Summer Strawberries

I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!! My garden finally gave us a few bowls of berries in early June. They weren't very sweet, but it was so satisfying to grow them and eat them! Don't they look yummy?

About this same time, our freezer failed to freeze and I had a bunch of strawberries, blueberries, & raspberries that needed to be used. So I made 9 pints of Three Berries Syrup with them and some of our homegrown berries. It's so good on pancakes and ice cream!

Pioneer Woman Meets Alton Brown

I keep hearing how delicious homemade Macaroni & Cheese is and so I've tried a couple or seven recipes. Easy ones, hard ones, basic ones, fancy cheese ones... and none of there were that great. I think I really wanted a pumped up version of good ol' Kraft Mac & Cheese. So last week I was flipping through my Pioneer Woman Cooks book and found her Macaroni & Cheese recipe. I actually had everything to make it and I was feeling lucky. Or maybe I was just hungry enough to give it another try. And it was good! Still not sure it lives up to the hype of homemade, but it's the best of all the recipes I've tried.

But the story doesn't end there. During my searching for a great Macaroni & Cheese recipe, I found Alton Brown's Next Day Macaroni & Cheese Toast.It's leftover Mac & Cheese (which gets very solid when it's cold and it doesn't ever taste as good as the first time you serve it), sliced up, breaded, then FRIED! At first, it sounded gross and I didn't think I'd ever try it. But then I had PWs pretty good but not great leftovers. Whaaa-laahh! Ryan helped with the breading, the frying was fast, and the end result - hot, gooey, cheesy macaroni on the inside, hot, crispy, crunchiness on the outside. Mmmm.

EAGLE SCOUT!!

Tyler had his Board of Review tonight and he is now officially an Eagle Scout! We couldn't be prouder of him. He is an amazing kid. He has worked hard for this Eagle rank and he's so excited to reach this goal. Way to go, Tyler!

Justin's Bed

If you know me, you know I have issues about buying furniture. I just can't bring myself to pay hundreds (or thousands!) of dollars for something that I'm not 100% sure I love. As a result, we have gone without, as I've saved my money and waited to find the right things. Furnishing our home has been a very slow process. I redid Justin's room last summer but still had not found a headboard that would go with his dresser. But then I found Knock Off Wood and the Simple Bed. Yay!

When my Mom & Dad were here in May, I showed Dad the plans for the bed and he built it! (He had a little help from Ryan & Justin.) We opted to just build the headboard because if Justin is anything like his Dad and brothers, his feet will hang off the end in a couple of years.

We could not find 4x4 posts so Dad engineered a solution using 2 1x4s with a 2x4 behind. We painted it navy to tie in with the Clone Wars theme and because I didn't want to try to match the color of the dresser. I wouldn't say this was a cheap build because I chose some smoother boards that of course, cost more. And we ended up buying a saw (which I have wanted to get and will use for other projects). Gotta have the right tool for the job!

Justin loves it. He did his happy dance. It's even more awesome that Justin's grandpa made it! I think it's just right. Since our 2 older boys need new beds, I think I'll be building them custom headboards too. Thanks, Knock Off Wood! And thanks, Dad!

Oh, Ryan!

After posting about Justin and Tyler, I get to focus on Ryan! He just finished a fabulous 7th grade year and is so happy to be starting 8th grade in August. He got straight A's all year! He's really kickin' back this summer though. The one full week of vacation that we've had here at home, Ryan spent mostly watching TV. (Tomorrow, I'll get tough and set some limits for the rest of the summer.)

Ryan had a Dr. visit last week. He is 5' 11" tall! I'm so glad it's finally shorts weather because Ryan's legs keep growing out of his pants! He has better than perfect vision - the dr. and nurses kept commenting on how impossible it is to see that well. And Ryan is generally healthy, but since he still has some pain in his collarbone, they did some x-rays. There is not as much healing there as they'd like since he broke it way back in March, so he'll be going to see an Orthopedic doctor. Ryan has broken several bones so we're getting a little concerned about what might be wrong. Keeping our fingers crossed that he's OK, just accident prone.

Ryan is a Life Scout and only has 2 more merit badges and his Eagle project to do. Any good ideas for a worthy project would be appreciated. He has opted to skip scout camp this year on the condition that he'll spend the time working on his Eagle. We'll see.

We're are so proud of this boy too! He has the best sense of humor and can always make us smile. He's learning to work and when he set out to do something, he really gets it done. He's been our chief lawnmower this spring which is especially helpful because Tyler & Todd have had busy schedules and I don't mow lawns. He's asked me to put the word out that he can babysit - he's had one or two paying jobs, but babies and kids love him. What's not to love? Ryan's amazing.

Bumble Boogie

More of Tyler! This one is sooo fast! Look at those fingers flying!

VIDEO! of the Piano Star

Tyler played this piece for his Piano Guild Audition, recital, and Youth Conference. I could listen to it everyday. Todd says he never imagined one of his sons would ever be this talented. Tyler likes to play loud and fast so this is a perfect piece for him. He is an amazing kid. AND we are finally learning how to post videos so there will probably be more!

Tyler the Track Star?

Tyler is a jumper. He is going on 16 years old and he still jumps on the couches, beds, chairs, and stairs like he is 6. He has always liked jumping. He practices jumping and slapping the ceiling and there are smack marks over all the doorways where Tyler hits the wall when he goes through. But Tyler hasn't really been interested in running. So we were surprised that he went out for the Track team. He did the long jump,

the high jump,and ran the 100 and 200 meter sprints. I can't find any good picture of him running! We went to a couple of his meets and found out that they are not the most exciting events to watch. There's a lot of sitting and waiting for the next race. The race is over in just a few seconds and then you sit and wait for the next one. It was a good experience for Tyler though. He trained and worked out every day. He improved his times and he met his goal for long jump. Yay, Tyler!

Tyler finished his Freshman year with all A's at school, an awesome piano guild audition and recital, taking Driver's Ed, and submitting his Eagle application papers. He went to our Stake's Youth conference this weekend and participated in the talent show, playing Bumble Boogie, and then went to a few rest homes for more performances. His favorite part of the whole conference was the dance so I guess that shows where his interests are. :)

We couldn't be prouder of this boy.

Star Date oh-six-one-three-of-two-oh-one-oh

Since my last post was waay back in April, I feel like I'm time traveling to get caught up with my blog. I don't know why it's been so hard for me to do. I'm on the computer everyday and I take lots of pictures so putting up a new post every now and then shouldn't be so tough. But it is. So we'll see how far I get today!

Let's start with Justin. He played soccer again this spring. He didn't have so much fun because the coach did a lot of yelling at the kids. And we had a few things come up on game days so he missed a few. At one of the games, Justin took a ball right in the face in the last few minutes. He stayed in and toughed it out until the end. Even though the season wasn't the best, Justin really enjoyed practicing with his brothers and building skills for next year. Go, Justin!

And look how cute he is! This boy makes me smile.

Justin just finished the 4th grade. It's been a long year for him. He's a genius, but he'd rather play than work. He has lots of friends. He also just recently achieved the Webelo rank in Cub Scouts. We have a few weeks to finish up his Arrow of Light. He went to Twilight Camp last week and got to shoot arrows, swim, do an egg drop, shoot BB guns, go geocaching, hike, and eat ice cream. He's also doing 4 weeks of swimming lessons this summer. At the end he should be ready for any scout swim test next year.

Justin's taking off a few weeks from piano lessons, but he's progressing there. He's starting on a few simplified Hymns and Primary songs. Since he's going to 5th grade in the fall, he gets to start a musical instrument at the school band. We have always talked about him rounding out our sons' brass trio by playing the French Horn, but in the last few months, Justin has been more interested in the saxophone. So we'll see.

In May, Todd & Justin & I went to the Groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kansas City temple. It was freezing and to keep me warm, Justin sat on my lap. He was way too big, hanging all the way to the ground. I miss holding my little boy.

And here's a snake the boys found in our yard. Don't know what kind it is. Don't care if it's poisonous or not. Just want it gone!!! (They let it loose later that day a few blocks away in a field, where all good snakes should stay.)