Chinatown

Every summer starts with big plans, chore charts, reward systems, vacation and day trips planned...but come mid-July after more than a month of breakdowns, tantrums, and fights, the summer becomes more about survival than family fun. Anyone with me on this, or is it just me? (Please say it's not just me!) But one thing I wanted to do this summer was to take a trip to the great city of San Francisco. And even though survival mode was already in full swing, I gathered the troops (and Grandpa for backup) and we boarded the train to enjoy a day in Chinatown!Here is Brennen enjoying the park, while I enjoyed the view!
My kids take a moment to pose with Grandpa at the spot where the first American flag was raised in San Francisco. (Does anyone else find it ironic that the spot is in the middle of Chinatown?)

Grandpa and Lizzy in the alleyway where we found the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie factory.

The boys watching the fortune cookie machine and hoping for a taste or two!

Posing at the gateway to Chinatown.

Timothy's Photo Shoot

Timothy loves the camera. And the camera loves Timothy.
You just gotta love this kid!

Oooo, la, la...Olallieberries!

Every year in the month of June something special grows just over the hill...Olallieberries! Some say oh-la-lee, I say oh-la-la. What is that you say? I can never remember so I typed in my handy dandy google window "What is an Olallieberry?" And our trusty wikipedia said this, "...a cross between a loganberry and a youngberry, each of which is itself a cross between blackberry and another berry (raspberry and dewberry, respectively)". Also defined as scrumptious, delicious, bursting with summery goodness...you get the picture. Growing season is nearly gone, so I enlisted my four helping hands (which would actually be a total of eight hands) to pick some berries.

Lizzy and Tim were busy picking...

(Brennen, Gabe and I were busy too, but sadly, no photos)

and eating!

Here are our four buckets...(it would have been five if Lizzy wouldn't have dumped her pickin's on the ground every time she had any amount in the bucket!).

After rinsing and picking through the berries to weed out the foliage, I scattered some on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet...

...and placed them in the freezer. Once the individual berries are frozen, I will put them in a freezer ziplock bag and store them in the freezer, from which I can pull any amount that I wish.

The rest went straight into ziplock bags in the amounts that I need for specific recipes, i.e. jam, pie, and cobbler.

And the grand total for today was (drumroll please) I can make 2 batches of jam, 2 cobblers, 3 pies, 2 batches of pancakes, and still I have 4 cookie sheets worth left over for any of the above or anything else I can think of!

Olallieberries...yum!!!

Fore!

For the last five weeks Gabe has been taking golf lessons. He has learned putting, chipping, and spent the last three weeks on his full swing. Golf peaked his interest when his cousin Kaleigh took him to the driving range....he was pretty sure he could go straight to 18 holes from there, but I thought he could benefit from a lesson or two. What I really wanted was to take the "mom and me" lessons that our rec center offered, but alas, Gabe wanted to try it on his own. Now he really thinks that he's ready for a round or two. And with a little more practice, who knows? Watch out Mr. Woods, here comes my "tiger"!

The Final Curtain...

There is a door that reads "Performers Only". Since I was a little girl, I wanted to be able to walk through that door. And happily, dreams do come true...

For the last 5 months I have spent spare time, time that I never realized was "spare", learning notes and lines and movement, cackling, crouching, poking, and yelling, and loving every minute, as I prepared my "witch" for the musical "Into the Woods". What a marvelous experience, one that I can now cross off my bucket list.

Last night, closing night, was filled with excitement, and lined with sorrow. As each song was sung, my heart cheered and broke in the same moment. Into the Woods, our Into the Woods has been called one of the finest shows that SVCT (our local community theater company) has ever done. It was a privelege to be a part of...and I will miss not only the stage, but the fine friends I made there.

Me as the "ugly" witch, singing to my stolen daughter, Rapunzel

After the witch regains her beauty, but loses her powers, and then loses her Rapunzel as well, she sings the Witch's Lament.

Shhhhh....It's the last midnight...the witch is fed up with the people around her and begs her mother to take her back (to where I don't know!)

The finale where the witch sings a beautiful song..."Careful the things you say, children will listen..."

As I read through this post I see how sappy I sound, so forgive my sentimentality. There will be another show, another year...and in the meantime it is nice to rediscover the time that I didn't know I had before!

Body Art

As I was looking through "my pictures" on my computer, looking for some kind of blogging inspiration, I happened upon this:Does every mother have one of these? I must admit when I happened upon this marker mayhem, I had to stifle my motherly frustration in order to capture it on film. I don't know what it is about this girl, but whether it is markers, chalk, or paint, she just has to see how the color looks on her skin! It is in complete opposition to her oldest brother, Brennen, who, when I gave him the opportunity to finger paint at the same age, would dip just one finger into the paint, wipe it on the paper, then hold up that finger until I cleaned off the remaining paint!

I don't even know how she managed this one...

Gotta love this girl!

Aggies all the WAY!

I am an Aggie, I am not ashamed. I know that USU is not the most popular or most notable of the schools in Utah, but what can I say? I was born within sight of the campus. I went to preschool on campus. I attended more football and basketball games there than I can count. And that was all before my too short college career began. (I still have dreams of returning to finish my degree.) So every year as March Madness begins, I have high hopes that my underdog school will stand up and be counted as a tournament contender. So here I sit, toggling between my blog and the USU - Texas A&M game, wishing that the 13 point spread was in favor of my team. In 6 minutes, who knows? Anything can happen, right? But win or lose, I will be loyal to my school, whatever mocking may come my way. Go Aggies, go aggies, hey, hey, hey!