July Melange

Here are some random July photos that haven't made it into any other posts. Jason is such a cutie pie. He is nearly always happy and grinning ear to ear. He follows after Parker and his cousin Isabelle in that whenever he gets excited his whole body tenses up, he makes fists and rotates them around. Jason gets so worked up that his little feet are rotating around too. You can kind of see it in this photo. It's pretty entertaining.

One evening our stake had a concert in the park. Jason loved watching Parker and his friend Brandon dance along to the patriotic music.

Jason listened to the latter part of the concert in Daddy's arms.

It didn't rain at the concert, but there were some pretty cool rainbows as we were leaving. The other day Parker decided to paint a crown, or a "king" as he kept calling it. My sister-in-law has inspired me to be a little more creative and take advantage of Printshop. In the last few weeks Jason has started eating Puffs. He seems to like them, but he always makes this funny face while he's eating them. Last week I was able to meet one of my good friends Candice for lunch.

Here's a picture of the kids splashing at Grandma GG's pool on the 24th. We went to my parents and down to Springville to visit more family that day too, but no pictures.

Yesterday Brad and I took the kids to the park. Jason had his first experience on the park swings. He was so excited to be doing what Parker was doing. He loved it!

Well, you would think that with all of those, I would be all caught up, but if you thought that, you'd be wrong. I still have some posts coming about the week my family was in town as soon as I get the pictures.

Well, I hope your month has been as fun as ours!

Cool in the Pool

Yesterday my sister-in-law Jackie came up with her kids to swim at the North Shore pool by our house. Parker and Jason were thrilled that she brought Grandma and Grandpa Pratt along with her.

Isabelle and Parker had a blast on the slides, in the lazy river and crawling around like alligators. Jason and Isaac liked splashing in the shallow water and resting in the shade with Grandpa.

Thanks for coming up! We look forward to going again!

Ride 'Em Cowboys!

On Monday night we went to the Pioneer Days Rodeo for free, thanks to the hookup from Brad's work. We got there for most of the pre-rodeo, so we got to see young kids competing in barrel racing and the Mutton Bustin' which is when tiny kids (they look like they're as young as five) wearing helmets cling to running sheep for dear life. It's actually pretty entertaining. Parker loved watching the skydivers parachute into the stadium too. Parker is really funny. Like most little kids, it's pretty easy to get him worked up, so when the crowd was cheering, he was cheering his little heart out too. Jason was pretty happy the whole time too. Lucky for us our seats were shaded pretty soon after we got there, so it wasn't too hot. We also had a giant snow cone (or Slurpee as Parker called it). I don't have a nice enough camera to get good quality shots of the actual bull and horse riding. It's actually a little stressful for me to go to rodeos, because I'm concerned that the riders might get stepped on or break their backs getting whipped around, but it seems I worried in vain. We all enjoyed watching the dare devils they had doing tricks on their dirt bikes. It's pretty amazing what people can do. This is only a few second clip, but it captures some of the coolest tricks. Jason's hair looks like Alfalfa from Little Rascals in this picture. His hair was in a faux hawk, but his hat flattened it in the front. I'm glad he was content for most of the evening. Jason and Parker especially loved the fireworks at the end. Parker kept saying, "Woah, woah, woaaaah!" after every explosion. It was pretty cute.

I'm glad that we were able to spend the evening together!

Millcreek Picnic

I finally got a few of the pictures from our adventures when my siblings were all in town. After the zoo we went up Millcreek Canyon to have a picnic and make s'mores. Parker, Heidi and Ali loved being up in the mountains, especially throwing leaves in the river with Uncle Pete. Babies Dylan and Jason were mostly content to hang out in their carriers.

There are still more blog posts to come from that week. It was so fun to have everyone in town.

Bunk Beds?

So Parker has been in a "big boy" bed since just before eighteen months old, when he learned to climb out of his crib. First he used a cute toddler bed that we borrowed from our awesome friends. It used his crib mattress and was perfect for a while. For over a year, Parker has slept in a twin mattress, but it was just on the floor. Originally we did that because we didn't have to worry about him falling out. Well, his matress is still on the floor and I've been thinking that I might want to get a bed frame. I'm trying to plan ahead though. At some point in the future, Jason and Parker will surely share. At first I probably won't want bunk beds because Jason might be too little for me to want to have a ladder in his room. I'll definitely want the option, though. So, here's my question: Does anyone have any good ideas on where to buy the kind of bunk beds that also double as regular twin frames? I was thinking of checking out KSL, but let me know your ideas.

Thanks Jax!

My sister-in-law Jackie came up on Tuesday with her kids. It is always so fun to chat and Isabelle and Parker have a great time playing! It won't be long before Isaac and Jason can play together too. The night before Jackie had bought an awesome new camera, so she took a bunch of pictures of the kids to experiment with the settings. Here are some of my favorites:

Thanks for coming up to visit and giving me some great photos! We'll come visit you again soon!

Smiles

Jason is growing up so fast! He turned 7 months old last week on the 2nd. We recently bought him a new booster seat so that he can sit with us at the table. He LOVES it! He'll play with the toys while I'm cooking dinner and anytime I look over he gives me a giant grin. Now he has three- nearly six teeth. This close-up shows off his newest teeth. We tried some of Parker's beans on Sunday. He was so excited to try them he gobbled one up. When I asked him if he wanted another he said, "No, you can eat it Mom. I think they're yucky." It seems he doesn't care for lima beans, but he still is pretty proud that his little seed has grown so well. Parker is so funny! He's watching me post and singing a little song, "Beans, beans, yummy beans!" Despite the song, he wouldn't eat a lima bean if he had one. Maybe he's referring to black beans!

Reunion Preview

I don't have access to the pictures quite yet, but we had a fantastic Aldous reunion the first few days of this month. Here is a photo of most of the girl cousins at my grandma's that I stole from my cousin's facebook profile. We've got a pretty good-lookin' family, huh? Anyway, hopefully I can get some good photos up soon.

Fun at the Zoo

This last week all of my siblings were in town and we were able to do a lot of fun things with the family. On Tuesday we went to Hogle Zoo. We hadn't been since last summer, so Parker was nearly beside himself with excitement.

Unfortunately I didn't get one of all of us together, but we had a fabulous time!

Recipe Help!

I need more really good recipes! I have some that we love, but only a couple of weeks worth of really good ones. I try out a new one at least every other week, but only some of those end up being worth repeating. I feel like we're stuck in a rut and I am a person that likes variety. If you have any great recipes, please share! Because many of you may be in the same boat, here are a few of our favorites.

Slow-Cooker Barbeque Chicken
1 lb. chicken breasts or tenders
1 10 3/4 oz. cans tomato soup
3/4 c. onion, chopped
1/4 c. white vinegar
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. basil

Place chicken in crockpot. Combine all remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Cream Cheese Chicken
1 lb. chicken breasts or tenders
1 pkg. Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
2 10 3/4 oz. cans cream of chicken soup

Place chicken in crockpot. Pour dressing mix on top. Bake on low for 5-6 hours. Put cream cheese in crockpot and stir until creamy. (This stirring shreds the chicken.) Stir in the soup. Serve over rice.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
2 cups sour cream 10 corn tortillas (the small size)
3 cups chopped chicken 2 cups shredded fiesta or Mexican blend cheese

Combine: soups, onion, chiles, sour cream, chicken and cheese. Cut tortillas in fourths. Layer: 1/2 tortillas, half chicken and cheese mixture and repeat. Cover with foil and bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover (top with more cheese if desired) and bake a additional 10 minutes.

Simply Delicious Salsa (This isn't a main course, but it is irrisistibly good!) 1 pkg. Good Seasons Italian dressing mix prepared with oil & vinegar according to package instructions (I do the low oil directions)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
3 tomatoes diced or 2 cans petite diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
2 avocados, diced

Mix dressing, stir in everything but avocado. Mix in avocado just before serving.

Hope you enjoy these and please share some with me!