Almost done

Mickelson Field Station

If I don't post for the next two weeks, I have some good reasons. Michael and I have been planning a reunion for my dad's family. This is something I probably won't volunteer for ever again. Ever. Anyway, we're almost done. We leave Thursday for Mickelson Field Station and will go to Lovell Sunday. We'll go to my mom's to do some laundry, then head back up for more camping with Michael's family. His older brother Coby is in town visiting before he and his family move to Spain for three years. So, we'll camp with about 30 members of Michael's family until Tuesday. We'll come back to Lovell for more laundry, then Michael will come home and I will stay in Lovell. Michael will come back to Lovell on Friday for my brother Jeremy's wedding. On Saturday he and my brother Kevin and Jeremy's son Brandon will leave on their annual backpacking trip. I will still be in Lovell. They will come back to Lovell on Tuesday, more laundry and finally home sweet home! Hopefully during this time I'll be able to paint two of my mom's rooms and see some old friends. Kevin's family will also be there, so the girls will all be able to play together. Yay for cousins!

That was one expensive reunion

Michael and my 10 year class reunion was this weekend. I'll just say that the actual reunion was...interesting. I'm sure most of my classmates don't remember it. It was nice to see most of the people though. So here is our breakdown of costs for the reunion.

Expense: 1 day off for Michelle and 1 vacation day for Michael
Expense: $50 for reunion
Expense: about $15 for gas there and back
Expense: whatever the hospital in Lovell charges for this...



My parents house is long and Emma loves to run as fast as she can from one end to the other. We were getting ready to go see the fireworks at Horseshoe Bend Saturday night when she ran into the living room...straight into a card table. In her defense, the card table is not usually there, it was after sunset, and there weren't any lights on in the living room.

There are four stitches there, it's not so much a cut, as her skin just split from how hard she hit the table. Thanks to Kent and Keesha for taking Christine to the fireworks! We sent her with them because we didn't think that we would make it out there. It's amazing how different the wait time (and other things) is between St. V's and this itty, bitty, little ER. We were there for less than an hour. We did end up making it to the lake, but Emma could not stay awake. I felt so bad for her because she was so excited to see the fireworks.

She was such a trooper during all of this, Christine too. Emma gets hurt. A lot. This is not our first ER trip. Whenever something big is going on with Emma or Jacob, Christine goes into super sister mode. This is the fastest we ever see her move. She obeys instantly and does whatever she can to make things smoother. I really am amazed at how she handles these situations. Emma does her part well too. She very rarely cries when she gets hurt. After we got her on the bed to be sewn up, she shed one tear as they were giving her the numbing shots and said, "It weally huts." She hasn't cried over it since, and she's only had one dose of Tylenol. I think we'll skip our 20 year reunion.

Mmm...cookies

Ok, I tried Smilebox for recipe templates, which I loved. I even posted the recipe on here, until I found out that you can't print it. Actually you can, but I'm too cheap to pay for the service, so I'll just post it on here where you can copy and paste it and print it for free. It won't look nearly as cute as that template, oh well. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Shannon.




Brer Rabbit Cookies
2 c melted shortening 1 1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 c canola oil 1 tsp ginger
3 c sugar, plus extra 2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 c dark molasses 1 tsp salt
3 eggs 5 c flour
6 tsp baking soda 1 c whole wheat flour

Mix shortening, oil, sugar, and molasses until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated. Add soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and flours, mixing until just combined.
Chill dough for an hour or two.
Roll into small balls and roll in sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. For a crispy cookie, bake 10-12 minutes.

Notes: This recipe makes a lot of cookies (the cookies fill more than 2 gallon sized zipper bags). The dough freezes well if you would like to only bake half of the batch. Although the title of the recipe is Brer Rabbit Cookies, I prefer Grandma's Molasses to Brer Rabbit.

A slew of updates and a cake too

The Gazette has a kids' Christmas party every year, and this year Christine got a kit to make fairy sugar cookies. It's June, and we finally got around to making them. There were tulip and fairy cookie cutters, although unless you knew it was a fairy, it just looked like a deformed butterfly. The kids had fun with it though. There was frosting, and edible paints, and fairy dust (think glitter).

Here are the girls with the cookies that they decorated. There was a lot of abstract art at our house that night.


These are the faces of two cookie loving girls. Christine always loves to show how dirty her hands and face get, even though they aren't that dirty.


We got hail on Saturday night, and Michael took this picture with a quarter to compare. The funny thing was that the hail was mostly confined to our neighborhood.


Christine started her swimming lessons today. She is very excited, although I'm still not sure she likes being in the pool by herself. Her favorite part today was the chug a choo-choo they made with the noodles, and she got to be the caboose (she told her dad this morning that it was bobbing).

Last but not least, Michael and Wynn wanted carrot cake for Father's day. Carrot cake is one of my least favorite desserts, but when I saw this recipe, I knew it was what I wanted. Unlike other carrot cakes, the frosting on this is not rot your teeth sweet and the nuts aren't overwhelming. I got this recipe from Relish Magazine.



Carrot Cake

Cake
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
20 oz carrots, shredded (about 3 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 cup crushed pineapple, well-drained

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
1 1/2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips, melted
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp lemon zest
chopped peacans, toasted

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bottom of three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray and then line with parchment paper, spraying bottom again.

Combine eggs and oil in a large mixing bowl. Beat 2 minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Add 1 cup sugar and continue mixing 2 minutes. Add remaining sugar and mix 4 minutes.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; add to egg mixture, beating on low speed until blended (about 1 minute). Add carrots, nuts and pineapple; mix until well combined.

Divide batter evenly among pans.

Bake 60 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Run knife around edge of cakes and remove from pans. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To prepare icing, place cream cheese in mixing bowl; beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add melted chocolate a little at a time, continuing to beat at medium speed. Add butter a little at a time. Scrape down sides of bowl; add lemon zest and beat until combined.
Remove cakes from refrigerator. Ice the top of one layer. Place second layer on top; ice top. Place third layer on top; ice top and sides of cake. Press chopped nuts into sides of cake.
Serves 20

Notes - The recipe said you could use 2 9-inch pans instead of the 8-inchers, increasing the time to 75 minutes. I did this and found the baking time to be too long. I took the cakes out with 12 minutes remaining and they were done. Next time I'll stick with the 60 min and add if necessary. Since I did two cakes instead of three, I split the cakes in half to make four layers. The ratio of cake to icing would have been too much for me (I don't like thick icing - this way it was more spreadout). I also didn't press the nuts into the sides of the cake. I don't like a lot of nuts either. The original called for walnuts, but I swapped those for pecans. Toasting adds a lot of flavor, so don't skip this step (I just heat a skillet and toast them on the stove top). I've had two pieces of this cake now and I like it better after it's been in the refrigerator. The first time had soft icing, and the second time the chocolate and butter and gotten firm again. Enjoy!

What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child
but the courage to raise one. - Barack Obama

We love you. Happy Father's Day!

Swimming

Emma had her first swimming lessons this week. She loves to swim and this just helped her figure it out a little better. Michael took time off of work to take her to her lessons and swam with her. She asked to call him almost every day to see where he was at when it getting close to her lesson time. She had so much fun, and I'll admit I'm sad her week is over. This was pretty good leverage to get her to be more obedient! I know that sounds awful, but with her I'll use just about anything. Christine's lessons start next week, and this will be her first year without a parent in the pool with her. She is very excited. Hopefully we'll get into our pool sometime soon, the weather has not been cooperating lately - maybe this weekend.

Like Father Like Son

It's not just his dad. He has that effect on his grandpa too. After a long morning at church, these boys tried to make it to lunch, but needed a nap along the way.