Can you can?

I love when I get to harvest my garden. We rarely use all of the vegetables we grow, so I like to bottle what I can. I have never tried making pickles out of my cucumbers before, so I thought I'd give it a try this year! It was very easy and they turned out so yummy! Even the kids will eat them! So far this year I have only canned strawberry jam and pickles, but hopefully I will have plenty of tomatoes and grape juice to can also!

If you've canned a lot I'd love to hear your tips and tricks if you have any! What do you can?

Jessica turns 5!

My baby girl is 5 years old now and will be going to Kindergarten next month. It's surreal to me. This journey with her has been so amazing so far. She is such a special girl. I love Jess so much and admire her in so many ways. These are the 5 things I love most about Jess:

1. She loves to dress up every day. Looking pretty is very important to her and it's not unusual for her to sleep in her princess dresses. One night she even slept in her princess shoes, she just couldn't bear to take them off!

2. Jess is very helpful and loves to make people happy. If ever she makes her sister or brother sad, it doesn't take long before she is sacrificing something to make they happy again.

3. Jess knows how to make things fun. She has always been good at making me laugh, even in the times when nobody else could. She used to try to make me laugh during the sacrament when she was just 2. She is very silly.

4. She has her own personality and style, and she doesn't conform to what others think she should do. She know what she wants and doesn't let others push her around.

5. She comes up to me and gives me hugs all the time. She hasn't ever really been too cuddly or affectionate, but lately she just wants to be close to me all the time. I am eating it up while it lasts!

We celebrated her birthday tonight with friends and family with games, pizza, gifts, cupcakes, and a pinata. She was very excited about all her gifts and loved having so many people there to celebrate with her. She got some of her favorite things! Barbies, polly pockets, clothes, shoes, a movie, princess shoes, nail polish, etc...

The pinata was a hit! (he he) Each of the kids got a chance to hit it a few times.
It was Kayman who actually broke it down! What a little stud!

Next came the cupcakes, which was much easier than cake and ice cream might I add. The kids loved it. It was too windy for Jess to blow out her candles, we are in Herriman, but I'm sure she made a wish anyway.
Kayman and his friends chowing their cupcakes. These kids are all a month apart and are Kayman's best friends!
All but one of the kids who came to the party. One little girl didn't want her picture taken, but these are Jessica's closest friends. She had a great time with them!

Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you! Thanks for being such a light in our lives!

More BEES! AHH!

How disgusting is this?!

I came home from a night out and Andy was with the kids outside about an hour after bedtime just looking at the peach tree. I was a little confused, until I walked outside and saw this. It's hard to tell from the picture, but this swarm of bees was about the size of a soccer ball. They were mellow since it was night time, but still very creepy to me.

Luckily I have a good friend who is a beekeeper! I called her up and she came over a short time later in her bee suit with an empty hive in hand.
She got the bees for us and now has them at her house making sweet honey! I'm glad to have them gone from my house, and she is glad to have them at hers. Vweegudna! (That's the pronunciation of a Russian word that means good for you and good for me.) Andy and I were outside watching while she was capturing the bees and they started flying all around. It was a little scary, but nobody got stung, well not until the next day when Andy got stung on his knee.

Bees Game

On July 5th we went with Andy's parents to the Bees game! It was so fun! The kids had a wonderful time. You can tell in the picture that the girls are just a little hyper, and Kayman just about drove the guy in front of us nuts. Kayman doesn't hold still too long, but he had a fun time watching the game. The fireworks at the end scared him for the first few minutes, but he got used to them and we all really enjoyed the show.

Thanks Nana and Papa for such a fun 4th of July celebration! We love you!

Harvest day!

I just LOVE summer and the fresh produce that comes with it. I have had great success this year so far with the garden! We have had peas, strawberries, lettuce and cilantro. We have had about 10 bowls of that lettuce and I've made a batch of strawberry jam from our strawberries, and frozen everything we didn't eat while picking them! I've used the cilantro in lots of guacamole and burritos.

Now the raspberries are coming on and the peaches, apples, beans, corn, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, carrots, tomatillos, potatoes, brocolli, cucumbers, onions, dill and basil are on their way!

Graduations

The girls have both graduated. It's been a while since Jess had her preschool graduation but I'm just getting around to posting it. I know.

Jess had a speaking part and did wonderful! She memorized it in about 10 minutes.

"Capitol letters begin our names

which we have learned to write

lowercase complete the rest

we'll show you here tonight"

She did so great! She sang some fun songs and even got to wear a graduation cap and gown and walk down the isle to accept her diploma. So cute!

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Teresa (the most wonderful teacher ever!!!)
Jess with her friend Rebecca
And the family. Don't mind Kayman stuffing the cookie into his face.
Syd had her Kindergarten "graduation" program. She sang about 12 songs and the kids recited a few poems about the seasons. We were sitting so far back I didn't get a great picture of them singing, but here is a picture of most of her class. Her teacher Mrs. Black was great. Syd liked her. She met a lot of fun friends in her class and loved kindergarten! Syd is definitely excited for first grade! She is in the back row, second from the left in the red dress.
I can't believe I will have 2 kids in school. Kayman and I will have to find things to do while the girls are in school. Should be interesting! He'll definitely keep me busy!

Family Reunion

In June we went to St. George for a family reunion. We had such a great time down there with my family...there were about 60 of us.

I went down a day early to help my dad get the house ready. It was fun to have the house to ourselves for a day to swim and watch movies and spend time with my dad. I took the kids up to Dixie rock for some photos.

The kids took a bubble bath together in Grandpa's giant tub!
Out to the pool!

The girls and their cousin Abby eating chips by the pool. Such big girls.

We went on a family hike on my late Grandfather's favorite hiking trail. Everyone chose a rock to contribute to a little monument we made in his remembrance. Everyone said something they loved about grandpa. It was very sweet.

Andy got stuck carrying Kayman's and Jessica's rocks...of course they grabbed some of the biggest rocks they could find!
These are our family reunion T-shirts. The D is for Daniels (my maiden name) and is made up of all the names of the members of our family. Andy designed them and did a fabulous job!
Andy and me in front of my parents house.
Syd with her new idol. This is my cousin Lynsie and she and Syd were inseparable! Syd really loves her. They even look like they could be sisters!
My girls with my cousins Lynsie and Carly. We had a blast with the family. I didn't get a picture of all of us on my camera, I'll have to get a copy of it. I love my family!

Jeth lotht her firtht tooth!

Translation is "Jess lost her first tooth." She is having a hard time saying her S's now. She was VERY excited to lose a tooth like her big sister. Her second tooth is on its way out too! It's strange to me that she is growing up so fast. She goes to Kindergarten in a few months and then it will just be me and my little man. I'm feeling old...

Cleaning jobs

Every day my girls have to do their "Chart" before they are allowed to go play or watch movies, etc. Their chart consists of 1. making their bed, 2. cleaning their toys up, 3. brushing their teeth, 4. fixing their hair (or having me fix it), 5. do their homework or read, and 6. a cleaning job. I usually let them decide what their cleaning job is and help them if they can't think of anything.

Today Syd decided to clean the entire bathroom downstairs! It's sparkling!

Jess saw the need and decided to organize the movies!
Kayman thought it was time for mom to mop the floor apparently. I couldn't get out of him why he decided to make this mess, his only answer these days is "Cuz." So I mopped the floor while he spent a little time in his bedroom where he can make whatever mess he wants to clean up.
The girls' friend brought them the soda and they left it on the porch while they were playing outside. Kayman decided to help himself to it. He's such a stinker! It's a dang good thing he's so cute!

darn kids

This is what we came home to after a wonderful family reunion weekend in St. George. I'll post about the reunion after I've gone through all my pictures. My friend who was keeping an eye on the house found this when she came to feed the dog.

Whoever did it left the evidence right there on the porch...
We get a brand new window! Yay!

For the Love!

This was my lovely reward from Kayman while I cleaned out the fridge. I guess he was curious if the fish would swim. The entire bag of goldfish spreading all up the stairs like this. He had a good time cleaning it up too, which makes me nervous that he will do it again just to use the vacuum. The positive thing is that I now have a clean and organized fridge...AND freezer!

They're Ba-ack!

Already destroying my garden, the infamous grasshoppers are back and have begun their attack! I noticed them about 2 weeks ago when they were about 1/8 inch long and they are growing VERY rapidly! I got the yard sprayed and hopefully they are all going to be dead here in a few days. They better not destroy my garden this year, or else I'm gonna, uh, be really mad again, I guess. What can you do? Killing them one at a time by burning them, watching Dallas attack and eat them, sending the kids out to catch them, although very rewarding, is not too effective. Die grasshoppers, DIE!!!

Dance

The girls had their year end concert last week and did amazing! I haven't got the video on the computer yet, but I will soon. For now here are the pictures of them after the show.

This is a shot of Syd and me at her last competition. We decided to take her down a level and out of competition. She is very good, but the competitions were a bit much for her. She was getting bored and didn't look forward to them. A few days before the last one I mentioned it to her and she said, "I already have a trophy!" She didn't want to go. She does love dance though so both girls will be at the "Darling" level where they go to class twice a week and dance in the year end concert.
We love dance and especially the studio the girls dance at, Vision. It is a great studio with wonderful teachers. The girls are learning a ton and getting stronger and more flexible. With this change in level Syd will have more time to take piano lessons, and possibly karate for both of them.

Precious moments

Kayman has finally warmed up to his new cousin Gabe. He loves to hold him and feed him now. It's the cutest thing ever! Here they are together!

Syd also loves to hold him. Jess has yet to warm up to him. She isn't too sure what to do with babies.
Kayman and his little girlfriend Annabelle. These two are so stinkin' cute together! They were dancing here. Look how happy Man is. He's got himself an older woman! Okay, only about 6 weeks, but still. He's workin' it!
Look at the sweet smile on her face! We're getting some good wedding video photos! :)

CRaZy Hair Day

When I asked Syd how she wanted me to fix her hair for Crazy Hair Day she said she wanted "Lady Gaga Hair." We did this last year sometime, I found it on a blog and tried it. She wanted a great big bow made out of her hair on top of her head. Here is how it turned out. She loved it! I'm pretty sure she was the only one with this hair at school! :)

Another day...another decade

Ugh, I'm 30. It was my birthday on May 3 and I'm no longer in my 20's. I always thought I wouldn't care a bit when I turned 30, but then the day came. It was not my best day. I don't know why it was so depressing, but luckily I got over it. My family made me feel amazing!

Early in the afternoon I was getting some work done at the computer (not liking the fact that I was spending my 30th birthday at home working and thought I should be out doing something fun) when my kids and their friends came sneaking into the room. I could hear little whispers behind me and I knew they had something in store for me. It wasn't the devious whispering I am used to overhearing, so I was pretty sure they were not up to something naughty.

All of a sudden Syd ran up to me and put a birthday hat sticker on my shirt and they all started singing "Happy Birthday" to me! It was the sweetest thing in the world! I seriously started crying! It was hard to hide that from them, I knew there was no way they would understand why I would be crying in that moment, but it made me so happy. My little angels brightened my day right up!

When Andy got home from work he had this yummy ice cream cake from Baskin Robins for me! It was divine. The kids colored some pictures for me and got me pop rocks, some of my favorite candy!

Everyone keeps telling me that 30's are more fun, so I'll let you know if it's true...

Then on the Friday night after my birthday I planned with my friend Velvet to go out with our hubbies. We go out often and share a babysitter since all of our babysitters have knows our kids since they were born. We planned to go a little earlier than usual cause I needed to just get out.

Friday morning Velvet called to tell me that they were coming a little early so they could clean my house as my birthday gift! What wonderful friends I have. Anyone who is willing to clean your house for you is a keeper as far as I am concerned! :)

We left early enough that we planned to meet Andy at the restaurant. We left and I was SO excited to go to Tepanyaki for my birthday dinner. Right as we were pulling into the parking lot Velvet got a call from the babysitter saying that she though Samantha had broken her arm falling off the trampoline. They started heading back to our house, and I came up with a million different solutions...I suggested they leave me at the restaurant to meet Andy there since he was on his way. Once I called Andy and he said he was closer to home that the restaurant I agreed to head home with Justin and Velvet.

Andy called a few minutes later saying that Samantha's arm definitely looked broken and we should hurry home. I suggested he take her to instacare and we would meet him there, then he could take me to dinner while Justin and Velvet took care of Samantha. I really wanted those noodles! I kept throwing curve balls at them unknowingly.

When we walked in the door at my house I was so confused as to why the kitchen table was outside, then all of a sudden a million of my friends came around the corner! I have never had a surprise party before, and I was SO surprised! Suddenly the fact that Velvet came and cleaned my house made so much sense.

We had a big BBQ and it was so fun! Thank you to everyone who was able to come and make my night so wonderful!!! You are the best friends in the world. Andy and Velvet planned this thing so quickly and so well. I always thought that if I had a surprise party that I would figure something out beforehand. It didn't happen. I didn't have a clue!

Here I am with Velvet the night of my party. She is such an incredible person, and I am lucky to be such good fiends with her. She has taught me so much and I love her dearly!