Tuesday Things

We are home from playgroup and the kids have had lunch. It was such a struggle to make it to playgroup this morning. Zachary and I were arguing and arguing and having a huge power struggle. Finally he did what I asked but that was after 15 minutes of arguing. I made the kids come home and clean their room and eat lunch before they could play and of course they were not happy with this.

Audrey is finally feelling better. She is slowly starting to eat again and hasn't thrown up since yesterday. I have so much laundry to do, lots of bedding from Audrey being sick. I don't know if I will ever catch up and it's kind of depressing.

Randy's mom is coming Thursday for some tennis thing and she is staying here for I don't know how long. I've got to clean up the spare room for her. She got married and called to tell Randy on Sunday. I guess her and Harold were in Arizona and they decided to call the Justice of the Peace and get married right away. Last time I talked to her about getting married she seemed to have doubts so frankly I'm surprised she went through with it. I think maybe they are happy when they aren't around her family so she decided to go through with it. Randy doesn't care as long as his mom is happy.

This weekend we are going to Logan for Sammi's birthday party. I need to take the kids shopping for her birhday gifts. They are excited to go roller skating.

Another Sick Kid

Audrey woke up Saturday morning about 3:00am throwing up (why is it always in the middle of the night). She threw up a few times in the morning and then had diahara throughout the day. I thought she was feeling better last night, she even ate a little food and kept her bottle down. This morning I could tell she didn't feel great because she was so quiet and perfectly content to just sit on my lap. We went to church so Zachary could give the prayer in primary, luckily we came home for SM. After we were home for about half an hour Audrey threw up everything she drank today. She has thrown up quite a few times throughout this afternoon. She is so thirsty but everytime I give her something it comes back up. I hate to see her sick and I don't know what to do for her.

Sick Kid

Last night I stayed up to late to finish my Harry Potter book. Just as I was dosing off to sleep I wake up to Sarah throwing up. Poor thing. She was sleeping on our floor at the foot of our bed so I had to throw all her blankets and pillow in the washer. Of course this woke up Audrey who was crying. About an hour and a half later the same thing happens and this is about 3:00am when Randy is up getting ready for work. The two girls and I finally feel back to sleep from about 3:30am to 6:30am. I am so tired and I have so much to do at work and home today but I probably need to make arrangements for work because I don't think Sarah will be feeling up to going to the daycare center she goes to once a week. Wish me luck in making it through the day and such a little amount of sleep.

Happy July 24th

Happy 24th of July!! We generally do something fun to celebrate the day like have friends or family over, BBQ and swim but we didn't do anything exciting today. Randy went into work and I stayed home with the kids. I spent most of my day reading the new Harry Potter book whenever I could. The kids swam with some of the neighbor kids and played with friends but that's about it. Bountiful celebrated on Friday with the parade and fireworks and last night Randy took the kids to a neighbors house to light our fireworks with them. I should have cleaned my house but I didn't, I have alot of catching up to do.

Harry Potter

I finally finshed my Harry Potter book. I stayed up to late tonight to finish reading it and I'm so happy to be done. I have the books on CD on hold at the library and I am anxious to listen to the book soon because I know I missed some stuff. I loved the book. There were some slow parts but I was happy with the story. I snuck online Saturday and read what was going to happen so I already knew what to expect and I was sad about certain deaths and I cried in some scenes. I just love this series and I'm sad it's over.

Clapping

This past week Audrey started clapping. It's so cute and the kids love to do things to make her clap. She's crawling everywhere and starting to pull herself up on things. She has even used Binks (the dog) as something to pull herself up with.

Finally Friday

Yay, it's Friday! Tomorrow my Harry Potter book will come and I am so excited to read it.

This week and been busy and a little crazy. After hosting our Family Reunion at our house it was a mess and I'm finally getting it back in order. Tuesday night we hosted Zachary's Baseball Team's Final party. We invited the team to come swim and at the time I didn't realize it was for families as well so we stressed about 9 to 10 familes in the backyard and pool. Of course it turned out fine and most of the adults didn't swim so it was just kids and there was plenty of room.

This past week Zachary discovered Ebay thanks to a little friend of his. He has ordered two Pokeman games for his gameboy and is watching another sell that he really wants. Yesterday we got a slip from the post office that we have a package to pick up and Zachary is so excited because he thinks it's one of his games. I think it's probably Randy's sunglasses that he ordered so I let Zachary know so he wouldn't get his hopes up just in case. Of course he is so sad. This past weekend his cousin accidently took home is only Pokeman game for the gameboy and he has been so sad and asks me everyday if they have retuned it.

Sarah has had nightime accidents almost every night this week. I am at a loss of how to handle this. It's so frustrating for me and adds so much laundry everyday. I'm not sure what is going on with her but I have to figure something out.

Tonight is the Bountiful Handcart Parade and the fireworks for the 24th. I'm debating about going but it starts at 6:00pm and it will be so stinkin hot. I just don't know if I can sit out there in the awful heat but the kids would have a good time. I'll have to see if Randy gets home from work early enough.

Family Weekend

This past weekend we had our family reunion at my house. My family arrived Thursday night and the kids spent hours swimming that night. Friday we went to Park City to ride the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster. It turned out that the coaster was down so they all rode the slide several times along with the zip line and the launcher. After a long hot day on the mountain we went home to eat and swim.

Saturday we went to Lagoon. It was very hot and very crowded but we still had a good time. Everyone rode any ride they could with water involved to get wet and help cool off. It was good to come home and jump in the pool. I wish we all lived a litter closer so we could get together more often and do fun things.

Kneaders Coconut Crab Salad

1 lb seafood crab

1 cup diced celery

½ cup diced green onion

1 cup red grapes cut in half

½ cup toasted coconut

3/4 cups mayonnaise

1 teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Pinch of black pepper
3 Tablespoons unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Cut seafood crab in small pieces and squeeze out all water. Add celery, onion, grapes and coconut. Mix next 5 ingredients and pour over crab mixture. Incorporate. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours so that flavors can blend. Just before serving add dry roasted peanuts and mix again. Serve on mixed greens, in cantaloupe boats or on avocado half’s that have been sprinkled with celery salt. Or serve on a croissant or bread with a bed of lettuce.

I love Kneaders, although I don't eat there very often since it is in the Cottonwood area. I haven't tried this sandwich but it sounded good and I'm going try to make it.

Waving

This past week Audrey has been learning to wave. She waves backwards and it is so cute. I just love watching her learn new things. Simple things bring her such joy and this is a great reminder to me.

Famous Coconut Cake (Hannah Swensen)

1 1/2 cups softened butter

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream (you can subsitute plain yougurt for a lighter cake)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon coconut extract (if you can't find it, you can use vanilla)

1 3/4 cups flour (not sifted)

2 cups flaked or shredded coconut (pack it down when you measure it-more it better in this case)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Generously grease (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) a Bundt pan. Dust is liberally with flour and knock off the excess.

Cream softened butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. (You can mix this cake by hand, but it takes some muscle.) Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until they're nice and fluffy. Then add the sour cream, baking powder and coconut extract.

Put the flour and the coconut in a food processor. Process with the steel blade until the mixture looks like fine cornmeal (You don't have to do this if you don't have a food processor, but most folks like it better.)

Add half of the flour/coconut mixture to the bowl. Mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the flour/coconut combination and mix until the batter is smooth.

Let the batter rest for 5 minutes or so. Then pour it into the Bundt pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake at 325 degrees F. for 60 to 70 minutes. The cake should be golden brown on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake ring should come out clean.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 25 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edges of the cake to losen it and don't forget to loosen it around the funnel in the middle of the pan. Turn the cake out on the rack and let it cool completely.

When the cake is completely cool, glaze it with Coconut Glaze.

Coconut Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon coconut extract (or 1/2 teaspoon coconut, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla)

1/4 cup coconut flakes

If the powdered sugar has big lumps, sift it. Otherwise, use it as it is. Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add teh heavy cream and the coconut extract. Stir until smooth. (If you can't get it smooth, you may need to heat if for thirty seconds or so in the microwave on HIGH, and then sitr again.)

If the glaze is too thick to pour over the cake, thin it with a little more cream. If the glazeis too thin, thicken it with it with a bit more powdered sugar.

Drizzle the glaze over the crest of the cake and let it drip down the sides. Sprinkle the cake with the coconut before he glaze dries.

Busy 4th

We had a busy and fun 4th of July. We are on the activities committee so I had to be at the church by 6:00am to help decorate for our 7:00am breakfast and program. After the breakfast I helped clean up and Randy and the kids went to save us seats along the parade route. We like to be seated ready to go when the jets fly overhead, this is my favorite part. The kids loved the parade and got lots of candy. We sat with the Browns so it was fun for the kids to have friends with them.

After the parade we went home to open up the pool and I finished preparing lunch. Everyone started coming about 12:30pm. We had lots of food and swimming. I can't believe how long the kids stayed in the pool. I think we finally closed the pool at 6:00pm. Luckily Sarah got a nap between the parade and lunch or it would have been a nightmare.

Randy, Brian and the kids went to see and movie while Patty, Lilly, Sarah, Audrey and I stayed home and visited. They got home so late and I could hardly keep my eyes open. I think they started fireworks at 9:45pm. I finally went to bed before they were done and Patty had fallen asleep on the couch with Lilly.

Moving Day

Yesterday was moving day for Tiffany and Allen. They found a house to rent their first week at church and it was an answer to their prayers. This nice family is moving south and were hoping to find a good family to rent their home. Tiff and Allen were supposed to move in today but told the family they would have more help on Saturday. So we show up at the storage unit to load up the trailers and get to the house and the family is still cleaning and moving out. They had stuff on the lawn, in the garage and in most of the rooms. Everyone started unloading boxes and furniture in the empty rooms and stacking it. Tiff and Allen were hoping to stay in their new house last night but they had to stay in the trailer. I haven't talked to them today to see if they are in their new house today.

It's a good size house, comparable to our house. They have had smaller homes in the past so this is huge for them and they are excited. Their yard is huge and they have a large to garden to care for.

Tiffany has been announcing her good news to everyone. The girls are excited about the baby and I am excited for them!