Good 'Ol Days

Last night, we went to an LDS activity sponsored by 4 stakes (none of them were ours, but Mike's employees invited him). Anyways, each stake put on one 20 minute musical (Wizard of Oz, The Music Man, etc.). We sat outside on the grass, had a picnic, and the stakes provided snow cones and popcorn. Despite my suffering allergies today, it was SO MUCH FUN! It was great to be outside in really nice weather, with hundreds of other proud families watching their kids and friends put on the performances. It was fun seeing Mike's employees dressed up and being silly. It was fun to see all of the kids running around. It was just a lot of fun.

And it makes me wonder, what happened to all of the stuff that stakes and wards used to do? I mean, I grew up hearing about the great roadshows that my mom was in. My dad played church softball every week religiously (get it? Church ball religiously? :) ). It was really fun. I have been in one Saturday all-day thrown together roadshow, which was fun, but not the same. I have never been in a ward where they had Church softball. Do stakes and wards still do this kind of stuff, and maybe I'm just in boring areas? Are we all so PC nowadays in the Church, that we can't stand a little competition? I'm missin' the good ol' days now.

Oh, Yum!

So, my secret goal in life is to make THE world's best chocolate chip cookies. I have this 50s-dream of living in a house, in a really great neighborhood, with lots of nice kids, and baking incredible cookies, and having all of the neighbor kids over to eat them. I would be known as the "cool" mom, and my kids would be very well liked. It's not that I have doubts about Adam and Grace being able to make friends on their own or anything, but having your mom be Mrs. Fields, never hurts, right?

So, anyways, Adam and I bake a batch every week (with my own recipe that I change a bit each time). Then I have everyone I know taste-test them. It's fun. Adam loves baking. And Mike's happy because he's guaranteed cookies at least once a week.

Well, last week I was at Wal-Mart, and I saw a bag of Andes Peppermint Chips Baking Bits on clearance for 50 cents! So, I bought them, and mixed them in a batch of my soon-to-be-famous cookie recipe, with cocoa added. They were chocolatey and minty and were beyond incredible. So, now I'm all bummed, because now I have hit on an extremely delish cookie, that would guarantee my children friends-for-life, but I'm thinking that since these bits were clearanced, maybe they aren't going to make them anymore. :( I guess it's back to the kitchen for us.

5 Things I Never Thought I'd Say Before 9:00am

1) Please stop licking your sister!
2) No, your paper airplane does not have mold on it.
3) Why is there peanut butter on the ceiling?
4) You can NOT start a crust collection! (Adam wanted to start collecting the crusts I cut off of his sandwhiches and pizza).
5) Why are you standing on the kitchen counter naked? (He thought it would be easier to "fly" if he had no clothes on to weigh him down).

It's gonna be a long day. :)

Lovin' the DI

So, for some reason, Mike working at DI (Deseret Industries) has changed the way that I look at thrift stores. I've never really "looked down" on them or anything, it's just that I didn't really see them as a place to shop. This has totally changed. I got all of Adam and Grace's summer clothes there (can't beat Old Navy and GAP shirts for 50 cents), some really crazy-weird-cool recipe books, and when I was there a few weeks ago, I found a $50 pair of jeans for me for $3! I love that they are already worn-in (I hate the stiff feel of brand-new jeans). They are my new faves. I feel like I've been kind of a snob for never going to thrift stores before. I mean, the kids are going to ruin the clothes either way, so why spend a ton of money on them?

Beginnings...

So, I've been thinking about doing a blog for a while, to keep in touch with everyone. It's hard to talk on the phone, because Adam and Grace think that a moment that I'm not paying attention to them, is a moment wasted. I also want to keep up with our family history, and journal about what we do, and typing is SO much easier for me than sitting down and writing in a journal. How sad is that? So, I'm taking the plunge and entering the blogging world. Enjoy!