My cousins

My super cute cousins came out to visit this summer.... my daughter, Cami, loves to dress up. Because my cousins are the nicest cousins and so darn fun, they let Cami dress them up. Don't they look Fab?

Chicken Fight

Grandpa M. and Grandpa K. taught my kids to chicken fight while they were here. They loved it. Thanks, Grandpa's!!! We love you.

Granparents Day

Another event that happened while Grandparents were here is "Grandparents Day"!!! The baptism was planned with this in mind. We didn't do it earlier, or later.... we did it ON Grandparents day!!! Out here, Grandparents day is HUGE!! HUGE!!! HUGE!!! So, we were so excited to have both sets of grandparents out here to share the day. Gloria's class held a "tea" with crazy decor and hats. The kids got to show off their reading and art work, and formally introduce their grandparents to the class. Grayson's class played games and We love our grandparents. WE are so blessed to have such wonderful examples. We love you, grandma's and grandpa's! Thanks for being here.

Disney Land

Last Winter our kids did a full day of volunteer work with Travis and I so that we could earn a free day in Disney Land through "Give A Day, Get A Day, Disney". We worked hard and we each earned a free day at disney land. Travis and I have been nervous about going to Disney with four young kids. Then we decided that while Grandma's and Grandpa's were here last week for Gloria's baptism, it would be the perfect opportunity to head to Disney so they could help out with the kids. It was great. Olivia is a little daredevil adventurer and was so disappointed that she could not go on all the rides with the older kids. Grandma and Grandpa took her to the kiddie rides and played with her there, giving her lots of love and fun and rides. She loved it!!

All of our kids loved the rides. We never had one child opt out of a ride.... that was the first time that has ever happened. The kids have been saving their chore money all year long and they were excited to spend it. Gloria bought some gifts for her friends, and a huge- very life like snake. She also got some stuffed animals. Cami bought candy. Gray got some swords... and was so excited to come home with most of his money still in his wallet.

It wasn't too busy (so they say) and the longest we had to wait in any line was 30 minutes. Cami was excited to see the princesses, but was so shy when she finally got to see them that she did not utter a single syllable to any of them. But she loved it.

We all had a good time and we are all Disney'd out for the year!!! It was a great trip and we are glad we went.

Words of Wisdom... by Cami

Cami: "Mom, what are we going to do tomorow?"

Me: "I'm not sure, Cami."

Time passes. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes. We are making some banana muffins.

Cami: "Mom, my friend Allison is so smart. She know everything in the whole wide world!!"

Me: "She does?! She must be very smart."

Cami: "Maybe she will know what we are doing tomorrow!"

Gloria's Baptism

Yesterday Gloria was baptized. We we fortunate to be able to have both set of Grandparents here. It was a really great day. We held the baptism after church.... incidentally, yesterday was also our ward primary program! So, the kids were excited about the program and about Gloria's baptism. Gloria and her friend, Kaylee sang a duet together "When I am Baptized". They did a wonderful job and there were tears in everyone's eyes. My mom gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and she did a wonderful job. Everyone could feel the Holy Ghost. It was a really great day. I am so thankful that Gloria chose to be baptized. She is a wonderful daughter who is very spiritual and a great example to her siblings.

She was baptized in the dress that I was baptized in.. and so were my sisters. I printed out pics and displayed them yesterday at the baptism.... but I do not have digital copy of mine, so enjoy these pics of some of my nieces wearing the same dress as Gloria.

Using my wheat.

I have been working on finding and making recipes that use %100 whole wheat... no white flour or mostly whole wheat with only a little white flour. Here are 2 that my family particularly loves!! They are a huge hit and whenever I make them, the kids get so excited. The first recipe is called "Whole Wheat-Blueberry Brownies" - don't let the name scare you away. When I first made this recipe to take to a friends house, I told NO ONE that it was made entirely from wheat, or that it included blueberries. The entire batch was eaten up in record time... honest!! Everyone, kids and adults alike, ate and ate until they were gone!! So, I try to make a batch of these brownies every Saturday, and then instead of putting it in a 8x8 pan, I put it in mini muffin tins. After the tiny bite sized brownie bites are cool, I put them in a tupperware container in the freezer. For school lunches I usually pull 3 of them out, put them in a little lunch tupperware and send them in my kids's lunchbox to school. The kids love to eat them for dessert and I don't feel too guilty about what I am giving them in their lunches.

The next recipe is called "Whole Wheat Banana Muffins"..... even my daughter who HATES banana's eats these muffins with abandon!!!! I usually double this recipe because everyone loves them so much. I make one batch of regular sized muffins and one batch of mini muffins. Then, I freeze the mini ones and put those in my kids' backpack for snack time at school each day. The big ones get eaten when they get home from school or after dinner.... we are lucky if my batch of banana muffins makes it to Friday. We take them on the boat, to soccer, to the park- anywhere. They are so easy to grab and go.

So.... give them a try! And if any of you have any other whole wheat recipes that you love so much... let me know. I love to try new things.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Brownies

1 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350.

Put blueberries in a saucepan and cook for 10 minutes. Mash with a potato masher to turn into a syrup like liquid.

Add butter and brown sugar to saucepan. remove from heat and let the butter melt and brown sugar dissolve.

Add the applesauce, cocoa, bkg pwdr, salt, vanilla and eggs. Combine well. Then add flour.

Bake at 350... not sure the amount of time, for our mini cupcakes it takes about 10-12 minutes... but in an 8x8 pan I am sure it will be longer.....

Banana Chocolate chip muffins

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

2 tsp baking pwdr

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

5 ripe bananas

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup applesauce

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup room temperature butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup mini or regular chocolate chips (you could use nuts instead if you want)

preheat oven to 350.

in a bowl combine flours, bking pwdr, soda and salt.

in another bowl mash the banana's, add milk, and vanilla.

in a mixer beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. add banana mixture and flour mixture, alternating, to the sugar mixture.

Add chocolate chips, or nuts, and put in muffin tins. Bake 18-23 minutes for large or 10-15 minutes for the minis. Enjoy.

Birthday Party Bash!

For Gloria's birthday party this year, we had a blast at "Boomers". It was so much fun. There was so much for the kids (all 32 of them) to do!! There was a giant water slide, go carts, speed cars, a rock climbing wall, miniature golf, water spraying boats and spraying water guns.. and that was just out side!! On the inside there was laser tag, and every imaginable arcade game. The kids had 4 hours to do what their hearts desired!! It was so so so busy, and so much fun. We had cake (no, I did not make it this year.... ), presents and pizza. We had a great time and the kids loved every minute of it. The party was followed up by a sleepover (with only one of her friends) the next morning they met up with some of her friends on the boat for a day of wake boarding. It was such a fun weekend and I am really glad that Gloria had so much fun.

My Baby is 8!

Gloria turned 8 this week. I can hardly believe that she is going to be baptized this week. She is such a joy to have around. Since she was born, we knew that she was special. Gloria is naturally an optimistic girl. She is so happy and helpful and caring. She has a lot of compassion. Gloria is in the 3rd grade this year. She is at the top of her class in spelling and reading and math and science. She is friends with everyone she meets. She loves her brother and sisters. When Gloria was born, she was so perfect that Travis and I knew that we were perfect parents... we have since discovered that sometimes the child just comes that way regardless of how the parents parent.

Here are some facts about Gloria:

She loves the color green.

She loves to smile.

She is a wonderful singer, she can really carry a tune.

She loves to read. She reads to her siblings every day.

She loves littlest pet shops.

She is a great artist. She has recently decided that she wants to be an artist when she grows up. She loves to babysit. She is still too young to leave alone with the kids, but she can watch the kids while we garden or shower or clean and she loves it and the kids love it.

She loves to play soccer and I am happy to be her coach again the year.

She learned to wakeboard this year.

She has recently started to enjoy spending "girl time" with me. I have been enjoying it also.

She loves to do crafts... cards, jewelry and paper crafts.

I have never had a teacher say a negative thing about her. She is helpful and polite and caring with all those in her classes.

This year she is all about "being green". She is the recycling monitor in our house, she also insists that her packed lunches be %100 reuseable (all food in tupperware, no items that need to be thrown in the garbage, we are making pudding each week and putting it in tupperware so that we don't buy the pudding that comes in plastic, same with jello, no string cheeses.... we cute cheese up and put it in tupperware. Drinks are in metal jugs, and finally.... no napkins!! She needs cloth napkins.... !! She also has started asking me if we need to drive everywhere... can't we walk or bicycle? She's going green!).

She prays so well. I am inspired by her. She is thoughtful in her prayers and she prays so sincerely. She is very spiritual. She keeps the commandments and try's hard to make sure that she is doing things to please Heavenly Father.

She is a joy to be around. I would have been her friend if I was her age... I am glad that she is my friend now.

She is super honest. Always.

She has an easy smile.

Happy 8th Birthday, Gloria. I love you.

Big Girl Bed

Last week we made the change.... we put our baby in a big girl bed!!! She LOVES it. She is growing up so quickly.