Father's and Son Campout/Service Project

This past weekend was our local church/ward held a Father's and Son camp out that they have every year. This year they decided to accomplish a service project for the church's Pinetop campground. They were able to stay in their cabins which is great because the weather was rainy/snowy and cold. Here is the link to the church's website about this camp ground.

Our home teacher Jeff Gale flew home from a business trip to take Brady to the camp out. It was really kind of him to do that. Brother Gale has taken Brady since he was about 4 years old (with Jason too). It has become a tradition that he has done for us. He didn't have any sons - just 4 daughters - so he has enjoyed being a father figure for Brady at these camp outs. It's amazing to have the same dedicated home teacher for 10 + years. Thanks again Br. Gale!

The weather sure has been cold, but they were able to complete the service project. They cleared trails, cut down trees and with the tree logs they made steps. 

They worked on the fire pits. It was hard work and they were beat when they came home. Everything was wet - all the camping equipment. They even had a white out as they drove home - luckily it didn't snow until they were on their way home. I kept wondering how they would complete the service project with the bad weather. It was a blessing the white out snow waited until they were on their way home.

In sacrament meeting they thanked the men and boys for all of their hard work.

I guess the little boys found salamanders around the camp ground that they brought home to their mommies eeewwww - boys are the best. Thankfully I didn't have one brought home to me :-D.

I'm glad that Brady was able to attend the camp out and preform needed service.

End of School Year Stress

The end of the school year is coming fast, only a couple of weeks left. That means finals!! Which also equals to major stress and work for Brady.

Every day has been filled with tons of home work and projects. Brady even spent most of the weekend working on homework. This week he had a huge speech / commercial for his Speech class. He wrote it this past weekend, looked at YouTube commercial videos, then found clip art. I purchased props - he did it on Miracle Grow liquid feed. This speech counts as 20% of his grade and he's been pretty stressed about it.

He's been working on memorizing it and having his words and presentation come out smoothly. I have been hearing his speech and him pacing upstairs over and over again. He is a perfectionist - which is lots of stress. He gave his presentation / speech yesterday and it all worked out great. He felt good about it.

ON TOP of the speech, he has had to memorize a poem for his English class - which he is giving today. That is a TON of information to memorize for one week. Poor little guy! 

All the knowledge pouring into his brain has been massive this week.

Needless to say... I've been giving him a free pass on many other obligations he has. I've also left him alone - because he can't even have a conversation with the brain over load. He's needed his own space this week.

I'm really proud of him and his hard work in school. He is doing a great job. This whole year he's maintained a 4.0.... so far this semester his highest class grade is 108% and his lowest is 97% and I hope he will still maintain it over the next couple of weeks - without his brain exploding - LOL!

One thing I have been very thankful for is his talent on the piano. It has been a huge stress reliever this week. He has been playing and playing to relieve his excess stress. I love listening to the music he fills our home with. One small piece of joy in a week full of stress.

Only a few more weeks and then - YEAH! Summer brain break!!

Home Made Twix Bars and Other Treats

Have you noticed how SMALL candy bags have gotten that you purchase at the store? But the price is still ridiculously high for what you get. I have decided to stop purchasing candy because it is such a rip off - not because I should (I know - hanging head in shame)

I've decided to start making my own - because I love chocolate and can't have a home without it. I know I should resist.... but seriously .... we have to keep a mommy happy...*giggle. AND SHE ISN'T HAPPY WITHOUT CHOCOLATE!

I've collected lots of fun recipes and decided I need to make more then just chocolate chip cookies - I needed to start being a little more creative to quench that craving - without going to the store.... I know I'm so bad - LOL!

I found a no bake homemade Twix bar recipe. I like it - but my children couldn't get over the salt in the club crackers (I wonder if they come in low sodium). I, on the other hand, thought they were great. I'm just going to send you to the link for the step by step pictured directions here at Hoosier Homemade.

The recipe for the Twix Bars:

Club Crackers (approx. 48)
1 c. Graham Cracker crumbs
3/4 c. Brown Sugar
1/3 c. White Sugar
1/3 c. Milk
1/2 c. Margarine (butter is what I use)

Place one layer of Club Crackers in a 13×9 pan. Combine ingredients in a heavy sauce pan. Bring to boil stirring constantly for approximately 5 min. Mixture should look like caramel and begin to pull away from side of pan. Pour over crackers, carefully, immediately place another layer of crackers on top pushing them down gently. Place in frig to cool.

In a microwave bowl, combine 2/3 c. Peanut Butter and 1 c. Milk Chocolate Chips for 2 min. Stir well and frost the top of the crackers. Place back in frig till firm.

Here they are... Don't they look yummy?? 

I decided to wrap them individually in wax paper and put in a zip lock bag in the fridge. I still have some two weeks later - what a great way to calm that craving... Yum!

I also decided to wrap rice crispy treats in wax paper and then put them in a zip lock bag for snacks and lunches... They lasted over two weeks too and were fresh - down to the very last one! Great idea for my small family.

We also made yellow cake mix chocolate chip cookies for a change. Brady said they tasted like frosting... Very vanilla flavor and good. You know the recipe for cake mix cookies - right?? If you don't here it is. Usually we make deviled food cake mix cookies with butterscotch chips - it's our favorite and has a texture of a brownie..

Recipe:

1 package of cake mix (any flavor)

1 large egg

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup water.

Add chopped nuts, raisins, coconut, chocolate chips, M&M's etc. anything you like in cookies.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. combine cake mix, egg, oil and water. Beat until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredient.

Drop by teaspoon about 1 inch apart on cookie sheet (You can grease it if you want - I don't).

Bake for 15 minutes or until done. Makes about 4 dozen.

(You could also frost the cookies if you want)

Easy and yummy! Enjoy a more cost effective snacks!

Planting Seedlings

The plants I started from seeds in my kitchen window seal were starting to reach the top. Those tomato plants were HUGE! They needed to be planted, but it's been so cold that I didn't want to put them outside yet. I swear they grew an inch every day.

Finally, I took the time to get them in their pots outside.

It's hard to understand the scale of how big they are in a picture.

But. before I planted them, I needed to sanitize and clean their pots. I had to do this because this is what it says on the seed packet:

"To avoid diseases, don't plant where tomatoes or peppers have grown in the last two years"

Well, I don't want disease, but I do want to use the same pots as last year. I emptied the old dirt into a flower bed and brought the pots into our tub for a thorough cleaning.

I Cloroxed them and cleaned them really good.

Using clean pots and new potting soil, I finally have them in their pots. I plant them as deep as I could and only left the top portion of the plant out of the ground. They are still really big! I've covered them with a container until they are used to the weather. I also need to get a stake/cage for them to start supporting them as they grow. 

Here is the celery I planted from seed. There are lots of little seedlings which I separated. It will be interesting to watch these grow. I've never planted these before. I hope I left enough room between them. If not, I'll have to remove some and thin them out as they grow.

My bell pepper plants.

And broccoli plants. I've heard lots of horror stories about home grown broccoli - having bugs. I hope it works out.. we'll test them out this year and see how it goes. I hope they don't have bugs.

I love planting my plants from seeds. It really does feel good. I can't wait until they start producing.

I have NOT planted beans, zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers or carrots yet. I really need to get it done today. The peas and lettuce that I planted last month are doing great. This weekend I hope to get all of my flowers planted too. It's going to be a busy weekend - thankfully it is going to be warm (I'm soooo ready for warm).

Brady's Class Ring

Brady received his class ring this week. It is a really nice.

He chose as his interests a piano on one side of the ring.

And cross country track on the other side. He graduates in 2012 (the year the world is gonna end - LOL! - and just kidding). 2 years away until graduation - boy the time flies by.

It's hard to see, but the stone color is green because that is his favorite color.

Put me In the Zoo

Today while I was driving home from work I had one of those moments. You know the moments that transport you back in time. Ya, it was one of those moments when you see something and it brings you back to your childhood.

I saw a polka dot car. Unfortunately this isn't the car I saw - it's just an example. The car I was was totally black with green spots. It was super fun. I didn't know if it was advertising anything, I was just intrigued with the car.

Then WHAM!! I was transported back to my childhood as my mother read over and over again "Put Me In The Zoo". I loved this book.

I had to purchase it and read it to my boys too. Although, I don't think they loved it as much as I did. My boys had more selection of books then we did.

Do you remember this classic?

While growing up, we had 3 books that were completely warn out by my mother, brother and sisters reading it to me and Richard. Along with "Put Me In the Zoo", we loved "Green Eggs and Ham".

And "Go, Dog, Go".

They are still my favorite childhood books. Enough to transport me back in time while I see a polka dot car. :-D

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day! It's always nice to be loved and appreciated from your children.

Our gift from church was 2 chocolate chip cookies. It was fun - but surprising that it wasn't a flower.

The poem that came with the cookies is:

"A mother is a person who

seeing there are only four

pieces of pie for five people,

promptly announces she

never did care for pie."

by: Teneva Jordan

In Primary the children decorated a hot pad for their mother with fabric paint. It was a great idea and the children were very creative. I love the idea of having something to use and they found a great deal for the hot pads at 50 cents each - woo hoo! Our Primary Presidency did a great job!

In young men's, the teachers had the boys write a letter of appreciation and some coupon cards. I was surprised. This is my kind of gift. I don't think you need to spend money on me, home made and service rocks every time!

The letter from Brady says:

Dear Mom,

You are truly the one person that I care about more then anyone else on the whole earth. I love you for all that you do for me everyday, like making me food and cleaning my room (even if you give me a hard time about it afterwards). I will always love you.

Thank you for all that you do.

You loving son,

Brady

Coupons are wonderful too! On yeah, I'm going to use these. I love that he will do it for 3 times.

Yard work! Brady is always good about helping plant flowers - and I have a ton that need to go into the ground. He doesn't really like pulling weeds, but now I have a free pass for hard labor without whining :-D.

Preparing dinner. He does it once a week already on the night I work. Brady is a child that will not eat fast food - he prefers home cooked meals all the time. Sometimes I get tired of cooking all the time. Now when I need a day off - he will cook :-D.

I deep clean the house and change the beds Saturday morning while he is mowing the lawn. It doesn't take me long - because I do this all the time anyway and am very efficient. He is always willing to help out, but would rather play the computer on his day off of school. Maybe I'll take a day and kick up my feet and let him do the work.

Sunday after church Jason and Sharon came and fixed me dinner.

 

They made grilled shrimp. It was delicious. The marinade was the best. As soon as the email it to me, I will share it. I love being able to make shrimp like a chef would do. It was good.

They also brought steak, asparagus and baked potatoes. It was a wonderful meal.

I felt pampered and loved. We watched Iron Man 1 that evening - since we were in an Iron Man mood. It's such a great movie. It was a fun day!

Thanks Brady, Jason and Sharon for making my day special! I love you!

Brady Mowing Lawns

This is a picture of Brady mowing the lawn three years ago. He is my lawn mowing man and does a great job! We also mow our next door neighbor, Howard's lawn. Howard doesn't water his lawn or take care of it. It used to be just a ton of weeds sky high before we started to mow it. We started as a service to him and to me - in trying to keep all those weed seeds out of my yard.

Howard is a nice older gentlemen and loves to talk to us. He started paying Brady to mow his lawn - even though we would have done it for service. But it eases his mind to pay Brady.

Saturday while Brady was mowing our lawns, Diane from across the street came and asked if he would mow hers. Then Linda asked if he would mow hers and the end house. Pablo, who lives in the end house, usually mows Diane's and Linda's house for free. For some reason Pablo hasn't mowed their lawns for weeks. Linda paid Brady to mow hers and Pablo's too (just to be nice because he always mows their lawn).

That is 5 lawns that Brady ended up mowing Saturday morning. He is such a good kid to actually do it - that was a lot of work. He earned $90 that day.

He was happy with the money - but I believe he also felt good from a job well done. There is joy in working and accomplishing a task. Work is a great self esteem booster. I'm glad he will work with a happy heart and not be grumpy about it. He is a great kid!

Movie Review - "Iron Man 2"

Brady and I have been waiting for Iron Man 2 to come out. We decided to attend the movie the day it came out, Friday June 7th as soon as Brady came home from school. There was a showing at 3:30 and 4:15 - but we hurried and made the 3:30 showing - Yeah!

We loved Iron Man 1, Robert Downey Jr. was awesome in that movie as Tony Stark. He did not disappoint in Iron Man 2. I love him!

There were new characters introduced in Iron Man 2. Natasha played by Scarlet Johansson, and Ivan Vanko played by Mickey Rourke.

I loved Natasha! Scarlett did a great job. Her fighting reminded me of the Matrix or Bourne Identity. It was really cool. I love powerful women!

There was Pepper Potts. Will Tony and Pepper ever get together? That is the question....

Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko was very impressive. He is an awful looking man, tattoos and I have to say his finger nails are gross. He did a great job with the accent and acting. Ivan Vanko is a brilliant man in the movie - and scary with his brilliance and hatred for Tony Stark.

I HATE it when they change actors. This is what they did with the character "Rhodey". Iron Man 2 Rhodey was played by Don Cheadle. He did a good job, but I didn't like the change.

I preferred Terrence Howard as Rhodey in Iron Man. It's hard to wrap your mind around actor changes - at least for me anyway.

I loved this movie. Two thumbs up from me!!

After the movie Brady and I headed over to Sizzler for a nice dinner. It was a great Friday evening and a great way to start a Mother's Day weekend. If you saw Iron Man 1 - you will love Iron Man 2.

If you haven't seen Iron Man 1 - why not. It is great!