Sunday Blogger

Felt the need for some speed one evening last week.  Taught Dallin to drive :)

Trying out the new football pads

Proud Daddy

Some coooool bucks that Ryan found on the Henry mountains

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You gotta love the winged backpack!!

First day of preschool!!

~First day of high school -AAAGH!  I'm too young for this, aren't I?

7th grade, here he comes!

All five, first day of school

Crazy face pics; (Tess was not in the mood for such nonsense)

Bottle rockets science experiment with Tess' 2nd grade class - way fun and perfect weather!

Saturday Dallin, Devon, and I painted Dallin's room.  He has been begging for a long time, and I have been putting him off for a long time!  He chose "dynamic blue" and one wall of black "chalkboard paint."  It is nice and bright, and Dal was proud of himself!  He did almost all of the roller work.  Dev was a great asset until he ditched us to go babysit :). Don't you love the bare chest and the disposable paint suit.  Stylin' to say the least!

Devon begs me close to every night to let him stay up late to draw.  He has such a love of wildlife and a great gift of capturing them on paper.  I love seeing what he comes up with.

Tonight Tess and I had some fun coloring some pictures for Ryan.  I don't think I have colored out of a coloring book for about 30 years.  I was feeling the love for my missing husband!  Tess colored a picture of two girls eating chocolates.  We chose that because we baked brownies tonight and ate them without Ryan, a cardinal sin in the Book of Henrie...notice the brownie crumbs.

In fact, the recipe was so dang good I am going to share it.  Probably my very favorite from scratch Brownie recipe I have ever tried.  I got the recipe online.  I happened to have an Almond Joy out in the car that I won at a baby shower, so I threw that in to help stave off my choclate craving for the day.  MMMMMMM ~Easy and delish.

"Almond Joy Brownies"

1/2 c. butter

1 c. white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. cocoa

1/2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 Almond joy chocolate bar

- Preheat oven to 350. 

- Grease and flour 8 inch square pan (notice my nice square pan.  I was in the mood to think out of the box.  Okay, never mind, you're right.  I just couldn't find my square pan and had to use my springform pan instead :p

- In a saucepan melt 1/2 c. butter.  Remove from heat, stir in sugar, eggs, vanilla, coca, flour, salt, and baking powder in that order.  Spread into pan.  Chop up Almond Joy and sprinkle on top, mixing it in just a bit.

- Bake at 350 for 23 minutes and then savor every bite.

It seems like blogging for me is going to become a weekly Sunday activity.  I have sure come to relish, treasure, yum, yum my weekends.  It is so fun to have a full day Saturday to do housework, projects, and laundry.  Sounds insane but true.  Sunday is scrumpdilicious.  I love having a day off to spend at church and with this "dear to my heart" fam of mine....Hope you're enjoying your Sabbath as well. 

Can't wait to head up Thursday to my North Country for my little sis, Whitney's, wedding!  Yay Whit, I'm so happy for you!! 

Miss and can't wait to see you Handsome Husband!...XOXOXOXOXOXOX plus infinity :)

Dear Little Darlings

Dear Devon, Dallin, Tori, Tess, and Derek,

I love you sweeties.  I have spend a lot of time this past month thinking/worrying about how me working part-time outside our home is going to affect you short term and long term.  I wonder if you will blame me some day for doing what I'm doing now.  I hope you know that mine and Dad's decision was struggled over for hours/days.  My Mom never worked at a formal job away from home.  She did work her tail off in our home and on our farm (have you noticed she doesn't have one anymore??), but I don't know what it would have been like for me if she did what I am doing.  I hope you know that Dad and I truly feel it will be in our family's best interest in the long run.  Some days I ache because I don't get to spend as much time with you as I want to, but I need you to know forever how much you mean to me.  I am grateful for this look into the lives of full-time working Moms.  I admire their courage and perserverance.  I don't know how they do it for years day in and day out.  I do want you to know that I don't want to ever use my jobs as a cop out for being a lousy Mom.  I pray that I will take every opportunity to spend meaningful time with you that I can.  I admire each of you for not being angry at me for working, for trying so hard to clean the house and be kind to one another, for loving imperfect me, for doing your best to listen and obey your Dad and I.  I just need you to know tonight how much I love you.  You're all in bed, I have been typing late, and I am just feeling that love in my heart for you dear little darlings.  Sweet Dreams.  Please, please know how much I love you.

Love,
Your Mama
XOXOXOXOX

Highlights

Lead Head - The kids and I have been passing back and forth some kind of cold/flu.  It has been miserable.  I have felt like I have been in slow motion and like my body is full of lead, boiling lead trying to explode but that still moves VERY slowly in my legs yet very quickly out my nose... Sigh.  Zero energy, Megazillion things to do....Today I feel like I am joining the land of the living once again, very gratefully!!!

Culture - Ryan took Dallin and I out for lunch today.  We went to a new Thai restaurant in Cedar.  Ryan and I chose 5 on a scale of 0-10 in spiciness, and our lips were on fire after the second bite.  I don't even know if I liked the curry, all I know is I wanted to put out the flames!  The water was delicious.  Dallin wasn't impressed; it was my idea, so I guess next time we take him out to eat we'll let him choose the location!

Football - Dev has started practices in his full body pads.  I have a couple of pictures I need to post.  Dallin has started his pre-season football camp and will start his games in a couple of weeks.  They are enjoying it so far, so Daddy is very, very excited.  Mommy is cautiously excited and holding her breath that they don't end up in a cervical collar like another young man did in church last Sunday thanks to a football concussion! 

I'll post some pictures tonight.  Just wanted to take a break from transcription :)  Love ya gang!

Takedown by a senior citizen

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Stuffed

Tonight I am grateful for each one of my kids...Grateful for the estrogen in the house that organizes a nursery of stuffed animals in my office,

grateful for my little baby Derek (not so much anymore). I love this picture of him, because it embodies one of my favorite things on earth - talking to my family in Canada on the phone

And this is where he climbs up on the counter beside me while I am doing transcription to visit with and beg for attention. 

Next I'm going to post the video of Ryan taking out Devon and Dallin in a quick wrestling match.  I know one day the pendulum is going to change and he won't be able to do it anymore, so it is definitely worth documenting.  Love ya all tons! Hope you enjoyed your Sabbath.  It was heavenly for me~

To C or not to C

I'm just going to post some pictures from the past couple of days.  It has been an interesting ride these past few weeks.  The first two weeks of my job I had unlimited energy; I think the Lord was just letting me know He would give me the strength to make it through.  This week I have known fatigue, but much of it has to do with staying up late reading for my own pleasure and then studying for my pharmacy exam....  I just have to give my hubby a ton of credit.  He has made sure that every day when I get home from work that the kids have the kitchen clean and usually most of the rest of the house.  Today they were all working on laundry.  I don't know if they'll ever understand how much it means to me!  Thanks fam.  I love ya so much.

This morning Ry and I got up at 5:00 and went with our friends, Laurie and Brian and Hunter, to hike up the "C Trail."  We thought we could do it in 3 hours, but we had to turn back and never made it to elusive C, but we'll be back!!  It was a beautiful and enjoyable hike.  I had a great time visiting with Laurie.  She is a sweetheart, and it was so fun to get to know her better.  Well, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.  Enjoy your weekend my friends!

~Hunter and Derek last night after some summer snow cones~

Nothing more entertaining to a couple of toddlers than a bike pump?

Dalster

Hunter takes down the Dalster

Dev-Man and Der-Bear wrestling

Ryan took out both Devon and Dallin in about 5 seconds flat.  It was sweet :)

This morning's hike...........

The first soft rays of the sun

Can you see the faint and elusive C afar off!!  yup, maybe next time.

As the boys headed off to an overnight youth conference tonight with Ry, Devon got the almighty privelege of backing the car out of the garage.  He loves being behind that steering wheel!  Sure love my guys....Next year will bring driver's ed, and that will be a whole other adventure!~

Cousins Across Borders

Ryan finds the "Lost Ponds"

My brother and sis-in- law, Ryan and Tonya, and their family dropped in on their way back to Canada and spent a few fabulous days with us.  Thanks so much guys for the great memories.  It was a blast!  Love and hugs.......

Brooky

Cheesy grins from both Ry Guys

Mom and daught

The twins didn't want their pictures taken!!

Fireworks thanks to Uncle Ry and aunt Ton

Winner of the ice cream face contest

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Pioneer Day Fireworks

Sunday dinner

We ended the weekend with a drive up to Kolob Reservoir.  Gorgeous scenery!

health care headache

Can I just say that trying to decide what kind of healthcare plan to get is giving us a headache!!  Pay $300/month for a $10,000 deductible that you will probably/hopefully never meet, pay 500-800 a month for a $2500 deductible that you might possibly meet but would still pay a 20% copay, or just put money in savings and pay cash for medical bills because doctors give such a nice cash discount on things and you can make payment plans with the hospital or provider if you require them................Headache.  Any thoughts???