June's Ten Things

I'm linkin' up with Emmy Mom again to share with you:

Ten Things to Smile About this Month

1. We had the chance to see and play with cousins we haven't see for a long time. And I got a picture of all of them together! Madeline and the boys!
2. We got our air conditioner fixed!!!!!
3. Swimming in the back yard

4. We've enjoyed going to the library twice a week the whole month! Ethan's now read 179 books.

5. Berries - one of the best parts of summer

6. I've read 5 novels this month

7. We celebrated Father's Day - what a great father my kids have!

8. I got to hold this love bug, my nephew Roman:

9. I've enjoyed watching my children play together, stand up for each other, and give each other hugs and kisses.

10. All the summer flowers!

My AC works!

My air conditioner FINALLY works!!!!!!!!!!!!! My house is COOL!!! I can't believe how happy I am. Crazy happy. :)

What's with this being the third post in a row without pictures?

Imagine a picture of me standing my the thermostat that says 72 and me smiling reeeeally big. :)

And I'm happy to report that I'll be aware and grateful for all the little things that I always take for granted now . . . at least for a few days, but hopefully longer.

Primary

Today I subbed Ethan's primary class at church. During sharing time, a little boy gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. When he finished his talk, I heard Ethan say (to himself more than anyone), "That was such a good talk, I learned a lot!"

Made me smile.

Hot

My kids took their naps in their swimsuits today. Partly because swimming is all they've wanted to do and partly because it's 96 outside right now and our air conditioner is still broken. The swimsuits are the coolest thing to wear anyway.

Our air conditioner was supposed to be fixed yesterday but when they were 40 minutes past their three hour window for coming, I called them and they said, "What's your name? Hu? You're not on our schedule for today . . . oh, oops, you were, but somebody must have taken you off." Funny since we called on June 8th.

I like being cold much better. It's not even a close competition on that one. Even when I'm COLD I'd say that.

No More Pictures

I'm thinking my kids are a bit tired of me taking pictures of them . . .

Swimming

We've been slow getting out the swimming pool, but we finally did today. It was a bit dirty, which is partly why we haven't used it yet this year, but the kids helped me scrub it clean and then they had a blast swimming all afternoon long.

Do you think Ethan was having fun?

Yeah, just a little bit . . .

Then we decided to go the water slide route. They LOVED it! Though both of them had to really brace themselves for impact!

I think we'll be spending most of the summer in our backyard!

Fabric Bulletin Board

I recently finished making Ethan a bulletin board. I plan to make another one for Madeline and hang them in their play room. Then they’ll be free to keep whatever pictures they’d like to and hang them in their fun room.

I used a 16x20 canvas that we’ve had forever and covered it with batting and cloth. I attached those to the canvas using a staple gun. The ribbon is measured every five inches across the top and every four down the sides. I just used a hot glue gun to attach the ribbons at each end.

I’ve been having fun decorating the play room. If I ever get everything hung up, I’ll take some pictures of that too.

Happy Father's Day

I'm one lucky girl, because I have the best father in the whole world! Of course, my kids might beg to differ . . . their father is pretty amazing too!
Kiss attack!

Happy Father's Day!

Rachel's Blueberry Cookies

Yesterday, I took one more try at making blueberry cookies. This time, the result turned out much more like I had first pictured in my head. Taking out the white chocolate chips (sorry Todd) and using all white sugar instead of part brown, made the cookies lighter. I also used a hint of lemon juice and zest in place of vanilla to brighten the flavor. I only made one change after tasting them, and that is to add coarse sugar to the tops to finish them off. And just like blueberry pie, I found that they taste most delicious when cold. So, I keep mine in the fridge. This is the first recipe I have created on my own for a baked item. I am happy to share it, please make them, but just don't steal the recipe and open up a blueberry cookie shop without at least letting me in on it. haha :)

Rachel’s Blueberry Cookies

Makes 3 dozen

½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
6 oz. (1 container) blueberries*
Coarse sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Mix in lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix soda with flour and add. Stir until well blended. Carefully fold in blueberries. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheets and sprinkle cookies with coarse sugar. Bake at 375 until lightly browned around edges, about 11 minutes. Best served chilled!

*When selecting blueberries, look for a container with smaller berries. Large plump blueberries work well in other recipes, but I found smaller ones were less likely to get smashed when mixing into the dough and smaller berries means more in the container which in turn will make each cookie have more as well.

Badges

He came out of his room after "naps" and was very excited to show me what he'd found at the back of his workbook. He was proud of himself and said, "Look Mom at all my badges!"

Wind and Friendship

It’s really windy today, so perhaps I should have known this would happen, but I just didn’t think about it. After grocery shopping, we went out to the car and I was loading Madeline into her car seat when I heard Ethan yelling for help. I looked up and watched as he rolled away in the shopping cart. I had to run faster than I usually can and make a leap at the end to catch up to the cart before it rammed into a car. BUT, I did catch it and he was fine.

Then, the entire car ride home, Madeline repeated over and over, “I’m glad you’re safe Esan, I’m glad you’re safe Esan!” And he looked at her and said, “Yeah, that’s because we’re friends!”

Hearing that ALMOST made the runaway shopping cart worth it.

My First Try at Blueberry Cookies

I love blueberries. They have always been my favorite berry, and favorite fruit for that matter. Last week when they went on sale, I bought a few containers of them and enjoyed eating them by the handfuls. I could die eating blueberries . . .

Then, a couple of days ago while eating some, the thought crossed my mind: why are there no blueberry cookies? And then I suddenly wanted some. I googled blueberry cookies, but the recipes that turned up just didn’t strike my fancy, so I began to put together a recipe on my own.

I don’t know a whole lot about baking when it comes to making up recipes. Cooking is one thing, but baking . . . there’s a science to that. But after a little reading, I came up with a recipe.

I wrote down my recipe, but I probably won’t post it now because I’d like to do some tweaking on it. Of course this will be a long process because I don’t exactly have time and money to make batch after batch. Not to mention my waist would not appreciate it. But here are some of the ingredients I put in the first batch:

Butter, sugar, cream cheese (a definite keeper), and white chocolate chips. And blueberries, of course!

I think for my next try, I will omit the white chocolate chips, double the blueberries, and add some lemon.

But mmmmmm, they sure were yummy though! And it really was a fun experiment.

What can I say? I’m a fan of everything blueberry!

My Ponytail Girl

Today was the first time Madeline wore her hair in a ponytail. Todd always thought it would look cute on her, and her hair is finally long enough to do one. Oh my, it was darling!

Growing up, right before my eyes!

Baby Quilts

There is something about baby quilts . . .

. . . that always makes Aunt Rachel smile.

This was hanging in the restaurant I went to for lunch yesterday. I thought it was funny.

A Day in Provo

Today we spent a good part of the day in Provo. The kids always have fun with Mimi:

We went to meet up with some of my cousins for lunch. Here are the highchair kids:

Then we went over to The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum on BYU campus (very cool and FREE!):

Hello, Elephant!

And Lion:

And Zebra . . .

Ethan loved the place and called it, "The Bean". I'm totally going to call it that now too. He's already talking about the next time we can go! As for Madeline, she just wanted to play on the stairs there:

And who can go to BYU without visiting the BYU Creamery?

It was such a perfect day:

I heart BYU.

Crazy that I graduated five years ago. I only was there four!

My Garden

I spent a little time in my garden last evening. I had a little work to do with regards to the snail population in my gardens. One day, my little plant is beautiful, the next it's mutilated by snails. I wasn't about to let them come around for dessert. So, I sprinkled a little snail and slug killer around my plant and all around all my plants and this morning I went out to see what snails I caught. Twenty one to be exact, and ten of them were around this one. Ha! Take that plant killers!

And while I was out there, I couldn't help but use my camera to capture the little beauties in my garden. When we bought this house, everything was still dead from winter, so this spring has been enjoyable to watch and see what our yard had to offer.

This tree (pictured below) has got to be my favorite! And I am quite pleased that it sits right outside Madeline's window. Because what little girl wouldn't like to open her window and see a PINK tree!

And the rest are our roses, lots of lovely colors:

It's nice to know that when the tulips are gone, there is still beauty to behold!

Summer Storm

We were outside on the porch last evening, chatting with our neighbors and enjoying the beautiful sky and the sunlight on the mountains . . .
when this huge cloud came rolling in . . .

And before too long, the lightening came too! And with the LOUDEST thunder I've ever heard in Utah. It shook the whole house and made Ethan jump out of his wits! He kept his hands over his ears after than until he fell asleep!

Todd took this picture:

I LOVE summer storms. We stayed on the porch nearly the entire time. I've never photographed lightning before and read more about it AFTER the storm. So next time we get a lightning storm, I'll be back on my front porch . . . with my camera!