Flower Girl

Parable of the Sunburn

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I never really understood the scripture, I believe it, but don't fully comprehend it. How could the Savior's burden be easy and light? I may have received a little glimpse of what is meant when my oldest son and I both got sunburns.

We went swimming on a cloudy day, so I failed to put sunscreen on everyone. I ended up putting it on half way through our little beach day. Little Gypsy Girl just got browner, my middle son never got out of the water, so no sunburn, but my oldest son and I both got a sunburn. Mine was much worse than Luke's, but now onto the the parable.

That night, I put on a movie and started the sunburn treatments. Motrin for pain, and then wet, cold cloths on the sunburn. As soon as the cloths would get hot, I would change them. During this entire time, my sunburn did not even hurt. As my son came to me with his burden, I was able to give him rest. My burden was light.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

We had a little too much fun . . .

I finished my take home exam on Monday! I got an A- in the class, oh well. So then summer could really start! Tuesday, we went to the Library to finish the summer reading program. Wednesday, we had a great day swimming. This is a little neighborhood swimming area, not my neighborhood, but a dear friends. The kids loved swimming in the water, playing in the sand, and building a hot tub.

Anakin and a friend doing some digging!

Gypsy Girl loved being able to go in and out of the water with great ease.


Then on Thursday, my sister watched Gypsy Girl, and I took the rest of the kids miniature golfing.

Instead of waiting for one person to finish the hole, we would stagger it a bit. We zoomed through the 18 course very quickly!

A rare picture of me: my sister's three kids and my son. Luke is taking the picture.

This is my favorite picture. It about captures the moment: everyone trying to get there ball into the hole at the same time.

Today, we had a friend over to play. That was fairly low maintenance because they love playing together.

I'm glad I'm on a little break from school. I really started to hate the last class that I took--so an A- is fairly amazing. In the past, when I hated a class, I would get a B or a C, so an A- is absolutely amazing. Hopefully, I will be ready to go in the Fall. Only two more classes, then I student teach!

Thankful for Zucchini

Nanette's Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sour milk (I just put 1 tsp lemon juice in milk)

2 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

4 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 cups zucchini, grated & packed

Mix margarine, oil, sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, milk & zucchini. Mix well.

Add dry ingredients & mix well

Bake 45 minutes at 325*

As soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle with chocolate chips & spread out for frosting.

Wordless Wednesday

Conehead Sundaes

One of the benefits of making Sundaes during my high school, college, and pre-mission day. I learned how to make pretty cute sundaes. Thank you Friendly's! The boys loved them, and it was a great way to cheer them up when Daddy left for work.

A walk in the woods

I loved seeing this turtle!

The unzoomed view.

On the bridge.

My little Gypsy Girl found blackberries, but only liked to smash them, didn't really eat them.

I loved going on these walks in the woods.

She decided to walk by herself.

I just love this girl!

While the boys were in there nature class, Gypsy Girl and I would walk and walk. We had a great time, but the mosquitoes had a better time. Gypsy Girl got bites all around her eyes. The only place that I did not dare spray the bug repellent. I loved the time we had just to explore these woods, and I did not even get lost once. I have a terrible sense of direction, so I would mark the path in order to find my way home.

The boys loved it as well: they had one day looking for frogs, another day on the prairie trying to catch butterflies, and the last day in the pond where Anakin caught a crayfish.

Thankful for Zucchini

Curried Chicken Salad with Yogurt Dressing

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups cooked chicken (1/2-inch pieces)
1/2 cup currants
2 medium carrots, grated
2 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into eighths, then sliced 1 inch think
2 Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Crisp greens for garnish
1/2 cup roasted cashews

1. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sour cream, curry powder, thyme, coriander, cumin, celery seeds, salt and lemon juice. Add the chicken and toss well. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 15 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, zucchini, apples, and currants to the chicken and toss well to combind. Mound salad on the crisp greens and top with some cashews.

Mommy-Me Time

The boys and I have been having a great time with mommy-me time. In the past, we have waited until Mike is home, but this week I got a baby-sitter for the other two kids . . . then we were off.

Anakin wanted to go to the park. So we took the scooter and walked down to the park. We ran and ran around. He loved having me at his beck and call. "Mommy, come this way, Mommy go that way! We pretended the wood chips were lava, and played and played. Then we walked home. My favorite part--leaving--

"Anakin, are you ready for mommy-me time?" I ask.

"Oh YEAH!", he replies.

Then the next day, same babysitter, but different child. Luke and I went to Target, where he got to pick out a new Lego set--we then put it together. Again, the excitement of actually spending time together---

"OH YEAH!"

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Yes, she is two--I can hardly believe it. We celebrated her birthday quietly. We got her presents, cupcakes, then we went to a lake that has a sandy beach. She'll start understanding the excitement of birthdays really soon, then we won't have the option of celebrating quietly!

Her latest: she can gallop! She still dances all day every day; she has amazing choreography. She is definitely the busiest of all my three children--Happy Birthday--and may we all outlive the terrible two's.

Spy School

We been having Spy School around here. We have cool spy moves, and secret missions. We use the walkie-talkies for our spy adventures. We've even taken pictures of our neighbors and their war preparations. It's been a lot of fun! The best spy is Luke--he is the teacher and continually gives us stars when we are doing well. I got two gold stars last night --wow -- I am a spy! Forget graduate school--because now I have spy school.

Thankful for Zucchini

I ate my first zucchini out of the garden, and I started to think of all the wonderful recipes I have for zucchini.

Cheesy Zucchini Lasagna

2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 cups zucchini cut up
1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
3 cups spaghetti sauce
uncooked lasagna noodles

Heat oven to 350 reserve 1/2 cup mozzerella
mix remaining cheese & zuchini
Spread 3/4 cup sauce on bottom of 9 x 13 pan
put 3 noodles
spread 1/2 of mixture
top with 3/4 cup sauce
Repeat 3 more noodles & rest of cheese mixture
then 3/4 cup sauce & noodles again
Last 3/4 cup of sauce
Cover with foil, bake 1 hour until nooldes are soft, top with remaining mozzarella.

(Cool trick: spray the inside of the foil with cooking spray which helps the noodles ect not stick!)

Sacrament Meeting--this time

I thought I would share the latest Sacrament Meeting story. It's nothing like the one that Elder Oaks told in conference in 1997, but it's pleasant to me. Mike was asked to pass the sacrament. Our Ward is low in Young Men, and the older boys were on a High Adventure, so he dutifully passes the sacrament. Everything is going smoothly. Gypsy Girl is a joy to watch at the beginning of church. She gets out the songbook, sings right along, prays right along with everyone (even during the sacrament prayers). We were all doing fine until Daddy walks right in front of us--Gyspy Girl sees him, walks by Luke, and is in the aisle chasing down her dad! Luckily, I saw her escape. Luckily, I caught her! Luckily, I had some milk. She whimpered a bit, but enjoyed her milk during the rest of the sacrament.

Two Weeks

Sue asked me if I pampered myself during my two week hiatus of being a mom. I mostly studied. Getting six credits accomplished in two weeks leaves little time to do much else. I did eat out a lot, and watched this great movie while working on my final project! This was Cary Grant's last movie and it is wonderful. I keep thinking it would make a great re-make, but then again I'm not sure it would remain as "family-friendly" as the original movie. The couple doesn't even kiss until the final scenes--so I am sure Hollywood could change the dynamics of the film. But in a perfect world, I would love to see this remade with Harrison Ford in the Carey Grant role, Amy Adams as the lead female, and I really can't decide who should play the Olympian. Anyone have any suggestion? How can we pitch this idea to the right producer?