Canning Pickles

I love this cartoon! (by Pat Bagley)

I had my first experience canning today! Thankfully I started with something fairly easy so I wasn't overwhelmed and never wanted to do it again. We had a class in Relief Society about Pickling and I was very excited to try it!



I got all the ingredients together and this morning I cut up cucumbers and onions and put them in a bowl with a sweet pepper and salt and let them sit for three hours.



I drained the cucumbers/onions and put them in the brine to cook.



When they were hot, I put them in the jars and put the lids on. I boiled them for 10 minutes to seal them.



Voilà!! I have beautiful jars of Bread & Butter pickles. They are delicious!!

First Day of School 2011-2012

Hooray for the first day of school!



It has been a great summer and we have had a lot of fun, but we are all glad for the beginning of school and the return to schedules! The school district made a bunch of changes this last year and so the school across the street from us, which was only 5th and 6th grade, is now K-6th. Woohoo! So, both Rebecca and Katrina will be walking across the street to go to school! (No more car pooling for Lora!!)

On the 9th of August we went to the High School to register Amanda for her Freshman year. (Yikes! Already!!) We got her all signed up and her scholarship from last year got her a yearbook and her gym clothes. She got the classes she wanted and she and all her friends were standing around comparing schedules. Amanda will be taking:

1st period - Percussion
2nd Period - PE
3rd Period - Honors English
4th Period - Ag Earth Science
5th Period - Social Science
6th Period - Honors Math - Geometry
7th Period - Keyboarding

Yesterday we received the STAR testing results and the girls did very well. Katrina was too young for STAR testing, so nothing for her, but Amanda scored Advanced on everything (even the things she professes to "hate". Haha!) and Rebecca was high Proficient in English and Science and Advanced in Math! We are so proud of the girls and how hard they work at their education.



Katrina is starting 1st grade at Liberty Elementary this year and is very excited!



Here she is in her classroom. Her teacher, Mrs. Kass was a teacher at Sun Empire last year, so she is comfortable with a teacher she already knows. There are a few kids from her class last year and she came home telling me all about how she made a new friend at school. She said, "I asked her if she wanted to be my friend, and she said yes!" Isn't making friends so easy when you are a kid?!



Rebecca is starting 6th grade at Liberty Elementary, and her teacher is Mr. Sanchez. Rebecca is very excited to have a teacher who is a man, as she has never had one before. When we went to Back to School Night earlier this evening and we were sitting in Mr. Sanchez' class he said something about this being the Honors class. I glanced over at Rebecca and she whispered, "I just found that out today." We were completely unaware, but very happy to find out that Rebecca is in the Honors class this year! She worked so hard this last year to keep her grades high and it paid off!!



Amanda is starting 9th grade, a Freshman at Kerman High School! Go Lions!! She is happy to be in Percussion again and her Ag Earth Science teacher is a very good friend of ours, so she is happy to have her as a teacher. Amanda plans to try out for the basketball team again this year, will continue in CJSF, will continue volunteering at the Library, and starts Seminary at the beginning of next week.

This is going to be a great year!!

Family Adventure Day!

It's our 4th Annual last-weekend-of-the-summer Family Adventure Day!



This year we decided to head back to the beach. We went to Morro Bay. We haven't been there for about nine years, so we figured it was about time to go back. Lora's mom was visiting, so we took her with us to Atascadero, where we met with Uncle Rich, who took her to visit with Aunt Lindi.



We drove into Morro Bay and went out to the Rock. We ate lunch at a park, with a seagull standing hopefully by. Nearby a boy started throwing french fries to the two birds that were there, and within a minute, he was surrounded by over thirty birds, including six pelicans!



We left the park and drove to the Historical Landmark and got the answers for an Earthcache. We discussed how the rock was formed, whether by volcanic activity or erosion, and decided that it was both. It was originally formed by volcanic activity, but over the years has eroded to the shape it is now. We enjoy those kind of caches.



After the cache, we drove to the Morro Bay Aquarium. We have been here before, but Rebecca was two years old. The girls got some fish chum to feed the seals that are in the front of the aquarium. I can't believe those seals don't weigh a ton with all they get fed all day long.






The aquarium has seen better days. They used to have an octopus (see the photo of Rebecca when she was two), and the fish look a bit tired. It was fun though. They still have the shark, the anemones, the abalone and the horseshoe crabs. They did have a few fish I don't remember seeing before.



These fish seemed really interested in Rebecca! : )

When we left the aquarium we went to The Shell Shack and the girls got to pick out several shells. Then we walked around the shops, saw some of the sights, and let the girls each pick out a tshirt. We walked along the decks and we tried to get a photo of all of us, the long-arm way, with the Rock in the background. A waiter from the restaurant in front of us came out and offered to take a picture of all of us. The photo was slightly out of focus, but it was very nice of them.



We went up to the Morro Bay Natural History Museum. This is an amazing place! We strongly recommend this museum!! It has some of the most inventive displays we had ever seen. There were earphones shaped like "Rocky" that told the kids facts about Morro Rock. There were displays with drawers underneath them, and each drawer had even more displays in them. There were cylinders that had different pictures of different aspects of each of the ecosystems. There were really cool pull-out "windows" that showed the food chain. There was a great display that as you turned the "wheel" the louvers rotated to show different information. There was also a whale skeleton that the museum had put together themselves. Very cool!!












Lora's mom met back up with us and went down to the beach for a little while.




After cleaning up the sand from the beach, we went to dinner. We checked out a few places, but finally decided to go to the restaurant where the waiter had taken a photo of us. It was called the Flying Dutchman. We had a long wait for a table, but the food was worth it!



Amanda, Rebecca and Kevin had the fish and chips, Katrina had the chicken strips, Mom had the clam chowder in a bread bowl, and Lora had the special which was bacon-wrapped teriyaki tuna with jasmine rice, baby vegetables and cucumber salsa. Mom said it was the best clam chowder she has ever had, the fish and chips weren't overly greasy like some places, and the special was really good! We made sure to tell the manager that we came back because of his employee. They really appreciated hearing that!



Then, we drove home. : ) As usual, a lovely end to the summer!

To see all the photos from our Morro Bay adventure CLICK HERE

A really fun birthday present

We are not big believers that kids need phones, but at the end of the school year when Lora couldn't get ahold of Amanda on several occasions, she called Kevin and said, "I know what we are getting Amanda for her birthday!"

We spent some time researching phones, as we wanted her to have a decent phone, but we don't have texting on our phones, so no texting, no internet, etc. We finally found the one that we wanted to get her, only to have another one start to look interesting. We finally decided on that one, as it had a slider, etc., and it would be a "cool" phone for a teenager to have.

When we called to order it, of course, they were out of the phone, so we did some quick deciding again via a three-way call with the service representative and finally came to rest on the Pantech Link. We also decided that it wouldn't be reasonable to have a teenager's phone with no texting capabilities, so we changed our data plans and added unlimited texting for all three phones, which worked out to the same price that we are paying now.

We ordered the phone.....and then came the fun part.

We bought an 8G memory card, as Amanda has been saving her money to buy an iPod, and we loaded it with several of her favorite songs. (So, now she can spend her money on earphones, as the audio connection on this phone is an oddball one.)

Lora created two ringtones, on Harry Potter and one Star Wars. A few days before Amanda's birthday we activated the phone and then tested them out to make sure you would be able to hear them from inside the box. It took a few tweaks, but we got it to work!

A few days before, Lora texted a ton of people and asked them to send Amanda a text at 8:30pm wishing her a Happy Birthday. We were afraid that if we took Amanda's presents to the restaurant (we always let them pick a restaurant to have their birthday dinner) she would not be able to hear the phone ringing, so we figured we would be able to be back from the restaurant by 8:30pm. We also figured her reaction would be too exuberant for a restaurant and there would be a mess of plates on the table.


Amanda chose Sizzler for her birthday dinner, as she wanted to get the shrimp plate. Gramma Carol joined us. We ended up leaving the restaurant much later than we expected.

Both Kevin and Lora had been very careful to erase or hide everything off their phones and off Lora's computer so that there would be no trace for Amanda to find. On the way home from the restaurant, Amanda asked if she could play on Lora's phone. We were five minutes from home and Lora knew there was nothing on the phone that might give them away, so she said yes. The FIRST THING Amanda said when she got Lora's phone in her hand was, "Why does it say that your phone called me?" Lora just about had a heartattack!! What?! She played it cool and pretended she had no idea what it could be (and in reality she didn't) as Amanda kept going on about how could Lora call her "future" phone if she didn't have one.

SOMEHOW Lora's purse had called Amanda's phone while we were all at the restaurant!! Talk about freakish timing! Arg!!

We got home at about 8:40pm, and we were getting Amanda's presents together and there was a soft chirping chime one of the boxes. The girls kept asking what the noise was and Kevin told them it was probably one of our cameras. Then Kevin called the phone and Harry Potter music started playing. You should have seen the looks on their faces!!



Amanda opened her gifts, and periodically the box would chime, or Harry Potter music would play. Each time the girls would stop and say, "there is the Harry Potter music again! I DID hear it!"

She opened the box from us last. As she unwrapped it, Lora called her phone and Star Wars music started playing. THAT really got her wondering.

She opened the box and was absolutely stunned. Like she just sat there with her mouth open, staring at the box! She said "I'm happy!"




There were already 12 messages on her phone and she began to read each birthday wish. As she did, the phone kept chiming as more and more messages came in. It was WONDERFUL!! Perfect!!



She sat and texted thank yous to everyone and texted back and forth with her cousins, and tried to figure out things on her new phone.

There are a big list of rules that go with the phone, but she was so happy to actually have one, and Kevin and Lora are very grateful that they will be able to get a hold of her when they need to!

Here is the video of her opening the box. It's several minutes long.



Thank you so much to everyone for texting her and making this an amazingly fun birthday gift for her!!

Laugh Out Loud moment of the day!!

My good friend Camille is pregnant and yesterday when she came to pick up her kids from our house after an OB appointment, we were talking about how she was doing, etc. In the course of conversation, and as the kids were congregating in the entry way to get their shoes one etc., I mentioned about how when Rebecca was born, the doctor nearly didn't make it. I said that they barely had time to get his gown on before she came out. Rebecca asked what he needed a gown for, and I said, "because a lot more comes out than just a baby. There's blood and goo and water and palcenta." Rebecca blurted out, "plus Santa?!" We all started laughing so hard that I couldn't even say it again. It was too funny!

Katrina's Kitchen

The other day Katrina saw a recipe in the Friend Magazine for Confetti Pizza that she wanted to try. So, we bought all the ingredients and Katrina made it for dinner tonight. It was a hit and we wanted to share the recipe, as it is a lot of fun!

For the recipe for Confetti Pizza, click here.

First, Katrina set the oven to preheat to 375 degrees. Then we took the two packages of crescent roll dough and rolled them out on our baking stone.


While we waited for the oven to get hot, Katrina measured out 1/2 cup of mayonnaise into a bowl.


Then she opened an 8oz package of cream cheese (softened) and added it to the bowl. Then she added the buttermilk dressing mix and stirred it up.




(Please note that the recipe calls for 1/3 of the dressing package. We missed that part and used the whole package and it was pretty strong. Good, but I am sure it would have tested better with less buttermilk mix.)

When the crust was done cooking, and had cooled, Katrina spread the cream cheese mixture on the crust.



Earlier, Mom had cut all the vegetable ingredients into little confetti bits.


Now, Katrina sprinkled all the vegetables all over the top of the pizza.



We cut the pizza into wedges, and served them with watermelon!



Delicious!!

We are so proud of our girls!

School's over for the summer and our girls have done very well this year! I have to brag on them just a bit!

Katrina finished Kindergarten with all As and is reading at a Rigby level 26, which is the beginning of 3rd grade. She has amazed her teacher all year, who has had a hard time finding things to keep her busy!

Rebecca ended the year with all As and one B+. She really tried hard this year and worked to make sure her grades were up there! She really wanted all As, but is happy with the work she did for that B+.

Amanda got all As as well. 8th grade promotion was last week, and she received a medal and certificate for her GPA. They honored the top ten GPAs for the two cumulative years, and she and her friend Maggie tied for the highest GPA at 4.6667. Amanda also received one of ten KUTA scholarships, which was $100 towards high school (yearbook, gym clothes, etc.) Awesome!

We are so proud of our girls and how hard they work in school!!

Piano lessons

I have been taking piano lessons for almost three years now. We have had two recitals during that time, but not everyone has been able to see them, so I thought I would post a piece that I have been working on so you can see what I have been learning. It's short. : )

Our very late Christmas greeting

Well, here it is, past the middle of January, and I am finally getting to our Christmas card and letter. Enjoy! : )



Greetings to all our family and friends!! We are little behind on getting our greetings out this year. We loved hearing from all of you this year and are happy to hear that you are all doing so well. We appreciate and love all of you and hope that you are planning a wonderful New Year! When we consider our blessings for this year, you are all at the top of the list!!

Amanda turned 13 this year and is in 8th grade. She is one of the best snare drummers on the Middle School drum line and she tried out for Girl’s basketball and made the team!! She is doing exceptionally well in school and volunteers at the local library. Amanda got to travel all by herself to Alaska this summer and visited with Gma Kathryn and Gpa Herb. Among many things while she was there, she got to do a Wolf Encounter at the Alaska Zoo. She liked that very much! Amanda also went to her first year at Girl’s Camp and had a great time!

Rebecca is 10 this year and in 5th grade. She is doing well in school and she loves writing her own stories like crazy! This summer Rebecca got to spend a week all by herself with Gma Carol and Papa in Auberry. She had a great time and Gma Carol helped her to sew her own skirt. Rebecca is also learning how to crochet and is enjoying that very much. Rebecca has continued with her piano lessons and likes to memorize the pieces so she can play them anywhere there is a piano. Rebecca is also growing her hair out so she can donate it to Locks of Love. She can’t wait for it to be long enough to cut off. She likes her hair short.

Katrina is 5 this year and started Kindergarten! She has been waiting to start school for as long as she knew what it was and she is so happy to be there this year. She loves her teacher and is doing very well, reading and writing above her grade level. Katrina loves to read books, and loves to sing, dance, color, and play games on the computer. Katrina is trying to learn her place in the world and sometimes is fussy about not knowing this VERY SECOND. It is very hard for a 5 year old to be patient. Sigh. : ) Katrina got her ears pierced recently and is taking good care of them and looking forward to when she can wear different earrings!

Kevin’s work has steadily increased over the past six months, for which we are very grateful. They now have a backlog which they haven’t had for 2 1/2 years, which is hopefully a good indicator that the economy is slowly turning around. Kevin is involved in many different organizations, continuing his position on the Kerman Planning Commission, and as President of the San Joaquin Chapter of the California Land Surveyors Association. This year he has been serving on Sheriff Mims’ Fresno County Sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Committee and has recently become the Vice President of the Fresno County Neighborhood Watch Committee. He also continues as webmaster of the Honda Rider’s Group.

Lora is doing a lot of volunteer work, helping in the girl’s classrooms, serving on two school site councils, the Bond Oversight Committee for the new school being built in Kerman, and this year became the President of the Friends of the Kerman Branch Library. Lora lost weight this year and then gained it back. Grrr! She continues to work her own business from home and also attends the Temple weekly. She has done a lot of family history this year and is working on trying to compile it all onto a program that she can share!

We have had a few adventures this year. In March Lora and the girls travelled to the coast to see Lora’s Gpa and to have some fun. We also drove to the Palm Springs area in November to spend Thanksgiving with both of Lora’s brothers and their families! It was the first time we had all been together in five years and four of the kids had not even been born then, so it was a wonderful time to spend together. The kids had fun and so did the grown ups!! We have had visits from Lora’s parents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and past missionaries who served in Kerman. And, of course, we see Lora’s Gma Willie often and Kevin’s family almost every Sunday.

We hope you have a great year in 2011. Please keep in touch. We love to hear how you are all doing!

Katrina gets her ears pierced!!

Last year we thought that one of the most perfect Christmas gifts for Rebecca would be a gift certificate to get her ears pierced. We were in the mall and went into a store that offers ear piercing and we were surprised to hear Rebecca adamantly say that she never wanted to get her ears pierced. Katrina on the other hand, started talking about how she wanted to get hers pierced. Hmmmm. We thought Katrina was a little young, but when this Christmas rolled around and she was still talking about it...

We, her parents, talked it over, and decided that we would let her do that. And, as it happens, shortly after our decision, we were visiting with family and our 7 year old niece had her ears pierced at 5 years old, so that solidified it.

So, Christmas Eve Katrina opened her presents and was thrilled with her earrings and a gift certificate to get her ears pierced! She asked us every couple of hours for the next two days when she could go get them done.

Monday morning we took her to the mall. We had talked this over with her and warned her that it would hurt, but not for very long. I told her that I would be right there and I would help her to keep it from hurting as badly. (I learned a trick when I got my ears pierced for the second time: right after the ear is pierced, pinch the edge of the ear, right above the ear lobe. This keeps the blood from rushing to the wound, and keeps it from hurting as much!) I also gave her some Motrin before they did it. We told her she would have to keep the same earrings in for several weeks and then she could wear some of the new ones she got for Christmas.

Katrina decided on the 3mm cz studs and we filled out all the paperwork. Katrina told me that she would be brave. I was so proud of her!

The two store associates worked together to pierce both Katrina's ears at the same time (thank you Claire's!!) and as they counted down and SNAP!! there was a few seconds of hang time, and then the pain started to register!! Katrina started to cry! I held her ears and told her what an amazing job she had done!!



I tried to take a picture of her with her new earrings, but she was still hurting and didn't want to smile.

We paid for her piercing and by the time we had walked out of the mall and to the van, she was smiling and telling us that it didn't hurt any more! She was so happy and is telling everyone she can to check out her new earrings!!