Pinteresting Wednesdays - Books!

This is my first time participating in this meme, but I always love looking at all the great stuff on all the other blogs, so I thought I might as well join in. Since one of my biggest passions is reading, that's the theme for this week.

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Alpine Loop

 Last weekend we decided to take a drive around the Alpine Loop.  We were probably a couple weeks too late to see all the colors, but there was still some really pretty trees.  We drove up a really long, bumpy dirt road to get to this lake, and it wasn't as pretty as I was hoping.  Oh well. 

I liked this spot.  I thought it was kind of neat.

 I didn't tell Ethan to pose here or anything, he's just this cute.

This reservoir was so pretty and blue, but I couldn't really capture it on camera.

This was my favorite spot.  It was so gorgeous!

And here's two pretty things.  Nature, and my beautiful daughter.

I have dirt on my face!  I love being with my man, though.

Just one more.  I love looking at it, and I love my family.  I'm so blessed!  Thank you God for this beautiful life!

Fall Wreath

I saw an idea for a yarn-wrapped wreath on another blog, and decided I would give it a try.  The other one was plain white, and could easily be used for any season.  But while we were looking for yarn, we (Kaitlyn and I) decided it would look cuter with fall colored yarn, and it so does!  I love this so much more than a plain white wreath.

It took longer to wrap than I thought it would, and I ran out of yarn and had to go buy more, but I really like the finished product.  The Squirrel and leaf are just pinned on, so they can easily be taken off and we can change the look.  I'll probably do more wreaths for different holidays and seasons.

House Stuff

 I've been doing a few little projects here and then to update my house.  I'm sick of wishing things were a little cuter.  I finally printed off some of the pictures my sister took of us last year.  It's hard to take a picture of pictures, especially when it's in the hallway, but you get the idea.  Eventually I'll add more black and white pictures.

I wanted to change the flowers in my holder thingies, and maybe go with the seasons.  I'm not sure if this one is quite full enough, but it always takes way more than I think it will.  I thought the stuff in this one would fill both of my containers. 

And I finally updated our family picture.  Ethan is no longer a baby in our picture! :) 

Sunday

Yesterday was a fantastic day.  I love weekends, and Sunday is a huge part of that.  But yesterday just seemed like an extra great Sunday.  Church was wonderful, as usual, and we are really enjoying going to the Daybreak campus.  It's smaller than Draper, so it's easier to get to know people, and they're great people! :)

Just after church we attended small group.  It was our second week with this particular group, and if our boys would learn what is and isn't appropriate when at someone else's house, it'd be great.  There's a good mix of people there.  It's nice that we get to take all of our kids--Kaitlyn and three other girls her age (which is awesome that there's that many) watch the younger kids while the adults do small group.

Kaitlyn had fun at a tea party with the high school girls from church, while they talked about activities they'll do in the coming year.  She also wants to be a debutante, she says.

Then we went to the vision dessert for church, which they do once a year.  This year prior to the service, they did a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new Draper church, which is exciting.  We didn't go to that, just went straight to the vision dessert.  It seriously did my heart good.  My favorite part was the music, because there's really nothing like it.  Singing in a church building is just not the same as being outside with a few hundred other believers worshiping God.  And when I picked up my little Ethan at the end, and he did his best to sing along, my heart just about burst.  This is joy.

Imagine hundreds of voices singing this song:

Disneyland

Someone requested that I put Disneyland pictures on our blog, so since I'm very nice, I decided I'd do it.  We all loved our Disney trip so much, and really had the time of our lives.  I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did, but I'd go back in a heartbeat.

The boys got to do the Jedi Training Academy and were in heaven.  I read some tips beforehand on how to have your kids get chosen, and I'm glad I did.  When they both got picked we were so happy!

Ethan looks a little nervous here, but I don't think he was very scared.  As he was going up to fight Darth Vader, the Jedi Master said, "Thirty-six pounds of unbridled fury!"  That's our Ethan.

As Kevin was going up to take his turn Darth Vader said, "The force is strong with this one."  And if you know Kevin at all, you know he is almost always smiling and laughing.  Which he did all throughout his fight with Darth Vader.  So it was great when, as Kevin was walking away the Jedi Master said, "Keep smiling, he hates that."

I think this picture was on Dumbo, which was definitely one of the less interesting Fantasyland rides, but it's a classic.  We didn't get very many pictures in Fantasyland.

I didn't ride on the teacups.  All that spinning would definitely make me sick.  But it was perfect because then I could take a picture.

You can't go to Disneyland without meeting Mickey Mouse!

And Minnie!

This was on one of the rides in A Bug's Land, and was probably the ride at Disneyland that made me the sickest.  Riding backwards will do that for me.

I love my boys!  I think this was on Small World.

The first time we went on Tower of Terror the boys were scared out of their minds.  But then they wanted to do it again, and the next time they were all cool about it, like it wasn't scary at all.  If you've never been on this ride before, the first time is definitely a rush.  This is just a picture of a picture, so it's not great.

Just a fun picture in Toontown.

Here's another picture of a picture.  We had a lot of fun on Splash Mountain.  This was our second time in a row riding, and we knew when the picture would be taken, so we were all supposed to have our best scared faces.  Troy's scared face is not very good.  The funny thing is, Ethan's face looked exactly the same the first time we rode on it, so this really is his scared face.

I have a lot more pictures (although not as many as I liked, I learned lessons for next time we go), but I feel like I've already done more pictures than anyone who reads my blog would care to see.  Like I said, we all had the best time, and were sad that our vacation was done.  My favorite ride was definitely Star Tours, and all I can say is the fast pass system is the best, especially since Star Tours had just been redone and had ridiculously long lines.  We got to go on it three times.

I have some pictures from our day at the beach that I'll try to post another time.

Stew Recipe

This is my favorite stew--I just toss it all in the crock pot and it's really good.

1 lb (about 2 large) peeled sweet potatoes (you can use regular, too)
1 lb carrots
1 medium yellow onion
2 lb top sirloin
3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 1/2 cups water

And that's it.  I cook it all day in the crock pot, and add a bit of flour near the end if it seems like it needs thickened up.