My Husband Can Cook!

So I had a serious sleep-in this morning. I am talking 10:45-serious. I got up and could smell something really yummy going on in the kitchen. Here is what Shawn made for our Brunch today:

Biscuit Peach Cobbler

3 lbs. ripe peaches
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar

Biscuit Dough:
1 1/3 c. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. cold butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 c. buttermilk
2 tsp. sugar mixed with 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Have ready a 2-inch deep 2-quart baking dish.

Slice peaches into wedges directly into dish. Toss with lemon juice and sugar. Cover with foil. Bake 15 minutes until peaches are hat and juices bubbly. Make dough while peaches cook. Mix flour, sugar, powder, and soda in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour buttermilk over top. Toss with fork until mixture clumps together. Drop heaping tablespoons on peaches. Sprinkle sugar-nutmeg mixture on top. Bake 30 minutes until biscuits are golden brown. Let stand to cool.

Take your brunch to school

Guess what Syd asked for in her school lunch today? A pancake sandwich! Hehe. I guess breakfast was a success.

LOTOJA

My dad participated in the LOTOJA this past weekend. First of all let's just say this: My dad is awesome. He is my hero. He has taught me that if you want to do something, don't whine, just go make it happen. He picked up biking 2 years ago. Last year he did the LOTOJA and made it to Afton. He went for it again this year. I was on his support crew, along with my mom, Shanna, Dave, and Robyn. Here are some of the highlights from a very fun, very long, very inspiring Saturday. It was time well spent. Also I promise this is the last mosaic for a while.

1& 2) Getting ready to go. I drove and was worried the whole time that the bike was going to fall off the roof of my car.
3) Lucky number: 9191
4) At the start line in Logan at 6 AM. Maybe a little nervous?
5) Preston- dad made it there just about 8 AM. Making very good time and feeling strong.
6) Right before heading up Immigration Canyon. Hooray!
7) Robyn and Dave- by the way almost all of these pictures (the good ones) were taken by Robyn. She has a knack for taking good shots and a very nice camera to boot.
8) Montpelier- refueling and still looking good. I sure I am doing something very helpful here.
9) Shanna catching a little snooze. She got 2 1/2 hours of sleep the night before. After this cat- nap she was on fire for the rest of the day.
10) Riding along, going strong.
11) Heading up Salt River Pass. You are the King of the Mountain, Dad.
12) Time for a foot rub in Afton, WY.
13) One of many egg sandwiches, None of us could look at them by the end of the day, especially dad.
14) Dad getting some sugar from his woman. Aren't they cute?
15) Our Dave's.
16) My cousin Brady rode with a relay team. They did really well. Brady rode with the lead pack into Montpelier. He is fast! He earned the nickname "Bones". Hmmm, guess why.
17) Me and Shanna. We spent very little time acting our age today. Yay for friends!
18) "The Property" in Freedom, WY. We were driving through Star Valley and my mom said "If I could live anywhere I would live here." We all laughed because they own a couple of acres on that hill in the distance. They can live here! Time to build a cabin.
19) Biking through the trees in Snake River Canyon. What a beautiful ride!
20) Finish cheer! Dad had to stop 18 miles from the end. He was dehydrated and not feeling very well (you know like slurred speech and starting to get delirious). He would stand up to pedal, go to sit back down and miss the seat of his bike. Also it was getting very dark. He was bummed that he was so close, yet did not quite make it. But true to form, on the ride home he started making plans for next year. I already have it on the calendar. Love you dad!

A Post of Firsts

We have had quite a few FIRSTS at our house lately. Here are some pics to commemorate them. (BTW-I have been into picture mosaics lately. If they bug, someone is going to have to tell me).
1) Claire's first cereal! Hooray! She seemed to really like it. She didn't even pull any funny faces, just chowed down. Good girl!
2) Syd's first day of 2nd grade. What a big girl
3) Don't walk me to the bus stop mom, I'm just fine. Bye!
4) Brynn's first day of Kindergarten. I can't believe it.
5) Brynn with her buddy, Tyler. They are the only two kindergartners in our neighborhood. They are super friends and I'm glad they have each other. Besides. isn't he cute?!
6) Getting on the bus. Don't you love how it looks like all these moms are going to kindergarten too? Brynny loves the bus.
So there you have it. Lots of first. Kids grow up really fast. My house is really quiet in the afternoons now. Maybe I'll go take a nap. . .

Go to the Mountains. . .

We went Camping! We haven't been up to the Tetons in several years and decided it was high time we saw the mountains in person again.Overall the trip was very fun and exciting. . . and a few other things. You know how vacation can be with kids, right? Putting aside the barfing, the crying, the "accidents", and the whining we had a great time. Here are some pics from our fun adventure:

1) What?! We are going camping today? I just woke up!
2) Riding in the car. After lots of crying baby, 2 barfing incidents, 1 "accident", 2 poppy diapers, several potty break stops, and 5 1/2 hours, we finally made it to Colter Bay. I tell you, we will not be driving long distance again for a while.
3) This was about the only time the baby was in the car and NOT crying. Ugh!
4, 5, 6, 7) Our lovely accommodations. We stayed at the tent cabins at Colter Bay. They were really fun. We were able to keep the baby out of the dirt and away from the bugs, but we still felt like we were "camping". Plus the girls had lots of room to explore and run, and we met some nice people. We also saw a red fox, a bat, a squirrel (who was very mad at us), and lots of fat whistle pigs.
8) Washing dishes outside was considered fun. I had lots of helpers.
9, 10) Brynny won the award for the dirtiest camper.
11, 12) Riding the boat across Jenny Lake
13) Hiking to Hidden Falls
14, 15) We made it to Hidden Falls! We got lots of cute comments and a couple of dirty looks about us hauling a tiny baby up the trail. The older two were great little hikers. Brynny even got to be the "judge" for a while.
Syd tried to head up the trail to where the Exum guides were practice climbing with their students. I think she wanted to join in.
16) Baby got a bath in a wash tub.
17) Hanging out at the tent cabin- Brynny's blanket was dubbed "Stinky Pinky" by the time we got home.
18) Going for a walk around the tent cabin loop. We found a squashed squirrel and Syd wanted to poke at it.
19) The girls resting after a hard day hiking- we later went down to the lake and threw rocks and Shawn and Syd even went swimming in the VERY cold water.
20) We went down to look at the dam. We threw lots of rocks in the water.

It was so great to be in the Park again. Of course it made me all nostalgic and itchy to get in the mountains. It was so fun to just wander around Colter Bay, see the lake, visit the Lodge, and just see the mountains. We really enjoyed the tent cabins and look forward to trying to get back up to the Tetons next year. The girls said as we were leaving "We are going to miss this place!" Me too!

When It Rains It Pours

It rained today! And I don't mean a little sprinkle. I mean it poured for a good half hour which is so unusual here. We have not had a good storm for a couple of months so we all went out on the front porch to watch the rain come down.

It all started very innocent but soon turned into this:

Which then tuned into this:

Which was followed by this:

And then this happened, I'm still not quite sure how:

And then we had this:
And last, but not least, we had a little of this:

And here is some video of some cool tricks in the rain:

All this great fun was followed by hot baths and warm jammies for everyone involved. The neighbors probably thought we were crazy, but I think spontaneity can be a good thing at times!

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