July fun!

July is our month o' fun! It starts with the fireworks, then we have Aaron's birthday!
Aaron has never been a big cake fan, so we made him a birthday pie.
Since it has been so hot recently, the boys feel that if they "have" to be outside, the hose has to be on. I didn't want to put the pool out this year because I was a little worried about Levi going over the edge, (he sneaks outside with his brothers so often!), so the boys made their own swimming hole with our ball bucket.



Of course, Jacob always seems to find a new way of doing things...

This morning it was back to work, though. School started and our noses are back to the grindstone!
Aren't my young scholars handsome?

Our 4th of July!

Caeden watches our "big show!"

For our Fourth of July celebration, we really didn't do too much. It was a lazy day where we caught up on some housework, then barbecued and then did our own fireworks out on the street. South Jordan has its own "Country Fest" at the end of June, complete with greasy fair food and carnival rides and a free concert in the park (this year they had country singer Darryl Worley - he sings "Have You Forgotten?", "Awful, Beautiful Life," "I Miss My Friend," and "I Just Came Back From a War" to name a few songs) and they have a great fireworks show where we can sit close (and by close, I mean there's ashes in your hair when you leave!) and there's very little traffic. So we get our fill of big fireworks and fair at the Country Fest every year then spend the 4th at home doing our own thing. It's been quite fun, really. Anyway, here's a few pictures of our "fireworks show."
Zach and the sparkler
Pyromaniacs in training

Zachary's not a huge fan of noise...Jordan climbs the street sign post

Our Trip to Zions National Park

At the end of June, we went to Zions National Park for the Hall Family Reunion. Aaron and his siblings and all the spouses and kids and parents all attend, and we had a great time. We rented the "Moose Lodge" (which sleeps 34 people) at a resort just outside Zions and spent time hiking in the park, swimming at the resort's pool, and just enjoying each other's company. We took all of the kids on the Emerald Pool hike, which was a perfect hike for all the kids. Jacob didn't think he could make it, but up at the 3rd pool, all the kids took a dip in the pool... I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to swim up there, but you try to stop 30 overheated kids on a 100 degree day from getting in the water...!
Zachary on the hike

Jordan under the waterfall at the first pool

Catching tadpoles at the second pool

Aaron and the boys cooling off at the 3rd pool

Levi playing in the cool dirt on a hot day!

Twins born in different years?

I've always thought that Levi and Caeden look a lot alike. Some people humor me and say they do, and others disagree. I think I've got a little evidence that supports my side. I've got a few pictures of my boys taken at the same age (13 1/2 months old). What do you think?


Am I just seeing things, or are our cloning exercises approaching success?

We were there!

On Friday, July 11th, we noticed that the steeple had been put up on the temple just west of our home. We decided to go up and check it out, and when we got there, they were preparing to put the Moroni statue up on the steeple. We immediately parked the van and jumped out to watch them put him up. I was so glad to have had my boys all with me so that they could watch it too. It was so very cool! What awesome timing we had that day! It is so fun having a temple being built so close to our home.







Here's the view of the temple from our backyard. Neat, huh!

What our economic stimulus check went for:

A few days after we got back from camping, I went into the laundry room and stepped in a puddle of water. Seeing as how there were already 2 other problems with our washer and we had already repaired it 6 times previously, we decided to buy a new washer and dryer. I am excited about my new washer and dryer, but I sure wish we could have used the money for something else...

Here's the recipe I promised:

I've been telling people for a while that I'd put this "Cream Biscuit" recipe on my blog, so now I'm actually going to do it! It's a yummy biscuit recipe, and it's really quick. My boys love it when we buy a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Whip up the biscuits, warm some green beans, and voila! dinner is served! It's nice because you don't have to cut the lard or butter or whatever into the dough, just mix the dry stuff together, add the cream, and there's the dough. Hope you try them, they're fast, yummy, and we love them!

Cream Biscuits

Mix together:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 TB sugar

Stir in:
1 1/2 cups cream

Knead for about a minute, roll thick, and cut into circles (we use a mason jar lid!)
Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. (I use my stoneware pan, and just preheat it with the oven. Then I put my biscuits on the hot stoneware. It makes the bottoms more crispy. You may need to cook them a little longer if you don't use stoneware - I haven't done it any other way, so I'm not sure about the time using just a regular baking sheet!) Good luck, and I hope you enjoy!

Our Goblin Valley Trip

The day after Levi's birthday, we headed out to Goblin Valley with our friends, the Wilkins family. Goblin Valley is a state park in Southern Utah where the erosion process created tons of goblin shaped rocks. It is like a giant playground for
kids, and our boys love to climb and play and discover. We even found a cave! It is a fun place to run through, and we love spending time together as a family with nothing else to distract us. Not only did we play at Goblin Valley, we also went exploring through some slot canyons at the nearby Wild Horse Canyon. That's where the picture on our header was taken. Camping isn't so hard with the boys. They're finally getting old enough to help put up and take down the campsite, and we had a separate tent for the boys, so there was plenty of room. Our only downside is that Aaron's and my air mattress sprung a leak, so on the second night, Aaron went in to sleep with the boys on a mattress that didn't leak. I stayed on the leaky mattress, which really wasn't too bad with just one person on it. (We laughed pretty hard when we were both on it, rolling uncontrollably into each other.) All in all, it was a fun trip, and it only took a week for my sunburn on the back of my legs to go away...

Levi loves his backpack ride!