Park Leaves

The park right by our house has the best trees that drop their leaves all within a week and usually in early October. I noticed Fall was about 2 weeks late this year, I'm thinking that's because of all the rain in June that those leaves held on a little longer. Yes, I'm a dork and keep track of exactly when leaves fall and other gardening things that occur.

Well Logan had been shut in too long so we went down and played in the leaves. No the leaves on our big trees don't usually fall till late November-early December. Uggh. Not sure what Logan's doing in this first picture. I'm betting he just got done picking his nose or something.

He's such a funny guy right now. His vocabulary is growing every day. I just laugh because you never know what is going to come out of that mouth.

Also someone commented that I got good photos of him at the pumpkin patch. I didn't really. 90% of them are of his back side because he's always running away, I just happened to get two that were somewhat of his face. You have to be very very quick.

I love that these trees just drop all their leaves all at once so there is just tons and tons of leaves everywhere.

Uncle and Aunt Photos

My Uncle and Aunt came down from Idaho to go to Lagoon and get some updated photos for their adoption profile. No pressure or anything since it's only the photo that birth parents look at when making the initial selection process. Yikes. So we went to the park behind Lagoon to take photos and we kept thinking the rain would let up. Nope, it just dumped the entire time. Tad was great and came with me so he could hold the umbrella and then hurry and take it away while I'd take a shot then hand it back.

It was fun to visit with them and I just hope they get a baby real soon.

Surprise Brek!

Saturday we had a surprise pampering party for Brek. She's expecting her 3rd boy. I knew that Brek hasn't been enjoying being pregnant so much (who does?), so we planned a fun day for her.

Well I'm not a spa type person so I couldn't figure out what to do. Brittany was in charge of planning the menu since her food is always amazing. She made her taco soup. I made preggatinis. For the recipe go here.

Everyone was teasing me because everything I do right now comes from a blog. It's totally true. Part of the reason I wanted to do this shower was so I could do some decorations. Right now I'm totally into pennant garlands and tissue paper pom poms. Right now if you look at any party/wedding blogs you'll find them there.

So for these ideas I'll just give you links to two of my favorite blogs that I check daily.

Style Me Pretty

Hostess with the Mostess

Then I threw together these gift bags that I saw on Flickr from one of my favorite scrapbookers, Tara Anderson. She seriously does the most amazing paper flowers ever. Here is a link to her adorable gift bags or check out her blog for more amazing ideas - the pink couch.We also did glitter toes. No I'm not going to give you a shot of feet, that's gross. This idea I first got from Aisha. Then I saw instructions posted on one of my favorite blogs that I began checking out for YW stuff but now read every day just because the writer is so creative. So for instructions on glitter toes go here. Oh and I so wasn't going to post this picture but it's the only one I have of people. Don't hate. We also made Heather Bailey Fabric Flowers. I read her site all the time but I found out from her site she was on Studio 5 and that is where I took her fabric flower tutorial. So there you go, those are all the details for the shower, I'm not creative at all I just look at too many blogs.

Now I have to go because I need to get back to my Mr. Darcy.

Lucky Pumpkins

Well I now feel safe talking about this. The day that we left for Florida, I was checking my usual blogs and when I got to my favorite Utah blog, Your Heart Out. I noticed I had won their drawing. Now this isn't just a little prize, this is a spot at Spark Event. My favorite scrapbooker will be there, Elizabeth Kartchner. I'm so excited because there is no way I could have afforded to go. I'm so excited. They finally contacted me this week so now I feel safe to talk about it.

Since I can't post without a picture here are some photos from our recent trip to the pumpkin patch. We went up to Pack Farms. Logan went around saying pumpkin (said in your most hillbilly voice). Thank you Elmo for teaching him to say it like that.

Beach Photos

While we were in Florida I had the opportunity to take pictures of Teisha's family. I'm posting these in case there is one person out there who didn't see them on Teisha's site.

There is a photographer that I follow who takes amazing beach photos. After taking these photos I'm almost convinced that it's impossible to take bad pictures at the beach. I loved how all of their photos turned out. It might just be the subjects because I've taken lots of photos of A&A and they just don't take bad photos. How perfect was this background, a boat on the side, lifeguard station and lone palm tree. Loved the pier in the background for Aidan's photos. I even liked some photos that we were in so maybe it is just the beach location that gives you great pictures.

Greek Souvlaki

I'm sure I've said this on here before but I could eat a Greek salad for lunch every day if I had to. I love them. Here is a photo of the one from Crown Burger. It's so good and I probably

have it at least once a week.

Another place that has really good Greek is Greek Souvlaki No. 1. This is just half of their Chicken Souvlaki Plate. Aisha and I like to go there and then split the plate.

So I've been trying to find the perfect souvlaki recipe so I can just pack my own salad (that and I also have a brick of 2 1/2 lbs. of feta in my fridge). So here is a recipe I found that was really good. I found it here - I just modified it because most recipes call for less olive oil.

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 T red wine vinegar

1 T finely minced garlic (or garlic puree from a jar)

1 T dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

Trim all visible fat from chicken breasts. Then cut chicken breasts into strips. Combine all marinade ingredients and place in either a ziplock bag or airtight container. Add chicken to marinade. Make sure all chicken gets coated with marinade and store in the fridge for at least 8 hours.

Remove chicken from marinade and thread onto skewers (we were really lazy and just cooked them directly on the grill). Then eat. If you want more detailed instructions check the link I posted above.

Florida

So last week we went to visit Teisha because we were worried she was living so far away from home and we had to check on her living conditions. Well I'm here to report that they are good. So good that I don't know why she'd ever move back to Utah. Well other than the unbearable heat we had while we were there and the fact that there isn't skiing it was complete paradise.

So here is part of the splash pad that is part of their clubhouse. Logan liked it best when all the water was turned off. This photo is blurry but it gives you an idea of how huge the pool is. Plus there is a restaurant right off of the pool so if you need your fruity drink with the umbrella in it while you are swimming, no problem. Yes, Teisha has it very rough.

Well if you don't want to slum it at Teisha's pool you just drive 5 minutes and you are at the beach. I didn't know what Logan would think of the beach since he sometimes has issues with sand in his toes. Well he absolutely loved it. The first time we went to the beach we didn't plan on getting in the water but it wasn't long till he was in his diaper and completely in the water. He loved it.

Then here we all are in the ocean. Yep that's me in a swimsuit. That's all your getting folks, you actually should be grateful.

On Saturday we went to one of Aidan's soccer games. I came this close to going to DCFS because it just seemed cruel to be playing soccer in such heat. Teisha bribed me by taking us to Rapids Water Park after. There were the scariest water slides there. Tad learned what it truly feels like to be flushed down the toilet on one slide. Below is a video of one of the slides we went on that I seriously thought I was going to die. This isn't us but right before that is a huge drop straight down before you go into the funnel. I went down it backwards and I so wanted to murder Addy and Tad. My screaming and look of fear kept them entertained. They also have this same slide but the entire thing is in the dark.

We also spent two days up at the Mouse's house. Logan was such a trooper because the morning we were to go up to WDW he had a fever. When we got home we found out it was strep but he was such a good boy. Aidan got picked at the Jedi Academy and you can see that post here. I think Tad was a little jealous about that. Logan doesn't really know any of the Disney characters but he loved the Winnie the Pooh ride and the Muppet's movie because he knows those guys. He also enjoyed watching HSM3 over and over while the big kids rode roller coasters. One of the coolest things I thought we did was go to the Lion Safari. It's like a zoo where you drive through. I've been through a couple of these but this one I thought had the coolest animals and so many of them. My favorite was the zebras. Also you could hand feed the giraffes.

So if you know Teisha at all I'd totally take advantage of whatever friendship you have with her and head out to Florida. Our trip was amazing and I want to go back again. I so miss the beach and hearing Logan yell for Aidan all day.

Movie Recommendations

So I've watched a couple of movies that aren't main stream and I've enjoyed them so I'm passing them along.

Under the Greenwood Tree - The first one is one that if you love BBC shows you'll love this. I'll say the storyline is super simple but I still loved it.

My Sassy Girl - I'll totally admit I got this just for the leading guy but I really enjoyed it and so did Tad. Also I have to warn you, the whole 3/4 of the movie you'll be thinking this girl is just horrible, why am I watching this show but just finish watching it, it's all good.

Martian Child - I watched this the other night and it so so cute. It's got John Cusack so enough said. Tad wasn't there or I know he would have liked it too. I'm renting it again so he can watch it.

Flourless Chocolate Mousse

This is a recipe from our caterer's. It is seriously the best dessert.

Make a graham cracker crust. The pieces the caterer serves are huge, so I bet if you used just a regular size pie tin, it would make two.

2 lbs. semisweet chocolate

1 qt. cream

some cayenne pepper

1-2 cinnamon sticks

Put the cream in a pan with the cayenne pepper and cinnamon sticks. Let it boil like it's going to boil over. After it's boiled turn off the heat and take out the cinnamon sticks. Add the chocolate and whisk it till it's melted.

Pour into graham cracker crust and you've got a really yummy dessert.

The photo has crumbs all over the top because the co-worker dishing it up kind of crumbled the crust. Also not the best photo because it's at work with my little camera.

Biking with the YW

It's been awhile since I've posted an activity we've done with the YW so I better post something. Lindsay (back row on very left) has been distraught that she hasn't graced my blog in awhile. This was my favorite YW activity we did this Summer. It involved two of my favorite things this summer - Legacy Parkway and biking.

We went down to Bountiful Pond with Logan and they have metal garbage cans. Logan would go over to the cans and try to look in yelling, "Oscar!" It took us a minutte to figure it out.