Summer's almost over....

So this summer has been so crazy...as I'm sure EVERYONE'S has been. I've had the darndest time keeping up with this blog. I'm going to attempt to go backward from today over my next few posts. Wish me luck...but don't hold your breath :)

I'll start with this last week: Monday August 9th to Saturday August 14th---

Monday we got to have a fabulously fun Family Away Evening (aka FHE) at Grandma Netty's (Tim's mom and dad's house). All the cousins were there for the kids to play with and we ended up tie-dying t-shirts for our activity. The kids loved it and our 4-year-old nephew decided the next time we tie-dye he's going to do his underwear.

Wednesday I got the kids all psyched up for the Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every August. Then when I got up at 2 a.m. to see how cool it was (and was disappointed) I didn't wake up the kids. Thursday morning the first thing Sonora said was, "You didn't wake us up for the meteor shower!!!" So, Thursday night after a long evening at the Cache County fair, we had the kids lie out on a blanket on the front lawn and watch for shooting stars.

Even though it wasn't what I'd label "a shower", there were still enough meteors to get the kids excited. I kept saying, "Okay, after the next one we'll go in the house." But they didn't want to go. Cyrus would say, "Sonora didn't see that one, so it didn't count!" Tim was laying by Sonora, and her eyes were closed. I thought she was asleep until she started giggling. Apparently, she was shutting her eyes on purpose so she couldn't see the shooting stars and we couldn't go inside. What a nut!

The fair was really fun for the kids, as always. Tim entered a couple of chickens this year, just for fun...and they both won 1st place in their category! Yay! (We won't mention they were both the ONLY chickens in each of their categories...but maybe that increases their special-ness, right?)Tim won four dollars a piece. Just enough to pay for a happy meal for each of the kids! Here are a couple of pictures of the prize winning chickens---

This one is a Mottled Black Belgian Cockerel.
This one is a Silver Laced Wyandotte hen.

Tim is pretty proud of them. He'll be even prouder of me for putting the dang things on the blog :). Just kidding. They're not that bad. As long as I don't have to take care of them! I do like getting a couple of farm-fresh eggs every day! It's why my cooking is so dee-licious!

Friday I was able to run errands and visit my cousin, MaeLynn, ---without any children!! What a miracle! Tim had the day off, so he stayed home with the kids while I did my thing. It was so good to visit with MaeLynn without any interruptions. And she was much more talkative than she's been in a long time...so it was extra good! If you don't know her story, you can check out her blog...maelynnsjourney.blogspot.com

Friday night Cyrus and I got to go see the play "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." It was such a fun show! We went with the Young Women in our ward to The Old Barn Theater in Riverside. There was an extra ticket...thus Cyrus went. Tim was a little miffed he didn't get to be my hot date, but all the babysitters in the ward were with ME! Cyrus was really entertained...they did plenty of flips and spins to keep him hooked.

Another big project that we worked on all week was picking and bottling green beans. I now have 20 quarts of beans, and probably a few more on their way. I was also able to get two bottles of pickles done! Every year I hope for a bumper crop of pickling cucumbers and I have yet to be extremely satisfied with my numbers. Ah well. C'est la vie. Every year I pray for fewer zucchini to grow, and I've actually been getting my wish this year. We've only had "too much" zucchini once or twice this summer. Yay! For anyone who wants it, this is my favorite Zucchini Cake Recipe:

Delicious Zucchini Cake

½ c. marg. 2 ½ c. flour
½ c. oil 1/3 c. cocoa
2 eggs ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ¾ c. sugar ½ tsp. cinnamon
2 c. grated zucchini 1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. salt
½ c. sour milk* ½ tsp. ground cloves
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix oil, eggs, sugar, zucchini, milk, and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and add to zucchini mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased cake pan. Sprinkle an extra ¼ c. chocolate chips on the top. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Frost with favorite kind of frosting. (I like cream cheese frosting on this)

*Sour milk/buttermilk= 1 cup milk + 1 TBS vinegar or lemon juice (let sit a few minutes)

I guess I should add something about Macey...she's the only one I haven't mentioned yet. She's so dang funny and getting sassier (aka TWO-er) every day. She talks a blue streak and can be caught every once in a while singing, "Choo choo butter!" or, "Shake shake shake-anora". Sonora's favorite song is "A Peanut Sat on a Railroad Track," and she sings it all the time--thus the "choo choo butter". Sonora's other favorite is "Jump in Line," in which they sing, "Shake, shake, shake, Sonora!" I wish I could put video clips of them on, but I've been struggling technically.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention what Tim's been up to! He really is going back to school after a 4 year stint away from it. No, no he's not going to be a doctor (although I ask him all the time if he's sure he doesn't want to do that?). He's going to get his teaching certificate and pray that there are still teaching positions in America by the time he gets it. SO...he got a swing shift job working for a printing company in Logan which was going to start on September 7th. But they called him in last Saturday and said they had two weeks of grave shifts for him starting Monday. Yay and boo at the same time, huh?

Today was his first day. He started at midnight this morning and worked till 8:00 a.m., then headed over to work at Anderson's until 2:00 pm. Now he's sleeping until tonight when he does it all over again. Yuck! But at least it's only for two weeks! AND he set up a bed and some carpet in the bedroom in the basement that we've been meaning to finish since Macey was born. So maybe now we can convince Cyrus to move down there by himself.

Cyrus has been getting surlier and surlier with the girls touching his things and being in "his" room...which is actually all of theirs. I think he'll love having his own room, we just have to convince him that the basement isn't scary and full of zombies. Any tips? (He actually can't even flush the toilet in fear that zombies will come out of it when he does) Don't ask. I don't know.

Other than that small problem life is good. Hope you liked hearing about what's been happening with us! If not....well, don't check the blog! Hahahaha