Baby Sam *July 2011*

Sam was growing and growing. At 3 months his brother and sister still adored him. Samuel loved to nurse and was much better at it than his brother and sister ever were. His days were spent eating, sleeping and pooping. He also spent time in his bouncy seat so that I could shower. Max and Elese loved to read to Sam, share toys with him, and help with his baths. I loved being forced to sit and relax while he nursed and I read a book.

Neighborhood cooking Group

I started up a neighborhood cooking group and I'm loving it! I've come across some great recipes. Just recently I became aware of the Food Storage Cooking Club and I think we may just have to start doing some of these things in our cooking group. In reading this I discovered that the writer at everydayfoodstorage.net also does a cooking group in her neighborhood. Great minds think alike I suppose. :) I'm looking forward to what theme she does next because my food storage could use some help and I'm sure I could get some of my cooking group buddies to join in the fun.

We are FOR SURE starting our garden this spring and if I win my bosch ;) or eventually save up enough cash to buy one then I'll be storing wheat for homemade bread. That will not only start adding to my food storage but with the help of www.everydayfoodstorage.net I'll know how to use it. Yay!

Tree Climbing *July 2011*

One of Max and Elese's favorite things to do this summer was to climb the Mecham's tree. We just had to promise that we wouldn't sue if the fell out of it.

Every Day Food Storage

So if you are at all interested in Food Storage then this website is a great resource. I have a hard time just stocking up on "the essentials" because I fear I won't ever use them and then they will expire and it's money down the drain. So I started doing efoods. It's simple just add water food storage. I love the granola! Anyway, I've also started a Que with Shelf Reliance to add to my food storage but I'm reluctant to buy much more than the smallest can. That's where Every Day Food Storage comes in. She comes up with great recipes using your "Every Day Food Storage". Currently she is doing a giveaway for a free Bosch Mixer and this is my official entry. This is Why I Want to Win:

I have had the strong desire to make my own bread recently but all I have is a hand mixer. I want a KitchenAid or ideally a Bosch but they are SO pricey. So I've been testing out recipes and mixing them by hand because my electrical mixer can't cut it. I hope to one day try the Every Day Food Storage recipe. What I've found in my experiments isn't just that I NEED a heavy duty mixer but that the bread doesn't make great toast. That's why I LOVE this post from Every Day Food Storage! I can tell by looking at the bread that it should make great toast. It's soft and moist just like the store bought stuff. We've all loved the bread that I've experimented with but I still end up buying bread from the store because my kids LOVE toast. I hope to win the Bosch Mixer so that I will have the tools I need to try out this and any other recipes best made with a heavy duty mixer. Also, I discovered this website before I knew she is married to a friend way back from Jr. High - that's pretty cool I think.

Monson Family Reunion *July 22nd-24th*

Everyone had a shirt that said, "HooRAY life is TWEET". Not only did it epitomize my Grandpa Monson's life long attitude but it also included his name as well as my Grandma's nick-name (Ray and Tweet). Day one started with a visit to Uncle Kirks where he showed us all the secret compartments in a desk that my Great Grandfather Mons Akenson had built. Someone paid him $100 to make the desk. They never paid or collected their desk so it was handed down to my Grandpa and then to my uncle. This desk hold so many memories for me. My grandparents didn't have much in the way of toys but there was always a little pink rubber mouse hidden in one of the drawers that I would play with when I would visit. Plus, trying to find all the drawers kept all of us grand kids busy. While my Uncle showed all of us the desk I was shocked about some of the drawers I had never known existed. I believe we came up with a total of 48 drawers!


Then we were off to Lagoon! It was SO much fun to watch Max and Elese run around with their cousins. It brought back so many memories of me doing the same when I was their age. Max loved ALL the big kid rides and was just as brave as any grown up while Elese finally learned to love Bulgy the Whale (check this out to see what she thought of it the last time) and went on it over and over again with Violet who we learned that day is going to be a big sister. During lunch all the little ones randomly started climbing a tree. Max loved it!


The next day my family was in charge of lunch. We meet at an old ward building in the area that my mom lived in. The day before lagoon we prepared some sloppy joe's (minus the sauce) so that day I just threw it all in crockpots with the sauce and lunch was ready. There was more to it than that, I mean browning 30lbs of meat isn't my idea of a good time. We ate and talked about old memories, made bracelets, and the kids made and shot off some rockets. Before the lunch most everyone else went on a family tour. Because of food prep we weren't able to go until after. After lunch we did the cliff notes version. All of us got Wax lips and mustaches that my mom and her siblings loved as kids. My favorite part was showing the kids the underground tunnel that my mom had to go through to get to school when she was a little girl and that Uncle Kirk flooded as a practical joke when he was a kid.
Some of the others went to the 24th of July parade but we didn't go. It ended up being a really fun weekend, even though I got a little overly stressed about the food.

Jedi Samuel *July 20th 2011*

Max got a small light saber in a happy meal one day and Sam loved holding onto it. It was the perfect size for a baby.

Max's First Plane Ride *July 15th-17th 2011*

Steven had a really fun shoot lined up and Max got to go with him. They flew in a 4 passenger plane to a camp ground that you can only access by plane or horse back. Max was really looking forward to his first plane ride and talked about it constantly for weeks. Once they were there Steven obviously had to work but Kory Toone and some of the pilots stepped in and kept Max entertained.