Three Heroes of Mine

My one and only Sweetheart - humble, thoughtful, generous, dependable, hardworking, fun, strong, romantic, more than I ever could have hoped for in a husband and father for my children!  Happy Father's Day Hon Bun!  I love you more than (in your words) a bulldog loves a porkchop :) ~

My Dad - Wayne Torrie - Ever faithful, dedicated, humble, generous, hardworking, patient, loves God, loves Mom, loves horses, loves the Henrie gang and all his other kiddos and grandkiddos!  :) 

Love you Dad so very much!!!

My Dad - Jed Henrie - Sweet, kind, sensitive, thoughtful, hardworking, dedicated, faithful, enduring, loves God, loves our Angel Mom, loves nature, and loves the Henrie Gang and all his other kiddos and grandkiddos too!!!  Love you Dad Henrie so very much!

Rejoice in Diversity

Tess, Nancy, and Tori

Tess, Linda (their team leader), and Tori

Siena

Final concert

Best friends

Tori's best friend is a member of the Presbyterian Church in Cedar City, and she and her Mom kindly invited Tori and Tess to join in their vacation bible camp this week. The girls had a blast and especially loved the songs and actions they learned. The theme this year was "High Seas Adventures" and Nancy's husband painted the whole ocean backdrop and built the ship, etc.  They put hours and hours of work into everything.  Last night Tori and Tess put on a concert for me, and this was their favorite song.  Thanks so much Nancy for all of your dedication and effort you put into it! You are a saint and such a sweetheart and dear friend!!!

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The Atonement

This coming Sunday I will be teaching a Relief Society lesson on the atonement.  I have been intimidated, because there is so much I still don't understand, but as I have begun to study and read, I have just been filled with the love and hope that our Savior's magnificent sacrifice offers. 

When I was 15 years old, I felt the cleansing power of the atonement in my life probably for the first time.  While I was on a French student exchange trip in Longueuil, Quebec, a large group of us decided to go to the movie and met at the underground metro.  The French students all had annual passes to get through all of the metro gates, but we Albertans did not.  There were only certain places we could go to buy tickets and get through.  A few of the French students told us just to duck under the gate and not to worry about paying.  Obviously I knew this was wrong without question, but I caved in to peer pressure and under I went...Fortunately in terms of a lesson, we got caught by an undercover police officer and taken into their underground headquarters.  It was a humiliating and yucky moment in my life.  They didn't end up charging us since we didn't speak French very well, but I felt so guilty for doing something that I knew was wrong and for not setting a better example for my friends.  It was a feeling that wouldn't go away.  When I returned to Alberta, I decided to go talk to my bishop about what I had done.  He asked me if I knew how to tell if I had been forgiven, and when I told him I didn't, he opened his scriptures to Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.  By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them." 

As he said those words, I felt a most touching and beautiful spiritual cleansing.  I felt the burden of guilt lifted, I felt light and happy again, and like a bucket of warm water had been poured over me and washed all of the evil away.  Since then, some things that I have worked through with the atonement have taken hours, days, months, and sometimes years to work through, probably due to my lack of faith; however, once in a while I have another one of those moments when I feel the Lord's atoning love wash over me and instantly remove the burden I have been struggling with.  It is a poignant reminder of that first time when I had felt His cleansing love and power.  Tonight I just need to say how grateful I am for Christ's atonement, the greatest of all gifts I have ever been given.

What does the atonement mean to you?  Any wisdom for me and my lesson?  Sweet dreams and thanks to all of you who take the time to visit us here :)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is a great basic muffin recipe.  This morning I didn't have chocolate chips, so I added 1 tsp. of cinnamon and turned them into cinnamon banana muffins.  I have tried them 100% whole wheat and half wheat and half white.  I love them all.  I have also tried these muffins with peaches and other fruits.  Really, anything goes....

1-3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar or 1/4 c. honey
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. milk
3 mashed bananas

Beat egg in bowl, add the rest of the wet ingredients, then add dry.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 
Bake mini muffins for 9 minutes.  Yield:  12 large muffins.

Arranged combat

Ryan gets the boys to engage in "Tap Out" regularly.  It is our new strategy to keep them from killing each other when we're not around.  It hasn't really worked yet, but it does provide terrific evening entertainment. 

Saturday Tori and Tess begged to go at it for a round.  Oh my heck.  How hilarious was that???  Mostly slapping and hair pulling and laughing.  Thankfully there were no tears :).

Derek stood by ready to break up anything serious.

And we ended the evening by having a sleepover in our room for all the kids.  We are a deranged family, I agree with you, but Ryan is raising up future wild beast hunters, so maybe it will all work out in the end :).

Breathe

Friday was one of those days I felt like I couldn't breathe unless I got out of the city a little ways.  We went and got snow cones, which wasn't the greatest traveling idea!  Derek was blue after a couple of blocks, so we decided to go to Canyon Park and hike up the canyon trail....

Can you spot the lizard??

I just want to tell my kids I love them!!  How nice is it to have a group of little friends who are always so excited to go and do something with you??  Thanks my sweeties.  You made my day.

Grand Finale

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In case you don't want to wait until July 4th to see fireworks, take a look!  So much fun!!

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Our family has an annual tradition of trekking down to SUU to enjoy the Utah Summer Games fireworks. They are spectacular!!!. I hope we never grow tired of them or lose the wonder and awe we feel as we lie on our backs, cozy on warm blankets draped over the spring grass, and watch them flash and explode in the sky. Love to feel them shake the ground and change the way our hearts pound!

It is simply

~magical~

Sploosh

Tonight we made mint chocolate chip milkshakes.  Derek had a big glass, and the shake missed his mouth.  Face, meet milkshake....

A rocky start

We have planted hundreds of seeds in rich soil, and nothing is growing.

Out back behind the garden in some rocks we planted another squash seed just so it wouldn't be wasted....

He is the only one who has been brave enough to pop his little head up. 

I guess a rocky start isn't always a bad thing!  Reach up :)

Salute to salted butter

From puppet shows

to iPod dance-a-thons

And air conditioned muscle men

it was a full Tuesday....

Then I remembered it was Treat Tuesday

I decided to make some cinnamon buns.  I was looking at a friend of mine's website who used to live in our ward, and she had posted a caramel monkey bread recipe.  I didn't have everything I needed to make those, so I altered the recipe, added some wheat flour, used powdered milk, and turned them into cinnamon buns with a glaze.   You should really check out her website called http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/.  It has a ton of fantastic recipes on it.  Anyway.....

I rolled 'em out

Let 'em rise

Baked 'em

Glazed 'em

And then.....just as I'm about to sink my teeth into them, I gaze down at the dough recipe and realize to my utter horror I left out the eggs and salt.????Seriously????  Missed two ingredients???  My Tuesday treat is turning into a gong show!  Now, I have to say that I debated whether or not to share this with you, because to look at them you'd never know!!  However, honesty won over.  I was scared to taste one.  If you've baked rolls without salt, you know what I mean.  And yes, this was not a first time salt-free error for me!!  They looked too good to not taste, though, so I took one bite, and then another, and then another, and they were actually scrumptious!!!  I do believe that because the dough called for some butter and I used salted butter, then I rolled them out and slathered them with salted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and then the glaze had salted butter in it, you couldn't tell I had forgotten the salt!!  As for the eggs, I have no idea why the dough still turned out, but, for tonight, I offer a humble salute to salted butter :)

Thank You for DQ

Growing up in the sticks, Dairy Queen was 30 miles away. Now it is 2 minutes away - 1 minute if you hit the light just right! Heaven! It makes a great FHE treat! Dallin's ice cream disappeared before the camera appeared! To quote Dallin , "New record, 10 seconds."

Derek plays electric rocks

Suddenly last Saturday, to Derek the rocks became electric guitars. It was quite the transformation!

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I dropped my camera in the sand last Saturday at the Kanab Narrows we went to, and now it only works indoors sometimes. When I'm outside it overexposes anything and turns it into a glowing blog. Darn!!!!That has made blogging a little difficult this week because all I want to do is be outside now that the miserable May snow has melted and the sweet sun is shining his face! As a whole, we have done some stressing this week, some planting this week, some laughing this week, and all in all life as usual! Since I have no stunning photography to share (ha ha), this is a video I took of Derek at the narrows. Somehow to him all of the rocks magically transformed into electric guitars, the play 'em and chuck 'em variety. It was pretty hilarious to watch! See above!

Fresh Peach Pie

Ok, Tantalizing Tuesday has rolled around again, and before I dazzle you with my fabulous fresh peach pie recipe, I'm going to share another one of my bread failures.  Check out these beauties:

oops, let them rise tooooo long

Oops, let it bake too long!  MAD!!!  As I always am after I bake bread.  Why do I keep trying??I have to say that Ryan finds it all a little too amusing!

1?!?!!?!?!?!@#$(&!@#$()&$! %&(@

:)  Ok, I feel better now.

I didn't make this pie tonight, but I've made it before and I absolutely love it.  Quick and easy.  I want to try it with some summer berries like strawberries or blackberries.  I'll post some pictures if that turns out!

Fresh Peach Pie

1 Pillsbury pie crust

3/4 c. sugar

3 T. cornstarch

1 can peach nectar

2-3 T. lemon juice

3 pounds firm, ripe peaches, peeled and thickly sliced and chilled

In a saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch.  Gradaully add peach nectar and lemon juice.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.  Refrigerate to chill thoroughly.  Arrange half of the sliced peaches in teh baked, cooled pie shell.  Pour half of the chilled glaze over the peaches.  Repeat with remaining peaches and glaze.  Chill pie at least 2 hours before eating.  Delicious!