Smorgasbord

Smorgasbord: an assortment; a collection containing a variety of sorts of things.

There is no rhyme or reason to this post. It is, in fact, a smorgasbord, so bear with me.

My little guy had his two-month appointment, which meant three shots. Poor thing did not handle his vaccines well at all. I have never had such a hard time calming a kid down after getting poked with a needle. Too bad for the both of us that there are so many more to come over the next 10 months.

On a brighter note - Luke is growing just as should, and then some! In the doctors exact words, "He's not skipping any meals!" Luke is 12 lbs. 12 oz., putting him in the 90th percentile for weight. I think his thighs will be even chunkier than Trent's were.

Ashlyn started dance and is thrilled. Plus, she looks awfully cute in a leotard and tutu.

However, the only experience she has had with dance is going to a couple of Madison's recitals. So, she was a bit confused why everyone wasn't there to watch her dance on a stage on the first day.

My parents have a new pet:

This little critter has been hiding out in their backyard, but has come out of hiding to join the family at the fire pit on three occasions.

We think he might be attracted to the Christmas lights strung along the fence.

The kids have all been fascinated by our hopping friend, so Brian decided to pick it up and give them a chance to pet it. Well, the thing unleashed himself and earned the name "tinkle toad," which I think the kids got more a kick out of than the toad itself.

Speaking of family gatherings around the fire pit, Monica flew in from Missouri to join us at our latest gathering.

Okay, she didn't really fly in just to see us. She actually came into town to attend her grandpa's funeral, and our condolences go out to her and her family. But, it was great to see her again and hard to say goodbye again. I wish they made an easy button for goodbyes.

And speaking of smorgasbords, we had a s'moregasbord, which I highly recommend. The possibilities are endless. It started with an idea from the food network magazine and snowballed. We had four kinds of mellows: regular, coconut, strawberry, and chocolate/vanilla swirl; and two kinds of graham crackers: honey and cinnamon. Then there were all the toppings: apples, bananas, nutella, peanut butter, milk chocolate bars, dark chocolate bars, white chocolate bars, cookies & cream bars, reese's, york peppermint patties, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and junior caramels. The hands-down winner was the caramel apple s'more.

You MUST try this! To assemble, sandwich two thin green apple slices, four junior caramels (smashed so they don't roll away), and a perfectly toasted mellow between two cinnamon graham cracker squares. Lots of other varieties were created, but this was by far the best and I am convinced that this may be only way to eat a s'more. So, so good.

Remember this picture from our Yellowstone vacation last month? Well, Brian decided to enter into Snapshot of the Week on the KUTV program "Roughin' It Outdoors", and guess what?! It will be aired on Saturday, August 28th! Better still, this showed up on our doorstep yesterday:

A dutch oven and a dutch oven dome! We are guessing that the pic actually won Snapshot of the Week, and that this is our prize. The only bad part of this whole deal (yes, there is a bad part) is that Brian entered the photo under his name and I took the picture!! The nerve! He totally stole my thunder. So, if you happen to watch the show that night and they say "Brian Smiley", just know that I took the picture and I am the real winner.

And that concludes my smorgasbord. Thanks for reading!