Delicious!

Yesterday we made and ate cookies and even put some on plates to deliver this evening. I made cookie press cookies, Lauren made Chocolate Avalanches (marshmallow creme sandwiched between chocolate cookies), and Sara made Patricia's sugar cookies (recipe from my Aunt's mother-in-law, Patricia). My aunt used to make them for my brothers and sisters and I when I us growing up. We would spend the night at my Aunt Vickie and Uncle John's house on the night before Christmas eve. We'd have dinner, yummy cookies, hot chocolate, open gifts from them and watch TV or movies. It's a great memory. Thanks Aunt Vickie and Uncle John!!!

And thank you Lauren and Sara for making cookies with me!

How many more?

I had been planning on getting a lovely family picture for our Christmas cards (not unlike I do every year). In October I started thinking seriously and saying, "I'm going to make an appointment for family pictures, so if anyone needs a haircut, tell me now." Well, the weeks went by, no appointment was made and at the end of November I thought we could just set up the camera with the timer and take our own. That didn't happen either. So on Dallin's birthday when the kids got home from school I told them we were heading across the street to the park for pictures. David was in Kansas, so if I were going to get the cards in the mail with a picture it would have to be just kids, no parents. They were really good sports and we took some crazy pictures. It had been a good 15 minutes before anyone said, "How many more?".

PS - I knew I was making the photos B&W so we didn't worry about what colors they were wearing!

Happy Belated Birthday Dallin!

OK, OK. It's late. Dallin turned 16 on the 16th. Dallin, I just want to let you know how glad I am to be your Mom. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Happy Birthday! Top picture was taken on 12/16/09. I forced him to let me take a picture of him on his birthday before school. Bottom picture was taken 2/26/00. Six years old, on a hike with Dad.

Why is that OK?

Why is it OK for women and girls to say things like, "Men are so stupid" or "Leave it to a man to do something so idiotic"? I have a real issue with this. We are all created after our Heavenly Father, who happens to be male. None of us are perfect and we all do and say stupid things sometimes. It is not only men, nor are men as a group stupid or idiotic. What a disrepectful thing to say about any group of people. How is that not different than saying an ethnic group or a religious group is "stupid" or "idiotic". I just don't get it. Do women want their sons growing up thinking that because they are male they are stupid? Do these women realize that without men, they could not live up to their potential? We need them and they need us. We are on the same team, not rival teams. It's interesting to me that the same women who use these terms would be livid if a man said something so demeaning about a woman. Just something to think about.

I want my guys to know that I think they are smart and have a lot of good about them. They're fun, too. I love my guys!

Conference Sunday

Yesterday and today we were able to listen to our prophet Thomas S. Monson and some of the apostles speak to us. The talks were amazing. It's so nice to be able to get these inspired messages twice a year. I'm looking forward to getting the Ensign (a church magazine) with the talks published so I can read them. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a very powerful talk on The Book of Mormon in the Sunday afternoon session.
It's been a nice relaxing day. The kids and I just sat on the couch, watched conference, played a game, made bread and hung out. David is in Utah visiting family. He's actually there for his older brother's wedding reception. He's been able to watch conference with his family. I'm missing him, but glad he is with his mom and dad and brothers and sisters.
Hmmmm, I've been laying around so much today I haven't even thought about dinner. Guess it's time to go check the cupboards. I hear the kids eating something crunchy...it's probably not dinner fare.

I'll be updating later today.

I love this picture.

Mountain Bike Nationals - Granby, Colorado

We drove to Granby, CO for mountain bike nationals. We left Tuesday, 7/14. Drove to Mesquite, NV where we stopped at about 2:30 am. I have to tell you that of the total 2000 mile trip, David drove all but about 60 miles. He was awesome! Anyway, we parked in an LDS church parking lot and slept until about 6:30 am. Drove on to Grand Junction, CO. We stayed in a nice little RV park there. Sara and I went swimming, David went running and Dallin went for a bike ride. We got up Thursday morning and drove until we got to Granby (about noon-ish). We stopped at a grocery store and then headed up to our camp spot. I'm thinking we will have a "camp site". I hadn't considered that we were going to be parked at a ski resort. No camp sites. Just a semi-flat area up on a mountain side where you could look for a spot to park your RV or pitch your tent. We did find a good spot...looking over the side of the hill. Beautiful! Dallin rode the course. Altitude was a bit different than what we are used to. We live at about 100 feet above sea level. Where we were was 8400 feet above sea level. The course climbed to about 9200. Yikes! Dallin said he couldn't recover very well and the hard breathing was making his throat hurt. Granted, we did know that this would be an issue before we came. I was completely winded climbing the hill to our camp spot. While Dallin rode the course we meet up with David's parents, who had driven from Logan. It was so nice to see them! We went into downtown Granby and looked at some little shops. Then David drove back to get Dallin and we went out to dinner (pasta for Dallin!). That night Sara went to Grandpa and Grandma's hotel. It was at a natural sulpher hot springs in the area. The next morning we all got together for some hot pools. That afternoon (Friday) we were back for the race. Dallin did well. Fourth place! The start was horrible...basically straight up a hill. But when you are riding at a ski resort, at least some of the ride is going to be a steep climb! I was impressed watching the riders go up that hill! We just kind of hung out waiting for the riders to start coming back in. Dallin came back after one hour and 12 minutes (I think). he looked good and felt good. No crashes or flats for him - that's always nice! We left that night. David drove until almost 4 am. Thank you skittles and diet coke. We stopped at a rest stop and slept (well everyone but David had been sleeping). Saturday we drove until Las Vegas. Stayed at a hotel there. Went swimming, watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, ate at a buffet. Drove home the next day. Whew! David didn't have to work until Wednesday, so it was nice for him to have Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday to relax.

Cove Fort

On our way to mountain bike nationals we stopped at Cove Fort at the junction of the 15 and the 70 in Utah. It was very interesting. We all really liked the tour. It's a fort that Brigham young asked Ira Hinckley to set up for people traveling through. There were rooms for the family to live in and a few rooms that were rented out to travelers. One of the things the guides show you is a game called hoop that the children (and probably some adults!) played. It's an iron ring that you guide with a stick and get it rolling. If you're really good at it you run along with it and keep it going. If you get a chance to stop and visit, I'd highly recommend it. It's very educational and will make you reconsider what you may deem as needs/wants and what it means to be self-reliant.

Wonderful summer day.

Sara and I spent several hours today on Balboa Island. The weather is beautiful, the sky is blue, the water is sparkling. So, so nice. We walked around the bay looking at the adorable houses and sailboats. We (mostly she) played in the water. We stood in line to take the ferry to the fun zone, but one of the ferries broke down and it was taking waaay too long to fix it. We're going to go back for that next week. We ate at a very tiny, but super yummy mexican place called Picante Martin's. We bought salt water taffy (and some malted milk chocolate balls for David) at Balboa Candy. Then we came home and took a nap. Sara is still sleeping. Tonight David, Sara and I are going to see William Shakespeare's As You Like It performed in a lovely outdoor theater. This is a wonderful summer day.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to afford to have this built right on the bay?
I love seeing these houses so clean and lined up. Perfect.

I really want to see inside this one. But I don't have $3000/week to rent it or a couple of million to buy it.

Sara liked this one. It looks like Snow White's cottage.

Salt water taffy, baby!

Miss her.

Lauren flew to Oregon to visit her best friend in the whole world on Tuesday. She'll be gone for a couple of weeks. I miss her already.

Feelin' crafty

I've had a blank wall staring me in the face and today I saw something in a magazine that I thought would be perfect. I love how it turned out. It was fun to make and easy, too. It's pretty much a copy of what was in the magazine (except for the colors/name). I can't remember the name of the magazine and I'm too lazy to get up and get it. It was from last summer, though. It was some kind of home craft magazine. The frame and mat I've had for a while and right before we moved I spray painted the fram glossy black. The mat was a dark grey and I painted it with Kaiser Craft paints (again, too lazy to go look at the color name). I don't have a large circle punch, so I just traced a circle with a cup on the back of the paper and cut it out. I've got some plans for wall decor in the loft. I'm hoping to get to it tomorrow.

First day of summer vacation

My summer is off to a good start. The girls and I are going to do a little running program this summer. We started off today with 20 minutes (run 2 minutes, walk 2 minutes). Easy-peasy. We all have 20 minutes to spare! Our plan is to do this for 2 weeks and then up the time to a total of 25 minutes. We will also increase our run time: maybe run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes). Hopefully, by the end of the summer we will be run/walking for about 40 minutes, 3x/week. I should have started this months ago so I'd be ready for swimsuit season. Oh well.
After our run, I had oatmeal and a plum for breakfast. I think I'm going to ride my bike to the grocery store in a little bit to pick up some things for lunch/dinner.
I'd like to get some scrapbooking done today. I also want to spend a little time poolside. However, before I do either of those things, I need to move the dog crate and vaccum, wash his bedding and scrub the carpet where he threw up in the corner of his crate yesterday. Yep! That's gonna be fun. Luckily dog barf is not nearly as gross as human barf. I must be a mom because I'm going straight from "gotta clean the vomit spot" to "what should we have for lunch?".
I'm thinking chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and Lauren wants pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. I might have to switch the chicken salad with something else so we aren't having so many sandwiches today.
I promised to post the recipe for Holy Cow Cake, so here it is:

Holy Cow Cake:

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1/2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces caramel ice cream topping
3 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee, chopped
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed


Bake cake according to package directions for a 9x13 inch pan; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake, making sure not to go through to the bottom.
In a saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping, stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour the warm topping mixture over the top of the warm cake, letting it sink into the slits; then sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars liberally across the entire cake while still warm. (Hint: I crush my candy bars into small chunks as opposed to crumbs - I like to have pieces I can chew on!)
Let cake cool completely, then top with whipped topping. Decorate the top of the cake with some more chocolate toffee bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate and serve right from the pan!
This cake is absolutely delicious!

The chinese chicken salad is actually a kit from Costco. All you add is the lettuce (I like green leaf). It comes with crunchy wonton pieces, chow mein noodles, yummy chicken, dressing, almonds. You get enough to make two salads and I think it's about $8 (that's $4/salad). You could make it cheaper yourself, but I like having it ready to mix together. It's Sara's favorite salad.

The girls just cleaned up their room and Sara wants to show me, so I'm signing off. I hope you all are making some fun summer plans. And if they're cheap ones, do share!

Eleven

Sara's birthday was yesterday. It was also the last day of school for her and I. She requested sushi, chinese chicken salad and potstickers for dinner. We added plums to the mix, too. Then we had Holy Cow Cake (if I feel energetic tomorrow, I'll post the recipe). Yum! She opened presents (clothes, books, movie tickets and money from Aunt Natalie). Today we picked up a couple of her friends and went to a salon where they got their finger and toe nails painted. Then we went to the home of a very creative lady in our ward who fixed their hair. We came home to a house totally decorated by Lauren and her friend Courtney (who happens to be the sister of one of the girls Sara invited). They did a fabulous job! I'll try and post pictures tomorrow. The older girls have played games, given facials, served food and been wonderful hostesses. They even took the girls across the street to play at the park for a while.

Happy 11th birthday Sara!!!!

Some people just shouldn't say anything

I love this:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Mr-Harrison-isn-t-going-to-Washington-Steeler-?urn=nfl,163886!

As far as I'm concerned, it's hilarious.

You Choose

I've discovered some books that I just love. They are "You Choose" books, Capstone Press. There are something like 20 titles and I recently ordered them all for our school library. They include the real history of the event, including names of people who actually participated. You read a few pages and then are asked to make a decision (ie: If you want to be a wealthy passenger turn to page___, if you want to be a 3rd class passenger turn to page___, if you want to be a crew member turn to page___). I've read a few of them aloud to 4th and 5th grade classes and when it's time to make a choice we do a vote. The kids absolutely LOVE it! They have been checking out the You Choose books and other books about the historical events we've read about. They are a great tool to get kids interested in history. We've read them aloud as a family, too. They're so fun! If you're interested, you can get paperback copies on Amazon for $6.95.

no more matchy-matchy

I've got a problem. No seriously. I find these pictures in magazines and online of stuff that I love (home decorating, entertaining, etc.) but I have a hard time transferring those ideas into real stuff for our home. I love bright colors: red, turquoise, yellow, orange, apple green. I love it when people use these kinds of colors in their decorating. I want to use them, too. Here's my problem: somehow I've trained my brain to think everything needs to match. I hate that! I'm not going to do that any more. I'm going to decorate with stuff I love whether it matches or not. I'm not kidding. I'm going to do it. Sorry David...there will be more changes. The poor guy has to put up with me decorating and re-decorating because I struggle with getting it right. I think if I just use things I (and the rest of the family) like, I won't always feel like I need to change things. I know, I know. In the big scheme of things this decorating business doesn't matter at all. But it's something I've been trying to figure out. At least figure out why I'm always unsatisfied with my results. After 16 years of decorating a home I think I've final figured it out. :) Do what you like people. Don't subscribe to "rules" when it comes to artistic things.

enjoying Sunday

I had a nice day today. The sun was shining and it was warm. We went to church. Everything about it was good. It's so nice to be able to return each Sunday and feel the spirit and learn something new. We came home and had sandwiches for lunch, took naps, played Boggle, watched Glory Road (I know, it's not really a perfect Sunday movie, but it's due back at the library tomorrow). Then we had french toast for dinner and a couple of hours later, peach cobbler. Yum!

Tomorrow is back to work, but I'm looking forward to it because I was able to catch up on some stuff last week and I've got my lesson plans done for the rest of the year.

Sara and I went and saw Earth on Wednesday. It was really good. I highly recommend it. The filming is amazing!

Happy Easter

Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This is thought to be the actual tomb where Christ's body was laid.
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.

I'm so grateful for the gift of the Atonement and that we, through Christ, have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again.

more photos

Sara and Jenna doing art.

Dallin, Randy and Corey playing "a racing game". I think it was a big hit with Corey and Randy! Notice Dallin's "runner's tan" around his ankles!

David, Lauren and Sara at a Beckman High School track meet. It was unusually cloudy and cold...probably around 63*. Gosh, I love these guys!

Ok, so yesterday went by really fast and I didn't post again. But here I am a day later and posting! Yea!
Our family rode bikes to a farmer's market this morning. We rode for a little over 2 hours. So nice to have everyone together on a beautiful sunny day. We brought pb and j, chips, carrots, drinks and cookies. At the market we bought pita bread, tzatziki, artichoke hummus, apples, oranges and snow peas. We sat on the grass and had a yummy lunch. Of course, I forgot the camera. The kids were glad to hear that I'd left it sitting on the counter.
David got back from Kansas last night. He went for work. PacSun has a distribution center in Olathe and he goes just about once a month, usually for 3 days.
I'm behind (as usual) on Easter stuff. It's Saturday afternoon and I still don't have any food for tomorrow's dinner. I hope someone still has a ham left for me. Here's the menu I'm thinking we will have: ham, rolls, green beans (hopefully fresh...I forgot to pick them up at the farmer's market), mashed potatoes, gravy and sweet potato casserole. These are some random pictures of things we've been up to lately. Lauren experimenting with hair accessories. I love the blue flower. Dallin rode his first century. Notice the 100.97 miles on his bike computer. It took him 6 hours and 15 minutes. Sara playing tennis. Dallin at the beginning of one of his mountain bike races. He's in the middle of the photo looking away from the camera and wearing a black and white Sho-Air kit. Sara making cupcakes. They were cute with frosting grass on top and chocolate eggs in the grass. Happy Easter everyone!

I can't believe I've let this thing go for so long. I'm sorry blog. I'll be better about giving you attention and updates. But, this one is short. The lady that does our taxes needs me to answer a few questions. I'll be back later today and I'll even upload some pictures.

Busy weekend

It's Saturday and I got up (without an alarm clock, thank you very much) at 6:38 am. I'm surrounded by empty cardboard boxes, packed boxes, shelves that are in the middle of being repainted and all of the other stuff we haven't picked up in days. It's a HUGE mess. So bad, that I told everyone if the doorbell rings, don't answer it. For those who haven't heard, we are moving next week. Less than 2 miles away. It's a cute little condo. So we've been trying to pack for the last few weeks, but now it's really game time. We get the keys at 3 pm on Monday. The Tour of California is going on right now and today our family is driving up to Pasadena to watch part of the bike race. We're leaving in a couple of hours, so I'd better get off of the couch and pack a box or two!

Hello Cupcake

Sara got a cupcake book(Hello Cupcake) and supplies for Christmas. Aren't these so cute? She's made a few different designs. She really likes baking. Lucky for us...and unlucky for our waistlines.

Pics from CHA

Some cute products and ideas. The little monster is adorable. If I had a little boy, I would plan a monster birthday party for him and make invitations, decorations, and treat bags. Somehow I don't think Dallin would appreciate the monsters for his 16th birthday as much as he would have for his 4th. :(