We're Off To See The Wizard!

For girls camp this year we are going to take the girls to my cabin above Park City.
I'm excited because we are going with the Wizard of Oz theme which ties in great with the thirteenth article of faith which is the mutual theme this year. We are seeking to find a way to our Heavenly Home.

The first day of camp we are going focus on how Dorothy was seeking to find her way home while following the yellow brick road and each of the young women are seeking to find their way to their eternal home while following the path that our Savior laid for them to follow. We are going to Salt Lake to visit one of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's General Young Women's board and they can hopefully tie in how each young women is a daughter of God. Then we will tour temple square and have a picnic at the park near the church office building. Because we live three hours away from Salt Lake, a lot of the young women in our group haven't ever been able to see temple square, so I am very excited! Then we are going to possibly tour Welfare Square and do some kind of service project.

The next day, our focus will be on the tin man and we will talk about how we need to be able to have a bullet proof testimony to stand against the adversary. The way to gain that is to develop love and charity towards others. We will spend most of the day doing camp certifications and pass off the hikes and cooking requirements. I'm excited to do the hike because I think we will do some kind of a Wizard of Oz obstacle course on the way back to the cabin. The girls will encounter situations that will require help from each of the young women values to make it home.
We are also going to decorate flip flops that day with silk and organza flowers like the ones I found on this fun blog: www.craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com.

The girls did a spaghetti dinner fund raiser and silent auction a few weeks ago and earned enough money so on Wednesday we can spend all day at the Park City ski resort playing on the alpine slide, alpine coaster and the zip line. They will need to have courage like the lion to try hard things that day. That night will be the skits, bishopric's night to cook us dinner and have testimonies.

The last day, we will go to Brigham Young University and visit with President Cecil Samuelson. Then tour the BYU campus. This will tie in with the scarecrow and represent the knowledge and wisdom the girls will gain as they work through life. Like the scarecrow, they are filling their brain one straw at a time with things that they want to excel at. I know three young people, (and I am sure there are more) who are getting married right after they graduate in June because they think that is their only option in small town life. I want my girls to know they should try to do good in school so they can get the best education they can and experience life before they get married.

We will end the girls camp by celebrating at the Brick Oven Pizza place in Provo for lunch. (That right there is worth the trek to the big city!)

Tomorrow night we are going to have a meeting with the Youth Camp Leaders to finalize our plans and I am going to make them some suckers because they will be the "Lollipop guild" and be responsible for making camp fun. This is the best sucker recipe because it is so easy! A few years ago I got some sucker molds at Orson Gygi's in Salt Lake so they will be perfectly round.

Lollipops

Over medium heat, combine 2C. sugar, 2/3C. light corn syrup and 3/4C. water in a sauce pan. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook until the temperature reaches 260* (with a candy thermometer,) then add a few drops of food coloring. Keep cooking until it reaches 300* then remove from the heat and add a few drops of the desired flavor. Pour quickly into greased sucker molds on a greased cookie sheet and add sticks. Do not remove the molds until the candy has completely set up.

A New Little Business

Tailwind Traders


While I was in Las Vegas in March, we went to a trade show so I could find purses for my little business called, Queen Bee Bagz. During this trip I found some wonderful handmade clothing from the Himalaya's that I fell in love with and decided to start a new little business called, The Tailwind Traders. I have the beginnings of a website: www.tailwindtraders.com, that shows some of the things I bought but it is just in the beginning stages. It is hard to set up an online business because the pictures don't do the clothing justice! They are so comfy and unique. (As a side note, the cute model on the website is Alex's new "friend," Tabitha. He says they are just friends but really?)

Last Tuesday, I went to the Antelope Point Marina on Lake Powell and some of my clothes will be in their little marina store in May. They are unique clothes and bags that everyone notices whenever I put them on.

That night we rushed home so I could have an activity with my Laurels for mutual. The wonderful young woman who was supposed to be in charge of the activity forgot to set things up, so at the last minute so I threw together an activity. Lori Tolbert had told me about the best fondue ever using melted Toblerone candy bars so I tried that. It was fantastic!

Toblerone Fondue

Melt one regular sized Tolberone bar very two people you are serving in a fondue pot. Add in a little half and half so it stays smooth. Cut up strawberries, bananas, apples, angel food cake squares and rice crispy treats or use cream puffs (the kind you find on the frozen food aisle)to dip into the chocolate. It was so easy and so yummy!

The Scuba Man

Last week, my youngest brought home a paper saying he needs to career shadow someone at their job for an assignment in one of his classes. I suggested he go to McDonald's or somewhere easy that he enjoys going to. But he said he wants to be a Lego designer or the scuba diving man. There are no Lego designers that I know of in our small town so we are going to have to pass on that option. We live in the middle of a desert but thank goodness there is one scuba shop in town. (How it stays in business I would love to know!) Anyway, we talked to the owner and he said Ken could shadow him. We also decided to have him do his pool work to certify for his scuba license that day. Ever since he did the scuba trial when we were in the Bahamas last fall, Ken has been bugging us to let him certify. The last two days we have gone over all of the online scuba class lessons and now he is ready to do the pool work and hopefully pass the test. He loves sharks and dolphins and maybe this could lead to a career one day. Who knows!

Dar went to San Carlos, Mexico with his Dad last month for a humanitarian trip with his rotary group and found a dolphin therapy place there. We really wanted to take Ken to do the two day therapy over spring break, but of course the facility doesn't do the dolphin therapy in April or May. So maybe sometime this summer or fall we can make a quick trip to see how it will go. I'm not sure how but there have been studies that dolphins can really help kids with autism. No wonder he always loves to see dolphins!

Tomorrow we are going to one of our good friends, daughters baptisms. I get to take brownies to the party afterwards. Brownies are not one of my specialties. Even when I add an extra egg to make them more cake like, they still turn out gooey. I found this recipe on line and hopefully it will be the magic one!

Best Brownies

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour and 8 in. square pan. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2C. butter. Remove from heat and stir in 1C. sugar, 2 eggs and 1t. vanilla. Beat in 1/3C. cocoa, 1/2C. flour, 1/4t. salt and 1/4t. baking powder. Spread this batter evenly in the pan and bake for 30-36 minutes.

To make frosting, combine 3T. butter, 3T. cocoa, 1T. honey, 1t. vanilla and 1C. powdered sugar. Add in a tiny bit of milk or half and half until it is creamy and spreadable. Frost the brownies while they are warm.

Rebel

I realized I haven't posted any pictures of my new love, Rebel. He is the most amazing horse! After I sold Lakota, I haven't really had a horse at the barn which I absolutely loved, so I haven't wanted to spend as much time up there. That is until Rebel came along! I was up cleaning stalls the other day and I told Darren, I forgot how much I love being at the barn. People think I'm strange when I tell them I love to clean out the stalls. I turn on my ipod and muck away with Rebel. It is absolute heaven!

A couple of weeks ago, I knew a friend was not feeling good and I decided to make some cream of potato soup for her family. I found a great new recipe and wanted to try it out. I had all afternoon to spend at the barn so I hurried and made it and the instructions said to let it simmer. While I was at the barn I kept having the thought that I needed to check the soup. I was enjoying the smells and the sounds of the barn and I didn't want to leave, but I kept having that thought. Finally I decided to just check on it so the thought would go away. As I walked in the door, I immediately got a whiff and knew something wasn't right. When I walked into the kitchen, I could see the smoke coming up off the pot and curling along the ceiling from my soup. Just then Kennedy, who was laying on the couch watching t.v. said, "Something stinks Mom." I yelled, "Yeah, it's your dinner! Open the sliding door so I can get it out of here!" I thought I had put the flame on simmer, but it was a full out torch under my potato soup. Thank goodness I came in when I did or we would have had a fire. I ended up throwing the pot away because it was so scorched. The smoke damage was bad enough in the house that we thought we were going to have to call the insurance company, but I bought an ionizer and wiped down all the walls, aired out the house and odorized everything. What a mess! Even though it has been a few weeks, I still get a whiff every now and then and I get a knot in my stomach as I remember what could have happened.

I'm grateful I kept having the thought to check the soup. I know it was the Holy Ghost prompting me to go and when I didn't listen, it got louder and more persist ant.

Here is the recipe.... just make sure you turn the flame down to "simmer" not "raging boil!"

Cream of Potato Soup

In a large saucepan, boil 4 potatoes, peeled and quartered, 1 small carrot finely chopped, 1/2 stalk of celery, finely chopped and 1 small onion, minced in 1 1/2C. vegetable or chicken broth. REDUCE HEAT, cover and simmer until potatoes are just tender. Then mash the mixture slightly. Add in 2 1/2C. milk.

In a small mixing bowl, blend 3T. melted butter, 1T. flour, 3T. dried parsley and
1t. pepper. Let simmer for several hours over LOW heat.

When ready to serve, add 1C. shredded Swiss cheese and let stand for 5 minutes.

Tortilla Soup Taco's

Sorry I have been a bad blogger Mom, I just have too much going on!

Since my last blog, I have been all over the place including to Las Vegas for a trade show. We went with our friends Dave and Amy Bain, and Richard and Lori Tolbert. They are always a blast to travel with. We laugh our guts out!

When we got to Vegas on Sunday night, Lori, who is a caterer, pulled out a whole spread of stuff so we could have an "Academy Awards Party." Pulled pork sandwiches, spinach and greens salad with apples and the best brownies and lemon bars I have ever had in my life! I tried to get the recipe but I was told they are "TOP SECRET". I will get the recipe one of these days!

Because Lori is a caterer, she is a major food connoisseur and we eat at the most amazing places. She took us to the Olives restaurant on the patio that over looks the fountains at the Bellagio one night. It was sooo.... good. If you go, order the fiery chicken sausage flat bread - it's like a pizza and the madiera chicken.

Last weekend we trekked up to the cabin so the boys could snowmobile and so we could watch conference. It was one of the best conference sessions I have ever watched. If you missed it, go to www.lds.org and the link is on the first page. If you don't want to read all of the talks, here are a few of my favorites you might want to take a peek at. On Saturday, Elder Ewrings talk about serving others really touched my heart. After going to Africa last summer and seeing first hand those who really are in need, this is a special topic to me.

On Sunday, I loved David A. Bednar's talk about the "Spirit of Revelation." and Lynn G. Robbins talk about "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye To Be?" But my favorite was Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk titled, "Waiting on the Road to Damascuas." He said, "... those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually come to know him."
That has been my goal this year. To come to know my Savior better. It was like a power of shot in the arm to watch conference this year and I loved it!

Alex went down by Green River to White Wash to ride motorcycles with his friends instead of going to the cabin with us. He and three friends slept in a big enclosed trailer and did the camping thing. It got so windy late Saturday night, they decided to go into Green River to get a room, but all the rooms were filled with truckers who were afraid to drive on in the high winds. So the boys ended up leaving at 3:00 AM and drove all night to get home. It was funny to hear their story and they were dead tired the next day.

Brayden and Ken each took a friend to the cabin and they got Ken out riding snowmobiles all day Saturday. He actually loved it! Bray and his friend built a big jump and we had a great time watching them fly over the top of it. Ken even decided to try it.... once. He came down and smacked both of his knees and that was the end of the jumping but I was so proud that he tried it!

While we were at the cabin, I made tortilla soup and Darren's Dad dropped in with a friend so I was afraid I wouldn't have enough for everyone to eat. So I pulled out the tortillas and served the soup, or tacos using the meat, corn, tomatoes etc. from the soup to make it go a little farther. Everyone raved about the tacos so we now have a new family favorite!

Tortilla Soup - Taco's

In a crock pot, cook a beef roast over night. In the morning add a can of corn, (undrained), a can of chopped tomatoes, a cup of salsa, half of a package of tortilla soup mix and simmer for several hours. Use a slotted spoon to dish the meat and other fillers into a tortilla. My family loved to spoon a little of the soup "juice" over the tortilla.

To serve the soup, crumble some tortilla chips into a bowl and top with shredded cheddar cheese then spoon the soup over the top.

Hole in One

Last weekend, Dar and I met our friends, Mike and Shauna Rice in San Antonio, Texas. I was hoping for a warm weekend laying in the sun playing in the JW Marriott's lazy river, but it wasn't warm enough for me to want to wear a swim suit. So... we went shopping and ate instead! Mike's older sister Cindy and her husband, Shelby were there too. Cindy happens to be the queen of shopping and knew where to take us for the best deals.

Friday night, Mike surprised us and had arranged for us to see the musical, "Legally Blond," at the Majestic Theater. It was a great idea, but I was a little fried after hearing the Lord's name taken in vain over and over again and a couple of the songs.

Saturday morning, we went to the San Antonio temple. It was so amazing! I was in awe from the minute we walked in the front doors with the beautiful leaded glass and decor. The celestial room left me speechless because it was so beautiful.

The boys played a couple of rounds of golf and Dar almost got a hole in one. He isn't a big golfer, but his game was on this weekend!

One night we went to a Mexican restaurant called, "Papsittos." For me, this was the "Hole in One" of the trip. The food was fantastic! I came home and found their salsa recipe on line because it was wonderful!

Pappasito's Salsa

In a moderately hot skillet that has been sprayed with PAM, brown one freshly chopped Pablano pepper and one jalapeno pepper that has had the stem removed and has been seeded. Brown and stir until the skins have turned dark. Add eight whole Roma tomatoes and brown them until the skins turn dark as well. Remove pan from heat. Add in 1/2C. diced yellow onion, heat and stir. Then, in a food processor, add 1/2t. celery salt, 1/8t. oregano, 1/4C. fresh cilantro, 1/2t. sugar, 1/4t. garlic salt and 1/4t. pepper. Then pour in peppers, onions and tomatoes and add 3/4C. water a little at a time, and process just enough to chop to a medium consistency but not to a smooth paste, leave a little chunky. Remove from processor and pour into a hot skillet. Turn heat up quickly and stir for three minutes. Serve hot with tortilla chips.

I ordered yummy cheese enchiladas while everyone else ordered fajitas. I tasted some of Darren's chicken dipped in Mexican butter - it was amazing too!

Mexican Butter

Mix one pound of butter, (room temperature), with one pound of margarine, (room temperature), 1 big heaping tablespoon of granulated chicken boullion and 2T. finely chopped garlic. Mix until it is the consistency of peanut butter. Then slowly stir in 1C. white wine. Melt and then serve with chicken, steak or shrimp.

A New Eagle, A New Horse & A Winter Picnic

I know I have been a bad blogger the last month. Life has just been too crazy with the holidays and everything else that has been going on!

We spent New Years at the cabin with our neighbors, the Peterson's and their kids. They were going to help chaperon a Laurels retreat with my young women, but only one of the girls could come (their daughter Jenny,) so we had a party anyway. It was a lot of fun! We played cards until 2 AM on New Years.

It was really cold at the cabin. Poor Mark got frost bite on his face! Thank goodness that was the only causality with all of the snowboarding, sledding and snowmobiling that went on.

We have been taking care of five horses for a guy named Rick Flohe, who used to live by us. He was moving up to Casper, Wyoming and didn't have anywhere to put them after it snowed because he had to get them off of the mountain where he was keeping them, so we were helping him out. While we were gone to the cabin over New Years, his stud, Hawk, chewed up the wire to the heat lamp on the water trough and it froze up. The boys and I spent hours unthawing and chipping away the ice. I was so mad, I called Rick and told him we were going to have to do something different because it was wearing me out taking care of the extra horses. I also asked him if he would be interested in selling his big black horse named Rebel. He told me he would have to get back to me about it. A few days later he called and said because we had been so nice and helped me out, he would just give me Rebel. I felt so guilty for telling him he had to move his horses. He is the nicest man and can't afford to move them and then he just gave me his prize horse. I was humbled and ashamed for being so selfish. I couldn't believe it! This is a horse that is worth some money and he just gave him to me! He was in one of The Work and The Glory movies and a civil war reenactment movie so he is a movie star. He has a long beautiful black mane and tail. He is part Tennessee Walker, so he has an amazingly smooth ride. I have ridden him more in the past two weeks then I have ridden any of the other horses since September. I love him like I loved Lakota. It is hard to describe this to people who don't love horses. I can't wait to go to the barn to see him and it doesn't seem like a lot of work to get him saddled up to ride. I feel pure joy even when we are just trotting around the arena. I told Rick he could leave his horses here as long as he needed to because I was so grateful.

The first week of January, we received word that Brayden could have his Eagle court of honor so we had a big ceremony on the 9th. Bret VanLeeuwen, who is the founder of Koins for Kenya that took us to Kenya for Brayden's project, came out to speak during this ceremony. He is a big BYU fan so he brought two football players out with him to ride horses. One of the guys named Ross, got bucked off of Sancho Juan Pablo. I was really surprised because Sancho is usually so mild mannered! I told Ross it must be because Sancho is a U of U fan like me. They had a blast riding and it was fun to see Bret again.

Our good friends the Tolberts also came out to support Brayden. Lori is an amazing caterer so she took over in the kitchen to help prepare all of the food. We made different kinds of chicken with sauce, pot stickers, rice and steamed veggies with oyster sauce. RayLynn McCormick made a huge cake for Brayden with an eagle on it. I was so busy trying to get all of the food out, sadly I didn't get a picture of it before it was devoured. I appreciated her sharing her amazing talents and for making Brayden feel so special.

The Tolberts were having so much fun they decided to stay all night with us. We hadn't seen them for quite a while so it was fun to get caught up. Lori introduced me to Koins for Kenya so we talked about Kenya for hours.

On the 11th,Brayden and I went to Salt Lake to talk to my friend Tracy Hansen's ninth graders at Church Hill Junior high where she teaches, about Kenya. The students there are going to do a fund raiser to try to earn $2,000.00 to build a water cistern for the school children in the village of Gona. The first day of the fundraiser, they collected $135.00 in coins! Brayden was amazing talking to the kids and I think the students really enjoyed hearing from someone their age.

We rushed home so I could help set up for our young women's New Beginnings night. My wonderful Laurel advisor, Becky Dastrup, came up with an amazing activity. It was called the Value Mall. Each of the young women leaders took a value and was assigned a "store" to try to sell the value to the girls and teach them why it is an important part of personal progress. I had the value of virtue. My store was Kay Jewelers and I gave each of the girls a sparkly butterfly necklace and I told them it reflects the light just as they should reflect the light of Christ and live their lives in a way that they would not be embarrassed if he was standing next to them.

Once again, RayLynn McCormick, my guardian angel, shared her amazing talents and helped me have an activity the week before to teach the girls how to make her yummy cinnamon rolls. So at the end of New Beginnings we had everyone meet in the "food court" and they had cinnamon rolls and orange julius. It was a lot of work, but the girls learned so much and enjoyed it immensely!

Last Saturday, my good friend Lynette came out from Salt Lake to see me. It was so fun to sit down and talk about all of the fun times we had together. She is so fun and I miss her tremendously!

Yesterday, the boys didn't have school so we took the snowmobiles up Dry Fork canyon and built up a fire then roasted brauts and had a little picnic. The sun was shining and it was warmer than it has been in a long time. Kennedy drove his own snowmobile and did great! He was being pretty brave until he went over a jump and smacked his knee when he came down. After that he stuck to the basics and didn't try anything crazy like his brothers.

I'm ready for a vacation and to escape the cold weather. Dar and his brother started a little oil business called, "Goat and Guppy Oil," with a friend named Mike Rice from high school a few years ago. We are going to meet Mike and his wife in San Antonio this weekend to talk about their business. Even if it is only sixty degrees in San Antonio, at least it will be above freezing! We have been to San Antonio several times and we always love the food on the River Walk. This time we are hoping to make it to the temple.

Here is the recipe for the orange julius. It's pretty basic so of course I can make it!

Orange Julius

In a blender, combine one 6 oz. can of frozen orange juice. Add 1C. milk, 1C. water, 1/2C. sugar, 1t. vanilla and eight or nine ice cubes. Blend until smooth and serve.