Back to School

After a summer that seemed far too short, it was time for the girls to go back to school on Monday the 25th. They got all their new clothes, sock, undies, shoes, supplies, back packs, etc and went back in style! Here's to an awesome year!!


Zoe HAD to have this backpack- she just wanted all the junk that came in the front pocket!



look at all this stuff





Zoe's loot



Bella's loot



me beautiful girls on the first day of school Zoe age 6, first grade. Bella age 8, third grade

Our Yealry Trip to the Fair

The girls and I went to the fair on the Friday before it closed. Unfortunately Louis didn't get to go because he was on call, but we went and rode some rides, had some awesome greasy fair food, rode ponies, did spin art, went through the petting zoo, and saw the "largest horse and pig". It was fun, and like every year, we look forward to doing it again next year.




















































The carnies asked me if I wanted to come into their booth with them and get pictures of the girls making their Frisbees from inside- cool!

Boise Rush

Bella has played soccer for the last several years and this year we finally put her in Boise Rush which is the competitive league. She is really good- like REALLY good and I'm not just saying that because I'm her mother, this kids athletic ability is out of this world- soccer, basketball, skiing, skateboarding, it doesn't matter she excels at all of them. Where she got it I will never know because I am the least athletic and competitive person you will ever meet. I'm just not interested. Anyways she is wound super tight and it is really good for her. She started her twice a week practices last week. She will also have games on Saturdays. That will keep her busy. I am looking in to putting Zo in dance. She played soccer last year and liked it well enough, I may put her in next spring, but for now she is more interested in dance lessons, anyways that's for another post entirely!



zo just hanging out with me

Pioneer Woman

I got all pioneerish this year. My friend Marcie hooked me up with an awesome deal on peaches and pears from some local orcahrds out in the Nampa/Caldwell area. I got 22 pound box of peaches for $10.....yup that's right TEN BUCKS!!! Also got a 24 pound box of pears for $10. I ordered two boxes of peaches and 1 box of pears and about 5 pounds of strawberries. I made 18 jars of strawberry freezer jam and canned 25 quarts of peaches. The pears aren't quite ripe enough to can yet so those are still waiting, but let me be the first to say thank God for grocery stores....this canning business is for the birds!!

My Bookshelf!

So, as I previously mentioned, when we were in Chester, Louis' parents gave me the set of the Earth's Children book series. I'm reading the first of the six right now and am loving it. It is set in prehistoric times, the time the Cro-Magnon cruised around, and is really interesting historic fiction. The books are extremely detailed, but not boring, which is a fine line most of the time.
Anyways, on our way home we were talking about needing a bookshelf. I wanted somewhere to put my books and he has a ton of antique books as well that are super cool. Monday I was at work and he texted saying he bought us a bookshelf. I was so, so, so excited. How lame is it that furniture is what excites me....that's when you know you're getting old. :o)
The bookshelf is beautiful-we got it at World Market, aka Cost Plus. It's a nice deep espresso color, has 6 shelves with 12 "cubbies", and a ladder. Unfortunately the ladder didn't come with it- blows my mind- paid $600 for the bookshelf and then paid another $150 for the ladder- ON SALE! Oh well, it's really nice and a furniture piece we will have forever and will never go out of style- and the super awesome part- we literally got the last one in Boise! Yay for my lover for spoiling me!!


HERE is the link to the website to check it out. For some reason my computer (at work) won't let me upload pictures from the internet...weird, and the photos I got last night at home leave a lot to be desired. :) I wasn't too concerned with getting good ones- you get the basic idea!

super lame blurry picture, but like I said, you can at least get the idea.

Chester 2014: V

Sunday was finally the day to come home. We left fairly early and were home by about 4ish. It was a nice trip and as always, we are anxious and ready to do it again next year.

Chester 2014: IV

Saturday was our last full day, and we had plans to fulfill!!! It was finally a nice warm, sunny, dry day, so we were able to go to all of our spots and get some good pictures of everyone. I had seen some places that I thought would be cool, so we packed everyone up and got ready to be photographed!!


After our picture session, we went and grabbed some lunch and then went to a store in Rigby called the Prepared Pantry. All I have to say is I LOVE this store!! It is a kitchen store (obviously) and they have all sorts of gadgets and stuff, but mostly they are known for their prepared or packaged mixes. They have things like cookie mixes, pancake mixes, bread machine mixes, and all sorts of stuff. The one thing that was the number one seller for me was a Mountainberry pancake mix with buttermilk syrup....OMG flippin to die for!!! I had never had or even heard of buttermilk syrup until Bev served it to us while we were there. I had to have some! When we got to The Prepared Pantry my sweet lover made a mistake- he let me loose- he turned to me and said "go for it babe...go spend some money..." and I was off like a prom dress! :) He took the girls and watched all three of them while I browsed, perused, and gathered, and by the time it was said and done I had a cart full of stuff!! He bought me 2 cookie/jelly roll pans, a French rolling pin, a pizza cutter, this rockin' cheese grater that has a storage container built into the bottom, a measuring spoon set that went all the way from a tablespoon down to a dash, pinch, and smidgen- I love those, a sno-cone maker, three flavored syrups, 3 cookie mixes, and get this- SIX buttermilk syrup mixes. They had a fantastic sale going on- if you spent up to 55dolaars you could have up to 6 buttermilk syrup mixes for a buck a piece!! I was all over it! The only sad thing is they didn't have any of the pancake mix I wanted, and when I came home and tried to order it online, it was out of stock, so I will just have to keep trying!


Saturday evening we had a small birthday party for Leslie, Louis' sister. Her birthday was the end of July o it worked out nicely that we were all able to gather and have a little shin-dig!

Grandpa P gave all the girls a lift in the tractor

mirror selfie

blurry selfie 1

blurry selfie 2

unblurry selfie 1 :)

this is soooo redneck but I laughed until I cried about it- it say's "Beef is my business, and business is damn good"

Louis showing the girls milkweed, the home of monarch butterflies

showing them cattail bombs

this is the store his parents owned and he worked in for several years

I really like this picture

we took the girls to the sand dunes...they had a sandy blast

getting ready for Leslies shin dig

sleepy girls