Another Day at the Park

My friend Kameo had told me about this cute little park in Cedar Hill. It's called Heritage park. It is a pretty, shady, park with a little creek that runs right through it. I had been there years ago to take engagement pictures of Mere and Matt. Anyway she said that her kids had a ton of fun playing in the water there. Maggie and I decided that it would be the next place to have a get together. I bought tubes and advertised it on Facebook. We met there this morning. It didn't take long before the kids told us the water was COLD! It was also really shallow so the kids were dragging butt and not floating too well. 

I think I can, I think I can.
Nope, I can't float. Eeeek! It's cold mom!
They gave up on floating and just started chasing their tubes. That was fun for a while.
Kyle loved splashing around, jumping in and throwing rocks.
Then more of our friends came and helped build a damn to make the water deeper. That helped a lot. 
What boy do you know that can resist mud? Andrew and Chandler couldn't. 
Of course Emma couldn't stay away either.
Here is a portion of our group.
Our fun started out slowly but once more kids got there they found more things to do and ended up having a blast! 

The Last Couple of Weeks

Summer is going well. Some days are better than others and some weeks are busier than others. I don't think I have heard the kids utter the word bored at all so that is good. I know that they have gotten bored but they haven't complained about it. We have less than a month left of our summer break. It will be over before we know it. 

We have harvest veggies from our garden, bought overpriced ice cream from the ice cream truck, and spent a lot of time in pools. What more can you ask for from summer?

On Monday the 13th we went to Orem to celebrate grandma Ferns 91st birthday. 


I always have to get the kids away from the koi pond when it is time to leave. I was so excited to see this water lily this time. Even more excited because I had my camera.
Before we headed to grandma's house we had Family Home Evening. We read our chapter from the Book of Mormon and then took turns sharing our testimonies. It was a good experience for all of us. We had promised the kids Sno Cones as part of FHE and our swamp cooler wasn't working well (we had to go to two different stores to find the pads we needed) so we didn't get to stay too long at grandma's house but we are glad we went. 





Tuesday grandma and grandpa asked if we would like them to take the kids for the evening. Um...YES!!! Paul and I got to go out to dinner to Noodles and relax a little before the kids got home. It was nice to spend time together.

Wednesday was our Lindon pool day and dinner with Maggie. It was also the day that Paul left to go to LA. We sure did miss him while he was away. 

Thursday we chilled. I love days where we do nothing. 

Friday the kids and I went to Taco Amigo for lunch, ran some errands and then waited impatiently for daddy to get home. He brought back a bunch of treats for the kids and some goodies from H&M for me then he took us out to dinner at Rubio's.

Saturday I got up early and went out. When I got home it was time for Paul and Emma to start getting ready for Harry Potter. They had a daddy daughter date and Andrew went next door to play for most of the afternoon. It was great. I did laundry and sewed up a bunch of squares for my autumn quilt. That night we went to see the fireworks in AF that celebrated the end of Steel Days. 

Sunday we went to church and then we dropped the kids off so they could spend a couple of days with my parents. Paul and I have enjoyed our quiet time. We went out on a date night Monday to see West Side Story. 

We ate lunch together today and went out to the mall tonight. I will be getting the kids in the morning. Thursday we hope to have a park day with friends and then Friday is a holiday around these parts so we will be able to have a nice long weekend. 

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! 

Week 28 is complete

I love to read, quilt & digi-scrap. However, I have a hard time dividing my time between the three. I have been reading so much lately that I am actually surprised I got this done. I guess it's good that I haven't picked up my book yet today or I doubt that I would have done it.

The Lindon Pool

Yesterday we gathered up a group of about 25 friends and headed over to the new Lindon pool for the afternoon. It was great. All the kids had fun, no one got lost, tears weren't shed and some rays were absorbed. (I thought that this year we might start school whiter than we left but if we keep up pool days that won't be the case.) 

Here are some pictures from the day. The battery in the camera was really low so I lost a lot of shots but I am happy with the ones I got.

This is the central pool area. The lazy river goes all around this structure. Back behind it is the swimming pool. We didn't spend much time over there.

Here is Rees, Irene, Maggie and me along with Jocelyn, Kyle and Andrew (Angela and some others from our group are in the distance)
I love the water drops in this picture of Kyle. He was so brave in the water.
Here is Angela with Michelle, Gabriella, Olivia and Andrew who had found a water gun. My two water babies


Taking a lunch break. Nothing re-fuels you like hot dogs, nachos, pretzels and soda. 

New Recipe for July

I was really eager to use my peas in a stir fry but unfortunately neither kid likes to eat it. I asked around for some ideas and this recipe was posted. It is very stir fry-ish but different so I am qualifying it as a new recipe and therefore the kids had to try it. I was also hoping that the kids would like it. Andrew did, Emma didn't. No surprise there. Paul and I both enjoyed it. 

Light Sesame Chicken

3 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 egg whites (While separating your eggs make sure you put the other one in a good place. Those little suckers can really roll)

Oops!

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

4 shallots, thinly sliced

1 1/2 pounds broccoli florets, steamed until tender-crisp 

(I don't always follow directions. I wanted more veggies than just broccoli. I also didn't read the instructions very thoroughly. I didn't pre-steam my veggies. I added them into the pan and cooked them at the end. Paul likes his veggies the consistency of baby food so this is the better option for us.)

In a small bowl, combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce and garlic. Set aside. This smelled really good.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites and cornstarch. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

In a large frypan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through, for 6 to 8 minutes. 

(Here is where I ran into some problems. I just dumped everything into the pan and it was like chunks of chicken in one giant fried egg, only much stiffer. I had to chop out the chicken chunks with a spatula and throw away all the weird eggs stuff. If you take out one piece of chicken at a time, put it in the pan and don't let it touch any of the other pieces and you should be fine. The chicken that still had some of the coating was really yummy.) 

Transfer chicken to a plate; repeat with remaining oil and chicken. Return all chicken to frypan. Add honey sauce and shallots and toss to coat. Add cooked broccoli and gently toss. (Or in my case all the veggies and cook them to mush.) 

We will be eating this again.

Our Awesome Little Garden

Our stake president asked everyone to plant a garden this year. He said it didn't matter how big or how small; just plant one and share your excess. As I have said we were late putting our is. I almost didn't do it. This year I didn't plant my seeds in little foam cups in March. I didn't watch them grown to healthy plants before putting them in the ground. I didn't do much beside till the ground and throw down seeds. I really didn't know if anything would come of our little garden. Today Emma and I harvested peas to use for our dinner. (I will be posting the recipe tomorrow)

The beans are coming on strong and won't be far behind. 

I have a zucchini that will be ready in a week or less. 

I will have a grape tomato soon as well. 

What a thrill it is. I am so glad that we followed the counsel of our stake president. I feel like we have been blessed for doing what we were asked to do. I love using the things that we have grown. The feeling is just amazing.    

Sometimes You Have to Jump in with Both Feet

So, the quilt top that I just finished was really fun to make because it was easy to do but still looked interesting. The colors aren't really me, as I've said before, but I loved it anyway. The greedy part of me got to thinking this sure would be awesome in pinks and greens. I could probably do another one.

Many of the online quilt shops were having great sales over the 4th of July weekend so I took advantage. I bought myself some fabric to make a quilt that was all me! I planned on doing it just like the last one only in "my colors". When the fabric came I about cried it was so beautiful and so me. I don't know what could be more me than this.

As I started matching things up I noticed that there wasn't enough contrast.It didn't take long before I knew my plan was foiled. I almost started to panic. What was I going to do with all this awesome rainbow sherbet colored fabric?

I started looking around online for ideas and I saw this (Isn't it adorable!?!) on The Pattern Basket blog. It had given me an idea. I wanted to do the whole thing in offset rectangles. I tested out my idea by folding the fabrics in thirds and you know what? I think I love it. It will be simplistic but that's okay with me. I will get to see all the colors and patterns the way they were meant to be seen. So today I jumped in with both feet and cut my whole layer cake into thirds.

I had heart palpitations, I'll admit it. I'm still worried that I won't like it in the end since I am not working with a pattern. Life is a risk. What's the worst that can happen? I have a quilt that looks like sherbet vomit.