First Day of Dance Class

Maddie has been taking dance classes with the Virginia Tanner Creative Dance program since she was three. For two of the years we have driven up to the U of U, where the program is based. We love it there. One year we tried the satellite location in Sandy, which was fun too. Since Maddie is in first grade now, and going to class at the U means driving home during rush hour, I thought we'd try the satellite location in Ogden. The classes are held at the Eccles Community Art Center, and the campus is beautiful. I'm thrilled. I was hoping to post lots of pictures of Maddie dancing, because parents can watch the first class, but after sitting for only 30 seconds, Emily stood up and announced, "I dance" and headed off to join the class. When I told her no, she had to watch, she showed her strong displeasure by screaming loudly. So I have lots of pictures of Emily outside instead. The art center is an 1893 Victorian house with (gasp) a turret! I so want my own turret.

Lagoon On A School Night

Yesterday was the last day of Lagoon's regular summer hours, and the first day this month that Nicholas has not had football practice or a game, so we went. We met our cousins at the end of the evening, and Aunt Natalie brought cotton candy. Hooray!

Cute Words

This morning Emily woke up in a happy mood. I told her that later today we are going to Lagoon and she would be able to ride the cars, which are her favorite ride. I thought she'd be excited. She said, "No! Don't like it!" Oh yeah, I forgot that last time we were there, which was quite awhile ago, she tripped while she was getting on the cars, hit her head, and had to go to first aid to get some ice (the follow up to this part of the story is in the next post). Oh dear. But after a little while of playing, she said, "Ride cars, fun." Then patting her head she said, "Ow, ow, ow!" and laughed. I guess she's over it now.
Her new phrase this morning is, "Where are you, mom?" She's already been saying, "Where is daddy?" every morning.

Emily had to wear these too-small-for-her overalls today.

Football Forever

Nicholas played his second game last Saturday and did a great job. He is such a good quarterback and team player. Darren loves being an assistant coach on the team and spending so much time working with Nicholas. Once in a while Nicholas gets hurt, and puts ice on his injury. Emily thinks she needs to ice her injuries too, every time.

It's A Blast!

A couple of years ago we bought a rocket launcher for Nicholas' birthday party, and have had a lot of fun with it since. Last night we used it for our scout pack meeting. The kids decorate their rocket, add some fins (the fins determine how far it flies), shape their tip and then launch it. The paper rockets go very high. This is a great way to sneak in good ol' exercise too--they'll chase their rocket over and over for hours. The dads will make and chase their own rockets, too.

Bundt Bread

My friend Andrea, who is a great cook, gave me this recipe a few years ago and I have used it a ton. These rolls are delicious and incredibly easy. They look great too. I'm making some today for Darren to take to young men's tonight. They're having a bee keeper show them how honey is made or something like that. This is not good for my husband, of all people, who already thinks it would be great to have a couple of hives in the backyard. Three kids, one wild dog, and four chickens are plenty for me.

Bundt Bread

1 package yeast (or 2 teaspoons yeast)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm water (yes, again)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

3 cups flour

1/2 cup melted butter

Mix yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in small bowl and set aside. Mix 1/2 cup warm water, sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, salt and egg in large bowl. Dump flour on top, stir a couple of times, then pour yeast mixture over everything. Stir with a spoon well. (The mixture will be very sticky, do not knead.) Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate and let rise at least four hours, up to overnight. On floured board, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3 inch circles (I use the end of a glass). Pour 1/2 cup melted butter into bundt pan. Arrange dough in pan, dipping it in the butter as you go, and overlapping the circles around the pan. Cover with plastic and let rise one hour. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes, or until golden.

A Mission

I am still calming down from a minor panic attack. I went to let the chickens out of their coop tonight and noticed a gourd plant dying. I picked a gourd and two disgusting squash bugs were on the bottom of it. A minute later tons of squash bugs were moving around where I had disturbed the plant. Oh-I strongly dislike those bugs. We had them at our old house and had to stop growing zucchini because the bugs destroyed the plants every year. To make matters worse Maddie brought the phone out to me right after I had pulled the plant out of the ground and was standing in the middle of thousands and thousands of baby, middle size and adult squash bugs, watching them run away over the gravel, towards my beautiful pumpkins. My poor neighbor who was on the phone probably thinks I'm a nutcase now. Sorry, Lavina. I'm really not, except during those annual late summer rendezvous with the dreaded squash bugs. And sorry to my neighbors, too. I only freak out at my kids when they come walking through a mess of horrible insects. One good thing that came out of it was my neighbor's husband suggested the poison 'seven'. I doused the area with what was in the bag I found in our shed, and I will go to the store tonight to buy more. These bugs have a horrible hard shell, but maybe.....Anyway, no one I talk to seems to have heard of squash bugs. I'm telling you-they're there. Here is a picture of their eggs. I refuse to put a picture of the actual bug because everyone would gag and never check this site again. But if we all work together--squish the eggs, squish the bugs, and if you have thousands (move your squash plant around, they're hiding) try using seven. Oooh-enough of this, I'm starting to feel itchy.

Dance and Football

Last weekend was busy for Madison and Nicholas. Maddie and her cousin Hanna each spent the week learning a dance from a local high school's drill team and then performed their dances at the half time of the football game on Friday. They both loved it and did a great job. Maddie even had her picture in the newspaper again; if you'd like to see it click on the following link. There is a small picture under story photos--click enlarge image and she is in the second row wearing a pink shirt and a denim skort.
http://www.standard.net/live/News/111443/

Maddie and Emily getting a sticker from the teacher.

Maddie and Hanna

This picture is a little dark--Maddie is there in the front though.

Maddie and Hanna after the performance. Maddie is six and Hanna is four. We like living close to her!

Then on Friday, after weeks and weeks and weeks (okay, maybe not that many weeks but it sure seems like it) of practice Nicholas had his first football game. He is the quarterback, and he did an excellent job! It was exciting to watch his game, though he did get knocked over a lot during the first half. The offensive line was a little nervous about actually blocking anyone for real, but finally got the hang of it during the second half.

His team running onto the field.

Nicholas and Coach

Nicholas is #14.

Nicholas playing quarterback.

Maddie and Hanna watched the game--a little bit.

A Good Time of Year for Zucchini Bread

We have been enjoying our garden and trying to find different ways to cook all the zucchini. The kids really love this zucchini bread. (Well, not Emily, she won't even taste it--if she did I know she'd like it.) But the fact that Madison will eat it is proof that it's really good. So here's the recipe (I combined three different recipes--try it, you'll like it).

Zucchini Bread

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar (you could put in 1 3/4 cups, I like it better with less)

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups grated zucchini

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs, oil, sugar, water and vanilla in mixer. Beat 1 minute. Add flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. Beat 1 minute. Stir in zucchini. Divide batter between two regular buttered and floured loaf pans. Bake 50-55 minutes.

If making mini loaves--divide between 5 pans and bake about 40 minutes.

And They Said...

Jordan and Natasha are having a baby! I discovered the news by looking at their blog. Yesterday they posted a picture of the positive pregnancy test. Everyone here is very excited. When I told Emily the news she lifted her juice box in the air and said, "Jordan and Tasha baby? Doooooooo...fun!"

When I told Maddie I had some news about Jordan and Natasha she said, "Are they having a baby? Yay!"
Nicholas said, "Is it a boy or a girl?"
Maddie said, "I wish it was a girl."
Nicholas said, "No! It's a boy!"
This is going to be a long wait for them.

Here are two more pictures from Fish Lake:

This was the first fish of the trip.

Emily loved being on the boat. She even tried fishing.

And lastly--Maddie reading a story to Emily before bed. Emily always wants to sleep with Maddie and I usually have to pry her out of the bed, so it's always fun followed by sobbing.

Fish Lake

We went camping at Fish Lake last weekend. I love going there. It's a beautiful natural lake. The weather was wonderful; I think this is the first time we've gone that it hasn't rained--a good thing when you're sleeping in a tent. We had fun spending time with Darren's family and fishing from Grandpa's boat. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins.

Nicholas estimates that each person caught between 5 and 7 trout each time they went out.

Do you think I got wet?

Emily saw Dad and Grandpa pull up in the truck.

Alyssa, Hanna, Mikayla, Madison and Kyler

Aspenn was so cute taking her baths in the cooler. The water was warm-- I checked.

Darren took this picture.

Maddie led the walk on her stick horse.

Huck Finn Day

Yesterday we (meaning me, Maddie and Emily--Nicholas and Darren stayed home to go to the ever important football practice) drove to Lindon to attend the annual Huck Finn Day. For this event, someone (my dad) orders a bunch of very large trout and then someone (my mom) waits at the park for them to be delivered. Next, someone (I really don't know who) dams up the water and puts an orange barricade around the stream. Finally, bunches and bunches of kids come and fish. And yes, it really is as fun as it sounds.

Madison is watching the fish and patiently waiting for the fishing to start.

Maddie really wanted to catch a big one.

Emily and Grandpa

Emily and Grandma

Okay, I had a good comment here about Jordan (what he was wearing among other things) but then I realized he might put something about me on his blog that probably wouldn't be too complimentary. So Jordan--notice I'm taking the high road here and all I have to say is:

Emily with her uncle and aunt.

Maddie didn't catch a fish, but she definitely tried!