Children's Parade

Every June, Pleasant Grove holds the "Strawberry Days" festival. There's 4 days of rodeo, two parades, pie eating contests, Huck Finn fishing, and a carnival downtown. This year, I thought it would be fun to let the kids be in the Children's parade. The Activity Day girls from our ward made a banner and handed out balloons, as we all waited for the parade to start down at the track. It was pretty hot, but I brought one of those fans that sprays water, making us the most popular wagon in town.

Here's Hana and Lane, in their very best red, white, and blue. Hana was supposed to walk while I pulled Lane, but that was short-lived.
Here we are, parading towards Timpanogos - yes, uphill in 106 degree heat. And this year, they decided to add a couple of blocks to the parade route. By the time we made it to the second stop sign, we were a lot loss generous with the spray bottle.
But, we did get a popsicle, carnival ticket, and free hand stamp for the rodeo. I think next year we'll leave the parading to the professionals.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Andrew and the girls on Father's day. Hana was so excited to get him juice for his mini fridge. Lane's dairy-free butter substitute and organic jelly sandwich. Yum.

Hana's new room. My mom made the quilt, valance, and sham for her. Lest you think I am at all artistic, the lady who lived here before us painted the palm tree and clouds on the ceiling.

And these are the puppets that Andrew brought back from Prague.

Hana and her friend Tucker at the park.

Andrew flying his "kite". We brought it back from Australia 3 years ago, and this is the first time I've really seen it up in the air! We're finally getting the hang of it - it won't be long before he's sailing across Utah Lake behind his monster kite.

Michi's Turkey Meatballs

My grandma Michiko makes these meatballs a couple of times a year and will bring a few plates of frozen ones down to San Diego when she visits. They're so yummy that my mom hides them from us in the freezer. Since she won't share, I've figured out how to make them myself! Here's the recipe:

Michi's Turkey (or Chicken) Meatballs

1 lb ground turkey or chicken
½ cup cooked white rice
¾ cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup catsup
½ t. Worcestershire sauce
¾ t. garlic salt
1 T sugar
2 eggs

Sauce:
1 cup catsup
¼ cup water
2 t. soy sauce
6 T. sugar

Sauté chopped onion in oil until brown and soft. Add to ground meat. Mix in rice, catsup, Worcestershire, garlic salt, and sugar. Add eggs, and mix very well.

Heat a large skillet, with about ¼ inch of oil. Form mixture into flat patties, about the size of the palm of your hand. The mixture will be very soft, so you will need to place each patty in the hot oil as your form it. They will firm up when cooked. Cook patties (you’ll need to do a few batches) in oil until golden brown; don’t worry if they are not cooked through at this point, since you will be cooking them again with the sauce. Remove browned patties and place them on a paper towel-lined plate.

Sauce: In a sauce pan, combine catsup, water, soy sauce and sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.

Add browned patties back to the large skillet (they should all fit in together this time). Spread a spoonful of sauce on each patty; turn patties over, and spoon sauce over the other side. Turn patties again, cover with remaining sauce, and cook until patties are cooked through.

Serve on their own, over a piece of toast, or in a sandwich.

Getting into everything

Damian is crawling all over the place now and getting into so much mischief, I didn't realise how much rearranging of our lounge room we would have to do. He can't walk by himself yet but is getting very good at moving around holding onto the sofa and coffee table and whatever else he can manage to climb up.

It has turned quite cold the last couple of weeks so when we go out I try to get Damian to wear a beanie but he normally just pulls it straight off. WE managed to get him to keep it on for a minute while we took the picture below.

Stake Conference

We have had Stake Conference this weekend and were fortunate to have Elder Mickelson of the First Quorum of the Seventy visit with us. We also had Elder Osguthorpe of the Third Quorum of the Seventy. So I thought I would post a few thoughts about the meetings I attended.

During Priesthood Leadership, Elder Mickelson discussed the structure of the priesthood and what authority is versus power, he outlined the keys of the priesthood, he also delved into what it means to be ordained. However out of this I was impressed by a very simple and obvious truth relating to power. You can have authority to perform a priesthood function but it is through faith and worthiness that power is derived. He also shared the last half of the President Hinckley story that we are all familiar with about how his father told him to forget himself and go to work while on his mission. Well after this letter President Hinckley went and prayed and during the prayer he committed to always do his best. Elder Mickelson highlighted that we can see the fruits of that commitment. During the Sunday meeting Elder Mickelson continued in this vain and discussed the need for personal commitment to the gospel. He discussed Nicodemus and then pointed out that being born of the spirit in this discussion is not to receive the Holy Ghost after baptism but rather to see into eternity and understand the nature of the Savior, the atonement, and our person role in the plan. In essence it is to become converted to the gospel, it is to see through the veil and gain a testimony. After this transpires then we can enter the Kingdom of God through baptism and the Holy Ghost. He commented that there are many who enter the kingdom who never see through the veil. As I thought about this I realizes how true it is, and not only for those around me but also for me. I know the gospel is true and I can not deny that I have "seen through the veil" but how often in my day to day life I forget the eternal nature and purpose for which I am here. Elder Osguthorpe quoted elder Ballard in saying "Move the work, don't just tend it." How true this is and needs to be for those who have seen through that veil, it is our responsibility to move the gospel not just tend it. Hence I felt a renewed urge to move the work and commit myself to the gospel and the Savior, to move the work and not just tend it. One of the ways to do this was highlighted by Elder Osguthorpe, he said, "we will always move in the direction of our most dominant thought, always." therefore I need to concentrate on my thoughts and move to the forefront my study of the gospel.

Anyway, it was a great series of meetings.

Anger Management

Here's a provoking thought I ran across while researching for the RFRA episode on Curbing Contention. Anger (although it doesn't always feel like it), is a secondary emotion - a reaction to primary feelings like frustration, embarrassment, disappointment, etc. And so, anger is a choice - when you feel frustrated or embarrassed, you can choose to respond with anger, or to resolve those feelings another way. Think you can't choose whether or not to be angry? Consider this...
The last time your kids spilled Kool-Aid on the floor, what did you say? And the last time a guest knocked over their glass at a dinner party?

Our Summer Babies

Okay, most people blog about their kids, but we've been spending a lot of time working in the yard this summer.
I went down to Hyde Park gardens (behind the Orem Instacare) with our RS Gardening Club. We all took down an empty pot, and they helped us choose flowers that (hopefully) will survive the summer. I did Orange Symphony osteospermum, wild pansies, white alyssum, curly parsley, chocolate mint, Goldilocks Creeping Jenny, and a funny purple one on the left that didn't have a tag. Hope it lives.


We pulled out the cotoneaster bushes we used to have here. Don't ever plant that on purpose!

Can you believe this is maybe 10 percent of the rocks we pulled out of this bed? We used what we could for borders, gave several wheelbarrow loads away to unsuspecting neighbors, filled up the trash cans twice, and put the boulders in the back yard. This is what's left.

I learned a fancy new way of growing tomatoes in containers. You use about a 15-inch pot for the outside. Put a 6-inch ceramic pot in the middle, and surround it with potting soil. Put a tomato cage over the smaller pot. Plant 2 or 3 tomato plants around the outside of the ceramic pot, between the tomato cage and the big pot. The tomatoes will grow up on the outside of the cage.

Fill the ceramic pot with water 2 times a week (3 times if it's going to be over 100 degrees out). And, for extra production, you can self-pollinate the flowers. Rub together two flowers, from different plants of the same species, a few times a week. Gives the birds and the bees a head start.

Don't count on any photos of these at the end of the summer. This is probably the best they'll look!

Best Gotta-Have-It Brownies

This recipe won Reader's Digest's "Best Gotta-Have-It" Brownie contest. I've tried it a few times, and I have to agree - definitely a diet-buster. The recipe came from right here in Utah, from a lady named Kay Baker in Layton. Her mom always made these brownies when she was little. When Kay was just 14, her mom passed away, so she doesn't know where the recipe came from before that. But she makes them now for her 2-year-old son, who loves them. Just goes to prove that making brownies just might be the most important thing mothers do!

Kay Baker's Best-Gotta-Have-It Brownies

Brownie:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts, optional

Topping:
1 pound mini marshmallows
1 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup canned evaporated milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 1-inch-deep baking sheet or jelly roll pan. Mix together, butter, sugar and cocoa. Stir in eggs. Add flour, vanilla, salt and nuts. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until done.

Remove from oven and cover top of brownies with marshmallows. Return to oven and bake 3 minutes.

Mix together powdered sugar, butter, cocoa and evaporated milk. Pour frosting over marshmallow layer and cool.

(Hint - The frosting needs to be thin enough to pour over the marshmallow layer, so you may need to put it in the microwave for a few seconds.)

A few long-overdue photos.

At Hogle Zoo with Dad and my preschool class.

At the San Diego Zoo with Grandma Michiko.

At the beach in San Diego.

Happy Birthday Lane!

Easter - Grammy made us these dresses.

Lane people-watching.

Hana at the Children's Museum.