Insta Joys

phew!  we made it through another week

its been a busy one

i am happy to put this week in the books

i found a few instas from a couple of weeks ago that didn't upload so i am adding those in this week

my instas for this week for slim pickings

my list for mommy's boot camp

my house was in dire need of some TLC

after a fun filled summer we had all gotten a little lazy with chores/routines

it was time to regroup and retrain

 scrubbing, organizing, getting rid of clutter

it was two busy days of non stop cleaning/organizing

it felt so good to get it done

the kids have been so much better about keeping up on their chores

i am pretty sure they don't want another boot camp weekend

for each home boise state game they assign colors for your section

its really a great marketing tool as you need to have the right color for your section

you do NOT want to be the person wearing the wrong color

we had to make a quick pit stop to pick up orange shirts 

this weekend....we're blue

good thing we're all stocked up on blue shirts

this boy loves music

letting him listen to his music while he does him math has been a game changer

school goes more smoothly

he is so much happier

 fall mantle

i love you

its finally cool enough at night to run the fireplace in the mornings

the fire + mantle makes the living room my favorite place in the fall

  

 itty bitty gummy bears

you are my very favorite 

he likes to sleep snuggled up with a pillow

{sigh}

i saw this little table at world market

i am in love with it

i have the perfect place for it in my house

this may be an early christmas present to myself

i don't know if it will still be around to go on my list!

i spend thursday afternoons watching my girls at gymnastics

its the only day i get to watch morgan practice this year because of how our carpool worked out

i am enjoying the birds eye view we have now in the new gym

kind of fun {and a little scary} watching the girls from above

i washed our bedding the other morning

i had time to get it washed and dried but then was gone for the rest of the day

i totally forgot that our bed was unmade until i went to crawl into bed at 9:00

ugh!

i was seriously tempted to just throw a blanket on the bed and go to sleep 

i knew i'd regret it

so i quickly made the bed then curled up in the freshly washed bedding

nothing like going to bed on newly washed sheets

how was your week?

what's on your agenda for the weekend??

landon has his last football game tomorrow. its going to be bittersweet to see their season end.

we are heading to the bsu game tomorrow.  we get our friends tickets as well so lance, the two big kids, and i are heading to the game. its supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow. i am so excited!

our sunday is full of lots of little things. hopefully a nap. 

linking up with jeannett.

PinterTEST Kitchen

last year my friend jessica came up with a great idea called pinterTEST kitchen.

pinterTEST kitchen encourages people to stop just pinning but actually start doing.

i love that it gives me the motivation to look through my boards and try something.

i haven't been great about documenting with photos or posts on what i've been doing but since its the first anniversary of pinterTEST kitchen and jess is doing an awesome giveaway, i scoured my photos to see if i had any pins documented.  i had a few pic and a few other things that we've tried but i forgot to take a picture.

here's a quick review of some things that were hits in the past few months around here:

 

fruit salsa: so so yummy!

we ate it on homemade cinnamon/sugar chips

its a perfect refreshing summer treat

white chocolate toffee snickerdoodles: oh my yum!

the recipe called for chocolate chips and toffee bits, but i substituted white chocolate chips for regular chocolate chips. i loved the combination.  

butterfinger pie: super super easy

3 ingredients plus the crust

i made this for a going away party and i got to scrape the bottom of the pan

from what i tasted it was good :o)

star braid for 4th of july: morgan did mauryn's hair

the directions were easy to follow

it was a fun, cute style for the 4th

broccoli and rice cups: i made these into a meal rather than a side

i had some chicken to use up and added it in

i also doubled the recipe since it was going to be dinner

my children who don't like broccoli complained but everyone else liked them

pb banana bites: i am not a huge fan of bananas but i love peanut butter and chocolate {more pb than chocolate}. i thought these would be a great quick snack.

i didn't love the frozen banana.  i snacked a few as i was making them and liked them in the prefrozen state better than frozen.  if you like frozen bananas, then you would probably love these.

check out jess's blog and see what other pins people have tried this month!  i love getting new ideas and seeing what has or hasn't worked for people.

Insta Joys

fall decided to arrive this week

our mornings have been quite chilly

we start our school days in sweats and snuggled in blankets

yesterday we even turned on the fireplace for a bit 

i am loving these cooler mornings

its time to break out the jeans and sweatshirts

mornings with a cup of hot tea

soup is back on the menu

we had cream of potato this week... yummy!!!

 you know what happens when your phone is locked

you get photos bombed by your tween soon to be teen

 again and 

 again.

these little photo sessions are clogging up my photo stream

they definitely make me laugh and bring a smile to my face

crazy kid!!!

 i made a trip to the library last week

i think i got a little over zealous in my book collecting

i found a few on my fall reading list, books by some authors on my fall reading list

i couldn't help grabbing what i could find on the shelves

i forget school is in session and there isn't as much time to read

we'll see how many i can get tackled in the next few weeks

always so many books and so little time

 the little lady had a stomach ache on friday night

she thought she was going to be sick

whenever my kids think they have the flu i make a bed in the bathroom

it makes clean up so much easier if they get sick

thankfully she fell asleep quickly and slept through the night

phew! dodged the flu bullet..... for now

 sometimes its hard to put aside my daily to do list

i can get focused and wrapped up in the laundry, cleaning, and meal prepping

the other day the sun was shining, it was a perfect fall day

mauryn wanted to go to the park

i laid down the vaccumm, changed out of my pi's, and we headed to the park

it was so worth it to trade my to do list for her to do list

burpees

ugh ugh ugh!

burpees have been part of my daily workout for a few months

landon wanted to join in on the daily torture burpees

he asks every day how many i did

then he proceeds to do more than me

this is one contest i am totally fine with letting him win

 i am joining in with marta to run/walk 41 miles in october

she's been putting together challenges all summer

it was the june challenge that got me going and upped my miles

i use nike+ when i run inside at the gym

i love that the new upgrade keeps a running tally of miles

i only need to add in my saturday runs

thanks marta!

 i received this mug as a gift from my fellow homeschool moms

i love it

its so pretty

i love the verse... something great to meditate on while i sip my tea in the mornings

these were morgan's hands yesterday after practice

yikes!!!

she ripped and got blood blisters

the life of a gymnast

battle wounds of a hard/good bar workout

at least she'll have the weekend to let her hands heal a little bit

how was your week?

what's on your agenda for the weekend?

we have landon's football game, a birthday party, BSU game to watch,

and our biggest task is getting everyone outfitted for my brothers wedding in two weeks {EEK!}

the two little kids are done

morgan and i will head out tonight maybe to try to find her a dress

sometime this weekend we'll get lance's outfit complete

me... not sure.

i have a dress i can wear that i like and fits well

i've worn it to quite a few weddings so i feel like i should update and get something new

we'll see... i might look around a bit when i am out with morgan at least i know i have a plan B

enjoy your weekend!

linking up with jeannett 

Rookie Ball 2012

i know i know its football season and i am posting about baseball

i am a slacker

the end of school and summer took over and this blog took a backseat to life

i told myself before i could post about landon's flag football season i needed to post about baseball

better late than never, right??

this was landon's third and final year playing rookie ball

rookie ball is a big step up from t ball

{t ball makes me want to poke my eyes out.... its painful}

the kids hit off a pitching machine

they can make outs

if the team batting scores 6 runs then they switch and the batting team goes to the field

the games can be fast paced and exciting

the kids are starting to learn the basics of baseball

landon spent most of the year playing second base or short stop

he did get a time or two behind the plate as catcher 

it was fun to see his fielding skills and knowledge of the game grow this season

he found his groove at the plate this year

he had some big hits

so fun to see it all come together

there were some interesting changes in rookie ball this year

halfway through the season they decided to go to kid pitch

landon spent some time on the mound pitching

he did an awesome job

it was stressful on this mom

i am not sure i can deal with him as a pitcher... too much pressure

but he liked it

we'll see what happens next season when he's in kid pitch

the team ended up first in the league at the end of the season

these boys played their hearts out

they took 3rd place in the end of season tournament

this was a great group of boys

they improved a great deal throughout the season

they learned about the game of baseball, had fun, learned about being part of a team and teamwork, and developed a love of the game

great season rivercats!

Seattle Trip

almost two years ago, our dear friends the pucketts moved to seattle

we miss them like crazy

 last fall, two friends and i had the idea to try to take surprise trip to visit our friend janna
it was sort of a fleeting conversation "oh wouldn't it be fun" to go see janna

but within a week of talking about a surprise trip, southwest ran a sweet deal on flights.

we knew we had a short window of opportunity to jump on these airline tickets.  there were many phone calls exchanged and schedules checked.  we were able to pick a few days in february.

then came the hard part.

keeping this trip a secret for 4 months!!!

the day of our trip finally arrived!

kaylynn, kara, and i on our first flight
so excited
hoping and praying we can pull off the surprise

we landed in seattle and janna's husband todd picked us up
he assured us that janna had NO clue we were coming to visit

we pulled up a few houses away and snuck up to their front door
we knocked
no answer
we rang the door bell
no answer
we knocked again and kaylynn tried the door handle
then we heard footsteps
as janna came down the stairs i heard her exclaim
"are you kidding me?"

i was shaking a bit so the picture is blurry but i think our surprise worked

we were all thankful that the secret was out in the open :O)

it was so so fun to surprise her!

we had no set plans for our day and a half in seattle

we just knew we wanted to be with janna

the first afternoon/evening we decided to shop at a nearby outdoor mall

it was a beautiful night to be walking around

this guy was NOT happy we weren't taking him with us

seriously that face and those cheeks

oh how i miss that boy!

the four of us 

at the outdoor mall they had trees that were strung with lanterns

i was in love with them

i would love one of these in my yard

so fun!

friday morning we had a little FaceTime date before we headed out for the day

the kids had fun reconnecting with their buddies

friday we hit up places we don't have in idaho... trader joes and ikea

so fun

we enjoyed lunch out and then hit up another mall

it was pretty much a weekend filled with shopping and chatting

this was the back of janna's car after our shopping on friday

i would say it was a successful day of shopping

the girls and our loot

we had to borrow a suitcase from the puckett's to get all our stuff home. oops!

thankfully southwest let's you check two bags

we definitely needed that other bag

it was a whirlwind trip {less than two days}

there was laughter, great conversation, and time spent making memories

i was exhausted when i came home from the late nights and earlyish mornings but my heart was full from time spent with some amazing friends

friends who encourage, challenge, and inspire me

it was great seattle!  i can't wait to come back again!