April random

April shower bring early bulb flowers. Love my tulips and daffodils.

One last picture of HashBrown's shoes before I threw them away.

Katie came to vacation with her girls in Moab and we had family dinner on Friday (4/6). I sure love my siblings. And I love the subtle differences in these two pictures that show personality!

Parker gave a FHE lesson on feasting on the words of Christ and we each made our own acrostic word play. 

I came out late after church and the kids had all walked on ahead, not wanting to wait for me. But they did leave their bags. I just thought that was cute.

I tried to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and they turned out really flat and spread out. This is what Sterling called "doilies" when he was growing up.  The inferior (compared to his mom's) cookies that he and his dad would make. The kids got a big kick out of that. Parker had a lot of fun taking the cookies to school and inviting his friends to eat "doilies."

The kids took this picture and then edited it. Cute!

The girls were invited to go to the Bees baseball game with their cousins. They had a great time!

Camille has really enjoyed her art class. This pencil drawing of Taylor Swift was put on display at the middle school. Good job Camille!

The kids had a lot of fun finding their unicorn name using this list on the cereal box. 

On the fifth Sunday at church, the youth teach primary so the adult can have a combined session. Parker was in charge of teaching the CTR6 class. As part of the lesson, Parker needed to prepare a board game. He drew the game in an old pizza box which caused quite a stir at church. :) I was really proud of him for being so prepared and putting a lot of thought and work into the lesson.

Rachel had pioneer-themed stake Activity Days activity. She enjoyed dressing up and playing pioneer games. 

Santa Visit

Santa found us at the Dewey family Christmas party this year. 

He was definitely a jolly old soul. 

Thanks Mom!

All the children took a turn sitting on his lap and they each received a present.

Even some of the adults got in on the Santa action. 

I can't remember why mom is pointing here. Hopefully she is pointing out children on the good list and not the naughty list.

And here is a video of Santa, with his jolly laugh and his very corny jokes. And also, Sydney's Christmas wish 2017.

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And who can resist Uncle Geoff with Milo. They are both just the sweetest creature on the earth. 

Also, lets all take a moment to recognize the beauty of this red cake. Especially the frosting. It is no small feat. In fact, it is a source of great concentration and stress. But it turned out and I am very proud of it.

Next year I need to get some holly berries and ivy to decorate.

This cake is always better served as breakfast. And considering how many people were at the family dinner, I may have to start making two!!!

Getting our (Strawberry) Jam on!

The last time I made strawberry jam, it lasted for two years. We finally ran out about a week ago and its been torture. By some twist of fate, we ran out during strawberry season.

Also, it was the last week of school, which means 'no school' for the high-schooler (because she had no remediation needs). Which meant she got roped into helping!  

So three generations went to work making jam~ my mom, me and my daughter. I love times like this. I couldn't have scripted the day any more perfectly.  

And boy was she a task master. It was hard for mom and I to keep up with her. 
I think we may also have started a new tradition. I needed to run to the store and get more pectin to finished up the strawberries and jars we had left. While there, I got sushi. Mmmmm. 
New Tradition: Jam and Sushi
or: Strawberries and Sushi
or: Pectin and Sushi
(does it even need a name or title? probs not)

One of the best things about my mom is how special she makes people feel. She is genuinely, sincerely interested in every little thing you have to say. My kids know and feel that. (So do Ster and I) and it is one of the greatest gifts she could ever give us. 

I know there are lots of ways that we women compare ourselves to each other. And it never ends. Even as a mom of marrieds and as a grandma, I'm sure there are comparisons. Some grandma's take trips with their grandkids and families. Or big shopping trips or tons of babysitting or I don't know what else. 

But seriously ~ I'll say it again ~ I can't think of a greater gift than knowing that someone loves you and wants to hear everything you have to say. And Cares about Everything you say. And if that's the only thing my mom gives my kids (its Not the only thing, but even if it were) it would be more than enough.

After mom took some home for herself and for Sarah, we still had a lot of jars on the counter. 

Hopefully that will last us a year!!!

Strawberry Jam

OK. That's a super blurry picture, but hey! Look what I did! Last year we ran out of strawberry jam and it was horrible. We actually had to buy jam from the grocery store. Bleh. So this year, during spring break, I rallied the troops and we cranked out the strawberry jam!

Rachel and her siblings did a great job trying to keep Sarah's boys entertained. This is a picture while it was working. Cooper really preferred to be in the kitchen cooking but Milo was entertained off and on by his great babysitter, Rach.

Here we are, hard at work!

And Cooper hard at work. This is the BEFORE picture.

And the AFTER picture. Extra hands on deck to make sure the toy tower, I mean, highly valued jam doesn't fall.

I love working with my girls in the kitchen. Millie, in particular, enjoys it too. She helps me make dinner most nights! 

Busy boy.

And look at that busy boy's cute mom. I'm so glad she could come!