The Fair and Rodeo

Jason gets tickets to the Fair and Rodeo every year through his work, so we try to take one night and use them! It's alot more fun now the Gracie and Caden are a little older. I'm sure Brenna will have more fun in years to come as well!

First stop (besides the ticket booth) was the petting zoo. We always enjoy loving on the animals.

They were hungry.

We just pet them.

This baby donkey was so cute!


The kids got to ride! Their first time!

It went pretty fast, but they were smiling!

Caden's height was a limiting factor, so we just rode one ride. Gracie had a melt down because she didn't get to ride the cute little pink faris wheel. She had been eyeing it the moment we got close enough to see it.

Brenna played with her toys.

Then they got to "milk" a cow! That was pretty cool!

Maybe they know where milk comes from now!

Here we are at the rodeo watching some team roping like Uncle Brian does. They are clapping for a team that both caught.

One big happy...well, happy might not be the right word - look at those faces. I think they had both gotten in trouble by now, trying to climb on the rail instead of sitting and watching. Don't all 4 and 2 year olds sit quietly and watch? Just kidding, I definitely know the answer to that one!

She was tuckered out. :)

Island Pork Chop Salad

I adapted this recipe from the P90X nutrition plan book, and it's sooo good! It's pretty healthy, too! Jason and I love it and even my kids love it! That doesn't happen very often, let me tell you! So I thought I would share it with you. :)

Pork Chops:
4 pork chops, lean
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chile powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp garlic powder ( or 1/2 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely chopped)
(the original recipe called for 1/2 tbsp Tobasco sause but me and the kids don't like heat)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder and cinnamon. Dip the pork chops in this mixture and cover evenly. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Place pork chops in and brown for about 2 min on each side. Mix brown sugar and garlic together. Cover pork chops in brown sugar mixture and place in a roasting pan. Bake for 20 min.

Cumin Vinaigrette:
1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp salt
dash of black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Wisk together until emulsified.

Salad:
fresh spinach
1 bell pepper sliced thinly lengthwize
1/2 of an orange peeled and divided into small chuncks
(the original recipe called for shredded cabbage and golden raisens, too, but I didn't put them in)

I just put some spinach on the plate, added a few bell peppers and orange chuncks, put some sliced pork chop on top and drizzled on the vinaigrette! Oh, add some Hawiian rolls, and yum!!
Hope you enjoy!

New Mexico Vacation

We got to escape the heat and spend Labor Day weekend in the mountians of New Mexico. My parent's friends have a cabin near Las Vegas that they invited us to stay in. Mom, dad and Jeremy took Gracie and Caden with them on Thursday, and Jason, Brenna and I came on Friday.

This is the cabin. It's such a neat place. The shorter part is a real log cabin in the shape of an octogon. That part was built in the early 70's. The rest was added in the 90's.

Jason was ready to help Jeremy chop wood for all the camp fires he wanted to sit around.

Brenna did pretty well except that she wouldn't sleep. She hardly napped more than an hour, and woke up every night. Needless to say, we were all tired.
She likes her bed at home. She slept 13.5 hours the first night back in her crib!

Dad and the older two picked lots of apples for the apple cobbler dad cooked in the Dutch oven.

He peeled the apples, and the kids ate them.

This is Cindy. She really liked Brenna, and Brenna liked her, too. (most of the time)

She had her laughing pretty good!

These are the beams of the ceiling in our room. I love this look.

The kids loved riding the tractor, of course! Me and the kids got to ride in the bucket, too! Dad raised us up to pick an apple out of the tree!

It was cool enough for jackets in the morning and evening. You could see your breath in the mornings, too.

That exercauser is a life saver... or more accurately, a back saver!

The stream was pretty low, but there were still a few little trout in it.

It's a pretty little stream.

S'mores time!

Gracie ate two, and she stayed pretty clean.

You can't really tell in this picture, but he had marshmallow ALL over him!

Caden's first time to fish! He really wanted to use his fishing pole, but it wasn't set up for worm fishing.

Mom tried to help him cast.

Dad helped Caden catch his first fish!

Gracie was more interested in picking wild flowers.

Caden's 1st fish! A cute little brook trout. He was kind of scared of it at first.

Gracie finally wanted to fish, too.

Here we all are!

I think our first family vacation with five was a success! But I'm glad that it will be a year before we have to make the drive again!

Black and White

This N That

I think if she could talk, she would say that she agrees with her shirt! She gets alot of love from her big brother and sister!!

They wanted to help me make a cake for Jason's birthday.

Here's the reason why.

They love that batter!

They all took a 3 hour nap... that was nice!

He's becoming a funny sleeper, too!

Jason modeling one of his new shirts - he's so cute!

Brenna taking her first bites of "solid" food.

She wasn't too impressed. She cried so we decided to wait a little longer on the solids.

She's taking her time on one big milestone. She has shown NO desire to roll over. But she loves to chew on her toys and talk to anyone who will listen... even if it's only herself! :)