Go Cougars!

This is a painting that my brother did. He has had prints made that are available at the BYU bookstore. He also got the opportunity to give the original to Bronco Mendenhall, and his whole family got to meed him!

GO COUGARS!!

Honest Scrap Award

My friend Heidi awarded me this lovely award. So, just for her, I will give it a try. Here are the rules and the deal.

1. Present this award to 4 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design or those who have encouraged you.

2. Tell those people that have been awarded the HONEST SCRAP AWARD and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

3. Share “10 honest things” about yourself.

Here are the 10 Honest Things.

1. I despise most Christmas lights ('tis the season). Put them up right, make them look nice, stop when there is enough, not everything needs lights on it, and take them down once weather permits. Otherwise, don't mess with them! Why do you think I can't get Brian to put them up, he surprised me with them once, and has never put them up again.

2. I loathe housework. I don't like dishes, bathrooms, laundry, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, making beds, filing, and on, and on, and on. I am starting a little more to find some satisfaction in having some things done, done right, and done well, but I'll do anything else first.

3. I have very little self confidence. Especially when I am with others that I perceive as better than me.

4. I adore my husband, and my kids, even though you wouldn't know it by my behavior sometimes. They are amazing people. They teach me so much every day, and make me want to be better.

5. For most things, I prefer to plan ahead, and know that everything is ready. But sometimes, I love the rush of working frantically on a project to have it done by a quickly approaching deadline. Like the quilt I just made. I planned to have it done in a month and a half from when I started it, then the deadline was moved up to 3 weeks from when I started it, and then 1 week. I made almost the entire quilt in 5 days worth of working on it!

6. I love sports, and only wish I was better at them.

7. I miss my friends back home, and the things they get to do together (like comp sports).

8. I love to sing (again, I'm terrible at it).

9. I need a girl friend. A true friend. One I can count on and trust with anything. They are hard to come by. I miss that.

10. I'm not one to hold my tongue. If I think it I say it. Brian hates it (hehe). I don't usually intend to be rude, but I'm sure that is the way that it usually comes across.

I would like to bestow this honor on the following:

Deena P
Brenda K
Debbie C
Janice P

Anyone else that reads this and wants to do it, I would love to see you squirm.

Beans

My cousin has an amazing blog of the recipes that she makes. She started it as a way to share her Gluten Free recipes with others who have celiac disease. Recently she did a post about how to make your own beans to use in place of canned beans.

I am finding that I use beans more and more and I sneak them into recipes because of the nutrition they provide. But I get sick of buying them. She posted how to make and freeze your own, so I tried it. I am so excited to use them. I may just have to start stalking up on the #10 cans of beans from the church now!
My favorite part is that I know exactly what is in them, I know that they are low in sodium, and have no preservatives. (No, I am not a fanatic about those things, but if I can make something with little to no effort that doesn't have them, why not?) Total, this took about a day and a half to do, but only about 10-15 minutes of my time total. Just the way I like projects!

13.1 in 1:45

Over the weekend, we went with some friends (and no kids) to St. George for the Snow Canyon Half Marathon. Brian felt like he could do well even though he has only trained for that kind of distance for a few weeks.

He finished the race in the amount of time he had hoped.
I think it was right around 1 hour 45 minutes.
On the day before Halloween he had a minor costume injury to his toe,
but it hadn't seemed to be much of a problem, until he hit mile 9 of the race.
By the time he finished the race, he was barely running, and couldn't walk.
He figured that he must have a stress fracture in his big toe.
Fortunately, it seems to be OK, but I'm sure he will lose his toenail.
He was disappointed that he could have done much better if it weren't for the injury.

Brian and Bill at the finish line.

Fall Leaves 2009

The kids had Monday off of school. Thank heaven for warm weather.
They played outside in the leaves ALL day long, and loved every minute of it.

Halloween

Halloween 2009
Amber-Hermione Granger
Les-Indiana Jones
Zak-Woody

This year, the kids came up with their own ideas for costumes. They were really easy, which is what I needed this year, and the kids had fun...And since that is all that matter, I loved it too!

Pecan Logs disaster

Since I am going to see Grandpa and Grandma this weekend, Mom suggested that I take Grandpa some chocolate covered caramels for his birthday. And since we make penuche every year for Christmas anyway, I thought that I would make Grandpa some chocolate covered caramels, and make Grandma some bite sized pecan logs.

For those of my readers that don't know what a pecan log is, it is one of the few treats that my Grandma makes, and she does it every year at Christmas. I'm pretty sure that with her health the way it is, she will never make them again. It has a center of penuche, with an outer covering of caramel, and then it is rolled in chopped pecans to coat and stick to the caramel. As a child I didn't care for them, but they are one of my favorite, although rare, treats now.

What a disaster this turned out to be. I dipped the first penuche ball in the caramel, and then in the pecans. The caramel seemed to be a little soft, so I decided to dip all of the balls in the caramel, and then go back and roll them in the pecans.

I also learned last year that I shouldn't put the hot caramel directly onto my marble slab because it hardens too quickly and won't come off. So, I thought I had a brilliant idea, and put them on wax paper that was on top of my marble. BAD IDEA. The wax paper stuck to the caramel, and just tore and stayed on the caramel when I tried to pull it off.

So then I decided to put them in a warm oven to soften the caramel just enough to remove them from the wax paper. This worked OK, and I was mostly able to roll them round again after pulling them off.

But when I tried to roll them in the pecans, the caramel was hard enough that the nuts wouldn't stick to them. So I have one that turned out. For those of you who know Grandma, everything she does turns out perfectly. I'm sure that comes with experience, but it is so frustrating. I don't want to take them to her, because they are so UGLY. And what is a pecan log without pecans? I'm not sure if I can soften them enough to get the nuts to stick without ruining the rest of the candy.

Any suggestion how to soften the outer layer of the caramel??

Quilt

This has been my project for the week.

With the exception of 2 blocks, I made this entire quilt this week.
I have been wondering what I should do with it,
and I have now decided to give it to my Grandma.
She has made all of the grandchildren quilts.
Now she is not in the best health, and currently in a care center,
I have decided that I want her to have it.

I am praying that I can find someone who can quilt it in time for me to take it to her this weekend when we go for Brian's race.

Happy Halloween!

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Chickens and Eggs

I have a friend who has chickens.
I have not seen them since they were small chicks.
The other day, my friend borrowed something from me,
and as a thank you, she brought me fresh eggs when she returned it.

Today, I took the kids to see her chickens.
They loved it.

They got to feed the chickens before they went into the hen house.
This keeps them out while you gather the eggs.

She also saved all of today's eggs for my kids to gather.

One chicken was busy laying while we were in there.

Today, we only got 12 eggs.
There were no green ones today.
She said that they have 18 chickens,
and have had as many as 15 eggs in a day.
But they are still young, and they don't get green ones every day.

My favorite part was the cute basket to put them in.

It was so much fun.
It was a huge reminder to me that my kids are city kids,
and they don't get a lot of exposure to animals.
Thanks Lisi!

Roses

The GORGEOUS roses Brian brought to me on Monday!

I Love You Brian

Thirteen years ago, I married my best friend.
Today I love him more than ever.
We have had so many good times, bad times, and tough times.
I only pray that the next 13 years are as wonderful.

I Love You Brian!

The Stitches are Out!

Finally, Zak's chin really healed up well.
It was getting really dry, so I had just put some neosporin on it in this picture, but it really is just a small scab left.
And once again, he was so tough getting them out.
He just laid there really still and patient, with a smile on his face.
The nurse said that isn't common!
Good job Zak!
(And they came out after just 10 days. The Dr. that put them in expected 14 because it was so deep and long!)

New Family Picture

Stitches and the ER

Yesterday, right after the kids had left for school, I got a phone call from the school saying that Zak had wrecked on his bike, and that the nurse said it needed stitches.

I hurried to the school to find him all cleaned up,
two butterfly bandages on his chin,
and one sad little boy.

The sidewalk that they use to go to school is not very safe in my opinion,
and he had gone over a bump while hitting his brakes to slow down,
and hit a little gravel at the same time.
This is obviously never a good combination.

Les was the only one with him, and although very scared, he was amazing helping Zak out.
He helped Zak up, and then ran to get a crossing guard to help.
Fortunately, the school nurse had just parked, and heard the crying
and came to help. She took him in and got it all cleaned and closed up before I ever got there.

As you can see, his clothes were a little dirty, and bloody.

He was very brave. He never flinched or cried.
He was all done with the crying by the time I got to the school.
This is how they had him lay while they did the stitches,
but he got to watch one of his favorite shows on PBS, so that was a very good distraction.

And this is him after it was all over with his nurse Holly.
She was very good to him.

Later in the evening when we had to change the bandage,
we all got a little peak at the damage.
I forgot to ask the Doctor how many stitches she had to put in,
but there are 8 on the outside.
Because it was so deep, there were several on the inside too.

Court of Honor

A little over a year ago, Brian attended a Scouting Woodbadge Training.
He recently finished all of his goals to complete his "ticket,"
and Sunday night, he received his Woodbadge beads

This my friend JerriLynn that received hers at the same time.

And to finish off the night, three of the boys that Brian has worked with in scouts
since they were 11 years old,
received their Eagle Scout award.

Brian has been working with these boys to get their Eagles for 3 years now, and finally, each with only days to spare before their 18th birthdays, they finished their projects. But the timing was perfect so that Brian could share the night with them. JerriLynn that also received her Woodbadge beads, is the mother of one of these boys too.

Thanks for letting us share this night with you Spencer, Jason, and Chase, and for being such great example to our kids, and a big part of our lives.

Jack & Jill Triathlon

On Friday night, Brian, Amber and Les participated in the Jack and Jill Triathlon in Honeyville. This is the first time for this race, and it was so much fun. We have been trying all summer to get Amber into a tri, so we were excited to find one that Les could do to. This was the best venue that Brian has ever raced at from a spectators perspective. There was grass to sit on, water to drink, they put up tents for shade, and we could see some of the race. Usually, all we get to see is the transitions between each event.

Brian started the race with a half mile swim.

Finishing the swim.

Then went to the 12.5 mile bike.

And finished with a 3 mile run.

He finished with a time of 1:19:25. That was under his goal of 1:30.

Les was the most fun to watch him prepare. I had never realized how much he watches what Brian does to prepare for a race. He has been "practicing" his techniques since Brian signed him up for the race. He says he runs the track at school during recess time, he has practiced "tucking" like he has aero-bars, for aerodynamics on the bike, and in the water, he was sure that he needed goggles and a swim cap. Fortunately, the race directors know that all of these things are important to the kids. They have all watched their parents race, so they provided the swim caps, and Brian donated his extra goggles to the cause. As you can see in this picture, all the other kids had goggles too, even though most of their heads never went in the water!
Les is jogging here to "keep his muscles warm" before the race!

Les swam 25 yards.

Then he biked 1 mile.

And he finished with a 400 meter run. We were very confused about where he was running, and didn't really see any of his run. I happened to look over just as he crossed the finish line, but I didn't get a picture.

Amber was really excited to race. She knows that she has a talent for running, and she has been asking this year if she could try a triathlon.

She swam 50 yards.

And biked 4 miles.

Then she ran 1 mile.

At about the half mile point, one of the boys started racing her. It was a coincidence that he was the only kid in the race that she knew. And the competition started. By this point, they had about 50 yards left, and they were both at a full sprint.

Amber ended up finishing the race with a time of 33.33.3, and Ky ended at 33.33.4.
She won! Ky lunged forward like sprinters do, and Amber just kept running. Because the timing chips were on their ankles, she came up the winner!

Brian ended up taking first place in his category.

And Les took second place in his category!

Amber didn't place, but she was racing against kids that were 13 years old. I don't have her exact placing yet, but she did very well overall.

I think the kids are hooked on this racing thing. They were excited, and Brian was excited to share his passion with the kids and see them loving it, and being competitive. I look forward to seeing if they have the interest to continue. I believe that they will.

Labor Day Weekend in Idaho

This year for Labor Day weekend, we went to Idaho because my cousin's daughter was being baptized. We did lots of fun things, and the kids all loved seeing each other again. Two of my cousins in this family have kids the same ages as my kids, so it is always fun to get to spend time with them.

Some of the things we got to do:

• Attend Jerica's baptism
• eat
• Attend the SE Idaho State Fair and see Sabrina's entrys
• eat
• Go to church with the cousins
• eat
• Play at the park. The boys couldn't wait to play in the tank, and the girls seemed to enjoy it as much as the boys
• eat
• Water Ski, and other fun things behind the boat
• eat

As soon as Les saw the tank, he had to run to play on it. Much to his excitement, he also got to play in it. I think that the kids spent about an hour on the two tanks.

I was also reminded how yummy fresh produce is. We ate so many good things from Uncle Gordon's garden. He said the rule was at least two ears of corn each meal, so I made special effort to abide by his garden rules. I already miss all the yummy veggies. I am even more excited to finally attempt putting a garden in at our house next year. I forgot how much I love the produce.

Thanks to my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins for not making us feel like we were a third wheel at your family weekend. We really did have lots of fun!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Monday was the first day of Kindergarten for Zak.
What a relief he wasn't born 2 days later, we would be waiting another whole year.
He is so grown up, and was sure that he didn't need me to walk him to school.

But at our house, it is tradition for me to take the kids on their first day. And since I was sick on Amber and Les's first day, I walked with them today.

Birthday Activities

Since we have neglected the kids with all of their requests for fun things this simmer because of the house project, we decided to take Zak's birthday and spend the whole day doing things that the kids have wanted to do.

They have been asking for quite a while to go to the skate & bike park, so we loaded up their bikes, scooters, and skateboards, and went for a morning of fun.

After only a few minutes, they all had flat tires.
These are the goat heads that we pulled out of Les and Zak's bike tires.

And there were more in Amber's tires than in both of the boys combined.

So, they played at the skate park, and had lots of fun.

Zak tried his new scooter on the ramp.

And Les did every skateboard trick he knows. He was so excited that the park had rails when we pulled in, but he didn't know how to do anything with them.

And we only had one minor injury.

Then, for the afternoon, we went to the state capitol for some activities. All of the activities were centered around the building of the capitol building, or the recent restoration of it. There were also games that would have been played at the time the Capitol was first dedicated.

There was jump rope.

Parachute.

And each child could build a Capitol building with gum drops and toothpicks.

The kids were sad that Brian missed our trip to Salt Lake a few weeks ago, so we revisited some of the places we went that day too. We played in the fountain at the Gateway, went to the Church History Museum, and to Temple Square.

I think that Zak had a fun birthday. He had this smile the whole day

And then on Sunday, we had Grammy and Gramps over for a barbecue.
I think this was his favorite gift yet!