Hubble Pictures

While we were in Idaho for our last visit, we went to the visitor's center at the Idaho Falls Temple to see some pictures taken from the Hubble telescope. I believe they launched the telescope in 1990, so 20 years ag0 and have gotten some amazing pictures and discoveries from it. The idea of taking pictures from space is to eliminate interference from the earth's atmosphere. I had the kids stand by their favorite picture, I should have labeled what they were a picture of. They were just fun to look at, you could actually see a lot of galaxies. (Note: I love Max just as much as my other children I just didn't get a pic. of him in front of a picture. Plus I was getting nervous because I wasn't sure I was suppose to be taking photos.)



Afterwards we got a quick family picture in front of the beautiful temple.

Camera Found

I really started losing hope. I e-mailed the camp site and they said all the Lost and Found items were taken by the leaders. So then I e-mailed the Camp director and the Young Women Stake Leader. It was kind of funny because they both said the other one had the lost and found so I forwarded their messages to them and they realized the Secretary had the Lost and Found. So even the Lost and Found was lost for a while. I also went to our ward's camp leader to look through the Lost and Found garage but it was not there. Then at 4:00 I got a phone call from the secretary saying she had a bag full of stuff with a digital camera. I rushed right over, YAY! It turns out I did not lose my camera in the bathroom but left a big white plastic bag somewhere on the trail between our camp site and down to the parking lot. It had in it my scriptures, Maddie's scriptures, Maddie's water bottle, flip flops, toilet paper, and my camera. I'm glad someone turned it in which I'll never know who it was but I thank them!!

Girls Camp

Let's just say I'm a wimp and am not a happy camper. I went to girls camp with our 30 Young women this week. It was a lot of fun!! But... I am so tired and sore. I got home and started crying because I felt so exhausted, I'm a little embarrassed. I took a shower then a power nap and am feeling a little better. I would love camping if I could shower everyday, if the bathroom were closer, and if it wasn't so cold and uncomfortable at night, is that asking too much? I loved how beautiful the mountains are and loved getting to know the girls better, they are pretty funny. I would post pictures but just realized I left my camera up there in the bathroom, ugh. I'm the worst at leaving my camera, phone, purse, etc. everywhere. If it's not attached to me then I'm going to leave it somewhere. I just e-mailed the camp, hopefully someone found it and turned it in to Lost and Found. It was a bunch of mormon girls so my chances of getting it back are pretty good. Hopefully I can blog with pictures again soon.

We had a fashion show that we had to make a dress out of things around camp. Maddie's dress is made out of a table cloth, mosquito netting and duct tape. Beautiful.
This picture was from our hike...it was a long hike and most of the time I was looking at my feet because it was steep down hill and had lots of gravel and pine cones to slip on.
Climbing wall, it helped to take off your shoes.
Zip line. It was a lot of fun!

The sound of music

Seth started piano lessons today. He is SO excited to start. He came home and practiced right away.

Maddie started Band Camp this week for Jr. High. She's decided to play the clarinet, which is what I played. She's squeaking quite a bit which gets to Jon. She almost chose the violin which I think would have been harder on the ears during the beginning stages. She also has a lot of enthusiasm and practices a lot. I let her quit piano so Seth could have her spot which she wanted to do. Makes me kind of sad, she was doing so well on the piano. But now she LOVES the clarinet.
Maddie and Seth playing Mary Had a Little Lamb together.

Cheese!

So, Tanner gets his braces off...again. He got them off last year and the orthodontist put a permanent retainer on the top (which I didn't know they had them for the top teeth) and he didn't anchor one tooth and it turned. Something like that. So then he put the braces back on for free for "three months." It ended up being exactly one year. Tanner was a good sport although toward the end he was really ready to be done. Now he has big, free, teeth, yes!

School's out!

The kids all did great this year. Maddie got "Outstanding student" in her class and wanted to pose with her plaque. Good job everyone! Now what are we going to do all summer....

SWIM!!! Okay, I guess the weather did get better. This is the opening of the pool for Memorial Day. We had a great day of swimming, food, and sun (we actually got a bit sunburned). Devin and Mary and Lincoln also came over.

Losing all hope for Spring-like weather

I can't believe it's almost June and it's snowing like crazy outside. Maddie was suppose to have a BBQ/swim party for soccer today. Every day is very unpredictable.

Tanner and Maddie's last soccer game

Even though the weather hasn't been good for soccer season, the games have been so fun to go to. I'm always a little sad when it's over...and happy. Maddie's team, the Tree Huggers, had a great season. Their coach is so positive, he's really helped Maddie like soccer even more, if that's possible. Her coach is moving next month so this really was the last game with this team for her. It's kind of sad.

Tanner had to get new shoes this season for his HUGE feet. The shoe guy said they just got some new cleats in, and wanted to see if Tanenr liked them. Tanner LOVED them. And it made it easier to spot him. He's improved a lot this year.

One player said their team name was the Giraffes but nobody agreed with him, dang. Go Yellow team!

Tanner's humor

Space Derby

For Scouts this year they did the "Space Derby" instead of the Pinewood Derby. Jon and Max used a potato peeler to shape the wood which was soft and very lightweight. We didn't know what we were doing, just like our first year of Pinewood Derby so Max's rocket did not do very well. Jon had to teach class in the evening that night and I didn't know how to wind it. Grandpa got there later so that helped a little but his rocket only went about 5 feet down the string. A lot of people had trouble with it.

Max still had fun and won the "Bumble Bee Rocket" award.

Dog gone lucky

Mimzy is one of those dogs that is tough and lucky. Good thing for her because she is an escape artist. The bad thing is Libby will dig the holes but can't fit through them so Mimzy will escape through them. Jon installed a wire around the whole back yard which took hours and is a pain to trim around. Then we bought the dogs collars that would shock them if they got close to the perimeter. That solved our problem for a while. But then when the battery goes out or the collars get chewed on by the other dog we have to go get another one. During that time Mimzy always takes the opportunity to escape. She always comes back or is brought back by a neighbor who recognizes her. Her favorite spots are any yard that has another dog or the goats over on the next block (I think she thinks they're large dogs.) She's so happy go lucky and wants to play with anything or anyone. A couple of days ago our neighbor brought her to us so Jon made a special trip to Home Depot to get a special flat round battery. The next day she was gone! I guess the collar wasn't working not just the battery. We drove around and called her but could not find her anywhere. The kids started to get upset. Max and Seth rode their scooters all over calling and crying. Maddie started getting upset after dinner and took a long walk to look for her and also returned crying. Tanner never cried but he did leave the garage door up a foot and put a treat in her bed. This morning I called the Animal Shelters and they said they had a dog that came in yesterday that might be her. I quickly drove over to it and sure enough, there was Mimzy. There were probably 75 dogs there and she was almost the last one I looked at. It was sad seeing all those dogs barking and whining. Some were really pretty. The kids are going to be so excited when they get home. She'll probably get played with a lot today.

Seth got on the bus crying this morning because of Mimzy. I realized he was only 3 when we found her (that's another story.)

Here's Mimzy tied up in the backyard until Jon brings home a new collar on his way home from work. Lucky Dog!

Karate belt test

Now that Seth is 7 he gets to move up in karate from the "Little Dragons" to regular karate guy. That also means he gets to test at the big dojo with Max. He loved testing there. I told him it took about an hour and he said it seemed like 10 minutes to him. He did a great job and now he's an orange belt.

Max is moving right along. Now he has his red brown belt. I called it his brown red belt and he was quick to correct me. Apparently it matters what order you say it. Great job, Max!

Jon's graduation

Jon graduated yesterday...finally. :) He actually still has to defend in Aug. so he's not ALL finished but he got to walk since there's only a ceremony once a year. Lots of his family came up for the graduation, it was fun to all be together and congratulate Jon, YAY Jon!!

Jon's sisters Sara and Becca and brother Joseph, his mom, my mom and dad and Tanner all came to the graduation.

This is Tanner after about an hour. It only lasted an hour and a half and Tanner did like seeing Jon get hooded, after that he was done.I let the kids decorate his car to surprise him the morning of his graduation.
Seth and cousin Sam both lost the same tooth on the same day.
Eating pizza after the graduation. The kids loved seeing lots of cousins.

Seth loses his first tooth

Finally! He's 7 years and 3 days old! One of the happiest days of his life!

Sew pretty

Maddie loves to sew. She's so lucky because she has my mom and Jon's mom that will sew with her. I did take a semester in 10th grade of sewing but that was a long time ago. Both grandmas also quilt which I may start to learn very soon. My kids are in school all day now and I feel like I have some time on my hands for such an activity. Anyway, Jon's mom came down for a few days and she and Maddie made a skirt for Maddie. It's so cute and Maddie LOVES it.

The sewing machine station.

All done!

Sethisms

Seth turned 7 this week but I have to say he seems older to me sometimes. I think, well I know actually, it's because he has older siblings that he learns from, for better or for worse. The other day Seth was in the back of the suburban and I was in the driver's seat about to go somewhere when Jon rushed out to get some stuff out of the glove compartment. I said, "Are you going to return all that stuff back to the car later?" And Jon said, "Of coarse, it's not like I'm a 1st grader." Seth, who happens to be in 1st grade said, "Hey dad what do you mean by that?" Then the other day Seth was telling me how he's being a good example at school. He said sometimes kids will come up to him and say he looks like a 4-year-old. "Even though this is offensive to me, I try not to get mad at them." Offensive, pretty good word. He also says "Crap" which my older kids never said at his age.

Seth's main present from us was a little motor scooter. He loves it!
Grandmas got him legos, a kite, bubbles, and cards with money, ca-ching!

So, my dragon cake looks nothing like the picture. I even put it in the freezer thinking it would be easier to ice frozen but it wasn't. Maddie helped and we were both getting frustrated, then Seth and Max came in the kitchen and said it was AWESOME! Okay, good enough.
We went to Boondocks with the extended family to eat dinner and play laser tag. Unfortunately the line was really slow but everyone hung in there.

Eagles Concert

Last weekend Jon and I went to Las Vegas to see The Eagles in concert. I've only been to one other concert but I love going, rock stars are so talented. From our view we could see the percussion really well and it was amazing to watch how good they are. The concert lasted 3 1/2 hours but it went by really fast. By the time we got back to our hotel it was 2:00am our time which I can never stay up past 11:00 so that is amazing for me. We left on Friday morning and got back Sunday afternoon. It was nice having a get away with Jon. I did miss the kids but they were in good hands with my mom and Jon's mom. Thanks, Moms!

We stayed at the Excalibur. It's looks way more beautiful on the outside than the inside (dark, smokey casinos).
Here's the Eiffel Tower, so I don't have to go to Paris anymore. :)
The first night we went to the Tournament of Champions for dinner. They jousted and fought with swords on their horses, it was pretty good. The kids would've really liked it.
This is in Caesar's Palace. The sky changes colors and they had a Cheesecake Factory. Yum.
The Statue of Liberty made out of jellybeans, guess I don't have to go to NY now either. One of my favorite things is the fountain at the Ballagio, it's so beautiful.

Homemade bread

So, I'm 36 years old and have never made bread before. It's just so cheap at the store and so much work to make, it didn't appeal to me at all. Then, Jon's sister put a very simple recipe on her blog that I don't even have to knead by hand so I decided to try it. Hardly anything smells better than bread baking in the oven! I took it out a tiny bit too early so we toasted it and made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. It was so yummy. My kids kept saying, "Thank you mom for making this!" which doesn't happen enough around my house so that encouraged me to make it again. I made four loaves and we ate it in one weekend which is kind of a lot of bread to go through. The funny thing was I think I threw out my bread hook that came with my Bosch because I wasn't sure what it was and didn't think I'd ever use it. My mom bought me one which was so nice but then I realized I didn't have yeast or bread pans so I raided my mom's house and found some. Also, something I learned, bread has A LOT of flour in it, like 8 cups, WOW! I don't know if I'd call myself a homemade bread baker yet but we all did really enjoy it! Here's Becca's recipe.

2/3 cup honey or sugar

1/4 cup oil (rounded)

3 T. yeast

5 cups hot water

4 cups Flour

2 T. salt

Additional Flour (4-6 more Cups)

Put sugar, oil, and yeast in mixer (Bosch mixer you can do whole recipe, kitchen aide you can only fit 1/2 recipe). Add water and mix. Let sit 3 minutes to activate yeast. Add 4 cups flour and the salt (add salt last-it will kill yeast if you put it n first). Mix well to form a paste. Let raise 7 minutes. Add additional flour until dough pulls from sides of mixer pan (about 4-6 more cups). Mix it for about 4 minutes on high. Place bread in 4 greased loaf pans and set in warm oven (about 175-200 degrees) Let raise until dough is 1 inch over top of pan. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Without taking bread out, change temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.

A fun tip that I love is to spray your counter with Pam when you take dough out of mixer to divide. It makes the dough less sticky and easier to make it into really pretty bread shapes.

The Focacia bread is one of your dough loaves spread into a bottom of 9X13 pan. Dimple the dough, spread liberally with olive oil, sprinkle with dry Italian dressing (about 2/3 package), garlic salt, dill, Parmesan cheese, or whatever else you want or have on hand. Raise for about 10 minutes in warm oven and then bake for the 20 minutes.

Spring break is hoppin'

Last week we had Spring Break, YAY! We were ready for it, I guess everyone is ready to take a break from the norm and have fun! It started a little rocky. They all wanted the computer at the same time so some fights broke out so I thought of some chores to do and then they got along a little better. It reminded me of how summer goes. They need some structure...work hard and play hard.

By Wednesday I decided to take them to an Activity Center. It was bounce houses, skating, laser tag and rocket wars all for a good price. They hit the bounce houses first. Tanner brought two of his friends. I asked them to pose for a picture and they took it literally. As you can kind of see by the picture Tanner isn't feeling too well. Soon after this picture he threw up in the bathroom. He went out to the car and went to sleep, poor guy. He had gone swimming with these same boys earlier and maybe he drank too much water or something because none of us ever got sick, shew.

Seth spilled red Icee all down his neck and shirt. I washed it and it actually came out, yay! He had a great time on his scooter, he was doing all sorts of jumps and stunts.

The next day we went to "Jump On It" (Tanner stayed home) with our friends the Walton's who we haven't seen forever. My 3 youngest kids are the same ages as her 3 youngest kids so everyone gets along great. This is just a huge room with trampolines lined up together and even on the walls. It was a lot of fun. My camera is not on the right setting yet again but it still looks cool. After that we went to Sub Zero Ice Cream where they put Nitrous Oxide (or something) into the ice cream liquid to make is solid, it looks like dry ice. It was fun and I felt like we did something for Spring Break. The next day I was off to Denver to Scrapbook with my sister for the weekend. The kids got to eat out a lot with their dad and went to a movie. Fun times had by all.