Car dancing

The crazy month of June

I just realized that I overlooked a few important things that went on in the month of June. I swear if my head was not attached to my neck, I would forget that too. June was pretty much a whirlwind of chaos, story of my life. This is not going to be in any particular order.

At one point during the month of June we decided that the baby mullet needed to go, so I got brave and cut poor Malia's curls off, I just about cried. Luckily, they are still there and I hope that as it continues to grow out it will just get cuter without the mullet. And of course we had to bribe her with some kind of sugar, so we found an old candy cane from Christmas, not that she cares, because duh, it's SUGAR.

Since McKenzie is 8 this year, she was invited to go to Activity Day camp with the other 8-12 yr old girls. They got to do a lot of fun activities, like shoot BB guns. . .

Shoot bow and arrows. . .

and make cool crafts.

McKenzie also finished off her first baseball season with a trophy, that she was very excited about since they were able to get her a girl baseball trophy with a ponytail. She really came a long way, especially since she has never even picked up a bat or a glove till this year. Isn't she cute?

Randy even got a trophy, not sure exactly why, probably because once he changed his work schedule to mornings, he came to every game and practice and helped out the coach like an assistant coach, we are sooo proud of him (insert sarcastic tone).

Another fun thing that happened was the kids all got passes to either play mini golf or laser tag at a new mini amusement park when we started the summer reading program. We chose golf since laser tag with an almost 2 year old was not ideal. The kids had a blast, Malia even got in the action and stole my ball, and seriously would not give it back. Oh and you can see the curls did not completely go away, yah.

We did not keep score, for obvious reasons. They were literally all over the place, which was fine since we went when it first opened and no one was really there yet.

And apparently we have the next Happy Gilmore on our hands. This is how Micah golfed the entire time, it was hysterical. . .

it was a fun morning overall, if you couldn't tell by now.

And lastly but not leastly, we had an amazing moment that I couldn't believe we actually got to grab our camera for. It had rained and the sun just barely came out and made the most beautiful double rainbow. We don't even have that nice of a camera and this turned out (I thought) pretty amazing. I mean considering we don't have that great of a camera.

So here is to the chaos that will accompany July. Not sure how often I will be able to post this month, so I'm giving you a heads up to not expect much from me. Although I will try.

Chocolate Costco Muffins mmmmmmm

My sister found this website that has the recipe that is closest to the Choco Chip Costco Muffins, so of course I had to try them. Oh my gosh they are sooooo good and moist and just so yummy so check out this site or just copy it from below. They are well worth it, and I probably will be making them a lot just I am a sucker for anything chocolate.

Big Bad Costco Chocolate Muffins


1 Devils food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt (I have also used plain)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (maybe my oven is just too hot, but 400 was burning mine so just keep an eye on them, next time I will probably do them either rat 350 or 375). Lightly grease muffin pan (this makes about 20 muffins) or use muffin liners. Set aside. In a mixing bowl combine cake mix and pudding mix. In a separate bowl combine yogurt, water, oil, and eggs. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake 20 -22 minutes or until center springs back. Cool on wire rack. These muffins will store for a couple of days, if you can avoid eating them that long.

Summer Reading 2009

We signed up for our local libraries summer reading program. This year they chose the theme of "Go Green." And I think they want to go as far as they can with that motto, they really are having fun with it (IE: recycling, gardening, dressing in green). At the kick off party they had this guy with puppets talk to the kids and teach them a song. Then, the guy in the background with the hat on, is a magic/illusionist who did some fun stuff with the kids. He even made a palm tree out of biodegradable balloons, (you can kinda see it to the left right behind the puppeteer). It was impressive. Anyway, we got there early enough so the kids could sit up front, right in front of the guys (Micah has a red and gray shirt, Mac has purple and her hair is in her face, and you can see Morgie's head with the pink hat on) and be in on the action. At one point the illusionist was juggling small plungers and stuck them to his face. When he "couldn't" get them off he had Micah come up and "help" him pull it off. It was really cute, Micah was holding on so tight to the plunger that the guy picked him right up. Everyone had a good laugh. There was another guy there from our local paper that was taking pictures of the event. He even came up to me afterwards and got my kids' names so he could correctly identify them and told I could probably find them online, he wasn't sure which shot would go in the paper. Well it took me almost a week to find them and all that were posted were some other little girl looking excited and this one below. I was a little disappointed cuz I saw him taking pictures and I knew he got some good ones of my kids. Not that I need my kids to be in the paper, but he said you'll be able to find a lot of these shots online, I'm sorry but 2 pictures is not a lot of pictures. Oh well, at least there was something. It was fun regardless.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house

We were able to go to the new Temple (in the South Jordan area's) open house yesterday afternoon. It was such a nice experience than the last one we went to back in February. First off, we went on a weekday instead of a Saturday where hundreds of other people were going cuz that's the only day they could go too. Second, the beginning, where they show you a quick video, was not at a chapel where you had to be bussed up to the temple afterwards (and chance that one has a broken down bus so you have to wait forever). Third, we did not bring the stroller for Malia to whine and cry in, and trying to get out of. I shouldn't feel this way, but I did not enjoy myself last time. It was great to be with all of the family, but it was so chaotic and crazy that I had a hard time enjoying the moment.

This is what you get when you do not bring a stroller. . . Actually she was really good in the temple, this was afterwards. It is a really pretty temple, it's right off of a major roadway, so it's amazing to drive by. The kids are a nice little touch to this shot.

Afterwards, they had a little reception area where you can ask questions, make comments and get a cookie. It's a really pretty place with pictures of Christ all over. This was our favorite.

If you haven't gone yet and would like to go, you can get tickets at this link. It is definitely worth the time.

The great Binky ban!

So we did it, we finally got Malia to give up the bink. It took almost an entire week, but we did it and we are all still alive. I have learned from this that she is a very strong-willed child, and she really made us work for this. The other 3 were not this hard, it took them like one day and they were over it. Malia just really had a hard time self-soothing, but she did it. Not sure if it was the right time though, she is a very loud child at church (at least the 1st hour) is kinda hard not being able to plug her up when she is talking up a storm in the chapel. Hopefully that will die down soon too.

Randy's a Grad Student

For those of you who haven't heard . . . Randy got accepted into the EMPA program through BYU. We are soooo excited. This is a huge relief for all of us. He has been stressing about this since he found out that SUU cut the program he had applied for there. It seems over the last few years, we would decided on what path we wanted to go down, then something would happen and the plan was flushed down the toilet. I have learned that Heavenly Father has a plan for our family and we have to let him guide us down it. So we will be here for a few more years, and then who knows what. All I know is I am done trying to plan my future. Wish us (by us I seriously mean all of us) luck through these next few years.