Random

We have been busy around here lately and thanks to Alan's new phone, we haven't missed out on the picture moments!  First, we finally got back Jacob's school pictures.  He was horrified by them and didn't want to get them at all.  But, everyone needs to have at least one picture of themselves where you knew they forgot they had school pictures that day!  He doesn't look bad, just in the throws of the middle years and a little tired!

 

Next we move on and it is Mother's Day.  This year was lovely I must say!  We had a great day out at the Garden Fair in West Jordan.  It was a free Mother's Day event designed to promote organic gardening and sustainable landscapes.  It was really fun.  The weather was wonderful and the kids had so much fun playing on the climbing wall.  Sarah and I attended a mini class on herbs and how to grow them and we enjoyed the musician that was playing too.  Alan got some great video of the bass player and percussionist jamming and we can't get it to download to the computer.  If I ever figure it out I'll post it.  

We celebrated Alan's birthday too-he turned 40- and because I was in charge we have no pictures of that.  The kids and I had a great time decorating the house for him.  We hung balloons everywhere and streamers.  Alan likes ice cream more than cake so I made some killer homemade chocolate ice cream.  I am putting the recipe on my other blog- www.expandingfrosting.blogspot.com .  Check it out!  

 

Here are the kids on the climbing wall.  They must have done it 20 times.  When they got to the top they could hit a buzzer that sounded like a siren.  It was a fun day.  We love little festivals.  There was a honey vendor there that had the most amazing local honey.  I got a corn kernel remover instead.  It is corn season and we still have kids with loose teeth.  Removing the kernels from the corn is essential. 

Daniel and Alan were supposed to go on a camp out Friday.  However, the weather was slightly unstable and Alan couldn't get off work in time to go.  So, the camp out was canceled and the scouts went fishing the next day instead.  

 

Daniel caught one fish but had no intentions of bringing home and possibly having to eat it.  So he gave it to his friend that was catching many fish with his fishing expert dad.  Daniel had to get the rhythm of fishing and apparently after putting on sunscreen, his hands were a bit greasy.  So the first cast into the lake he ended up throwing the entire pole into the water!   Alan said they couldn't stop laughing.  

He found some craw daddies too but they couldn't get them out of the water.  The boys will have their next adventure this coming weekend when they go on the father's and son's camp out.  It may rain so they could be in for more adventure than they really want.  

Jacob played in his last orchestra performance for the year.  They sound like they have improved so much this year.  He is officially in the intermediate orchestra next year and excited to not have to haul his cello to school anymore this school year.  When Alan came home from work on his birthday, Jacob met him at the door playing happy birthday on his cello.  It was fun!  

Wednesday, if the weather cooperates, we are planting a salsa garden out front.  I have cleared away the grass on either side of our driveway so that I can attempt to grow some things there.  Gardening has become very challenging for me here and I hope my efforts pay off.  One side is an herb garden and the other will be the salsa garden.  I have blueberries and of course the apple and plum trees.  We have strawberries and chives in the front planter and if I have my way, one of our huge sycamore trees will come down sometime this year. 

High School

Does anyone else get the onslaught of alumni crap from their high school like I get from mine?  There are always teasers that say, "look who has joined us now, don't you want to register too so you can get back in touch?"  My high school was the size of a community college.  I think their were close to 1000 students in my graduating class.  I attended school for the first period in the morning and then left to work the rest of the day.  I think I knew 5 people, I barely keep in touch with one of them.  High school was a long time ago for me and not the "best" years of my life.  Don't get me wrong, it was pleasant enough, but I knew much better experiences were on the horizon for me and really didn't feel the need to make it my only crop of memories to desperately cling to the rest of my life. 
I moved so much as a kid, you would either think we were running from the law or my dad was in the military.  I am happy to report he was in the military.  The experience of moving a lot as a child has helped me to enjoy where ever I am and whomever I am around.  There just isn't time to cling to things when they will be gone soon.  So I was always looking forward to the next location and the next group of friends I would make.  I married someone like me too so we are pretty good about just having people over and getting to know them.  Who doesn't love a BBQ or a free meal?  I love making the meal too so it all works out! 
Switching gears a bit, I made a spinach artichoke dip last night that was out of this world!  I love cooking from scratch.  It is so much better.  I marinated the hearts myself in a broth that consisted of a head of garlic, a lime cut up, fresh parsley, salt and peppercorns and then used the broth left over to cook some navy beans in for dinner.  They were yummy!   Food is awesome.  I love making food that in years past we would have paid for at a restaurant.  I don't even like restaurant food now.  It just tastes yucky!  There is nothing like cooking something from scratch, free of all of the nasty things that end up in our foods now days. 

Robert and Jenna Baby Blessing

 Robert and Jenna Carpenter invited us down to their ward on Sunday to be part of blessing their new little boy, Damon Robert Carpenter.  It was such a wonderful day!  They had a lunch at their house afterwards and the kids couldn't get enough of their cousins!  We all decided we really need to get together more often than we do.  Life gets busy and it gets hard but I think we are all making a better effort.
Sarah was pretty excited to get to hold the little guy.  He is not much bigger than her baby doll at home.  She did a great job holding him and didn't get tired of it at all.
Damon looks like I remember Robert looking as a baby!  And he has a little crop of curls just on the top of his head.  Babies are fun!  Especially when they are someone else's.

Arrow of Light

Daniel earned his Arrow of Light last week and participated in a fun ceremony at his last pack meeting.  He is officially a Boy Scout.  The Arrow of Light award is the Cub Scout version of the Eagle Award for Boy Scouts it is the only 1 of 2 awards you take with you on your uniform into Boy Scouts.  He also earned his Faith in God knot and he gets to wear that on his boy scout shirt too.  It is a pretty exciting time for a boy! 
Congratulations Daniel!

School Pictures

 

How cute are my huge kids?!  I know I say this all the time, but they really are growing up so fast.  These are their school pictures.  I haven't gotten Jacob's yet. Their lives with Alan and I are truly going by too fast for us. 

Daniel's Birthday!

Daniel turned 11 on Monday and we partied the entire weekend!  Friday night Alan and I stayed up late and decorated the kitchen with all things birthday.  We put up signs, balloons, streamers and more streamers.  It was so cute to see his face in the morning when he came down for breakfast!  He just looked at me with a big smile on his face and said, "Thanks Mom.".  It was priceless.

He wanted to go target shooting this year so he invited one friend and Alan took them to the shooting range in Bountiful.  He had a great time!  Once they returned we had a little party and he opened his presents.  He got a Nerf shotgun complete with Nerf shotgun shells.   Daniel wanted me to make cupcakes that were filled just like the Hostess cupcakes.  I made them, they weren't pretty and they were a pain to make.  But, they tasted yummy and we ate them all! 

 

He got a kite and some caps for his cap gun too.  Daniel is a little bit gun happy right now.  He wants Alan to take him hunting one day.  Sarah was so cute about his birthday.  She didn't have any money to buy him a present so she found some things in her room that she knew Daniel like to play with and gave him those as a present.  Kids are awesome! 

 

After we had the little party we went down to the Children's Museum in Salt Lake to hang out for a while.  We have never been there and Daniel was given a pass for the whole family to go so we took advantage of it.  Alan and I realized just how old our kids are when we saw all of the little kids running around.  Jacob said he felt like he was too old for that kind of stuff anymore but he had fun playing with the little kids anyway.  We all went to Costa Vida for a burrito after wards and then came home to crash.  

On Sunday I made chicken enchiladas-Daniel's favorite- and homemade tortillas.  Yesterday Alan and I checked Daniel out of school and took him out for a birthday lunch.  I am pretty sure Daniel had a great birthday and lots of attention!  It was a fun weekend and now he is 11!  

Wednesday he earns his Arrow of Light and becomes a Boy Scout officially.  I cannot believe how fast our kids are growing up.  Time flies!

We found the camera

I have quizzed the kids many times to figure out where the camera went after Easter. Each one of them has said they haven't seen it but I knew one of them was involved with its disappearance. Patience was my motto. Sure enough, after asking Jacob again today if he has seen the camera he replied, "isn't it in the cabinet under the TV where we keep it?" I reminded him we don't keep it there an asked him to retrieve it. He produced the camera and we are back in digital business.  Sarah won the Easter Bunny she is holding.  She was so excited to have it!

 I don't know if you can see all of the eggs in the field but there were thousands!  This park is right down the street from our house and the annual Easter Egg Hunt is put on by the city.  It is so fun!  It was freezing that morning.  The kids had fun.  Jacob decided sleeping in was funner than an Easter Egg Hunt.  He is officially too old anyway-not fair!
I can't get the pictures to line up with the descriptions so I'll just put it here.  We had to stand in line for conference very early Easter Sunday morning and it was cold out there!  Once inside we got some seats up in the balcony and the kids were a bit tired since we had to sit for about 4 hours total.  We got to hear some wonderful music and of course hear the speakers.  Sarah looks so cute in her new hair bow for Easter!  I think Daniel was the most excited to be there.  He couldn't wait to see the prophet.

Daniel and I went to the symphony together a few months ago.  We had to take a bus from Syracuse down to Salt Lake City.  It wasn't the funnest trip I have ever been on.  A bus full of 5th graders is a bit more than I wanted to deal with.  The symphony was great fun and we enjoyed hearing some familiar and fun songs.  I love that my kids still want me around and to go on trips and help in class still.  I love them!