Morgan goes to the zoo

Today was Morgan's field trip to the Hogle Zoo! She had a lot of fun! We only had about an hour and a half to see the whole zoo but we did what we could and almost saw it all!

Waiting outside...
Sorry that this one is blurry but I caught her just as she was showing me that the monkey just jumped...I love her expression! This girl has a million faces!
Watching the turkeys

Morgan's favorite was the white Alligatior...it was white, big and just sat there...whoopee Ü

This was our group...Sarah, Morgan and Keanna, they were all great and listened to me!

Morgan just cracked me up...she was obsessed with the map they gave us at the beginning, she wanted it to be in all the pictures...it was her day so I complied!

hmmm....where should we go next...

While we were there we ran in to Aspen, one of the girls I babysit, she goes to Morgan's school too but is in a different class, Morgan wanted to get a picture with her...

As we were leaving Morgan and Keanna wanted to take a picture by the waterfall...of course with the map!

I am so thankful that I was able to go with Mugs today, Bruce even said that all the kids were good for him too! Man I love him!

No more diapers!

This isn't exactly new but Reagan is potty trained! It's been about 2 months but I keep forgetting to take pictures of her on the potty! I started trying to potty train her in the middle of July and for about 2 weeks I wondered if she was ready...well on her birthday something must have clicked and she has been virtually acctident free ever since! Girls are still SO much easier than boys!!

She is so proud of herself!

She love reading this bath book everytime she goes potty!
At first we tried to bribe her with m&m's but she liked her carrots! Weird kid!
I still will put diapers on her at nap and nighttime but she is usually dry...I just know the first time I don't put one on her she will pee the bed!

Bikes are usually just for one person

I babysit Owen's cousin Alek...they are so funny together, they are best friends. Owen loves it when Alek comes over. They both love to ride bikes... the other day they decided to try riding one bike together...

Getting ready

(believe it or not but Alek is seven months younger than Owen!)

down the driveway they go...
CRASH!!!!!
I was worried that I would have them both in tears...
Nope...I think that Owen's first words when he first got up was, "That was COOL!" He is such a boy!

I think Alek is okay....

Fish for dinner

Bruce loves to fish...and that is an understatement! Its a good thing that the kids love to eat fish! One night we had fish for dinner...I had to fend for myself because I don't care for the stuff!

After Bruce gutted them they dried them off...
and seasoned them...
added plenty of butter...
Bailey with her fish ready to wrap up...
Morgan with her fish...Owen with his fish...

and Bruce with his fish...

then they wrapped them up twice and Bruce put them on the grill...

Owen had to pose with his fishcicle first...

Salsa

There is always a first time for everything. I have made my way into the canning world! I have always wanted to can but I just didn't know where to start. Well my mom brought me TONS of beautiful tomatoes that she has grown! Bruce and I have been eating bacon and tomato sandwiches and salsa for about a week and a half now but sadly I was starting to loose some of the tomatoes so I decided to can salsa!

I love my fresh salsa recipe so I tried it cooked and it was okay, not the same, but much better than the store bought salsas! Bruce said that once winter hits the salsa is going to be delicous, I am just comparing it with the fresh stuff that is available now! So I just stuck with that recipe...

I ended up with 20 pints of salsa and today I did 8 pints of just diced tomatoes, I figured that it is always nice to have diced tomatoes on hand for spagetti sauce, taco soup, hamburger soup, you know all the good stuff!

I am very proud of myself and now I am wanting to do more! But my poor house has suffered the last day and a half that I was doing all the canning! Bear in mind that I was also baby sitting four other kids plus my two that I still have at home at the same time I was canning, I know I am crazy! But it is done and I only lost a handful of tomatoes! Oh yea and all of the jars sealed...I was pretty happy about that!

Payson City Carnival

After the parade we used our tickets at the carnival. We missed the cheap night when all the rides are just one ticket so we just allowed the kids to ride the two rides they had tickets for. The first ride we went on was the Merry-go-round, Reagan was so excited to ride on the horsies.

Then Bailey and Owen went on the dragon roller coaster, they both had a blast!

Then Bailey, Morgan and Owen went on the giant slide, yes I know Owen went on three rides...I guess that's what happens with the only boy(Reagan was done and ready for a nap so he took her other ticket)

For Morgans last ride she wanted to go in the mouse trap thing, she has always freaked out in the past years and she was going to go on by herself...she was a little nervous and got turned around but she said that it was her favorite ride! I just love the look on her face as she is going down the slide!

Payson City Childrens Parade

Bailey and Morgan got to march in another parade, this one was the Payson City Children's Parade. It was short and sweet and at the end they got a popcicle and a ticket to ride any ride at the carnival. Bruce and I hopped in the parade with Reagan and Owen so that they could get a ticket too, Bruce asked one lady for a ticket and she gave him four! All the kids got two tickets each!

Morgan kept on getting behind Bailey, I think that she was trying to look at the instructor to see what they were supposed to be doing!

There were quite a few girls and after them was tons of kids on bikes, scooters, wagons and strollers!

The girls were also supposed to do the Payson City Grand Parade but it was so stormy and the kids have been fighting a nasty cold that has been going around, I just didn't want to take the chance of making it worse. It was a good thing that we skipped it because it was such a bad storm, it was windy, hailing, and there were sheets of rain, we even got snow on the tops of the mountains!

The Magical Bike

When Bailey was three we got her a huffy seastar bike. Little did we know that we had just purchased a magical bike. We didn't know of it's powers then and we are just beginning to learn of them now.

When Morgan was three she wanted to try out the seastar with out training wheels. We obliged thinking that we would be quickly putting the training wheels back on. Well she got on the bike, walked with it for a few short seconds and off she went! We went on our merry way forgetting about the amazing expirence Morgan had with the bike.

Then we moved to our current house, I was in the front yard talking with a friend and her daughter asked her if she could ride on the seastar, her mom said that she could, not realizing that it didn't have training wheels on it, well her daughter got on it and took off! Her mom was as surprised as I was!

Well the tire started wearing through from being used so much so on Tuesday Bruce was fixing the back tire, he asked Owen if he wanted to ride it, Owen said that it was too scary with out "teeny wheels" I told him that it was just like riding a scooter but with pedals...he said that he would try it but warned us that it would be scary. Well he got on, scooted with it and then started pedaling, and off he went!!!

We took of his training wheels of his 'boy' bike and now he thinks all the kids in the neighborhood need their traning wheels off!

Way to go Owen, We are so proud of you!