Reduce, Reuse ,Recycle

On Sunday we decided to celebrate fall by making a new pumpkin muffin recipe that I found. Jaycee was so excited that I let her pretty much take over. On one of my trips through the kitchen, I see that she's just taking her last batch of muffins out of the oven. I notice that the pile of cooling muffins no longer have their paper liners on them. I said, "Jaycee, you don't need to unwrap the muffins, they'll stay fresher longer if they are in the paper liner ."
"Yes, but I don't want to have to wash the muffin tin when I get done and we didn't have very many paper liners left so I reused the few we had."
Okay, then that explains why the last batch aren't as round and fluffy! Britnee and I couldn't help it, we teased Jaycee for the rest of the day.
What an environmentally conscious girl we're raising. I think I'll hit the baking aisle on my next trip to the grocery store.

 

9/10/11 "12"

 Saturday was a big day at our house~ our Britnee Boo turned 12. I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said she wanted to go swimming. Luckily, it was a beautiful day. We spent most of the afternoon playing at the pool.

 That night we had gotten tickets to go see the last performance of the year at the Pickleville Playhouse. Matt ended up having to work so grandpa and grandma came with us.

We went early so we could enjoy one of our summer family traditions~ snow cones from Pickle Pete's.The cool thing about these is that they have a scoop of ice cream in the bottom. And, Brit brought a can of sweetened condensed milk to pour over the top. You'd think that would be a lot of sugar~ and you're right, but they were yummy!

Brit's birthday was a great day~ A perfect end to a wonderful summer.

1st Day of School 2011

 Today, even though I was far from ready, I sent my children off to their first day of a new school year. Cody went to 3rd grade at the elementary, Britnee rode the bus on to the middle school and Jaycee started her first day of high school!

Jaycee didn't ride the bus today because I took her over for an orientation. As I was touring through the high school, I had memories come to me of just leaving that place myself not so long ago.
Although summer went by too fast and I'm not sure how my children got this old, I'm excited for each of them and the new adventures they will get to have this year.

Cody's Golf

 Cody has decided that he really likes golf and wanted to take lessons at the Bear Lake Golf Course this summer. So we signed him up with a couple of great teachers, Mike and Mikayla Williamson.

He had 6 weeks of lessons and then a big party at the end. He had a lot of fun learning how to hold his club and swing better. Each week he was excited with what he was learning. One day I picked him up from practice and asked how it went. He told me, "Mom, I hate putters, I like the drivers way better." I said, "Well then, you'll just have to get really good at a hole in one." He thought for a minute and then said, " Okay, I'll work on that." Good idea!  

Cody had a great time with his golfing. He wants clubs now and can't wait to go golf with Grandpa Rusty.

Bloomington Lake

 I've never been to Bloomington Lake. It's sad I know, because we've lived here a long time. But today was the day. Candice called and invited us to go with them on their annual trip. We parked and hiked into the lake that is a beautiful walk of bout a half mile.

 The lake was awesome. I wasn't in a very daring mood that day and neither were Jaycee and Britnee but Cody gut his guts up and jumped off the rope swing into water that is just a  few degrees warmer than freezing. (Note the snow on the other side.) He jumped more than once too. I'll have to get my guts up and go next year.

The night before that, we went up to where Candice's family was camping and roasted hot dogs with them. We played Ninja and visited around the campfire.
I love doing things like this.The one sad part was that Matt was working and didn't get to come, but it was so great of Candice to let us hang out with them on their camping trip.

Great summer memories!!

Experiences To Remember

 My cousin Jeremy Joe Croft was killed in a car wreck about 8 years ago. It was very sad and pretty hard on the family. His brother Will decided a few years ago that he would like to perform his temple work for him. As I was working in the Family History Center at the time, I reserved Jeremy's name so that when the time came, Will could do the work.

 Will has worked very hard over the past several months to prepare himself for this task. And the day I got to Dondee's house to visit, Will called and said he had just gotten his recommend. He told me that he wanted to go through the temple on August 5th, that next Friday. So I made arrangements to stay a few extra days so I could go with him.

Our family gathered together and went through the 12 noon session for Will's endowments, and again through the 2 pm session for Jeremy. We also went to The Montana Rib and Chop for a family dinner afterward.
The whole day was a wonderful experience. I'm so glad that things worked out so that I could be there to share in it. Way to go Will!!!

Blessing Addison Michelle Bassett

 This weekend, Bart, Michelle, and their 2 girls, and Tia, Voi, and Wyatt came to visit. I didn't get to spend much time with them because we were traveling home form Wyoming, but Bart and Michelle decided to bless Addison in our ward on Sunday so I was able to meet my newest niece.

Bart gave Addison a beautiful blessing and then handed her to me as he sat back down. I held her all through sacrament and wouldn't even share. We had lunch together and spent a few hours visiting before everyone had to pack up and go home. It was so fun to see them though. Wish we lived closer.