Boys in California

Brady & Keaton stayed with Grandpa Dave for 1 week in California right after school.
They boogie boarded and went to the beach almost every day.Brady strummin on a mini guitar
USS Midway - like the statue in the back? hehe
All dressed up - and white ankle socks are the evidence that boys do not obey their mother when she's not there to tell them to put on dark socks with dress clothes - haha caught ya ;)
and making faces ;)
Grandpa's take:

The boys are having a blast. Took them to see the USS Midway down in San Diego and then out to the beach. The Midway is an aircraft carrier. They want to do more beach stuff, hahahha. Tried to get them to try surfing but looks like boogie boarding is their favorite so far. They are eating lots of junk food, sleeping and playing on computer. Kidding. We played some basketball the other night and , yes, grandpa still has it. Played horse and Brady won, but one on one I can still take em. HAhahha. Keaton is reading my first published book and I gave them copies of both books.

June 22 - June 30

YCL Devotional

Find your prince - frog girls camp bead (YCL devotional) scrabble tile:

I divided the YCL's into 2 groups, one group drew a picture of a swamp and one group drew a stream. Then one group described the picture without showing what they drew to the other group using adjectives until they guessed what it was. I wrote down these adjectives as the girls were saying them, some of the words were slimy, mucky, filthy for swamp and some of the words for stream were clean, beautiful, peaceful, inviting, etc. I related those adjectives to the types of frogs you could find at the different locations and the boys you choose to date (since we were wearing tiara's and looked like princesses for Glinda theme in Wizard of Oz). Moral: date boys that will keep you clean, beautiful and finding peace in that. I gave each girl a frog scrabble tile to place on her camp necklace.

More Girl's Camp Beads

Spiritual YCL leader bead:

More crafts people bead:

Boutique bead:

Dorothy bead (earned if you performed a service or good deed during camp):

The girls enjoyed earning the beads, we gave plain colored ones for certifying, and painted daisies for the year bead, the hike bead had a painted tree on it, the first aid bead was green and had a white plus painted on it.

baby hummingbirds

uhhhh, why don't I get to have a hummingbird nest in MY yard?

My boys are visiting Grandpa Dave and they took this photo - they've nested on top of a wind chime - seems bizarre, like not very safe from predators? I'm sad I don't have baby hummingbirds at my house =(

feeding the birds

silly birds, they must have thought the grass seed we just spread was dinner! I couldn't get a photo of all of them - there were 20 of them or so - and I don't even know what type of bird this was - but they did like to stay in a pretty big flock.

good thing we overseeded ;) unless it's possible they consumed it all - and I wonder how nutrious that is for them? hmmmm, weirdos

Crocs and Buttons

At Girls Camp, since the theme is Follow the Yellow Brick Road, some of us got red crocs to represent Dorothy's Ruby Slippers.

I bedazzled my Mary Jane Crocs:

And added Wizard of Oz characters buttons that I made:

Can't wear flip flops at camp, but we can wear crocs!

Salamander

We occasionally see salamanders -they're pretty cute for slimy creatures ;) You have to agree their eyes are adorably beady:

This one didn't enjoy being held, he kept jumping out of my hands . . . and then getting very dirty:

Like he was very uncooperative as I was trying take some photos!

And by the fifth time he jumped out of my hands, he was pretty much lifeless - I think he might have crawled in a hole and died. It's sad and pretty cruel too. I guess I won't try and hold any more of those little suckers ;)

Girls Camp Beads

Some girls camp beads - I have others, but will have to post later!

Pink shimmery bead with star charm:

YCL - 5th year beads this year:

Dog tag beads for the 'toto' bead for our theme of 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road:

Craft people beads and for our YCL's who are helping:

Chef hat shrinky dink for our camp cooks and YCL's whose jobs are to help with the cooking:

Toilet Paper Bead on a wooden spool:

I designed a patriotic button that the YCL's who do flag this year will earn, as well as the 2nd year girls who will be taught flag as part of certification:

I just glued a pony bead on the back with E6000 - fabulous glue!

And for those early morning 'polar dips', here's a bead made out of a shrinky dink:

I got a plotter (which is better than a cricut because I can send whatever image from my computer to it and it cuts out foam, magnets, shrinky dink, cardstock, etc.!), which cuts out letters and shapes and it's my new favorite 'toy' =) I also have a button maker that I got for Mother's Day and it is super fun as well!

Sparkle Ball

I'm going to hang this over the YCL teepee area to represent the bubble Glinda floated down in as we are decorating our camp area as 'Glinda' theme:

Jonathan and I made a sparkle ball - ummm, turned out cuteness - I'm going to make more of these for Christmas decorations =) You know you have a spare 2 hours to create one too ;) haha

Directions found here. Made from 9 oz plastic cups and a string of 100 lights - solder gun and clothespins are your only tools.

Staining the deck

The owners before us PAINTED the deck - probably for a 'quick' sale, eh?

So, we finally got around to pressure washing, then sanding it:

And we stained it - ahhhhh, so much nicer:

I asked the boys to pressure wash some of it and Brady (proudly) spelled his name out with the pressure washer. Yeah, it's still visible, even after we sanded and stained it - I couldn't get it to show up in a photo, but it's just funny how parents just can't think of everything to tell their kids NOT to do while doing a task. I guess it's good to look at the positive because I only thought to cover how to avoid the dangerous scenarios! And we didn't have any of those - hehe

Coconut Cream Pie

I made up a recipe for coconut cream pie =) Sorry - you'll have to make 2 pies . . . because it's tough to cut in half! I was thinking you could freeze half of it before you start cooking it and that would probably work great.

1 can coconut milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

-Pour all the milk into a big liquid measuring cup

then add enough cream cheese to make it 6 cups

-Add the above ingredients to your mixing bowl and mix together until blended.

6 egg yolks

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 tsp kosher salt

-Add the yolks and mix in for 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, corn starch and salt and stir well. Add it to the mixture and beat for about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a cooking pot and add 4 Tbsp butter. Cook together until thickened and bubbly - maybe 10 minutes or so.

-Remove from heat and add:

2 tsp vanilla

-Pour into baked crusts and add toasted coconut.

1 pkg coconut, toasted

Makes 2 pies or 48 mini ones . . . or 1 pie and 24 mini ones ;)

Beehives

Our ward split and we're the Big Rock Ward now. We had church for 1 hour the first week, stake conference the second week and for 2 hours the third week as it's being organized - a lot of callings have to be made! I am the advisor for the Beehives, this will be my 3rd year with a lot of the same girls as I was their primary teacher for 2 years previously. When the 2nd counselor and myself went to welcome the girls we had a little something to give them:

It has the 2009 youth theme on it and then the 3 things the Bishop talked about today as a combined YW/YM group: Strengthen each other, Get to know each other & Love each other. One of the dads of the YW we visited came down while we were talking with his daughter and when we were leaving, he was like 'where are the treats?' - he totally thought we were bringing goodies and he wanted some - LoL Both the counselor and myself are known for bringing food! The really nice thing about our new bishop is he is all about food for the kids - that is rare these days =) Our Bishop wants us to 1) have fun 2) love the kids & 3) teach the gospel - in that order! We are all really excited and thrilled to be part of such a neat ward!!

I just got a letter

that catchy tune from Blue's Clues was in my mind when I got a letter from Nat:

Nat made me a bracelet from embroidery floss:

Uncle Jonathan tied it on and in one day I lost it - it wasn't my fault! Thanks for being precious Nat! Love you =)

Hollandaise Sauce

I threw some ingredients together as a hollandaise sauce and it turned out yum!

2 eggs

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 whole bulb roasted garlic, chopped

In a blender, blend eggs, lemon juice, mustard, salt and butter together until creamed.  Add mayo, sour cream and cream cheese and blend again until mixed.  Stir in Parmesan cheese and chopped up garlic, bake for 30 minutes on 200 degrees while you make the rest of your dinner.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups:

It did turn out looking like a souffle - you can certainly not bake it as long. . . but it worked great as a dip for our artichokes - I just stirred it around.  Great served warm.

Adult Baptismal Gift

My good friend Ann Marie husband's getting baptized today! So awesome and neat for their family =) I made this for him:

It's a chocolate flower bouquet. It says Baptism, my first covenant at the top. On the chocolate nuggets that are glued to a skewer and poked into craft foam,

there are 5 that say At my baptism, I promise to:

-Come into the fold of God

-Stand as a witness of God at all times

-Take upon me the name of Christ

-Serve others and keep his commandments

-Bear one another's burdens

and 3 that say Because I was baptized, Heavenly Father promises to:

-Pour his spirit more abundantly upon me

-Forgive my sins

-Give me Eternal Life

The flowers have a different piece/size of chocolate in between 2 punched flowers.

I'm so excited for their beautiful family and I that I can share in their special day!! Love you guys =)

If I only had a heart!

I had to dress up like the Tin Man for our YCL Kickoff, so I made some earrings out of heart marshmallows:

Jonathan made me the oil can with a cabinet pull and an actual empty oil can that he painted silver and I painted a funnel silver (which stayed on with 2 bobby pins) and modernized (made it girly!) with some ribbon:

I made heart ice cubes with frozen concentrated red ruby juice, I only added 2 cans of water to keep the flavor strong when it melted into the sprite:

I made a mailbox that held chocolate nuggets 'if I only had a heart':

here are the nuggets up close:

Maybe I'll bring my funnel hat to Girl's Camp with me - I rather like it still!

Killer's Concert

Ever thought about why fitting room attendants insist on counting garments themselves before you can enter?  Why don't they count them on your way out?  EVER?  

We went to the Killer's concert - which, BTW was AWESOME =)  But the 'search and frisk you' attendants were, let's put it, not trained properly.  I got to the front, they ask 'do you have a camera?'.  I say 'yes' - at that point there was no frisking me at all.  (I had already drank all my water and thrown the bottle away because water bottles were not allowed either)  Were they perhaps more interested that I might take a video and post it to youtube more than if I had a weapon????  I was whisked away, everyone telling who ever they saw also working at the WaMu convention center 'she has a camera!  We need to check her camera'.  Okay, that was the funniest thing ever!  Somehow there was miscommunication about the importance of priorities over 'do we freak out over someone having a camera or something dangerous'?  I also had a backpack - in the midst of all this rushing around leading me to where to check in my camera - no one even asked to search my bag.  Hmmmm, very strange indeed.  Not only that, but there were plenty of people with cameras - not counting how many people were using their cell phones to take photos or record video - but actual cameras of which I just had to check in because they were not allowed at the event??   So, I have concluded: bring 2 camera's and admit to having 1, have 1 camera checked in and you're good to go.  Bring in that second camera AND all the bottled water you want ;)  haha

go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6r4KT8-VX0 to listen to 1 of the songs. 

Brady really wanted to attend for one of his birthday gifts - and this was Jonathan's first concert he's ever attended!  We all loved it!  We are loving their style of music =)

Happy 16th Birthday

H a P p Y   16th   B i R t H d A Y   B r A d Y!!!

We took Brady to Ocean Aire restaurant in Seattle for seafood for his birthday - he likes calamari!  I've discovered a great way to delay dating . . . Brady doesn't have his driver's license, so he won't ask a girl out yet - great tip for parents with kids not at the dating age yet (delay driver's ed school) ;)

a message in a bottle . . . and on a bottle

I made invites for Girl's Camp from recycled frappuccino bottles (freecycle) for the YCL's and we presented them in their wards on Easter Sunday for Kickoff:

The theme:

Follow the Yellow Brick Road was around the lid, raffia tied around the bottle with a star button glued to it and filled with Easter grass and chocolate eggs:

I designed a wrap around label for the jars with all the info (just the detailed info has been deleted):

Who doesn't like an invite with chocolate? ;) I rolled up a survey for gathering their ideas and input inside the bottle too.

ummmmmm, yumminess

Taco al Carbon with Pico de Gallo:

Yes, it was tasty - probably better than the restaurants . . . you know you want some Stacy!  ;)

Brine the thinly sliced beef in water, liquid smoke, pepper and garlic for 12 hours.  Marinade in olive oil, lime juice and southwest seasoning.  Let stand room temperature for 4 hours - grill and slice.

Pico de Gallo:

1 large onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/4-1/2 jalapeno, minced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

8-10 roma tomatoes, diced

2 cups red cabbage, chopped

Juice squeezed fresh from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp kosher salt

1 large avocado, diced

     Mix everything together and serve!

that sensation

I recently took a CPR, BLS & AED course and have assessed that giving mouth-to-mouth is a creepy sensation . . . on a dummy - can you imagine what it would be like on someone who's basically dead?  The Annie doll feels like a real person, I know that's the intention, but it's still weird ;)  I highly recommend investing in this handy tool:

Those Annie dolls are very lifelike, so much that before I could give it 2 breaths, I actually caught myself looking for boogies in the Annie doll's nose before putting my mouth on her mouth.  This is after I had already swiped an alcohol wipe over the entire face of the doll . . . after being assured that the doll was already sterilized.  Hmmmm, sure it was: I don't know that the person who used and cleaned the doll was as thorough as I would be and I'm positive that the doll was not placed in a sterile package after it was cleaned!  =)

Annie looks like a he, perhaps it the nakedness or the lack of breast tissue.  But hey, practicing on a flat chest is probably much more comfortable for all present ;)

Our dental office was offered a free course through another dental office, so I made their office cupcakes (with the texas sheet cake recipe I made up) as a thank you:

And I bought a handy-dandy (blue's clues famous saying) cupcake carrier to transport them in:

From Costco - it holds 3 dozen cupcakes - or if you flip the white tray cupcake holder over (completely removable), it is flat and can be used for other goodies or appetizers - I love it!