Summer Lovin'

Last night's free Smash Mouth concert was so fun! They played for over two hours, and there was a huge fireworks show at the end. Kids had a blast, danced their little booties off. My favorite part: the five song encore with lots of old school Van Halen...pretty rockin'. I'd say we definitely got our money's worth.

It has come to my attention that I complain a lot. No apologies, that's just the way I roll. However...today I'm going to shake things up a bit and take note of all the things I LIKE about summer.

• fresh tomatoes from the garden
• no early morning get-ready-for-school rush
• grilling
  
• sun tea
• camping
• trips to the lake
• thunder storms
  
• long days
• Big Brother
  
• cold beer never tastes so good

Off to the skate park, where I will likely get sunstroke. Evan and Hannah are all in the mood to skate/bike the halfpipe after watching the XGames on ESPN this morning.

Garden Love

We've got a truckload of tomatoes here.

Everyone agrees that fresh is best, so much tastier than store-bought vegies. Even Hannah (Miss Picky) has been eating those little grape tomatoes.

It's so much fun watching everything grow. Evan has been such a big help with the garden, watering every day for me and picking the ripe stuff.

I made this last week. Haven't done any scrapping lately, I miss it. Need that creative outlet!

Rib Pics

Mmmmm, they were delicious. Our faves: Rasta Joe's, Maui Wowie, and Bone Daddy's.


Cheers! Nice double chin, I know...that's what all you can eat/drink will do to ya. Did I mention I almost fell asleep at the table and don't even want to smell barbecue sauce for about a year?

What can I say, I love this shirt.

We have a date tonight, at the pool hall. Classy, no? It's playoff time for Shane's team...go Murphs!

Sunday

*Survived five circles of hell yesterday helping Hannah clean her room. It was bad. I lost my temper. She cried. Not a good scene. From now on, she will be cleaning up every day and since everything has it's place now it shouldn't ever get that bad again, right? Right?

*Keeping an eye on the hurricane - it's so sad, and so scary. I can't even imagine living like that. We have earthquakes and wildfires here, I think I'll stick with that. Seriously, between that accident the other day, politics, and storms - I'm a leeetle bit stressed out.

*Update - we have been invited to join one of Shane's teammates at his private table at the Rib Cook-off tomorrow. This means all we can eat AND drink all afternoon. Wooo-hooo! Note to self: do not wear white. And instead of Night Ranger (no thanks) we will be jamming to The Mark Sexton Band. Sweet! Check 'em out:

Mmmm, Ribs

So this weekend is the 20th annual Best In The West Rib Cookoff here in Sparks. I can tell you it smells amazing driving by. It is pretty cool to be able to sample the best ribs from across the country, while listening to live music and maybe enjoying a cold one. And the grilled corn on the cob - YUM. The problem is that it is so crowded, and everything is super expensive. I don't think we'll be going this year, mostly because the headlining band is Night Ranger. Last year we got to see Loverboy. That was bitchin'! It went a little something like this: