Sugar Cookie Saturday

Every once in a while, Scott gets up early and heads to the Sand Dunes for a full day of fun. We like to take advantage of those days and do activities that we know he doesn't care about. This past Saturday was one of those. We (Kat and I) opted on only the Autumn cookie cutters. There should be a time before Halloween to decorate again, but use only Halloween cookie cutters. The kids had a blast decorating and eating as many cookies as they could.

Here are the two littles. They ate as they decorated

The group

Here is a slide show of Sweet Sad Harrison. He was eating off the spoon or eating as he went, and I said something to the affect of "don't" (but it was said nicely, I promise) and he looked to Kat, she agreed and here is what happened....

Wrapping up, with quite a mess. You'll notice the three on the left are licking their fingers.

The finished product. They did a great job and it was a great Saturday.

Some of the Cars from Peach Days

It is awesome to go to the car show. This year they had between 850- 900 cars on show. Some of them were hot and fast while others of them were just cool and old. Me, I want that center Corvette in the middle of the hot and fast collage. (I know, I know, I'll stay away from the collages for a while after this week. I've done too many of them).

HOT and FAST

COOL and OLD

Guess I'm all done canning...

Earlier this week, I tried my hand at Freezer Jam. There will be a post about that on the recipe blog. I just haven't done it yet. My first try didn't go too poorly. (Mind you, my first batch is a bit on the runny side).

The other night, while going through sorting good ones to give to my sister, I picked up one and looked in the box. Ugh- I managed to control my gag reflex and took pictures of it. So gross! I don't think I ever want to buy soft peaches again. I'm sticking to the firm ones from now on.

Cute girls with cute hair cuts

Next Wednesday are Jade's school pictures, so we HAD to get her a haircut. She was so cute telling the hairdresser, Aubree, that she only wanted a little tiny bit cut off. We ended up cutting about two inches off, and she loves it.


I was only going to have Jade get a haircut, but Ivy really wanted one too. So, Aubree managed to fit them both in. I was very impressed with how still Ivy held.

Here are the two cute girls with their cute new haircuts. We did a little bit of a photo shoot down at Riverwoods. They were too cute, the lighting was good and they matched- how could I not?

9-11 at home

There are certain events throughout our lives that we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing the moment we heard the news. I think that the events of 9-11 fit into that category.

I was in Tahoe getting ready to go to a training. My mom called and told me I needed to turn on the news. The second plane had just crashed into the second tower. I sat and watched, dumbfounded. Memories rushing in of the month I lived in an apartment three blocks from the Twin Towers and worked across the street in the Financial Center Marriott. I sat thinking of the lunches we had at the mall under the towers and the quick stops on the main level to get Broadway tickets for half price. Shocked and stunned, I went about my day. Numb. Many of the people I was with in Tahoe had connections to someone that worked or lived near the World Trade Center. Below is a picture I took that morning...

Since 9-11, I can tell you what I have been doing almost every year since then. I haven't taken pictures of every year, but I have documented some of them. I have tried to make it just another day, but the truth is, each year I have shed tears for those families that lost loved ones and for the hope and faith that was lost that day. I'm sure that every year going forward, I will continue to think back to that day and will pray for those that are still suffering from their loss. Here is a link to a news channel in New York.

The morning of 9-11-01, Tahoe- we tried to stay focused on our work, but we were all unsuccessful. We rented cars and drove home the next day to our families.

In 2002, I worked and watched videos looking back at the year before. I talked to friends that I had spend 9-11 with and remembered the tragedy that we all felt.

In 2003, Scott and I were living in Kentucky. I spent the day with Jade.

In 2004, Jade and I were visiting my parents in Utah. We were living in Kentucky at the time.

In 2005, I was put on bed rest with pre-term labor. Jade and I were in Utah and Scott was in Michigan.

In 2006, we were living at my Grandparent's condo while our house was being built. Ashley was our nanny at the time. Now, she's a mom living in Tennessee.

In 2007, I was in Paris. They shut down the Subway for the day, so traffic was an absolute mess. The airports were all put on high alert. And everyone spoke of 9-11.

This year, I worked and spent some time with my girls and went to dinner with Scott and one of his V.P.'s.

Hopefully by 2011 I'll be able to explain to Jade what makes 9-11 significant to our lives and freedom.

(I just found this amazing photograph taken tonight from Susan Striplings kitchen window- She is an amazing photographer that I happened to come across through Google Reader. I've been following her blog ever since.)

The Things I Love about Peach Days

I've been wanting to post about Peach Days for several days. But, I have so many pictures I haven't been sure where to start. So, I gave in to the collage of pictures again.

One of the things I love about Peach Days is the time we get to spend with both sets of grandparents. For the past three years we have gone up and enjoyed the parade, the car show and the carnival. This year, we didn't do the carnival but had just as much fun- maybe more- because we didn't have to wait in long lines.

In the above collage we have

Top Row: Grandpa Bob, then Grandma Janet, then Grandpa Lou with Ivy.
Middle Row: Grandma Lorelie and Ivy, Grandma Janet and Grandma Lorelie, and Grandpa Lou with his sister Judy.

Bottom Row: Jade, Aunt Judy and Uncle Brent with their pretty car, and a repeat of Grandpa Bob (because he wasn't feeling well and didn't do the rest of the car show with us).

Next we have a little Ivy collection. She spent most of the parade being close to her dad and touching his shoulder or hanging on his back. She was excited to find a new friend and grinned over at her every time they went down the slide.

Then onto a little bit of Jade. She seriously can find an adventure in everything she does. And I get to live in fear of her falling on almost every occasion. Can you believe how she chose to use the slide? Or how she opted for going down the two bars? Honestly, how we have not spent days and days in the ER with her is a mystery.

Here's a little collection that just says a little bit more about our family. I often had one of the girls sitting on my lap. Scott and my dad were loving the wheels which in turn meant Jade was loving the wheels. Lastly, I love the tongues on both of my cute family members in this last picture. AND I'm the one that always gets teased about thinking with her tongue out. Hmmm, apparently I'm not the only one she gets that trait from.

And lastly, one of my favorite things about Peach Days... Fresh Peach (and berry) Pie only found at the Car Show. Love Love Love this yummy scrumptious treat. Is it time for Peach Days again? Only 12 more months!

Jade at Ivy's age

I love going back and looking at pictures of Jade when she was the same age as Ivy. Partly to compare and partly to just remember.

Yesterday, Ivy really really wanted to paint. So, she and Kim painted. Ivy is so different from Jade. Here are two pictures of Jade at Ivy's age and what it meant to "paint".

Ivy at Ivy's age

Ivy managed to get her hands very dirty, but to her that was necessary for her art. Her dirty body, on the other hand, was not on purpose and she was eager to get it cleaned off.

Tibble Fork is...

Tibble Fork is beautiful in the early fall but man is it crowded.

I took a million pictures of our beautiful girls stationed from my little blanket in the sun. (My sunburned forehead is proof). I decided that I would do a collage of some of the pictures. If you click on them, you can see the collage bigger.


Here is silly Ivy. I love the bottom middle picture. Okay, it's kind of mean of me to like it so much. She was out by the lake and a bug flew on her. This is her freaking out, while I sat snapping pictures from the blanket. Scott did save her and she smiled as soon as it was gone.

Now for pictures of serious Jade. She tried to learn how to skip rocks, but as you can see from the middle picture and the rock high above her head, her form is all wrong. Can you believe her playing with the gross worms? Honestly, sometimes I'm shocked she came from me. I have found that being stuck in one place, I get a lot more of Jade's backside than I do her face.


Here are a few pictures I took of the day. The sky was such a beautiful blue and the lake was a shocking green.

Lastly, a picture of my family fishing on the other side of the lake. I found out after I took these pictures that our video camera has a better zoom. Oh well. That is one cute little family!

"Galler-ations" - also known as "Decorations"

Last night, while Scott and I were trying our hands at making Peach Freezer Jam, the girls were busy working on their own project. They finished most of it last night and Jade added a few more animals and ribbons today. She is very proud of her work as a "galleration-ist" and I definitely see a bright future ahead of her. I love letting them do things that give them a sense of pride. Even if it means we have a mess to clean up later. I think I'll let this stay up for a while. (I know, I know, I never took down my Santa pictures in my entry way- but I like them and so they stay. Maybe after Christmas, I'll take them down and replace them with two other fantastic pictures.)

Visiting Great Grandparents makes our girls smile

After we had completed the day of Peach Day celebrations, we headed over and visited Grandma E and Grandpa Wayne. Our girls always enjoy going over and visiting them. This time was extra fun.


Jade came across a trumpet mouth piece. So, Grandpa Wayne asked her to blow in it and see how she did. She was able to make some noise so, he had her go downstairs and bring up the trumpet.

He taught her how to hold it and showed her how to change the tone. She actually made some music! Grandpa Wayne said that if we want to get her started on this type of instrument, we should do a Cornet because it is smaller and easier for her little hands to hold. She's expressed interest in a flute (piccolo is what Grandpa suggested) but we'll just have to wait and see.

Here is my handsome husband with his sweet Grandma. It's been a rough several years for her, but she is always quick to smile and fun to go visit.

This is what I love about visiting Grandpa Wayne and Grandma E. The great big smiles that they bring to the faces of our little girls. At the end of the evening (Grandpa Wayne joined us at Maddox), Jade climbed up and gave him a big hug and said, "I just love you Grandpa."

Will we swim again this summer?

Last Saturday was possibly the last time we'll go swimming this summer. The girls had a great and relaxing time at the pool. I didn't take many pictures and just enjoyed visiting with my parents and my aunt and uncle while we watched the girls. Some days, the camera just doesn't get to come out as much.

We love when Daddy washes the car

By the time the girls got to play in the water, Spry was done washing the car and waxing it. (It does look beautiful right now- too bad the rain this coming Sunday and Monday will ruin that.) Anyway, the girls like to put on their swimming suits and play with the hose. Here are a few fun pictures of our little Bug playing with the water.


I've been playing around a lot with manual modes on my camera. It's difficult for me because I have been pretty happy with how well my camera does in auto mode. But, I'm learning and messing around with the shutter speed has created some fun action to these pictures.

I love watching Bug when she's happy and having fun. It makes my whole world light up. It's times like this that I beat myself up over going to work every day.

I love the way she can play and play with water and find fun and different things to do with an everyday hose. (That hose is not the one that I broke my foot on).

I realized- after taking several pictures- that I would get better pictures of her if I put her hair back up in a ponytail. So I did. Isn't it cute how it revealed her temporary angel tattoo?