Stephen at Castle Rocks State Park

This last weekend Stephen was asked to do a faclonry presentation as part of the Castle Rocks State Park anniversary celebration. He really enjoys stuff like this and is great at it. He said he teased a few people that would hold the bird by yelping just as they got thier hand in the glove- what a tease! A fellow falconer that was also there sent him these pics and I thought they turned out nice- I'm married to a pretty cool dude. :)

Little Moments that Make Me Smile

Just some pics of a few times this last week that I grabbed the camera because I thought "I want to capture this." Little moments that make me smile...

Pear Crumble

Made this yummy pear crumble last night and thought I would share the recipe this morning. I love baking stuff like this because it smells so good! Our awesome neighbors had given us a bowl full of pears that needed to be eaten, so I used those to whip this up quick. Then we took it to some friends that have been sick. (I tripled it and baked two 1.5 quart pans at once.)

INGREDIENTS
3 pears - peeled, cored and sliced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 dash ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cold butter
2 tablespoons chopped nuts

DIRECTIONS
Place pear slices in a greased 1-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice. In a bowl, combine the sugar, oats, flour, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Cut in butter until crumbly; add nuts. Sprinkle over pears. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

P.S. I didn't have any ginger, so I left it out and it was fine. I also did warm up the butter- it wasn't very workable cold. :)

Bittersweet...

Took these pics of Cooper playing in the yard last night, trying to wring out the last of summer. It struck me how he looks so big! I have to think that it's kinda bittersweet to watch your kids grow up. Each new growth is welcome and endearing, but also heartwrenching. Remember when he fit on my chest and we slept like that on the couch? Remember when I set him up in the crook of the rocking chair or in the bouncy on the table and didn't worry about him falling off? Hardly a day goes by that I don't miss the Baby Bjorn and being able to carry him next to me like that while we were out and about. He is so much happier being able to be more independent and it is nice to have him be able to follow me from place to place, or just send him across the yard to meet up with Dad. It just makes me melt to watch him toddle around, exploring and coming to show me his finds. I hope he always does that. I suppose each new month and year will be bittersweet for the rest of our lives- looking back on how he was and treasuring how he is. Gosh we love this little guy...

Football and Family

Friday night we traveled to Pocatello- we do a lot of that obviously :)- to spend some time with the boys and watch Taron's football game on Saturday morning. While the boys have been in football, on the weekends we would have them, we spend in Pocatello with Stephen's family instead. We all had shirts to support Taron's team (Taron loaned his to Cooper) :) and took this fun family pic of us all in orange!

On Monday evening we were again in Pocatello for Keaton's flag football game. He does a great job playing hard- his team utilizes him a lot! I was bummed not to have gotten any pictures at Keaton's game, but he does have several more, so we'll get some sooner than later!

Truth be told, we'd probably rather be doing something of our own free will with the boys rather than tied to the schedule of a team sport, but we also have to admit that it's been pretty cool to see them enjoying being part of a team. Football and soccer games are obviously the heartbeat of Pocatello weekends, so they would feel left out if they weren't involved too. They both try hard and are grateful to the people that come to support them- they are such good dudes!

Listening to the coach before heading in to play.

I wanted to make sure and get some pics afterwards and Taron specifically requested one with just him and Dad. :)

Three of my favorite dudes ever!

Grandma Sally and Stephen's mom, Janie, watching from the sideline. Pretty cool of them to come support. Stephen trying to contain Cooper- the games are definitely a tag team event!