Yesterday we had a lemonade stand at my house.  Well, actually, it was a dinner with a lemonade stand theme.  My mom loves to entertain and really wanted to try out this theme by Paper & Cake Printable Partywear.  We first saw it over at karaspartyideas.blogspot.com and if you have not poked around on either of these two blogs then you are in for a treat.  Stop by (and be prepared to be amazed ~ the creative minds featured on there are high class!)

Anyways, my mom got the printable party kit online and went to town! 

This was our dessert table, minus the lemonade ice-cream cones.  The lemonade ice-cream I like to make is so simple!!!  It's just one container of vanilla ice-cream (softened) and one container of thawed lemonade concentrate.  Refreeze in (two) graham cracker crusts or back in the ice-cream container for cones.  You can't see the delicious Carmel brownies that my brother & sister-in law brought or the darling containers that held the lemon zest popcorn very well, but trust me when I say that we had quite the assortment of goodies.

Dinner was great too, but somehow we got side-tracked and forgot to take pictures of the food (it's easy how that happens huh?)

On the menu was:

Spiced Chicken & Grape Skewers,

Fried Smashed Potatoes with Lemons,

Asparagus,

Watermelon,

(and unfortunately, we omitted our tweaked version of the  

Nordstrom Cafe Carmelized Walnut and Pear Salad

due to time, but everything was delicious!)

We had a great time playing Kooky Croquet and just being together as a family...

(Gigi and Grandpa)

(The three little munchkins...)

And "Jelli" (who helped me out by being the photographer last night

~ Thanks Jelli!)

July - a good month

Beware:

This post is kind of long and full of lots of "apparently's".

July was full of lots of fun family activities.

#1 - A little fishing at a nearby lake (pond? Not sure what it is.)

Key word = blazing hot sun.

Not sure why the dock across the lake under some trees wouldn't have worked, but oh well. it was fun.

#2 - Camping with friends in American Fork Canyon.

Did you know that Utah is Bear Country?

How is a girl suppose to get any sleep with that kind of thought running through her head all night long? I have heard about recent sitings about bears near campsites lately and could not forget about the terrible bear attack that happened a couple of years ago (in AMERICAN FORK CANYON) that took the life of a young boy, so needless to say I was very nervous all night. It didn't help that there were signs everywhere about safety. Apparently, a fed bear is a dead bear...

Gotta get that marshmallow scent cleaned off (as to not attract any little cubs...)

umm, yumm...that's the way to do it, B!

How could I sleep peaceably with all of these cuties under our care?

O.K. So apparently, this is not the first time that my baby has used a pocket knife to carve wood!?! What the heck? I guess this is what happens when he goes on Scout camp outs with dad. Not good. Not good at all. Look, he's a pro!

#3 - Aside from camping,

A little girl turned FOUR.

We kept the day pretty simple with a trip to the pool

(thus the red cheeks. I really did put sunscreen on my kids!)

Among a few gifts, she received a new barbie bike

and a new pink kitty from daddy.

#4 -
A boy got a hair cut from daddy.

Dad did a pretty good job, eh?

Oh, and we can't forget the awesome Kool-aid stand that we had where the kids raked in an amazing $18.60. Nice. Since then, I have not passed a single child selling Kool-aid. Haven't pulled the "pretend I don't see 'em" strategy (which I have to admit I have done a few times in the past, but apparently that is NOT o.k. to do.) I have changed my ways though...

Although we've been having lots of fun around here, I'm starting to get ready for school to start... What about you? It's just around the corner you know? :)

Polka-dot cake

I made this simple cake for Ryan's sister's b-day on the 18th. It was really easy - bake one white cake mix in two 9" round pans according to directions on box. Cool. Between layers of cooled cake rounds spread 1/3 cup of fluffy white frosting (tinted with food coloring.) Use the rest of the container of frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with round Necco candies or baking melts in your choice of colors. So easy!

Ahoy thar Matey!

Here are some photos from Blake's 6th b-day party. It was a great time for all. It was especially fun to see the kids so excited on the treasure hunt. I just gotta give a shout out to my baby boy. He is amazing. He is so sweet, thoughtful, gosh darn smart and thrives on being a pleaser. He is easy going, friendly, helpful and forgiving. He didn't even complain when I forgot it was "early out day" on his b-day and he had to sit in the office for 20 minutes (I know - I will never forgive myself for that one! I didn't even realize it at first. I showed up with donuts and balloons and when I got there - the classroom was empty. Such a schmuck!) But, I am so thankful to be a Mom and thankful to Heavenly Father for giving me such a special boy. He is growing up so fast and I know he will be a wonderful, tender, yet strong man someday. I gotta capture every moment.

Maya's 3rd Birthday!

Maya had been talking about her birthday party for months! So I got kind of excited about it too and went a little above my standard cake and simple party decorations that I usually do. We found a really cute fish cake in an old Martha Stewart Baby magazine. That was the jumping off point for real goldfish in bowls for the favors, a wooden fishing booth so the children could "fish" for their goodie bag prizes, swimming and bubbles. The cake was completely from scratch, of course, since it was a Martha Stewart Cake. The frosting was really yummy. And, for the first time, I used my cake decorating set, with multiple colors and tips! Oh my! It was pretty involved, but I was happy with how it turned out. My sister-in-law Heather, was visiting here from Texas and she helped me a ton! She was the art director for the cake (She stayed up with me until the wee hours of the morning advising me on what step to do next on the cake.) She also gave us a huge gift of painting the ocean scene on the wooden fishing booth! She was up late for two nights painting and creating. It turned out great and the kids loved fishing for their prizes. For the fishing poles I used two big dowels, painted them green, drilled a hole in each one, and tied white sheer ribbon through the holes and a cute, black hook. Then I got clear paint cans from the craft store and put the prizes in those as the kids fished out their prizes. It was fun. But, I still don't know if it was worth all the work...