Only In Arizona At The End Of September!

....can you go swimming!

It was 103 degrees today.  Good swimming weather.

 With Uncle Shaun.

 With Auntie Chris.

He was practicing his kicking from swimming lessons this summer.

The swimming gang.

Christine, Shaun, John, Robert.

Who Can Resist A Fudgescicle?

I got some fudgescicles for dessert tonight.

Mike, Adrianne, Meredith, and Miss Gidget got here this afternoon.  Duff, Shaun, Christine, and Josh came after Chris got out of school.  Everyone is coming into town for my dad's 80th birthday party tomorrow night.

We gathered at Lisa's and watched the BYU game and had pizza and salad.

 This is John's first fudgescicle.

He loved it, can you tell?

There was no taking it away from him or cleaning him up until he was done.

He savored every melting bite.

Yummmm.

 ......there was chocolate all over him, his clothes, and the tile floor........

....which landed him in the big kitchen sink for a bath.

Hey, kitchen gadgets make fun new bath toys!

There Is Nothing Like A Nap

Johnny-Boy taking his nap.

Notice he is sleeping with his crocs on.  He loves them.  He is obsessed with them.  He rarely takes them off, even to go to bed.

He calls them:  gocs.

Also notice the side of his crib is all the way down.
He climbs out now.  He has fallen a few times.  They had to lower the side all the way down so when he gets out it's not so far down.  Amazingly, he only climbs out after he has woken up.  They are so lucky he hasn't figured out yet he can get out once they put him down!

Emergency Prep Put To The Test: Power Outage In Arizona

We were just starting to get dinner ready.

Natalie and Robert went out to eat with some good friends from their BYU days who were in town.

All of a sudden:  NO POWER.  In Arizona.  And it was still 100 + degrees outside at 6pm.

I didn't tell my parents this, but I got some anxiety.  Running through my mind was the fact that my parents are older (75 and 80), and we had a toddler with us.  How long would this last in this kind of heat?

We got word that a transformer was out around the corner and it would be anywhere from 2-6 hours until it was fixed.  Okay.  We could do that!

 Everything for dinner was out on the counter. 

We decided to get creative and cook it all on the grill.

 Canned green beans.  I love them.  My family hates them.  So this was a treat for me.  I don't get them very often around here!

 Macaroni and some peas for John in a pie tin, warmed up perfectly!

Tilapia with some dill sauce in a heavy tin foil tray.  We put the bbq lid down and it was cooked to perfection.  We even cooked jasmine rice in a pot right on the grill with a lid on it.  It worked great.

 John with his stick and a bottle of horseradish sauce that he was carrying around.  He kept trying to open it.  It would have been quite the surprise if he had been successful!

Our candlelight table.

It was quite an adventure as the sun went down.  The darkness crept in slowly and quietly.  We lit lots of candles and carried flashlights around with us.  It was so quiet.  We don't realize just how much quiet noise comes from electricity powering our homes.

I'm In Arizona.

I stayed up until 2am doing laundry this morning and then got on a plane at 9am, which means I had to leave my house at 7:15am and get in a shower and pack before that.  Not much sleep.  I did get a little shut eye on the flight.

Lisa and Natalie and John picked me up from the airport.  Oh!  That little guy is so darling.  We went to get some 'nuggets' on the way to Oma and Opa's house.  He loves chicken nuggets and I was happy to oblige.  We have been skyping lately and it sure helps for him to know who I am long distance.

I am in Arizona helping get everything ready for my dad's 80th birthday party celebration that we are hosting for him on Saturday.  Cleaning and prepping, shopping and setting up are on the agenda for the next 2 days. Plus getting in all the gramma time I can.

S'mores Sundaes

We served these at our stake activity day.

They were a 'hit' and so easy to make.

And we didn't even have to have a 'campfire'!

Ingredients

Chocolate ice-cream

Vanilla ice-cream

Hershey's chocolate syrup

Mini marshmallows

Crushed graham cracker crumbs

In cup, one scoop chocolate and vanilla ice-cream.  Drizzle with chocolate syrup.  Top with crushed graham cracker crumbs.  Add mini marshmallows.

Easy and delicious.  The original recipe is from Martha Stewart which calls for hot fudge syrup and marshmallow fluff.  That was too much work and too sticky for our purpose today, so we went with the chocolate syrup and mini marshmallows and it worked out even better, I think.

Stake Activity Day at the O.K. Corral

Today was our Stake Activity Day at the O.K. Corral!

 Make your name tag...

 ....getting instructions from the 'Sheriff'  for the gathering activity....

 ...each one had to go around the room and read the WANTED posters of each girl and find the items on the scavenger hunt....Best Part:  discovering their own poster with all the beautiful gifts and talents they are 'wanted' for!

 ....notice our 'triangle ringer'.  She called everyone to attention and announced changing from one activity to the other.  Also, repeating the Faith In God theme together.  It is inside the font cover of the booklet.  We are making a much bigger poster for this next time!

 ....Country line dancing with Sister Lee....

 ...YEE-HAW!....

 ....and of course, GAMES.  Fox in the Hen House, Do You Love Your Neighbor, etc.

 ....group photos of each ward....

...and some Come 'N Git It refreshments.

S'mores Sundaes.

We also had a craft:  Color Your Own Western Bracelet that snapped on the wrist.  The photo from Oriental Trading wouldn't let me save it. (sad face)

During the craft and dancing, I met with all the ward activity day leaders in the Primary Room for some training and sharing.  What great women!  So many wonderful ideas to share and a warm mutual respect for each other.

I closed the activity with some remarks from My Gospel Standards that it is O.K. to use clean language, choose good friends, keep your body clean and pure, etc.

It was a successful activity.  We had 130 girls there, 19 of 22 ward leaders, and 5 stake leaders.



Arby's Marquee

Okay.

Even I have to admit, this is pretty clever.

In truth, the owner of the Provo franchise posted this on Friday before the game on Saturday.  Factually, if you bring in your game ticket stub you will get a free fruit turnover from the restaurant.

The timing couldn't have been worse though, considering the game results and that BYU gave up seven turnovers that sealed their defeat to Utah.

The owner took it down on Monday morning.

Ouch.  Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.....

Lola The Corolla

Sunday we drove home to Cali with Mike and Adrianne in Lola.  We left at 6:30am mst and got home at 3:30 pst.  Adrianne drove to St. George.  I missed most of that because I took some dramamine as I was sitting in the back seat and didn't want to suffer with motion sickness.  Let's just say I had a really good nap!

Duff drove from St. George to home and I worked on the white blessing blanket I'm doing for Christina.  I've crocheted all the edging in white with a single row of pink in between just barely noticeable.  It is pretty.  The shop that hemstitched it for me did a double row which makes it look very vintage, and also cut the outside edge in large scallops.  It is a nice touch.

It was good to get home earlier than we usually do.  I made some dinner and we were able to settle in and get ready for the week.

BYU vs. Utah Football Game 2011

Our expectations were high today.

It didn't take very long for them to sink low.  Really low.  Like 2 minutes was all.

Clearly, the U has the better football team this year.  Our Cougars held it together barely through the first half and then just imploded.  It was painful. Very painful to watch.

54-10.  The worst loss to them ever.  And at home.

So with that said and out of the way, here were the highlights!

 The military group getting ready for the Star Spangled Banner.

 It was very impressive.  Gave me goose bumps.

 The Cougar Marching Band was awesome.

 The sunset was completely breathtaking.

The cool weather was festive and fallish.  Unlike most other opening home games where it is really hot.

For the half-time show, both bands from both schools performed together.

It was amazing.  Really.  A very good show.

The food was good.  And Adrianne and I both got a Cougar Tail, which just says fall football to me.

The company was great.  Mike and Adrianne.  Then the Stockards and Davis's behind us.

C'mon Cougs! Rise Up for the next game!  We love you.  You can do it! 



Adrianne's Christmas Quilt

Adrianne has had this cute Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer story fabric for a while.  It caught her eye several years ago and she had a vision of what she could do with it.

She has been learning to sew the last two years and is doing quite well.  While they were at the cabin she began putting the quilt top together.

 I worked on it with her once we got there.  She pinned and sewed and I pressed and got the next section ready to add.  It was fun to work together on it.

The top is all finished.

Didn't it turn out darling?

She is backing and edging it in a red and white candy cane stripe and tieing it with red glitter yarn.

 I love this Riley Blake fabric!

Great job, Adrianne!

Visiting With The Lindahl's

We have season tickets for BYU football.

This year, Duff and I decided that it would be nice to spend each home game weekend with one of the kids and their spouse, and for Shaun and Chris with them and a friend.  One on one time away from the demands of home and at the cabin.

This weekend was Mike and Adrianne's turn.

They had already been there for the week prior on a little vacation.  Duff and I flew up on Thursday night.  Bob and Juli Warnick were on our same flight.  Never fails.  Whenever we fly to Utah, Bob and Juli seem to be on the same flight!  We had a good laugh about that while we visited.  They, however, were not going to have the easiest of weekends this time.  Juli's mom has alzheimers and they were moving her out of her home into a care facility.

 Friday, we went into Heber to have a late lunch/early dinner at Beto's.

We are thrilled they opened one up in the valley so we don't have to go down the canyon anymore!  They took over the old Sonic place that went out of business.  It is a hole in the wall kind of place with some of the best authentic Mexican food.  Those are usually the best.  Their breakfast burritos are unmatched.  Duff and I both got the chile verde smothered burrito, Adrianne enchiladas, and Mike some hot version of carne asada.

Joy Lindahl had called me earlier in the week from their ranch in Daniels.  She wanted to know if we were up there because she was doing her tomatoes and wondered how mine turned out.  Joy and Blaine live in our stake at home in California.  He is our Stake Patriarch.  We enjoy a good friendship with them even though our ages are a generation apart!

I told her we would come over on Friday.  When we pulled in the sweeping driveway under the Lindahl Family Ranch arch, it started storming.  Big bolts of lightening and booming thunder.  Then the rain began in earnest.  It was 4 o'clock.  It didn't stop until 4 the next morning.  A super end of summer storm.  Every thing got a very good watering.

We walked in the garage door to the kitchen and all things tomatoes.  I learned a few new things from Joy.  She puts her salt and lemon juice in the bottom of the jar and then packs the tomatoes.  And she only processes for 35 minutes. 

 Blaine getting them out of the canner.

They have a unique system for their canning.  We liked it a lot.  They have a 3 burner camp stove hooked up to propane in their garage.  It holds 3 canners at the same time so they can do 21 jars at once!  And because of the propane it comes up faster to process.  They do the peeling and packing in the house and the

n bring the bottles out to the garage.  Most of the mess is now outside and none of the heat is in the kitchen either.

 Joy and Blaine

Their daughter and son-in-law were loading up their horses getting ready to go back home to Arizona in the morning.

This is the barn.  The bunk house is to the far left and the ranch house is to the far right.  It is a beautiful place.

After a while we headed home, put on our pj's and sweatshirts and settled in for the stormy night.

What a great day.