love fresh raspberries

OK, this belongs on fail blog or lame book or something like that...
it actually came from my very own facebook feed
from my very own ummm... someone related to me...
be sure to read the 1st comment...

who knew loving raspberries could raise up such hellish fury?
this is what i think about sometimes as i pick raspberries...
i feel bad for the guy whose wife calls him a disgusting fat puke
(yes, that was his wife that said that *forehead slap*)

but back to the subject at hand:
raspberries!

aren't they the best??!!
once, when i was about 10, i was walking home from school and i walked past a bush with beautiful red ripe raspberries and somewhere deep in my subconscious "must have raspberry bush when i grow up" became part of my bucket list.

i love picking raspberries off of our bush that started out small and now takes over a 50 square foot area.   Picking raspberries is like a treasure hunt.  A sunny, delicious treasure hunt.  It makes me feel like a kid again :)

i love to put my fresh raspberries on top of a yummy brownie with a scoop of ice cream.
and if that makes me a disgusting fat puke i'm okay with it.
have a beautiful, delicious, non-disgusting day mmmmkay?

Red, White & Chambray

we had to go to this pretty place to "help" daddy with some scenery photos for a painting he's working on.
as soon as we got there, i had one kid dancing around about to pee her pants, another kid peeing on a rock, and another child peeing in her pants (nope, i'm not naming names...but she's kinda little and her name rhymes with bofeeya) all in all, a grand time.
we're off to a parade today then maybe we'll head back up the canyon for some more family togetherness, that is, if the parents don't go crazy first!

chambray rompers: old navy, ross

chambray shirt: old navy

red shirt: downeast

tan shorts: thrifted

red sandals: kohls 

linking up with Lindsey for what i wore wednesday

have an awesome, safe, dry panties type of 4th of July, mmmkay?

Missing Summer

OoOooh, lookey what I found!

Dad: "go throw it on your sister"

Dad: "here, I'll hold her down for you!"

Swede: "aaaaaaahh! get it off! get it off!!!"

okay, we'll get it off...

so proud!

vrbo love

ready for a road trip? heck to the yeah, as long as lion king is on pandora

my husband is an artist  {see his work here } so, fortunately, we sometimes get to travel to different art shows and locations where he needs to get photos for his projects.

like last week, we traveled 2 hours to a wonderful little town just outside of Park City, Utah.

But, the reason for this post is to 

share my love for vrbo.com 

I LALALALOVE It :)  if you haven't checked it out, you MUST! vrbo=vacation rentals by owner.  we've used this many times and it's awesome for people traveling on a budget.

We got our room for $80! we would have stayed an extra night but the weather wasn't cooperating.

The place we stayed was awesome, rad, "baller" as the cool kids say- so i though i'd share :)

their were two pools, and two hot tubs with a little tunnel connecting the two pools (sha-bam!)

wrinkly fingers, hot tub heaven, and my fam in their suits (gah!)

The place we stayed is called The Zermatt and the rooms usually start at $150, but their are a bunch of privately owned rooms that people rent out when they're not using them. another fun thing at zermatt was the mini golf:

that's sofia on the far left SO proud because she sunk the ball (after 18 tries :)  Don'tcha just love it when your hubby teaches your kids stuff? how cute is that- those two swingin' together :)

the hotel had a place to feed the goats, no swiss-themed hotel is complete without a goat pen, right?

Goats really love to nibble

oh, and a carousel, of course:

so, $80 as opposed to $150 or more, Sha-weet!

vrbo.com is also great for family reunions...we've stayed in really nice condos with 20+ people for about $100 per family...(the condos were around $399/night plus cleaning fees) so fun for family get-togethers :)  or vacays w/friends {if you have friends you could stand to vacation with} It's fun to browse thru vrbo.com and daydream about a trip to the oregon coast or hawaii...and to find things you can actually afford... happy browsing!

linking up with jeannettg for instafriday....it's probably pretty obvious all my pics were taken on my cell phone ;)

instafriday

my kids got their faces painted, some look spookier than others

we planted these flowers

the kids had a tent set up in their bedroom for 3 nights (and were too scared to sleep in it 2 of those nights)

went to chic fil a

ate s'mores

(love that they all have such different looks on their faces)

climbed trees

and stayed here one night

boom.
what'd you do?
linking up with instafriday @ liferearranged

how I got my kids scrubbing the floors...

so, I was on the hunt online for a chore chart for my kiddos (ages 3, 5, and almost 7 {yikes!}) I wanted something simple and with pictures so the kids could "read" it even if they can't read.  I stumbled upon Handipoints.com which looked like a website where you could customize chore charts and print 'em up...

but, it turned out to be more than that.  First off, you sign up to become a member (it's freeee) Then,  each kid gets to pick a cat avatar, and cat name {we used such creative names like "snowball" and "catty" haha}  The kids can mark off their charts after they're printed OR they can mark off their charts online.  When they mark off their charts online they get "bonus points" which they can use to buy furniture to decorate an online room for their cat avatar {think: webkinz or barbie.com}

I don't know about your kids, but my kids are crazy about decorating their pretend houses.  So, my kids had marked off their charts with all the stuff they had done the day before and still didn't have enough bonus points to snatch up the furniture they wanted...so, I informed them they could mop the kitchen floor or clean the bathroom to earn more points.  And VOILA! they went for it!  They all did several chores that they wouldn't normally be thrilled about doing.  But they earned bonus points! and they loved it!  we'll see how long this lasts!

Here's an example of what the kids are excited about earning :)

PROS:
-kids are excited to earn points
-they're not complaining about some things that they normally would be (because they get points)
-I can endlessly customize the lists (ie: go potty on the potty chair, be nice to your sisters)
-I can easily add points when the kids do something I think is good (my 6 yr. old filled up her own water bottle before dance class without asking so I gave her some bonus points :)
-It's free, and the kids aren't bugging me for any tangible rewards
-the kids are cleaning the house and keeping it clean :)

CONS:
-you have to log in seperately for each child (they make it easy enough, just kind of a hassle)
-I don't know how long they'll be excited about decorating the rooms
-there are pages dedicated to buying dress-ups for your cat avatar- but apparently, these are for the paying customers only (5 yr. old a little sad about that)
-there's a whole bunch of social interaction parts of the site (we just skip that part entirely, though)
-the kids want to be on the computer during their free time now :/



There are also a bunch of games that the kids can play on the site, we haven't ventured into that very much (nor do i plan to)  There are different places on the map that we are just beginning to explore which the kids think are fun...but are mostly a waste of time, haha :)

I don't know what you're supposed to do here...get back to work! ;)

Overall, I think it's pretty great...the kids are trying to figure out what they can do to earn bonus points, they're making their beds, picking up their toys, sorting laundry and putting their dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket (hallelujah!)  we'll see how long it lasts! :)

Summer Fun

I had a good time today making some bobby pins. My kids jumped on the trampoline with a hose and got soaked, while I visited with my mom and made these beauties :) They're about 2" wide.. and i'm going to sell them for $5 for a set of 2.