Wordless Wednesday - On the Roadside

June Family Dinner

The weeks seem to be just flying by, and it was time for family dinner again. June was our turn to host. Usually, we'll just do it at someone else's house because ours is just too small for that many people, but since it's June, we decided to have it in our back yard.

I'm so glad that my dad was in town, and my grandma was in town as well. The only ones we were missing were Kacy and her family. :(

Thank goodness for big trees, because it was actually quite pleasant in the grass in the shade. The kids had fun playing together, like usual.



And we set up some horseshoes to keep the guys occupied!

And of course there was food. We kept it simple and just did hamburgers and hot dogs, but no backyard bbq is complete without watermelon!





We also set up the teepee in the backyard and the kids loved it.

They also loved jumping and playing with grandpa!

And Max was even good. Camryn loved him and by the end of the evening, they were good friends.

After we all ate, the fun really started. Tami taught us a game that they played at girls' camp.

Ride, ride, ride that pony

You can ride that big fat pony

I won't even try to describe it, because I won't be able to do it justice, but let's just say:

It was hilarious!!

Such good times and I can't wait for next month!

Strawberry Bug

We've had an invasion in our strawberry plant. The invader is short, usually wearing pink, and has crazy hair.

A few days ago, I had to go out and pick some strawberries for a recipe I was making. Abbi followed me out, and saw me picking strawberries. I gave her one - that was probably the wrong thing to do, because now whenever she goes into the yard, she heads straight for the strawberry plant!!

She's pretty good at picking out the ripe ones, but she'll eat the whole thing - green top and all. She doesn't care, though - there's nothing better than berries straight from the garden!!

Hats & Glasses

There is something about hats and glasses that this girl loves. It doesn't even have to be a hat - as long as it is something that she can put on her head, she loves it!!

Here is just a sampling of my crazy little girl over the last couple of months. What a goof ball!

{Abbi-a-Day} Days 169-175

Abbi has this new thing where she always has to have two of everything she eats - one for each hand. She will seriously throw a fit if she doesn't have one in each hand!!


Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house


Doing the Mickey Mouse hot dog dance. I think she thought the sprinkler box was her stage!

Oh, my goodness - my baby girl is all grown up!! She now refuses to eat unless she is feeding herself. Messy, messy times, although she is much better with the spoon than I thought she would be!

Picking the "flowers". Yes, she thinks the weeds are flowers.

We have at least one of these every single day...

Close up - of course with food all over her face!

You Capture - Get Down Low

This week's You Capture theme was actually quite easy for me, considering one of Abbi's latest favorite things to do is climb on me when I'm laying down and bounce on my belly. (The fact that she can actually bounce on my belly should be motivation for me to get with it and lose some weight, shouldn't it?!?) But let me tell you, it's hard to take pictures of a almost 17-month old while she is right up in your face and bouncing on your body. Therefore, these aren't the best pictures, and somewhat out of focus, but I love that they tell of something that Abbi loves to do right now. I'm sure when she looks back when she is 16, she'll be mortified that she sat and bounced on her mom's belly, but I think it's pretty darn cute right now!!

Wordless Wednesday - First Garden Strawberry

Dads & Chocolate

This past weekend, my dad was in town so we all headed down to celebrate Father's Day for him with fun and chocolate!!

Abbi loves her grandpa, and grandpa loves her, too!

She always has so much fun playing with her cousins. I'm so glad all her cousins love to play with her and show her so much attention.





And of course, no Mitchell get-together is complete without food - and lots of it!! We decided to have some chocolate fountain fun and all bring tasty treats for dipping in chocolate.

I have to admit - I wasn't even going to blog about this - but after taking this photo, I knew I had to. I love Rylan's face in the background!!



There was so much good food. My favorite was a strawberry dipped in chocolate and then rolled in coconut. Pure heaven!!



I can't wait for my next family get-together! (Luckily, I don't have to wait too long - it's on Sunday!)

Book #42 - P.S. I Love You

P.S. I Love You
Cecelia Ahern

Blurb: Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed. (From Goodreads)

Length: Medium - 375 pages

Notes: I have a problem. Once I start a book, if I'm a decent amount of pages into it, I can't quit it. About a third of the way through this book, I really wished that I had never started it. It got better the farther into I got, but it still wasn't a book that I liked. Not only was the language horrible, (what is it with European Chick Lit and bad language??), but the writing was horrible in my opinion. And I thought the main point of the book should have been centered around the letters that her husband left her, but they seemed to almost be an afterthought. But I did cry several times - it would be impossible not to when the book is about a woman who's husband passed away. But overall, not my favorite!!

Random quote : "She had been given a wonderful gift: life. Sometimes it was cruelly taken away too soon, but it's what you did with it that counted, not how long it lasted."

Recommend: No.

Have you read this book? Share your feelings!

Blast From the Past - Bowling Night

I used to be a scrapbooker. I loved it. But I was always behind. And since Abbi joined us, I decided that something had to go, because I can't keep up on everything as it is. I decided that scrapbooking was that thing that had to go. It was around that time that I started blogging a lot more, and I decided that this is now my scrapbook. I'm planning on turning every year into a printed book, full of my memories.

So, after I posted about Memorial Day a few weeks back, I got to thinking about all of the photos I have in boxes or photo books or on the hard drive of my computer. Most of them don't have a story. And I was reminded,

I HAVE A TERRIBLE MEMORY.

Even things from a year or two ago - I don't remember lots of details. But the things that I've blogged about - I can go back and read the posts, and all of a sudden, those memories come back to me. But most of all, I love that everything is in one place, not waiting for stories to be told or for pictures to be scrapbooked.

So I decided that I'm going to start blogging about old photos. Every once in awhile, when I don't really have anything else to blog about, I'm going to blog about the past. And hopefully I'll be able to remember some details, and if not, maybe some of you that were part of my memories can help me out and remind me of things or people. And maybe I'll just post pictures. As long as I get them up here so they are not lost forever!

First up, January 17, 2005

Charlie's birthday, 2005. The family gathered at Fat Cats in Provo for some bowling and some Costa Vida.

There's not much that I remember. I don't remember who bowled the best, or how many games we played.



But I can tell you one thing - I know it was fun because I was with my family!!

I can't believe how young these kiddos look!