Pre-Season Soccer Scrimmage

Yesterday morning, J's soccer team had a scrimmage with another team. It was good practice for them all. Many of the boys were all out of steam by the 2nd half! J played defense the first half.

Then, the 2nd half, J played goalie and he did an AWESOME job! He was fearless!

J grabbed the ball right out from a kid who was about to kick a goal! Our team went wild! He dove for the ball 3 other times and grabbed it from a heap of kids. I always worry that he's going to get his teeth kicked out. Seriously.

The '09 season games start in a couple of weeks. J is excited about his new team, the Volcanoes. There are 3 boys from his previous team with him this year. He was very glad about that. He really loves soccer, and it's sure fun to watch him play.

The Rexburg Temple

On our trip through Idaho in July, we stopped in Rexburg to get a close look at the new temple. It is absolutely beautiful. We walked around the grounds and really enjoyed the site. We also got to see BYU-ID. Idaho was beautiful!

I LOVE this picture that we took at the Rexburg temple. It almost looks like a postcard!

We loved seeing many temples on our trip this summer. I honestly lost count. Plus, the boys saw a few while G and I were gone on our cruise. We sure live in an amazing time with all of the temples! We are surely blessed.

Cuban Bread

Cuban Bread

We LOVE this bread recipe. We got it from a friend and it's so easy. It looks like it would take a long time to make this bread, but it doesn't. AND if you use the 'quick-rise' method, it goes even faster. The outside of the bread is crunchy and the inside is so soft.

5-6 cups flour
2 Tbsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
2 cups hot water (120-130*)
1 Tbsp. sesame or poppy seeds (optional)


Mix 4 cups of the flour with yeast, sugar & salt. Pour in hot water & beat 100 strokes or 3 minutes with a mixer. Stir in remaining four until dough is no longer sticky. Knead 8 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl & cover with a damp towel. Let rise for 15 minutes. Punch down. Divide into 2 pieces. Shape into 2 round loaves and place on baking sheet (1 greased sheet). Cut an X ½ inch deep on top with a sharp knife. Brush with water & sprinkle with seeds (if desired). Place on middle shelf of COLD oven. Place a cake pan of hot water on lowest shelf. Heat oven to 400* & bake ‘til golden brown, 40-50 minutes.

*Yes, it does say 1 TB of salt -- and that's correct. I thought it might be a typo when I got the recipe, but it's not!

*Quick Rise Method: Put a very damp kitchen towel into the microwave for 2 minutes. Then, drape the HOT, damp towel over the bowl with the dough and put back into the microwave to rise. This will cut the rise time in half. Usually, the dough for this recipe is ready after 10 minutes.

*We've done this where we've made 6 small rolls instead of the 2 big ones. It doesn't really matter.

ENJOY!

B's Graduation Cap

At the end of 5th grade, B made a graduation cap. He wanted to be sure to get some pictures of him with his cap. On the top, he wrote, "middle school, here I come!" He has 2 weeks of middle school under his belt and he is liking the change. It's been an adjustment getting up @ 6:30am, though!
He wanted some pictures of him throwing his cap! So, here you go!

Lemon Bread

This recipe comes from my mother-in-law's collection. It's one of G's favorites. We haven't made it in a while, but it is sure sounding good right now! It's so easy and very moist. Enjoy!

Lemon Bread

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 TB lemon juice

Cream butter & sugar. Add eggs & remaining ingredients. Bake in loaf pan @ 350 for 1 hour.

Glaze: Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar & 1 Tblsp. lemon juice. Drizzle over top of bread. Cool & remove from pan. Makes 1 loaf.

Primary Water Activity

Yesterday morning, our primary had their quarterly activity at the park. The theme was "Waters of Mormon". We rotated the kids through 3 stations. I was in charge of the water balloon launcher, which was a HUGE hit with both the kids and adults. The Bishop and 2nd counselor were there and they enjoyed launching some balloons, too! Most of the work involves filling the water balloons. Luckily, I had some help from my friend and her family.

Here's B getting ready to launch a water balloon

J is going for some real height on this launch! The other stations involved a slip-n-slide and a 'soggy jog relay'. Needless to say, the kids got wet. Oh, and since we had A LOT of water balloons, we had a water balloon fight. Lots of fun!!

Here's T with his buddy N enjoying popsicles. We had a wonderful time. It's so fun to play together. I love being able to get the primary kids together outside of the Sunday time together. It's fun to watch them interact and have fun with each other.

N's Backpacking Trip with the Scouts

Last Thursday, N left bright and early with his scout troop for a 2 night, 3 day backpacking trip. They had to hike UP for 3 1/2 miles to their destination. It was tough, but they all said it was beautiful.

N is in the green sweatshirt on the left.

Heading up the hill

WOW! What a view!

N was tired and dirty when he got home, but glad he accomplished the trek. (He's the 3rd from the left) He's now done with his camping merit badge! He's VERY happy about that one. He has wonderful leaders who really challenge these boys, and that's so good for them. And, ones who take great pictures to share with the families!!

They Survived Their 1st Day of School!

N & B had to rise early this morning. The bus comes @ 7:15 am this year (last year, it came @ 7:25 am). They were both excited about going to school this morning. N begins 8th grade this year.

B has been looking forward to going to Middle School. I'm glad that he gets one year at middle school with N. B begins 6th grade.

J was not so excited about school starting. It was hard to get him to smile. He has LOVED our summer. We had a blast. He started 3rd grade today.

Here's T holding a flower from our yard. T & J each brought one for their teacher this morning. It's a school tradition: each student brings 1 flower for the teacher to add to a class bouquet to show the diversity of the class. It was a big morning for T: he started Kindergarten today!

Dad even got to walk with us to the school this morning. He got J settled in his class while I waited with T. Later, I ran over to J's class to get a little peek and snap a picture. I saw a smile sneeking out!!

J seemed to be settling in just fine. He knows several kids in his class, so he's happy about that. After school, the boys all reported having a good day. T is still a little unsure about Kindergarten. He was worn out and took a chunky nap already! So, we are getting back into the swing of things around here. Soccer practices start this week, too. We'll get back into a rhythm ... eventually ...

Last Time @ 6 Flags this Summer

On Tuesday, the 4th, we surprised the boys with a day at Six Flags WITH DAD. G came home after the boys had swim lessons and told the boys of our plans. We ate lunch and then headed to Six Flags. We had a wonderful day together.

Dad with T on T's favorite ride: The Cobra

J & N on the Tony Hawk ride. G and T rode with them. G was SO dizzy afterwards!

B, T & I caught part of the dolphin show. The others went to ride some of the big roller coasters.

We HAD to see the stingrays again. This time, J & T got to feel one. So did the rest of us, too. They are so cool!

There's B on the front right corner. He wanted to get wet, and wet he got!!

Here are the boys in the butterfly sanctuary. It was so hot and humid in there, but we saw lots of beautiful butterflies. There were also really neat fish.

I snapped this picture of G with the three older boys on the raft ride. They got soaked, but they had a blast. They talked T and me into going with them again. There was hardly any line.

We went twice and we were SOAKED!! We laughed so hard. It was a blast!! We did a few more rides and then called it a day. We were pretty tired. It was so nice to be able to spend the day together as a family.

Our Outing to the Mall

This morning, we took the boys down to a mall in Sacramento to the Lego store. They were in Lego heaven! B & J each picked out something and used their own money to pay for it. T got something small, too. The ONE thing B wanted, in particular, wasn't in stock. He was a little bummed. They enjoyed looking around at all of the built models, too.

Right after the Lego store, we surprised the boys with cinnamon rolls. They were SO good! We each had a 1/2 because they were so big. Such a yummy treat!

We had a great outing at the mall with the boys. We stopped in a few shops. We were REALLY tempted at the Apple store. G has been wanting an iPod touch! Anyway, it was a nice morning together and fun to take the boys to the Lego store --- somewhere they've been wanting to go for a long time.