Trip to Washington Part 1

So we decided since MD would be studying hard with the Bar coming up and all, we left town for two weeks to see family in Washington State. The two airplane rides weren't too bad. I was pretty nervous about the first one because it was 5 1/2 hours, but they did great and we made it just fine. It was our two bags and car seat that decided to take a later flight. This meant that we got to go almost two days without our stuff, which include bear and frog. The day after we came into town my family got together and celebrated all the summer birthday's. It was a lot of fun seeing all my cousins and their kids. The apple tree we all played in as kids and I had my senior pictures taken in.
Sage
sassy LL

The girls with their Great Great Grandma Graham.

Visiting Family!

We are in Washington State right now visiting family so I will have a big post catching everyone up on our events and fun when we get back in August. Oh and we get to find out what we are having on August 15th! Happy Pioneer Day!

crazy drivers?

So we were out at my aunts house visiting and looking at her chickens. She has a blue power wheel jeep for her grand kids sitting in her yard. As my mom, aunt and I all sat talking in the yard LL climbed into the drivers seat and then MJ decided she wanted to get in too. They were all fine until LL put her foot on the pedal, the car was in reverse and started going backwards. They both looked up with looks of sheer terror and started to scream. It was all I could do to run over and stop them and not fall to the ground from laughter. They were pretty traumatized from that the rest of the day. Well, so much for getting them one when we finally move into a house, well, at least for now.

Bag Lady

We like to call LL our little bag lady, you can't tell that well in the picture but she is carrying 6 purses, a lady bug backpack and her pink teddy bear. Oh and don't forget the gold beads, we don't go anywhere without those.

The Book Thief

Okay I loved this book. It is a book that I just couldn't put down just ask MD. It is a different style of reading, but I just loved how he wrote. A few words here and there I could have done with out but the story line is very interesting. It's about a girl in Germany during the introduction of Hitler and the Nazi Party and how Jewish people were discriminated against. I really recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read. Thank you Liz for recommending it to me.

Horse Riding

So the other morning the girls started giving each other horse rides around the house. Well LL riding on MJ's back worked but... MJ on LL's back didn't seem to work that well.

Washable Markers

We are very blessed to have washable markers or it would look like we have no paper in the house and the girls were forced to color their arms and legs instead. Coloring pictures for GG Johnson's Birthday
Then mom notices the guilty party and the beautiful coloring that happened on her arms.

In which MJ says look mom they look like Tattoos. I told her yes but that is bad so we need to wash it off. And no MJ didn't do it she was just using her marker to point out he obvious marks on LL' s arms.

Mushroom Pool Fun

We went to a fun Park near by that has a fun wadding pool for kids. The girls had a blast and we plan to come back and play some more. Here is the pre -pool hug!

silly girls after 2 hours of fun

Just Finished!

Three Cups of Tea

What a great book! It is true that one man can make a big difference. Greg Mortenson and CAI (Central Asia Institute) did just this by building schools for children to give them better opportunities in this world then war and killing. What a great example! I recommend this book to all those who haven't read it. Good and uplifting read.

Now on to the next book!

4th of July

So for the 4th of July we decided to take the train into Boston and watch the big fireworks and have a free concert by Rascal Flats and the Boston Pops. It was fantastic. We had some friends that joined us and they had 5 ladies visiting from out West and so we had a blast and the girls had fun having more people to play with.
LL looking out into the Charles River
Cheesy MJ

This is my favorite picture of the day. What a great daddy he is!

these are 4 of the 5 ladies and they girls loved playing with them

the best I could do...

and come to find out later that LL had put a nice big finger print on the lens so all the fireworks pictures came with a smudge in the middle. Not that they were that good anyways.

And LL wanted to say good bye!

Exploring parks... part 3 & 4

Park #3:
There was always a race to get to the top of the ladder which included LL yelling "MY TURN" all the way up. And MJ usually winning due to her long legs.

MJ wasn't fast enough on the dismount.

Dancing in "Cinderella's Castle", it was a ball duh mom (MJ tells me).

leaving the ball

Park #4:I like this one you can see MJ on the tire swing behind LL.

Am I in trouble yet mom? LL's favorite spot in this park.

MJ's favorite spot in this park.

This bridge was the wobbliest (is that a word?) one ever!

Coloring beautiful pictures

sharing? Wow that is a Kodak moment!

MJ's butterfly

Some recipes

Apple Pie, you know the secret recipe that is not so secret anymore...

6-8 tart apples, sliced (6 cups)

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

2Tbsp butter

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

*Put all ingredients together in a big sauce pan or stock pot and cook until sauce is thick about 15-20 mins. Split apple pie filling between two pies! Bake at 400 deg, for 50 min or until done. It usually doesn't take them 50 mins to be done so check early! Enjoy!

Sticky Buns as I call them are a new favorite!

3 1/2-4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 packages regular or quick active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)

1 cup very warm milk (120-130 deg)

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 large egg

*Carmel Topping (below)

1 cup pecan halves, optional

**Filling (below)

2 Tbsp butter or stick margarine, softened

*Carmel Topping:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or stick margarine, softened

1/4 cup corn syrup

~Heat brown sugar and butter to boiling in 2 quart saucepan, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in corn syrup.

**Filling:

1/2 cup chopped pecans or raisins, optional

1/4 cup granulated or packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

~Mix all ingredients

~1. Mix 2 cup of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl. Add warm milk, 1/4 cup butter and egg. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

2. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Place dough in large bowl greased with shortening (I use butter), turning dough to grease all sides (oops, didn't do that, but they still turned out great). Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until double. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

3. Make *Carmel topping. Pour into ungreased rectangular pan 9X13". Sprinkle pecan if desired. Make **Filling.

4. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Flatten dough with hands or rolling pin into 15x10" rectangle on lightly floured surface. Spread with 2 Tbsp butter; sprinkle with filling. Roll rectangle up tightly, beginning at 15 inch side. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal (yeah that didn't work for me). Stretch and shape until even. Cut roll into fifteen 1-inch slices with dental floss or a sharp serrated knife (we used dental floss and it worked great and didn't come out tasting minty at all). Place slightly apart in pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 30 mins or until doubled.

5. Heat oven to 350.

6. Bake 30-35 mins. Let stand 2-3 mins; immediately turn upside down onto heatproof tray or serving plate (leave pan on them during this, the will slide out). Let stand 1 min so Carmel can drizzle over rolls; remove pan. Serve warm!

What we did to celebrate

We decided to re-enact two of first three dates. So we went to the batting cages because that was the first date I took MD on and to Dairy Queen for dessert because that was the first date MD took me on. Oh and we used my new Kitchen Aid and made Sticky Buns, Yum!

I managed to stink it up pretty bad and came away with a good blister to prove we were there.

MD did about he same and has the same blister to prove it oh and not to mention all the sore muscles we have now. Man we are getting old.

Dinner, Yum!

and dessert with the girls

after eating our big desserts we both decided that we probably would have been better off just having a dilly bar like MJ. Cute girl had the ice cream running down her arm the whole time.

To us on our 5th!

Happy Anniversary to us! We celebrated our 5th and just wanted to look back and see some of what we have done. Have fun remembering with us...

Okay so minus the scanner not being hooked up, this idea of taking a picture of the picture didn't do to bad.

We had MJ in Utah while at BYU. MD ran a few races and decided that a marathon would be the next step

MD graduated from BYU and now we were headed off to Virginia for Law SchoolI attempted to run a 5K, okay so I made it but I still think my face was going to explode it was so hot.

We have had a few really fun vacations, Gettysburg

Hershey, PA

Disney World

We had LL in Virginia and our family keeps growing

MD ran his Marathon in Virginia and actually liked it

I got to coach a great group of girls in Volleyball in Virginia

MD graduated from Law School
And he got a job in Boston, YEAH! What a fun 5 years and here's to many many more. MD was wonderful and got me some flowers and ...
yes that's right a Kitchen Aid, oh and I love it! I have found every excuse to make some fun stuff, I don't think he's complaining either.

I got MD a membership to Barnes and Noble and a new book, his dream! He loves to read and loves books, but he wouldn't pose with his gift, party pooper.