Golf and Bread!

Jim has been working with Banner a little bit on her golf swing.
She seems to get better every day.
What a swing!
I've been encouraging baking at our house. I think the girls need to feel comfortable in the kitchen.
This is a loaf of white bread and one of cinnamon raisin. I love to toast the raisin bread and put butter on it. Banner oiled the loaves after they were baked. That was her contribution. Jim's was to eat it.

Summer Daze!

Fresh Limes.
Cookies and
Milk.
Kitty hugs,
Friend hugs,

and Roses,
Roses,
Roses,

The Mystery of the Missing Mouthpiece!

Jim has some clients that install Central Vac systems. Our house has always had the system but we never had a vacuum. These men really like Jim and so they wanted to do something nice for him. They gave us a vacuum and installed it for us yesterday. They took me through a little training and I vacuumed a little spot on the floor and then the man wanted to show me how to empty it. We went out into the garage and took the bottom off and he said "look what we've got"
I didn't figure there would be anything but I looked inside anyway and what did I see.
Some of you may remember this toy. I think we got it from Ben when Whitney and Miranda were little. It is called a " Crazy Combo" and was a favorite of my girls for years.
Well, back to the story, I looked inside and there was the mouthpiece to the "crazy combo". One of the little girls must of stuffed it into one of the central vac outlets in our house. It had been missing for years.
Now our "crazy combo" is almost complete again. We are only missing the kazoo, and I'm pretty sure it is upstairs in the toy box. I will save this for my grandkids so another generation can make music and much noise.
This is a picture of Whitney and the others sisters at Palahponzak Waterfalls. What a beautiful place and beautiful sister missionaries.

Dance Raja Dance!

To get your summer time fix, go to Tennyson's blog. It's all there!

Back & Forth with Whitney.

These scans are for Morgan and anyone else who would like to copy them.

We were able to talk back and forth through e mail with Whitney today. She says she is doing well and they are working with some good families. Her cook(abuela) is getting married this weekend but is not ready to be baptized. She thinks she is rid of the worm because she can't feel it anymore but doesn't know for sure. For some reason we didn 't get her e mail this week, she said she wrote a long one and doesn't know what happened to it. I told her to resend it next week. Nobody has any scales down there(I guess weight isn't something you worry about when you are starving) so she doesn't have any idea how much weight she has lost. She wants our opinion, I told her I thought she had lost probably 50 pounds since we last saw her in December but she thinks she's lost only thirty. I told her she'd definitely lost more. She said she and Elder Mitchell have a hard time keeping their clothes up. The Americans sure have a diet adjustment.

She says Liz, John T. will be getting a letter soon and Anne Adele and Noah, please write.

Tennyson Gives Banner a Chicken Wing.

Progressive Peonies!

It is finally blooming.

Story on Whit's Blog.

Check out Whitney's blog for a new story.

Happy Father's Day!

To the fathers in my life. Thank you to both of you.

Jim has always worked hard to provide for our family. He taught the girls to work hard.
Dad loved the babies. I always felt safe with him.
He was an amazing example of service.
He loved to be with his family no matter what we were doing. He especially enjoyed his grandkids. In his eyes they could do no wrong.

Home From Girl's Camp

Tennyson has showered and is already asleep.
Before Banner went to camp she informed me that she wanted macaroni and cheese for lunch because it reminds her of Whitney. Here are the "macaronis" boiling. Remember Mayor Joe Piccolo saying macaronis and cheese.
Marie Callender pies were on sale at "Food Ranch" so I bought some and then on the way home I remebered that our freezers are both full. We'll have to eat them quickly. Luckily I only bought 2. This picture is for Jonas because we know how he feels about Key Lime.
Banner has already turned on "Sponge Bob".
These are the cute crafts that they made at camp.

Recipe Tag.

This recipe is from the Lion House cookbook. It is one of our family favorites.

Chicken and Broccoli Bake

4 chicken breast halves
3 packages(10 ounces each) frozen broccoli cooken according to package directions, or 2 pounds fresh broccoli, well trimmed and cooked until tender and crisp.
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Simmer chicken breasts in water just to cover for about 30 minutes or until tender. Remove chicken from broth and cool enough to handle. Then remove skin and bones and slice or break in o large pieces. In a 9x9x2 inch pan, arrange broccoli with flowerettes pointed out toward edge of pan. Lay chicken over broccoli. Make a sauce by combining the soup, milk, mayonnaise and stir until smooth. Add cheese and lemon juice. Pour sauce over chicken pieces completely. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Makes 5 to 6 servings. I serve it with rice and it is delicious.

My girls love breadsticks so this is a meal that can be done for a lunch or with spaghetti or lasgna. Since it has no meat it isn't a stand alone meal for Jim.

Easy Bread Sticks

1 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups flour

topping
1/4 cup soft butter
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp parsley flakes
1/4 tsp garlic salt

Soften yeast in warm water. Mix in sugar, salt, and flour to make a sfot dough. Knead; let rest for about 10 minutes, covered. Grease a cookie sheet. Spread dough on sheet. Mix topping ingredients together and spread on top of dough. Cut dhough in half lengthwise and then crosswise in 1 inch strips. ( I use a pizza cutter for this) Let rise until almost double. Bake a 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

Whitney's New Post!

Check out Whitney's Blog.

Busy Day

I smelled a gnarly smell this morning so I
looked in the trash compactor, behind the
drawer I could see the smashed body of a mouse.
Jim's arm was too big to fit in the back so he used
he used my vacuum to suck out what was two dead
mice. I'm glad he was home sick to take care of it.

Miranda called and wanted us to bring her some

meat so I wnet down to pick up our beef at the

slaughter house. It filled up the whole back of the

Suburban.

After we got the meat in the freezer it started to rain and the power went out.
I had started cinnamon rolls for our ward party tonight. We can't go because Jim is really quite sick but I thought I should take the dessert I signed up for. Because the power was off these rolls raised an extra 40 minutes.
Here is the finished product. We both sampled one and fould them to be delicious.

Now I am making dinner(spaghetti) and Jim is relaxing in front of the T.V.

My So Called Yard!

My first iris. They are in the shade under the aspens so they are a little late blooming. Mom gave me some of hers years ago when she was clearing her iris bed. Purple iris always remind me of her.
My Vinca Minor (Periwinkle)
This ornamental Morning Glory gets bigger and bigger every year.
The Peony is about to bloom. It is already covered with ants.
A bloom on our Dogwood Bush(I think).

I'm not much of a gardener and I don't enjoy working in the yard but I set a goal to work in the yard at least 15 minutes every day. I hope I can keep up with the weeds and at least have a moderately attractive yard.