Helicopter Ride

Matt got "volun-told" to be part of a join anti-terrorism and narcotics task force. He got to go up in a helicopter to help determine the drug traffic patterns in our region of the county. The only bad thing is - now he wants to learn to fly helicopters!

Summertime!!!

So summer is officially here and I am trying to prevent boredom - which always leads to whining and fighting. My kids know better than to tell me they are bored, cause then they get a spray bottle and a rag and get to clean baseboards. Don't remember who gave me this idea, but I LOVE it! Anyway, I'm trying to plan and think of fun activities and I found this book my mom gave me:

I'm sure there's a million books that are similar. But I was just looking thru it and it has so many great, simple ideas. Here's some of my favorites and some ideas of my own:

Indoor Treasure Hunt (this was in the rainy day section. but summer in arizona is pretty much the same thing - your stuck inside!)

Animal Charades - fill a bag of stuffed animals. Someone picks one and acts it out.

Tell Me a Story - fill a bag with random items and have your kids tell/write a story including all the items.

Indoor Camping

Night at the Movies

Hotter/Colder - you know, the old game of hiding something. One person looks and you tell them hotter or colder. Another version I did as primary chorister - sing louder as they get closer and quieter as they are further.

Brown paper bag puppets

Weight - use a bathroom scale and let kids weigh different objects and write down how much they weigh.

Lacing Cards - or make your own with cardboard - make holes and let them lace with yarn.

Memory - make your own, can match uppercase to lower case letters or a numeral with how many dots, etc

Who loves you? - make a list /draw a pic of everyone who loves your child

Paperclip Jewelry

Indoor tent - make a fort

I Spy

Food Count - write #'s 1 -12 on the sections of an old egg carton. Have child put correct number in each using raisins, cheerios, choc chips, etc

Cut out pics from old magazine and make a collage

Water Painting - give children a bucket of water and a paintbrush and let them "paint" the sidewalk

Hopscotch

Paper Doll Chain

Bird Feeder

Musical Instruments - use stuff around the house to see what instruments you can come up with.

Necklace - noodles, cheerios, etc.

Pasta picture

Pinwheels - make your own pinwheels

Toothpick snack - cut foods into small pieces and eat with toothpicks.

Make an obstacle course

Taste Testing - blindfold and various foods

Cooking - make popcorn balls, jello, rice krispie pops, etc

Apple Shapes - peel apple and cut into thin slices. let kids use small cookie cutter to cut out shapes.

And finally - something I haven't made since I was a kid:

Peanut Butter Playdough

18 oz. peanut butter, 6 Tbsp honey, dry milk or milk plus flour

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix, adding enough dry milk or milk plus flour to reach the consistency of bread dough. Add cocoa, if desired. Shape, decorate with edible treats, and eat!

Thanks mom, for the book! Lots of great ideas. Here's hoping we can keep our kiddos busy this summer!!!

Another recipe

(Another granola recipe - thanks for sharing April)
Peanut Butter Granola

Mix &; heat in 4-cup glass jug for 4 minutes on HIGH:
1-1/2 c white sugar
1-1/3 c margarine
1/2 t vanilla extract
2/3 c peanut butter
1/2 t salt
1 c water

Mix in large bowl:
12 c rolled oats
1 t cinnamon

Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix quickly and well.Put onto two small greased cookie sheets.Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.Exchange cookie sheets in oven, cook 10 minutes.Turn oven off and let granola dry for several hours.Store in closed jar on kitchen counter and watch it disappear.

Recipes

I have told a couple people I would share these recipes - so just thought I would post on here and share with all! (and only type them once!)

Zucchini Oat Bread
(from BH&G)

1 1/2 C. Sugar
2 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
2 1/2 C. Flour
1 C. Rolled Oats
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3 Eggs
1 C. Applesauce
1/4 C. Butter, melted
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 C. shredded, unpeeled, Zucchini
1 C. Nuts, chopped
3/4 C. Raisins

Combine 1Tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon - set aside

Mix dry ingredients - set aside.

Beat eggs 2 min until foamy. Add sugar applesauce, butter, and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients just until combined.

Stir in zucchini, nuts, and raisins. Pour into greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake 1 hour 20 min. Cool in pan 10 min. Cool completely on rack. Wrap and store several hours before slicing.
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Tortellini Soup
(from Jennie)

1 lb. mild Italian sausage
1 onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 C. water
2 cans Beef broth (28 oz total)
1/2 C. Apple juice
4 Carrots, sliced
1 can Crushed tomatoes (I use diced)
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Oregano
1 Zucchini - sliced (I use two - this is my fav part!)
1 yellow squash, sliced
1/2 green onion, chopped
8 oz. cheese tortellini - frozen or fresh

Large pot - brown sausage, drain. Add onion and garlic til tender. Add everything but tortellini. Simmer about 20 min. Add tortellini and simmer 10 more min. Garnish with parmesan.
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Wheat Pancake Mix
(Virden Cook Book)

12 C. wheat flour
4 C. white flour (I usually do closer to half and half)
3/4 C. Baking Powder
3 Tbsp. Salt
1 1/2 C. Sugar
2 C. Dry Milk

Combine and freeze (I don't ever freeze mine?)

To prepare mix: 1 C. Mix, 1 Egg, 3 Tbsp. Oil, and enough water to right consistency (bout 3/4 C I think)
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Crunchy Granola
(from Mandy's family cookbook)

10 C. rolled oats
1 C. shredded coconut
1 C. raw sunflower seeds
1/2 C. sesame seeds
1/4 C. wheat germ
1 T. cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 C. oil (I only use bout half this much)
1 1/3 C. honey
1 T. vanilla
2 C. raisins
2 C. chopped nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, or a combo)

In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, seeds, germ, cinnamon, and salt and mix well. In a medium saucepan, heat oil, honey, and vanilla til warm (I do mine in the micro). Pour over dry ingredients and stir well. Spread onto 2-3 cookie sheets. Bake at 300 for 45-50 min, stirring every 15 min. Remove from oven and stir in raisins and nuts. Cool well and store in airtight container. Makes apprx 20 cups. *(I add nuts before cooking, because I like mine toasted).

Hurray for us out here in the Copa!

I just found this flyer on the developers website. Yeah! We are going to have a movie theater, real restaurants, a play center, a real gym and looks like a lot more! Can't wait! This pic is one someone posted - but the one on their website is a little different, and probably more updated but I can't seem to get it to work. But either way - YEAH!!!!! For those of us who plan to be here awhile - this is exciting.

Our little soccer player!

Kaden's soccer season is over and he is so sad (even though the season didn't end so well . . . long story). Anyway, he loved being on the Rattlers with some of his buddies. This is his third season and he continues to love soccer - although he is already too hard on himself. He is such a perfectionist and gets mad when he kicks it out of bounds, misses a goal, etc. It was a fun season - but I'm glad it's over . . . it's too freakin hot to be sitting outside anymore! So Kaden is impatiently waiting for fall and another season of soccer!

Little Stinker!

Lexie is at a really fun age and her little personality is coming out more and more. Along with that comes her curiousity of EVERYTHING! Sometimes cute, most of the time - just pretty annoying! This girl is into everything and can be such a little stinker! And she's always so proud of herself and looks so cute - I usually can't even be mad at her!

I should have taken pictures of all the places she smeared the mud!

Stealing Kaden's sunglasses and Bailey's purse! They were thrilled.

We have to watch close, because the second she is done - she throws the rest of the food as far as she can!

Pandora

I just heard about this website and apparently am the last person alive to hear about it - but just in case I'm not, I wanted to share. It's awesome! You just type in the song or artist you are in the mood for and it creates a station of similar music. You can save your stations and come back to them later. Seriously - this is genius! Love it!

Sisters

Kinda random - but was looking through pictures and realizing how much I love putting my girls in matching outfits. I better enjoy it while it lasts - right?

I'm so grateful to have my girls close in age - and to be good friends. They are excited to see each other every single morning! Although some days it lasts 5 minutes before they are fighting over toys, pulling hair, or hitting each other (yes, my 1 year old pulls hair, hits, and bites - yikes! Just don't take away her toys!) But overall they really do enjoy each other.

(Lex was not feeling very cooperative!)

(I'll post this one even though I look like I'm halfway asleep!)

My sister, Monique, and I are 8 years apart - so I wouldn't say we were close or good friends growing up. In fact I remember being in middle school and trying so hard to be cool. And my incredibly girly, strong-willed, and really annoying little sister kept hanging a giant Beauty and the Beast poster in our bedroom! Oh - I was so embarrassed! :) But the older we get, the less the age gap seems. I am so proud of her - she is getting ready to leave on a mission. I think she is strong and courageous for going - especially when there are other options available that would be easier! I will miss her a lot, we have so much fun together - she's one of my best friends! Love ya MoMo!

Grandpa Payne

Easter weekend, we said goodbye to my Grandpa Payne. It was such a bittersweet weekend. Of course, we are sad to lose him - but happy for him that he is finally where he wants to be. My grandma has been gone for 7 or 8 years and grandpa has not been shy about letting everyone know he wanted to join her. He was diagnosed with cancer just a few short weeks ago and when the doctor wanted to discuss treatment, his reply was "I finally got my golden ticket! I'm not selling that!" He always had a sense of humor about it. So, while we will miss him, we know he is so happy to be with my grandma again.



The funeral was amazing - if funerals can be. It was very uplifting and having it easter weekend gave it even more meaning. My grandpa was and will continue to be a great example to many, many people. Here is a man - who is maybe insignificant by the worlds standards. He was a farmer from a tiny town in new mexico. But there were tons of people at the funeral who were touched by his life - especially all of his family: 5 kids (1 deceased) 24 grandkids, and 20 something great-grands! My mom, aunt marla, and aunt arlene gave the life story and I learnes so many things I didn't know about him! Some of his lessons and sayings I want to remember:

"People are more important than things"

He and grandma were very frugal, he said "Some women can spoon the money out the back door faster than the man can shovel it in the front" (or something like that) But they were also generous when deemed a good cause - "peel another leaf off the ole cabbage"

Two things I loved and want to implement with my kids - my mom said he was a strict and diciplined them, but always took the time after a confrontation to teach his child the lesson and end with a prayer. The other is he insisted his kids thank their mother for dinner and ask to be excused from the table - love that!

He and my grandma were always so sweet with each other. I never heard them say a harsh word to each other - great example for us grandchildren to follow with our spouses.

My uncle Dwight gave the sermon and did an amazing job - talked about how we handle trials and obstacles in our lives. Do we grumble through until its over, or do we use it to actively strengthen our testimony? Grandpa was such a good example of this.

Overall, the funeral was so good. What a great thing to know he was ready, even eager, to die. That he could go to the afterlife with no regrets? I hope I can get to that point - cause I'm definitely not there yet!

In addition to the whole funeral thing, I read an article the other day that's been on my mind. It was talking about making positive and lasting changes to your personality. I know everyone is born with a personality, but I also think you can become the kind of person you want to be. Anyway. . . the article gave a challenge to write your own obituary. Sounds kind of morbid, I know. But the point is, what do you want people to remember you for?

So that got me thinking . . . what would I want in mine? What kind of person do I want to be remembered as? Ambitious, a go-getter, changing the world, doing exciting things? No, I really don't care about those. Mine are really kinda boring - being loyal; being kind; quietly doing the things I'm supposed to; being a good mom, wife, daughter, sister, and friend; being stable and dependable; being a good example; living the gospel. Just like grandpa - who did his best to live the gospel and love those around him.

Well, the saddest part of the weekend was sunday afternoon. We all met one more time at grandma and grandpas house in Virden to have easter dinner and say goodbye. It was so hard see the house, the farm, and know it may be the last time I am there (I can't even type this without tearing up). I have so many, many memories there!

Virden Sign

Grandma and Grandpa Payne's House

Easter Sunday

The Wall of Pictures - they had a picture for every grandkid and great-grandkid. All 50+ of us!

We loved marking our height on this door! And comparing it with how tall mom and her siblings were!

4th of July 1990

(Mindy, Misty, Heather, Tara)

"The Nancy Drew Crew" with our Hannah's Angels shirts

(Liz, Misty, Heather, Mindy)

April 2009

December 1987

Grandma and Grandpa's fireplace (which I just learned grandpa built himself)

Our family - minus Nick on his mission

24 of the 27 grandkids were able to come! - minus the 3 on missions

Even though it was a funeral - we still had a great time seeing everyone again! It was a big family reunion!

The Art and Laura Payne Family - 1993

We always took pictures in the front yard in front of these bushes.

Easter 1986

Easter 1992 (big bangs era)

Easter 2009

This easter weekend was a whirlwind - viewing, funeral, dinner, church, easter dinner, visiting with family, etc. We actually didn't do anything easter-ish - so egg hunt, coloring eggs, not even baskets from the easter bunny. Luckily my kids are young enough they don't care. Kaden was upset we didn't do an egg hunt - but we did one a few days later. So he was happy. Anyway, I was feeling pretty guilty for awhile. But the more I thought about it I realized it's the best easter I've probably ever had. I got to really focus on the resurrection and all that easter means!

Best Blog Ever!

This has become my favorite blog of all times: http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com/

And there's tons of giveaways this week - so get your name in!

Finally . . .

. . . we have a backyard! I am so sick of having just dirt - it all gets tracked into the house, blown in with the slightest breeze, you get the idea. Plus I feel like a jerk when I tell my kids to go play outside and all they have is a bunch of dirt and some old, broken toys. So we finally got started on our backyard. A HUGE thanks to my brothers Lane and Logan for helping so much. Lane is basically the mastermind behind the whole thing and even drew up our plans in autocad (sp?) which was awesome! Logan and Shayla came up two different weekends to visit and help with the yard. Thanks again, Lane and Log! And all they wanted in exchange was a steady supply of Mt. Dew (which is ALOT with those two!) Kaden was excited that I let him have a "dewski" too.

Kaden helping uncle Logan with the trencher

The trenches were open a couple weeks before we got all the piping in. Sometime during those 2 weeks, my darling children thought it would be a great idea to walk all along the dirt piles - which effectively filled the trenches with dirt! Apparently they have amnesia and forgot the 14 million times I told them not to. So Matt got to spend a whole day digging the dirt back out! I should have got a picture of that - he was not happy, to say the least!

Bailey was willing to help, but only if she could wear her pink skirt!

Filling in the trenches (they were supposed to this time!)


From this . . .

. . . to this. . .

. . . and finally done! we have plans for a sidewalk, extended patio, retaining wall, etc, etc. But all that can wait. Slip-n-slide, here we come!

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of course the project wouldn't be complete without giving Lex her first dewski! thanks lane - just what my baby needs!

Are we sure that's milk in those bottles?

Spring Break

Things have been crazy and drama around here lately. Now that things have calmed down a bit - hopefully I can update more often.

Spring break this year was so fun - Matt had time off from ASU and took the whole week off of work! Kaden's spring break was the same week - which worked out great. Matt found a good deal at a resort up in scottsdale - so we took a mini vacation for a couple nights! We had fun swimming, canoeing (is that a word?), going to chucky cheese, the train park, bowling, and just relaxing. Well, maybe not so much relaxing (5 people in one hotel room is a little cramped). And Bailey was maybe the whiniest kid on earth - but we had fun in spite of her:)!

We decided kaden is part fish - he would swim for hours if he could.


Bailey on the other hand just whined and cried that she was cold.

Riding the train

As many of you know - Kaden is weird about his clothes. He has all these made up rules about what he can wear with what - no polo shirts with shorts, only certain things to soccer practice, etc. We had a 30 min fit that morning that I only packed shorts for him. Anyway, this particular day he insisted on wearing his hood all day! And it was pretty warm! Matt and I secretly made fun of him because he looked like the creepy kid on the playground - does that make us bad parents? :)

I made him take the hood off so I could see his face in the picture. He was thrilled as you can see.

Hard to see, but Matt took the kids on a canoe. The hotel backed up to a lake - the kids loved it.

Kaden was hard core - sliding on his knees when he threw the ball!

This was our first time taking the kids bowling - they LOVED it! We will definitely go again! (but maybe leave Lex home next time! she was a little butt!)

It was a fun little vacation - but always good to get home. The kids didn't act too particularly excited while we were there - but apparently loved it. They have talked about it non-stop for the past month. I guess we need to get out more:)!