Bedtime

Cole has given himself a new job - to tuck Annie in at night. Although I would miss our nightly stories and snuggles, it was awfully cute to peek in the door and see this.
Sweet dreams, little darling.

Flashback Friday: Football Edition

Did you know I love football? You probably did. As a young adolescent, nothing consumed me more. I memorized all the player bios in the BYU press guide from 1990 until 1995. My entire room was decorated in football memorabilia. My older sister's most embarrassing moment came when I performed the Tysman Rap at the Cedar Ridge talent show. For years, my little brother and I would wake up early on Saturday and turn on ESPN College Game Day and stay there for almost the entire day. There was seriously a time when I thought I would play on a real football team - with boys. That dream never did come true, but I did get to play on three girl football teams through the years:

1) 6th grade intramurals. I was actually off-track when flag football intramurals were played, but somehow my friend Brooke and I convinced our mothers to drag us over to the games each afternoon. I don't think our team was very good. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to remember this experience. Just imagine me with poofy bangs and flourescent clothing and you'll get the general idea.

2) Sky View Powder Puff Football. This was probably my most anticipated event through all of high school. Forget the homecoming dance, I was just excited about powder puff. Sadly, my team lost the game. I know I have pictures of this event somewhere, but they seem to be MIA currently. Probably hidden in a frame behind 7 more recent pictures. We were supposed to return our jersey's following the game. I did not. Here is a shot of the old #22 jersey.
3) Ricks Powder Puff Football - Fall 1997. My freshman year at Ricks, I had a roomate who we called Burly Erica, not to be confused with my other roomate Psycho Erika. Burly Erica was big into the intramural program and asked Brooke and I to play on a team with her. It was pretty fun...I don't really remember if we were good or not. I mainly remember being scared of one of our neighbors who played on another team. She.Was.Mean. Luckily, I was smart enough to save these pictures to share on the internet 12 years later...Brooke will be so pleased. You may wonder why my pants are on inside out. That would be because the refs told me I couldn't wear my pants since they had a pocket that someone could grab and rip. They didn't seem to mind that when I turned them inside out there was a gaping crotch whole someone could grab and rip. What logic.

In the Deseret News last week, there was an article about a full-contact football team for women here on the Wasatch Front. I thought it sounded fun...but then I realized that I really don't want to sign up to play with other women who love football. I'll stick to cheering for now. I love fall and I love football season, even when my team loses (I'll forgive you this time Max).

All is Safely Gathered In...

Oh my! I am exhausted. I spent the last week harvesting and canning and jamming and dehydrating and freezing and drying. And I'm still not finished. My food storage shelves and freezer look so pretty with all this stored food waiting for winter's storms to begin. Before I put it all away, I snapped a few pictures.
I was at my friend's house last week and she had blackberry bushes. I mixed them with a few raspberries I picked with the world's best berry pickers, Cole and Josh. Blackberry/raspberry jam may be the best jam I have ever tried. So delicious. I may have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch every day until it is gone. My hands were a bit purple for a few days, but seem to have recovered.
See these herbs? You may notice that there are two bunches of parsley. There is at least quadruple that amount still waiting to be harvested in my garden. Anybody need some parsley? It's organic and we are certainly glad to share.

I still have broccoli to freeze, peaches to dehydrate, and apple butter to make. I can't wait for the apple butter - my house smells sooo good when I make it.

See this pretty Indian Corn? I'm awfully impressed with how it turned out. Not really sure what to do with it, but it's pretty and looks like fall.

In full disclosure, I should note that I had absolutely nothing to do with the production or harvesting of the honey in the picture at the top of this post. It was just so pretty, I put it in the picture anyway. Plus, I watched the honey harvest last year and just watching it made me tired. Thanks, Uncle Barry! Annie has asked for an "Uncle Barry honey toast" every morning.

Tree House Rules

Cole has been asking for a tree house all summer. He kept finding scraps of wood around the house and nailing them in creative places to our trees. Floyd took pity on him and they spent Saturday morning beginning to build Cole's tree house of dreams. Cole has also decided on a few rules that go along with it:

1) No grown ups allowed.
2) You can only eat candy and things with sugar - nothing healthy.
3) No fighting.
4) You can watch all the shows you want (it has no TV, but he can dream, right?)
5) If you eat corn on the cob, you have to butter it with your feet (Curious George, maybe? I don't know where he got this rule)
6) The only girls allowed are Annie, Savannah, and Taylee.
7) You don't have to go to sleep at night.

Please keep these rules in mind if you ever come for a visit!

Soccer Girl

"I jus' gonna petend Cowey."

She put the gear on all by herself. And figured out that the empty clothes basket would make a good net. There is no end to what empty clothes baskets are good for at our house.

Preschool: Obligatory Back-to-School Pic

Cole went back to preschool this week. We had a big back-to-school party for him the night before - he chose trout, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake. Not too shabby on the menu planning. Especially since dad is the one who cooks fish around our place. I think he's excited for the year. He says he is going to help his teacher with the little kids. I told him they are all four. He still calls them the little kids.



And what did the little princess and I spend our time doing while he was away? Tea parties and shopping, of course.