recipes, food storage, etc

A friend of mine recently told me about a website called my food storage deals http://www.myfoodstoragedeals.com/ (if someone wants to fill me in on how to make those cool links I'm willing to listen.) They give you a list of all the deals at grocery stores so you know what's a great deal to stock up on for your "home grocery store" and they make menus according to what's on sale too which helps save money as well. It seems that everyone is interested in getting their food storage again. Jason said that the use of the drypack cannery in our area is up 700 % that's no typo it's a 7. I couldn't believe it. They announced in church that they are booked through Dec--so you can buy their bulk stuff, but if you want to actually can it you'll have to get in line...back to my story--

I signed up for the weekly recipe planner in the hopes that it would help our sorry menus be more interesting and help us find some great new recipes. So far everything we've tried we've liked and the ones we haven't tried sound really good. The one I was most excited about though was Winger's chicken salad...including a mock wingers sauce. I have to admit I was skeptical...we love wingers and it's the only place I will eat wings since other wings are too hot for my girlie mouth. lol I have to say that the mock sauce is a dead ringer for the real thing and now I know why I like it so much--it's made with TONS of sugar! It even tasted perfect when we mixed it with ranch to make their pink sauce for our fries (this is the main reason I go to wingers--for the pink sauce). Jason even thought it tasted exactly like the real thing. So, even if the whole (food storage deals) thing doesn't turn out to be for us it was worth the $8 just for that one recipe and now we aren't beholden to wingers to get our fix of pink sauce! ;)

Have a great day!

Zupas and Mama Mia

Last night I got to go out to dinner with some girl friends and then to the movies. It was great! Bonnie chose Zupas for dinner and I had never been there before. I really liked it! If you know me at all that's saying something. lol I had a delicious Turkey bacon and avacado panini (thanks Felicia for the tip on Turkey and Avacado being good together!) and soup that was seriously yummy. So if you have a Zupas close by go check it out-- you won't be sorry.

After dinner we headed over to see the movie Mama Mia. Two of us hadn't seen it ever before and two of us had. I actually liked it and it was a fun movie to watch (just close your ears when Pierce Brosnan sings!) It makes me want to go see the play now. Felicia (the other one who hadn't seen it before) didn't like it...I love a girl who's willing to share her opinion even when it isn't the same as everyone elses. Bonnie and Tami had both seen the musical and if I remember right Bonnie liked it and Tami thought it was okay, but didn't like some of the changes they made to it. So, I guess it's really just personal taste when it comes down to it. ;) If you've seen the movie or the musical leave a comment and tell me what YOU thought of it.

Have a great day!!

Walking

Several people have asked me recently if Liam is walking yet. The answer is yes, and no. He CAN walk and he does when he feels like it, but it isn't his preferred form of mobility quite yet, but I think it will be before long. Several times this week he's walked when he used to get down and crawl instead. So, he's eleven months now and I think he'll be walking most of the time really soon. So, here's a short video of him walking. Please ignore my dorky laugh in the background...I just can't help it!

Children's parade

This week in our city's big celebration for the summer. My kids always look forward to it. The Saturday before the 24th they always have a children's parade where the kids (usually by ward) walk down center street to main and then there are activities for them to do at the park afterward.






This is our ward in the parade. You can see Jason in the front and Emily is in the red behind him.





Emily with her finished craft









The kids with their walking sticks after the parade.

How can I entice you??

I'm here to wonder out loud how to get those who check my blog to actually comment. I look at other friends' blogs and most of them have comments...at least a few on each post. I know I'm not that interesting and this post for sure is pretty lame, but hey, a girl has to try right?? I know you are looking since I can see from my google analytics that people are looking...so, what can I do so you'll comment?? PLEASE share! I LOVE to hear from all of you!

Memories

My friend Megan had this on her blog and I thought it might bring some of you blog stalkers out of the woodwork to actually comment!! :) I hope I'm not embarrassed by how few comments there are on this one.

This one's going around. I thought it'd be... interesting to read some memories.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together (you can leave a memory you have about any member of our family or all of us together). It doesn't matter if you knew me/us a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Seven Peaks

Yesterday the twins and I headed to Seven peaks for a day of fun in the sun. We got there right when it opened so that we could have a short amount of time to ride slides without the lines. It worked too! For the 1st hour we were there we hardly had to wait long at all in lines. It was great! We got a lot of our slide riding done in that first hour. Too bad we didn't know the new slide was open or we would have headed over there before the line got so long. Even with the long line we still rode the new Vortex slide 3 or 4 times. It was a fun day and thankfully Daddy stayed home with baby so we didn't have to worry about him being to hot/tired and I could actually have fun with the twins instead of sitting with the baby. (Emily was especially interested in me being able to go on some slides) Jason got really brave and went on the jagged edge-if you know the park it's the yellow slide that's up with all the steep slides. It has a few drops and when he was coming down his face was SOOO red. He told me later that he thought he was going to throw up and he was holding his breath so that's why his face was red. He didn't ask to go on it again. lol Sorry no pics I was too worried about the camera getting wet.

Tongue, Toes, and Treats

How's that for an interesting title? Got you intrigued? I just had to write a couple things down before I forget them like I usually do. Liam has started sticking his tongue out quite often and it is just hilarious to me because it's really long and pointy looking when he sticks it out I triede hard to get a picture, but this is as good as I got and doesn't do it any justice at all. He often does it after giving kisses (which are often licks) but sometimes I'll look at him and he'll just have his tongue sticking out. It's so funny.

The other funny thing he's been doing is trying to bite/eat/lick or something my toes. I usually sit with my feet up on the chair sort of half under me. Several times recently I've felt a wetness on my toes and look to see him laughing as I tell him not to eat my toes. I'm afraid he thinks its a game now...I guess I better keep my feet more clean if he's going to try to put them in his mouth. lol

Finally I wanted to share a cool refreshing treat. Take a can of peaches or pears and freeze it then blend it in the blender (you may have to let it thaw a tiny bit to get it out of the can). It is like a sorbet with no fat or anything. It will have sugar though from the syrup that the fruit is canned in, but it tastes good and is great on a hot night. We used to do this all the time when we were poor college kids, but I had forgotten it until the other day I decided to do it again. Liam loved it too! Peaches are more creamy and pears are more icy, but both taste good. Try it and let me know how you like it.

Have a great day!

Jury duty and Karate Test

Yesterday I spent all morning at the courthouse for jury duty. I have to say I was really glad I wasn't picked for the jury because it was a trial for child sexual abuse and I honestly really don't want those kinds of things in my head when I already worry so much about my kids. My awesome sil watched the kiddies for me and Liam didn't even cry the whole time which is really good. I hope that he is getting more used to other people. When I got there to pick the kids up Em wanted the cousins to come play at our house so we had the two oldest come and they played all afternoon. It was great except for that it made it so Liam couldnt' really nap since they were a bit on the loud side. ;) Emily always has so much fun with Camden beasue they are both very creative people and are happy doing the same things even though he's 4 years younger than her. :)

Then last night Jason tested for a new belt in karate. He went with Dad to the test and the rest of us stayed home. I guess he did well, but he has some bad habits of sloppiness that he has to fix and be signed off by his teacher before he gets his belt. I hope this is a lesson for him, but he doesn't seem to really care all that much. We require him to practice karate 5 of every 6 days for 20 minutes, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't do his best and is kinda sloppy when he practices and that has shown up in his test now. I hope he'll figure out that practicing good is better than slopping through and making more work to re-train himself.

Owlz game

Jason brought home a thing from school when it ended that had a coupon for free tickets to an Owlz game. Ever since my Dad took him to a game in WA last summer and then again when he came after Liam was born Jason's been wanting to go to another game. I had him invite a friend and we headed out Friday after our day at the pool. Our seats were just in the grass and I wished I had known that so I could've brought a blanket to sit on, but the boys didn't seem to notice. We were right in front of 3rd base looking down the baseline towards 2nd. We got to see a batter break his bat and it flew past 3rd base towards the outfield. We were right by where they went onto the field for the little stuff they did between innings so that was interesting. About half way through the game they announced that Colin Raye was going to sing. Well...no one even clapped or anything. I didn't because I knew it was a "talent night" and anyone could come do their talent and I just thought that it was some guy with the same name that happened to be singing. It wasn't. It was the real deal. He sang God Bless America after the 7th inning. We were pretty close to him when he was waiting to go onto the field, but there were security guys in front of him and they weren't letting anyone nearby so I couldn't get a very good picture. I was probably only about 10 ft away from him though. It was a fun time and I think Jason had fun even though he had to go with his boring old mom. :)

This is Jason eating his nachos WITH jalepenos. He ate the first jalepeno and his face got all red and his eyes watered, but he kept eating them. Must be a guy thing.






This is Colin Raye coming off the field after singing. He's holding a little girl...don't know who she is, but I'm assuming she's related to him somehow. Sorry it's so far away. I was really wishing I'd chosen a camera with more zoom while taking this picture.




We didn't stay to the end of the game, but I got this picture of Jason and his friend. They bought themselves a souvineer baseball so when I asked for a picture they decided they wanted to be "throwing" them in the picture. Anything to get a picture I say.

First time at the pool

We usually spend a ton of time at the pool during the summer, but this is the first time we've been this summer. After last year's "crypto" outbreak we decided to wait awhile before going this summer to see if it would be a problem again before taking the kids to the pool. So, after a call to the health dept to find out that there haven't been any outbreaks so far we decided to brave it. Liam LOVED it. He loves to splash in the tub so I thought he'd like it, but you just never know with little ones how they will react.

He started out cautiously
















But ended up like this the whole time! His poor little eyes were red from the chlorine and his skin was dry so we had to smear him with tons of cetaphil cream, but he loved it anyway.

HELP!!

I am in desperate need of some new ideas for dinners for the summer. We are all getting tired of sandwiches and tacos. So, blog readers....PLEASE I'm begging you to share the great ideas that I KNOW you have!

Thanks!

FHE at the skate park

Tonight we had our FHE at the skate park because it's way too hot to go during the day and the kids were dying to go. I insist on going with them because I'm worried they might get hurt or that the older kids might bully them or something. I rode my bike there with the kids, but I didn't join in the fun at the park. I'd probably break something. Boy can I tell I'm out of shape though just the short ride to the park was tough! Here are a few pictures of the kids having fun.
It usually takes Jason a little while to warm up and get brave, and I think he has as much fun watching the other kids there as he does actually riding around himself.






Emily is surprisingly brave when she wants to be.








Em trying to get Liam to keep Jason's ball cap on.









This is the funniest thing. Liam is fascinated with glasses so I was trying to put my sunglasses on him and he made this face everytime and the one time I actually got them on his face he took them right off. I guess he just wants to look at them and not wear them.

Merrilee

I was so excited to get an email from my friend Merrilee this weekend saying that she was going to be in town for a couple days and could she stop by for a minute and say hi, meet Liam in person, and see the twins. I was so happy that she would take time out of her busy schedule and seeing her family and all of that to stop by and see us. Her parents live REALLY close to us.

We lived in Wymount together when then twins were little toddlers and her Maddie was a toddler too. It was always so nice to go out the the playground and be able to visit with other moms and let the kids play. That's how I kept my sanity in that first year and a half or so. :) It's always so fun to see old friends! Thanks for stopping by! Tawnie--we decided that next time Merrilee comes with the kids we'll have to plan a get together so the kids can all play and we can all catch up! Let us know when Merrilee! :)

Stadium of Fire!

The kids and I had tons of fun at Stadium of Fire. We got a ride with our friend LaurieLyn and her daughter Sabrina because their grandparents live right by the stadium so we didn't have to hunt for a parking place. We got there early and headed over to see what was going on near the stadium. There were lots of booths with free stuff and the kids had a ball seeing what there was to see and finding the best free stuff. :)

When we finally got our kettle corn (we waited in line forever!) and got to our seats it was ready to start. I laughed when they did the Stadium of fire announcement in the usual "song" and the kids said "THAT'S why Dad kept singing Stadium of Fire like that!" They must've just thought their dad was a little nutty. :) My personal favorite was the Blue man group. They did "how to be a rockstar" and it was really funny. I would love to see a full performance from them. The even funnier part was when Mylie Cyrus came out and started doing all the "Rockstar Dance moves that the Blue man group had just barely been poking fun at. THAT was funny. ;)



This is the kids posing silly with their free fans.






This one is to prove I was actually there and so was LaurieLyn. :)




I LOVED watching the skydivers! It was so cool! Most of them flew right over where we were sitting when they came to land in the stadium. To think they can be that precise is pretty cool. I took a video (see below ) of one of them landing with my little camera, but it really doesn't give you the feeling of speed that you had watching them in real life coming into the stadium. I don't know if it was the sound or what, but they seemed to be going SOOO fast coming in you really thought they might not be able to stop. Actually the guy I took video of almost ran into the stands on the other side, but I quit filming and didn't catch it.



On the right is Emily and Hannah rocking out to Mylie and having fun!







Em's getting excited for Mylie to come out!



The fireworks were awesome and so much better inside the stadium that when we've watched them from outside and far away. I have a fireworks setting on my camera, but without a tripod the fireworks all look kinda streaky. Oh well... It was a super fun time and even though we didn't get home until really late it was totally worth it. Thanks to Daddy for getting us tickets and to his friend Dave for offering them to us!

My first find!

Since all of our guests ended up not coming over for the 4th of July BBQ we decided to go Geocaching instead. We went up Hobble Creek canyon and I found my first Cache. How it works is the GPS gets you close and then you have to just hunt around and find the hidden cache. I was the lucky winner this time! Usually the kids find it, but I beat them to it this time.
We were walking back to the car and Jason said there was another cache across the road. I figured it wasn't too far since it was part of the mountain across the road. So, the boys headed up...and they kept going and going, I finally yelled to ask if they had found it and they still had 300 more feet to go! It was the middle of the day and VERY hot and they weren't exactly ready for such a wild hike. They decided to come back and we'd go find that cache another time earlier in the day when we were more prepared to hike that mountain. You can't see too well, but the first picture is them going up and the second is them coming back down. I think the down was harder than the up since the loose rocks made it easy to slip...

Colonial Days

Thursday the kids and I went to Colonial Days in Provo. It's in conjunction with the Freedom Festival (4th of July celebration). They have all sorts of colonial stuff there. Basketweaving, old guns, spinning wool into thread, a replica of a section of the Mayflower, and the printing museum. The kids had fun seeing how things used to be.



Do you think I could get away with having one of these in my basement?? Maybe it'd encourage the twins to quit fighting over every little thing. ;)
Emily at the wheel of the "Mayflower". It was a life sized section of the boat and I was REALLY surprised how small it was. It would have been difficult to fit so many people onto such a small boat.
Jason being fierce in the armor they had to try on. He only had it on for a minute and he commented on how hot it was to wear.
This is Em and Jason playing nine mens morris. It reminded me of tick tack toe, but more complicated...the kids loved it so I gotta figure out how to make a board for them to play on at home. They also played fox and geese but we had to leave before they were done to meet Daddy at the printing museum. If you haven't been to the Crandall printing museum you should check it out. It has some really cool stuff. Old printing presses, a machine that you can type a word into and it'll make a metal printing piece of that word. The kids and I all got our names like that last year. It has a Guttenberg printing press and lots of other neat stuff to look at. We all had fun checking it all out.

Dinner with friends

Last weekend we went to Sherwin and LaurieLyn's house for dinner and some fun. The kids played in the sprinkler, the dad's took all the kids geogaching at a nearby church, and we ate some good food. It was a great time! Thanks for the fun guys!

I swear I feed this kid and he eats like a pig most of the time too! Does this remind you of another "Ethiopia boy" Jennie??







Having fun in the sprinkler






Emily didn't want to get wet for some reason so Jason decided to help her out by cooling her off. :)












Cute Katie having fun with the big kids.

Hannah Montana Here we come!

This year's Stadium of Fire headliner is Mylie Cyrus aka Hannah Montana...the tickets sold out SOOOOO fast once they went on sale and of course then were found on ebay for crazy amounts of money! Apparently some people are getting desperate though because a friend of dh's from work got a bunch of tickets for the same price they sold them for originally and offered to sell us some he wasn't going to use so the kids could go. That's how we are now going to the Stadium of Fire. At least the twins and I are going. They have been wanting to go for awhile and so have I, but it's just never worked out. I don't personally love Mylie Cyrus, but my kids do so I guess that's good enough. At least I can look forward to the Blue Man Group. :) So, there you have it we are gonna be crazy tired on Saturday, but we are going and we're gonna love every minute of it!

Have a great day!