4th of July

I didn't take many pictures on the 4th of July....i figured lugging around 4 kids was enough to worry about...i didn't need to throw a camera into the mix. But we did have a lot of fun...parade in the morning (Brady drove his power-wheels jeep, Carson and Parker were pulled in the wagon. Carson threw candy to the crowd...but mostly he just shoved it in his mouth as fast as he could). Kody was in the stroller. After the parade we BBQ'd and swam at my mom's house, then fireworks at night with the Farr's. Dustin and I both agreed it was one of our better 4th's. It's the first year no one tried to run into the middle of the parade...no one almost drowned in the pool....all in all a great 4th.

Strawberry Pie Recipe

I had a few people ask me for the recipe, here it is:

fresh strawberry pie

1 baked nine-inch pie shell
2 pounds fresh strawberries (maybe 4 cups? I just cut up a bunch....cut them in quarters and eighths (i like small pieces)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water

2 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs butter
couple drops red food coloring (optional)

1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar

mash some of the berries to make about 1 1/2 cups of pulp.
combine the sugar, cornstarch, crushed strawberries, and water in a saucepan. cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to boil, stirring often. cook for two more minutes or until the sauce becomes thick and translucent. add butter and food coloring. set aside to cool. Once cooled a little add some lemon juice (i just put the juice of 1/2 a lemon....i'm guessing it was about 2 Tbs).

fill the cooled pie shell with the remaining strawberries.... pour the cooled glaze over the berries. refrigerate the pie for 2 to 3 hours. Whip whipping cream with sugar and top.

What's in YOUR purse??

Tonight I was putting something in my purse and I noticed that I cary a lot of technology with me everywhere I go.... fortunately things have shrunk significantly in the past 20 years...can you imagine carying all this crud with you? Between my Iphone, hand held camera and little video camera (along with some diapers, wipes, snacks and a debit card...) I'm pretty covered everywhere I go. Think how large your purse would have to have been to be so prepared 20 years ago????

(plus extra room for all your tapes!!! I still have all my tapes by the way. Anyone want to listen to Breathe? George Michael???)

Do our kids even know what this is??? I remember I took Carson to the eye doctor last year and they were putting pictures up on the wall and asking him what they were....one of them was a phone similar to the one above...he just looked at me a little confused. I doubt they'll ever use a phone with a cord attached to it!

Cameras. I still remember thinking that digital photography may not "catch on". haha.

I have a lot of memories of my dad with one of these things on his shoulder. Mostly recording us sitting in parking lots at disneyland, or eating an ENTIRE thanksgiving dinner.

It's funny to think how much more computing power is in my little phone than in this computer. When I was 14 or so my uncle gave me a key chain with a 486 computer chip in it. I thought it was super cool. Anyway...i'm off topic...but I hadn't thought about that key chain in a long time. I wonder where it is now?

My point is that it's fun to see how far we've come, and I'm sure in future years i'll look back at this post and laugh at how "ancient" iphones, etc. are. My other point is I hope no one steals my purse.

Family Night at the Drive in....

We went to the drive in last night...I was a little nervous about going...the last time we went was in Ohio, and I mostly remember Carson jumping all over all the seats of the car, Parker crying a bit until he managed to pass out on the middle seat....I remember thinking "that was kind of fun, but lets not try that again until the kids are older". We'll...the kids are older, so we tried it again....and I actually had a much better time! All the boys sat in the back (plus cousin Jack, not pictured)"

Cousins came too, which made it more fun:

And Ian and Ann Marie (and family)...it was their idea to go, i'm glad we agreed:

1/2 way through the movie these two little guys were out:

While Brady and the cousins had enough energy to watch another movie (it was a double feature: Ice Age and UP....we only stayed for Ice Age though...mom doesn't have the energy to watch 2 movies):

We are excited to do more of these....and happy to live 10 minutes away from one of the last drive ins around! Only bummer for the night was the 1/2 bottle of windex that spilled in our car...I can't get the scent out of the car now and it makes me sick every time I get in.

Some things never change

For some reason yogurt is particularly tricky for Carson to eat. (The above picture is over exposed...so you will just have to believe me that it was everywhere).

The Manager

Kody was sitting on the couch a few weeks ago and Uncle JP called him "The Manager" (he didn't even have this onsie on at the time). Brady must have really liked the name because he refers to him from time to time now as the "little manager".

Right Now...

Parker is having his second popsicle (can you tell his first one was a fudgesicle?) and throwing rocks outside. naked.

Carson is contemplating the slip n slide...

Brady is heading inside after his 3rd popsicle...

Kody is doing his exercises.

It is finished.

Around 1 pm today the job was done. The boys woke up at 9, ate some cereal, then went back to their room to "clean up". Alex came at 10 and helped the boys clean up a little, and when I got back from the grocery store around noon I fixed some lunch then went in to help finish the last bit of cleaning. Brady did a good job helping to clean up (I had gotten a pair of fake handcuffs at the grocery store...when I got home I showed them to Brady...who just stared at them from across the room for a good minute, then said "um....i'm going to want those. I better finish cleaning up") I probably helped more than I should have, but had I not helped, we would have missed all of the 4th of July festivities tomorrow (as I had threatened we weren't going to do ANYTHING until the job was done....and I really wanted to go to the parade....)

Funny side note: We were making some 4th of July cakes today and the boys were helping. While we were baking I was talking to them about tomorrow being "America's Birthday", and how we are blessed to live in this country...we are free to be whatever we want (like farmers or dentists) and free to learn whatever we want, to travel where ever we want, free to say what ever we want...and then Brady chimed in "Yeah, we're free to do whatever we want. But not free to make messes." I laughed. Then he said "i'm kinda funny, huh mom? Free to be funny."

Another funny side note: Carson was having a tantrum (because I wasn't helping him put jeans on? I think? And then because he couldn't watch tom and jerry? Anyway...) He's having a tantrum and we're sitting on my bed and I said he's not getting off until he's happy and gives me a hug. So he calms down and gives me a hug and said "I was not crying regular mom. I was crying special. Special loud. So they could hear me in outer space. A special Carson cry." I thought it was funny because Carson is my "regular" kid. He hates being special. But at least his cry can be special.

We just started hour 5....

around 5 Pm today the 2 big boys were mad at me for something. They thought a good "punishment" for me would be if they dumped out all of the toys in their room. ALL OF THEM. Anyone that knows me knows that I am meticulous at storing all of their toys in see-through containers, always sorted correctly. I hate it when more than 2 are out at the same time....so I guess my boys know me well, and knew this would drive me bonkers. What they didn't expect is that I was not going to help them clean it up. They have been in their bedroom for over 5 hours now, slowly, slowly cleaning up. Dustin is in laying on Carson's bed trying to provide motivation. We'll see how long I can hold out before going in there and cleaning it up. At the moment i'm resolved to let them work on it most of the day tomorrow if need be. We'll see. At some point the mess may drive me bonkers and I will have to clean it up. I hope I can hold out though. 2 days straight of picking up toys will almost guarantee they wont do this again....

well, i tried....

happy fathers day. Here's a chocolate cake. Dustin didn't even want a chocolate cake. I did. He wanted an ice cream cake from coldstone. I told him tough, i'm making you a chocolate cake and you're going to love it. How can you not love the cake above???? My first inclination that it was not going to work out is when I smelled the slightly burnt cakes come out of the oven. But I plodded on. Moments after I finished frosting it I saw a large fracture run down the middle of the cake and I knew it would not survive the night. I fashioned a tinfoil "bra"to help support it in the fridge over night:

The bra did it's job and prevented any further disaster. At least the strawberry pie didn't fall apart:

next year i'll just get a coldstone cake.

funny discoveries

I love it when I'm picking up and I discover funny little things that the kids have done. Almost makes picking up endless messes worth it. almost.

Ouch!

Dustin just returned from a one week fishing trip. They rode mules (think big like horse, not small like donkey) the whole time...on the last day Dustin's mule got poked in the eye and bucked him off. Dustin is lucky he didn't break anything...but he did walk away with a nasty bruise--ouch!!!