Wednesday, September 26, 2012

A Busy, Fun Week

This last week was full of fun, memorable activities.
BYU Race Day

We signed Hunter up in the BYU Race.  He was so excited.  We met up with two cousins and took a quick picture before lining up for his race.  


(Can you find Hunter?)
They separated the kids by grade and gender.  


It was a mile long race.  Hunter loved it.  We told him, just to have fun and to try to run the whole time.  Well that is exactly what he did.  As I watched him, he was smiling and looking around him, and even at the finish line he jumped across it, and he ran the whole way.  We are so proud of him.  


When Hunter finished the BYU staff presented him with a card that had his time and what place he finished in this race.  We were surprised to see that his time was 8:53 (mile) and he finished 12 place for his race.  And he had so much fun and now he wants to continue to participate in races.

Bee Sting
On Tuesday during Weston's morning run, he got strung by a bee.  And we are pretty sure that he must have had a mild allergy reaction.  He was stung on the back of his calf and by the next day his knee down to his foot had swollen up.

He even measured his calf and the one on the left is 2.5 inches bigger then the one on the right.  It has finally gone all the way down, but for the second half the week his foot was so swollen that every time I looked at it I could help but feel bad for him.


High School Football and a Yummy Recipe to Share



So I have "pinned" a bunch of recipe ideas, and I have tried a few of them.  Some have turned out and some have not.  But this one was delicious.  Weston and the boys loved it.  This was actually the second time I made it.  Both times I also served it with steamed zucchini and squash (Which we grew in our garden.)
Crock Pot Chicken Teriyaki-  from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom
So easy- just throw everything into the crock pot, and so delicious.



 Weston serves with the youth in our ward and one of the young men plays on the sophomore football team, so one evening we decided to go see him play.  He was number 26, unfortunately we were only able to stay for the first half of the game, and he did not go in until the second half.

Dance Festival and Wendy's Birthday

On Friday night we went to Hunter's school for their Dance Festival.  It also happened to be Wendy's birthday, so we invited her to come with us.  The school had a dinner at 5:30 and then each grade presented a dance.  We told Wendy that for her birthday we were taking her out for dinner and a show.
Walter was able to provide us with a pre-show dance




Quincy sure thought the dancing was fun.  


Hunter waiting for the dance portion of the evening to start.  


Quincy and the birthday girl


Waiting for the dancing to start.





Then after the dance we went back to our house to sing and have some cake.  It may have not been how my sister thought she was going to spend her birthday, but I know that the boys were so happy that she was able to spend the evening with us.  Happy Birthday Wendy!!!

Soccer
Saturday was Hunter's last soccer game.  It was a fun season and we noticed that he paid more attention to where the ball was this time.  He still may not be the most aggressive player, but he sure has fun out on the field.



Quincy 1st Baby Food



 Quincy is six months old!  So this past weekend we gave him is first taste of baby cereal.  And it was a success.  He was a bit unsure at the beginning.  I can't believe that he is getting so old.  He loves to roll all over the place, and he can get into the crawl position, but he still has not figured out how to crawl.  It is only a matter of time.





General Conference Prep


General Conference is just 9 days away.  We are so excited.  As we reviewed the talks from the last conference we added a small visual to each picture.  This has been a wonderful activity not only for the boys, but it has helped me remember as well.  The paper chain on the side is our countdown chain.  This idea was provided in the September Issue of The Friend.  We have had so much fun reviewing and doing small activities.  Our favorite activity which we did earlier this summer, was the boat race that we did with President Monson's talk: The Race of Life.
President Monson spoke about how when he was a little boy, he would make small boat out of pieces of wood and then raced them on the Provo River.  He then compared our life to these small boats that are on the race of life:

"Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our eternal voyage without providing the means whereby we could receive from Him guidance to ensure our safe return. I speak of prayer. I speak too of the whisperings from that still, small voice; and I do not overlook the holy scriptures, which contain the word of the Lord and the words of the prophets—provided to us to help us successfully cross the finish line."
-President Monson, Ensign Nov 2012




So we made small boats out of empty whip cream containers and raced them down the BYU stream.





The boys loved it.  And they now can tell you about President Monson's Race of Life talk and the four things that Heavenly Father gives us to help us "sail/race" though life. 
So because of this and other similar activities the boys are excited for General Conference, which makes me smile.  And I'm still working on more General Conference Prep.  

To Learn more about General Conference watch this short video below.  

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

When Life Gives You Grapes

Weston's parents have a grape vine growing on one of their fences.  And from what I understand years ago they would use the grapes to make either juice or jelly.  But it had been several years since the last time they picked them and so for many years the grapes had been left on the vine.  (I should add at this point that these are concord grapes, so you can't just pick them and eat them.)  Last year when we first moved to Provo, Weston and I decided to use the grapes to make grape juice.  And that is exactly what we did.  The actual process took a long time, but wasn't all that hard.  So this year when Mac asked us if we wanted the grapes we said, "YES".  But this year I had different plans, I wanted to make grape jelly.  I love PB&J sandwiches and the best ones have grape jelly.
So once again the boys and I went and picked and picked.  One of the great things about grapes, is that you don't have to be picking too long before your bucket is full.


And Quincy just enjoyed being outside. And eating his car seat (Not his best picture-but still cute)

Weston joined us after work

And within a couple of hours, we had a whole box full.

We picked all the grapes on Friday night and then went to the store to buy some jars and sure-gel.
On Saturday at nine in the morning we started juicing, and we were done with the whole process at nine o'clock at night.  It took us twelve hours.  But it was well worth it, we ended up with
36 half-pint jars of grape jelly (which we hope to use as neighbor gifts this Christmas)

11 pint jars of grape jelly (which are for us)
16 quarts of grape juice

We have found that one of the best ways to enjoy grape juice is to mix a quart of grape juice with a 2 liter bottle of 7-up.  It is so delicious.
So next time you come and visit ask us for a glass, you won't regret it.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

For Grandma and Grandpa

My parents recently moved to Peru, and the thought occurred to me that I should start blogging again, even though I call my parents every week.  This way I could share pictures and also journal about our lives.  A ton has happened since the last blog post, but I'm not going to go back, I'm just going to write about what is happening in our lives right now.
Hunter (6) recently started first grade.  He is in the Spanish Immersion Program this year.  So in the morning he goes to one classroom where everything is taught in English.  Then right before lunch he goes to a different classroom where everything is taught in Spanish.  He really enjoys going to school and likes learning a different language.  Everyday when he comes home he tells us about all the different words he is learning in Spanish.  I have to stop myself from correcting his accent.  His Spanish teacher is from Argentina so he is learning to say words with an Argentina accent.  (which Weston loves).  Just this week he brought home some math homework (all math is done in Spanish), and they are working on least and greater or in Spanish menor y mayor.  Well I was saying mayor the way I say it, and he corrected me and said it with an Argentina accent.  "That the way Sra. Z says it." he told me.  I can already tell that it's going to be a great year.



Walter (4) is at home with me.  He loves soccer and enjoys that Weston is his coach.  (I will take pictures of him this week at soccer and post them next time)  We still do school at home and he enjoys it, but he also misses Hunter.  Just last night I heard him talking to Hunter at night time.  He was telling Hunter not to go to school, but to stay home with him.  (I will also try to get pictures of the day to day activities that we do during school time.)  Walter also starts Talking Time (Speech Therapy) again this week.  He is really excited, because at least for a little while, he feels like he is going to big boy school.  
Quincy (5 months) is growing and growing.  He can sit up by himself really well now, and he wants to crawl, but has yet to figure out that he has to move his arms and legs at the same time.



Our newest past time as a family is going on family bike rides.  Weston and I recently got new bikes and then we also got a bike trailer.  Which only fits on my bike.  (I tease Weston that he purposely got a bike that the trailer couldn't be attached to)  But so far it has been so much fun.  Walter and Quincy love it and I hope to be able to start going on small errands with them on my bike.



Well that's a small update on our family right now.  More to come next week.  And I am going to try to take more pictures of small events that occur in our lives.  Sometimes I forget about taking pictures or I only take pictures of the big events.  I did find this list online that I hope will help me take more pictures of the small day to day activities:  Fall Photo Checklist