Summertime coming to a close...

…but don't get me wrong, it's still going to be blistering hot.

As usual, we had a memorable summer - we definitely have our fair share of fun!! I'm just going to come right out and say it - my family is super rad.  It's a good thing, too, because we've spent a load of time together.  

The annual trip to Colorado didn't disappoint - more beautiful than ever!!  

Made a pitstop in Moab and loved exploring this gorgeous desert terrain.  AND…discovered Love Muffin Cafe.  (best breakfast. EVER.)

Dinner at the Beaumont with the coolest people on the planet.  Missing my soul-sister, Kristine, so technically this isn't the complete group of coolest people, but she was in our hearts and that's kind of like having her there, but without her beauty and perfectly inappropriate behavior. ;)  I miss her on so many levels.

Six jeeps, twelve adults, 18 ½ children, hoards of food, and beautiful Colorado rockies.  

Perfection!!!

Don't hate me, but this was our view every single day.  We rented a house with panoramic views and it never got old. 

 Can't wait to do it again next year!!!

AND NOW SOME MORE SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS:

Our favorite summertime pastime.  Life makes sense during the summer - that's all.

Good times - almost lost MY ENTIRE FINGER.

"Let's sharpen the knives!" they say…"cooking is safer with sharp knives", they say.

Yes. 

**sorry so gross…but I want you to experience this with me…**

We played, "Let's Find Mommy's Finger In the Soup!" 

Nobody found it….nobody won…

4th of July nail painting with my girlies

(notice that most of my nail is back….all is well)

Like the Little Red Hen, I ground my own wheat, made my own bread, and ate it all myself!  It was SO blasted good!!!  I'll post my recipe later.  

My  little girl wanted to make a skirt - here's the start of something great!!  

Our school no longer offers Home Economics, so it's up to us moms to teach our girls how to sew.  

It wasn't that bad!  She's a natural!!

Thankfully, my mom was here to help teach her how to hand-hem a skirt.  The skirt was adult-sized, the length was too long, and since we didn't want to do the sensible thing and cut the extra fabric off, we hand-hemmed it and learned a few fun tricks!

I hope that she didn't get too freaked out by sewing.  It can be pretty intense at times!  She did GREAT!!

AND now she has something adorable that she made herself!!!!  

{woohooo!!!}

 Complete with adorable matching flower clip….for skirt or hair.

Fun tutorial here for the rosette.  Great little video!

 And this is what happens when the big girls are busy sewing….poor kid!!!  At least she wasn't being destructive.  Seriously, though, I think she's seen WAY too many Disney movies because….who sleeps like that?!  

And now….we are in our last week of summer before the waking up early, moaning, groaning, and the hatred of homework & routine starts back up.  And that's just ME!  The kids, on the other hand, are going to be giddy to start school in order to escape my never-ending thirst for assigning them housework.  I think that they're at the point of welcoming homework over housework.  

Until next time - have a HAPPY day!!!