laugh out loud funny

I love this BYU parody of this Old Spice commercial. Hilarious.

picture overload

On a Sunday afternoon in the park...






Want to see more? Okay. Twist my arm.

I am such a lucky mom.

12 on 12 | july

[click to enlarge]

1. I woke Emma up at 6:20 and took her to swim team. Anne and Sawyer were up before seven. An early start to a long day.
2. Nathan and Slade slept outside in a swingset fort. Pretty fun to get to slide out of bed.
3. I came home from getting my hair cut to this scene: Anne with her hair all askew holding her babies and a big mess of crackers and crumbs all over the table.
4. My Monday jobs: dust and vacuum main level, mop kitchen, wash backdoor windows, and such. I have really loved having this card system for the last month or so.
5. Nathan, Sawyer and Anne were all sick today. They stayed in pajamas and watched lots of TV.
6. I've discovered the joys of listening to audiobooks on my iPod while I get my housework done. It makes me feel doubly productive.
7. New clocks hung up in the entry. A bunch of our folk dance friends are coming over on Wednesday night. Of course, I'm frantically trying to figure out how to lose 30 pounds and get all my house projects done before then. :)
8. Dave playing Tetris on his phone. He got a smart phone recently and we both are in love with it. Technology is so great.
9. We had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner. It doesn't look all that tasty in the picture but this meatloaf recipe is awesome. I found it on allrecipes.com which is my favorite go-to site for recipes.
Brown Sugar Meatloaf
10. Dave taught our lesson in Family Home Evening tonight.
11. Nathan and Slade wrestled all the way through FHE. It seems that the kids don't get anything out of FHE. However, I'm thankful that we've made it a routine part of our family life. I'll just have to have faith that they're getting more than it seems.
12. We finished the evening with a movie (Nathan's choice) and popsicles for a treat.

happy fourth

What's not to love about the Fourth of July? Patriotism, food, family, fireworks. It is truly one of the best holidays around.

We started our celebrations on Saturday with a BBQ at Keri's. The food was plentiful and deliciously satisfying. The conversation was plentiful. The kids were happy. The fireworks were only just short of dangerous.

On Sunday, we spent the evening at Katie's house with the other side of the family. More food. More cousins to play with. More fireworks. Good times all around. I made this layered Jello and a flag cake. Both were quite visually delightful and though time-consuming not terribly difficult to make.




My children promised me to indulge me in a bit of picture taking. One good picture and one funny was all I asked. It took quite a lot of cajoling to get Slade out there but we managed to get everyone in the shot. It is still rather hard for me, but I'm learning to just let go of the expectations for composition, lighting, posing, or expression and just take what I can get. With this imperfect photo, I'll tuck away memories of the day. I'll remember going to play the piano for Sacrament meeting at the retirement home down the street. What a privilege it was to hear the testimonies shared by those who have lived a lifetime in the service of God and country. I'll remember how happy I was to sing and play patriotic music in Primary for Singing Time. We listened to The 1812 Overture and The Stars and Stripes Forever along with singing the traditional patriotic songs. How often can I get away with something like that? Because of this picture, I won't forget that Anne wore the same outfit that she wore last year. I certainly shouldn't forget Emma getting completely upset about the fire started on the mountain above Katie's house by some idiots shooting off illegal fireworks. She was in tears even though we were perfectly safe. Apparently she is terrified of fire. Who knew?

Happy Birthday, America! We are so blessed to live here!

the wonderful wizard of oz

Emma participated in a week-long voice camp this week. She wasn't excited about it at first but ended up having a great experience. They put together a short show combining songs from The Wizard of Oz and Wicked.


She performed well. When she decided to smile and really turn on the showmanship, she really lit up the stage. With her dress, hair and makeup, she looked so much older. I got glimpses of her as a teenager. Yikes. I'm not ready for that!

no girls allowed

Nathan was invited to be in a "skills group" this summer with five other neighborhood six year olds. Last week, they made Gak/Goop/Slime and that lovely concoction brought hours of enjoyment to all three of my boys all week. This week was our turn to host. I decided to do some of our favorite experiments. These are standard repertoire around here but they never fail to delight.

We watched the wonderful science of soap with color changing milk.

Pour milk in a plate (the fattier the better). Put a few drop of food coloring into the milk. Dip a Q-tip into liquid dish soap and then into the milk. Enjoy all the beautiful color. It is better to just dip the Q-tip on the surface of the milk and be careful not to swirl.

Then we went to the fabulous go-to: dry ice.

Drop pieces of dry ice into a glass of warm water. Then when you tire of that, drop pieces of dry ice into a glass of warm water with a few drops of liquid dish soap.

Finally we made ice cream in a bag. The boys got a little carried away in the shaking and some bags leaked. Still I think everyone got a bit to enjoy. Anne certainly did.


Ice Cream in a Bag
In a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag, mix:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. sugar
Seal the bag tight. You could tape it for good measure.

Fill a gallon-sized Ziploc bag about halfway full of ice. Then add 1/2 cup of coarse salt (ice cream salt or kosher salt work best). Stick the smaller bag down into the larger one. Shake the bag for about five minutes or until the cream gets firm (about soft-serve consistency). Pull out the small bag, wipe off with a wet washcloth, open and enjoy.

weekend wrap-up

Emma and Slade participated in their first official swim meet on Saturday. It was my turn to go watch (and take pictures).


This weekend was the Family Festival in our little city. In our fourth summer here, we decided to actually purchase tickets to participate in the festivities. We went swimming last Saturday, ate dinner at the park on Friday, watched a parade and went to the carnival on Saturday. The best part of the festival is the fireworks though. Although we could sit on our front lawn and watch them, we drive over to the golf course and get a front row seat. I don't love everything about living in Utah but I seriously do love my neighborhood!


Sadly, Anne was sick all weekend. She had a fever and just wanted to be held. Of course, she always wants to be held but it is far less annoying when she is sick. I stayed home with her while Dave took the kids over to the park.

The one good thing about her being sick is that she slept a lot. During nap time, I made fondant for the first time to cover a cake. I made lots of mistakes and learned a lot. Now I am really excited to try it again. Cake anyone?


Dave and I also celebrated our 12th anniversary on Saturday. Our celebrating consisted of sitting together on the couch. I held Anne and Dave played with his new smart phone. It was very special. :) I am such a lucky girl to be married to this guy. Seriously. He is amazing.


I made that orange electric guitar cake to celebrate my very best little brother's 25th birthday. He is all grown up and can even rent his own car now! He was gracious about his guitar not having any strings (I never could figure out how to add them) and we all enjoyed a nice evening together with them and Keri's family. Happy Birthday, Francis!

wasatch back

Dave ran another Ragnar Relay. This time it was the Wasatch Back right here in our beautiful mountains. This race is 188 miles, starting in Logan and finishing in Park City. He ran with his dad, all his siblings and a brother in law.

I can't tell you much about his experience. I probably should have him do that. I can only tell you about my Wasatch Back weekend. Because their parents were running, I hosted four nieces and one nephew on Friday night. They came over about 7:30 and everyone played hard the rest of the night. They were all tucked snugly into bed by 9:30 but as you might expect they didn't fall asleep until after 11:30. The next morning, 8 out of 10 children were awake by 6:45. I was not happy about that.

We survived the day though. Actually, they all played really well together. There was hardly any fighting until the end of the day. I even got to leave for a few hours in the afternoon to go the Parade of Homes with my friend. The hardest part was cooking for and cleaning up after that many little people.

Dave came home about 6:30 all scruffy and sweaty. He was however walking normally which was in stark contrast to his near total immobility after the Las Vegas Ragnar. We even went swimming that night. AND he already signed up for next year's race. AND he has said more than once that he really wants to go running. I think its awesome. Just as long as he doesn't ask me to come along.