haley can come along, too! I believe there's even a canopy we can buy to go over the bucket for when it's yucky outside. We're also rigging up the Specialized to be our "courier" bike, a cargo bike on a smaller scale. Just with a few pannier bags and things, so Rod can use it for scouts and things like that.

A title of one of the many biking blogs we've been checking out lately is called "Everyday Adventures". This has sort of become a little mantra for us! Taking this bike around really flips the switch from mundane errand to fun outing!

p.s. Fun cargo bikes links:

My dream cargo bike, called the Shuttlebug, handmade in Portland, OR by Joe Bike: http://www.joe-bike.com/cargo-bikes/the-shuttlebug-handmade-in-portland/ (but waaayyy expensive, so it will stay in my dreams)

Our other favorite is the Yuba Mundo, google it- it's sweet!

School

I just have to say that the end of school and the beginning of the school year must represents thousands of trees in paper. It is ridiculous! This is a picture of all the papers I had to fill out the first day of school. Emergency contact info., school policy, medical stuff, etc. and times it by 3 kids. AAAGGGHHH! I am scared when Alex starts in a couple years. It is crazy.

First day of school picture. They hate taking this every year. And every year they look a little less cute :) And there's ALWAYS one who won't look at the camera. Oh, and one who won't smile.

This is what they came home with on the last day of school. And this was just Cameron and Audrey's stuff. I spent hours just going through all their papers.

Cameron's backpack was sooo heavy!

Cameron got to go to a couple weeks worth of practices and their jamboree before he broke his pinky finger...it was so sad because he was so excited about playing quaterback. Just this last week the dr. told him he didn't have to have it taped up anymore, but to take it easy. So no sports for him until baseball in the spring.

Wow, two posts in two days! I kept thinking about all the things I needed to post, and how long it was going to take. It's definently easier to do a lot of smaller ones. Hope I'll get some this time in this weekend to post. Our primary program is on Sunday, gulp. Wish me luck. Tonight is the high school Homecoming football game and bonfire, so everyone is excited for that. Oh-also just to let you know we are a real Mormon family now. We have a piano! The district was selling some of their stuff in storage, and they had a couple pianos they were selling for $50. One looked nicer but was out of tune, the other needs refinishing but sounds good. We went with the one that sounds good. I hope we don't regret it. Devon said he is not looking forward to Cameron constatlly playing his compositions. Brace ourselves.

Dog days of summer...

I have a lot of catching up to do...I'm going to try to post a little every day (every week?) til I'm caught up. Here's some pics of an end of the summer outing. We found a new waterfall (Cameron, "Not another waterfall!") yes, we do have a lot around here. But I don't get tired of seeing them. We found a little secluded spot along the Columbia that is only accesible by going under the freeway through a small tunnel along a little stream. It was an adventure for sure.

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.