Epic Fail-Epic Win

A friend of our's who has a catering company gave us a huge box of potatoes.  In my attempt to be domestic, frugal and prepared I tried  making my own hashbrowns.  I baked the potatoes first and then tried to grate them and put them on a sheet pan to freeze.  They were too gummy and sticky and froze into yucky dried out clumps.  So we won't be making our own hashbrowns I guess.

In other news I did make 22 jars of strawberry freezer jam.  I bought a flat of strawberries from Bountiful Baskets Easter weekend and made the jam on Monday April 1.  The berries were going bad pretty fast.  I didn't have room in my fridge though for them so that is probably why.  I forgot to take a picture before I put them in the freezer though. I didn't need to make strawberry jam, I needed raspberry jam.  I think I gave away about 6 jars but we still have lots and lots of jam.

Another New Trick

Kyle found out last night that pieces of corn are the perfect size to fit up his nose.  He ever so nicely was cramming up them up his nose.  He was sneezing for 30 minutes afterward and like a slot machine they all came back out.  I even got out the thing to look in his ear so that I could look up his nose and make sure there weren't any more surprises.  

It made me think of this from "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Imogene Herdman: I'm going to be Mary in the Christmas play. And if you try to be, or raise your arm, you'll wish you didn't.

Alice Wendlekin: I'm always Mary in the Christmas play.

Imogene Herdman: Go ahead then. And next spring when the pussy-willows come out, I'm going to stick a pussy-willow so far down your ear where nobody can reach it. And it'll sit there and grow and grow and grow so for the rest of your life, there'll be a pussy-willow bush growing out of your ear.

We will have corn stalks growing out of Kyle's nose.  That will be lovely.

Clark County Fair 2013

On the train.

He finally decided he liked the cart on day 4.

Playing with the stick pony in the Kids Corral.

The classic Connor shot on the cart hauling trash.

Caleb worked about 8 hours a day in the ice cream booth.  

I take this picture of Cody and Jessie Culler/Hardy every year I think.

Putting on a puppet show in the Kid's Corral.

Cayden thinking that there is going to be really loud music.

The returned missionary hauling beer in his Budweiser cap and with a Rockstar.

Riding the train.

Our favorite clown friend PJ!

Pizza!

Ho-hee!

Yum-O!

I was really wanting something yummy for dinner the other night so I was looking at my Pinterest pages trying to find an idea.  I saw this and decided that it was just what I was needing.  I L.O.V.E monte cristo sandwiches and this was a good substitute that didn't involve frying!  They were delicious and didn't cost $17.50-that's how much 1 sandwich costs at New Orleans Cafe at Disneyland.  There used to be a restaurant here called Bennigan's that made them but they closed down years ago.  Total Bummer!

A Little Peek at How Connor Serves Others

On Fast Sunday in March one of the older ladies that Connor takes care of got up and bore her testimony. She told of her week and how she had  a really bad day.  She said that she was in a lot of pain and was really frustrated.  She has a sunflower thing in her front yard that spins when the wind blows and she said that when she is having a bad day she likes to sit and watch it spin and it helps her feel better.  That day in particular she was feeling poorly and was watching her sunflower spin when a big gust of  wind blew it right over.  She was very distressed and hobbled out to try and fix it.  Just a minute later she heard the sound of an engine and then the voice of a nice young man who said, "Sister Whipple, do you need some help?"  Connor fixed her decoration and talked to her for a few minutes and went on his merry way.  Unbeknownst to him, he had brightened her day and helped an older lady feel loved and understood by the Lord.  She didn't say his name over the pulpit but he knew it was him and he was so proud of himself!  Ssitting on that bench he was just beaming!  He leaned over to grandma and said "that was me!".  He then asked his grandma if he should go up and bare his testimony and tell everyone that it was him.  Grandma of course told him no that he shouldn't do that and after the meeting he got lots of compliments from lots of people because they knew that it was him that helped Sister Whipple!  He is always on the look out for ways to help people. He takes his work very seriously and wants to help any one he can.  He cleared up some ground at Brother Jones' house so they could get his garden ready.  Brother Jones is almost 90, mostly deaf and blind and not really all that well.  His daughter lives with him and takes care of him and his son, Tracy who is extremely mentally and physically disabled.  I saw the daughter, Melanie, when we were getting our recommends signed at the Stake Center.  She told me how they just love Connor and they were so glad and grateful that he came to help them get the garden ready.  This is the same Brother Jones that Connor went and sang Christmas Carols to over the holidays.

Scout Activities

On Saturday, January 26 the young men in our ward went on their 2nd Annual Brian Head Ski and Snowboard Trip.  Even though Don was not in Young Men anymore he volunteered to go.  They needed him to help drive and he wanted to go skiing so that worked out really well!  They had to get up really early in the morning to meet up with everyone and leave by 5am.  They were able to take lessons in the morning if they wanted and then head to slopes or just ski all day long if they wanted.  Caleb tried snowboarding this time and he said he liked it and was able to go down the bunny hill later in the day.  They headed home around 4:30 and stopped for dinner.  I can't find any pictures of this so I don't think any got taken.

Caleb and Cayden got to participate in the merit badge pow wow that our ward held in February.  There were 3 Wednesday's where they attend different merit badge classes and by the of those they could have 3 merit badges done.  Cayden needed to go to a town board meeting so he went with Sister Boren to one in March.  They both need service hours for their citizenship in the community merit badge and they are taking care of those by volunteering at the fair.  Caleb got his 8 hours done over 2 days and Cayden started his and has 1.5 hours done.  This is really not a hard thing for them to do mostly because they love the fair and any time they can be up there-even when it is not even open yet and even when it is picking up trash or emptying boxes of toilet paper, they are happy to do.  Caleb is really close to having all his merit badges for his Eagle and just needs to finish a few and then figure out a project.

Caleb has been excited about going to YM every week-a fact that I am grateful for.  Right about this age, 14-15, Cody decided that he was done with YM.  It was hard for me not "force" him to go and there were sometimes I insisted but it was a weekly battle to get him to go.  Most of the time I lost.  Caleb usually remembers and doesn't fuss about it at all.  He even goes when it is a deacons activity even though he is a teacher now.  The deacons have a campout atleast once a month and because all the boys are supposed to get their camping merit badge, they all need nights of camping. Brother Barlow invites everyone who want to to go camping with them even it is only his garage or backyard.

Connor has been going to young men activities this year since he turned 16.  That hasn't happened since he was 13.  The youth leaders and others in that ward are very helpful and have accepted him for who he is and he feels much more comfortable there.  He even calls it "my ward" when we are talking about it.  He went to his first campout EVER by himself in February.  This really is a huge deal.  Even when he was 11 and 12 he only went on maybe 2 campouts and Don went with him both times.  Grandpa took him out and stayed with him until about 10 but then Connor stayed the rest of the night by himself and had a great time.  He did most of their cooking on his dutch oven cooking stuff he got for Christmas.  He has been going to some of the Wednesday activities too once in a while.  I really am grateful for that ward in accepting him and loving him and allowing him to be who he is.  That ward is smaller than ours and there are less youth and that makes it easier for him as well.

What Kyle was Eating for Lunch

Well yes, that would be crepe paper he found in the craft closet.  

 I corrected that immediately and put him in his chair for some real lunch.  He loves to say "cheese" to the camera. So in honor of the "cheesy"grin and the yellow crepe paper Kyle had a cheesy tortilla for lunch.