16!

Spencer turned 16 last week.  Sorry, no pictures for this post.  He is in a bit of a "teenage angst" phase right now. :) 
He is looking forward to driving, and dating. 
Some of his favorite things are:
Basketball, CBC, the color blue, the Utah Jazz, hanging out with his "posse", playing video games, ice cream, Pepsi, CTR rings and girls.
He also has a great sense of humor and is really funny. (When he is not in the teenage angst phase). He's a great kid & we are so thankful he's part of our family.  (Except for when he is the the teenage angst phase...just kidding!).
 
Happy 16th  Birthday, Kiddo!

Summer Wrap Up 2010

I'm a little behind with blogging...can you get behind with blogging??? 

Here are a few pics from our summer vacay.  Just Rick and me and the 2 younger boys. 
Originally, we were headed down to Boulder Mountain, near Capitol Reef NP, but a last minute change of plans landed us at Strawberry Reservoir instead. 

We camped, we fished, we relaxed and just had a great time!

Shane, with one of his magnificent catches of the week. We actually ate fish for dinner a couple of nights! 

Spencer and Shane learning the art of Dutch Oven Cooking. 

Our campsite. Thank goodness for self contained trailers! 
The boys would get up early every morning and head out for some fishing.  I would stay behind and sleep in!!!  I also spent a lot of time reading. Yay!  Finally read the last book in the Percy Jackson series (by Rick Riordan) and the last book in the Twilight Series.  Liked them both. 

Beautiful scenery at one of the fishing spots.  The weather was a bit on the cool side, so we had a lot of success with the fishing.  I even caught 3 myself.

Most of the week was stormy.  The first night, the whole sky looked like it was on fire.  It was beautiful!
We also spent one night sitting out by the water until it was dark, then we spent a while star gazing and picking out different constellations.  It was just as the meteor shower was starting, so we saw a few shooting stars as well as the beautiful Milky Way.

Obviously, Fall is in full swing now, but in August there were just little hints of the beauty to come. 

 Because of the rain, we ended up packing it in a couple of days early.  We came home, locked the doors, unplugged the phones & pretended that we were still on vacation.
Emily joined us & we spent a few more days playing lots of games and just having fun!
A few favorite games from this summer were: Egyptian Ratscrew (Spencer learned this on his Scout trip the week before), Hand & Foot, Hit the Deck & Monopoly Deal (this was probably the favorite, and everyone likes it even better than regular Monopoly). 

Farewell, Summer of 2010. 

My Current Cooking Quest

I am currently on a quest to find my favorite dinner rolls recipe.

These are not them (those?).

These are, however, my favorite "in-a-pinch-forgot-to-make-rolls-and-dinner-is-in-an-hour" rolls.

Which is pretty much all the time (that I forget to start the rolls).

I'm sending you here to find the recipe:

KitchenAid 60 Minute Dinner Rolls

These rolls are pretty darn good.  My family likes them, and they are easy to throw together.

My favorite shape for rolls right now is the Rosette (pictured above).

You can find out how to make them here:

Rosette Dinner Rolls

And while you are at it, go ahead and check out this roll recipe, which is my current favorite:

Redhead Recipes Dinner Rolls

I have a few other recipes to try, and I will also be revisting the famed Lion House Rolls recipe.  When I made them, they were kinda "blah", so I do need to give them another go around!

Since I seem to be in a linky mood tonight

(Not to be confused with loopy)

Here is a link to some other fun ways to shape rolls. 

Lion House Bakery~Blog

Do you have a favorite roll recipe you want to share? 

The Hurrier I Go...

"The hurrier I go, the behinder I get" ~The White Rabbit

If this statement is true, and I submit that it is, then wouldn't it stand to reason that I can get ahead of the game by taking a nap? Just sayin'.

Remember that sour-faced little guy in the back to school post? Things aren't getting much better. It's been a rough transition back to school this year. Ugh! Who knew I would need a degree in Elementary Education just to help with 4th grade math homework? Oh the crying, the throwing of pencils, the crumpling of paper…(and that's just me!) Math is Not. My. Thing. Needless to say, tensions have been running high around here. Bleh! (Please let things calm down soon…please let things calm down soon…)

I have to admit, I'm not my best self right now, either.

I am currently in a "sick and tired" phase…I think it's been going on for a while!

If you are one of those people who has never had a psychotic break with reality one of those "days" (and "days" so does not cover it...) Well, good. You have my deepest respect and admiration.
But if you, like me, are more inclined to wonder on a daily basis:
why boys have to spray the entire bathroom every time they pee and
why can't the dishes/laundry/cleaning/ stay done for more than 5 minutes and
can't someone else figure out what's for dinner and yes you have to do homework and chores and can someone please just once load the dishwasher and take out the garbage without acting like I've asked you to sever a body part and

does no one else in this family know how to hang up a towel or put a roll of toilet paper on that little silver holder thingy and how are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet anyway?

Well then, you'll know what I mean…I need a vacation! Calgon…take me away!!!

Clearly, I am not one of those women who have it all together.

Clearly.

I will just keep chanting to myself; "Keep Calm and Carry On". (Emphasis on the Keep Calm part!)

In other news:

Shane picked me this sunflower the other day on the way home from school. It came with a big hug and a kiss. (Dear Neighbor, sorry about my son picking your flowers…yes, we've had a little chat about it). I look at it every day to remind me that calmness and order will be restored, and that despite the rockiness of the after school routine, he does still love me. Even if he says angry words to the contrary.

And…my vacuum is on life support.

 I don't think it will be with us much longer. Poor thing has been accidentally pulled down the stairs one too many times. I guess my family is really hard on stuff. Dear vacuum, sorry for your early demise. I loved you, you have been a great, albeit expensive, vacuum…you will be missed.

(Duct tape is an upgrade and does not come standard)

I think that pretty much sums things up for now.