I'm "SO IN LOVE" with these kids of mine...

"So in love" is Anika's new phrase and it is SO DANG CUTE! This morning she and Nathan were talking about her new school clothes at breakfast and she told Nathan that she is SO IN LOVE with her new kitty shirt because it's soooo cute! She cracks me up! =) I can't believe she is starting kindergarten in ONE MONTH!

I am SO IN LOVE with my Nutrimill!

I am SO IN LOVE with fresh whole wheat flour! I am SO IN LOVE with baking with my girls (and my bosch)!

I am SO IN LOVE with using beans in my recipes instead of oil!
I am SO IN LOVE with this banana bread recipe! I've tried it a couple times now and the first time it was good but this last time it was DIVINE. AND HEALTHY to boot!!

Good for you Banana Bread

3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup plain yogurt or applesauce (I used yogurt this last time)
1/3 cup pureed white beans
1tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1tsp. baking soda
1tsp. salt
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 8 inch loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray.
Mix the first 6 ingredients together until blended. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Pour into pans. I baked the mini loafs for about 40 minutes. The larger loaves should be done in about 50 minutes. The 3 of us girls devoured the four loaves right away! We are such piggies!

Here is a picture of Brenan and me. He's been a little grouch these past few days...
which is why I am SO IN LOVE with these things:
I despise teething. Nathan informed me that (according to one of his pedo professors at UCONN) there is nothing that proves teething causes: fussiness, drooling, runny noses, diahhrea, or fever.
WHAT??? and WHATEVER!!

Anyway, it should be a fun day today! We get to go swimming! =) We are having a great time here in Texas! I'm so excited for winter - if it's anything like AZ (I've heard it is!) the weather will be fabulous at that time of year! I've been doing a little research on different states. I love Texas but I really, REALLY love trees and green! We want to seettle somewhere in the west to be closer to family. We don't want to live somewhere that is cold from September - May - which I think rules out Idaho and Colorado. Utah and California are no's. Utah - too many dentists. California - too expensive. AZ and Texas are super close to family but aren't as green as I would like and there aren't as many outdoorsy things to do. I guess we could go camping but I have NO desire to go when there are FIRE ANTS and SCORPIONS and it is SCORCHING hot! What about Flagstaff? Is it still a tiny, little town or is it starting to develop? Those of you that live in WASHINGTON and OREGON - are there any areas that are not cloud covered the whole year? How cold does it get? How much snow/rain? How do you like living there? What about Colorado? We've heard Fort Collins is great from several people but that it stays cold all the way through May. Thanks for the tips!

Have a great Thursday!

We had an awesome time with Mom and Dad West and the Gordon's this past weekend!
On Friday night we watched Galaxy Quest - always a winner! =) Then on Saturday the kids played with Nana and Papa while we went to the Temple. I love the San Antonio temple - it's beautiful and I loved being there! We all headed to Olive Garden after that - it hit the spot SO much! Then we went to Seaworld for a couple hours. We had enough time to ride Atlantis and catch the Shamu show! The kids were WASTED by the end but it was a blast! On Sunday we said our good-byes - we dropped Dad West off at the airport and then headed up to Austin for dinner and to drop Mom West off. Thanks for the fun weekend guys! We love you!

Walking back to the car after the Shamu show

The gang waiting to see Shamu!

Poor baby! He was SO sleepy!

Big stuff happening over here!

Brenan got his first tooth last Monday - June 29th! He also started scooting last week! Go Brenan! He'll take off crawling any day now!

Show everyone your toofer Bren!!

Nathan got a massive sunburn - this picture only shows a tiny part of it

His upper legs were scorched! Poor guy! Nathan and Scott floated down the river and FORGOT sunscreen! They stopped at a gas station to get some and all that was available was 15 SPF! Anyway - the consequences were dire indeed. Some good came from the whole thing though! I have NEVER, never peeled such cool skin! I always thought the best sunburns to peel were the kind on the shoulders and back. I was mistaken. Legs take the cake!! It was a big day for Anika to say the least. She's her mother's child - that's for sure. =) Besides peeling Nathan's sunburn, Anika had a couple other important childhood experiences this past weekend.

She caught her first lizard! Meet Buzzy! She set him free before bed (her own decision) but woke up later that night sobbing because she missed him. She has such a tender heart.

Which brings me to her next big experience! She watched HEIDI for her first time on Sunday. Poor little thing. Every time Grandfather rejected Heidi Anika's little chin would start quivering. Such a good (long! Who knew it was so long?!!) movie!

AND of course we had all the 4th of July festivities! Nathan taught the girls about caring for the flag and the girls wanted to listen to Lee Greenwoods - I'm Proud to Be an American song over and over! We went to a little neighborhood parade in the morning. We decided to watch rather than be in it - my back was having issues again this weekend! Then that evening we had some friends over for a BBQ! We had a great time and the kids loved the poppers! That's about as crazy as we could get out here because I'm pretty sure anything with sparks would have set our backyard on fire! The grass is pretty much DEAD. I'm grateful that it rained a little bit last night! Maybe we will see some more of it! After the BBQ we headed off to see some fireworks! We had a great 4th. I feel so blessed to live in our country!

At the parade!
This is my version of the Family Fun hats! I couldn't find any red, white and blue bendy straws. Heidi - where did you find them?! Anyway - we liked this version too! The girls would wiggle their hats for the parade marchers in hopes of getting candy!

The girls love little Miss Hallie!

Throwing poppers with Hallie and Landon.
We found Brenan just chillin' right here. He wasn't complaining or anything. I don't think it looks very cozy!
Nathan with Aaron, Aaron and Lucas! I just cant bring myself to post the picture with the girls. Heather and Sandy are beauty queens - I'm not sure what was going on with me! =)

Um...

Okay FIRST -

It is NOT okay with me that the girls went downstairs last night around 9 (we were upstairs in the office) and came back up and told us that there was a MAN standing at the door who waved at them (our front door has some window things on it) and then turned around and left. I've tried to think of reasons that someone would have been standing out there - UPS man?? No, not at 9. Someone from the ward? No - they would have knocked or rang the doorbell - and there were no cookies out on the step. The only logical explanation is that it was someone scoping out our house. I've got the creeps. My imagination has kicked into overdrive. I've seen one too many episodes of CSI and LAW and ORDER SVU. Please give me some comfort!! I'm FREAKING out here!!

Second:

I'm not okay with our bug situation. We have ANTS crawling all over our kitchen floor. I try to keep them at bay by wiping them up and keeping the floor swept and mopped but they just keep on coming! They come through the door and a couple cracks in the tile grout. Nice. I'm not okay that we've had 2 huge roaches in our house. Nathan just vacuums them up and then I have nightmares that they are crawling out in the night - does he not understand that these are the creatures that can survive a nuclear bomb??!! Our roley poley (pill bug) situation is out of control. I feel happy that they are nice bugs and that they don't carry disease but I'm tired of waking up to 30 little roley poleys crawling all over the place downstairs! Then they die and I have to sweep them up. It's just lovely. =)

So, last night my dreams were filled with bugs and murderers. FUN!!!