..... a new way to camp

Finally.... I am adding pictures of our camping weekend from a few weekends ago.

We took a cargo trailer, filled with two ATV's, camping gear, flat top stove, fishing gear.... basically, our home away from home. Who knew that going away for a few days would mean we would need SO much stuff!

This was the big weekend that Katie learned how to ride an ATV by herself. No worries, Daddy ordered a kids' helmet for Maddie, and they had their helmets on the entire time.

Katie also punctured a tire with a branch. Daddy wasn't very happy.

I also broke the clutch on the other ATV. Mike wasn't very happy either. So, he swapped a tire out on the broken ATV with the ATV we could drive.

These girls LOVE to ride the ATV's!

Katie drives Mike around for a bit, then Maddie drives & pushes the accelerator/brake while Mike (or I) operate the clutch. Sometimes her feet were up on top of the ATV.

We also don't camp in the regular, old fashioned way. We slept in a cargo trailer, in which Mike made two screen doors and placed it on the big door, so air would come through (and not the bugs). It was perfect! It did get pretty stinking cold the first night. BRR! He did end up closing the door that night. Mike also brought the generator, so we brought all our electrical appliances we could, to occupy ourselves. Here, Maddie watching Beauty & the Beast. We also watched the new Transformers the night before, and Twilight the next night.

Katie played around with my camera, and managed to take a few decent pictures of me.

.... photos with the Wheats

This past Saturday morning, my friend Jen & her little family met me EARLY in the morning for pictures of their little family.

At first, it was going pretty well, but then her little baby Tyler ended up a little cranky. What can I say? I can't blame him! It WAS cold! and I DID make him sit in the damp grass!

Enjoy some pictures or head on over to my photoblog and see more!

not to mention pictures look better on my photoblog than on here b/c I had to resize them manually! EEKS!

....Maddieisms

Maddie will be turning 8 in a few weeks.

To be 8 is.... well.... GREAT!

In fact, it's at an age that children in our church are able to be baptized.

Maddie has been looking forward to this age for a long long time.

Probably because #1, she gets her ears pierced.

#2, she picked out a beautiful white dress to wear in which I will take pictures with her in it soon for her baptism announcement

and #3..... she's looking forward to the dessert bar I'm planning on having after her baptism {she requested the cake with a hole in it... aka bundt cake... I never make bundt cake!}

Now, there are other reasons, but those stick out for her.

So, in preparation for this day, our bishop called her in to his office yesterday at church to talk to her about this very wonderful, yet important event that will take place.

When our bishop talked to Madison, he basically talks to her about what is baptism, how we are baptized (by immersion), what color we wear to be baptized in (white for purity), who will baptize her and the important thing that Daddy holds so he will be able to baptize her (he holds the Priesthood), and after the baptism, she will receive a very very special gift. This is the conversation:

Bishop: Madison, after you are baptized, you will receive a very very special gift. Do you know what gift that is?

Madison: yes, I will get scriptures and a Bible.

{me: snorting & laughing under my breath}

{Bishop is trying to not smile & laugh}

Bishop: Yes! Some people do get those gifts and they are very special. However, there is another special gift you will get, and that is the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Oh dear... what else will this child think of that will make me want to crawl under a rock when asked these kind of questions?! I'm not even going to touch the conversation about "slugvans".

{slugbugs... volkswagons.... '80's vans.... you do the math}

.... been busy

Last week I took a break from blogging.

I had much to say (don't I always?), but no time!

What have I been doing?

Well, I just started working out with

TRAINER MOMMA

We're shooting for two times a week, 30 minute sessions with me doing 4 cardio activities on the other nights. Hopefully we'll say "bye-bye-bye" to my butt as well as other flabby parts on me. I won't miss them, and they WILL be gone.

However, Mandi killed me the first day. OK, I mean, I killed myself. She just told me what to do! I couldn't walk for almost 3 days. Getting up from a chair, sitting down in a chair. I waddled, OK?! Squats & lunges are NOT my friends. Hate 'em!

Shhh....Don't tell Mandi, otherwise she'll make me do more of them.

The family went camping last weekend. We drove SIX long, boring hours to a property that belongs to a friend of Mike's. It was so incredibly beautiful. So green, pine trees everywhere, fresh air.... four wheeling with the girls.... watching movies each night powered by the generator....watching Mike try to light a fire for an hour using ... what else? .. gasoline on wet wood (it rained for 2 days before we got there)... yep, the good old Eagle Scout in our family does it the safe way "everybody get far back", and stomp on all the little fires that spread w/ the gasoline....peeing in the open space with the meadow full of wildflowers swaying back & forth just for you (yes, I made sure Mike had a portable toilet for me)... OK, that wasn't so fun, but you get the idea.

I have some pictures I uploaded, but I'll make another post about it shortly.

I have to tell a story first.

While I was driving one of the ATV's w/ Katie behind me, (Mike had Maddie w/ him), we were riding in a huge meadow. I had my camera with me for some DUMB DUMB reason. Well, we were going through bush/grass that was about 5 feet tall, and I got this brilliant idea (or was it Katie's?) to take some pictures of Mike & Maddie in front of us. So, she starts taking pictures. We get to the top of the hill, and I said "OK, where's my camera?" She handed it to me, without my LENS CAP! "WHERE'S MY LENS CAP???" I about screamed at her. She said "I dunno, I dropped it back there". ::breathe in:: :: breathe out:: Then I lost it. I mean, how hard is it to tell your mother "mom... I dropped your lens cap!" and I would've stopped! No, this meadow is like 20 acres! So, we went up and down this meadow searching for a black lens cap for what felt like hours. I finally gave up. Katie was so upset. I've given up teaching her anything about thinking things through (i.e..... 3/4 cup of cinnamon, remember?). Common sense missed this girl somehow.

Well, Katie went four wheeling by herself, and managed to get a branch poking in the tire. Great... flat tire. So, this kid is not having a good day here! Finally, I took the girls and said "we'll walk the meadow". Maddie took off and went WAY ahead of us, and freaked me OUT! I mean, surely there's a copperhead just waiting to bite us or something! Well, I told her to come back to me, and within a second of turning around, she found my lens cap! Wahoo!! Now my pricey lens will be protected!

Part two with pictures to come soon......

.... dressing up for Halloween

Every girl loves to dress up.

Whether it is once a year, every day.... whenever

I was surprised Katie wanted to dress up for Halloween this year.

She told me last year she wasn't doing it again.

She changed her mind.

She's a witch this year.

I'm such a mean mom and would never let her be a witch.

I gave in this year.

I wonder if she can wear those hose to church...

Miss Maddie is Sharpay from High School Musical.
We do almost all our costumes homemade (or attempt to).
I found her purple plaid hose from Target for only .94! Deal!


Pink is her favorite color.
At least, it was last week.
I think purple is her new favorite color.
Oh well... at least here we're using BOTH colors, so we're covered!


Look at those chompers.
I think braces are in our future.

finally, one peaceful picture together for me.

...making apple pie with katie

Apples are on sale here for $1 a bag for 3 pounds.

Naturally, I think "apple pie!" when it reaches this price.

So last night I set out with Katie to make a

crumb topped apple pie.

My recipe for the crumb topping comes from my sister in law Tiffany, which came from her cookbook from ....somewhere. But it's out of this world, it really is! Plus, it helps me not have to make a top crust. I hate making crusts. I make a good crust, I have to admit, but it's not pretty. They break, I can't roll it over the rolling pin nicely, and frankly, I give up halfway through it all.

I dig out my good old trusty apple peeler/corer. I found a Pampered Chef's one at a garage sale for only $5.00 years ago. I only use it like once a year... when I make apple pie.

I put Katie in charge of peeling the apples. I told her "at least 6 cups worth of apples!"

Katie gets a little excited at the thought of a huge long peel that didn't break.


YUUMMMMM! I love apples!


Katie gets tired of standing and peeling (plus it's not holding on to the counter very well, so she moves to the table & is able to sit)



Now, here is where the story gets .....
interesting.

I put Katie in charge of making the crumb topping. Now, it's only 6 ingredients. Katie grabs her iPod to listen to. She's measuring & singing along to some singer ... I'm folding out my ::gasp:: Kraft's refrigerated pie dough (my first time ever buying pie dough already made!! no lie!).
All of a sudden, I hear a
GASP!
"Uh-oh"
::silence::

*chirp* *chirp*

I turn to look at Katie. She's bright red.
I said "what happened?"
she said "uh... I measure 3/4 of a cup of cinnamon instead of 3/4 of a teaspoon"
Excuse me while I say what was going through my mind:
"*$&%@:# KATIE!! What were you thinking? Where's your common sense?"

Now, that was going through my mind. I did get a little peeved at first, but then I tried to scoop out some cinnamon (hey, 3/4 of a cup is a LOT of cinnamon!)....
and I made her do it all over again.


Let's just say she wasn't happy with me,
and some foot stomping was involved.




In the end, it turned out just perfect.
Very very delicious! A little heavy on the cinnamon.
Hey, a momma can't watch her girl ALL the time!

....make your own pizza night

I have been dying to have a "make your own pizza" night for weeks.

Katie invited a friend over and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to have some fun!

I made the dough (recipe here). Everyone piled on their favorite toppings.

Now, one thing I didn't realize, was to put the oven temperature at a HIGHER temperature! I had it on 350, and it took FOREVER to bake! Next time, higher temperature. OK, who am I kidding? Next time, order a pizza in! It was a ton of work!

TA-DA!! The final look!

...i heart fall

i love fall

i miss the changing colors of the leaves

i miss the cold air and the rain that seems to come more often

i miss drinking hot apple cider ~ the good kind

i miss having decent pumpkin patches around town to take my girls to

i miss watching my girls rake up the leaves and jump in the piles

i miss fall

so.....

i made do with what we had here

we bought pumpkins at the grocery store {spent too much if you ask me}

i splurged and paid $5.99 for a gallon of louisburg kansas apple cider

it reminds me of home because i used to buy louisburg cider at home

and we made caramel apples

nothing says "fall" like caramel apples

now if we could just get the darn caramel to stick to the apples!