Happy Halloween

Andrew and his friends from the 'hood had a party here.  They found a new use for their iPods with a sound scavenger hunt.

Voted scariest of all, the girl on the right is a boy.

Mad scientist (no, really)

Old girl scout

Headless horseman

Indiana Jones

???

Rednecks

Hatshepsut, Woman Pharoah

Fruits of our labors in the garden

Making salsa

Armenian hot pickles (minus the Armenian cucumbers, which didn't do well this year)

Green tomatoes for pickling

Da peppas

Salsa on homemade chips

This zucchini got away from us--so it became a boat in the tub.

Fabulous Family Fun on the Fourth

We spent the 4th of July weekend up at Flaming Gorge on our boat.  It was so fun to just be together!  It is so beautiful there.  One of my favorite moments was when Aaron and I made friends with this swallowtail butterfly.  It was the friendliest little creature I'd ever seen!   We also got to see a deer swimming across the lake--amazing!  Steve said he has heard that their patterns are so ingrained that even after the reservoir was filled, they continued to cross.
The boys had a blast!  They loved tubing and exploring on the rocks.  Andrew fished like crazy, but was disappointed not to catch anything.  He redeemed himself this week at scout camp, though. :)  Andrew's other favorite was jumping off a cliff into the water.  An involuntary yell of terror escaped as he plummeted, but later he said it was his favorite thing.  Adam loved the tubing best.
Steve spent most of the time maneuvering the boat, but he did fish too!  He was the best dam tour director around (Flaming Gorge dam, that is--I know, an oldie, but a goodie).
The icing on the cake was fireworks across the lake.  And the stars.  Wow.

The Frog Blog

Andrew came home a couple weeks ago with giant tadpoles from the Kaysville Ponds. We think they might be bullfrogs, which are not native to Utah. He is waiting to hear back from Fish and Wildlife about possibly doing his Eagle project about this invasive species.

In the meantime, we are enjoying their amazing metamorphosis. When he first got them, they were just starting to get tiny back legs. Now they are working on front legs, and the most developed of them can leap out of Andrew's hand. Although their full transformation is said to take up to 2 years, we see changes overnight.

Andrew has been feeding them algae from the ponds, but he tried giving them some brine shrimp we had brought from the Great Salt Lake. No takers. But amazingly, the shrimp don't seem to mind the fresh water (so far).

the ups and downs of Little League

We just got back from the boys' baseball games.  Aaron was playing in a tournament, and they had an awesome rally that brought then within one point of winning.  So they are done for the season, but they went out fighting!  Aaron had an awesome play on 3rd base and some great hits.

There is a cute boy on his team that went through 2/3 of the season turning his head away from the ball every time he swung (and consequently missing it by a mile).  The last few games he has started to hit, and he hit 3 times this game!  The coach presented him with the game ball, and it was a good thing I had shades on or he would have seen me getting all misty!

Adam's team finished off their regular season in 1st place.  It has been a real test of their tenacity.  One of their players passed away in a tragic accident early in the season.  They all went to his funeral and helped form an honor guard as the pallbearers carried the casket out.  They all ironed his number on their sleeves in his honor.  They also have a player with Spina Bifida that plays through pain and numbness in his leg.   And as if all this wasn't enough, they have had to deal with psycho coaches on opposing teams.  I am so proud of those boys for getting where they are and working together!  Way to go, Tigers!!

Cluck, cluck, baa!

Steve's cousin Wendi turned me onto playlist.com, which I used to add music to the blog.  I've realized it is important to actually listen to the file before you add it to your playlist.  I found "Ob-la-di" by the Beatles, and clicked it without listening.  So my blog is randomly playing my songs, and all of a sudden this farm animal version of "Ob-la-di" comes on!  I've decided to leave it on the list for awhile, for your enjoyment.

Steve the Chef

OK, we are officially Food Network junkies.  The upside is that this addiction sometimes yields some "good eats."  

A couple months ago, our neighborhood had a men's cook-off.  There were awards for various categories.  The ultimate honor, The Golden Spoon Award, was bestowed upon...you guessed it...STEVE!  

He replicated the famous dessert last night for his dad and family.  Vanilla ice cream topped with homemade blueberry syrup, freshly ground nutmeg, and bananas with carmelized sugar (via a blowtorch in true engineer style).  Delish.