Our parakeets, Snuffleball and Puffball.
Our cute bunny, Raindrop.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thanksgiving Point
Last month Grandma took the kids to the barnyard at Thanksgiving Point.
We saw goats.
They rode horses.
We took a wagon ride.
And Nicholas climbed a tree. We also had a great lunch. Thanks, Grandma!
We saw goats.
They rode horses.
We took a wagon ride.
And Nicholas climbed a tree. We also had a great lunch. Thanks, Grandma!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Ouch!
Summer Stuff
The kids and I have had a very fun summer together. I can't believe they started school two days ago. It's way too soon.
They played with friends practically every day, ate around 500 otter pops (well, I might have eaten 100 or so), they watched movies in our new theater, took a few "field trips" and went swimming several times.
Maddie before stitches.
They played with friends practically every day, ate around 500 otter pops (well, I might have eaten 100 or so), they watched movies in our new theater, took a few "field trips" and went swimming several times.
Maddie before stitches.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Emily and Her Nap
For nap time today, Emily laid on the floor, put her upside down doll's playpen over her, and went to sleep. Comfy.
The Fourth of July--Finally
Jordan called to ask why I had not posted the pictures from the 4th of July. Here's why:
1. It seemed appropriate to wait until two days before the 24th of July, because, you know, it's another fireworks holiday, and
2. It seemed like a lot of work to download my pictures to the computer.
But they're downloaded, and there's a ton, so lucky you, there will be a post today, and some more new posts for the next few days. Be sure to check back.
We spent much of the night of the 3rd entertaining ourselves with Dad's case of sparklers. We warmed up with circles.
Then moved on to hearts.
And the finale, "We love the 4th of July". Do you see it? (This took a ton of practice, so say 'ooooohhhh!')
On the 4th we went to the parade in Provo. It was soooo much fun. I love it. I don't know why everyone else moans about it. They secretly love it, I'm sure. Here's Jordan, above. Apparently he has an issue with my always commenting about his look. So he's trying on a new one. Doesn't work, does it?
He looks better here. Stick with the usual, Jordan, I always say.
Nicholas raked in the water bottles that were thrown from floats during the parade. My dad suggested he undercut the local kids $1.oo bottled water sales by selling his for 99 cents. Good idea.
The Stadium of Fire fireworks. Yay! They were excellent this year.
1. It seemed appropriate to wait until two days before the 24th of July, because, you know, it's another fireworks holiday, and
2. It seemed like a lot of work to download my pictures to the computer.
But they're downloaded, and there's a ton, so lucky you, there will be a post today, and some more new posts for the next few days. Be sure to check back.
We spent much of the night of the 3rd entertaining ourselves with Dad's case of sparklers. We warmed up with circles.
Then moved on to hearts.
And the finale, "We love the 4th of July". Do you see it? (This took a ton of practice, so say 'ooooohhhh!')
On the 4th we went to the parade in Provo. It was soooo much fun. I love it. I don't know why everyone else moans about it. They secretly love it, I'm sure. Here's Jordan, above. Apparently he has an issue with my always commenting about his look. So he's trying on a new one. Doesn't work, does it?
He looks better here. Stick with the usual, Jordan, I always say.
Nicholas raked in the water bottles that were thrown from floats during the parade. My dad suggested he undercut the local kids $1.oo bottled water sales by selling his for 99 cents. Good idea.
The Stadium of Fire fireworks. Yay! They were excellent this year.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Oh, this made me laugh today.
I haven't read this book, or anything, by Meg Cabot, but I've seen The Princess Diaries, so that sort of counts.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy Fourth of July!!!
This may be my favorite holiday. There's not much preparation and there's something to do all day long--and you can do it outside!
Getting to the point of this post, I usually encourage my kids to speak positively about people and events, but for once I could not. This is what they had to say about the fireworks at Jensen Nature Park:
Nicholas: They're too far away.
Maddie: Where's the music? They need music.
Nicholas: At the Stadium of Fire the fireworks are right over your head!
Maddie: They're not very loud.
Nicholas: I bet kids who have never been to the Stadium of Fire think this is pretty cool.
Maddie: I can't wait to go to the Stadium of Fire.
I can't wait either!!!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A New Golfer Has Entered the Picture
Nicholas has a new favorite sport--right now he likes it even more than football.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Strawberry Days Rodeo
I love to do the same things over and over. One of them is to go to the Strawberry Days rodeo in Pleasant Grove. The pictures in this post will show the large amounts of fun we had. Maybe people were acting so silly because we knew the next day, we were heading down to Manti. I don't know, it's just a theory.
Actually, these pictures show how hard it is for me to get a decent picture of my family. I do not especially enjoy snapping the same photo over and over.
Emily and Maddie are the ones being good here, but of course the picture was ruined due to the lack of cooperation of some other people.
Emily and Maddie still being super sweet, while others are not.
Better, but a smile would be good here.
And finally, when the older ones figure out how to act, Emily and Maddie are done.
Mom and Dad are fairly easy to photo, there was only one this time in which Mom closed her eyes.
This is what we were all there to watch, along with a few horses and bulls. Yay!
Actually, these pictures show how hard it is for me to get a decent picture of my family. I do not especially enjoy snapping the same photo over and over.
Emily and Maddie are the ones being good here, but of course the picture was ruined due to the lack of cooperation of some other people.
Emily and Maddie still being super sweet, while others are not.
Better, but a smile would be good here.
And finally, when the older ones figure out how to act, Emily and Maddie are done.
Mom and Dad are fairly easy to photo, there was only one this time in which Mom closed her eyes.
This is what we were all there to watch, along with a few horses and bulls. Yay!
The Mormon Miracle Pageant
You can always tell it's going to be a good day when a balloon lands in the backyard.
Grandma ran Maddie and Emily (Nicholas was asleep) up to see it. They gave Maddie a very short ride. This is it below:
Later that day, we headed down to Manti to see the pageant. Darren had never been before.
We stayed in an 1850's restored pioneer home. It had squeaky, steep, skinny stairs and had many intriguing features; for example, Maddie discovered she could wash her hands and go to the bathroom at the same time!
Here is Jordan, Dad and Emily in the parlor.
This picture is to show that Jordan really does look like that all the time.
The view while we ate ice cream.
See? Same look for Jordan. James is in his protective gear (there were a lot of mosquitoes).
Right before the pageant started. We had a great weekend.
Grandma ran Maddie and Emily (Nicholas was asleep) up to see it. They gave Maddie a very short ride. This is it below:
Later that day, we headed down to Manti to see the pageant. Darren had never been before.
We stayed in an 1850's restored pioneer home. It had squeaky, steep, skinny stairs and had many intriguing features; for example, Maddie discovered she could wash her hands and go to the bathroom at the same time!
Here is Jordan, Dad and Emily in the parlor.
This picture is to show that Jordan really does look like that all the time.
The view while we ate ice cream.
See? Same look for Jordan. James is in his protective gear (there were a lot of mosquitoes).
Right before the pageant started. We had a great weekend.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Ice Cream, Please!
I went to Sur La Table to buy a healthy egg cooker, but came home with this ice cream maker instead. No buyer's remorse here. This has been wonderfully fun; the kids ask for ice cream every day. (We don't actually have it every day, they just ask for it.) Here are the best recipes we've made so far (I'm not including the chocolate gelato because it was too rich for even Maddie; I didn't know such a thing was possible).
Blueberry Sorbet:
(This was the easiest and our favorite so far!)
4 cups frozen blueberries
1 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Puree all ingredients in a blender. Freeze in ice cream maker immediately.
Fresh Lime Sorbet:
(Maddie said she would remember how this tasted in heaven, she loved it so much.)
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lime juice (about 14 limes)
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer without stirring about 5 minutes. Cool completely. This is called simple syrup. Add lime juice and chill completely.
Freeze in ice cream maker.
Mango Sorbet
2 pounds frozen mango, thawed
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup milk (I added this to get it to blend; tasted great; optional)
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
pinch of salt
Blend in blender. Chill thoroughly. Freeze in ice cream maker.
Blackberry Frozen Yogurt:
16 ounces fresh blackberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 cups vanilla yogurt
Place blackberries, sugar and lime juice in a bowl. Stir and let stand 2 hours. Blend in a blender. Strain the mixture to remove seeds; discard seeds. Combine the blackberry puree with yogurt; stir. Freeze in ice cream maker.
Orange Creamsicle Sherbet:
1 1/2 cups frozen orange juice concentrate
3 tablespoons sugar
3 cups whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Blend in a blender until smooth. Freeze in ice cream maker.
Brown Cow Slushy:
2 cups milk
2 cans Jones root beer
1/4 cup sugar.
Stir milk and sugar together. Add chilled root beer. Freeze in ice cream maker 12 -20 minutes.
Where's the vanilla ice cream? Coming soon...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Advice For Writers
I really want to read something by Mary Oliver, but all the Davis County library system has is A Poetry Handbook, which I finished reading Monday. Though the book did not have any of her own poetry in it, she did have some of the best advice for writers that I have found yet. Here it is:
"If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet--one or the other lagging, or afraid, or busy elsewhere--there would have been no romance, no passion, none of the drama for which we remember and celebrate them. Writing a poem is not so different--it is a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind. They make appointments with each other, and keep them, and something begins to happen. Or, they make appointments with each other but are casual and often fail to keep them: count on it, nothing happens.
The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem--the heat of a star as opposed to the shape of a star, let us say--exists in a mysterious, unmapped zone: not unconscious, not subconscious, but cautious. It learns quickly what sort of courtship it is going to be. Say you promise to be at your desk in the evenings, from seven to nine. It waits, it watches. If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself--soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all.
Why should it? It can wait. It can stay silent a lifetime. Who knows anyway what it is, that wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live? But we do know this: if it is going to enter into a passionate relationship and speak what is in its own portion of your mind, the other responsible and purposeful part of you had better be a Romeo. It doesn't matter if risk is somewhere close by--risk is always hovering somewhere. But it won't involve itself with anything less than a perfect seriousness.
For the would-be writer, this is the first and most essential thing to understand. It comes before everything, even technique."
"If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet--one or the other lagging, or afraid, or busy elsewhere--there would have been no romance, no passion, none of the drama for which we remember and celebrate them. Writing a poem is not so different--it is a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind. They make appointments with each other, and keep them, and something begins to happen. Or, they make appointments with each other but are casual and often fail to keep them: count on it, nothing happens.
The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem--the heat of a star as opposed to the shape of a star, let us say--exists in a mysterious, unmapped zone: not unconscious, not subconscious, but cautious. It learns quickly what sort of courtship it is going to be. Say you promise to be at your desk in the evenings, from seven to nine. It waits, it watches. If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself--soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all.
Why should it? It can wait. It can stay silent a lifetime. Who knows anyway what it is, that wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live? But we do know this: if it is going to enter into a passionate relationship and speak what is in its own portion of your mind, the other responsible and purposeful part of you had better be a Romeo. It doesn't matter if risk is somewhere close by--risk is always hovering somewhere. But it won't involve itself with anything less than a perfect seriousness.
For the would-be writer, this is the first and most essential thing to understand. It comes before everything, even technique."
Monday, June 16, 2008
Happy Father's Day
Yesterday we went to my parent's house for a Father's Day dinner.
We bought Darren a pair of golf shoes. I didn't know Darren plays golf might be what you are thinking right now. And three weeks ago, you would have been right. I have always been so proud of my husband for not playing that expensive and time consuming sport. Besides, football, basketball, and all of Nicholas' sports are PLENTY. However, Darren has given into peer pressure from his work buddies and, now, he is a golfer. Oh well. He deserves some sort of reward for his five months + of hard work on the almost finished basement. (A basement that includes a playroom and theater that we all LOVE!) We love you Darren!
Here is Emily opening the shirt we gave my dad. Jordan also got Dad a shirt for Father's Day. Too bad it had a BYU logo on it. I mean, no one in this family goes to BYU anymore, right? A Stadium of Fire T-shirt would have been better, I think. Or a Texas A&M shirt. :)
My mom brought up from my grandma's house all of my grandpa's fishing lures to divide between us. Darren and Nicholas have long been waiting for this happy day.
We bought Darren a pair of golf shoes. I didn't know Darren plays golf might be what you are thinking right now. And three weeks ago, you would have been right. I have always been so proud of my husband for not playing that expensive and time consuming sport. Besides, football, basketball, and all of Nicholas' sports are PLENTY. However, Darren has given into peer pressure from his work buddies and, now, he is a golfer. Oh well. He deserves some sort of reward for his five months + of hard work on the almost finished basement. (A basement that includes a playroom and theater that we all LOVE!) We love you Darren!
Here is Emily opening the shirt we gave my dad. Jordan also got Dad a shirt for Father's Day. Too bad it had a BYU logo on it. I mean, no one in this family goes to BYU anymore, right? A Stadium of Fire T-shirt would have been better, I think. Or a Texas A&M shirt. :)
My mom brought up from my grandma's house all of my grandpa's fishing lures to divide between us. Darren and Nicholas have long been waiting for this happy day.
This picture was meant to be of Jordan and family, but ended up being a better picture of Grandma's backyard. I really need to figure out Photoshop sometime soon!
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