brown oatmeal container

it cooled off today

so

we (dylan and i) made cookies

finally

we use a neman marcus cookie recipe

we all love.

we were about to throw away the oatmeal

container

until

we realized it would make a great container

for something.

"a spy container" dylan suggests.

(but we would have to make a hole)

let's think of something else...

i said, "why don't we color the outside"

no go on that idea...bummer...

(dylan went outside to play with dad...soo...)

okay

well

i'll just see how many cookies will fit in it.

AWESOME.

lot's of cookies fit in the plain oatmeal container

yeah

this is so great.

~shelly

vacation in squaw valley

the easy chair

(while dylan and daddy were golfing we explored the area...well mostly napped...and then checked things out)

right below the high camp there is miniature golf for the kids, restaurants and shops.

another shot

at the hotel they had a couple of pools. this one is the kiddie pool with a huge i mean HUGE sand pit right behind the twins. the kids can actually go back and forth from the kiddie pool to the sand pit. if you new our challenges as a family you would realize how perfect the pool area is for our family. the drop off for the slide is right behind jason.

SAND...gotta love it! the SLIDE
us watching for dylan to come down

(i know i look terrible...still trying to get in shape)
"thumbs up for the slide mom... i've gone down about 100 times, still loving it."

101st time and a double thumbs up...wow.

believe it or not we have pictures of the twins going down on our laps as well. they loved it!

it was so great to get away and spend quality time as a family. we've had a really tough year. the resort at squaw creek is definitely a must if you want to splurge and get away and have a guarantee good time. i'm so thankful for my husband and our time together and so thankful to God for creating such a beautiful valley for us to enjoy.

~shelly

Jelly Belly

jelly belly

let's start at the end of our little journey as a family.

we had planned to leave at a specific time in order to make it to the jelly belly factory on the way home. unfortunately, we hit a little traffic and road construction.

soooo

we were running a little behind and had to make it to the jelly belly factory before 4pm...so we were jamming all the way home. it was jason's idea to go on the tour (great dad huh) and so he was motivated to follow through. after missing the turn, hitting some long lights and bad drivers we finally made it the the factor at 4:04pm. i ran up to the counter and said, "did we miss the last tour? we tried so hard to make it..." she said, "no problem the last tour just left, how many in your group" AWESOME "five" i'll be right back. i jammed to the car got jason and the kids and ran inside to get in on the last tour of the day.

it was SO cool.

highly recommend it for kids.

here's some pictures.

keep in mind we had been in the car all day rushing to get to the factory.

five of us after the tour (btw i would of worn the cute hat they gave us on the tour, but i had this hair thing in that made it so it wouldn't fit...they require everyone to wear the hats in the factory to keep hair contained)

the kids right after the tour

the Jelly Belly factory is in Fairfield, CA right off the 80west

~shelly

our first official vacation as a family of five

we decided to take the easy road this vacation.

no camping.

no cleaning.

we headed off to squaw valley or olympic valley in tahoe.

we stayed at this highly recommended resort called squaw creek.

i can't say enough great things about it. it's a awesome place for families. we got a really great deal on the room and just enjoyed every minute of it. luckily for the sake of the other people in the hotel we let them know we might be a little noisy so we were placed in between no-one, is that awesome or what? there wasn't anyone on our immediate right or left on the fifth floor.

after such a tough year it was a great treat to stay at such a

wonderful place.

we left on sunday and what a great road trip it was up to tahoe. we stopped in auburn for a picnic and hit a great park with water features and equipment. the kids had a blast.

on the way home we made it to the

jelly belly factory just in time to go on the last tour of the day.

we didn't know how the twins and dylan would settle in to new surroundings, but they did great much better than expected.

dylan isn't one to adjust quickly so we tried our best to set him up for success and have fun. after a day at the pool and checking out the grounds he seemed to settle with being in tahoe.

the twins did surprisingly well. nolan is just such a easy baby and has no problem having a good time anywhere he goes. taryn wasn't feeling well and was a little nervous so she took a little bit more of mommy's time than the others.

in any case we had a great time and when i get a chance in the next couple of days i'll post some pictures.

it was just beautiful up there.

love being up in the mountains.

what a beautiful world God has created for us to enjoy.

~shelly

Adventures in Odyssey

i found a new outlet for dylan and he just loves listening to them. adventures in odyssey has online programs for kids with a great lesson to each one. such a great afternoon outlet for our older ones.

http://www.whitsend.org/radio/

Slide

going to the park and up stairs and down slides is tricky with twins. however, since mine are so incredibly different it's usually doable. the day before this video the slide was a little wet due to rain (yes rain in august) and i wished i brought my camera the day before because nolan went flying off the end of the slide to end up on his rear just staring and then smiling...then down again... so i thought i'll bring the camera today and try to get a shot of them going down...together...this park is at our gym so while dylan is at swim lesson we either hit the kiddie pool or the park.

kids are so funny...nolan never stands on the slide...and of course while i take the video he stands in the middle...

joy...

~shelly