Summer feels almost over which is sad, I'm not ready to go back to work. I have a local CTE 3 day conference this week that I'm not looking forward to, maybe it will be better than I think. It was just John and me for the 4th. We did our festivities on Friday, the 3rd. I figured it would be way less crowded to go paddleboarding on Friday the 3rd rather than on Saturday the 4th. That evening we also had a BBQ with friends which felt 4th as well. On the 4th we didn't do much. John bought a bike so we could go on some bike rides together. We've gone on a couple so that's been fun. He crashed on the first one, he's so tall and big I think balance is not his strong suit. There was no crashing on the second outing. Woot! That evening we used our grill for dinner, watched a movie, and watched some fireworks in our backyard. We live on a hill and you can see a lot of big neighborhood fireworks from there. 

This past week I had the kids and we went to Roaring Springs  several times. John joined us today, it was his first time ever, we had a good time. I've been baking and cooking a lot since I have more time. Some for practice for work and some because I just like homemade things. When I was a stay at home mom I only made homemade bread and I stopped doing that when I started working. I've made it a few times this summer and yum, yum, yum. I practiced making croissants again and had more success than last time. There were so many flaky layers. They take so much time and method and the batch only makes 6! I use every discarded piece of dough and have a few not perfect looking ones, I'm not wasting one bit! I also made homemade pretzels. We made those for a FCCLA fundraiser last year but they were kind of gross out of the freezer. The salt got absorbed and it wasn't appetizing looking. We still sold out though! This time I baked the pretzel without the salt and froze them. I then took the frozen pretzels and got them wet and sprinkled salt and baked them again. They were good! We will try that method this year. Nothing is as good as fresh from the oven but it's impossible to have 200 fresh pretzels ready to go when I have classes right before the fundraiser, these are pretty good! 

That's all for now, I'm just really enjoying this downtime and I hope I will be ready to get back to work soon because....winter is coming.

My pretzel makers.

Yum!

Tomatoes from our garden.

Because she's cute.

We had tin foil dinners for dinner and ate them at home. Boise is too hot to take them to a park or something.Woof.

Chickpea veggie hash. It was pretty good, I also try to experiment with healthy recipes, it's all about the balance. Haha.

Ryan and John on avalanche. No thanks, this ride is too scary for me.

There are 6 croissants that are more evenly made, the rest are leftover dough bits, that would be a lot of sad waste! 

A fresh homemade croissant is pretty incredible. Look at my beautiful layers!

Paddleboarding!

 

It's been a busy past couple of weeks. I finished some house projects I was wanting to get done. I power washed the house and I spray painted the trampoline. I also had a two day teaching conference that was local that was fun. It's a conference with other FCS teachers around the state and we have workshops where we teach each other different things. I actually participated this year and taught a short class showing activities I do in my classroom dealing with measuring equivalents and recipe math.  

With the kids we went to Roaring Springs and met Hart and Jory  and went to the climbing gym. We had a crazy storm on Friday night. It was raining and blowing really hard but we mostly ignored it while we were watching a movie. When I looked on my Facebook feed the next day there were some crazy videos and pictures with giant puddles and hail piled up like snow. My house is on a bit of a hill so we didn't have any giant pools of water and we didn't have hail at our house either. It was wild to see other people's pictures. 

Corbin got a job at Chipotle. He worked everyday last week. He seems to be handling it okay so far. I'm glad he was able to find a job, that's not always easy.

John's birthday was on Thursday. I made fish tacos and a cheesecake per his requests. I've never made a cheesecake before. I did some research and tried to find a good recipe. It turned out pretty good! On Friday night we made calzones. We made those at my teacher conference and I thought it could be a fun family dinner. I think it would take more practice to really dial in the amount of sauce and toppings to make them perfect but they were pretty tasty. I'm trying to think of a project to do this week so I don't get too bored, I haven't figured it out yet. Well, that's all.

Cute snuggle pups.

Calzones!

43!

Piper

Ryan

Gabby, top left.

Trampoline before, you can't really tell but it was REALLY rusty.

My little helper?

This past week was good. I didn't have my kids (minus Corbin), but the time went by nicely. So far this summer, I am having a good mix of relaxing time and getting some things done. I repainted my table. It got roughed up last year, and I hated the finish. I just went ahead and painted it the same color and then used a more subtle finish. We will see if it looks better this time around. We haven't used it yet; time will tell. I'm exercising a lot and reading a lot. I have a few project goals as well. I cleaned and organized my kitchen cabinets and pantry; they were a hot mess. I ended up subbing one day. I'm on a summer school sub list; it never worked out last year, but someone texted me last week. I figure, why not? If I don't have anything else going on, it gives me something to do that day. I love walking/jogging down by the green belt. The green belt and the city parks are my favorite things about Boise. I also nerded out and experimented with a bunch of healthy recipes. They were mostly good; the meatless, noodleless lasagna was a big miss for me; the noodles are my favorite part! It tasted alright, but I NEED the noodles. 

John's best friend's wife had a birthday dinner at Kyotos, my fav. The chef was serving the person next to me his meat, and he splashed some sauce on my arm. It was like molten lava. I have a couple of blisters on my arms. That was a first! I went to Roaring Springs with the boys today; the girls didn't want to come. We had a good time. Well, that's all.

Veggie Lasagna

Repainted table

Hutch has found a nice pillow with my flowers.

This blister looks like a worm! It will scar for sure.

My garden is growing. I'm not sure if the tomato plants are going to kill each other for resources...

Highlights from the week: homemade tortillas, breadsticks, fettuccini alfredo. Staying up late and sleeping in. Enforcing a tiny routine with the kids for some time away from screens, daily jobs, etc. Ice cream, Roaring Springs, yard sales, movies, shows, books, exercise. Summer is going GREAT!

Hutch turned 9 on Thursday, Piper gave him a doggie ice cream treat.

A man with his dog.

Piper and Ryan love to mess with Hutch and cuddle him up.

We got this bike for Gabby at a yard sale. I think it's a good one for a great price. Fingers crossed.

We must not forget the cutest dog in the whole world, Charly!

Summer has officially begun for all of us. Piper and Ryan had school through Thursday. I decided I wanted to do the natural arch hike in Arco this past weekend. I talked my kids into going, minus Corbin, who had plans. I didn't make Piper do the hike; I know my limits. I haven't done that hike since high school. It is only 1/2 mile long, but it's uphill, and at the end, you have to use a rope to scale to the top. I felt like it was too hard for the little kids, so I ditched them and went ahead. Justin and Trisha were more patient than I was, and they took the time to guide the littles to the top. The weather was a little chilly, but it was nice for the hike. The rest of the day, it was too cold to be outside, and it was rainy. We played a bunch of games and had yummy food. On the way home from Arco this morning, I went to my brother Chase's house so he could remove my toenail. To quote John, I've had a "crunk" toe for a few years now. I have a fungus infection that I can't get rid of. Chase also had 3 "crunk" toenails; he removed them and took medication, and they look great. I'm hoping for the same result. I'm tired of my gross toenail. Hopefully, it heals quickly, and I can still have some fun this summer.

Piper is amazing at puzzles. She did this in no time!

Cute dogs getting a sunbath.

Piper, on the last day of 8th grade!

Our first strawberry from the garden.

Ryan, on the last day of 6th grade!

Gabby, one week after 10th grade!

Cute puppy.

The beginning of the hike. Justin came with a couple of his kids, and Trisha also came.

This is no joke!

Go Ryan!

All of us at the top, no thanks for me. haha

"Crunk" toenail removed. Gross!