Pioneer Woman...

No, I don't mean, Ree Drummond.

I mean this lady...

This is a statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma where I grew up.

So naturally, I have taken on some of those pioneer attitude through just living in the small town where this pioneer woman resides. (Right?)

I honed in on those pioneer attitudes yesterday by doing a couple of things...

1. I made homemade laundry soap with a friend. Bytheway, if you would like some soap, I have 5 gallons of it... just let me know. hehe

2. We picked blackberries and then made blackberry jam!

I think she would be proud!

and maybe Ree would be too.

hehe

Fashion/Craft Blogs

Ok, so I have a guilty pleasure. I like looking at fashion and craft blogs. I am sure a lot of you out there do the same. I get inspiration from both, but one thing I can't understand is where the authors of those blogs find the time to create a look or a craft, find a unique place to photograph that outfit or craft, and still go to work or be a mother.

It bewilders me. Personally, I would rather play with my kids.

Anyways, my friend Jenny (who owns a blog that is private, which is a shame cause she is HILARIOUS), did her own take on the "fashion blog". I loved it. She got all fancied up and took pictures everyday where different outfits... It was classic.

Anyways, I am taking a spin off that by doing one about my kids...

They hated it. We didn't get very many outfits cause Merrick was over it.

So here are a few, but seriously, I still wonder how these people have the time...

Anyone that actually knows me surprised that Berkleigh's hair is actually done in these pictures?

And my favorite, is the ripped pants that I love on Berkleigh and have had for two years, and still can get rid of them. She just looks so cute in them! Skinny jeans are the way to go for kids, cause you can buy them big and they still fit, and they look cute rolled, and then when they grow, unroll them. Best $15 I have ever spent at H&M for Berkleigh. :)

Berkleigh has suede boots my mom got her. Um, they go over her knees, she needs to grow a little, but seriously?? I want to eat her when she wears them.

Unposted Summer

We have so many pictures that were never posted of our summer...

Riding bikes at the park:

Playing at the park and getting some lovely Vitamin D!

Going to storytime and playing at the library's discovery room and checking out books...

Watching ladybugs eat aphids...

(It was pretty amazing!)

Playing Transformers in our backyard.

My brother drew a car on this box, and then Merrick popped his legs out the bottom so he could be a car and a transformer. Ingenious...

Daddy/Daughter = Mommy/Son Dates

Our stake had a Daddy/Daughter Campout.

Berkleigh was excited, and Merrick was super bummed.

Here is the goodbye hugs and the leaving of Daddy and ... daughter.

While Tyson and Berkleigh were here and doing this...

Setting up camp and watching the sunrise over this beautiful river.

Going to Detroit Dam and learning to fish.

Merrick and I were doing this...

(I was trying to figure out Instagram)

We ate ice cream while watching "parts" of Transformers. Like the part with Bumblebee and thats it. We watched it in ummm 10 minutes.

We looked at all the crazy spider webs and spiders outside.

Merrick slept in the teepee on the floor in my room.

No way this 31 week pregnant body was gonna sleep on the floor all cramped in that teepee.

And while waiting in the morning for Tyson and Berkleigh to come home, we went to Great Harvest and had some apple juice and cinnamon rolls.

Then after Tyson and Berkleigh got home, we headed to the beach with some friends.

Where Tyson surfed, and we played in the tide pools, on old dead driftwood trees and found sea life.

We raced home from the beach so I could go to the RS Broadcast. It was awesome, and then a little GNO with some girls in the ward.

A very productive and busy day. Just the way we like'm.

Doctors...

Merrick asked me to read him, "There's a Wocket in my Pocket", so we sat down and read it. After we were done, Merrick said, "You are wrong mom, Dr. Seuss didn't write this book, Dr. Peffely did."

You might not see the humor in this, but Dr. Peffely is who Tyson works for...

you know, a real doctor.

The other funny side of this is, do we talk about him that much that Merrick even knows his name, or is he the sponge we thought he was, and we should watch what we say... about anything.

What kind of information are they getting from us?

First Day of Preschool!!

I dropped the kids off at preschool today. I know they have been to preschool before, but this is different because it is at an actual elementary school, I don't have to teach EVER, and it isn't a waste of money like the last one I tried to send the kids to.

I always take pictures of the kids on their first day of "school", but this year I saw this fun idea on pinterest: to take a picture of your child with a chalkboard with their handwriting on it, so you can see how they improve every year for school pictures. I am excited about this.

We didn't get very many great pictures in classroom, because they were so excited that they couldn't stand being with me anymore. hehe

Here we have our cubbies, and Berkleigh coloring...

Merrick playing with unifix cubes and counting...

And outside their classroom door! This is gonna be great!

the harvest on the first day of Fall

I can't wait until we have our own harvest in our backyard. We got to Oregon too late to have a true harvest. Nothing would have really grown so well, or on time. We have this super cool community garden a block from our house. We took a walk on to see the harvest.

It really is the coolest place, and you can get a HUGE plot for $35 a year!

We walked down to the garden, and we were amazed at the difference from the last time we went!

Last time it was hard to find some fruits and veggies, this time the plants were collapsing under the weight of the produce.

Watermelons! Cantalopes!

peas and tomatos!

Yummy Berkleigh!

Pumpkins and cabbage

onions and corn

Oregon is really growing on me...

haha