I have passed by the same sign for "You Pick Raspberries" for years.  I've always thought it would be fun, but figured the raspberry season had passed and someone just hadn't taken down the sign.

My cute neighbor brought Gibson a fresh raspberry shake the other night when he wasn't feeling well. She mentioned that she had went and picked fresh raspberries at this same raspberry patch I've driven by and dismissed for years.

At our first chance, Easton, Creed and I went and picked 3+ pounds of fresh raspberries. It was a lot of fun. Mr. McBride was adorable and gave Easton his own little bucket. They also give you a string so you can tie the bucket around your waist and pick away with two hands. 

Rows and rows of raspberries were all ours for the picking and we went through and picked the best ones! Apparently, in our neck of the woods, Fall berries is what is planted and now is the perfect time for picking! They'll be growing strong until our first frost which hopefully is mid October.

Easton was so proud of his pickings and I was happy to spend some time with him.  Not sure if it's his personality, his age or exactly what but Easton gets down on himself a lot. When he doesn't get his way or when he gets into trouble he's always saying "I hate myself" or "I'm a bad boy".  Jared and I are always trying to boost up his self esteem and remind him that he is a Child of God and how much we love him.

We've also tried to spend some quality one on one time with him reminding him that just because he's the middle child, he's not forgotten.

Raspberry picking was a perfect time for us. Creed spent all but 5 minutes asleep in the car, so Easton and I picked and talked and of course, ate raspberries!

Creed woke up as I was getting my wallet out of the car to pay Mr. McBride.  He immediately went to the raspberry patch and caught on. His didn't make it home or even to the scale. As you can see by his face, he enjoyed the raspberries!

I love finding little treasures like McBride Raspberry Patch just a few miles from our home.  We love supporting locals and supporting local fruit growers AND having a fun experience is a perfect combination in my book!

Moab!

My oldest brother Jason and his family live in Moab. They seem to come up all the time but we rarely get down to see them for one reason or another.

My sister Chana and I decided to be spontaneous and visit Moab for less than 48 hours. We had a lot of fun!

The cousins played all afternoon and once my brother got home from work we decided to head out to Ken's Lake to try out his new paddle boards. When we left my brother's house, it was 101 degrees. Ken's Lake is about 20 minutes away. By the time we got there, it was 70 degrees and raining like crazy! It was the craziest weather ever. We hung out for about 30 minutes waiting for the rain to die down and the wind to stop blowing but it didn't. Easton was the only one in our car brave enough to get out and go for a quick swim. Eventually we loaded him in and we decided to go to the indoor rec center instead which was the highlight of the trip for my boys.


The rec center had a twirly slide, a high dive and a shallow end so everyone was happy. We lasted a few hours and only left because they closed! Remind me again why my town doesn't have a rec center. {grrr}



Creed started to come down with a cold while we were there. He wasn't feeling too well and was ready to call it a day!
Addie is looking through her camera to take her own picture of me taking a picture of her. Too cute!

The next morning we woke up to light sprinkles and perfect temperatures. We loaded up the kids and headed for Arches National Park. We enjoyed the amazing scenery that Arches has to offer and unloaded the kids for a few stops.


I believe this was Window Arches. Quick walk up to the arches that overlook more National Park.

This was the best stop we made. Sand Dune Arch I believe. Next time, I'll hike in with a lawn chair, a good book and some sand toys. The kids had a hard time leaving this spot. It was perfect sand, tons of shade and because of the rain, it was perfect packing sand and the kids loved it.

We got home from Arches, hung out until dinner and then hit the road to come home. It was a quick trip but so much fun! Thanks Jason and Jen for letting me and the boys {Chana too} invade your home for those quick 36 hours. The boys can't wait to make that trip again.

Jared is a year older....

Happy Birthday darling. 36 today! Wow! I'm sure glad that since we're both going to get older whether we like it or not, at least we're doing it together.

Your boys and I would like to wish you a very, very Happy Birthday. Thank you for being such a great example in all you do. You are an amazing father and husband and such a hard worker. Thank you for providing for us. Thank you for being there for us and for all you do each and every day.

We love you!

Cousins, cousins, oh my...

For the past ten days, we've had eight extra house guests. My boys have been in cousin heaven! Each of them had a cousin close to their age and from the moment they woke up to the moment the cousins were shuffled to the basement, it was all about cousins.

The TV was rarely on. We only let them play the Wii once, maybe twice. They kept themselves entertained by playing pretend, basketball, a box of sidewalk chalk and riding bikes and scooters.

We fed ourselves into a near coma. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert and popsicles. Repeated 10 days. Paper plates became my friend as did my crockpot, Little Caesars and leftovers.

Some days the cousins went to explore the surroundings and we waited patiently for their return. Other days, we joined them. The pool, Hiking the Y, going to the park, the movie, etc.

We loved having them here {along with 11 other cousins from Texas and Alabama who were staying at my moms}. I have intentions to blog about all our adventures but first I must catch up on the laundry, clean the bathrooms, wipe smudges off windows, walls and chairs and shamefully, catch up with my DVR.

I must say, this summer is going so fast!

I might as well have put on a cape this morning, I was that super!

It's the simple things in my kids eyes that keep me great and for that I am thankful.

As my groggy 6 year old schlumpped out into the family room, head low, rubbing his eyes- he instantly stopped. Lifted his head and sniffed.

BANANA BREAD he yelled as he ran into the kitchen where I stood. He looked at me with the sun shining through my bed tasseled hair and my super cape on {I'm sure that's what he saw} and hugged my waist.

Yup, for the simple gesture of using up my old, ripened bananas, I got a superheroes welcome!

I tried a new recipe from House of Smiths, buttermilk banana bread.

So here's the ugly truth. I didn't love the recipe. SSHHHH, don't tell House of Smiths. It was good but not great.

I would much rather eat this recipe from Allrecipes. Simple, basic and lots of bananas giving it a fabulous banana taste.

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed bananas

Mix together dry ingredients and wet ingredients and then stir them together. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar and bake 350 until done! {I use mini loaf pans so they cook faster than the one large pan that the recipe calls for.}

Try them and let me know what you think!

My day in laundry

This is what happens when the laundry is neglected for a few days. All clean, waiting to be folded and put away. The beautiful weekend we had, had a hand in that. Who wanted to be inside doing laundry when the sun was shining and yard work awaited? Not me! The yard work obviously won out.

Good for me, it rained ALL DAY LONG today so I was able to stay inside {guilt free} and do a few things that had been neglected for so long!

This is what happens when you have 3 growing boys, a few years apart. They grow fast and clothes must be sorted and organized into bins for the next child. Gotta love hand me downs! I've gotten rid of TONS and only kept the best of the best but still, these boys need to stop growing!



The sorting and organizing is complete! I do love hand me downs, I found some great shoes I had forgotten about that both Creed and Easton can now wear and I am reminded of what stuff I have and what stuff I need so as I start shopping sales, I can "try" and stay focused and only buy what they need!

Yeah! Sorting is done for another season!

The day after I wrote my last blog entry, I woke up to a text from my mom telling me my sister Chana, 23 1/2 weeks pregnant had gone to the hospital because of bleeding and cramping.

I didn't think much of it. I thought she might be put on bed rest or maybe she was being overly cautious, I said a little prayer for her and waited.

I received a text a short time later that said "Chana had baby."

I started crying and stopped about three weeks later. The month of April was an emotional one, one that I need to blog about in it's entirety, but for now, I want to link to a photographer named Holly Brimhall who took some beautiful pictures of baby Freddie, 3 days before he passed away.

You can read it here.

I was able to fly to Phoenix for a day {literally} and be there to meet and say goodbye to Freddie. I have never cried so much and so hard in my life. It was an emotional week of ups and downs but after he passed away there was an absolute peace in the room. We all knew that Freddie's purpose on earth had been fulfilled. His earthly mission was complete and because of the knowledge of eternal families that I have, I know that Chana and Fred will see Freddie again and be able to raise him in the eternities.

My sweet and strong sister has also been blogging her story. It starts here.

The healing has begun and for all of us. We are so grateful for the photographers who donated their time and talents to photograph our Freddie as he lived, and after he passed. Those pictures will be a constant reminder of the life we need to live so that we can be with Freddie again.