Yellowstone Summer Trip 2010

Fun times with the cousins this summer at Wendell's parents' cabin in Island Park, just west of Yellowstone. We saw amazing wildlife including a black wolf, up close, a coyote, some moose, elk, bison, squirrels, and my favorite: a hawk swooped down from the sky, caught a fish from the Snake River (about 100 feet away from the cabin) then flew through the air with the silver fish in it's talons. It felt like we were in a NatGeo special. We drove to the top of Sawhill Peak (is that what it's called?) which is so high there are no trees, and although it was hot, end o' summer weather down below, the icy wind blasted right through our layers as we posed for the last picture on top of the peak. Stiff, frosty snow gripped the trees along the road as we neared the top, and the ground was covered with ice. We also floated the river for several hours one day. Max even came with, which slowed us down a bit as Janet and I shared a boat and she had to paddle all alone, against the wind, while I nursed Max during the first half of the ride. Slow going, but fun, and a work out. We were all tired afterward. We saw Old Faithful, of course, and ate icecream at the snack bar there. Josh noted that he'd been waiting a whole year for that icecream (we did a trip to Yellowstone last year, just Josh and I and Mavis and Jack) therefore, he couldn't, or wouldn't share when I asked for a taste of his. I guess he really loves the icecream there. Josh and the guys took scuba tanks so they could explore the depths of the Firehole while the rest of us swam around up top. What a beautiful place!

A little monster that isn't very scary

This monster is going on the quilt that Amberlee is making for Max. I'm excited to see how it turns out. I went with her to the fabric store yesterday to choose all of the fabrics and discuss the design she had made. We altered a few things in the design, and she set to work.

Stand For the Family

My new favorite book:

Stand for the Family by Sharon Slater.

I love it because of it's powerful messages: We can make a difference in the world! and, Motherhood is the most important, and most rewarding of all the jobs I can choose to do. This is a great read and has renewed my commitment to my marriage and family, and to the betterment of the lives of all the people of the world.

(Ok, I do have to add a warning...now that I've actually finished the book. I do not recommend this for younger readers as it talks about too many sensitive subjects in too much detail for the younger crowd. It is an adult read, that gives parents information that they can then talk about with their kids, screening the info to make it age-appropriate for their needs. It is a book full of the first-hand experiences of the author during her 10 years attending UN meetings and "World Congress of Family" meetings, in addition to a great set of research to show the scientific backing for why the traditional family unit is the best way, and really the only way, to go. Sharon Slater also succeeds in providing a host of ways to help protect and promote the family, which gives me hope and renewed energy in my daily efforts as a wife, mother, and wanna-be activist for the traditional, nuclear family.)

Chocolate Mint Tingle

My favorite dessert:

CHOCO-MINT TINGLE SHAKE
by Josh Blackwelder

Serves 4.

1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (we like Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa, or Callebaut)
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
24 cubes frozen whole milk (freeze 4 cups milk in ice cube trays)
10 to 15 peppermint discs (20 to 30 ounces)

Heat unfrozen milk and sugar over medium heat. Whisk in cocoa until dissolved. Pour chocolate mixture in blender. Add milk ice cubes and pulse blender until cubes are all blended up. Add peppermint candy and run blender on high for 5 seconds or until candy is finely chopped. Divide among four 12-oz. glasses. Serve immediately.

Note: use a high-powered blender like a Blendtec or Vitamix for best results. We burned out a few cheap blenders making these before we finally got a real workhorse.

Another (less important) note: This has a lot less fat and less sugar than the average chocolate shake made with icecream, and costs less to make too.

p.s. I would post a picture but am having trouble with the blog...can't seem to get the "add a picture" function to work. Maybe later when someone a little more tech-savvy gets home from work.

Max's blessing day

A nearly perfect day. A beautiful blessing given by Josh. Beautiful weather...blue and sunshiny. The only regrets: I let myself stress out for a few minutes after church when we were trying to get the food ready, and I completely forgot to invite my grandparents!! Duh!! I really feel bad about that and wish I could go back and change that.

It's about time for a family picture

I don't think we have had a picture of us all together since Valentine's day last year... so we set up the tripod and set the timer for some shots of us against the newly painted blue family room wall. Not quite profesh, but about as good as it will get for now. Maybe some day I'll pay someone to take some family portraits. We'll see.

Christmas delights

This is the delightful new bedspread Amberlee sewed for me for my birthday. It makes me so happy, almost giddy, every time I walk in the room and get a shot of all those bright colors! It's exactly the picker-upper I crave in the middle of winter.

These are the Thomas Keller gougeres we made for Christmas dinner (from Bouchon, I think). Wow! Another deluxe delight this Christmas!! I have to say though, that I like the Tartine gougeres a LOT too, and the Tartine variety are so beautiful. I'd like to make them both the same day next time so I can compare them, especially the flavors, more fairly. It's been too long since we made the Tartine gougeres, so it's hard for me to be sure of which ones taste better. Josh thinks the Thomas Keller version tastes better while the Tartine version looks better.
And here I am eating a chocolate pot de creme (recipe courtesy of Cook's Illustrated) at the Christmas Eve party. The chocolate was topped with whipped cream then garnished with crushed peppermint candy and a peppermint meringue cookie. Make sure to serve these when the chocolate creme is at room temperature. They taste much better (smoother, creamier, lighter, yet still very rich) than when they're cold (too rich and overwhelming...you can only eat one or two bites when they're chilled).
Seems like I forgot to take pictures of the rest of our Christmas festivities. Oops. I was too busy making the festivities happen to also make some pictures happen. At least Josh remembered the camera on Christmas morning. The videos he took are the best. See the videos of the kids on Christmas morning.

The Beehive Bazaar—December 2009

For the Beehive Bazaar at the beginning of December I made candy rings, some papier mache, and some felt hair clips and felt flower pins. I had several other projects in the works, but didn't finish them in time, including the paper dolls (there was a big mishap by the place that did some laminating for me...kinda ruined most of the project). It was fun to share a booth space with Josh's cousins, Briana, Tess and Candice! They had lovely things and delicious treats to sell.

Halloween Highlights

A ghost.
A seal.
This boy LOVES to cook! "Sawt, sawt," he says as he grabs the nearest thing he can find and shakes it over whatever he's cooking.

This girl LOVES to hug, squeeze, kiss, chase, tickle, and boss her brother.
This boy busted his chin open on the wooden stairs at the French House at the tail end of a family Halloween party. A few days later he busted it open again on the metal trim of the bench in the dressing room at Old Navy. The day after that he busted it open again when he tripped and smacked it into the carpeted stair between the kitchen and tv area. We used super glue to repair it each time, but after so many repeats the final result left a solid line of scar tissue in the middle of the healed wound. Oh well, at least it's on the underside of the chin, and not very visible. Poor little guy—that was a tough week.

Sock Monkey

I love my little sock monkey and Jack loves being a little sock monkey. He gets excited every time, running around repeating "monkey, monkey"!
Could he be any cuter?! His jacket was a dingy, whitish, hand-me-down that I upcycled with a bit of leftover dye from a tie-dye party at my sister's house last summer. I like the brown and grey version much better—it's just right for this little boy.