August iMoments

Joey absolutely loves going to the pool! But this particularly afternoon I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't stop crying. Turns out, he just wanted a pair of goggles like the big kids. :)

During Girl's Camp, Danny got a cape for the Bishop's Challenge. Joey loves it! He ran around the house for over an hour feeling like the bees knees. That's my boy, wearing a cape while wielding a semi-automatic Nerf gun and sucking on the charger to something. Pure man-child, right there!

There hasn't been a lot of time for trying new dinner recipes lately, but we found an Instant Pot beef gyro recipe that is not only picturesque and beyond delicious, but healthy too!

Oh Poseph, I wish you would stay my little baby forever!!

Danny's Mom spent the month of August in Switzerland with Kenny and his family, and so virtually all of the garden harvesting fell to me. And to say I got overwhelmed is an understatement! At one point I was crying over the number of massive zucchini I had. Danny explained to me that even Grandpa Call, the amazing gardener, couldn't keep up with zucchini. Which is why Danny remembers making zucchini boats to float down the irrigation ditch. While I wiped my tears, Danny grabbed the three biggest zucchini, three steak knives, and put the kid to work on zucchini boats. We were both fairly certain the activity would end in stitches for someone, but I didn't even care. I was so happy to have those zucchini out of my house! (And for the record, no children lost fingers or any blood whatsoever.)

We've decided it's official. Joseph is by far our most active child. Daredevil extraordinaire, and happiest when he's about to cause bodily harm to himself.

But sometimes, he'll still sit still for a few minutes and read a story. 

Or if I contain him somehow, he'll drink his bottle and watch "Blue's Clues" or "Yo Gabba Gabba". It's probably bad to admit, but I always love it when my toddlers learn to love a show. That 20 minutes is gold!

With the summer coming to an end, I was becoming more and more aware that all too soon the kids would be gone all day. Our lazy mornings would be no more. So this morning, I took the time to snuggle with the kids in bed. I'm really bad about taking moments like these, but I'm always happy when I put all the things I feel like I "need" to do on hold and instead hold on to what I really need to.

My Dad and Ruth Ann have spent the majority of the last year living in Colorado helping my grandma through various health challenges. So even though they only live 40 minutes away, we haven't seen them in a year! Now they're moving to Colorado permanently and my grandma is moving in with them. We got together for a wonderful dinner (thanks to Danny's mad smoking skills) and spent some time visiting before they left. Hopefully we'll see the again soon!

It's ironic, but I do the most baking when the garden comes to harvest. I've been making double chocolate zucchini muffins by the dozens to freeze, and of course my most favorite lemon poppyseed summer squash bread!

Joey and I have discovered the filters on Snapchat. Joey loves it!!

Admittedly, I kind of love it too. :)

I've been making cookies on Sunday afternoons for Danny to take to various ward members. He says his visits are easier with cookies in hand. :) This week, Danny took the older kids with him, but not Joey. Our poor baby stayed at the back door for almost 20 minutes, completely inconsolable! He just wants to be big so bad!

We got to visit with our awesome California friends, the Morrises! We love this family, and we have been and continue to be so blessed by their friendship! They were the very first friends we made in Lancaster, and it made us feel like we could be happy there. The amount of kids has sure grown since then, but it just makes it all the more fun!

 I filled this wagon every other day. EVERY OTHER DAY! The garden was prolific to say the least!

And with all that harvesting is of course the snapping of many beans. And little hands make for great bean snappers. Plus they like to snitch. ')

As the days go by, my sweet baby boy is less that and much more my completely irrational and incommunicable toddler! Every morning, before I can even get dressed and out of my bedroom, Joey is pulling at my pajamas to do something for him. If only I knew what!!

Lori planted the most amazing sunflowers this year. Some were at least 12 feet fall, and the flowers were ginormous!

We knew Grandma was missing her garden, so we tried to keep her update with pictures. Seriously, there was just so much to harvest every day!

At least the pumpkins had a couple of month to continue to grow. We're excited for these giant jack-o-lanterns!

Joey loved to "help"! Seriously, he has every single on of us wrapped around his finger. What would we do without our Po?!

This month marks 11 years of marriage for Danny and I! We are celebrating in October when we travel to Vegas for the Tough Mudder, but Danny...being the awesome husband that he is...still sent me flowers and chocolate on our day. I couldn't have picked a better man if I had a thousands lifetimes.

We celebrated our family birthday with dinner at The Olive Garden. We miss Luke like crazy, and it's crazy to think that with that table full of kids we are still missing one! Eleven years looks good on us...Danny and I have decided to go for twelve. :)

When the kids went back to school, I didn't know how to manage Joey at the garden all by myself. But as soon as we got out of the car he walked me to the apple tree. Once he had his apple he was good to go! Seriously, this boy is WAY too cute!

All those tomatoes mean a lot of amazing Roasted Garden Tomato Sauce for our freezer!!

And the beans. They were late to come on this year, but now they won't stop!!

I swear I have other kids than just Joey to post about. :) John started fall soccer this month, and he was beyond elated (I mean, beyond elated) to discover that his best friend Canon is on his team! The girls weren't interested in playing again, so the season should be much more manageable on our schedule. Can't wait to see how Johnny does this season!