18 months and funny quotes

Lynnlee is 18 months. It has gone by so fast but at the same time I can't believe everything that's happened since she joined our family.

She is growing and doing pretty well. She will have a procedure next month to help some problems in her heart but then she should be good for awhile.

Lynnlee is shy around others but really happy and energetic at home.

She loves when Marshall gets home from work and does tricks with her.

She and James are buddies and they miss each other when they are apart.

Kids say funny things and now that James is talking a lot he says a lot of funny things.

When James and Lynnlee were in the stroller on our morning run yesterday James saw the moon and said, "When I'm superman I am going to fly to the moon and touch it."

Another morning he said, "When I get older I want to drive a school bus."

I was pumping up the stroller tire this one morning and James asked what I was doing and I told him I was pumping up the tire. Then my arms got tired because it was taking so long to fill up so I took a rest. James asked what I was doing and I told him my arms were tired. Then he said, "do they need to go to sleep?"

Figs

If you saw the post before this then you will understand why I'm posting about Figs. Figs are the mystery fruit that I got in my Bountiful Basket. Thank you for all the comments on the last post! I googled fig recipes to try and figure out what I was going to do with them. There were lots of dessert recipes but we've had so many cookies lately that I wasn't too excited about making fig cookies. There were various fig sauces that go along with pork tenderloin. I got really excited about that but after looking closely at the ingredients I decided I wasn't about to go by some bourbon to go along with the recipe. Then I came across a website called "Simplyrecipes." That is my kind of site. I'm all about simple recipes. The recipe was for Spicy Fig Orange Jam. It is a microwave jam recipe so I was really excited to try it because of it's simplicity. I won't go into detail all of the steps to make (you can click here to get to the recipe and steps.) it but I did make it and it turned out great! Now my house smells like Christmas because of the strong aroma of the figs.

My second cooking accomplishment for the day is this dish. I also had lots of sweet potatoes in my basket this week. I like sweet potatoes but don't love them. I mostly only have them at Thanksgiving. I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato fries. I looked in some cook books and found a recipe for Roasted Vegetables. It is also a simple recipe that involved cutting up potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and a red onion. Mix it with some olive oil and other spices and roast them in the oven. I was really happy with how it turned out and the sweet potatoes were really good. If you are interested in the recipe I will email it to you. It's from The Essential Mormon Cookbook.

I definitely recommend Bountiful Baskets. We eat more fruits and vegetables because we have so many around. It has also improved my cooking skills and forced me out of my comfort zone.

Mystery

I got this mystery fruit/veggie in my Bountiful Basket this week. Anyone know what it is? Or what to do with it? They are a little bigger than bouncy balls.

This is what it looks like cut open.

Family Night Treat

If you ever need a family night treat idea then I highly recommend this one. It's not the healthiest but it's really yummy! We made donuts last night. We simplified by buying biscuits from the store. They come in the pop open cans-10 to a can. James and Lynnlee helped cut the centers out with a small, round cookie cutter. Marshall fried them up in the oil (you could bake them and they would be healthier but not as tasty). Then we rolled them in powdered sugar. The whole process only takes a few minutes. The pictures don't really do them justice.

First Day

Who started the first day of school pictures anyway? Growing up I don't remember getting my picture taken on the first day of school. I do miss the chocolate chip cookies my Mom used to have for us when we got home from our first day of school though! That was the tradition in my family on the first day of school.

James is participating in joy school this year. So here's his picture before walking over to school. He didn't really want to smile but just wanted to get to school.

Lynnlee wanted to be in all the pictures and wear a backpack too.

James had such a good time at his first day he kept asking to go back.

End of Summer

I don't want the summer to be over. Even though I'm happy not to wash beach towels and swimsuits, I really enjoyed all our time at Seven Peaks. I didn't get to run any long races this summer but I did have fun running the short races. I was able to check most items off my summer check list so I guess we're ready for Fall. Here are some of the things we did to finish off the summer:

We went to Swiss Days over Labor Day weekend. The weather was great for the parade.

Poor James has been scarred ever since hearing the cannons at the Orem parade. Anytime there are any loud noises at parades he plugs his ears...even when the loud noises are bands playing....it's funny but sad!

The Swiss Days 10K was my first 10K. I was happy with my time of 46:29. It was a beautiful morning and I couldn't have asked for better scenery!

Last weekend we went to the Heart Walk for Intermountain Healing Hearts. It is a fundraiser and walk for congenital heart defects. Lynnlee rode in the stroller but next year I think she'll be want to walk with us.




Our last stop for the summer was Cowabunga Bay. They have a super September special where you can go all day on Saturdays for only $10! It's a great water park for about age 10 and under. So needless to say James loved going on all the slides by himself. Lynnlee loved the warm water in the lazy river and pool!