6th Annual Camping Trip

This year's camping adventure was just outside of downtown Crouch and just over the fence from the Starlight Mountain Theater.  We had a giant campsite with shade just on the edges that we had to chase throughout the day.  We moved the chairs and picnic tables 3 times. River Pond Campground is run by an interesting old man, who takes cash and good checks. He gets around with his riding lawn mower and old golf cart.  There was a pond that was completely overgrown with plants, and the river that was shallow and perfect for wading. Here's a few of the highlight:

• The McClures were the first to arrive.  Their tent was up and the kids had found a shady hideout to play in before anyone else showed up.  Bry and I-guy rode in the back of Grandpa and Grandma's car, with a big black storage bag on top.  The taller passengers had thick black straps obscuring their view or scrapping their heads. Thanks to Brent and Krystle for bringing up all of Bry's gear.  Everyone was loaded to overflowing.  Someone in this family needs to buy a big truck!  Brent, Krystle, and Joe were the last to arrive, but they made it well before dinner.
• Grandpa and Grandma took a drive into town for ice and styrofoam cups.  Crouch has a new deluxe supermarket and a very nice park and library.
• Both Mike and Grandpa hurt their backs earlier that day.  Ibuprofen for both of them, limited movement, and maybe a little less enthusiastic, but they were troopers.  
• Stace made foil dinners with turkey burgers, veggies, rice, and a lot of cream of mushroom soup.  They were super delish!  Everyone cleaned their plates, even Maycee who had to be threatened with no s'mores.  Mike chowed down on a full pound patty with all the fixin's.
• This year's s'mores featured Mounds, Reeses, and Hershey bars.  The marshmallows were giant and the kids were pro roasters.  Thanks, Bry!!!
• We didn't need to sing around the campfire because we could hear the Starlight Mountain Theater production.
• Krystle and Joe were the first to bed. We were low on firewood so we were all in bed by about 11:00 when the show was over.
• Our only wildlife sighting was the little gray camp cat that hung around our campfire and was there to greet us in the morning.
• Before breakfast, Grandpa, Grandma, and Hads took a trip to town for more firewood and another tank of propane for the stove.  (How could we bring so much stuff and be unprepared!)
• Mike prepared hot chocolate for everyone and sliced up oranges.  Brent and Krystle brought everything for our breakfast featuring our traditional omelets in a bag.  Very tasty!  We tried monkey bread in the dutch oven, but it needed a sweeter dough, more butter, and much more cinnamon and sugar.  
• The kids went on their treasure hunt.  There were 22 clues and it took about an hour. Besides candy, their treasure included big glasses, monster slingshot kites, necklaces to make, boats to build, and message in a bottle kits to record their memories of camping.
• The adults sat around working on crossword puzzles and chatting.
• Lunch was walking tacos, veggies and dip, and watermelon.  We had to move the kitchen from one side of the campsite to another just to stay in the shade.
• Everyone except Mike (he took down the tent and loaded up) walked down to the river. The kids got wet, floated their boats, skipped rocks, and splashed around for slow-motion videos.
• Brent, Krystle, and Joe headed home after the river.  This year's youngest, Joe, was amazing.  No crying, no fussing, just chill.
• The rest of us headed to the ice cream parlor in Crouch.  That was a perfect ending to camping - sweet and refreshing.

And finally....I have pictures.

Youngest Camper - 4 months

4 more bites or you don't get s'mores

Happiest Camper

Hyde Park

My friend Mary and I got together for lunch, shopping, and talking yesterday.  The weather was perfect to eat outside.  I added another new restaurant to my list for the summer, 13th Street Bistro (owned by Chef Peter Schotts). We had a leisurely lunch and caught up.  The big news was that Mary is going to teach a reading class for elementary teacher candidates this fall for Boise State.  She's pretty excited to be a adjunct professor.

I think it's been almost a decade since I've been to Hyde Park.  We browsed through an antique store where the owner had a Harley parked out front with a special seat for his white Scottie dog that we met.  They're heading out tomorrow for a trip to Montana.

Then we went through Hyde and Seek, a store with everything that I love.  I want everything for my house, or maybe I could just live there, or work there.  The next store use to be called One Thousand Villages, but now I don't the name.  It benefits refugees and villages all around the world.  They had a lot of tempting things too.

We skipped Goodies (ice cream and candy) so that means we'll have to make a return trip. Can't wait! 

Fathers Day Family Dinner

All the kids went in and bought their dad a FitBit for Fathers Day.  It was the perfect gift for him and perfect timing.  Five of us are doing the Meltdown Challenge and working on healthy habits.  As our coach, Terry needs to be on top of things.  

We invited everyone over for a healthy celebration dinner.  I did baked chicken, some fruit and a salad.  Stace brought a quinoa salad that we want to post on our new blog with healthy recipes (that we haven't started yet).  Krystle brought some avocado humus with snap peas that were Terry's favorite.  Our dessert was frozen yogurt.  

There was a lot of visiting and the kids ran around.  Hadley pushed everyone to help with her blanket.  In the end we had a fun for all!

The kids table

She just got her ears pierced.  She earned it by reading books.

Kids on the patio.

 

She looks like trouble.

 

Our best behaved grandchild, Brynklee.

A couple of the fathers.

Hadley's finished blanket.

The only shot of the other dad, Mike.

Bry and I-guy on Fathers Day

Grandkids Day Number 2

The kids were all in their tie dye t-shirts when I picked them up today.  They looked bright and happy.  They were easy to pick out in the crowd at the zoo.  I think we had 4 different people comment on how much they liked their shirts.  One man rolled down his window when we were walking in the parking lot, to tell them how much he liked them.

They let us in the zoo a few minutes before opening.  It was a perfect time, before the crowds and the heat of the day.  Their favorites were the monkeys, giraffes, and butterflies.

Getting squirted by an elephant.

A visit with Lincoln outside the zoo.

After the zoo we went to the Pizza Pie Cafe - all you can eat pizza, pasta, and salad.  Afterward we sampled the cinnamon, oreo, raspberry, and caramel brownie pizzas.  Yum!

Then it was time to play in a park.  This time we chose Manitou Park which has a glider.

Our project this week was learning to tie a fleece blanket.  We finished Maycee's Hello Kitty one before it was time to go home.

Dinner w/ the Sis. Miss. and Marty

I had signed-up to feed the sister missionaries on Saturday.  Basically, it took all day.  I needed to clean house since I hadn't been home for almost 2 weeks, go to the market, and cook.  Terry helped out with everything, but that's about all I accomplished all weekend.  We invited a single friend of ours whom Terry home teaches.  He was able to count this for the month's visit and it was the missionaries that gave the lesson.  We had chicken tacos, rice, beans, fresh veggies, fruit, and blondies for dessert.  I think everyone had a good time, and they were gone by 6:00.  I'm still recovering from my travels.  I sat down for couple hours before going to bed early.

Mothers Day Lunch

It might not be right, but my favorite part of Mothers Day has nothing to do with Ty, or Terry or Bry, Brent, and Stacey, for that matter.  My favorite part is having lunch the Saturday before with my mom.  Nan and I always take Mom out to lunch at a nice quiet place.
Traditionally that has been the Cottonwood Grill, but this year we couldn't get a reservation. Instead we went to Bella Aquila in Eagle.  It was quiet, and beautiful, and the food was delicious.  The company was even better than the food and we had a perfect afternoon.  I wish we had a picture of the three of us, because we all wore white pants with bright colored tops.  Dad thought we were a good looking trio.  Instead, I'll share this picture:
  

This was the view out the window.  There were two ducks playing in the fountain.

Cinco de Mayo

It couldn't have worked out better.  We study Mexico, and Cinco de Mayo landed on a Tuesday.  We taste tested salsas!  Fresh, bottled (Pace), green, pineapple, mango, and hot - they were all winners, but the bottled Pace was the most popular.  What a fun afternoon!

Taste Test Tuesday

This Tuesday we explored a new grain - quinoa.  It worked out perfectly because quinoa is harvested mainly in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.  We study these countries in sixth grade and I was able to give them a little history lesson during our tasting.  The Incas had a big celebration centered on quinoa where the King planted it with a golden trowel, but the conquistadors saw it as a threat to their power and made them switch to planting wheat.

I took in plain quinoa with milk and cinnamon and sugar, a summer quinoa salad with blueberries and a lemon vinegarette, and ham fried quinoa with soy sauce.  They licked the platters clean.  The winner was the ham fried one.  They all copied down the recipe.  Taste Test Tuesday is also a big winner.    

Taste Test Thursday

Our Triple T didn't happen on Tuesday this week because we had testing to do instead, so we postponed things until Thursday.  I had a mom who had just returned from Singapore, and she brought things for the class to taste.  She had tried to bring something like pork jerky, but it was confiscated at the airport.  So we ended up with....

Mangosteen is a type of fruit.  The left corner of the package shows the purple fruit.  You twist the green stem part off, and then you see the mango colored flesh with the white flower like thing inside.  Very interesting.  They tasted just like good butter cookies to me.  They were in the shape on the merlion.  I think he lives in the sea, just outside the harbor.

Not sure why this one is turned, but I'm too lazy to fix it.  These were something like veggie sticks, made from purple potatoes.  They were a hit too.

The mom also brought in little pieces of expensive and smooth chocolate.  She brought me two pieces.  The kids had pieces cut in fourths.  It was too good to waste on children.

We projected all her pictures from her i-phone onto our screen and learned a lot about Singapore.  It was a big success!

Easter Sunday

We invited all the kids (minus Ty in Oregon) and grandkids over for Easter breakfast and the morning session of conference.  It ended up being a good idea and the start of a new tradition, I think.  We started at 9:00, and everyone seemed to arrive just as more hot waffles were ready.  I wish I had taken pictures of the food.  This was the menu:

• fruit (pears, nectarine, grapes, fresh pineapple, strawberries)
• egg casserole (with sausage and hashbrowns)
• bacon (thick sliced and turkey)
• waffles (regular and spiced ones that are like cookies)
• maple syrup and buttermilk syrup
• yogurt and granola
• chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice

Everything worked out great.  Nothing burned.  Nothing spilt.  And Stacey said pineapple is suppose to make you go into labor so she ate up and took home leftovers.

Stacey had brought conference Bingo Cards and that kept the kids tuned-in for about half an hour.  They played with toys and goofed off afterwards.  It was a little noisier than church, but not much.

Hads in her Easter dress (with matching sandals).

The boys rough housing.

Usually they're more like this.

I-guy brought his monster pillow that we gave him for Christmas.

Cute couple with a photo bomb kid.

I just started the blanket for the little girl that might be here next week.

It seems like I never have pictures of Maycee.  I wonder if her parents feel the same way.  Poor 3rd child.

Coloring

I think everyone had a good time.  It was good being together.  Terry and I spent a quiet afternoon watching conference and snacking.  I think this is the 2nd time we didn't have an Easter dinner.  Today we didn't even miss it.  (The last time was on a Spring Break trip to Portland and for some crazy reason, we couldn't find a restaurant.  We finally ate at a dirty Red Robin.  This was much better.)