Just Another Day

It's Ben's birthday!

Shh, he doesn't like showy celebrations or too much attention!

Today was the hottest day of 2015...so we went swimming to celebrate.
We thought Cody looked like an owl in this pic with his goggle eyes.

Mackayla adores Ben.

The other day at the waterpark (labor day) she looked over at him in the pool and said:

"Dad looks like a minecraft giant!"

Which was apparently a compliment because she added:

"He's so big and strong."

More than one person has asked if these are decorations:
haha

#workboots

 A favorite meal of Ben's we had for his bday
(even though it doesn't look amazing, it is...my food/picture taking skills haha)

Crock Pot Chicken and Artichokes

1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 Tsp butter

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

4 chicken breasts (3 lb.)

1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3/4 c milk or half & half

1/2 c parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp rosemary or fresh rosemary

Put chicken breasts and chicken broth, s&p, and rosemary in crock pot on low 6-8 hours

An hour before:

Saute mushrooms in 2 T butter, set aside.

Top chicken with artichoke hearts.

Melt 1/4 c butter in pan, add flour s&p until smooth.

Stir in milk/cream. Cook and stir and mixture boils and thickens. Add some broth from chicken. Blend in parmesan cheese.

Pour over artichokes and chicken. Sprinkle mushrooms down center.

Add fresh parmesan on top before serving.

Team Sorting

Getting caught up now finally. Last Saturday we went to Circle S Ranch so Ben could do some team sorting. I always go feeling out of place and leave thinking horse people are so friendly.

I also don't edit my pictures anymore with our new crazy computer update...so here they are, off center, garbages, bad lighting and all.

 Pledge at the beginning...

 Waiting their turn 

 Team sorting starts with ten cows

all marked with a number

A team of three riders has to sort them in numerical order beginning with a random first number, such as 4, then 5, 6, and so on.

The fastest time in the right order wins.

The announcer for the night loves Ben and always tries to get him to come.

He was as entertaining as watching the sorting!

Frontsight

Frontsight

All but one of the men in the Crosland family took a weekend to go to this gun training class in Nevada

Ben did a little of this in class

a little eating out

and a lot of shooting!

He even got to shoot a machine gun.

(I kinda think that would be cool.)

 Ben wasn't there on the last day, testing day, to see his dad get his elite status!

 Cody tested out his skill all weekend too:) 

Mackayla in Preschool/Ben Getting Older

Our cute little Kayla started preschool.

We are doing a coop with her too, just like Cody and Macey each did one year.

She is going to do great.

I taught the first week. Glad that's out of the way!

Macey helps out for the first hour until her school starts.

 A morning sky in Ladera

 This is Ben, as documented on his birthday. Yup that's my birthday picture of him. wahwah.

Happy Birthday!

 We're Seriously getting old. It's kind of fun so far...

On his actual birthday he was on call and had scouts. Lame. Birthdays are not quite as cool when you're old and responsible.

But we managed to get him some of the best burgers on earth from Rider's Cafe

and make him some apple crisp (instead of cake!).

We also got to celebrate with Bonnie with an awesome lunch at South of Nick's.

And Disneyland counts too:)

 We had a praying mantis join us on our bed one night.

This was only creepy because I had recently learned from one of Cody's many animal/insect informational books that Praying Mantis females actually BITE off the heads of the males.

This is freaky~

 They are ranked more dangerous than sharks in the book. That's pushing it a little.

In this picture what you Don't see is Cody peeing in the bushes.

BUT if you had come to one of our soccer games at the elementary last weekend you would have seen him plain as day. He told me right when we got there he had to pee, but the bathrooms were locked. So I specifically told him to "go in the bushes, and make sure no one can see you."

So he walked to the bushes right by the side of the road and turned his back to the five families - so they couldn't see his face - and peed on the bush.

By the time I realized what was happening it was too late so I hurried ahead to hide evidence of our relation!

This is one of our favorite parks.

Lately, Cody especially loves it because he can reenact parts of American Ninja Warrior on the climbing wall and some of the playground equipment. It's Ben's and his latest favorite show.

 We love it because there is rarely ever anyone here - it's quiet and secluded.

PrePack

The day I was going to pack to go to 

UTAH!,

I saw a couple of these guys in our garage...

They are maggots. DISGUSTING!!!!!

 Then I realized that there were actually one bazillion so I had to move out everything in our entire garage - ugh. I guess we did move out (and right back in) this year:)!

Pretty much the grossest thing I have ever done.

 Also instead of packing, we went swimming.

 That night we rented out a theater for a date to the movies.

But really, if you go to a 3D movie that has been out for a long time, you get the entire theater to yourself!!

 Ben didn't get to come to Utah with us because he is responsible and he has a job

He does NOT do well when we are gone. It's nice to be loved:)