October

This October we were able to take a fun trip to St. George with Joels brother and sister and her family. We went biking and swimming at Sand Hollow. It's amazing that you can go down to St. George at the end of October and enjoy such warm weather and go to the lake. We love our trips to warm weather. Can't wait to go again soon!!





We also celebrated Kaleb's 7th birthday on the 24th. I can't believe how fast Kaleb is growing up. He'll be baptized in less than a year!! We love having Kaleb in our family. He loves to draw, read, play with friends, build with his legos and occasionally you can catch him doing some sweet dance moves. He is such a great older brother. He really watches out for his baby sister. He recently learned how to ride his bike on 2 wheels, which is way exciting! We hope to do more riding when the weather warms up. We love you so much Kaleb. Thanks for being such a fun and awesome brother and son.




For Halloween this year, we had some of my family over for a Halloween party. We had some fun foods and played games and carved pumpkins. We went trick or treating with our neighbors and enjoyed spending time with them.


A not so happy bunny.

All the grandkids on the Harmon side (Brayden, Avree, Tayler, & Kaleb)

10 Years BABY!!!

So this September, Joel and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I can't believe it's been 10 years already. Kind of crazy. We were able to take a trip to Lake Tahoe and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery. We stayed at a beautiful condo on the top of the mountain. We brought along our bikes and rode to the beach and relaxed. We went on a boat ride to Emerald Bay. The water at Lake Tahoe is amazingly clear. So beautiful. I think this time of year was great because it wasn't crowded at all. I can see how the summer would be very busy. We drove around the lake and saw some beautiful homes and sailboats and amazing views. It was a very relaxing trip which was wonderful. I'm so grateful to have spent the last 10 years with my best friend. We have come a long way with raising 3 children. Joel is such a wonderful father and husband. Thanks hunny for the last 10 years. They've been amazing. I love you so much. Here's to 50 more!!

Joel relaxing watching football. It was a long drive.

Waiting for the paddle boat. Notice the guy on the bike. (nice hair)

Paddle boat.

Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay

Our condo.

Nevada beach

So clear

That says 10 years.

2011 Summer fun!

So It's been waaayyy too long since I've updated our blog. So I'm going to quickly cover a few months at a time. This summer we were able to meet Joels' sister and her hubby in Blanding, Utah for the 4th of July. First time for us. We camped out and went swimming at the lake nearby then drove high up the mountain to find a cooler camping spot. We brought along our rhino for some fun. We really tested out the rhino on some crazy rides, where we stalled in the middle of a jungle. Seriously, it was kind of scary. But thankfully we were able to give the rhino some time and it decided to start so we could head back to camp. We were able to enjoy a beautiful view of Blanding city's fire works. So close in fact, the ashes were falling on top of us. I ended up in the car with the kids, cuz we were scared. It was a pretty adventurous trip to Blanding, 2 flat tires on the way down, poopy diapers, lots of bugs on our rides. But it was all worth it.




Treasure hunt provided by Grandmas.

The Jungle we got stranded in.

Many times this summer we were able to pull out the slip n slide. The kids and neighbors all enjoyed this fun activity. We even had people stop by to see if they could borrow it. Strangers! It made for some fun neighbor activities.



I also took the kids this summer to Liberty Park to play in the water. This is the first time I've been to Liberty park since I was a kid. It sure has changed a lot. The kids had such a blast. And the best part was it was free!! I highly recommend doing this activity with your kids. They have streams and waterfalls for them to play in.

Avree and her friend Talyn.



Tayler loved the water.

Zucchini anyone?

I don't know about you, but I'm overloaded with zucchini this year from my garden. I'm always trying to find recipes to use them. I usually just cut them up and fry or make bread/muffins. Well this recipe is a favorite of mine. It's a family recipe. It's zucchini casserole. It has the best flavor and I used 4 zucchinis. Nice!! So if you are looking for something to try and use your zucchini, I highly recommend this recipe. Let me know if you do and how much you enjoyed it.
Zucchini Casserole
4 medium zucchinis-sliced
3/4 c. carrots-sliced
Water, salted
1/2 c. chopped onions
6 T. butter
2 1/4 c. stuffing
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. sour cream
In a medium pan, put zucchini and carrots in enough boiling, salted water to cover them. Cover and simmer about 15 min., until veggies are tender. Drain. In large pan, saute onion in 4 T. of butter until tender. Stir in 1 1/2 c. of stuffing, cream of chicken, and sour cream. Mix. Stir in veggies. Lightly butter casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Mix butter and leftover stuffing and sprinkle on top. Bake another 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!!

Tayler turns a year!!

Wow!! I can't believe our baby turned 1 this year. She has been such a fun little girl. She was born June 30th, 2010 and wieghed 7 lbs. 4 oz. 19 1/2 in. She's been such a great baby for us. She's been very content in just staying where she is. Yes, that's right, my one year old does not crawl. However she does bum scoot. Not too worried yet, but I'm going to give her some more time. She loves to walk around while holding your hands, so that gives me hope. Some of her favorite foods are strawberries, grapes, and peaches. She can say mamma, dadda, hi, bye bye, nigh nigh, and bampa (grandmpa). She is so rolly polly and squishy, I can't imagine how many kisses she gets a day from her mom and dad. For her birthday we had a jungle themed party. I made a monkey cake, which she immediately grabbed the ear and dug in before we could sing to her. We celebrated with family and were so grateful for all who came to show there love for our sweet little girl. WE love you so much Tayler. You bring so much joy to our family and can't wait for more fun to come.



Donut ear that she devoured!


Yum yum!!

I'm pretty proud of this.

This is a snake that our neighbors found in their yard. Gross!! That's huge!!

Fishing at Utah Lake

So since we've lived her for 7 years we for sure go to the lake a lot for boating. However we've never just taken the kids down to the harbor to fish. So back in June we took the kids to our backyard to dig for bait, aka worms. They thought that was really cool to find big worms in our own backyard. We drove down to the marina and walked out on the harbor to fish. Unfortunately we didn't catch much. Joel got one catch, but lost it. Oh well, it's not like we were planning on keeping it for dinner. Overall the kids had fun just hanging out by the lake. I sure hope one day they make a nice beach down there. That would be awesome. But alas, it is Utah Lake. So not the nicest lake. But it's our lake and we love the view from here!!

Kaleb's turn to fish

Tayler just hang'n out with mom.

Avree's turn to fish.

Preschool and Kindergarten graduation

At the first of June, Kaleb and Avree both had their school graduations. Avree graduated from her 3 year old preschool class with her favorite, Mrs. Kelly! She absolutely loves school. They sang songs that they've learned through out the year, including Avree's favorite, Hannah had the Hiccups. Kaleb had his kindergarten graduation as well. He really enjoyed school this year. He had a great teacher, Mrs. Ray. He learned so much and made so many friends. His favorite part of the day is riding home from school on the bus and walking home. I think it makes him feel big and NO one is there to tell him what to do. They also sang a few songs and recited fairy tales and acted them out. Here are some pics of their graduation day!!







Hannah had the hiccups song

Months of the year song