Beach Day

A few weeks ago, Steve's brother, Ryan was in town...so what better to do, than take a trip down memory lane, as long as memory lane includes an afternoon at the beach!  :)

After driving by their old elementary schools and old homes where the boys lived when they were little, we hit up Surf Side Beach and enjoyed every minute of it! 

Ryan's lizard creation!

Cute Olivia's footprints

We even got to watch a storm roll in...quite beautiful!

Road Trip 2011!

We have had many adventures this summer...none of which, I'm sorry to say, have been documented on the blog!  But in an effort to start catching up, here's the latest (and family-record LONGEST) road trip!

We packed up the car and headed to Lake Powell to meet up with all the Smiths.  We took our time going there...checking out the hotels along the way.  This room in Decatur, TX gets the highest rating from the boys...it came equipped with 'light sabers' as they called them...and they jumped and wrestled for a good long while!  :)  Every hotel room after that one was a total let down, according to them!  

By the end, we got pretty good at squeezing the kids in a queen-size bed.  I don't know what we'll do when they get bigger! Oh wait, we'll get them their own room and we'll actually get some sleep ourselves.  Imagine that!!!

We stopped at the Albuquerque Temple on Sunday morning and ate a picnic breakfast and took some family pictures.  :) 

We arrived at Lake Powell and instantly fell in LOVE!  That place was AMAZING and I cannot wait to go back and explore more!  Although, if it entails another 27 hour road-trip...I may be able to hold off for a while!!!

  

We camped right on the lake and spent the majority of our time there either applying sunscreen, playing in the water, eating, riding in (or behind) the boat, AND applying more sunscreen!  Throw in a little cliff-jumping and late-night chats and you have the makings for a perfect family reunion!

We piled into the car again and headed up to Utah to visit with some of the Sudweeks-side and fit in a bit more time with some Smith cousins.  Spent some time at the zoo, playing frisbee golf at a favorite park, hiking the grotto, visiting family and more family and more familiy, bbq-ing and staying up WAY TOO LATE!  Again, the perfect way to spend time with loved ones we rarely get to see!  

(Ethan turned out to be a whiz at frisbee golf...especially since he was throwing left handed!!!)

The trip home was just as long...but packed full!  We swung by a little place called the Grand Canyon.  Caught a sunset and went hiking/walking a bit the next day and experienced the chance of a lifetime.  The Grand Canyon was AMAZING!  I never could have imagined the magnitude and beauty of it!

A quick jaunt through New Mexico where we HAVE to take pictures of Route 66 landmarks - thanks to our obsession with the movie Cars! 

And though we always joke about the best thing about New Mexico is LEAVING it...

they do have some beautiful sunsets, which we were excited to see as we passed through!!!

And then home to Texas...and another 12 hours between us and home!  :)  Yep, it's true...everything is bigger in Texas...even the road-trips.  Luckily though, we stopped to spend some time with friends...and one less night in a hotel was fine by us!  We were spoiled rotten and took off to the Fort Worth Stockyards before heading home the next day.  Cattle drives, human mazes, petting zoos, a real-life (make-believe) gun-fight and we were welcomed back Texas-style!  

Then as we headed home, we stopped to visit Steve's brother, Rob at his hotel.  He was traveling through the area overnight and we were lucky enough to be traveling through the same area at the same time.  After a refreshing dip in the hotel pool and we finally headed home.  

Nevermind that some of the kids are not in their swimsuits!!!  Ethan wasn't supposed to get in due to his cast, and Olivia was sleeping through most of our visit...but once she woke up, there was no taking time to change clothes...she wanted right in!

Rob was Ethan's hero...taking him swimming w/o getting the cast wet!  They created the greatest wave-pools and whirlpools imaginable!!!

And then we were home!!!  As we walked into the house, Ethan declared, "Whoa!  I totally forgot what our house looked like!  I like it here!"  Ah, home sweet home!    

Too hot?

Funny how I changed my dinner plans...all because it just seemed too hot to have my oven on for too long today.  But the idea of making cookies for Garrett and his buddy when they get home from school...not a second thought about that same oven heating up my kitchen!  :)  Apparently my love for chocolate wins out over my air conditioning bill OR my dinner preparations!!!  

That being said, you wouldn't be able to resist either.  They're good.  Real good.

One of the greatest things about staying in Utah for a few extra years to get a Masters Degree out of the way for Steve, was the fact that we got to live minutes away from my little sister.  (My baby sister came to UT after we had left...so we missed out on the fun with her...sorry Dawnia!!!)  But it was so fun to have Dana close by...and NOT just because she passed this cookie recipe on to me, but because we had great times...lots of them!  One day we were dropping baby Garrett off at Dana's apartment, (see I told you it wasn't just for the cookies that I love her...it's the babysitting too!), and she came out with a plate of the best cookies I had ever eaten.  I demanded the recipe and have never looked back.  I even still use the same scrap of paper recipe that she wrote out for me that day...mostly because I love that it's in her handwriting and it makes me think of her the whole time I'm making them!  With my luck, the cookies probably wouldn't turn out as well if I transferred the recipe into my recipe book anyway!!! :)  

But, if YOU want to take your chances and try it from the 'typed' recipe...here you go!  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup butter 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1-2 cups chocolate chips Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together.  Add in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.  Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Add to creamed mixture and mix till combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 9 minutes.

Flashback - Roller Skating Style!

There is a weird phenomenon that when you put roller skates on your feet, you automatically feel as though you've been transported back to 7th grade!  It's crazy!  (Though the hubby and 3 kiddos quickly brought me back to reality!)

Garrett got a pair of roller blades for Christmas and though the constant 24/7 wearing of them in the house and driveway was fun, we just HAD to go break them in at the local skating rink over Christmas break.  

 Ethan  had a blast!!!  Especially with his not-so-rolley-skates, perfect for slow-going around the edges!  

And, Olivia seemed to like the extra-smooth stroller ride!

Fall is here

Fall finally hit our neck of the woods!  I always miss the colors and the mountains in the actual fall season...but with a little patience, we get our own color show here in Texas.  (Of course, I didn't get any pictures until the day AFTER a big windstorm...so most of our colorful leaves were gone!  Oops!!!)  Though I always have to laugh that we live in a place that can have beautiful, colorful trees losing their leaves...and then other trees, a few feet away with blossoms on them!

We decided to reclaim our backyard though...so the boys spent one Saturday morning raking the leaves.  And then spent the rest of the time jumping into them!