First day of school

Seth on his very first day of High School. He is making the number 9 with his hands to let you know that he is in grade 9 this year. He had a great first day and was pretty intrigued with the "odd" students around school, as in kids with their own style! And these days we know that it can be very interesting!

Caleb on his first day of High School...this year. He is in grade 11. These are 3 of his good friends that he hangs out with a lot. I haven't seen him yet after his first day so I can't tell you how he liked it. But then again it's old hat to him right?

Sean's 21st birthday...a little late.

Isn't he a handsome young man? He came over for Kelly's yummy meal and this cake was dessert. His birthday cake a tad late. But THIS cake is worth the wait let me tell ya!
Happy Birthday Sean!!!!

Kelly cooked dinner too!!

So tonight was Kelly's night and this meal was equally as yummy as Caleb's was last night! She grilled Greek chicken, grilled zucchini with rosemary, saute'd asparagus with lime/rosemary and white rice. It was very good and very tasty. Wonder if Seth will want to cook tomorrow night? My kids are excellent cooks!

Caleb cooked dinner tonight!!!

So I bought some meat the other day but wasn't quite sure what I was going to make with it. Caleb works at a place called "WOK BOX" and he said that he would make a stir fry for dinner! He did a great job and we ate ALMOST every bit of it. He chopped all the vegetables and learned that the skin on an onion is not edible. He even added chopped asparagus and I would totally do that with my next stir fry. That was a very nice touch AND a very yummy taste. Kelly wants to cook dinner tomorrow night. Yea!!

Aprons!

Aprons seem to be the "thing" these days so I thought I would make one as a gift for my friend Jo-Ann for her birthday. When I sent the picture of it to Kelly at school, she put that on her list of things "to do" when she got home.

So the first picture is of the apron that Kelly made and the other one is the one I made for Jo-Ann.



PS..I had the wrong setting on my camera when I took the one of Kelly!

Pioneer Trek

We just got back from Trek yesterday and what a great 4 day experience it was! Chris and I were a Ma and Pa to 9 children. 5 girls and 4 boys. There were 2 stakes involved so there were kids we had never met before. We had great kids!

Our Trek started Friday morning where we were given our "children" and put our handcarts together and then off we went. We trekked about 17 k the first day in 32 c weather but there was a real nice breeze so it was pleasant. That first day was actually mine and Chris' favorite day. Because of the unknowns it was fun to look forward to the time ahead. We got into our place of rest just before dark and just before the rain, thunder and lightning. It was a very interesting night. We were greeted with banak and hot broth before sleeping.

The next day we trekked another 5 k to our base camp and got settled in for the remaining days. Each morning the families gathered to make their own fires to cook their own breakfasts. There were activities for us to enjoy during the day. Tippi(sp?) demonstration, stick-pull, square dancing, skeet shooting and if you wished, could have your hair washed. Saturday afternoon each family was given a live turkey to kill, pluck, clean, gut and cook for their dinner meal. The kids did a great job with the whole activity. Those who weren't interested in the turkey experience cleaned and cut up the vegetables. We put everything into our dutch oven to cook over the fire and then we waited. It was yummy.

Sunday we were awakened from our sleep by music being played by fiddles and a guitar from a hill in the distance. They played Beautiful Savior. We had church on a hill with the weather being great but then as the day went on we had our first of 2 storms. One in the afternoon and the second after our campfire program that evening. We had high winds, hail, thundering and lightening and amazingly not one of the tarps ripped or blew apart. At one point, it was so loud under the tarp that Chris had to yell so that I could hear him. And when the hail came it sounded like we were inside a pop corn popper. It was wild! But there was no complaining what so ever from anyone in the whole camp and there was a calmness. I know we were blessed.

Monday we headed out with much better weather and then ended our time with a testimony meeting.

We trekked in warm weather with plenty of water and sufficient food and sure we had a few storms but to think of those pioneers who trekked in the winter with the storms and unbelievable circumstances we only caught a very small glimpse of what they endured. We didn't have to bury our husbands, our babies, our children. We didn't wake up to our hair frozen to the tarps. We didn't have to take the leather from our only pair shoes to fix the hand cart wheels and then later take that same leather to chew on for food. We didn't have to walk in snow with no shoes on our feet. We didn't have to cross a frozen creek with the last set of clothes on our backs and then continue walking with the clothes frozen to our bodies. We didn't wonder if we would make our destination alive. This is what they had to endure and much, much more. Day after day after day.

"For Sale"

Our house officially went on the market (mls) on Monday. I sure hope THIS does the trick! There are just SO many houses out there right now, but ours has that little something extra. It's what you feel when you walk in it. Those looking for a great house will feel it when they walk in too!

Oh, Canada!

Yesterday was Canada Day and we spent the day out at our friends lake house in the Quapelle Valley. We brought freshly made rolls and monster cookies and Linda made the best Fahitas (did I spell that right?) for dinner. The water was a little choppy for the boat to be wake boarding and tubing so we had to wait until about 7:00pm. Until then the boys kept busy with the trampoline, the Wii, Mini golfing and going down by the water to see if the wind had died down. Chris and I had a good time relaxing and talking with Ron and Linda. The weather was great.

Tree

This is the best tree in the whole world and it's in our very own backyard! And the boy in it is pretty great too!! When we moved into this house almost 12 years ago this tree was very small. As the years go on, it just gets nicer and nicer. It covers a big portion of our yard now and really needs to be trimmed but we were a little too busy this spring so we missed the opportunity. If the branches were stronger near the ends of the tree, Caleb could escape out his bedroom
window. It's a very cool tree indeed!! See those canoes in the background? They are made of cedar strips and Chris made those babies!

Baked Oatmeal...yum!

Our ward had a potluck last week and this was one of the dishes that a lady brought. I decided to try it myself and it's a hit! This is great because it is something you can make the night before then bake it in the morning. How great is that? Try it and I am sure you will like it too!

scant 1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup maple syrup or 3/4 cup sugar ( I used the syrup)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon b. soda
1 1/2 teaspoon b. powder
3 cups oats
2 tablespoons b. sugar
1/2 cinnamon
Combine oil and syrup. Add in eggs, buttermilk, salt, b. soda, b. powder and oats.
Mix together. Pour into a lightly greased 8x8 square pan or pie plate. Sprinkle top with b. sugar and cinnamon. Put into fridge overnight. In the morning bake it for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
Good served plain, with butter on top or in a bowl with some milk.