"experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." -randy pausch

Thursday, September 6, 2012

millions of peaches, peaches for me:)

 i declare that the peach is the most beautifully colored fruit i have ever laid eyes upon.
after i slipped their skins off, they nakedly glimmered at me from my counter tops.
shiny, sweet, and slippery.
brennan and max ate two peaches a piece.
and then ran outside in the rain.
until the thunder and lightening scared them back in.
max loved jumping in and out,
exclaiming her hair was wet.
and face rain kissed.
and she was happy about it.
so proud:)
i bottled those peaches until i ran out of bottles.
and then i did something i swore i'd never do.
i blended up those peaches,
{in my ninja, bless my ninja}
and made my baby man chase some homemade baby food.
in baby jars i've been saving for such an event.
{that i swore i'd never do. did i mention that already?}
and do you know what?
he gobbled an entire jar of those homemade, 
homegrown peaches down.
and i knew exactly where those peaches came from.
how those peaches were made.
and what was put in that little baby jar i fed him.
and thanks to my neighbor's tree,
they were also FREE:)
{thank you hanna for sharing, thank you julie for picking and planting!}
"if i had my little way, i'd each peaches everyday.
millions of peaches, peaches for me..."
i sang that while i was bottling my peaches.
my kids kept asking me to sing it over and over again.
except i only know that one verse.
so it got old really fast.
{old to me, not to them.}
millions of peaches, peaches for me...


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

shucking corn on the grass

tonight after dinner we all ended up at the corn stalks in the backyard.
one by one we hovered to pick out what might be our very last of the season.
shucked them onto the grass, and gorged ourselves on their sweet popping tender goodness.
not one ear of corn ever made it inside to a boiling water pot.
in fact,
not one ear of corn ever made it more than two steps away from its very own stalk.
summer in my yard will forever be dawned by shucking husks onto the grass 
and eating raw corn from the cob.
max and brennan chased each other across the yard with pieces of corn husk.
they said they were swords.
and went between crying and laughing and rolling in the grass 
on top of each other the entire time.
sean and i mapped out where we were going to plant a peach tree.
and two maple trees over the fence.
i told him it felt cold,
and that i just can't imagine it ever snowing again 
when the days are so perfect and green like this.
and then we both laughed,
envisioning the blankets of snow 
that will grace our lawn and garden no more 
in the months to come.
i can't wait to be standing in my house when the first snowflakes start falling down outside,
watching the white feathers fall onto my grass, 
cozzying up around us like a big white warm hug.
is this heaven?
no, it's utah:)
it's cold enough for hot chocolate.
finally:)

cha-cha-cha-cha-changes!

last week we drove to park city.
the leaves are changing.
early.
{b/c it's been so dry this summer.}
from my house the mountains are painted with red, yellow, oranges, and remaining green from top to bottom.
it's beautiful.
almost time to go back to silverlake:)

Monday, September 3, 2012

don't mess with a man in a coconut bra

this weekend we said goodbye to summer in the family yard.
with a proper hawaiian luau.
you've never seen so many men in grass skirts.
hawaiian haystacks, shave ice, and a variety of other goodies were served.
complete with little hawaiian umbrellas for our drinks.
i just love an umbrella in my drink:).
my favorite part of the night was when the dancers came.
it was one of the dancer's birthdays,
and his mom, the leader of the show, had us all sing him "happy birthday."
she also explained how in Tonga {i think it was Tonga} that your nieces and nephews are called your sons and daughters and your cousins are called your brothers and sisters.
tighter of a bond than how we separate families in our culture here.
she said that if you never have any kids you will still have someone to take care of you when you are old b/c your brothers and sisters will have kids, and their kids will call you mom, and take care of you when you get old like they would their mom b/c that's how the culture is.
i loved that part.
she also said that the reason why Tongans are so large is b/c when you walk down the street you are always invited to sit down and eat with everyone in your family that you pass along the road,
and since everyone is in your family,
you stop and eat several meals on the way to everywhere.
b/c a Tongan has a big heart, and cannot pass up an opportunity to fill their tummies with their family.
i loved that part more:)
the Hawaiian portion made me want to go to Hawaii.
and let my kids get Hawaiian skin kissed tans.
and smell the flowers in the air when you step off of the plane.
and feel the humidity soak into your pores.
and become so relaxed that you can't ever imagine having anything stressful in your life ever again.
but sitting there in our lawn chairs,
the warmth of the day started to cool off, like we were sitting on a sandy beach of hawaii, with the cool ocean air brushing our faces goodnight.
and hawaii felt pretty close in the family yard.
BUT we got to go home and sleep in our own beds:)
aloha.


don't ever mess with a man wearing a coconut bra.
ever.
aloha.
as in goodbye.
or goodnight.
whichever.