Midway Getaway!

I love Midway, Utah! It's the closest thing to Germany/Switzerland that we have in Utah. So a couple weeks ago my mom invited me to go up with she,my sister and my brother in law. Manuel didn't want to come because of a German soccer game on TV he really wanted to see -  so, I ventured out with the kids!

I'm so glad I went - we had so much fun! We stayed at the homestead and there was a bluegrass band that played under the stars. We went shopping at the cute barn boutique, swam in the pool, swam in the crater, and ate at my favorite restaurant in the whole word - the Tarahumara! In fact we ate their twice! Did you know that the Tarahumara are a Native Americans for Northwestern Mexico? The owner is from Chihuahua, Mexico. Their salsa bar is to die for and they have a bakery with European and Mexican pastries - all made from scratch!

It was a fun weekend and I didn't want it to end! Worth missing for a soccer game? I don't think so  :)

DAILY QUESTION:

What is your favorite nearby getaway and why?

At the Homestead

The barn boutique

The girls' frog prince

Fluffy pillows and bouncy beds!

Paisley learning to float

Aunt "She She" and Cambrey

Coloring on the restaurant table

Playground outside our hotel room

lamb, mahi mahi, shrimp tacos, beans with crumbled cheese, and a salad with passion fruit dressing!

They let you replace the rice with a salad!

Cherise ordered shark tacos - tasted like steak!

Me and my brother in law Jared

Me and Cherise in the crater

The kids think this is a volcano

You can't float in this water on your own - it makes you sink

At the Homestead (our hotel)

Outside of the crater

Guava ice cream!

Vanilla flan!

Ready for church!

This is how all the homes and buildings look in Midway! You feel like you're in the Alps!

A changing spot in our hotel room

We called it the "time out spot"

Just a fourth of the salsas from the salsa bar

Yes this is a kids meal!

School's Out!

You know school is officially out when you see the ice cream line in our neighborhood. Every year our neighborhood sets up an ice cream party across the street from the school, so that all of the kids coming home can come celebrate!

It was hot and the line was long but it was sure worth it by the time the kids got their ice cream. Our neighborhood has so many fun traditions.

Now, my son is off to an ice cream sundae birthday party and when that's over it will be time for the neighborhood water party BBQ on my street.  When that's over we'll be going out to dinner for ribs at the Rib Shack with my Dad and then coming back to our house to play croquet and have homemade ice cream.

Ice cream, you scream we all scream TOO MUCH ICE CREAM! You gotta love summer!

DAILY QUESTION:

What fun traditions do you do with your neighbors? How do you as a family celebrate the last day of school?

Feeling a Little "Holey"

I don't know about you but I seem to get these tiny holes in my shirt everyday! It didn't take me long last year to figure out that it's the rough edges on the granite counter tops. My mom has the same problem. I've been putting all the shirts in a growing pile, hoping to finally mend them and after several months and no shirts left to wear I finally got around to mending them.

Problem is - I'm afraid to wear them for fear of it happening again. I guess that's why all the 50's housewifes wore those pretty aprons. I've found that wearing a thick apron is the only way to prevent this tragic catastrophe!

DAILY QUESTION:

Does this happen to you? What do you do?

The holes

The culprit!

The shirts I patched

My never ending shirt pile

Lemon Lovin'

Most kids go to the fruit drawer in the fridge and pick out nice crisp apple or a juicy orange. Not my Cambrey - she goes for the sour lemons! She bites into them just like an apple and eats everything. I keep finding these all over my house.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised - when I was little I used to drink vinegar straight from the bottle. It must be a personality thing!

DAILY QUESTION:

What's the strangest thing your kids have ever eaten?

Scooby Doo at the Rietzsch's House

The treat bags

Scooby fruit snacks, scooby snacks, stickers and magnifying glass for solving mysteries!

Gabe wanted a Scooby Doo party this year. It took a little effort but wasn't too hard to find things for his party. I normally do all this online so it's much easier but Gabe changed his mind at the last minute and so I had to get everything from the store.

Though Target and Walmart didn't have Scooby party stuff - they did have Scooby Doo fruit snacks, cereal and Scooby Snacks (graham cracker cookies). I even found some fun Scooby Doo candy at Hobby Lobby.

I bought plates and decorations at the party store and the rest I made myself. I came up with the monster game and looked at pictures online and then free handed them onto posters and then painted. Bought dart guns from the dollar store and the kids had a blast shooting the monsters. Overall I think I did a good job making things and buying things from the thrift store. I saved a lot of money - but not sure about time :)

I was going to create a game at the Scooby and Shaggy snack station where I set up empty cookie jars, soda bottles etc. and they had to shoot gumballs into the jars for prizes - but ran out of time.

We had dog bone cookies, Mini Scooby dogs (hotdogs baked in crescent roll dough), Scooby soda and chips!

It was a fun party! Gabe is such a friendly boy he couldn't narrow down his list of friends to invite, so I limited it to boys only and that cut the list in half. I decided as long as we had it in the backyard all would be well. Good choice!

My dad always tells me how birthday parties should just be cake, balloons and a few kids. No themes, over the top games and decorations etc. I see his point. I think next year we'll limit it to 8 kids. Wait - I think I say that every year!

DAILY QUESTION:

What's the funnest birthday party you ever had or threw for your kids?

Prizes for games - even a Scooby Doo Sucker (Hobby Lobby)

Treat bags (Zurchers)

Scary witch lady from old Scooby Doo episode

Scary vampire man from old episode

A villian I free handed from old episode

Painted these in one hour

Dog bone sugar cookies

Bought bone cookie cutter at Zurchers and used Pillsbury cream cheese frosting and cookie dough.

I went to the D.I (thrift store) and found the mystery machine, tree and creatures for 75 cents

Made a small 6 inch cake and mixed cool whip with 1 pkg of dry vanilla pudding and food coloring to make frosting. Put the cake on a plate on top of a candle holder.

Put Scooby snacks on cupcakes

Used lime and orange extract for frosting!

Bought Scooby balloons at party store and blew them up at home and put them on sticks - to avoid having to use helium and stuff them in the car (they always pop in my car)

Bought Scooby Mylar balloon at Fundaze and the Scooby crepe paper at Zurchers

The boys shot darts at the villians. Whoever hit the face made it to round two and then round two competed for round 3 until we had four winners.

Bought cute orange and green candles at party store

17 kids!

We did the whole party in the backyard

Cambrey's "strawberry shoes"

This game was a hit!

Used double sided foam tape to stick to the stucco

Scooby and Shaggy Snack Station

Scooby Soda! Lime sherbet and orange pop

Got the cure green and orange candles form party store

Present time!

Started the day out with Scooby Doo cereal!