HAPPY DAY! i got a wedding photo posted. and all of those girls right there in that pic? they will be reunited tonight when brianne gets in! yay! a wonderful 4 days with my girls together! have a lovely weekend...L

just a few pics. first--my anna--who will be turning 8 in not too long. the first picture is of the lunch she packed herself one night. i just happened to check it to see what it contained and i was actually happy that the apple made it in that mess of junk food heaven! then the day that she picked out this outfit. i just loved her leggings with her headband and bow. and the bedtime story she told me the other night. i always hear a similar version of it but this night was over the top, even for anna. here it is: once there was a princess named david (insert anna's giggling here) and a handsome prince named dallas (more giggling) and there were three evil stepsisters named taylor, carson and haley (giggle). and there were 3 good beautiful sisters named; me, me and me! i think there is a writer in our family.

in other good news. taylor has become a vegetarian. i say good news cuz this is just one more step in my plan to having at least one child become a democrat. and we all know that the next step after becoming a vegetarian is to start voting for democrats! ha ha
of course when she first told me this last week i gently reminded her that one must actually like vegetables in order to be vegetarian. LOL
and that becoming a vegetarian doesn't mean you can survive on top ramen and flaming hot cheetos. but the best part was informing her that her ramen noodles are BEEF flavored. "but there's no MEAT in them" was her retort. and then we have her dad trying to tell her that vegetarians eat turkey and chicken because those aren't "red" meat and so therefore aren't really meat at all. can you blame me for wanting a liberal in this family?

and when my good mood returns ( i think i have one somewhere) i will post a picture of my new haircut and color. the vegetarian merely looked at me and said it looked the exact same as before, whereas the rest of the family took one look at me and reacted the same as if i had just told them that i'm adopted and i don't eat cookie dough!

live long and prosper...L

what's better than a family picnic with your dogs, a water hole and nice weather? not much. we took the kids to a watering hole complete with waterfalls up near payson for the day, brought swimsuits and food and of course the hounds--jake and max. we had sandwiches, cantaloupe, watermelon and some of the most tasty cookies i have ever made! yum.

after we ate we hiked up to the water and it took maybe a nano second for max to jump in and take off swimming. he was in his element. of course jake soon followed and they had a blast getting wet. then we went up a little further and found a great place for the girls to go in. no one would venture in so i had to go first and did a great job jumping from rock to rock until i was in the middle of the water. then carson and anna joined in. haley of course just waited for me to come and get her, which i did--we made it safely. taking her back was another story--of course i lost my footing and fell all the way in--soaking me entirely! well, that was fun. nothing like spending the day outdoors with your family. i love it.

we decided that we have been sitting inside too much and not getting out and enjoying nature and our family. too much time on the computer and watching tv. so dave and i decided that 2x a month we would each pick a place that was not too far away that we could spend a saturday enjoying some new and undiscovered (to us) place. can't wait for the next adventure--which is my choice!

good news--brianne is coming to visit! i am so excited to see my oldest baby girl! and we are having anna's 8th birthday party that weekend too. so i need to get busy and finish up my birthday invites that i started this weekend with my MAS girls--which by the way was a blast!! i had a great time seeing all of them!! ok everyone--here is the recipe for gooey butter cookies--

1/2 cup butter, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, 1 egg, 1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, 1 box of butter recipe cake mix, powdered sugar

beat butter, vanilla, egg and cream cheese until light and fluffy. mix in dry cake mix. chill for 30 minutes. preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray cookie sheet with pam. scoop a walnut sized ball of batter into a ball--roll in powdered sugar, bake 10-12 minutes. now i have a confession--i told my mas girls that i didn't like cookie dough--which horrified all of them. but i spoke too fast. i have found cookie dough heaven with this recipe. even david made me promise not to make these too often! peace out...L

just a random post of random things tonight. the above pics are of tomatoes that i grew and raspberries from my own raspberry plants. can we all say "it's a good thing" altogether now? there is nothing better than homegrown tomatoes. ok--there are a few things better but this is a family blog!

the rice Krispie cake was david's birthday cake! LOL Davids' sister had already made him a wonderful chocolate cake for him on labor day and i saw no reason to improve upon it. we had a nice dinner of chicken fajitas, guacamole, salsa and chips and beans. nothing like a good mexican dinner topped of with that favorite of mexican desserts--rice krispie squares!

i do have to say that my children have had some funny things to comment on the past week. first we began with anna--who when we called brianne on her birthday (labor day) to wish her a happy day informed brianne that the reason we weren't going to church that day is that there are no churches in california! which she told brianne i had told her. well, why do you think so many people want to live there?

then carson was lamenting the size of our family. yeah--6 children is nothing! then she mentioned a family from our old ward--the robisons--and how they had so many kids. most of their kids are grown with about 3 children apiece. so i told her that they only had one more child than we did. and that as soon as haley was grown we would have a lot more in our family (if dallas and brianne will start to get busy!). then carson replied that brianne would be dead by then. i'm like--carson--in 20 years brianne will be my age. a look of horror on her face and then she said "then you'll be dead!" thanks for the vote of confidence.

this week taylor went with the young women/young mens group to go waterskiing. they were supposed to leave at 5:30. i ended up in taylor's room that night and heard the alarm going off--taylor wouldn't budge. so i got up and turned it off to see that it was 4 a.m. later i heard her moving around and she was all out of sorts--her alarm hadn't gone off. i said--the one at 4 in the morning? yes. OK--if you know anything about taylor at all it is this--the girl is a hippie in the making. no makeup, no frills, hair is always, yes ALWAYS, straight. so she was totally stressed trying to find a tank top (the horrors kerry!) to wear over her bathing suit. this crisis necessitates an hour and a half? sometimes i forget that she is a girl--i forget what it was like to be 12 and worried about what i would wear. but it totally cracked me up that she wanted to get up at 4.

the last picture is of anna at her friend's birthday party this weekend. don't get in her way--that's all i'm saying.


have a great week and here is my recipe for wonderful salsa.

Salsa
1 can of crushed tomatoes, 2-4 jalapeno's, roasted, de-seeded and chopped, 4 tomatoes peeled and chopped, 1 bunch of cilantro washed and chopped, 1 bunch of green onions chopped, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 can of sliced black olives (which i leave out because my husband loathes olives) 2 cloves of garlic chopped, 1 lime juiced. enjoy!

why oh why at 10 at night doesn't carrot sticks or broccoli florets sound good? why does ice cream and cookies have to be the thing you want. or cheesecake. not that i have any of these things but they still sound good. and if i had them i would eat them.

i did a few layouts this week. pretty simple ones but ones that i had fun with. i love the sketch blog and i found some sketches that would work for my pictures. the picture of carson that says i love you--she was outside reading a book and i took that pic. love how engrossed she was with what she was doing. carson is a doll. thoughtful and kind and funny and some drama thrown in for good measure. i told her today that i couldn't wait for her to have kids because they would all be dressed incredibly with cool hair and some great clothes. then she said that is why she wanted me to have a baby--so she could dress and do the baby's hair all up. well, you need to talk to brianne. that is the next ubnoske clan member in line to give birth.

the other picture of haley and anna fishing just melts my heart. these pics were taken about 2 years ago when we first moved to prescott. those two are pretty close. they have there moments but they are pretty protective of each other. and they play well together. the other day anna went over to play next door with her friend natalie and she took haley with her to play. so sweet.

ok--off to find something to eat that isn't good for me...L

nothing beats a labor day weekend spent at the beach. nothing! we decided on thursday night to go to cali for the weekend, booked our hotel, found a place for the dogs to stay and drove. it was such a nice getaway. even if it was over 100 degrees. but get this--no traffic. in cali! it was lovely.

so we drove in on saturday and i found out that scrapbook oasis was only a hop from our hotel. i had emailed laura to try and hook up there with me but called and found out that they would be closed on monday. so when we arrived dave dropped me off to look around while he went and checked in. that is one fantabulous store! i loved it. i also loved seeing some layouts by some fave scrap people of mine. like jamie waters and lisa McG. very cool stuff. one day i will have to take a class there.

after that we went and ate at the el torito grill and then headed to newport beach. the girls were in heaven. we were at the jetty so the waves there hit fast and hard. loved watching all the boogie boarders attempt to ride in those humongous waves. ATTEMPT being the operative word. so the girls would head in the water and as soon as a wave hit they would run back to avoid getting soaked. this worked well for a while until haley's feet gave out and she fell down and the wave washed over her. time to go then.

the next day we went for a drive up the coast and then headed back to fashion island. after that dave took the two little ones back to the hotel and the big girls went to south coast plaza. i found the cutest little boots, and i bought the cutest little boots. i love me my boots! we went back to the hotel and i took the girls swimming. then we headed in to fullerton to eat at our fave italian restaurant--angelo and vinci's. love that place.

the next day we headed over to temecula to see debbie and dennis. dennis recently had surgery and was recovering but they had made a special labor day/early birthday for dave lunch. i'm talking crab legs, lobster, shrimp, salad, rice pilaf and homemade chocolate cake. it was divine! i wish we could have stayed longer but it was time to head home. now i am just trying to get back in the non-vacation swing of things. hope everyone had a great weekend...L

happy labor day everyone. enjoy. i'll leave you with a little sumpin' sumpin'...L

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQdhMSEqhfg

sorry--couldn't get a link up!