They went back to school...

Finally. Well, I think that finally is to harsh a word to use, makes me sound like a bad mom. How can I say it and not sound like a bad mom?

Yesterday the boys went back to school!!

My excitement is real, Colby's however is apparent by the look on his face in the picture below.

Cameron was Super excited though!

Seriously Colby. All I could get out of him was a forced smile. He really knows how to play the part of sad miserable child, he's so good at it he worries me!

I wasn't sure how the day would be for Hayden without his brothers around to entertain/tease him. He was sad to see them go and glad to see them come home!

The BIKE BRIGADE on their way home from school. Colby was especially bugged that Hayden and I met them at the corner and that I had my camera. He would not even slow down to wave. Cameron gave us a big wave though!

When we all got home I tried to talk to them about their first day of 1st and 3rd grade. I was excited for them and really wanted to know how it went. All I could get out of either one of them was an "It was good." That's it! They just wanted a snack and then wanted to head out to play. When it came time for bed though, they were ready to talk. Anything to prolong going to bed!

One great thing for me about having two of my three kids in school all day.

My house stayed clean and I got to be really lazy while Hayden took a nap.

I love back to school!

Lazy Days

This week for us marks the last week of Summer. Am I sad? Not really. I am ready for the kids to be back in school. Our summer was extra long this year because they needed time to finish the new highschool. So, after an extra couple of weeks of Summer, and seeing how it is going to be September when they finally do start school, I am more than ready!

The kids however want it to be Summer Forever.

In St. Johns, my parents have a great yard that we spend pretty much all day in. The favorite day of the week though is Irrigation Day! Cam especially loves it. Hayden got in on the fun this year too.

After a long summer spent in the Sun this is what this little boy's tan lines look like. He asked me if his skin is dark enough that he will start to speak Spanish!!

I would not have survived three weeks in SJ w/o my mom. She rescued me from Hayden everyday. Her wagon was a life saver. Hayden would sit in it for hours. I would too if I could ride around in a wagon with pillows and cups of water and snacks!
Thanks Mom!

Oh, and can you send some of that garden's goodness up to us?

When we are in SJ we usually don't see to much of Colby. Especially when we are there in July. This year was no exception. Friends from Idaho and the Zielers provide Colby and Cam with endless entertainment. I am pretty sure that the week spent with these boys ranks as Colb's number one week of the year.

Garlic ginger sesame chicken

I'm on a roll here aren't I? Three blog posts in three days? Pretty good for me.

But, our dinner tonight was so good that I thought I would share.


Garlic Ginger Sesame Chicken

(that's just the name I gave it, not sure what it's really called)

Noodles, any kind you like. Cooked

Chicken Thighs, as many as you will eat.

Veggi's, any kinds you like. I used asparagus, broccoli and carrots. Steam cook them all.

Cook the chicken in a frying pan with Olive oil, save the dripping to make the gravy.

While the chicken is cooking mix up

3 tbs soy sauce

3 tsp fresh grated ginger root

3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tbs Honey to sweeten

1/2 tsp Sesame oil (or as much as you like, or leave it out.)

After chicken is done cooking take it out of the pan and stir in the soy sauce mix with the chicken drippings to make a gravy. Add corn starch and milk to get it to a consistency you like. Let it cook until it is pretty warm, but DON"T burn it.

When everything is done cooking layer it all in a 13 x 9in pan starting with the noodles, then veggi's then chicken topped with gravy.

It's so GOOD!

For some reason I have a hard time eating meat that I have to prepare and cook myself, especially chicken. But with this dinner I love the veggi's and the noodles with the sauce so I have a full meal, and Mark really likes the chicken thighs for a change. Hayden and Cameron even liked it a lot too. SOOOO.....give it a try and let me know what you think.

I do need to give the credit for this recipe to my neighbor Wendy who brought us this dish when Cameron was in the hospital. Thanks Wendy!

IT'S A GIRL!!

Kendall Reece Heap

7 lbs 19 inches

Congrats to Kent and Lisa!!!

It's no wonder that I don't have any girls.

My brothers steal them all!

I forgot to mention.....

Tomorrow, my brother Kent and sis in law Lisa are having their fourth baby!!! We don't know what the baby is so I am so excited to get their call.

Neverland or Heap Reunion??

Could the mountains have been anymore dusty and dry?

I DON'T THINK SO!!!!

Dealing with the dusty dirt was the worst part though, and I would gladly do it over again for my boys. For the first time in SIX YEARS! Yes, six years, my kids and I went to the Heap Reunion. I still punish myself for letting six years go by w/o attending the reunion. My boys were in heaven. All three of them. And for me is was really nice spending some time with my awesome cousins that I really see to little of. Sadly Mark was at home working, we missed him tons.

My mom and dad were AWESOME and always make it so much fun to go. I know that it is a ton of work both getting there and getting home, but it is so worth it. THANKS SO MUCH MOM AND DAD!!

Colby and Cruise
HOLY DIRT!

This little boy was in heaven!

Of the 22 Great Grandkids that Nana and Papa Heap have 14 of them were at the Reunion.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS A BOY !!

It was little boy paradise, they would have stayed forever and just turned Greens Peak into Neverland. I think Colby was already playing the role of Peter Pan pretty well. He is so so bossy!

If Uncle Boyd had not brought the Ranger, he would not have made so many little best friends! Boyd was such a good sport. He would pack them all on and go off riding for a couple of hours. It gave the moms lots of card playing time!

Thanks Boyd!

Me and my three.

We even got to see this little darling (Caroline) and her parents (Ryan & Julie) and brothers(Jacob and Nathaniel) for a couple of hours. My kids still get a little confused by the fact that their Davis cousins come to the Heap Reunion too. Who would have ever thought that Mark and his brother would marry cousins?
It's a small Mormon world.

Uncle Brant teaching Cameron how to drive the three wheeler.

The dogs had to go in the dog cage for some of the day, but the poor dogs were like animals in the ZOO. These little boys would not leave them alone. When the dogs were out, the boys went in. It was great!!!

Self Portraits at the Ranch

While in AZ Gpa Heap had some branding that needed to be done. Cameron always loves to go help Gpa and was not going to miss out on branding. We sent them off with some food and drinks knowing that it would be an all day event.

Cam was STOKED!!

I fully expected to get a phone call telling me to come and get him.

But I didn't. He lasted all day!

I sent the camera with Mark hoping to get a least one picture. I got lots more than one.

Here is what you get when you give a 6 year old the camera and tell him to take pictures!

Cam was so proud of himself and wanted to narrate every picture. See his gum in his mouth in this one? He was trying to take a picture of it!

Cam wanted us to play I-Spy with this picture.

this pic won't flip?

This BIG BULL and another one were the reason that Cam sat in the truck most of the day, he was scared to death of the bulls! Mark said that he would yell out the window at the Bulls "come get me now bully bully!"

I am actually really happy that Mark gave the camera to Cameron. These pictures are GREAT!!!

still on vacation...

been on vacation for a little over two weeks and still have a week to go!!  We love St. Johns and family.



Since I have no real desire at this time to post much of anything, I will just share one of my favorite blogs with you.  It's where I go when I need a good laugh, even my husband laughs at this blog.  So... if you need a laugh check out this blog.

http://www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

DISCLAIMER!!!!
The blog SeriouslySoBlessed is a satirical blog about the Provo Culture.  If you have ever lived in Provo or spent a bit of time there then you should "get" the humor of this blog.  It's all made up, just for fun, but it makes me laugh really hard!!

I've Got Some.....

Ocean Front Property in Arizona.

Ok I don't have any ocean front property in Arizona.

BUT GEORGE STRAIT DOES.



And Mark and I are going to hear him sing tonight!

Can't wait. It should be a very relaxing evening with good friends Jason and Tricia, and with really good music!

*******

After getting all of these pictures on here IN ORDER, my brain is too tired to think of a clever title for this post.

Busy week, busy week, busy week... thats what we had last week. After my parents left we had my cousin Colt from AZ come to stay with us for two weeks. We all loved having him here and were sad to see him go. I'm afraid that I may have taken too much advantage of him being willing to play with Hayden all the time, but thanks Colt it was so nice having you around. While Colt was here he wanted to learn to golf and Mark was up for teaching him! After spending a couple of days finding Colt some good clubs, they went to the course at least once every day that Colt was here. I was never able to go though so I don't have any pictures. I heard from both Mark and Colt though that I should have been there with the video camera for the first time because Colt thought golf was easy!! Boy did he have a rude awakening!!

Anyway.... we really kept busy. Below are some pictures and narrations of a few of the things we did over that last couple of weeks.

Hogle Zoo, my camera battery died after this picture so it's the only one I got! Colt was a good sport though!!!


For Family Home Evening we went to the Open House for the New Oquirrh Mountain Temple in West Jordan. It was beautiful and was enjoyed by all. Even Hayden was good!

While Colt was here Mark and I had a mission.... convert him to be a BYU fan. Being the sports nut that Colt is we knew he would like to see BYU football stadium so we stopped by.

I should be embarrassed by this picture and truth be told I kinda am. But I also think it is pretty funny! At least he has the shirt on and at least it is not white!

As part of our convert Colt to BYU mission we enlisted the help of our friend and current BYU basketball player Logan. He invited us down to watch a scrimmage and was so good to the boys. My boys thought is was Awesome to shoot around with him before the game started.

4th of JULY

This was a super busy day. Our friends from Tempe, the Jones' came up to stay with us for a few days and we had a bar-b-q planned with the family at our house. I love the 4th of July and this one didn't disappoint. I didn't get too many pictures because I was just too busy.

Hayden and Caroline doing what they do best. Just being CUTE!

This picture is for Aubrey!

WATER BALLOONS

Party at the Heber Park. After the fire truck had sprayed water on the kids for about 30 minutes, Cameron discovered that there were worms everywhere. He was in heaven and was even able to get Courtney to help him save them.

Wasatch Mt. State Park

Sunday. Cascade Springs. Beautiful.

If you live in the Wasatch area you should really take a drive up to Cascade Springs.

Finding fish

Monday. Park City. Alpine Slide.

Wow. I did it. I actually finished this post. It's long I know, but I never know when I will be in the mood to blog again.

Especially since I have another extremely busy week getting ready to go to SJ.

Why is it that summer seems to be so busy every year?

I love holidays and this is one of my Favorites.

Happy 4th everyone!!