Finally!

Yesterday was a big day for Darren and Alex.

Alex finally got to go to the Salt Lake Auto Auction with his Dad to find a vehicle. Ever since he was a tiny little boy he has been asking when he could go to the auction. You have to be seventeen to get an entrance pass - so he finally got one! Going to the auction was like a kid in a candy store for Alex! He loves vehicles and there were so many to choose from - except the one he fell in love with, a Dodge truck, didn't run very good so he was bummed. He ended up not even buying a truck from the auction and got one from his Grandpa Bud, but still, he finally experienced the auction!

Darren went to the dentist yesterday and found out he had his first cavity ever and had to have it filled. As he was describing the pain as he got the shot in his mouth and complaining that the whole side of his mouth was numb, I was trying not to laugh because I have a whole mouth full of fillings so I have experienced the pain more times than I like to admit. Finally he knows the pain the rest of his family has experienced over the past twenty years!

Last night Brayden hung out with some of his friends and I feel so lucky we live where we do. First they went fishing in the irrigation pond, then they went to the canal and tried to catch frogs. With no success in doing that, they got out the pellet guns to do some practice shooting on the birds that are making a mess of my driveway. They ended the night by going up to the BLM land near our house and had an air soft war in the dark. When we lived in Salt Lake, these kind of activities never happened, we are so blessed!

At noon I am going to have a teddy bear picnic with a bunch of the young women in my ward and have them help me make friendship bracelets so I can take them to Africa to hand out then we will head to Salt Lake so we can catch our flight out tomorrow early for our big adventure - Finally! I am sure I will shed a few tears saying good bye to the horses, but I will really cry when I have to say good bye to my boys I'm leaving behind. Here is a recipe for Cry Baby Gingersnaps (that really is the name, I don't have a clue why!)Maybe a batch of these will make things easier!

Cry Baby Gingersnaps

Combine 1C. sugar, 3/4C. shortening, 1 egg, 4T. molasses until smooth. Then add 2C. flour, 2t. baking soda, 2t. cinnamon, 1t. ginger and 1t. cloves. Form into balls then roll in sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 8 - 10 minutes.

Africa Here We Come!

I can hardly believe we leave for Africa tomorrow! It seems like we have spent countless hours preparing and it is finally here! We have four giant bags overflowing with items donated from our wonderful friends and neighbors. I'm sure the items they hold will make a difference in the lives of the Kenyan people.
I will miss my husband and the two boys I am leaving behind, but I am excited to go to Kenya with Brayden to help make a difference some how.

Everyone keeps asking me if I am nervous, but I am really not. I wish Dar and the other two boys were going with us, because I will miss them terribly but someone has to hold down the fort while we are gone!

I'm sure it will be a great adventure and I can't wait to share the exciting experiences we will have.

One last McDonald's Coke and a peanut butter kiss cookie - then we are off!

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

Combine 1/2C. peanut butter, 1/2C. butter, 1/2C. sugar and 1/2C. brown sugar until creamy. Add one egg, 2T. milk, 1t. vanilla, 1 3/4C. flour, 1t. baking soda and 1/2t. salt.
Roll dough into small balls and then roll in a bowl of sugar until coated. Set on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350*.
As soon as you pull them out of the oven, top with an unwrapped Hershey's chocolate kiss or my favorite, half of an unwrapped Reese's peanut butter cup.

The Claw

We spent last week at Lake Powell with a bunch of our neighbors. We found the perfect little cove in Padre Bay so we had shade by five o'clock every evening. The water was the perfect temperature and the scenery was breath taking!

The Peterson's stayed on our houseboat with us and we had a great time! Their son Jordan had his hand in a cast because a beam fell on his index finger last week and severed the tendon. Alex was a good friend and helped him put saran wrap, and duct tape over the top of a rubber glove everytime he wanted to get into the water. Whenever Jordan crashed while wake boarding or surfing, the first thing that would pop out of the water was, "the claw" as we named it. It was hilarious!

We surfed, hiked, played games and just sat and floated in the cool water for hours while we laughed and talked. Mark told me he waved at my last week while I was working in my garden and he was moving his wheel line. He said he was surprised because I didn't answer back. When he looked a little closer, he realized he was saying good morning to my scarecrow. We had a good laugh off of that one!

Mark and Julie are amazing cooks, so we ate like kings everyday! Of course Julie made her famous chocolate pancakes with vanilla syrup -(I will definitely be getting that recipe!) The first night they made fajitas and we had so much left over, we ate it for dinner again on Saturday night with Darren's Dad and we still had some left over. I was going to throw it out because when we fly, I don't have room for a cooler, but one of Darren's Dad's friends wouldn't let me because it was so good.

Peterson's Fajitas

Cut up a bunch of chicken breasts and steak meat into thin strips and place in a big zip lock baggie. Add green peppers and onions, also sliced into thin strips. Then throw in some Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper and your favorite seasonings and then marinate all night.

Pour a little oil into a big pan add the fajitas and cook until the veggies are crisp tender. Serve on tortillas with your favorite toppings - shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa and guacamole.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

When I started to pack the donated items last night, I realized I wasn't going to have enough room for everything unless I made the ultimate sacrifice. Yep, I am going to have to leave the Coke and the poptarts home. Maybe I can loose some weight without them!

Ken was having a great time at scout camp last night when his Dad met up with him. Hopefully today went good and there weren't any melt downs!

My garden is growing away! I can't wait to eat this pasta recipe I came up with a few years ago when I had zucchini coming out of my ears:

Boil two chicken breasts, then shred. Next, cook one package of angel hair pasta according to the directions. Grate one zucchini and add to the cooked pasta along with 1/2 cube of butter, 1/2C. cooked peas, 1t. garlic salt, 1C. grated Parmesan cheese and the shredded chicken.

"I'm Having A Rough Moment"

It was a rough morning. What should have been a fifteen minute drive to drop Ken off at the church to go to scout camp turned into a four hour adventure. By the time everyone got to the church, Ken had worked himself into such a panic about going to camp - the scout leader and I couldn't even force him into the car.

It's a good thing the Grey Hound bus ticket place didn't open until 9:00AM, because we got there at 8:30AM and that gave Ken thirty minutes to decide what he was going to do - get on a bus to go live with someone else or go to scout camp. By the time he decided it would be okay to go, the rest of the troop were already on their way up the mountain. That meant I had the fine privilege of driving him an hour up the mountain to try to find the scout camp. I had no idea where we were going, I just headed up the mountain and thank goodness the scout leaders had put up a few signs.

How could you not like scout camp their choices for merit badges were endless - swimming, canoeing, sailing, pioneering, cooking, archery, work carving, electronics,camping and then the not so fun choices.... first aid and Indian Lore. Ken hardly said good bye to me because he was so happy to see his friends.

While driving up there, I was so busy playing "I Spy" with Ken to keep him from working himself up into a panic again, I didn't pay attention to which roads I took. So, I got lost on the way back down the mountain. I called my husband and he told me to use the navigation system in my car. So I did, and I ended up driving the long way home because that's the way my car navigation told me to go.

The bigger boys and I spent a good portion of the night collecting donated items to take to Africa as a part of Brayden's Eagle Scout Project. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of our neighbors and friends. So many people were willing to help Brayden so he can help the school children in Africa. Our bags are bulging with baby blankets, shirts, hats, pencils, medicine, band aids and books. It is awesome! Only ten more days and we will be off for the adventure of a life time!

Alex called me tonight and said, "I'm having a rough moment." "Oh, oh, what happened?" I asked. When he took the boat down to the car wash to clean it off, the tower was too tall for the bay and he snapped it off. Good thing his dad went up to scout camp with Ken tonight. Alex is such a good boy, he went straight to the shop to weld it back on. So much for a relaxing night!

What I wouldn't give for one of my friend Lynette's chocolate brownies right now - they are great stress relievers!

Lynette's Brownies

Melt one cube of butter in a pan with 3 1/2T. cocoa, 1/2C. shortening and 1C. water. Bring to a boil, then pour over a mixture of 2C. sugar and 2C. flour. Add 1/2C. buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1t. baking soda and 1t. vanilla and stir. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes. Frost with your favorite chocolate icing when they are cool.

The Perfect Summer Evening

My husband is just like his father, he hears the word, "Auction," and he has to go just to see if there is any good deals. One of the roofing companies in our little town was going out of business and so there was an auction going on yesterday. We have a little overhang we built last fall over our basement door that we need some roofing for so I thought it was a great idea. Five hours later he came home with a 1200 square foot garage full of Spanish bar tile, (we needed enough to cover 8 foot by maybe 12 foot.) He had a trailer full of new dead bolt locks for the apartments, two new lawn chairs, three hundred shirts for me to take to the school kids in Kenya, two saddles, a light fixture, a cart for Lake Powell and tons of miscellaneous crap. His prized buy of the day though was a couch, love seat and chair. When they were brand new they had to have been absolutely beautiful. But they had definitely seen better days. Dar was so excited about them that he wanted to bring them in and replace my family room furniture. The thing was...... the stuffing was coming out of the back of the couch. They were filthy dirty and pretty ragged. I told him to just set them in the garage until we decided what to do with them.

Everyone was tired from working hard all day and the Labrums came up to visit so we all sat out in the garage on the couches drinking Coke and eatting cookies. By the end of the night, we had all three garage doors open to enjoy the view and the cool summer breeze, and the guys decided that we might have to leave the couches in the garage so they could have a new "Man Cave" to hang out in. They were even talking about installing a big screen television on one wall. We had such a nice time and.... the couches were pretty comfortable so I agreed to clean them, fix them up and we could put them somewhere in the house .... (mostly so we don't have a permanent man cave in my garage!)

It was the best night! Kennedy came out and asked if he and Porsha could ride the horses. What!!!?? Who are you and what did you do with my kid? He never asks to do that. So we saddled up the horses and they played tag with them in the barn.

After dinner, all the kids hooked a rope up to the Kabota and pulled each other up and down the canal on the Labrums wake skate. One of the big reasons we wanted to build on this particular piece of land is because of the fun we knew the kids would have playing in the canal. They had a ball and we had fun watching them while being amazed at the color of the clouds as the sun set.

It was the perfect summer evening!

We ate warmed up lasagna and Lisa brought stuff to make Hawaiian haystacks (now there's an odd combination!)
The lasagna is so easy to make:

Boil some water and cook the lasagna noodles according to the directions on the package. Brown one pound of sausage and add a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce.
Put a layer of lasagna noodles on the bottom of a casserole pan then add the meat sauce and some mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of noodles and some more mozzarella cheese and bake at 350* for about 30 minutes.

Have a Coke and a smile

Yesterday as I was putting the first of three coats of varnish on my garage doors, it hit me that I had a lot of packing to do. Even though Africa is still twelve days away, I will be gone six of those days. So that means fifteen days worth of clothing has to be cleaned and packed along with all the other required supplies: work gloves, safety glasses, extra camera batteries, games to play with the African children, snacks and of course the miniature bottles of coke. (I admit I have a problem with drinking Coke - and I don't want to chance not being able to find any in Kenya!) So while I was shopping for all of these necessities, I ran into my friend Rae Lynn and she asked Ken if we were shopping for his scout trip next week. I had completely forgotten about it - and to top it off, she said all of his stuff needed to be at his leaders house today so they could take it up the mountain tomorrow. Then I really started to panic when Brayden told her we were going to go to Lake Powell before we left for Africa. AGGGGHHHHH!!!!

I spent most of yesterday afternoon, last night and this morning packing and I feel much better about everything, but for a minute I doubted if I was going to be able to get it all done - but most importantly, there was room for the ten bottles of Coke!

One of my friends in Salt Lake, Lynette Lapoint, told me about this recipe which I love because it involves Coke!

Lynette's Barbecue Ribs

Saute one chopped onion & 2 garlic cloves - chopped in 2T. butter. Add 2C. ketchup,
one can of Coke, 1T. Worcestershire sauce, 1t. mustard, 2t. vinegar, 1t. liquid smoke and 1T. brown sugar. Simmer for one hour then put into a crock pot with ribs and simmer over night.

I found two other recipes that involve Coke that I can't wait to try as well:

Coke Frosting
Combine 1/3C. butter, 1/2C. Coke, 1/3C. Cocoa and enough powdered sugar to make desired consistency. Spread over your favorite kind of cake.

Black Cherry Jello
Pour 2C. hot water over two small packages of cherry jello and stir - then add 2C. Coke. Chill overnight and serve with cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top.

Playing In The Sprinklers

Last night we went to the local rodeo. I had a blast - I don't know about the rest of the family! They usually just go for the half time show but this year it was sooooo.... lame! They had two guys in sumo suits, wrestling. Where is the guy with the wonder horse who can do amazing tricks and his monkey that rides on a little saddle on a dog?

This morning I put the horses out into one of our paddocks and turned the sprinklers on to cool them off. I sat and watched my two year old colt, Copper Penny, play in the sprinklers. At first she stood near the spray enjoying the mist. Then, when she realized she liked the cool water hitting her, she moved closer to spray, until it hit her in the face. Then she put her ears back and glared at it. It was hilarious to watch her relax as she got more comfortable with the water hitting her. In the end, she ended up standing right over the sprinkler head so the water sprayed up and hit right under her belly. It must have felt like the water jets I have on my massaging shower head. Nothing better then playing in the sprinklers to cool off while eating a nice salad in the pasture!

Speaking of salads, I found Top Ramen on sale at the grocery store, so I think I will make one of my favorite salads with it.

Oriental Chicken Salad

Boil and dice one chicken breast. In a large bowl, add 2T. sesame seeds, one head cabbage, shredded and 2 green onions, finely chopped. Crumble the dry noodles from the package of one chicken flavored Ramen noodle soup.
To make the dressing: combine 1/2 pkg. of the seasoning from the Ramen soup with 3T. sugar, 1/2C. vegetable oil and 3T. rice wine vinegar. Toss with the lettuce right before serving.

Painting, painting and more painting

I have spent the last two days painting my garage doors and I am still not done. All I can say is I am glad my husband didn't order the twelve foot doors like he originally wanted to do AND that I talked him into getting three doors instead of six! They will be beautiful when they are done, but man it is a lot of painting! I am using the minwax gel stain which reminds of when my kids used to make pictures with chocolate pudding. If the temperature gets to hot, it becomes like tar and is a nightmare to use!

After I helped paint every room in our house after it was built I swore I would never pick up another paint brush. So why am I painting again?

Yesterday when I was weeding my garden, I found a wonderful surprise, my zucchini's are starting to grow! My all time favorite recipe ever includes zucchini so I can't wait!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Beat 1/2C. butter, 1/2C. oil and 1 3/4C. sugar until fluffy. Add two eggs, 1t. vanilla and 1/2C. sour cream. Next add 2 1/2C. flour, 4T. cocoa, 1t. baking soda,
1/2t. cinnamon and 1/2t. salt. Then stir in 2C. grated zucchini. Pour batter into a cake pan then sprinkle with chocolate chips and 1/4C. brown sugar.
Bake for 45 minutes at 325*.

Gas Soaked Oreo Cookies

I loved oreo cookies until Sunday night. There was nothing better than dunking one of those little cookies into a big glass of cold milk. The timing has to be all right - not too soggy but still soaked enough to melt in your mouth. After everyone left on Sunday night, I sat down with a big glass of cold milk and a package of oreo's for a little snack. Immediately after I took the first bite I asked, "What smells like gasoline?" Alex, my oldest, said it was probably his hands because he had helped his friend, Tyler Johnson, clean his fuel filter on his motorcycle a few minutes before. So I continued to eat my oreo's and after I ate the second one, I complained that the gas smell was really strong to the point where I could taste it. My husband said it was my imagination. So I dipped one more oreo into the milk and started to eat it but the taste was so strong, I was starting to get nauseated. I smelled the cookie but it didn't smell like gas. So I smelled the oreo package and it smelled really strong like gasoline. We figured out that the sack the oreos were in must have been setting in the back of the truck and some gas spilled on it. I had been eatting gas soaked oreos! The whole rest of the night I kept burping up gas. My family thought it was hilarious! I told them we should light a match and see what would happen, but my husband said with my luck, I would inhale just at the right time and send a flame down into my stomach. The thought of eating an oreo cookie now makes my stomach turn!

Maybe I should just stick to these homemade oreo's once I get to the cabin so I won't have this happen again!

Homemade Oreo's

Mix: 1 Devi's food cake mix with 1/2C. shortening and two eggs. Roll dime sized balls on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes at 350*.

Frosting: Mix 8 ounces of cream cheese, 1/2 square of butter, softened, 2t. vanilla and 2 to 4C. powdered sugar until smooth.
Frost the backs of the cooled cookies and place them together to make a sandwich.

Back In The Saddle

What an amazing weekend! I always forget how much fun the fourth of July is at the cabin until we are there. We counted up how many hours we spent in the saddle all weekend and were amazed that we spent sixteen hours riding. I was surprised that I wasn't sore at all, the same can't be said for our friends the Bain's, they were a little bull legged at the end of the weekend.

The wildflowers were blooming so it was amazing to ride and see wild sweet peas, Indian paint brush and flowers of every color splashed in with the wild grass. We saw lots of moose too.

We took our three year old - now called Bullseye and our four year old, Miss Renegade along with Bear and Cheyenne. The first day I had a little bit of a rodeo with Renny trying to get her to cross the water, but Dar hopped on her and spent an hour working with her and by the end of the trip, she didn't even hesitate to go through the streams.

The boys had a fantastic time during the paint ball war. It is so funny to watch them at the end of the day comparing war wounds. I think Darren won - he has a huge bruise on his side. Ken was very proud of all of the paint on his sweatshirt! (I thought the goal of the game was to not get hit, but apparently I was wrong.)

The boys spent hours riding their motorcycles - (thank goodness we didn't have any mishaps,) and we stayed up late watching movies and playing games every night.

Our friends, the Johnson's, have a cabin by us and they made banana boats one night. I hadn't ever had one before, but they were actually pretty good!

Lori's Banana Boats

Cut a banana down the center, leaving the peel on. Sprinkle miniature marshmallows, mini chocolate chips and crumbled graham crackers on top of the banana then wrap in foil and set in the coals of a fire for a few minutes until the chocolate and marshmallows melt.

Celebrating the Red, White and Blue

We are going to spend the fourth of July at the cabin for annual party with the Bain's and the Johnson's. My favorite part is taking the horses and spending hours riding through the quaking aspens. The boys love the paint ball tournament. I'm a little worried because last year I hit Rick right in the butt point blank after he was complaining that he was done playing because he was tired of getting hit. He doesn't get even, he gets revenge!

Since the boys are still up at their high adventure camp, I decided to try to round up all of the paint ball equipment so it would be packed and ready to go. I was shocked as I tried to plow through their rooms trying to find all of the stuff.

Brayden has a secret room - where he invents things. I couldn't even find a place to walk because there was so much crap! I ended up throwing away four big bags of garbage. You name it, it was in those sacks - old deodorant bottles, wires, a canning jar with something black caked in the bottom of it, empty tape dispensers, and parts and pieces of all kinds of items that were dismantled. If anyone offers to give him their old VCR, DVD player, radio or other electronic device so he tinker, I will shoot them! I know that is how Einstein got his start, but enough!

Then there was Alex's closet - if that's what you call it! The floor was covered with clothes. How does he know what is clean and what is dirty because it looked like a good combination of both scattered all over the floor! I didn't even attempt to clean that one up and just shut the door so I wouldn't have to look at it. He always smiles and says, "You weren't supposed to go in there!"

One of my favorite deserts for the fourth of July is this patriotic trifle.

Cut up one angel food cake into bit sized squares or you can use pound cake squared. Make one family sized box vanilla pudding and set aside. Wash three cups of strawberries or raspberries and two cups of blue berries.

In a glass trifle bowl, put in the following layers: cake, blue berries, pudding, cool whip, strawberries (or raspberries) then more blue berries, then repeat the layers and top with cool whip.

That's Not Good

Yesterday we had another whirlwind trip to Salt Lake. We stayed at the cabin Tuesday night so it was such a long day. Plus we needed to get the horse corral panels set up for this weekend.Shortly after we got there, we say two BIG moose about twenty feet off of the deck. There has been so much construction going on over the hill at Deer Valley on Empire Pass that I am amazed these big animals have a desire to stick around. It's always fun to see them - from a distance!

We were in a hurry to get home last night so Darren could help cook for a ward barbecue, but of course everything that could happen to delay us did happen including loosing a whole roll of carpet pad at the top of Daniels Summit. Some nice people stopped to tell us they moved it off the road, but when we went back to get it, a semi truck driver had loaded it up and driven off. I said, "That's not good!" We called the owner of the trucking company and told them we were grateful they picked it up for us, but we really needed it back! We'll see if that one happens.

I signed up to take a salad to the barbecue and I was so excited because I went out into my garden and picked some fresh tomatoes and cilantro add to my Avocado Bean salad. All of my hard work planting finally paid off and something grew!

My excitement to share the fresh tomatoes didn't last long, because as I was running out the door late with my bean salad for the party, I accidentally dropped it and dumped the whole bowl on the floor. As I stood there staring at the mess trying to not swear, Ken came up behind me and said, "That's not good." I couldn't help but laugh!

So for everyone that would have had this yummy salad at the party and didn't get to taste it, here is the recipe for the avocado bean salad that ended up all over my floor.

Avocado Bean Salad

Drain the following then combine in a bowl: one 15oz. can black eyed peas, one 15oz. can black beans, 1T. chopped cilantro, one 15oz. can corn, 2 tomatoes chopped then add one package of Italian dressing made according to the directions. Chill then just before serving, add two chopped avocados.