1st Driving Lesson

I'm so far behind that I don't know where to start.  So I guess I'll start here.

When mowing lawn season arrived, Rob was happy to give Nathan his first driving lesson, and Nathan was more than excited to learn.  I think Rob is anxious to pass the lawn mowing responsibilities on to his son.  I just think these pictures are cute.  I can just imagine the questions Nathan is asking.

Unfortunately, Nathan can't reach the brake yet.  Darn!  Both guys were disappointed about that. A few inches, and our boy will be earning his keep. 

We've always mulched, but it's not working so well for us this year.  Pretty soon we're going to have to bale our clippings.  I guess it's time to get a bag attachment.  But then, what to do with the clippings.  An acre's worth of clippings is a lot!  My garden can only hold so much.  I guess we really need that cow we're planning to get someday!

Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars

First of all, I don't usually post recipes because I am the worst at following them.  I get it from my mom- she calls it the "Football Rules of cooking- unlimited substitutions."  My mom probably gets it from her mom.  I have recipes from my grandma that actually call for a glug of milk, or a glug of oil. I look at recipes more as suggestions or guidelines, then do my own thing.  Sometimes things turn out really good, and sometimes... not so good.  Rob likes the way I cook, so I guess that's good enough.  My kids don't want to eat half of what I cook anyway.  I discovered allrecipes.com and found that there are a lot of cooks out there like me.  It makes me laugh when I read the comments, and someone says they didn't like the recipe that much, and that they substituted rice vinegar for apple cider vinegar and left out the ginger or doubled all the spices...  BTW, I do follow baking and canning recipes.

Anyway, my sister-in-law made these yummy bars earlier this year, and passed the recipe along.  I made them for Sarah's clogging performance, and they were a big hit.  So Ashlee, here's the recipe!

2 cups of your favoirte chocolate chip cookie recipe (or 1 tube refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough)
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Divide cookie dough in half.  For crust, press half of the dough onto the bottom of a greased 8 X 8 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth.  Spread over crust.
Crumble remaining dough over top.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.  Refrigerate leftovers.

I normally would use low-fat cream cheese, but I had some regular that I'd gotten on a really good sale, and was waiting to use it when I wouldn't be the one eating it (mean aren't I?!).  I doubled the recipe, and cooked it in a 9 X 13 pan.  I got worried that  the cookie dough on top was getting too well done, so I took them out a little early.  I was in a hurry to get to the performance, and didn't have time to let them cool all the way.  The cream cheese in the center bars was runny, so I just took the bars on the edges.  I thought I'd totally botched the whole thing, but they turned out really good.  When I got home, the center bars had set up nicely when they cooled.  They were yummy, but oh, so naughty.  So I wouldn't eat them all, I put them on a plate and gave what was left to neighbors.  So try these, when you have lots of people to eat them!

Here's the recipe I like for Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 c butter flavored shortening (or 1/2 c shortening and 1/2 c butter)
3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 t salt
1 t soda
3 cups flour
1 bag chocolate chips

Cream together sugars, and shortening.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Add dry ingredients then chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

What to Do With Coconuts?!

I belong to a produce co-op called Bountiful Baskets.  You order a basket early in the week and pick it up on Saturday at the pickup location in your town (if you're lucky enough for them to come to your town).  It's half fruit and half veggies, and I love it.  Everything is so fresh and yummy.  The co-op changes things up every week, so you never know what you're going to get.  It's fun to watch the kids anticipate what we're going to get each time.  We loved the mangos and honeydews, the blueberries, the corn and the pineapple (ok, we love it all, but somethings aren't what I normally would buy in the store)! Every once in a while there's something that my kids have never tried before, and that makes it fun.  You can also order extras, like awesome 9-grain bread...  So, this last week... for $15 (+a $1.50 handling fee) I got: 3 lbs. of apples, 9 huge bananas, 10 tomatoes, 8 peaches, romaine lettuce, 2 cucumbers, 1 lb. baby carrots, 4 avacados, 4 oranges, 1 lb. strawberries, blackberries, 2 summer squash, and 2 COCONUTS!

The kids were so excited about the coconuts (I guess we got an extra one).  I drilled a hole in one and we drank the coconut water (is that what it's called?  It seems like coconut milk is from squeezing the meat.  Is that right? Anyone know?).  Anyway... we cracked it open and started eating the meat.  Only Nathan and I seem to like it, and it will take us a long time to eat all of one coconut (it takes forever to chew, but YUM!).  So what do I do with the other one?  Anyone have a good recipe to that uses fresh coconut?  I've thought about making a coconut bra (that maybe will fit when I'm done nursing), but other than that... Any ideas would be helpful, as I'm not one to let things go to waste.

Check out this link to see if Bountiful Baskets is available in your area.  I love it.

My Baby is 1!

A few weeks ago, my sweet baby Abby turned one!  She is our sunshine.  She makes us laugh every day.  We love this little girl, and wonder how we ever lived without her.

Here is her birthday cake.  Who knows if she'll ever get another one, since her birthday is the day after Matthew's (my birthday is one day after my sister's, and I don't remember ever getting a cake until she moved out).  I rolled out  starbursts to make the flowers.

We had a big group of my brothers and sisters and kids come for her party.  We called my parents in Guam on Skype, so we could all sing Happy Birthday with them via webcam.  I'm not sure what she thought of that.

She mostly just liked the ice cream.

Abby made me laugh when she started trying to eat her cake and ice cream straight from the plate.  What a silly girl.

Matthew always loves his ice cream, and we generally get a mess like this.  Ah, but look at that smile!!!

Abby loved having her cousins and aunts and uncles around.  I think she thrives on chaos!  Here she is playing cars with Porter.

Abby's favorite things are: food, her sister Sarah, toys that make noise, being outside, making animal noises and getting into things.  She empties my cupboards daily.  She loves to wander the house looking for things to get into. She empties my bathroom drawers, and throws everything in my bath tub.

I love this shot!

For her first few months, we thought that Abby was so mellow.  Now she's getting fiesty and stubborn (do we make them any other way?!)  She loves her brothers, and will deffinately give Matthew a run for it.  She doesn't let him push her around, or take her toys.  She is so fun and smilely.  We are lucky so have such a character in our family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!!!

Matthew is 3!

My Matthew just turned 3!  He has grown up so much in the last year.  He went from being the baby to being the big brother.  He makes me laugh and laugh, and want to curse, every day!  He is so funny and sweet, stubborn and infuriating, snuggly and independent.  Life is a roller coaster with that kid around.  People at church are always saying how cute he is, and how much they enjoy watching him at church.  He's a riot.

The day before his birthday was my brother Evan's graduation from BYU (sorry Evan, you don't get your own post- though you really deserve one.  I just don't have the time and energy.  If I don't post it now, it won't get done). Evan got his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and I am so proud of him.  He and Toni invited all the family down for a big celebration at Tepanyaki's.  I'd never eaten there, so it was a real treat!  Thanks Evan and Toni.  The kids really enjoyed it too.  We rarely go out to eat, especially with the kids.  Matt was facinated with the cooking show, but the food was too hot coming right off the grill, and he shyed away from it.  I found him on the floor eating Abby's stars.

I love his reaction to the flames.

Here's me and Evan.

After the dinner, we had Matthew's birthday cake.  I only had a short time to do the cake.  I'm not all that of a decorator anyway, but especially when I've got no time.  He was happy with it anyway.  He loves Buzz Lightyear (who doesn't?!).  He had a great time playing with his cousins and messing up Evan and Toni's place (SORRY!).

We got him a tricycle for his birthday.  He was a bit reserved at first, and we worried that he didn't like it that much, or wouldn't get into it.  But once he got it figured out...  He woke up the next morning and broke his routine.  Instead of first asking for food or a show, he asked to get dressed so he could go ride his bike.  He's really good on it now, and it's fun to watch.  He even gives Sarah rides on the back of it.

For his birthday, he wanted to go to the Dinosaur Park.  He wasn't even scared this time- mostly!

What's a trip to the Dinosaur Park without someone almost getting eaten?!

I usually don't have any pictures of me, but Rob did a lot of the picture taking this trip.  Though not flattering, here they are.  We mostly just played at the playground.  We had a great time!

Since we had his birthday cake the day before, he was more than content to just have an ice cream cone (especially knowing that we'd have Abby's birthday cake the next day).

We love this guy!  He's always so enthuiastic about life, that he makes our lives fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!

Visit to the Cemetery

A few weeks ago, we made our first visit to Grandpa's grave since the funeral.  He had been gone for a month, and we miss him a lot.  It's been a learning and growing experience for all of us.  It was a beautiful day.  We took flowers and a giant pin-wheel, and the kids thought that was really cool.  I think the pictures are cute, so I decided to write about it.

What a gorgeous place.  The view is spectacular!  Too bad it was hazy that day.

Sarah and Matthew had to provide their own wind to get the pin-wheel to go.

Abby loved the dirt and the pin-wheel.

We'll go down this weekend.  I hope the pin-wheel is still there (but I kind of doubt it).

What makes me laugh about the whole trip, is that Sarah and Matthew started rolling and doing cartwheels down the hill next to the grave.  I'd bet it made Grandpa smile!

Another Attempt at Pictures of the Kids

Taking a GOOD picture of all four of my kids seems impossible.  Here is my latest try.  They make me laugh, as the pictures show a lot about their personalities.

Nathan had to be the goofball, and Abby really wasn't liking wearing sandals. 

Matthew doesn't think this is fun at all.

Ah, this is the best is gets I guess.  They're cute anyway.  I adore these kids!

You can check out my last failed attempt at pictures here.