Hershey Park

Oh I am Hershey Park happy! I LOVE Hershey Park. I took the kids there yesterday and then Aaron met me there for a date. the kids and I went to the water park. It is going to be fun (but crowded). The kids really like the park too.

Last night Aaron and I went on TONS of rides because there were no lines (all the school groups left at 6 - right when we were getting there!). We tried body surfing for the first time. It was lots of fun. You get on a board and jump down a ramp where water is coming up the ramp. It does feel like you are body boarding.

For Celia - in 2 hours we went on the comet, super-dooper-looper, giant swings, great bear (2), storm runner (2), the wave rider (2), tidal force (2) -the ride that had the huge boat and made a big splash at the bottom, and the tube slides (2). We had SUCH a great time. I already feel like we have gotten our monies worth.

Funny kids

Yesterday Becca had a friend over. Her friend is really funny and really a cute little girl. She just turned 4. Here are a few conversations that I heard...

Avery- Let's pack for our trip (they were going to Sarah's bed)
Becca-okay lets take this and this
Avery-Let's take this (Minnie Mouse ears). We will need a disguise so David won't know where we are.

I started cracking up that she knew what a disguise was and that the Minnie mouse ears were going to fool David.

Later in the day they were playing Barbies and this is what I hear...

Avery - Who wants to be a hypocrite Barbie
Becca - singing and really not paying attention
Avery - I do I do...I have on really short shirt that shows my belly. I say that you should be modest but then I don't dress modest.
Becca - still unaware of Avery
Avery - Becca do you know what a hypocrite is?
Becca - no
Avery - A hypocrite is someone who tells you to do one thing then doesn't do it herself.

I was DYING laughing. First of all I can't remember when I learned what a hypocrite was second of all she is 4 and using it in great context.

Too funny.

Camping

Growing up I LOVED camping. I would love going in the woods and sleeping outside. Well we just went camping this weekend and I still love it. I love being in the woods with NO distractions. We went to a great lake that is only 30 minutes from our house. It was really hot, but our camp was in the shade so it was great. We swam in the lake Friday night and then Saturday morning. The girls loved swimming.

Bean muffins & bean fudge

Here are the recipes:

Pinto Bean Muffins
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 - 2 cups cooked, drained and mashed pinto beans (the original recipe called for 1 but I put 2 and really liked it)
2 cups flour (can be whole wheat, half and half or just white)
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder

Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs, mix with milk, oil and mashed beans. Combine all ingredients mixing just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Fill muffin tins 1/2 full and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. serve hot.

Bean fudge

1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 cup plus 2 tbl butter
2 cups mashed pinto beans
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 lbs. powdered sugar

Melt together baking cocoa and butter. Mix in thoroughly drained and mashed pinto beans, vanilla and powder sugar.

Place in a large, buttered shallow baking pan with sides and chill until firm.

I really liked both of these recipes. believe it or not everyone who tried them really liked them!

aversion to grass

David loves playing outside but has an aversion to grass! He will go outside to play and will play fine on the cement but when he gets to the grass he puts one foot on and then starts to whine. I ask if he wants his shoes, which I go and get. Then right after I put his shoes on he will go in the grass! I think it is the funniest thing. I really don't like having shoes on and prefer going bare foot.

When we were first married I thought it was really funny that Aaron would put his shoes on right after getting out of the shower and have them on all throughout the day. Even right now...we have been home from church for 4 hours and he still has on his shoes! Man that is the first thing that comes off when I step in the door :) It is funny how different we can be.

David definitely takes after Aaron in this regard!

Beans, beans the magical fruit...

Last Saturday we had 6 missionaries over for dinner. We are trying to use our food storage before we move so I made up a large pot of beans. Last time they were over we had a large pot of chili so this time I went with Navajo Tacos. They loved it. Anyway we were left with half the pot of beans...hum what do you do with that many beans. I looked up some recipes and found two that sounded really good.

I made some pinto bean fudge. It was really good (although you use a whole bag of sugar and a cube of butter.) Then there was the bean muffins. These were really good and moist. If you are ever in need of the recipe I will gladly share.

I think I will freeze the rest because I don't think that my family could handle any more beans! PU.

Funerals

Today I was asked to sing a musical number at a member's funeral. I never knew this woman so I felt like I a was an intruder. There were quite a few people there and the only ones that I knew were the Bishop (he was officiating) and the other one singing with me. We sang the duet "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." It was really pretty and I hope that someone felt the spirit though our music. Apparently she was really adamant about the church not coming over or any contact. The husband and kids still are friendly towards the church and that was really the first place they turned to after she died. I think it is interesting that death make us realized what is really important in life.

This is the anniversary of the death of my Grandma Grider. I know that it is really hard for my dad and I hope that he is okay. When I looked in the coffin today I didn't feel anything. When I looked in the coffin and saw my grandma I felt real sorrow and grief. I think I wept the whole ceremony! My grandma was such an amazing and giving person. She really had a spunky personality. I know she is probably running around in Heaven finding people to help and serve. She was a dandy!

Everything I needed to know I learned from my mom

Happy Mother's Day! I just wanted to make a little tribute to my mom since this is mother's day. My mom taught me A LOT of things! She taught me how to...

Say please and thank you and sorry if I made someone sad
Not to judge a book by it's cover
To pray and have faith that Heavenly Father is listening
To be grateful for what I have and not long for what I don't have
To be nice to my brothers and sisters
To work hard...clean the bathrooms, vacuum, make my bed with tight corners, pull weeds, wash windows, sort and fold laundry, and all other essentials for running a house
To cook
To sew (I am still working on that)
To be patient
To try to live in the other person's shoes before you judge
To keep my body clean and pure
To help those less fortunate
To not honk if you want someone to come outside
To study hard and value education

These are just the tip of the iceberg, literally everything I know I learned from my mom. I am still working on things that she has long since accomplished. I can't remember my mom every raising her voice, with 7 kids that is a lot of patience. I can't remember my mom complaining about how much she had to cook, how many dishes and how much laundry 7 kids could make. I can't remember her ever saying anything bad or negative about someone else. She is an amazing woman and I love her so very much!

Celia and Matt's trip

Well we had a GREAT time with Celia and Matt...although where did the time go? It seemed like they weren't here that long and then they were gone again. It was great to have family here. I really miss my family! Top 10 fun things we did while they were here...

10. Played Settlers (and I even won a round)
9. Went to Chocolate World...where they brainwash you into believing that Hershey is the only chocolate
8. Watched "Night at the Museum" really funny family friendly movie
7. Went through maternity clothes...ah Celia is having a baby!
6. Went to the potato chip factory...where they brainwash you into believing potato chips are not bad for you.
5. Played "duck, duck, goose" for FHE and watched how much Matt and Celia liked it :)
4. Went to Rita's for Becca's birthday and got custard and Italian ice...YUM
3. Played with Sparklers for Becca's birthday
2. Went to Hershey park
1. Went on the Storm Runner (REALLY fast roller coaster) 3 times in a row and watching Matt go 5 times in a row!

We really had a great time with them here and it was sad when we finally had to say goodbye. Any family or friends are ALWAYS welcome!

Happy Birthday to Becca

We had a great birthday party for Becca on Saturday. Her birthday is not until Wednesday, but we wanted daddy to be there. She wanted a "My Little Pony" party. I thought the best thing about the party was the cake. This cake was really easy to make but it looks really good. You take a picture that you want to be on the cake and cover it with plastic wrap. Then you copy the picture in black frosting and fill in the rest with colored frosting (not filling it completly in). You need to put the frosted cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes then when the cake comes out you flip the picture onto the cake (it helps if you have two people take two corners each) once you have flipped the picture and it is on the cake you kind of smudge the frosting to fill in all the gaps. Then you stick it in the freezer for another 10 mintues then you gently peel off the plastic wrap and there is your cake!

For a craft we make fruit loop necklaces and colored pony pages.

For the games we played I had a little pony (doggy) and he won't bite you, then london bridges, we pretended like we were carousel ponies and when the music stopped we had to stop, then we pranced around like ponies and had a pony snack (carrots).

We just played in the back yard because it was such a beautiful day and then had cake and ice cream. I think Becca really had a great time.

When she opened her presents she looked around and said are these all for ME. she was really cute about it.

After her party we went to Hershey park. Here she is driving the train. We went Friday as well. We are going to have a GREAT summer there! We saw the new waterpark and even though it looks small I think we will have a great time there.

SSSSLLLLUUUURRRRP

When I was younger if someone spilled anything on the table we wouldn't race for a towel, Dad would just step in and slurp it up. It really makes me laugh to think about it, but I really didn't think anything of it.

Well David must have received the slurp gene because he LOVES to slurp. Anytime it rains I have to carry him or he will go down on his knees and slurp up the puddles. It is really gross. He usually comes up dripping and smiling. I think he knows what he is doing and knows that he is not supposed to do it, but he does it anyway. He has a little hideout between our driveway and our neighbors driveway where there is a cove of bushes. He will go over there to slurp when he thinks I am not paying attention. I have caught him too many times, but he still loves it. Maybe he will grow out of it, or maybe he will be a slurping dad:)

Here they are in their little fort. David is just waiting for a puddle to slurp.