Happy Earth Day!!

  Apparently it's Earth Day today and I ALMOST missed it.  After supper Dallin said "Mom, I think we should all go out and pick up some garbage around our neighborhood" My reply was something like  "Really? why do you want to do that?" "MOM! it's Earth Day, come on!!"

We told Sam we were going on a "garbage hunt" and tried to make it seem like a fun thing to do. He bought it until his hands and ears were freezing cold and then he cried the 5 minute walk back to home. His comment upon walking into the house in between sobs was " I don't ever want to hunt for garbage again"!!

Sam before the melt down.

Shaina and Dallin doing their part to make the Earth a little cleaner!

As we walked Shaina filled me in on some of the things we can do to be more "environmentally friendly" Here are a few of her ideas...

Put a frizbee upside down on the lawn when you start watering it, when it is full that is all the water the grass needs for the week.

Use a "Shower Minder" it's a timer you can buy to monitor the amount of time you spend in the shower.

 Use Eco friendly light bulbs.

Plant a tree.

Ride your bike to and from school.

And last, she suggested that we go on a weekly "garbage hunt" until our whole neighborhood is litter free. (I am not sure Sam is up for the challenge!)

All done! We filled a whole garbage bag in about 15 minutes. Good Job guys, You really can make a difference. Happy Earth Day everyone!

Oh and by the way, my "green" little helpers are up stairs in the bath scrubbing all the nasty germs off their freezing cold hands. I will offer them some latex gloves next time we go "garbage hunting"!!!

menu April 20th-26th/ Norwex cleaning cloths

Monday

Breakfast-Yogurt/granola/fruit parfaits

Supper- Chicken fajitas (Julie cooked!)

Tuesday

Breakfast- Banana muffins/o.j

Supper- Italian cream cheese chicken on linguini

Wednesday

Breakfast-waffles

Supper-Mini quiche/rice and salad

Thursday

Breakfast- Dipping eggs and toast

Supper- New Orleans shrimp and rice with corn bread   click here for recipe

Friday

Breakfast- toasted bagels and smoothie

Supper- Loaded Nachos

Saturday

Breakfast- Cereal

Supper- Grilled chicken cesar salad

Sunday

Breakfast- Cereal

Supper- BBQ pork roast/roasted sweet potatoes/salad

So last week I went to a Norwex party... I am NOT selling this product, but can I just say I spent most of the morning cleaning and I am in LOVE with these cloths. Unbelievable! I didn't use an ounce of cleaning product, just water and the cloths. I have never had cleaner windows and mirrors and my granite counter tops are gleaming!! If  you have never heard of Norwex, I am sure you could goggle it and check it out online. If you have  but don't own any, go find someone who sells them and host a party. I bet you'd get a pretty decent discount! I might even come to your party and buy MORE! Spring Cleaning just got bumped up on my list of things TO DO! Now if someone would just come up with self-cleaning clothes!! Here are a few pictures of my shiny clean kitchen, the kids will be home from school soon so have a good look now cuz it won't last long!!

Sarah's Quilt Update

Maryn has been working hard at getting this quilt done for her cousin Sarah's wedding in July. I think she is really enjoying the sewing part, she got all the piecing done in just a few hours. 

This quilt is also Maryn's last project to complete her Young Woman's Personal Progress. 

Here is the quilt top. It is 8 squares across and 10 down. It is cuter that we thought it would be, very "patchy" and "pioneer" looking. Most all of the fabric was selected by Sarah from her Grandmothers, Aunts and her Moms fabric stash. It will be a bit of a memory quilt for Sarah.

Here are all the individual squares sewn together in rows, next step, sew all the rows together.

I need to go look for fabric for a border, backing and binding. I am not exactly sure where we are going as far as color goes. I think pretty much anything will look good as their are so many colors in the quilt itself. I am open to any suggestions...!

Slack line skills and Menu April 13-19

This is a quick shot and video above of Max's (and Mark's) latest entertainment.

It's a slack line and they are having fun learning to do various tricks on it at a safe height of about 2 feet. Apparently rock climbers do mind numbing walks between mountain peeks hundreds of feet in the air without harnesses on. I am pretty sure that isn't where they are going with this as Mark isn't a real big fan of high places. 

I didn't post my menu last week and nutritionally speaking we didn't have great week. It was a bit more hit and miss and left the supper hour a little chaotic. Once again, I post this for my benefit but would be happy to share recipes at your request.

MONDAY

Breakfast- cold cereal ( holiday)

Supper- shrimp, cheese and veggie Linguini

TUESDAY

Breakfast- berry muffins/O.J

Supper- Sweet chili chicken/rice/edemame

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast- poached eggs/toast/O.J

Supper-beef stoganoff/noodles/ broccoli

THURSDAY

Breakfast- toasted bagels/smoothies

Supper- grilled sole and veggies in foil packets

FRIDAY

Breakfast- pancakes/O.J

Supper- homemade pizza

SATURDAY

Breakfast- cold cereal

Supper- thai chicken noodle salad

SUNDAY

Breakfast- cold cereal

Supper- BBQ steak/roasted potatoes/salad

Have a great week!

Spring Break '09

Well it's true... Utah really does have the "Greatest Snow On Earth"

Who cares you say? What, your sick of snow and really don't care.

Humor me then while I go on a bit about stuff your not really interested in. We had an amazing time skiing/snowboarding in Utah for Spring Break, they had record breaking snow fall in the Wasatch Mountains this year and we were lucky enough to be there while over 2 feet of the fluffy white stuff fell from the sky! [Actually it was 12 feet in just over 10 days!!!  Karen has never been very good with numbers.  The PostMaster.] 

The whole family at the top of Powder Mountain (minus Max, you'll notice he is absent from all the skiing pictures. He and Austin and Jordan went off on their own each day. We hear they had a great time, we just don't have any pictures to show it!)

The Fairbanks came down with us, we had a really fun time with them. It is nice for our older kids to have friends to hang out with. And Brian and Georganne were a huge help with keeping us in the right place at the right time.

Shaina resting her weary legs!

Dallin was such a great sport, he skied like a pro and he just barely mastered the bunny hill at Rabbit a few weeks before we left. He skied some blue runs and had no problem at all. Problem is he thinks he wants to move on to a snow board next year, then we'll be back at square one. Oh well!

Sam was a real trooper too. He kept up and really caught on to turning. We were at the resorts each day by about 8:30, and didn't leave till 3:30- 4:00 p.m. He kept up and had a great time. It was so fun to be out there with everyone doing their thing independent of me!! 

Maryn, Jessilyn and Julie

Shaina, Mark and Dallin

We did three resorts while we were there, Brighton, Powder Mountain and Snowbird. I can't decide which one I liked best, each had it's strong points. All I know is

we will definitely go back to Utah to ski again. We have never been in powder like that before and can't wait to do it again!

Maryn turned 18 on April 1st! I can't believe I have two adult children. We ate a late supper at the Cheesecake Factory. For her birthday we went on a little shopping trip to Anthropology! (Oh woops, that's Anthropologie!!! My Bad! Thanks Jacqui, it's a good thing I have smart friends!!)  That is pretty much her favorite place on earth, so I think her birthday was a good one!

One of the highlights of our trip was our close encounter with our missionary!

We planned our trip to Utah before Russell was transfered to Springville, it just so happened that we had planned to stay with Mark's Uncle and Aunt who live in Springville. It was Russell's birthday on April 1st too, so on tuesday we were having a free day (the canyon road up to Snow bird was closed!) and decided to go deliver a birthday package to Russ. The plan initially was to do a ring and run sort of deal, but when we got there we all kinda chickened out thinking that it was a bit too risky as we really didn't want to see him. So, we all got out of the Yukon and stood right in front of his apartment ( it's the one with the picture of the Savior in the window) we snapped a quick photo and jumped back in the car. We drove to a Wallmart and developed the picture, put it in the package and went back to his apartment to deliver the package. The video below shows the drop off. We were all a little concerned that Russ was home. We were all in the yukon watching from a distance and laughing at gangster Mark doing the "Deal"!! 

We were lucky enough to have short visits with two of my siblings while we were there. This is Trevor and Jeannie and their family, they live in Ogden. We stopped in at their place after skiing Powder Mountain.

These are Suzanne's girls, one of the twins is hiding behind the other. They are such fun little girls. My kids think it is too funny how they all look just like Aunt Suzanne! Yuki isn't in the picture, but we did get to hang out with him too.

On Sunday after we  accidentally attended a young single adult ward Sacrament Meeting, we drove into Salt Lake and went to Temple Square. It's such and amazing place, we all enjoyed the afternoon. This is everyone inside the Tabernacle.

The beautiful Salt Lake temple.

Maryn, Julie and I went to the Young Woman's Broadcast on Saturday with Georganne and Jessilyn. It was a great meeting. At the end of the week Mark, Max Julie and Shaina were able to go to the Saturday Morning session of General Conference. Then we all piled in to the Yukon for the long ride home.

Such a fun Spring Break. I can't wait to do it again!!! For now though I am quite happy that the sun is shining and that the snow is leaving. I love this time of year with all the new life that comes with it. I am heading outside to see if their is anything green trying to make it's way through the ground!! Thanks for reading!