Delicious Berry Salad

From Julie Barlow - she served it after the baby blessing last Sunday

3 8 oz. containers cool whip

3 small containers vanilla yogurt

2 small pkgs. vanilla pudding

Whip above three ingredients together

Add:

frozen mixed berries

This was so yummy! It was a hit with everyone! Julie's always either making up or  finding great recipes... I'm glad we could try this one, and I can't wait to make it again!

School's Out!

Jacob and I were so excited to pick the kids up from school at 9:30am yesterday morning!

August, 2011

May, 2012



A few years ago, the girls started to wear the same alfit that they wore on the first day of school on the last day of school as well.

It's fun to see how much they've grown, or how much their alfits have shrunk in the wash. Next time I should take the picture in the same place so that it's easier to compare.

No matter how much they've grown in size, they've grown a lot from what they've learned, the friends they've met, and the experiences they've had. Emma was in tears when I picked her up because she didn't want school to end. She said she would miss her teacher, her friends, and she didn't want to forget anything that she had learned.

Tyler had a really good year in school. He has loved his junior high experience. The opportunities that he's had to get involved and to develop different talents have been great! For this upcoming year, he is going to do percussion on top of Jazz Band and Symphonic Band. He's taking summer band in all three areas right now, and he's really enjoying it - summer band started in March, and now he has it pretty much every day, all day in June. He also just found out that he made the science demo team for next year. He learned about this team and put in an application all on his own. This is his thing, and we're excited to watch him go for it.

Jacob and I had a great year at home with our own little preschool. He's ready and excited to start kindergarten next year.

I had to decide before they went to school yesterday that I wasn't going to make them clean their rooms and do chores right when they got home. For a day we weren't going to worry about getting anything done. Instead, they played outside, we played games inside, we got Sonic slushees at happy hour, went to the library to stock up our initial summer reading supplies, went to dinner at Chilis (the kids all had free kids meal coupons), and went to "The Secret Garden" at the Hale Center Theatre. That was an amazing show!

We wanted to award our children for all their hard work and for doing so well in school. It was a fun day!

Today is a different ball game. Bedrooms are now clean, and so are the walls, appliances, and cabinet fronts in the kitchen. Kaylee wanted to listen to some music with a beat, so I put on the Carpenters. (:
We were dancing and cleaning and laughing. Emma said that she wanted to clean the whole day long. Wouldn't that be great if our cleaning days were always like that?!

Tonight, after the kids were all ready for bed, we watched "The Long Long Trailor". All our kids loved it and were laughing through it. I love nights we can all relax together!

The kids have a performance at the Gateway tomorrow with their choir. Tyler and Kaylee both have solos, and this is Emma's first official time to perform with them.
We are excited to be at the Barlow's baby blessing on Sunday. We're looking forward to a great weekend!

Last Full Day of School

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

What did we do today?

Our Elementary School held their annual 3k,

and we walked the whole thing, even Jacob! After

the first block, he was already asking when were we going

to be done. A few piggy back rides and meeting

up with his friend, Ashlyn, helped him make it to the end.

Kaylee and Emma had field day the rest of the school day.

A great way to kick off summer with lots of outside play!

Jacob, Emma, and Kaylee are ready to go!

 

After our 3k, Jacob and I rode bike and trailor to BYU.

 Jacob has been asking when we were going to make this trip. We finally pulled it off the last day that we could with just the two of us. I'm not sure we're ready to go this far as a family yet. Maybe we could...

Jacob thinks of BYU as a giant playground with chocolate milk.

Water, "tunnels", stairs, ramps, and lots of space to run around.

Heaven on earth for Jacob!

Picked up the Girls and headed straight to the dentist for check ups. No cavities! Yahoo!
We love our dentist! It's so nice that all my kids actually get excited to go. His office is fun, he takes good care of them and treats them nice, and his staff gives them cool balloons when they're done. 

After the dentist, we stopped at Hobby Lobby to get paper for Primary and a gift for a b-day party Emma was invited to and already late for. Dropped Emma off at that party, dropped the other two off at home, ran to the rental that I manage to change the filters, picked up Tyler from band, came home with just enough time to pull things together for our visits tonight, visited some amazing families in the ward, watched a little AFV with the family before the children went to bed, read a story with Jacob, and plopped myself down in front of the computer. Thanks to Brian for warming up dinner tonight and for taking care of things around here! 

I really am grateful for all that he does. He works hard every day to support our family, and when he gets home, he jumps right in to help wherever he can. Not only that, he's happy to do it.

Wow! Words can't say how grateful I am for him!

Cameron Graduated!

May 29, 2012

My oldest nephew graduated from high school! Wow!

He's shown his "Superman" powers once again as he's jumped hurdles and conquered battles to achieve this one!

We think the world of you, Cameron! Go! Fight! Win!

Deborah and me

Can you believe she's the mother of a high school graduate?!

Weren't we just there?!

We have our children, our smile lines (so Emma calls them) and maybe a few grey hairs, plus whatever other aches and pains, yeah already, to remind us that we are not just out of high school. Still young in mind and attitude, though!

It's so great to see our children growing and accomplishing great things!

They are amazing! 

"Stay Soft" Caramel Popcorn

From Wendy Mitchell

1/2 C. butter

1 C. Karo Syrup

2 C. brown sugar

1 C. sweetened condensed milk

1 t. vanilla

20-25 C. popped popcorn

Sift popcorn in a very large bowl and get all the un-popped kernels out.

Melt all ingredients in a heavy pan. Cook on medium heat until bubbly and well blended...make sure to STIR CONSTANTLY!!

Remove from heat, and pour all over popcorn. Then stir and stir and stir until all the popcorn is dripping in caramel goodness. Spread it on a big piece of parchment paper to cool.

Thanks Wendy for that great recipe!! We devoured it!

Monday Afternoon,

May 28, 2012

Brian finished putting the truckload of sod in the back yard after it decorated our driveway for several days, maybe weeks. He's so great. We have had good intentions to take care of that, but the weather and our being elsewhere at the times we could've gotten it done put off the job.

While he was working outside, me in, Emma was playing a game of her own on the swingset. We could both hear her yelling,

"I'm the king of the world!

Top of the Sea!

King of the universe!

You see!"

She kept at this game for quite a while, yelling other orders and talking out loud her story as it unfolded. I went out to see how it was going at one point in the game. She said that she was the king and the swings were her servants. I left her to it.

Neighborhood BBQ

Earlier on Monday, we were leaving to go up the canyon at the same time that our neighbors were taking their boat out to the lake. Jacob asked if they were leaving forever. I told him "no, they will come back later today." Then he said, "I wish I went with them!" Then he went on to say that he loved fast boats, unlike our slow rowboat trips that we like to take down the Snake River. So he got to play on the boat all evening. He stayed on it for probably an hour, and he would have stayed on it longer if it hadn't been time to go in.

It was fun to get together with neighbors for a delicious BBQ! We stayed out laughing and talking until after the kids bedtime. I had said before we started tonight, that we had to come in at a certain time because it was a school night. I'm still working on sticking to my word. I tend to get caught up in the moment... 

The kids enjoyed playing, and all but Tyler got an injury as a souveneir to remember the night. First, Kaylee wiped out on her scooter, scraping skin on her elbow and hip. Both swelled up and bled a bit - Brian bandaged her up good. Then Emma was showing off her rollerblading and biking abilities at the same time. It was an accident waiting to happen, especially when she stood up while pedaling in her rollerblades. When she sat back down, she wiped out. But she came up smiling to show that she was o.k. Only a few scrapes from that. On our way in, Jacob somehow rubbed his big toe along the cement and scraped off quite a bit of skin. I bandaged him up while he told me that he almost got dead. I asked him how, and he said that you can only lose so much skin before you die. I'm very grateful he didn't lose enough for that to happen!!



Memorial Day Monday!

May 28, 2012

I woke up this morning without an alarm, children yelling, doors banging, or any other usual sounds that get me out of bed at about 8am! That's sleeping in, and it felt great! Emma offered to make breakfast for me and anybody else who would let her. She made eggs for Kaylee, who got it in bed, and for Jacob, and toast and applesauce for me and her.

The day has just unfolded from there. Made pretzel jello salad for our neighborhood BBQ tonight, cookies and sandwiches for a picnic up the canyon with the Jardine family. That was a fun addition to our day! Thanks for calling and coming down Deanna and Joe!

We took a drive up to Sundance to check out the lift and see if we might want to do that for the Ricks Family Reunion that we get to organize this year. While we were there, we saw some of a bike race where bikers were flying down the hill. It was pretty cool to watch! I'm grateful we have no interest in that or anything like it in our family. Hopefully, we can keep it calm and simple around here, and watch everyone else be crazy. (o:

Jacob climbed up on this hill, and said, "Holy Cow! I can see the whole America up here!"

We all had to climb up and see. It is very beautiful!

I can't wait to take him on more hikes this summer, so that he can see even more of "America"!

Ricks and Jardine cousins at South Fork.

Lots of fun!