What's been going on?

I went through my digital camera, the video camera, and my new favorite recording device...my Blackberry, and I just didn't find anything too darn exciting. We are spending the last few days before school starts in the pool and we are loving it. When I'm not at work, or at the pool, we are here in the basement watching the Olympics.

Delaney decided to drop basketball and join the swim team this year. I think she has been more than inspired by Michael Phelps and Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin. She will stick with the ballroom dancing and join the swim team and we are capping the "activities" at two.

Cameron is all signed up for 1st grade flag football. When people ask him if he's excited about 1st grade, he says "I'm excited about football!" (You had to be in 1st grade to play flag football so this is a big year for him.) I think it only goes 6 weeks, and then he'll be on to basketball. And again...the 2 activities per year rule will apply.

Delaney has been watching the Food Network (thanks Grandma) and she's been inspired by the Challenge shows. This weekend the 23rd, she's entering her first cooking competition. She'll make the Nutty Carmel Cookie Tart we posted a few weeks ago. We saw it on the Pillsbury Bake-Off and have made it a couple times. It's not my favorite, but she can make it by herself, and that's important. The contest is actually the Idaho Falls Magazine Holiday Dish and Treat Cook Off. I am judging, but will know what her treat is and not score that one. She's pretty excited and we're excited for her. She COULD win $250 so keep your fingers crossed for her.

Then the State Fair gets underway beginning August 30. I thought I would make a pan of cornbread and give it a shot again. Idaho doesn't seem to like my cornbread, but I just keep trying. There are 2 other contests I thought maybe Delaney and I could enter together. There is a brownie contest (and I think those Hershey brownies we've been making for years could take the big ribbon) and there is a Peanut Butter cookie contest. These are separate from the fair entries - these are for CASH! LOL Again, I think we'll borrow the recipe from the woman who won the million dollar prize at the Pillsbury Bake-Off. She won a million bucks for making peanut butter cookies.

This last weekend we enjoyed a full day of fun at Taylor Crossing Summer Days. I can't believe it, but I didn't take a single picture! But I did manage to shoot this little bit of video of the children in a doughnut eating contest. They tied for 1st (I'm so proud) and won T-shirts, and a lunch certificate to the pizza joint up the street from us.

Then, later that night we went and saw Transformers on a huge inflatable screen FREE (and they even threw in the popcorn and soda) It was a fun weekend for sure.

We did a little school clothes shopping, and I'll get Delaney to try on some outfits and give you a virtual fashion show. I think she's most excited about her new book bag. It's not a backpack, but more like a denim attache. It's very grown up...which is important when you're in the 4th grade.

Cameron was extremely impatient with the school clothes shopping process. He was less than thrilled to be trying on SEVERAL pairs of pants. He kept insisting that he already HAS pants at home. LOL Boys are so different from girls. Delaney could have spent the whole day at Old Navy, trying on jeans, jeans, and more jeans!

Chris is in Wyoming...(again)...and we are hoping he'll be home on Wednesday. I will take off Monday the 25th, and stay home for the 1st day of school. Wayne used to fuss at me about it, but now he is resigned to it, and everyone knows that I stay home for the 1st day of school.

I had a little excitement over the past couple of weeks. I got offered a job in Anchorage, Alaska. I never really considered it, but had a 10 minute panic attack today, and was convinced we needed to pack it all up and head to the Last Frontier. Then I calmed down, and thought of all the good stuff happening right now in Idaho Falls, and I will call them tomorrow and say "Thanks, but no thanks." It was a very nice offer though and I will file all the compliments away in the part of my brain that hangs onto stuff like that.

Chris and I are excited about my almost 40% pay increase...I didn't get a raise, but for the 1st time in many years we won't have any daycare expenses. Both children will be in school from 9 - 3 and I am home by 3 every afternoon! We are going to keep hoarding most of the "raise" away, and pretend nothing has changed, but I bet we'll notice the difference pretty quickly. It's hard to believe that almost 40% of my paycheck went to daycare every month.

Well, that's it for the minutia. More pictures and videos soon...I promise.