Chocolate Icecream

Cache is my chocolate lover and has been asking ALL summer to make some.
So we did.  Here is the recipe we found and it's amazing!

http://annies-eats.com/2010/04/09/chocolate-ice-cream/

It does take a while so I guess the kids are eating ice cream for breakfast.  :)  Heck it's summer!

Independence Day

The Fourth of July has become my favorite Holiday.

I love this country.  I love small towns and bigger than life fireworks.

I love that everyone is matching.  We could take a big national family portrait. 

I had big hopes of fireworks over a lake, but that plan proved to be more stressfull than desired for our short time window when Devin wasn't working.

That will have to wait yet another year. Poor poor me. Our alternative plan  to stick close to home, turned out way better for us and actually refreshing instead of draining.

Our day started early with a big church ward breakfast. Tradition in this ward.

Biggest omelets ever.  So Good. I just love when wards or families, big groups gather like this.

All the kids playing and all adults chatting, holding  and ooh and ahhing over eachother's babies.  

It was a beautiful morning.

 Then we hustled to join our Berrett dearests and headed to Melba for Parade and festivities.

 McKay and Lily pie.

Gage is THE funnest age. I just die over everything he says and does.  Parade watching with him was so adorable.  He is at that little boy stage where he loves big trucks and tractors and he's always loved horsies. Even if that "HA-HEE" is a goat, he is over the top excited.

Devin and Nate had fun narrating the parade and stealing candy from children.

It was most definately a small town parade.

 Perfect for our two families  of  little kids. I mean with little kids.

Well both accurate

 This minivan  was hilarious. 

It was a great little town. Would totally do 4th of July there again.

 We spent the afternoon in Nampa with the Berretts swimming and BBQing, finding lost baby kittens, jumping on the tramp oh and napping.

We all just totally clonked out in the living room.  It was great.

So excited to swim!

Gage was a little bit too large for his float toy, shh don't  tell him.  

We just had to hold it up so it wouldn't sink. HA.

 Cannon ball competition

Nate:

Nate  won for most dramatic re-entry out of water.

I like my friend April.  She adores her baby girl.  

 We partied till about 8 and we were all just DONE.

Went home and put babies to bed. 

 Cache had bought a few fireworks with his money earlier that week. 

Set those off.  

Devin is making fun of my super shiny sunglasses and was trying to take a picture of the fireworks reflecting out of them.  Didn't work so much.  But got a lovely picture of the garbage can!

Put that boy to bed totally pooped.

Finally we retreated to our secret get away. 

Secret because we will never tell the kids we go on the roof.

Watched fireworks till we couldn't keep our eyes open and called it a day. 

Devin worked hard the rest of the week and we took the kids to see BRAVE that weekend.

Gage cheered "Whoa!" Through the entire movie and was so funny with the giant bowl of popcorn that was as big as him. We weren't sure how he would do at a theatre, but he had a blast.

 No pictures of that.

Down by the RIVER!

 This summer we dubbed one day a week as adventure day. 

 Monday is assigned adventure day, so Thursday we finally got to it.  

 We just took off on a drive with a packed lunch and surprisingly,

we found a sweet little spot by a perfect little clear river.   

 

Naomi happily posed for my pictures.  I love having a girl.  

Scratch that.  I love having THIS girl.

Naomi's particular personality is always so surprising to me.

Hums, giggles and dances as she goes about life.

 I love her.  

Having a girl has done a lot for me and continues to change the way I view myself.  She is also making me more girly.  I typically wear white or gray, black and sometimes blue.  When I try things on at the store, Naomi tells me its ugly unless it is pink and flowery, then her eyes light up and she tells me:
"Oh mommy you look SOO pretty."
As a result  my clothes are a lot more colorful lately and you will even find me wearing dresses during the week.  Just know I'm trying to impress my 3 year old.

A note about Cache. Cache you have been really feverish this week. So unusual.  

But you are the toughest sweetest sicky. Same boy that never made a peep when you got shots as a baby.  You would just grunt and scowl and then lay your head on my shoulder. You just sleep and walk around.  I have to constantly check on you because you wouldn't let me know if something was wrong. You just quietly disappear and I find you asleep on my bed, or in my closet, on the grass, on the couch.  You constantly have a blanket around your shoulders(which is just a Cache thing to do) so you just clonk where you feel like it I guess.   In the mornings I find you just sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket, just waiting for breakfast or to get better you say.

I wanted to buy you popsicles and you refused at first because they had sugar in them and sugar won't help you get better you told me.  (Your dad has you trained pretty good!)

  So I bought you no sugar added ones and that satisfied you. 

 Anything I offer you ask: Does it have healthy stuff in it to help me get better? 

 I find myself being ticked at the virus that is making you so miserable.  

Don't mess with my children.  Let this be a fare warning to the world.
Back to the river...

We were being very careful balancing on rocks to not fall in.   Gage finished his lunch and walked

straight down to the river and without even a pause, straight into it, socks and shoes and all.  

Stuff he does like that completely cracks me up.

Cache was standing on a rock and watching Gage with a huge smile.  

Then he looked down at his rock he was standing on and back at his brother and back at his rock.

 I could tell he was thinking, Why am I standing on this rock?

And that was the beginning of endless back and forth:

River,

 bowl of cherries, 

river, 

bowl cherries.

 We all went home a big muddy, cherry stained wet but happy mess. 

 This is my favorite picture I took all day:

I love that Gage hasn't developed fears yet 

 Not afraid of the dark or strangers or animals of any size. 

To him the world is a big safe and happy place, full of only things good.

All my kids were like that at this age.

Although needed, I am sad when they learn differently.

For now, let him be carefree and happy.  

Just means I have to worry more for them.  

Like saving him from deep waters.

 Zucchini bread, cheese, plums and some apricot fruit roll ups for lunch.

My friend gave me a bunch of apricots and since I'm not so homemakey when it comes to the kitchen,

fruit roll ups were made instead of jam or something.  

Thanks Jessica for the fruit and recipe.

Although girly, you can tell she has brothers by the way she talks about

zombies that eat your brain all day.  

And snakes that suck your blood. 

Then gives you this look.

Watch out for sharks Nay!

6 years I've had my camera and just now I'm ever soo slowly weaning away from just shooting on automatic.  Almost all these were taken on aperture priority. World of a difference!

Best part is I didn't have to edit them.  Love that. And they turn out better than the edited pictures.

Isn't this one pretty?