slimy snails

We finally laid out snail bait in our flower gardens. The kids are always finding them and playing with them (which grosses me out, but I would have done the same thing when I was a kid. I guess that means I'm old now). We gathered about 100 dead snails the day after our first poisoning!

One tough kid

photo courtesy of lagoonpark.com circa the 80's!

Last weekend we went to Lagoon with my family (thanks to grandma and grandpa). We haven't been since Hayden was 3 months old. McKinley was ecstatic that she is finally tall enough for the tall rides. She rode the big rides with Daddy and Grandpa. She did the roller coaster, the Wild Mouse, Spider, and even the Colossus. I didn't even dare ride that one until I was 14!

You've come a long way baby. From the screaming one year old who freaked out on the baby boats and gave herself a bloody nose (making us feel like the worst parents ever), to the Colossus! Way to go!

I didn't take any pictures though because it rained the whole time. We were soaked!

summer ideas

School is almost out for our year-rounder. That means we will have only about 6 weeks for summer fun before we start up again :(
So I am making my day-trip plans, but I was wondering if any one has any additional ideas that I don't know about or maybe there's a coupon or special deal?

Here's what I can think of right now (No we're not doing all of these ideas, I'm just brainstorming):

Splash Parks

Zoo (on grandma and grandpa)
Lagoon (on grandma and grandpa again)

Swimming

Hike Albion Basin (late July for the wildflowers)

Snowbird ($10 off adult ticket in the mail yesterday)

Nascar Camping series (@Miller sports park--I have a free coupon)

Planetarium

Discovery Gateway

Thanksgiving Point (have the membership, and will get my $ worth)

Daybreak Lake

City Creek hike

Timpanogos Caves

Antelope Island

Salt Flats (at sunset)

Great Salt Lake (The kids have never been!)

Bees game (again free tickets)

Taylorsville Days (with Kent's fam-the fireworks are great, and this year a Carl Edwards Nascar will be on display)

Picnic in Butterfield Canyon

Flaming Gorge (I know this isn't a day trip, we'll sleep over a few days)

Ensign Peak

Lavendar Days

What else is out there? Are there any more kid-friendly day hikes?

St. George '09

We went on our annual extended family vacation with Kent's side this weekend. We go each year to St. George and see a Tuacahn play. This year was Annie. The little Annie girl was a great singer. We went bowling (I won!--although most of the players were under 7, but it's still a victory!), caught a movie (Night at the Museum 2, wait for it until video), ate at the Pirate's Island restaurant (the kids loved it), boys went golfing, we went hiking on the Bluff, and did a lot of swimming! The weather was pretty mildly warm for summer in St. George (in 80's) and only sprinkled rain a little.
We all had a good time!

Birthday festivities

Today was Hayden's birthday. I made him a car cake, with a little race track and miniature toy Nascars on top. In the bottom picture you can see him trying to kick out the fire. He wasn't a big fan of the sparklers and kept trying to get rid of the fire.

He got a little three-wheeler and some clothes at our little family party.

I think he's lost his baby look and has moved on to his little boy look....sigh. Here we come 2's!

Happy Birthday Hayden!

My baby is 2!

King Lear

by William Shakespeare

It really bugs me to hear reference to things that I don't know about. I have a loooong "to know" list to read about. One is King Lear. I decided it was time for me to dive in and read it for myself so I could cross it off my list. I went into it thinking it would be horribly boring. I like some Shakespeare, but others I would rather gouge my eyes out. I really liked King Lear, it's was fun to read. And although I could only take one work of Shakespeare at a time, I enjoyed my time reading this one. I may try another one next year.

To Kill a Mockingbird

I finished this last night. I'm not sure I really need to write a summary. Most people have probably already read this at some point in school.

So my plug here today is to re-read this book, or read it for the first time if you haven't. I love it! It is one of my all time favorites (I pushed it for book club this month). I'm really sad I won't be at book club this month to talk about it. Also, watch the old movie with Gregory Peck---he is absolutely Atticus Finch!

Temple Open House

We went to the temple open house last night. Unfortunately Kent had to work late, so I had to do it on my own. Luckily, I had already had an extensive tour when I was the medical volunteer in May, so this trip could be all about the kids experience. It went....ok. I need to point out here that I have an almost 2 year old. McKinley did say a cute prayer that night after we visited, thanking Heavenly Father and Jesus for the temple and hoping that they will like their new home.

'tato bugs

Sawyer loves his bugs.

Luckily we've come to a mutual agreement of which bugs are ok to touch (potato bugs, lady bugs, worms, and snails) and which ones I never want to see (spiders!)

Dark Molten Chocolate Cake

I soooo needed chocolate yesterday and really have ZERO in my house. So I found a recipe that had ingredients that I did have at home and whipped up these yummy chocolate satisfiers. They were very easy and yummy! I definitely want to add raspberries to the plate next time, then it would have been perfect---oh and a smidge of whipped cream! photo by me

INGREDIENTS
6 ounces Ghiradelli Dark Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bars
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup flour
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease 6 (6-oz.) custard cups or souffle dishes. I just used a cupcake pan, greased with butter and dusted with cocoa powder. Place on baking sheet.
Melt chocolate and butter in medium saucpan until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool slightly. . Whisk whole eggs and egg yolks; beat until well blended. Add powdered sugar, mix well. Add chocolate mixture to egg and sugar mixture. Mix with a whisk. add flour and mix well. Divide batter evenly into prepared custard cups (or cupcake cups). My cupcake sized version made 8 servings with it filled almost to the top, it was about 1/2 cup mix per cupcake cup (I left about 1/4 inch at the top).
Bake 14 to 15 min. or only 10 minutes if using cupcake cups or until cakes are firm around the edges but soft in the centers. You want to check the tops and make sure the tops are not battery, but that's it. Don't let it get over done or there will be no molten. Let stand 1 min. Run small knife around cakes to loosen. Carefully invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Sprinkle lightly with additional powdered sugar and garnish with raspberries, add a dollop of whip cream on top. Serve immediately.