August 2014

Birthdays, weddings, and school, this month was busy! We celebrated Tucker turning 6 by having a little family party at the park. We played some lego games, had a pinata, and of course had cake.

I tried to make a chocolate lego cake for Tucker, but I thought ganache sounded better than frosting. Unfortunately, ganache doesn't really hold it's shape like frosting. It looked pretty terrible as you can see from the pictures, but it tasted great! For his birthday Tucker wanted legos and a remote control monster truck. He got both and was a happy kid! He specifically wanted the millenium falcon lego set, but that sells for over a hundred dollars, so we went with a cheaper mini millenium falcon.

First day of school! I can't believe Tucker is in first grade. Of course Halle had to wear a backpack just like him. It was a little bit of an adjustment getting used to the longer day, but overall he has done really well. He seems to like his teacher, but of course his favorite parts of the day are lunch and recess. Halle does a little "preschool" with a girl her age in our ward. It's perfect, we trade off and each do it at our own house one day a week. They play most of the time and we do a little lesson. I think because Halle has her preschool she hasn't missed Tucker as much as last year. She has also started playing a lot with Finn. And by playing I mean she teaches him to jump on the beds and climb on everything in the house. 

My favorite part of August was going to my brother's wedding! It was such a great weekend with family and I just love my brother's new wife. She fits in so well with our family. I didn't take many photos at the wedding, I left that to the wedding photographer. I was so proud of the bowties I made for Finn and Tucker. I'm not very good at sewing but I think they turned out pretty cute. Now I just need to get them to wear them more often, because I love boys and bowties.

Halle took a few photos while we were waiting outside of the temple. It's always kind of fun to see their perspective of things.

Instead of staying in a hotel in Logan, my parents rented a house for us all to stay in for 2 nights. It was such a cute little house with horses in a field behind the house. It also had a giant elderberry tree. Sheldon and I picked a huge bag of elderberries and we spent hours picking elderberries off those little stems. I made elderberry syrup and jam. The jam did not set up the first time I made it, but I was able to fix it and add more pectin and all my hard work did not go to waste. The jam and syrup is a little more tart, but I like it. Elderberries are supposed to have lots of antioxidants and health benefits. At least that's what I tell myself when I put lots of syrup and jam on my pancakes, 

photo cred: wikipedia

Elderberries in case you wanted to know what they look like!