Let Them Be Little

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

OR DREAMS.

The kids love to listen to music while they study and the music selections vary greatly.

But sometimes, there is a song that they want to play over and over...and over...

which is fine, usually.

This song, however, is goofy and gets stuck in my head the way peanut butter gets glued to the roof of the mouth!

And when this song gets stuck in my head, it does funny things, like enter my dreams!

Take a listen...a good listen.  I warn you, it is silly but oh, so funny with a catchy tune.

Download 11 Peanut Butter and Jelly

(the fun part of the song begins about 1/3 of the way through)

Everyone knows I like a good mystery

and we did play a little "CLUE" over the break.

Just thought I should give that as some background.

 

The other night, I awoke at probably around 3 AM singing that song!  I couldn't believe it.

1. Why was I singing in my sleep?

2. And that song?

Well, it took a little while for me to get back to sleep but I was finally able to get my mind off of things and get back to bed.

Not too long after I had fallen asleep, I was once again awake.

But I woke up during the middle of a dream - so I remember it.

I later wrote down a little of that dream, so I wouldn't forget.

It was about that song!

(Not sure how I would forget this one, it isn't every day I dream about PB and J!)

The dream took place in the pantry, a nice walk-in pantry.

Everyone was there: peanut butter, jelly, honey, nutella, beans, tomatoes, spices, rice, oatmeal, cereal, etc. 

You get the picture.

(I was not hungry, in case you are wondering...)

They were all living in the pantry, going off to work, talking with each other, they were even dressed nicely - for jars and cans.

It was a nice little pantry community.

It was clear that Peanut Butter and Jelly were planning to be married.  Honey was sweet on Peanut Butter but he wasn't sweet on her. He only had eyes for Jelly.

Jelly was darling and very sweet. And she was quite the little worker!

They were all going about their every day lives when there was a very unfortunate occurrence.  One that had never happened before - in their pantry city.

A murder had taken place during the night.

Peanut butter was distraught and was trying to ease the blow for Jelly as he told her of the news.

The news brought a halt to everything that was going on in the pantry.

A can of tomatoes had been cut open and spilled on the shelf.

I saw it.

It was disturbing (during the dream).

While some of the pantry folks were standing over the tomatoes and wondering who would have done such a thing,

I thought to myself, "I hope it isn't a cereal killer!"

Just then the law came in to investigate.

Salt and Pepper.

Not just any salt and pepper though.  They were the very tall salt and pepper mills, all decked out in uniforms and badges.

They looked awesome! 

They were very serious about the investigation and they were asking great questions...

that is when I woke up for the day!

 

Oh, how I wish I could have finished that one...

 ***

Megan had a great idea:

 She would like everyone to add their own endings to my dream,

so, Who dunnit?

Leave your awesome conclusions in the comments section, this should be lots of fun if you will leave your thoughts on how this little mystery ends!

Thanks!

 

 

A FOLLOW-UP E-MAIL MESSAGE

about my "comments" post.

This message was sent to me by Bemmer-Bo. (Our Emily)

Sent at 1:04 AM.

 

"Comments! :) haha... when I first read the title, I thought you were either going to say something about how you wish your children (specifically those not living at home) would comment more, or something about the time of day my most recent comments have been made :) haha... 

I am trying to make more comments!! :) even if they are made in the middle of the night... :/

I love you Mom!!

-Emi"

 

Think someone is a little worried that I may have noticed her comments left on the blog at 2, 2:30 or 3 in the morning?

I did notice.

I thought about teasing her and planned to mention to her that I did see that she (and her cute friends) are on the blog awfully late at night - or rather early in the morning!

But I wouldn't have 'called her out' here on the blog - that is, until I got her funny e-mail.

Oh Bemmer! You are a doll! (Now..., go to bed!  Ha, ha!)

 

(She does know I plan to post her email - we talked and laughed about it on the phone, so please don't worry about her response).  :)

 

 

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE

 when I found these photos that the kids had taken while we were on our trip to Alaska back in June and July of 2008!  

The other day I needed another SD card for my camera. My favorite one is full and I don't want to erase it - still have the jitters about my computer and I don't want to lose the photos. I know, I know, trust issues...

So, I grabbed an old card that I don't ever use and when I put it into the computer to upload the photos, these precious photos were there!  Taken from the kids point of views; mostly Meg and Smash as the photographers.

I was so excited to see these and to see the changes in the kids in the last few years.  2008 doesn't seem all that long ago and yet a lot has happened and changed since then; many of those changes are evident in their faces alone. 

The photo below is of Meg and I on a bus in Denali National Park.  Look at Nathan and Emily just behind us.

 

Here we are with the girls. Emily had long hair then and had it in braids.

 

 And here we are with the boys.  Smash smiled in photos back then! 

Not the best photo of us but I had to show just how much Smash and Nathan have changed since then:

Smash was SMILING in photos then. :)

 

Although the moose photo is a little blurry, it's fun to remember all of the moose we saw - as well as other wonderful animals and scenery.

The blond in the photo below is me. 

Just kidding, it's not a Mar-bear, it's a real bear.

  The kids zoomed in on him, or her:

 

Kids are great, aren't they?  There were a lot of photos taken of this next creature! Ha, ha!

They did make friends with him, he followed them all over while we were stopped at this little picnic area.

But they took a lot more photos of him than they did of the moose or bear, or anything else.  I love kids!

 

I think Meg took the photo below of Smash; it's so cute.

 

 

The kids caught whales too - - on camera.

Whale back.

 

Whale tail.

 

 

2!

And the photo below is a really great capture.  Not sure who took it but he/she managed to capture the sea lions on the rocks and a whale in the water next to them.  Really cool!

 There are many more photos but that's all I will share for now.  It's a lot, I know.

What a very fun find for me, I'm kind of happy that they were tucked away until now because it makes them seem even more special.

Great job at capturing these photos!

Kids, do you remember taking them?

LEAVING COMMENTS

I have heard from several people that it is difficult to leave comments on my blog sometimes.

I'm sorry about that.

I have no idea why.

My niece had difficulty a while back as well and I thought she may need to change the browser.  When she did she found success. 

Google Chrome is usually a good browser.

Also, it may be that you need to clean out your cookies and cache.  Sometimes that will help.

Or it could be Typepad.

Sometimes I have problems with the site also.

I have lost several entries while trying to post recently and they are GONE, gone, gone.  Which is super frustrating when I am working really hard to catch up! (I really am trying to get this blog caught up!)

But whenever Typepad is trying to improve something on the site, I have that happen.

Try cleaning out your cookies/cache first, it's good to do that from time to time anyway.

If you want to try another browser, I would go with Google Chrome.

 

Thanks bunches! 

I hope to hear from you again.

CREAM CHEESE FILLED CREPES

 with raspberry sauce and a little Nutella drizzle. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

 

2 Crepe recipes and cream cheese filling recipe below.

 

 

Crepes

1 1/2 c flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 c milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

Beginning with liquids, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well.  Chill in refrig. for 1 hour. Heat saute pan on med-high. (Do the water dance test to check to see if the pan is ready).

Brush pan with a little butter and pour 1/4-1/3 cup of batter on pan.  Quickly tilt and rotate the pan so the batter covers the bottom of the pan. Cook until light brown on bottom and dry on top.

***

TIP! To freeze crepes:

Cool crepes.  Stack them in between pieces of wax paper.  Wrap in foil and/or put into freezer bags.  Label and freeze up to 3 months.

***

Another recipe for crepes - not as many ingredients.  (I like the first recipe best though).

Basic Crepe Recipe

3 eggs

1/2 c milk

1/2 c water

3 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

Prepare with the same method as above.

 

Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c powdered sugar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients together with mixer.

Then fold in:

1 c heavy cream - whipped

 

Serve cream cheese crepes with fresh fruit: strawberries, raspberries, balckberries, or whatever you like!  If serving with fresh fruit, plan on approx. 4 c. fruit.

 Or serve with a warm fruit sauce. During the winter, I make sauce from frozen fruit. I warm it in a saucepan until the fruit begins to soften and become juicy.  I then add a little sugar and bring the fruit and sugar to a simmer until the sugar dizzolves and the fruit juice thickens a bit.  (I don't like to use a lot of sugar though). Sometimes I add a sprinkle of cinnamon, or vanilla also.

If you want to drizzle Nutella on top, just heat the Nutella in the microwave until it is warmed through and drizzle with a fork.

 

WELCOME BACK SKIES

 When we arrived back to our new neck of the woods in CO, these are the skies that welcomed us.

 Every day I see something breathtakingly beautiful here.

 I loved these yellow and orange zebra-like stripes across the sky. 

Such beautiful evidence of our Creator and His love for us.

SAY CHEESE?

 While we were in Provo, my sis and her family came to spend an evening with us.

We were so thankful to them!  I love seeing them; I always want to see family when we travel but it isn't always an option to make it to everyone.  So, it was heaven to me that they would make the trip to see us.

We had a little "cheese" with dinner and then a lot of cheesiness after dinner while I was trying to get a photo of the kids together... :)  I love this group of people!

(And a lot of operator error too...not sure what I was doing with the camera!)

 

 

 

 Hmm...

How about this one from last November?

 

 

STRIKE!

 OUT!!

We are Terrible at bowling. Horrible. No good. Very bad.

Which made for a fun day.

(We hadn't gone bowling in many years...but these lanes were calling to us).

(This is a great bowling alley - at the Y).

Oh we had a few spares in there and even a few strikes but for the most part it was a fun way to send the ball down the gutter, or perhaps hit a few pins at a time. 

Nathan and Smash both hit pins from gutter balls.  I have never seen that happen before. Those balls were in the gutter most of the lane and with some miraculous stroke the balls jumped up at the end and took out some pins!  When it happened to Nathan, I was amazed and remarked that I had never seen such a thing but then it happened to Smash too!  They must throw those balls with a lot of force and a good hook on the end.

 

While watching that happen, the simple thought occurred to me - you never know what will happen in the end. 

What seems to be a lost cause may not be that. 

I know I am talking about bowling here and that doesn't necessarily translate well into every day life and circumstances.

But I believe there is something to the idea that if you desire a particular outcome and you give it all you have,

there may be enough positive force (even towards the end of a journey) to alter the course and therefore the outcome.

Now, that doesn't apply to others; we are all in charge of our own journey and destination.

(Just as the hook and force of Nathan's ball would not be able to knock down someone else's pins).

But a good example may have a positive effect on those who come after us.

Sometimes we feel that our choices have determined our destiny - which they do, but we do have the power within us to change.

We can change our attitudes, our desires, our choices at any given time.

And when we choose to change, we are determining something new for ourselves.

We are beings that are meant to change, to grow, to learn and therefore succeed. (We also choose what we believe to be success).

I love this quote from the general conference talk given by Dallin H. Oaks last April.

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

So true.

All of that from bowling balls and gutters? 

Yes. I recognize I have a lot of growing and changing to do.

:)

 

Oh, and we had such a good time at bowling terribly, we did it again. 

We thought we were getting better so we were certain the next game would be GREAT!

I had to bowl with my left hand at times - and I think I perform better with the left.

But not better enough.  I was still terrible.

The boys did about the same.

Only Megan improved on the second game. (In fact, I think she won the second game).

:)

*Emily was working, we were waiting for her so we could go to dinner - so maybe Emily would have been our spectacular bowler?  We will have to find out some time.

*Nathan had the funniest little hop with his wind-up.  Can't wait to see that again.

5,4,3,2,1...

 BLAST OFF!

Such a blast to start our new year with a blast.

Camilla with Nathan.

 

This year we were not sure if it would be a good thing to get rockets in our stockings again;

we thought it might be too cold for launching.

Happily, we were wrong.

(Secretly, I had hoped we could launch from a frozen lake. Just imagine it...the rockets taking off from the ice, the kids scrambling, and slipping and sliding on the ice to retrieve them...oh, I can just see it now, ha, ha!  Could be such fun!)

Just after Christmas, the weather became really warm, sunny and beautiful. We thought it would be the perfect weather for launching. (Not on a frozen lake).

During the break, the kids and Jonathan went to work on the rockets, constructing, painting, etc. Mine just had to be put together, which was great for me since I was plenty busy with other things.

On the day we were able to launch, the winds were howling at 50 - 70 MPH.  There would be no launching with winds at that speed.

The next day we were planning to leave for UT.

So, we took the rockets with us!

No, there really wasn't any room.  Larry was filled to the brim and beyond, remember?

But Jonathan was determined. 

Funny story about that:

Earlier in the week, Smash had an epiphany of sorts.

While we were working on the rockets, Jonathan became a little intense and excited about working on them. 

I like that he enjoys this sort of thing and that it has provided creative fun with the kids through the years.

Smash began to notice how much Jonathan likes building the rockets and he came to me with a look of surprise and disbelief and exclaimed,

"Wow, dad is really into this!  He really likes the rockets!" 

When I told him that I did know that, he said, again with shock on his face, "No, really, mom, he really likes this!" 

Of course he does, he's an engineer!  Ha, ha!  I'm not sure why it took so long for Smash to see that but it was funny and provided lots of laughter.

So, when it was determined a few days later that we would not be able to launch the rockets, and Jonathan decided to make room for them to go to UT with us,

Smash came to me with that look of shock again and told me, "See, Mom?  I told you he was really into this!" 

We all laughed!

And laughed and laughed as Jonathan painstakingly went through everything in our vehicle to make room for rockets.  :)

And we were happy to have the rockets with us in UT,

we had a great time, in perfect launching weather,

in fact the weather was better than the previous year in TX! (click on link to see last year)

My cousin, Teresa, and her children were able to join us for the day!  They drove down from Morgan and I am so happy they did!  Such fun!

 

 

I love the look of wonder and anticipation on Camilla's face:

 

Smash with a dive, hoping to catch the rocket before it hit the ground:

 

 And a crazy catch for Nathan:

 Success!

 

These kids had a blast also!  Can't tell you who they are because I don't know!  They, along with 8 or so of their friends, were very interested in the rockets.  At first they searched for rockets, on the other side of the trees.  We couldn't see them unless we were retrieving rockets also.  After a little while, they inched their way toward us, little by little.  Finally, I approached them and asked if they would like to come and launch with us and they did.  Kids (of all ages) love rockets having a blast!

 

And this shot was not staged, at all:  (Ha, Ha!)

 

 Savanna and Megan

 

 

 Nathan was such a great retriever for us!

 

NEW BEGINNINGS

 for Nathan and Emily in 2012!

Emi is now an RA (for 60 girls) at Heritage Halls, which meant she made the move BACK to Heritage during the break. (She began there this Summer and then moved to Helaman in the Fall). She is excited and thrilled with her new opportunities and we are thrilled for her!

We traveled New Year's Day in order to get her to her dorm in time to begin her new job.  Meg, Emi and I wore those Happy New Year headbands all day.  Goofy, I know but we had fun...

When we stopped for a few minutes at a truck stop, I got out of the car and a little girl spotted me right away.  She looked up at me and said, "Well, YOU look cute!"  Made me giggle.

Later in the day, Emily got out of the car and a little girl said to her, "I like your headband!"  Little girls notice everything!  So cute!

Emily quickly put her "essentials" away in a drawer; check out her candy essentials drawer! :)

Actually, the ring pops were for the girls in her dorm.  As their new RA, she wanted them to be able to reach her if they needed or wanted to so she attached a cute little note to the ring pops along with her cell number and let them know they could "give her a RING" any time!

The extra-large bag of tootsie rolls and the candy jar were a Christmas gift.  I thought it might be nice for her to have a little treat for any of the girls who will come to talk with her (or cry on her shoulder). Tootsie rolls happen to be one of Emily's favorite treats - so she can enjoy some, if needed.

The thought just occurred to me - Emi, if you want to go through that warehouse bag of treats more quickly, you could start offering treats to the boys when you have to kick them out of the dorms...might soften the blow...

you could be known as the "sweetest" RA, ha, ha.  (You are probably already known as that though).

Emi, let me know when you need more treats for your jar! :)

And it was also time for Nathan to begin a new chapter in his life story.

Back to school. After 2 1/2 years of being away from the books and all that goes with it.

He was so excited and ready to start this new chapter! (He loves us but he'd rather be at school than hanging out with the folks...can't blame him for that!)

Traveling with our Thule and bike on top of Larry made me feel like a real Coloradoan.

With Nathan and Emily moving in to new places, just after Christmas, and all 6 of us traveling together, we were pretty much filled to the brim...and beyond! (Family bonding time!)

 Nathan moved into the foreign language housing - such a great place for him! There are many languages represented in the apartment complex; each house is assigned a different language.  They must speak in their house language at all times while they are in the apt. Several apartments make up the house and in each apartment there are 6 people.  Nathan is in the Spanish house.  They get together to eat dinner 5 nights a week (the entire house - 60 or so people!).  Each week they rotate through who is in charge (the chef) of dinner and who will assist in the prep for the dinner.  It's a great system!  It works out that each person will be the chef about once a month and will assist with dinner prep once a week.

The apartments are so nice!  The kitchen and bathroom are huge.  The bedrooms are a fairly nice size and the living room is really large.  He really got in to a great apartment!

Here he is with one of his new roommates, Alejandro.  Alejandro is from Colombia.

While helping Nathan move in, the kids were speaking a little Spanish.  Jon and I didn't really say much because we don't speak Spanish and we were trying to be as respectful as possible to the Spanish rule.  I started speaking a little in Italian - mainly  because I felt the need to say something and Alejandro answered me in Italian.  What a shock and surprise!  He had spent 4 years working in Italia, so he is fluent in the language.  Really cool.

Isn't that kitchen great?

 

Nathan in his new bedroom.

And the kids all together just before we left Nathan and Emily.

 

 

  There is something about having two of my children at college together that makes it easier for me.  That may sound strange coming from the mom that does not like letting go...but I know that they will watch out for each other.  They are good friends!  That makes me so, so, so, so very happy!

And Emily has found other great friends, like this one, Greta.  She came to see us off also and as we left, I looked back to see them as they walked off together I was so happy that Emily has such great people in her life.