Zucchini

I ignored the garden for about a week. When Randy finally did go out to check on it he pulled out four massive zucchinis. We have had zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, zucchini brownies (my personal favorite way to eat the squash), grilled zucchini, steamed zucchini, and sauted zucchini. I have also frozen some zucchini so we can enjoy it in the winter, I love it in soup. Tonight we are having zucchini stir fry for dinner. I have a recipe for zucchini cobbler I want to try, but I am a little scared, I don't know if we will like it. I guess if we don't all I am out is some zucchini, which I have more than enough of right now. Does anyone want some? We would be happy to share.

I'm loosing my hair!

This is not the first time this has happened to me, and I have been expecting it to happen for a couple of months, but it is still distressing when you start pulling handfuls of hair out of your head every time you shampoo. For nearly nine months I did not loose any hair, some strange side effect of pregnancy. Now the postpartum hair loss has begun. I was getting used to my thick head of hair, and I was starting to think I might keep it this time. Oh well, the one consolation is when I see gray hairs in with the rest. Worse than loosing my hair is going gray before I am even 30. Oh the things having children does to our bodies.

On a happier note, thanks to Weight Watchers and breastfeeding, I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I should be back in my skinny pants before Labor Day. Yeah!

A Vega Cousin

My kids are no longer my parents only grandchildren. Early this morning, at 3:45 am, my brother Aaron's wife Sophia gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. They named him Samuel Hosea Vega, after my dad and Sophia's brother. He is so cute, with lots of black hair and big brown eyes. He is a big boy too, he weighted 8 lbs. 7 oz. I have lots of nephews and nieces on Randy's side. When I joined the Wardle family there were only 3 grandchildren, and now there are 16, so I have been around for lots of births, but this one is special for me. This is my brother's baby, my flesh and blood nephew. It is fun to see how he looks similar to my kids, especially Nathan, my darkest baby, but he also has some distinct features that come from Sophia's family. I think Aaron and Sophia are going to make great parents. I am so excited for them and I wish them the best of luck.

Town Days

We had a fun filled day on Saturday. It was Herriman Town Days. I love Herriman Town Days, it has become one of my favorite summer traditions. I don't remember anything like this in any of the places I lived growing up. I don't know if that is because town days aren't done in other parts of the country, or because my family didn't participate. But I do know that town days are a big part of summer in Utah. I think Utahans are very proud of their heritage. I mean, we even have a special holiday celebrating our state, Pioneer Day. Here is a list of some of my favorite things about town days.

• The parade- complete with motorcycle cops riding in formation, fire trucks, political candidates, the high school band, beauty queens, dance and martial arts studios, and anyone else who wants to attract the attention of a large audience, and who is willing to throw out bucketfuls of candy to excited kids. Jacob started chanting, "Throw more candy, throw more candy."
• The sweltering heat- Randy realized that he has become his mother when he started spraying our kids with a water bottle. You can't go to town days without one.
• Kid rides at the park- pony rides, the homemade train pulled by a tractor, rides that spin you around and around and make your kids sick (surprisingly mine did fine), bounce house, inflatable slide.
  
• Booths- we always have neighbors trying to sell their crafty things. It is fun to stop and chat.
• Free concerts- this year my brother-in-laws jazz band played. My kids loved it. There was also some country singer who I had never heard of, he talked too much, but he was okay.
• My favorite part of town days- Fireworks. Laying on my back on the grass with my family all around me watching the spectacular fireworks and listening to patriotic music.
  

Waiting for the Parade to start

In between the town day festivities we did another fun activity. Randy's friend from work, Dave, invited us to go sailing on his boat on the Great Salt Lake. Randy's sister Kristin and her family came with us. Overall it was a fun experience, I am glad we went. The boat was a little buggy, apparently spiders make their home on boats docked at the Salt Lake. They probably like to eat the little tiny brine flies that live around the lake. The bugs didn't bother me too much though. It was a nice boat with a little cabin underneath where I was able to keep Adam. It was hard to enjoy the ride as much as I could have when I was taking care of my kids and feeling a little sea sick. But, the time that I did get to spend just sitting up on top of the boat feeling the wind and watching the beautiful water was enjoyable. My boys really liked it. And, Randy got to take a swim in the middle of the buoyant lake, he didn't even have to tread water.

Tagged

This was enlightening and very funny. Thanks for tagging us Isaac and Erika.

1. What is something mom always says to you? Don't eat your shirt.

2. What makes mom happy? When I don't eat my shirt or take my shoes off.
3. What makes mom sad? When I eat my shirt and take my shoes off.

4. How does mom make you laugh? By saying funny questions.

5. What was your mom like as a child? A baby.

6. How old is your mom? 26 (thanks for knocking 2 years off)

7. How tall is your mom? 21

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play with me.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Yell for me.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? It will be for your baby.

11. What is your mom really good at? Loading the washer and dryer.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Giving me things that I want.

13. What does your mom do for her job? Load the dishes and the washer and dryer.

14. What is your mom's favorite food? Sandwiches.

15. What makes you proud of your mom? When we play games together.

16. If your mom was a cartoon character who would she be? I don't know.

17. What do you and your mom do together? We play games, and read books, we do lots of kinds of things together.

18. How are you and your mom the same? We both have feet.

19. How are you and your mom different? Our hair aren't the same.

20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because we do lots of fun things together.

I am glad that Jacob thinks we do lots of fun things together. I try. I guess we will tag Alyssa.

Camping Trip

We went on a spur of the moment camping trip this last weekend. Randy called me on Friday morning and said he wanted to go camping. I wasn't really excited about the idea, I had things I wanted to get done over the weekend. But, I went along with it because I thought it would be fun for the boys. Randy's brother Jason and his family went with us. It turned out to be a fun adventure. We found a great, although a little primitive (no bathroom), camping spot. We roasted hot dogs for dinner. That is really the best way to eat a hot dog. We also had yummy s'mores. Needless to say, we used a lot of wipes. The kids had a blast with their cousins. Adam did really good. I carried him in a sling and he just slept. At night we bundled him up and he slept in his car seat. I couldn't believe how cold it got at night. I had a hard time sleeping because I was so cold. It is the middle of June for goodness sakes. Luckily the kids seemed to be warm enough, at least they didn't complain.

Nathan and Alayna, cheesy kids
Isaac and Jacob

On Saturday morning we enjoyed a pancake and bacon breakfast and the packed up. We wanted to go fishing, but we had a hard time finding a lake that wasn't frozen over or that had a shore that wasn't covered in snow or mud. We did finally find a nice spot a Trial Lake. Jacob caught his first ever fish. We go fishing all the time at The Cove, but he has never caught a fish on his own. Jason talked him into kissing it, he said, "It is very slimy." Then Alayna wanted to kiss it too, apparently she thinks it is fun to kiss fish. Nathan had to follow along. Anyone who has ever kissed Nathan knows that he likes use his tung, kissing a fish was no different. You might want to think twice if he ever wants to kiss you. Jacob ended up catching another fish before we left and Isaac caught one. We had a lot of fun. I am really glad that we went, even though we didn't get any work done a home. My honey-do list is getting longer and longer.

Randy with Jacob and his first fish

Jacob and Isaac fishing

Joy School Graduation and The Best Present I Ever Got

Okay, I am a little behind in writing this post, but hey, I am a busy mom of three, I do what I can. A week and a half ago, on May 29, we had Jacob's Joy School Graduation. For those of you who don't know what Joy School is, it is basically a home school preschool. It focuses more on, well, teaching our children joy, than anything academic. It is a really cute program and we had a lot of fun with it this year. We had a little graduation ceremony in my friends back yard, complete with mortar boards and diplomas. It was just a short program, the kids sang some songs and we talked about some of the fun things we did during the year. My favorite part was that Jacob buttoned his own shirt. He missed a button and it was like that the whole evening. These kids are so cute. We are going to miss Joy School, especially the part where Jacob got to go do something for two and half hours twice a week.

Our Joy School Class-Emily, Sonia, Makailey, and Jacob

I have the most wonderful Husband in the whole world. He is so kind and thoughtful. I love him so much. Ever since we moved into our house five years ago I have wanted a new washer and dryer. We got our washer and dryer for free from Randy's great uncle Everett. They weren't a matching set and they were very clunky, but they got our clothes clean. But, every time I have done laundry for the last five years I have secretly hoped this would be the time the washing machine spins itself to death. I was very close to buying myself a new set when my fridge broke and I had to buy a new fridge. Then Randy had to get dental work done, which cost as much as the new fridge. Then the water heater broke. My hopes of getting a new washer and dryer went down the drain. Well, Randy got a little bonus at work and the first thing he did was surprise me with a new LG front loading washer and dryer. I got them last week. They are beautiful. I love them. They are so quiet, and they don't use a lot of water or laundry detergent. And, they provide hours, okay, minutes, of entertainment to my little boys who think it is cool to watch their cloths being washed. I do have to admit that even with a beautiful new washer and dryer doing laundry is still, well, doing laundry. Too bad it doesn't fold the cloths too. That would be something. Randy also bough himself something with his bonus. A new flat screen HD TV. It is really nice. The picture we get is incredible, and it is just hooked up to an antenna in the attic. Our old TV was a hand me down from Randy's grandparents. It was almost dead so they got a new one and since we didn't have one we took it. That was also five years ago. I think he felt the same way about the TV that I felt about the washer and dryer, just hoping it would die so we could get a new one. So, now I feel like we have taken another step into the 21st century with these fancy new things. I am so grateful for the things we were given and they lasted so long. But I am also grateful that we are doing well enough that we can take a step up from hand me downs.
Last thing, Adam is now two months old. Isn't he cute. They change so fast. He weighs 10 lbs now, and he is just starting to smile. We all love him a lot.