These Peas Are Killing Me Right Now

While I was watching my nieces/nephews in Logan, one little nephew, Mitch would always say that food was "killing him right now". For example, one night Rhett, RJ and I were eating dinner in the basement apartment we were staying in and we had a frozen pizza. All the kids follow us wherever RJ goes so they were sitting on the couch chatting with us as we ate. Their dinner was being prepared upstairs by their mom. All the sudden, Mitch couldn't take it anymore and interjected in the middle of a conversation: "Man! That pizza is KILLING me right now." We gave him some.

Anytime there was a food he loved and he couldn't eat it right then, it would kill him. I thought it was funny.

Lately, these fresh peas from my mom's garden have been killing me right now and every day since they've been ready. The last couple years I've slowly developed an allergy to them. You may think, big deal, you can't eat peas anymore. You don't understand what they mean to me. As a kid my mom would always ask us in the early spring if there was anything we'd like her to plant in the garden. I would always tell her just to plant the whole garden full of peas. I wasn't the only one in love with the peas. I asked Lynette yesterday if she also had the childhood obsession with the peas and she replied: "Oh ya. I remember waiting for them to be ready, then we'd eat all of ours and go to Grandma's to eat all of hers. Pretty much eat peas for breakfast, peas for lunch, and diarrhea the rest of the day." Totally. Pea season was magical as a kid.

But yesterday I ate 10 pods worth, obviously in quick succession, and immediately my throat started itching like crazy. Rhett was standing there as I lamented my physiological reaction to my favorite childhood food, and intervened as I started opening another pod. "What are you doing? I don't want you do have an anaphylactic reaction. You can't eat peas anymore." Wo is me. It's like going cold turkey on some addictive drug when your illegal peers are harvesting the marijuana or something. Large green, lush piles everywhere! My mom suggested blanching them to cook the allergic enzymes that are evil to me, but it's just not the same. I can eat cooked peas anytime.

These peas are killing me right now!!!!

Home Again

We're back home again after our month in Logan. It's nice to be back. This photo is my favorite place in my mom's house. The French windows open to the outside and the roses frame the view and smell so great. I like to read or write on the couch and I feel like I'm in a Jane Austen novel or something.

Happy Father's Day

This is a great video of an ordinary but very inspirational father. My favorite was the photo of him and his baby son sleeping outside just waiting for the sun to rise to go fishing.

I won't go on about how great I think Rhett is at being a dad, because no one probably cares to read that, but I think one thing he does have, that Bill in the video had, was the feeling that being a father is his most important role. That's one of the things I love about Rhett.

...but I'm not sure I'll be able to get him all 10 kids he wants. :)

Latest Product from our Family

Aubree's XXX3000 Mop

Featuring: locations in Hyrum, UT and The Sorting Hat as the announcer

Yesterday the kids were bored so we slopped together a video. Lately we've preferred commercials. The girls pretty much planned the majority of the film, and I'd give suggestions. They picked out the entire soundtrack, I was surprised they knew so many classics. Rhett was good to comply and help us out again as usual, being the announcer and teaching me how to edit this thing.

Ultimate Fort

Last week the kids and I made the ultimate fort. Using 3 couches, ottoman, a dining set, and every blanket/quilt in the house, we ended up with a 6 room fort. IT WAS AWESOME. It was up for 3 days, the kids slept in it and loved it.

My favorite experience with the hut was the first afternoon. I had brought one of my favorite books, The Twits by my favorite author, Roald Dahl. It is short and really funny for kids. We had two big bowls of popcorn in the hut and would read a little chapter and pass it to the next person to read.
I remember laying on the floor, looking up at the quilt ceiling, where you can see the different shapes and colors lit up--kind of like a fabric stained glass window, listening to my nieces or nephew read, all the kids giggling and chomping on popcorn, and it was so fun. I love these childhood magical moments and it's just as magical to me as an adult looking around at the kids as it was when I was 8 years old.

My favorite passage in this book is:
"Mrs. Twit came back and climbed into her bed and put out the light. She lay there in the dark scratching her tummy. Her tummy was itching. Dirty old hags like her always have itchy tummies."
We were all laughing so hard, at that point it was Brooklyn's turn and we had her read it over and over, busting up every time.

Just to let everyone, especially Kristi, know we cleaned up the fort in 30 minutes, all the blankets were nicely folded and replaced, and we vacuumed under all the couches, and it looks normal again. The kids hoped I'd let the fort stay up the whole time I'm here, but 3 days was a good life for the fort.

Half A Decade

Today Rhett and I have been married 5 years.

Still in love, still happy--we've accomplished a lot I think.

We aren't really doing anything today to celebrate. Rhett is working of course, and I have 5 kids to take care of. Anniversaries are huge for Rhett though. We are going for 4days/3nights somewhere next week--it's a surprise and I'm really excited. In the past we've gone to Park City, UT, Italy, 2 years living in MO, and now for #5 another fun one! Originally we planned to switch off planning the anniversary, but as it turned out he's done all the work.

She is amazing...

My awesome friend Katherine posted a great photo of a window display from her recent cruise. Check it out. It is so funny.
Reminds me of my old Aerocare friends back in Missouri:
Summer Fun for the Physically Disabled
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Lame Summer


If anyone has any other great creepy store window photos to share, please do.

Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

The two 11 year old nieces have loved helping me cook since I've been watching them. We made these bakery chocolate chip cookies all the kids loved them because they are huge.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Big, Fat, Chewy Bakery Cookies
from allrecipes.com

3/4 c. butter, softened

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 T vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 c. flour

2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat to 325 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg/yolk and vanilla until light and creamy. Add dry ingredients until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough in 1/4 c. globs on greased cookie sheets, at least 3 inches apart.

Bake 15-17 minutes, until edges are lightly toasted. Cook on sheets a few minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Makes 12 cookies.

Because these are huge, 1/4 c. of dough per cookie, you bake it longer at a lower temperature to cook them through. You could probably make 24 cookies and adjust cooking time and temperature. You could also use your favorite cookie dough to make these huge monsters.

Slip N Slide

I've been watching our nieces & nephews for a week while their parents are out of town in Europe. It's a lot easier to watch teens and elementary aged kids than babies. It's easier and a whole lot funner. Bret got this Spiderman slip-n-slide for his birthday and so we set it up and used it for the first time.

Bret tried once, but it didn't work and he wouldn't try it again, but just stood in RJ's wading pool instead.

Mitch broke his arm last week, so it took him a while to figure out how to run and dive onto the slide. It was really funny to watch, but he finally got the hang of it. We put a bread sack over the cast and secured it on his bicep w/ a rubber band.

After a while of watching the kids have fun, I gave in and busted out the bathing suit. I can't remember having a slip-n-slide as a kid. It was awesome! Until I failed to arch my back sufficiently and dove on my chest...I gave it a rest for a while after that.

Momma's House

A family of quails lives in the backyard, we can't wait to see their chicks following them soon.

My mom loves gardening and flowers. May and early June is a great time to be around. The front of her house is covered in fragrant roses, the weather is warm but not too hot, and her pergola starts blooming. A couple years ago she collected all the old telephone poles they were cutting down along her street and made this pergola in the back yard. It is really big, and each year gets more pretty as the flowers grow. Each telephone pole column has a flowering plant growing up and around it. She has hammock swings out there and it is so fun. This time of year makes me feel like getting lots of girls together, dressing up, and hosting a tea party out there. But I don't know that many girls who would be up for that. But maybe it would surprise me which of my friends would enjoy a frilly afternoon party under the roses.... lemonade, and lots of good treats, and tons of laughs, sounds pretty good to me.

Modest Dress, Clean Speach, Word of Wisdom, YO!

I was in charge of the skit for the leaders at girls camp. My mom and I wrote it: "The Girls Camp Rap". I know it is cheesy and lame, and isn't rap really, but isn't that what girls camp skits are all about? I'm a major dork....I already know. Before I went to Girls Camp Rhett asked me if I was going to come back all weird "like they always do". I asked what that meant and he described growing up all the girls would be so weird after Girl's Camp, the testimony meeting right after would be all about camp and all the adult leaders would be silly and weird for a while. After he described this LDS Girl's Camp phenomena I thought about my own experiences and decided there was a weird, excited, atmosphere directly after G.C. but told him I couldn't be sure I wouldn't bring it home as an adult. I think I didn't come home weird. I think I drained it all out while I was there. If you take the time to watch the video, understand we were much better in rehearsals. We froze up in front of the audience.

***There was an uncensored version of the rap, but I kept telling my mom it was a church event and inappropriate, so a lot of her ideas were omitted...but they were pretty funny I do admit.

Girls Camp

I'm the Beehive Advisor and we had Girl's Camp up at Heber Valley Camp. It is a huge area owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints specifically for girl's camp. It was really fun and a great facility.

Why Girls Camp Was Awesome:

-Camping at the Mariott: there were nice cabins, with electricity, heated bathrooms, showers, refrigerators, etc. Basically the only sense of camping was cooking outdoors and seeing deer walk through your camp. The worst is when you're camping and you wake up in the wee hours of the morning and have to pee, creeping out in the cold, dreading having to pull down your pants. But with nice heated bathrooms, it's actually nicer than home.

-No Girl Drama: Our group was small, only 15 girls but I wasn't aware of one cat fight, feeling left out, gossip, hurt feelings, cliches, etc. WOW. That was what I was dreading the most. I don't tolerate girl crap very well. Everyone got along and had fun. It was a good group

-Gourmet Food: For camping, we ate well. Orange rolls, Cafe Rio Salads, great dutch ovens, pancakes with all the toppings, and much more. We ate a lot and it was all so good.

-Pretty Scenery: It was really pretty. There was a lake. The girls paddled canoes and the leaders had paddle boats in case the girls fell in and needed rescuing. I was glad I was a leader, because we all knew the paddle boats were better than a canoe.

-Fun: The girls in our troop were so much fun. Lots of times I'd have to remind myself I was neglecting my duties just chatting it up with the kids. They were really funny.

The leaders were really fun too. I was assigned to plan/execute the skit for the leaders (8 women between the ages 24 and probably close to 50). I had told them in our last meeting it would be a chant we clap and walk to telling them about each of us. But my Mom convinced me that would be lame and not funny enough, so we co-wrote "The Girls Camp Rap" the night before we left. I called all the ladies around 9:30pm to tell them the change of plans and to pack a gangster outfit with plenty of bling for our skit. They were great sports and I was impressed with the gang signs they knew...just kidding, as if I know any either. But I definitely saw a different side of some of them in our rehearsals for sure.

-We Saw The General Young Women's President: Elaine Dalton came up the first night because there was a special ceremony unfurling a new flag at the camp. They added the gold flag, representing the new YW Value: VIRTUE. It was spiritual and exciting to see/meet the pres and be there for the special event.

-Zipline Swing Thing: They have this big challenge course with different tasks to teach teamwork and leadership. Our course had this huge swing where you are in a harness and they pull you forward about 25-30' in the air and let you swing. I watched all the girls go, thinking it's much funner if you are a kid at girls camp, but they let some leaders so too. So never mind. I got to ride the swing and had a paddle boat.

-Cute Sweats: The theme for our group was "Stand Out" and we all had matching hoodies and sweat pants. I don't ever remember getting anything when I was growing up.

So all in all, it was pretty great. But I am glad it's over and I missed my two Rhetts a lot.

Oh. and Terrilynn, I saw your mom up there. She says hi and I can just imagine her being such a great missionary for the camp.