Quick Trip to the Pines

With the summer almost gone, we had to take a desperation trip to the Pines (my parent's mountain property in WY).  I have been needing to go up there all summer, but hadn't had the chance.  Nathan has started playing football, and practices EVERY night for 2 hours Monday-Friday, and will have games on Saturdays.  This was the last weekend before games start, when our lives will be officially over.  We picked up Nathan from football Friday night, and headed straight for the Pines.  My sister Terri met us up there.  Terri is Sarah's favorite person.  If you ask her what she did over the weekend, she tells you that she went to the Pines with aunt Terri. It was quick trip, so we had to pack in as many things as we could.  Warning: I took a lot of pictures!

The kids had heard about their uncle Jim waking his kids up at 3 a.m. and laying on the trampoline to watch the meteor shower. My kids wanted to see it too, so they talked Terri into getting them up to see it.  I rolled my hinney out of bed and joined them.  It was fun.  There isn't much that compares with looking up at the night sky in the mountains.  There were so many stars, you could hardly tell the constellations.  We saw a couple of dozen "shooting stars." and my kids absolutely loved it.

Rob surprised Nathan by bringing up three bb guns and setting up a shooting range.  Nathan was in heaven. 

 Sarah had her first shooting experience, and thought it was pretty cool.

 We loved shooting up the targets we made.

 Matthew was a riot- as usual!

 It took two fingers for Matthew to pull the trigger.  He didn't even look at the target, he just concentrated on pulling that darn trigger.

 Sarah had a bad case of the grumpies because she thought that people weren't shooting at her target enough. SIGH

 Still grumpy...

 I ended up not being too bad of a shot.

 Terri even joined in the fun.

 The kids loved to call "cease fire" and run to see where we hit on the targets.

 We brought up bikes for the kids, and that was a new adventure for them.  However, I don't think we'll take them mountain biking any time soon.

 Abby most of all just loved digging in t he dirt.  Like her sister, she would love to pour a bucket of dirt over her head.

 Sarah was proud of the "garden" she planted.

 Next it was off to the lake- Meek's Cabin Reservoir.  They thought it would be like playing in Pineview Res., but soon discovered that it was way cold!

 We love taking our inflatable kayaks out on the lake.  It was a perfect day for being at the lake.  Here's Rob Matthew and Sarah.

 Me and Nathan.  It's so incredibly beautiful up there!  Off in the distance is King's Peak.

 Sarah, of course, was thrilled to go out with Terri.

 Abby was less than thrilled to wear the life jacket. 

 Being up there was just what my soul needed. 

 Sarah was determined to show me the turtle float she's been learning in swimming lessons.  She braved the cold and did it not once, but twice!!!  She thought I would do it too- silly girl.

I think that Terri is now Abby's favorite person too.  I don't blame them, I can't compete with her coolness!  We love Terri, and we love that she will join us on our adventures.

We finished off the trip with several games of UNO, a yummy dinner and smores, and made it home around 11 p.m.  WHEW!  What a whirlwind trip.  Though it was a lot of work getting packed up, for such a short trip (and will take several days to unpack and recover from the mountains of laundry) it was well worth it.  My soul was rejuvenated by the beauty and just hanging out with my family.

A Week of Unsusal Messes

This week seemed to have an unsually large amount of unusual messes.  Some of them featured this devious young man right here.  It's a good thing he is so cute.

My first mess, however, was all me.  I was pulling a tub of butter off the top shelf in the fridge, when I bumped a tupperware container full of spaghetti sauce.  It came crashing to the floor at my feet, knocking the lid off, splatting spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen.  Worst of all, it completely covered my (fairly) new, white running shoes.  Oh what a mess!!!  I was so mad- especially about the shoes.  Luckily I had already done my running for the day, or I would have just given up on it.  Have you ever cleaned tomato sauce out of something like mesh-covered  white shoes?!  It's not easy.  I pain-stakinly cleaned every bit of my shoes with an old toothbrush and Soft Scrub gel with bleach (great stuff!).  Rob was amazed at how clean I got them.

The next mess featured my dear, sweet Abby.  She had a major blowout as we drove to my brother's house for a 4th of July BBQ.  Poop was everywhere!  I'll spare you the details; let's just say it was totally disgusting.  I cleaned her up outside, then took her in for a bath.  She peed on my sister-in-law's bath rug as I filled up the tub.  (sigh)  So... not such an usual mess (though we hadn't had one like this for a long time), just the sheer magnitude of the mess made it memorable.  Thanks Toni for the use of your washer, and sorry about the rug and using half of your wipes.

I should know to check on Matthew more often, especially when he's supposed to be taking a nap, but isn't.  He found a bottle of lotion, and discovered that the pump on the top is really fun to push.  I discovered several piles of lotion on his carpet that he had sneakily covered up with blankets.  It was my good Eucerin lotion too!  Sheesh!  I really have time to clean up all these extra messes.

The one tonight was a real doozie!  It kind of put me over the edge.  I'm not proud of my behavior.  Can I blame it on PMS?!  I didn't hurt anyone, I just went on a tirade of rants about kids not helping, not listening etc.  You see... I started up my grill to cook burgers for dinner.  I know I should have checked inside the grill first, but I didn't.  When I lifted the lid to put the burgers on, I found my plastic grill brush melted in my grill!  AAAAUUUUUGGGHH!!!  My adorable little Matthew pulled the brush off the hook on the grill and brought it into the house the other day.  I told him to take it back outside.  I didn't know he had put it IN the grill!  What a mess!  I wasn't even sure how to go about cleaning it up.  I used my spatula to scrape what I could off while it was hot.  This is what's left of the grill brush.

Nasty!  I hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of clean up!  I'm just glad it didn't ruin my grill!  Yes, MY grill.  Rob got it for me for Mother's Day several years ago, and I love it, and use it all the time (and am a bit protective of it).  By the time I got it all cleaned up, the toxic fumes burned off, and had dinner ready, I had HAD IT!  Watch out, I'm on the war path, and it would be best not to cross me.  Matthew didn't get that unspoken memo, and pushed a few too many of my buttons.  Rob had him spend the rest of the night in his room (with no lotion to entertain him!).

So how's that for ranting?!  I'm done.  This week fits in with some of my top mess memories.  I do love being a mother.  Is is wrong that occassionally want to check out for a little while?

They're HOME!!!

My parents came HOME from their mission to Guam on Tuesday!  Happy, happy day!  The kids all made cute signs, and we anxiously waited at the airport for them to come down the escalator.  (All the grandkids wore their Guam t-shirts Grandma and Grandpa sent them for Christmas.)

Here's the sign Linda and I worked on until the wee hours of the morn'. 

We all cheered as we watched them decend, then we all kind of froze for a second.  It was funny.  Matthew was the first to break out and run to hug Grandpa.  It was so cute!  I cheered, I laughed, I cried, and I'm sure I had a perma-grin on my face the entire time.

We have been counting down the time for them to come home for months and weeks.  They look great!  A friend my ward saw us as we left the airport.  She said my mom was just beaming, and my dad was helping herd grandkids.  We just love them so much, and are so happy they are home.  Best of all was Abby getting to meet her Grandma and Grandpa.  She wasn't shy at all.  She warmed right up to them, and will walk over to Grandpa, climb on his lap and give him hugs and kisses, and pat him on the back.  She loves her Grandma too.  I think talking to them on Skype helped a lot, but my parents are just the type that everyone immediately loves. 

They are two of the greatest people I know!  We are so proud of them for serving the Lord so diligently.  I know it's a big sacrifice for them, fiancially, as well as sacrificing time with their grandkids and being away from the farm.  I know that we've been blessed because of their service.  They are great examples to me and my kids.  We missed them something terrible, but are overjoyed with their return. 

Cute little Sarah and Ashley helping with the luggage.

Now that they're home, it just feels right- normal... like they've always been there.  We've seen them every day since, and have loved it!  Within 30 minutes of getting home, my dad was dressed in his work clothes, and ready to go to the farm.  No one has the work ethic of my parents- no one!  My Dad is almost 72, and we still can't keep up with him.

 Rob was at the High Adventure Scout Camp at Zions, so he missed out on the homecoming.  However, my sister Linda and her kids stayed with us all week, and that was great! We had such a great time, and stayed up way too late.  This is Sarah, not long after they left.   I think that describes how we all feel.  

WELCOME HOME GRANDPA AND GRANDPA!!!  We love you!

Sarah's Clogging Performance

Sarah's clogging class did the cutest performance.  It was such a fun night.  Rob had the boys at a father and son campout, leaving us girls to have a girl's night out.  We started out the evening with her darling clogging performance, complete with yummy treats.  We picked up a movie and chinese food on the way home, and had a great time together.

Sarah's the anxious one in the back that's ahead of all the other girls.

Sarah with her cute cousin Ashley. 

Sarah and her friend Emma.

Sarah and Ashley having fun after pictures.  Sarah has loved being in clogging with her cousin and  friends!

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.