The End of the Summer

I love this dirt road which is not far from my house. It goes no where, unless you count going into a field of cows somewhere.

Sidney and her friend Kaylie

I went to my friends house today and she showed my some mail that came for her husband that was so funny I had to share. Now her husband is a man who is 6' 10", 350 lbs, and a former NFL Football player. He played for the Cincinnati Bangles. So here is the mail.

I thought it was hilarous! I wonder how they even got his name.......... !

I Love This Little Girl!

Here are some pictures of me when I was a little girl.

Now tell me, don't you think that Molly looks JUST like me!

She is so sweet! I could eat her with a spoon.

She is showing me her dance.

Taco Soup

1 lb hamburger

1 onion diced

*Brown together in a large pot.

1 & 1/2 pkg taco seasoning

1 large can of diced tomatoes (don't drain - I use one of my quart jars of either stewed or fresh tomatoes.)

1 can tomato soup

1 can corn

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

*Add all into the pot with the beef (including the juice from the tomatoes) If the juice from the tomatoes doesn't make it soupy enough then add a little water. Bring to an almost boil so that you know that it is heated through thoroughly. Top with cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips or Chili Cheese flavored Frito's.

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

1 1/2 quarts water

6 chicken bullion cubes

1 onion - chopped

1 bag frozen California Blend Vegetables (broccoli-carrots-cauliflower)

3/4 c frozen corn

3/4 c frozen peas

*Bring water, bullion and vegetables to a boil in a large pot. Boil until tender. (About 10 minutes)

3/4 c melted butter

3/4 c flour

*In a separate bowl, stir butter and flour together until smooth. Pour into the water/vegetables pot and stir. Water will thicken.

1 jar Cheese Whiz

*Empty jar of Cheese Whiz into the pot of water. Stir until all cheese in melted and mixed in well. You can also add cooked, diced chicken.

I bought these hats for Molly at a craft fair a couple weeks ago. Aren't they soooo darling! They had a ton of different styles. There was a dark pink one similar to the yellow one here. But the pink one was a raspberry one. They had a purple grape one. White ones, baby pink ones, tons! But instead of daffodils hanging down, it was clumps of grapes or raspberries or different flowers. So darn cute. seattlehats.com is their web address if you want to see more. They were so sweet on infant babies.

Agel World 2010

Agel celebrated it's 5th year in business by holding it's annual convention in Las Vegas. People from 60 different countries attended the event. It was so exciting for so many people because they have only see Vegas in movies.

Jeff's speech was about having a winning heart. When he spoke he used an example about our son Jens. He told the story about when we were in Cooperstown and how Jens wanted a shirt that said "I hit a Homerun in Cooperstown!" so bad. He made a decision in his heart and mind that he was going to get that shirt no matter what it took. For those of you who don't know, Jens has LeggCalvesPerthes disease in his hip. It is a disease that has deteriorated his hip socket away, thus making it difficult to run quickly or bend his leg in certain ways. So he really is a slow runner. He will hit a ball REALLY far out there and just make it to 1st base when any other kid would have made it to 2nd or 3rd. Anyway, Jens wanted that shirt so he hit the ball clear over the 8 foot fence and got a homerun.

Jeff called Jens up on stage when he was finishing his story.

We stayed at the Paris Hotel. It was fun to be back in Vegas. The weather was hot. 100+ degrees. This is the view from my room window.

And looking down out my window to the pool.

My kids favorite part of the trip was going to M&M World!

We watched the 3D M&M movie, toured the 4 story building, bought a bag full of M&M's in a rainbow of colors.

Then we went into the Coke Factory.

We bought the "Tastes of the World" which is 16 different drinks from around the world. We taste tested all of them. Some were better than others but by far the WORST one was a drink from Italy called Beverly. Eewwe! It was nasty!

Here is Jens trying Beverly! Too funny!

New York, New York

Cesar's Palace

And the Paris.

My view outside my room at night!

We ended up driving to out home down south and we were just planning on staying one night. After our 5 nights in Vegas and our one night "down south", we still weren't ready to go home. So we ended up staying a full week there! It was great! The weather was H O T there too. Average was 103 degrees. The kids swam everyday, we went to the movies, out to dinner, golfing and shopping. It was great! We had a blast. I loved it because my kids had no one to play with but each other. On our way home, it finally cooled down and rained. Then we saw this beautiful double rainbow! It was so pretty and vibrant!

Down side about the ride home..........Molly got car sick (she tends to do that) and vomited several times. We pulled over to a Burger King and washed her up. We also washed up the carseat as best we could but it didn't really clean up well. So we had a lovely aroma to smell on our way home for several hours!