Bear Lake

Last week I took my kids and went to Bear Lake with Jeff's family. Jeff was in the Mediterranean on a cruise - - I know what you are thinking. "And why weren't you there too???" Well I was originally planning on going but I had a couple things that same week that I really wanted to go to as well. Plus the fact that we have been so many places this year already and we still have several places to go. I kind of felt like my kids were getting closer to the babysitters than they were me! So I backed out but we had a GREAT week at Bear Lake.

The lake was absolutely FREEZING. It was the coldest June that they have on record. There were still glaciers melting into the lake daily. You would step in the water - barely step in, not even up to your ankles and it would hurt because it was so cold. I didn't even get in the boat once because it was too cold. My sister in law Suzi would show up at the beach looking like this each day. Fully clothed in fall attire. I had to laugh but at least she was warm! She called it "BURRR LAKE".

Molly never made it deeper than this!

All the little kids just preferred to play in the little puddles on the beach. Which was great for me because I wasn't worried about chasing them into the water.

The guys and the bigger boys went golfing everyday and then all the kids would go miniature golfing in the evenings or swim in the pool.

All of us girls rented some surrey bikes one of the days and went on a bike ride around town. We had a blast. I had to laugh at my mother in law Julie. She rode with her purse hanging off her arm the whole time. It looked so funny.

There was a field full of poppy's and they looked so pretty that I had to stop and take some pictures in them.

Not sure what to say about this sign.............. or the picture on it. I guess the sign says it all! I should go sometime!

Butter Cream Syrup

This recipe is sooo simple and DELICIOUS! You're gonna want to put it on everything from pancakes to ice cream!

1 c heavy whipping cream

1 c sugar

1/2 c (1 stick) BUTTER (not marg.)

Cook and stir on medium heat until butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. DON'T let it boil. When the sugar is all dissolved - it's ready!

I Guess She Was Hungry

I got out of the shower the other morning and walked into the kitchen. Molly was standing in there with her hands behind her back. She said, "I am doing nuffing' mom." Well, her hiding something behind her back and telling me that she was doing "nuffing" was my first clue that she was up to no good. I asked her what she was doing and she said again, "NUFFING!" I said, "Show me what's in your hands." And this is what she showed me.

She had taken a cube of butter out of the fridge, opened it and ate it!

I can't really say much because I love butter too. When I was a little girl I used to get a knife and I would cut a chunk off the cube and I would eat it too! Now if you want to hear something really sick, my sister in law Carolee eats CRISCO! She LOVES crisco. She is a grown woman and she will eat it by the spoon full! Sick huh. She is this little itty bitty thing of a lady and she eats crisco.

Cade's Kindergarten Graduation

My little Cade graduated from Kindergarten! His graduation was so good! His teacher has been wonderful! She has taught all of my kids in Kindergarten and we all love her. She is a really patriotic person and she currently has a son serving in the Army. The theme of graduation was Heroes. In early spring, our community lost a soldier in Iraq. She dedicated the graduation to him and his family. His parents were there to watch. The kids sang patriotic songs and everyone in the audience who has ever served in the armed forces were honored as well. There was hardly a dry eye in the whole house!

Cade and his little buddy Kyler.

Last Day of School

For the last day of school my kids each wanted to have a party. For Sidney's party we decided to have a food fight. I made chocolate pudding, we had apple sauce, Ranch dressing, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, mustard, ketchup, flour, whipped cream and whipped topping that I put different food colors in to make it a lot of different colors.

Some of Jens' friends came a little early and so they got in on the action. The first game we played was "musical cool whip". I put 4 bowls of cool whip in the circle and played music. When the music stopped, whoever was holding a bowl of cool whip got to throw one big spoon full on someone else!

Then we went into the field behind my house and had a GREAT FOOD FIGHT!

This was so funny to see! One of Jens' friends threw a hand full of flour right into Gracie's face just as she was trying to squirt him with chocolate syrup. She had such a surprised look of shock! It was so funny! Look at the syrup.....you can see it going up in a line then back down.

Look at how thick that Ranch dressing is that Sidney is squirting down Tyler's back. (left side of picture) Gross huh!

All the kids after.

After they showered and were clean again, they had pizza and roasted marshmallows and made smore's. All of Jens' friends came and had pizza too and then they went out back to have a big air soft war. I didn't get any pictures of that because I didn't want to get shot! They had a fun night.

Banana Bread

I have found the yummiest banana bread recipe. It is the only one that I have found that contains sugar - vanilla - and sour cream all in the same recipe. This is a bread recipe but I usually make my into muffins. That way my kids can get their own and I don't have to cut them slice after slice. And it shortens your baking time in half!

1/2 c butter

1 1/3 c sugar

*CREAM TOGETHER

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 c mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)

*ADD AND CREAM WELL

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

*MIX THESE DRY INGREDIENTS IN A SEPARATE BOWL - SET ASIDE

1 c sour cream

*ADD SOME SOUR CREAM TO THE MIXTURE, THEN SOME DRY INGREDIENTS, THEN SOUR CREAM, THEN DRY, ETC. ENDING ON SOUR CREAM. POUR INTO GREASED BAKING PANS. BAKE FOR 50 MINUTES ON 350 DEGREES. (if you are baking in muffin cups, shorten bake time to about 20 minutes)

Had To Share

I think that I am so blessed to have such lovely people in my life. I have wonderful family and friends! And they are all such good looking people. I decided to share some pictures of these wonderful people. I love my teeth and my smile in the picture above and my dear, sweet friend Amie below. So lucky to have her as a friend in my life.

My precious little Cade and my cute little niece Breanna. Not sure what's going on with her teeth but she is beautiful just the same! And below is my really cute nephew Justin. He is not 16 years old yet so ladies, back off! He is too young to date!

Jeff's aunt Shelly above and my sweet brother in law Joel below. I LOVE these people! Looks like Joel had something bad happen to the side of his face, but that doesn't change the fact that I still love him!

I think that my family and my friends are some of the best looking people I have ever known! This is a beautiful picture of me above and my nephew Brendan below.

My sweet baby Molly above and my darling Jens below.

Little Caden above and my so goodlookin' nephew Justin again, below.

My ever handsome brother in law Joel above and Sidney below.

My good friend Amie again above, and my handsome husband Jeff below. I am one lucky lady to have all of these lovely people in my life!!!