The ONLY reason I welcome the end of summer....

Peach Dessert!!! This is a family favorite that I wait all year for. I'm pretty sure fresh peaches were invented for this dish, to help me say goodbye to my favorite season, summer, and hello to my second favorite season, fall. Spring is my third favorite, and winter is dead last, if you must know. So anyway, feeling a little depressed earlier this week at the passing of summer, I bought me a bag of peaches and whipped up a batch of Peach Dessert (not a very creative name, I know, but I'm sticking with tradition here). The good news is I had it all to myself because I didn't really tell my family about it. The bad news is, well, I ate it all by myself. Oh well, a can of sweetened condensed milk can't have THAT many calories, can it? And it was spread over a period of three days, so that basically cuts it down by two-thirds per day. Oh, who cares, I'm just going to count it as therapy. I really needed it.
Here is the recipe, for your post-summer, pre-fall pleasure:

Peach Dessert

40+ crushed Vanilla Wafers, reserving some for top

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1 can Eagle Brand milk

1/4 cup lemon juice

8 oz. Cool Whip

5 cups diced fresh peaches

Combine first three ingredients in bottom of 9x13 pan. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over wafer mixture. Sprinkle with remaining crushed wafers. Refrigerate. See how easy that was, and how much better you feel?

First day of kindergarten

Dallin started kindergarten this week! I can't believe my little Dallin is old enough to go to school. Luke will be starting preschool next week, so this will be a major change to our lifestyle! I am looking forward to having a little more structure in our day, and a little more time to get things done. However, I am really sad that my kids are growing up. It is a weird feeling and I'm not sure I like it!

Youth Conference at Camp Williams

Last week we had our Stake Youth Conference at Camp Williams. Being the pessimist that I sometimes (usually) am, I was really not looking forward to it. I thought, "How in the world are we going to control a bunch of teenagers on an army base, who are probably not too excited about sleeping in barracks, getting up at 6 am, and doing service projects/listening to devotionals all day long?" Well, I was wrong. It was so fun! I was actually sad when we had to go home on Saturday. We have the greatest kids in our ward and stake, and they have a good time no matter what they are doing. They get along, they participate, they include everyone, and there wasn't a single discipline problem the entire 3 days (that I'm aware of). I was so impressed. And Camp Williams was very cool. I've never been on an army base and it was so crazy to see all the military peeps there, marching around and singing their little chants. They were so cute. Ha ha.

This is the rappelling tower. We all got to go down twice. I was so proud of many of the kids who were terrified of heights, but did it anyway, like my little buddy in red.

The kids got to do the Leadership Reaction Courses, where they are issued a challenge and have to figure out how to make it happen. Most of them involved getting heavy (50-60 lb.) boxes of ammunition across water with almost no supplies to help. I was secretly glad the leaders weren't supposed to participate, but the kids loved it and did a great job.


This little lizard was our mascot for about 10 minutes until somebody pulled his tail off. We all got MASH t-shirts, which I will wear proudly. To bed at least.

Thanks a lot, Stephenie Meyer

You had to go and release your book on what is possibly the busiest week of my entire summer! Do you realize I am getting NOTHING done??? So unfair. I'm trying to juggle a page here and there with all the things on my to-do list, I'm only on page 265, and I feel like I'm walking around in a daze and I won't be able to focus on anything until page 754!!! Why can't I get the flu or something so I'll have a reason to just sit in bed and READ?!!!

Seriously gross spider

Dallin spotted this huge, enormous, freaky spider right outside the back door today. Yes, it was on my PATIO!!! I was afraid if I got too close it might grab my camera and take a few pictures of me screaming. I have never seen a spider like this in my entire life. The pictures don't do him justice. He was all silvery and hairy. Ewww!!!

Just for some perspective, the little Mayfly in the bottom corner is about double the size of a mosquito. This spider is big enough to be my uncle!!!

American Idol Concert

Last week Jason took me to the American Idol concert for our anniversary. It was so fun. We left all THREE kids with my in-laws overnight. Jason tried to surprise me with a night at the Anniversary Inn, but of course I had to ruin the surprise earlier in the day by guessing where we were going. Don't get me wrong, I like to be surprised, I just like to KNOW that I'm going to be surprised, and then I'll stop guessing. He just told me that his parents were taking the kids, and I was like, "Oh! We should go stay somewhere! Like the Anniversary Inn!" So he tried to cover it up and say, "Well, maybe we'll stay somewhere like the Howard Johnson or something," and then after the concert he headed over to 6th South, and I was like, "Why are we going this way? Are we going to the Anniversary Inn?" "No, the hotel I booked is on 6th South and 9th East." "Well, that's the Anniversary Inn." "How do you know?" "Because we stayed there 7 years ago, hello." "Well, who remembers the address, Rainman? It's the Howard Johnson, just be quiet." "There is no Howard Johnson over there, just the Anniversary Inn." So then we pulled into the Anniversary Inn and he was like, "Surprise!" and I felt bad for being difficult. Sometimes I should just shut my mouth. So should several other people we saw that night, like Chickezee for example. I'm not even going to look up the proper spelling of his name, he was that bad. I didn't even take a picture of him. The Idols performed in order, and he was number 10. The first few were just terrible. But, once they got to Brooke White, it was actually worth watching. She wasn't my favorite on the show, but I really liked her performance. I think it takes a lot of talent to sing and play the piano (or guitar) at the same time. Here's a small recap of the concert:

Terrible.

Um, decent.

Okay.

Not great. Put on a shirt.

Really good.

High, as usual.

She should have been #9, not #3.

David A. sang his little heart out, which I could hear in bits and pieces over the crowd that would not stop screaming the ENTIRE time he was onstage. He was really good, though.

I have to apologize to David Cook for the rude things I have said about him in the past. He was actually a really good performer. David, I'm sorry I said you look like a hot dog with hair. Your rendition of Lionel Richie's "Hello" was really good and I actually enjoyed it. I think we can be friends, but that's all. I still don't find you attractive.

Our Mini-Vacation

Last weekend we took the kids on a "mini-vacation" and had so much fun. We stayed at my in-law's awesome cabin above Rockport Reservoir, which is past Park City about 10 minutes. It was so nice to have somewhere peaceful to relax and hang out and just go with the flow. Saturday we took the kids to the zoo and did a little bit of shopping at the outlets on the way back. Then we had tin foil dinners and s'mores (not necessarily in that order). Sunday we thoroughly disrupted the Wanship Ward sacrament meeting (sorry, I can't help that I have three kids and they are bad, all you people who think church is supposed to be quiet and keep glaring at me over your shoulder...) and just hung out. We headed home Monday morning. Here are a few pics of the trip:
I think we have pictures of Dallin in front of this gorilla thing every year since he was born!

Yes, my boys' underwear is always showing.

Abby pulled out her pigtail, as usual.

I was so excited to see that the zoo finally got a sloth! I don't know why I love sloths so much, probably because I can relate to them. "I know I should get up and do something, but it's just so much work... I think I'll just hang here for another minute and let my claws grow a few more inches..."

It wouldn't be a Yates family trip if we didn't stop and fish out of every ditch between here and Kamas.

The three boys tromping through a meadow (illegally, I'm sure) to find their next fishing adventure.

The beautiful view from the cabin.

A little friend (on the right) smelled our tin foil dinners...

came in for a closer look...

a little bit closer,

...and totally dissed my cooking! RUDE!

These two were much more polite. I love that little baby with the spots!

"Mom, please can I feed him?"
"No! He was very rude and I didn't appreciate it."

Luke was so excited to go on a 4-wheeler ride and be just like Daddy with his sunglasses and "blonklers,"

But the excitement must have been a little too much. Who falls asleep on a 4-wheeler? I'm not complaining, he stayed asleep and slept all night. Maybe we should try it at home.

My goal in life is to someday live in a pretty little valley like this. Where I can yell at my kids and no one can hear me. That would be heaven. Well, minus the yelling part. I'll try to do better.