Raspberries!!!

We headed out to a friends to pick raspberries this morning. My goodness, we were surrounded by delicious raspberries. It was incredible how many there were. We picked and picked until all of us were worn out.

Tatum liked to go deep into the middle of the patch to do her picking.

All the kiddos.

Jake ended up with raspberries inside his boots. Apparently a few fell in while he was picking! Look at the size of that patch behind him.
Yummy goodness! We ended up with about 4 gallons. Delish!

Huckleberry'n

It wouldn't be summer in Teton Valley without picking huckleberries. We didn't get out as much as we'd hoped, I guess I'll have to ration myself through the winter months. Anyway, we did all head out together, but with all the bear encounters this year, I was a little nervous.

Cambrie just getting started.

Evidence of success.

Although Jason kept teasing me about bears, he must've been a little worried, because you'll notice, he was packin'. I actually took bear spray and kept telling him that if we were attacked, I'd be better off. He still believes a gun is the way to go. Hopefully we'll never actually have to find out which of us is right.

Yummy goodness! Nothing is better than these babies!

Jake BuStEd!

Getting ready to head back home!

The Big 35!

Well, it's arrived. . . the big 35! It was quite the day!
Cambrie and Tatum brought me breakfast in bed. Cambrie being the uber observant child that she is made me a protein smoothie and eggs. I came out to find the gifts she had made me. A book on Yoga and some bath salts that she had made herself. What a creative little girl. She knows me and what I like pretty well.

I also received a cast iron skillet so that we could replicate our favorite dessert at home. Here is our first attempt. It looks pretty yummy!

Everyone digging in. Tatum was a little tired, but still managed to shovel in the dessert.

cinnamon toast and independence.

Many months ago I told the kids that I won't buy anymore sugary cereals for breakfast. Fortunately for them, we had quite the stock pile in our food storage, so they haven't had to go without. But alas, we have run out of Tatum's beloved Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not to fear, she has figured out how to make her own replacement. . . actual cinnamon toast. Here I found her after proudly making her own breakfast - 4 slices of cinnamon toast! Well, I don't know that it's much healthier than sugary cereal, but she seems pretty happy with herself and her creation.

our new favorite dessert!

The kids and I worked really hard spring cleaning on the first day of spring break. I told them that I had a surprise for them to thank them for all their help. They were going crazy trying to figure out what their surprise would be, but they never guessed. We headed to O'Rourkes for their Schnookie Dessert. This is hands down, our new favorite. It is delish! We actually ordered one and it was gone so quickly, we ordered a second. I highly recommend you try one.

Chocolate Covered Birthday!

For her Birthday dinner, Cambrie chose chicken & rice and artichokes. She didn't want a cake though, she decided instead that she wanted chocolate fondue. What a surprise. We decided just to stick a candle in a marshmallow since that is her favorite thing to dip in the fondue.

Cambrie made sure she was the keeper of the sticks until she was ready to dig in.

And the Birthday girl gets the 1st dip.

Delicious!

Tater loved the chocolate fondue too.

Jake got a little crazy with his stick and ended up with chocolate on his head.

Good Grades Dinner!

Another school term has come and gone. Our family tradition is to have a 'Good Grades Dinner' if everyone worked hard to earn good grades. We have done all sorts of different things, the main requirement is just that the kids get to pick what they want to do. One time they even chose to make dinner themselves. This time, Cambrie and Tatum both agreed they wanted to go to Teton Thai. This is a favorite restaurant of our family. The kids LOVE their noodles and rice. It was a fun filled night of food and laughs.
Tatum trying to master the chopsticks. She actually did very well.

Cambrie and Jake decided to stick with their forks.

The Good Grade Girls.

Halloween Cookies!

Sugar cookies are a big hit around this house, so we tend to decorate them for nearly every holiday. The kids were out of school Friday, so we rolled, cut and baked them, then on Saturday they decorated them.  There seems to be a lot more licking than decorating anyway. They were sure delicious though.
Jake, Cambrie and Tyler hard at work.

Jake, Cambrie, Abby & Tatum.  Loving every minute.

'Cleaning' the knife before changing colors.

Jake was really the most serious and concerned with the actual decorating part.  He is quite the artist.

Jake-Man turns 4!

It's hard to believe that our baby boy is already 4 years old.  As usual, he was able to choose what he wanted for breakfast.  Jake wanted chocolate chip pancakes which did not surprise me at all.  He LOVES chocolate chips!  He also loves his Iron Man PJ's.

His Birthday was also his 1st day of Preschool (that will be a separate post).  At Preschool he got this cool crown and when I picked him up he asked me, "When is your Birthday?"  I replied, "July."  Then he informed me, "When it's your Birthday, you can be the boss, but today I am the boss."  I asked him where he heard this and he quickly replied, "Caffy."  (Which is Jakenese for 'Cathy' his preschool teacher.)  He was sure to remind me several times throughout the day, that 'He was the Boss!'

After preschool we went to the park (another one of Jake's favorites). 

We had already celebrated his Birthday and were feeling a little 'caked' out, so I took some of the Tillamook Cookie Dough Ice Cream that my parents drove from Oregon and put it into a silicone cupcake pan, then stacked them on top of each other for individual ice cream towers.  He loved that it was different and all of us have loved the Tillamook ice cream.  Yummy!  Here he is blowing out his candles and of course, back in his Iron Man PJ's.



Birthday Fun!

Tatum had her big day all planned out. Of course her birthday wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe.

Here are the kids at the Cocoa Bean. Look at those delicious cupcakes. The kids all wanted the Grasshopper. My Mom and I tried the Smore's Cupcake. They were scrumptious.

Tatum wanted to go to lunch at Wendy's. The lady working there saw her Birthday Girl shirt so she gave her a balloon (of course Tatum was ecstatic) and some ice cream with cookies on top.

Jake was lovin' all the birthday food too.

Cambrie diggin' into her Grasshopper.