Sunday, September 16, 2012

July 2012

Josh decided to try an experiment this year.  He had heard that if you stack a few tires and fill them with dirt, it is a good place to grow potatoes.  So he planted a bunch of potatoes and they grew!  When it was time to harvest them however, we only got four teeny tiny potatoes not even worth eating.  :)  All four fit in the palm of your hand.  Oh well!  It was a fun experience.  



For the Fourth of July this year we did something a little different and got tickets to the Stadium of Fire.  We hadn't ever been before.  One of the singers performing was Scotty McCreery who Josh and I watched on American Idol.  He was my favorite all the way through the competition, so it was fun to see him perform in real life.  The Beach Boys were also there, and they are always fun.  The kids had fun at their first concert and the fireworks at the end were SO cool!


All summer long Bryce kept saying, "I want to go to school."  He loves school so much and missed it.  He didn't understand why he didn't get to keep going once it ended for the year.  One day he got his backpack on and was sure wishing he could go!

A

One summer day we all needed to get out of the house, so we took a drive up to Provo, grabbed some food and went to a little park (well a big lawn), next to the Temple.  We just sat and played and ate our dinner.  It was so nice.


 Quinn and Bryce had fun running around on the grass.  Bryce kept taking off toward this soccer game a group of guys were playing and Isaac and Parker would chase him off and bring him back.


After we ate our dinner we took a walk up to the Temple.

Parker wanted me to take his picture by this tree. :)

The flowers are always so pretty at the temple.
 

After our walk the boys talked Josh into a game of tag 
before we went home.


Pioneer Day is always fun in our town because the town's festival (Fiesta Days) coincides with it.  We went to the festival, walked through the booths, and did a couple of carnival rides.  On the 24th we went to the Grand Parade which is always fun.  Since we didn't do any fireworks for the Fourth of July, we got some for Pioneer Day.
Sparklers are always a favorite.



This was cute.  Isaac was walking around with his 
sparkler, and Bryce and Quinn were following him 
all over like a little train. :)


Parker helped Quinn do a sparkler.  He thought it was pretty fun!

Harry Potter wizard duel with sparklers. 
(Can you tell what Isaac has been into lately)

This year Josh decided to try out a couple of 
aerial fireworks.  I decided it is more fun to watch the
neighbors do them so they are not quite so close!
They were fun to try though.

Our garden this year didn't do as well as we had hoped.  Mostly we
were just extremely overwhelmed with weeds and didn't have the time
we needed to take care of them.  We did end up with some produce, though 
not as much as we had hoped.

This is a new lettuce I tried called Tom Thumb lettuce.  It was fun!
It makes a tiny little head.  Too bad only one of them grew!


 This was probably my favorite this year.  Albino beets.
We got quite a few of these and they were really yummy.
We grew some regular red beets too.

Our little peach tree that we planted made some peaches this year.
They were so heavy and the tree so little that it drooped over at one point.
Later we found out that we should have picked them off and not
let them grow until the tree is stronger.  Now we know!

We got a cabbage or two!

Sadly, this is about the extend of our tomato production.  
They did not do well this year at all!

Another fun thing we grew this year were dragon egg cucumbers.
They produced really well and we've been getting lots all summer.
I'm not a cucumber fan, but I liked these a lot better.  

Josh is in the Elders Quorum presidency at church and they were put in charge of
the ward campout.  One of the campout activities was a Cupcake War (Hmm...wonder where they got that idea? :) )

I recreated my brownie cheesecake cupcakes for the campout and I won 2nd place.

We camped at a campground at the base of Spanish Fork Canyon.  It had a little playground.
Quinn sure had fun playing there!

Bryce too.

Josh tossed lots of footballs and frisbees with the
other guys in the ward.  (that's him with his leg kicked
up in a throw)
 
The volleyball court was used as a giant 
sandbox.  The kids played and played in there.

Isaac getting a drink at the fountain.

And here's our tent.  

This little guy hitched a ride home with us!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

June: Cupcake Wars, Sandbox, and Monkey Joe's

The week after we got back from Hawaii, Josh's parents came up, so we all got together with them and Josh's sister & her family and had a "Cupcake Wars" at our house.  We all made cupcakes and had a contest for best taste, appearance, etc.  It was a lot of fun!  We had some pretty cool cupcakes. :)

Parker made root bear float cupcakes with whipped cream, cherries & straws.
I made brownie cheesecake cupcakes with cheesecake flavored whipped cream & chocolate flowers on top.
Grandma Chappell made two kinds:  chocolate peanut butter, and a layered tropical cheesecake cupcake.

Grandpa Chappell made two kinds:  Jalapeno cupcakes, and Red Hot cupcakes.
Josh made "Xango" cupcakes with real Xango juice in them and topped with a piece of mangosteen fruit.
Josh's niece Ivey made raspberry vanilla cupcakes with a raspberry filling (I think that's what it was!)

Josh's other niece, Kenya made a vanilla cupcake topped with peanut butter, strawberries and chocolate.
His nephew Luke made apple cinnamon cupcakes topped with a cinnamon stick.

Quinn loves playing outside while Josh and I work in the garden!

On this day we found him getting into the flour (and diapers) in the pantry! :)

Aunt Cammie and her girls came over to visit one day.  Quinn kept taking Briley's binky out and putting it back in.  I don't think she was too happy about that. :)

We got a new kitty in June!  He's a little black kitty and he's been so patient with Bryce and Quinn who love to pack him around.  Quinn was having fun playing with him with a string.

We got the supplies and build a sandbox for the kids in the backyard.  This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, so we were happy to finally get around to do ing it!

Our neighbor was able to get us a good deal on sand, and let us borrow his truck to bring the sand in.



The kids have had so much fun with the sandbox.  They have just played and played in it.  Quinn has especially loved it.

Cammie and the girls were over again.  Briley fell asleep at her mama's feet. :)  Too cute.

The last weekend in June my mom and sister came up for a visit.  We all got together with Cammie and did some shopping (well they did, I tagged along) and some other activities.

The kids ready to eat at the crepe restaurant.

One of the days we took the kids up north to Monkey Joe's.  It has a bunch of different rides for kids.

Everyone on the swings.

Quinn just loved this spinning ride.  Each little car would spin around as it went around.



Bumper cars!

Rocket ride:




Jungle safari ride.

This was a little mini roller coaster.

At the mall, the Aunts dared Parker to wear this fake mustache around.  He did it! :)