Gators and 'dillos and snakes . . . Oh My!!

You know when you pull in to the state park campground and see a sign like this, you are in the south and it's going to be an adventure!! We were setting up our tents when our friends little boy said, "Mama! Snake!" Sure enough, we look in the tree (a magnolia, of course!) and there is a snake shimmying up. Our friend Tom, then proceeds to tell us that there are a lot of snakes in the area. Information that should have been divulged BEFORE the trip! (I was telling a lady from our CoOp we saw some snakes and she said they were really bad this year. Yay!) After getting set up we went on a "hike" and saw an armadillo scamper across the trail. Although we never saw a gator, we heard a baby calling for it's mother. Yes, we impressed our friends with our knowledge of baby gator sounds. 

A lot of the trees had been blown down by Ike so there were stumps all over for the boys to climb on . . . 

The next day (Grace's birthday) we got up early and after eating a breakfast of champions, I mean campers, made by my honey, we set out to canoe on the lake. 

It was SO pretty but my camera had died (does anybody see a theme here?) so I only had my phone and didn't get many or even great pictures. I had to row plus, I was comforting and consoling Grace during 75-80% of the ride. Every time there was any movement no matter how small in the canoe she would cry. She also kept asking if everything was an alligator. When we got out though she said "That was SO fun!"

The highlight of camping for me is always the S'mores. I absolutely love them. The highlight for the kids was the hammock that I teased Jon about bringing because he has been known to bring so much stuff that never gets used. I was eating my words on this trip. At least one person was in it the entire time. This one is Grace talking to Emily and Garrett while eating.

Collin practically lived in it. He took his meals there, read there . . . .

Got harrassed there . . . 

We can't wait to go again before the Houston summer sets in.

Gracie Loo, Suzie Q, Scooby Doo We love YOU!!

Our little (wait, she told me she isn't little, so I said big Gracie and she said "I'm not big! I'm medium!"), I mean medium Grace turned 7 on Saturday. We went camping on Friday so before we left she helped me make her birthday Chocolate Divine. 

While we were camping she kept saying that it was her best birthday ever. It makes me happy that it doesn't take much to make kids happy sometimes!

Grace had decided that she wanted to take a friend with all of us and go out to dinner at Taste of Texas since she had heard so much about it from Collin. I loved that idea! She invited her friend Emma who met us at the restaurant. 

When dinner was over they let her pick out any dessert she wanted. She definitely is my daughter because she chose the white/dark chocolate mousse. They brought it out with a sparkler which she did NOT like and wouldn't go near it till the sparkler went out!

We had a great time and Grace said it was the BEST birthday she's ever had. I am so glad. 

Presidential Fitness Challenge

I remember when I attended Art City Elementary in Springville, I Dreaded, with a capital D, the Presidential Fitness Challenge every year. I must have blocked it out of my memory because really the only thing I remember is them trying to get me up to do the flexed arm hang. Trying being the key word here. It all just seemed so impossible that why even try? Why ask me to run a mile? It might as well have been 10 miles!  The only thing I ever got from that was the "participation" paper that was the consolation "you are so not up to par". Whew! I thought those days were over for good. 

Enter our Homeschool Co-Op. I was a PE assistant this "semester" and when they said it was time to start training for the PFC they asked how many adults were going to participate this year. I guess there is an adult challenge that you can do and get the Blue, Red, or White patch for. I didn't even really think about doing it because of my elementary years, but most of the other moms had done it before and wore their shirts proudly. I was intrigued. I looked at the requirements and thought that I could probably handle the sit-ups (54, but they're "modified" for us old fogies), the push-ups (women get to do them on their knees, so 27 isn't bad) and the mile walk in 13 min. I was starting to feel even excited. This might be do-able!! Until I saw that we have to do the sit-and-reach. 19 in. I have NO flexibility whatsoever, so this was daunting. When we first did it I don't even remember what I got (15 in.?) but was far enough away from 19 to think "it might as well be 30 in.!!" (I also might have said it too!) After much soul searching I decided that this would be a good challenge. If I can learn to Scuba dive with my fear of water, I can do this after all, so I started "training" and stretching.

Yesterday was the big day. We did our push-ups, our sit-ups and then, the sit-and-reach. I got 18.5. Half an inch away from Blue. Collin and I ran the mile together - the highlight of the day because he WANTED to run with me and told me while doing it that he loved running with me. Now that my legs were warmed up, I tried that darn sit-and-reach again and TA DA!! Got 19 cm. What a great day!

I should start my training for next year tomorrow!! Next year I am shooting for 20 in. OR even 21! 

Another Fav

(No, I didn't take this picture!)

I absolutely, dearly love chocolate mousse. You can do so much with it and add different flavorings and accompaniments to it. I have tried many recipes and this is the best, and so easy. 

3/4 c Semi sweet chocolate chips

2 Lg. eggs, separated

2 Tbsp. water

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1 c. whipping cream

2 Tbsp. powdered sugar (or reg. sugar)

1 tsp. vanilla

Melt chips in a double boiler (or glass bowl over bowling water). Stir yolks and water in small bowl and set aside. When chocolate is melted, stir in yolk mixture. Continue to cook for one min. Set aside. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff and stir into warm choc. mixture. Let cool. Beat cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff (this is important!). Fold into choc. mixture. Refrigerate for 2 hour or overnight. 

Our favorite way to eat this is to layer it with fresh berries OR Lingonberry preserves (the lingonberry jam is also really good with white chocolate mousse - just use white instead of semi sweet choc.).  We also like to use peppermint extract instead of vanilla (only use 1/2 tsp.) around Christmas. One of our favorite desserts is Chocolate Divine (Collin asks for it every birthday) that we first had at the Pizza Factory (anyone remember when they had that on their menu?). For that, double the mousse recipe, break up angel food cake into bite size pieces in a spring form pan, half the mousse, another layer of cake, the rest of the mousse and chill. Serve with caramel sauce and toasted sliced almonds.  

Sisters Trip '09

My sisters and I have never ALL lived in one place at the same time since we started getting married. Two years ago my youngest sister, Ems, had a business trip to NYC and we all decided to tag along. This was in January. NYC in January. Needless to say, it was COLD! We had such a great time and hoofed it all over the city for good food, cup cakes and sites (about the only way we stayed warm!). My oldest sister, Sarah was pregnant at the time but still kept up with us! We decided to make this a yearly tradition (we love traditions in our fam). 

The next "trip" was actually to visit my younger sister, Laura during her 77 (!) day hospital stay while pregnant with her first baby in Pasadena, CA. Although she couldn't leave her bed, we brought cup cakes and food to her and had a party in the room. 

This year we all needed some warmth and sun so we headed to Pheonix, AZ.  This time Ems had just had surgery on her foot and come down with a nasty virus but she kept up with us too! I guess that wasn't hard since we sat by the pool the whole time except for going across the street for food. 

I can't wait for next year!! I love you guys! 

(Although, after reading through this . . . it seems like next year sounds like my lucky year to have some health issue!)

Instructions I can follow!

The other day Collin woke up with a red egg sized bump on his back. I was sure it was a bite, but I thought, "this will be the time I think it's no big deal and it will turn out to be Leukemia or something", so I called good ol' Dr. Jung. Collin couldn't even sit back against the seat on the way! I was very relieved that when he saw Collins back even HE was impressed with the size! He said he wasn't worried since it didn't look infected but left and came back with a marker. . . You know how they say, "if it gets redder or bigger, come back"? I don't know about you, but I get home and worry, does it look bigger? redder? How do I tell? WELL, Dr. Jung pulls up Collins shirt, uncorks his marker and outlines the bite. Then he draws a dotted line around it and says, "If the redness gets out to the dotted line, come back." !!! THIS is why we love Dr. Jung (OK, one of many!)! No need to wonder, no need to measure or fret. Just check if it's going out of the solid line! He even marked the time for us. . . although that part I'm not sure why . . . 

I wish you could see how swollen it really is! UnbeLIEVable!!

P.S. It never did get bigger and was gone it about 2 days!

Finger Lickin' Yummy

                                           

I could just write the recipe for this, but you KNOW I have a story to tell about it. :) Last night we had the missionaries over. I was going to fix fish since I knew they wouldn't appreciate a veg meal. I had a nagging feeling that it wasn't going to go over well, so we called to see if that would be ok. In the background one of them said, "I DON'T LIKE FISH". That's ok. I want them to eat what they like, and hey, when they came to dinner we found out the same guy had never had Italian dressing for salad. Never? He has a long mission ahead of him! I found a recipe for a rotisserie style roast chicken that got rave reviews so I decided to do that. Even though I almost threw up "dressing" it, it smelled so good and looked JUST like the picture that I tried it and it was soooooo good! Anyway, I always like a good new recipe so I thought I'd share. This recipe makes 2 chickens, but you can halve it too. 

4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 heaping tsp. garlic powder

2 onions quartered

2 (4 pound) whole chickens

In a small bowl, mix all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken (and cavity) and pat dry with paper towel. Rub with Olive Oil. Rub inside and out with spice mixture. Place one onion into the cavity of each chicken. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight or at least 4-6 hours. (SHA! I read this recipe about 7 hours before we were eating, so my birds got no such treatment.)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place chickens in roasting pan. (I added about a cup of broth to the bottom). Bake uncovered for 5 hours or till the temp. reaches 180. The drippings from this made a marvelous, delicious, tasty gravy.  

UPDATE!! I made this for the second pair of missionaries in our ward and added the zest of one lemon to the rub and substituted a lemon for one of the onions for inside the bird. SO GOOD!

NOT heavily dependent on electronic devices . . .

This week was our "spring break". We have had some unseasonably warm weather and I was looking forward to getting out and exploring some new places. Our plans got washed out by 45 degree weather and the first good rain (4 days and counting) we've had all year. In Collin's Art class at Co-Op one of his friends showed him how to make animals out of pipe cleaners and he's been begging for some ever since. I figured this would be a good time to get some. Because of the weather I wanted to light a fire and watch movies, but the kids were perfectly content making a plethora of animals. They didn't even ask to watch a movie! 

Number of Pipe Cleaners in the Jumbo size bag: 350

Number of animals made to date: Too many to count 

Size of mess 2 kids have made ALL over house: Ginormous

Number of kids it LOOKS like made the ginormous mess all over the house: 17 or 18

Hours of fun: Endless

Parents joy of such inexpensive entertainment: Priceless

(these were made in the first hour)

P.S. In reference to the title, I went to a Ward Welfare meeting right after Ike. One of the men there was irATE because the youth activities had been cancelled for a couple of weeks and his boys were home lighting bon fires in the street etc. He said that they were bored and didn't know what to do without electricity because, and I quote, "they were heavily dependent on electronic devices." This is now one of our favorite phrases. 

Stand Back!! He's MINE!!

Oh yeah . . . Disco King!

Totally RAD!!

(In case you couldn't tell, Jon is the one on the right in the middle with his 'board)

That is one HOT hubby I got!!

Texas Pride

We've had a very Texan couple of weeks. For our homeschool group, Collin and I went on a field trip to a local restaurant, Taste of Texas for some Texas history. The owner is a huge Texas history buff so after leading us through the restaurant she sat us down and told us a very lively version of Texas gaining her independence from the evil Santa Ana. The restaurant is also basically a small museum too. It was very interesting 

Collin entertaining the ladies and hanging with the homies. They served us some lunch after the Texas history. 

I had to get a picture of this while filling up my tank. The good ol' Texas Lotto. 

We have our homeschool Co-Op on Fridays. This Friday the group of riders riding the Spanish Trail stopped to have lunch at a parking lot right by where we meet on their way to open the Houston Rodeo. We decided to skip class and go see the horses etc. This is Grace telling the man all about how she loves horses (news to me) and how she wants her very own. 

This is Precious, with her owner wearing a Texas Flag shirt. About half the riders were wearing them. 

The kids were getting little rides on some of the horses and this guys says to me, "We need to see some adults on these horses!"and tells me to get on. Out of the 3 pictures Collin took of me, this is the best. Can you even tell I'm on a horse? :) Later I asked what her name was . . . Jenny! It was fate! 

Our favorite part though was this cowboy who had the best named horse there . . . Homer Jones.  The kids want to get a horse and name it EITHER Homer Jones or Grace.