Saddle Rock Family Hike

Wendy, Grandma, Grandpa, and I took the kids up and over Saddle Rock. We started at the RAC and went to Appleatchee. The kids were superb. Henry rode in style in the jogging stroller, and the rest of us walked. This is a view from one of the high points near the saddle.

William's First Day of School

A belgian waffle breakfast...William gets the "You are Special Today" plate.

Riding their scooters to the school. Burke has to have his backpack on, also. The school is about a 6 minute walk away. A big plus.

Will chose his Hot Wheels shirt to wear the first day.

William with his teacher, Mrs. Jarman.

William had a fantastic day. He said he got to color, paint and play with playdough. He also made an ABC book. I think he talked most about recess and the play structure there. He's very excited to go back tomorrow. For my part, I am glad Utah still mostly does half day kindergarten. I was very very glad to pick William up at noon and have him with me the rest of the day. At the same time, I am thrilled for the experience he is having and that he is so excited about it. Here we go!

Beaverton Bennion Swimming Lessons

More from the UK

Hi all! I'm sitting in Heathrow Airport (for just about the bazillionth hour on what is becoming what feels like a 72 hour day. Friday night, Anders and I were up until 6am taking people to the Cardiff airport and Cardiff train station. And then we were up again at 9 to take the last group. Then we spent the day packing up the houses and getting everything together and storing all the program stuff in this totally creepy attic. That night we went to a movie. And then on Sunday I got up really early to finish up the packing and cleaning. And then Sunday afternoon we traveled to London Heathrow and went downtown and then spent the night in the airport. And now, Monday morning, I'm waitng for my flight. So, my inner clock is totally off--my brain is fried. And I feel great!). Anyhow, I thought I'd share some more pics and stories. I am filled with satisfaction and happiness as I sit here--it was such a great trip.

Excuse the randomness--this time I'm mostly just choosing pics I like.

Cardiff has some great parks. In one of them (Roath Park), there is a lovely lake and row boats, so we went rowing as a program. Zoe and I were lucky enough to be rowed around by Tom--there wasn't space in the other student boats. It was hilarious to watch everybody else try to get the hang of it and we all had a blast.




Pasties are my favorite food in the UK, and here we are eating them as a group in downtown Cardiff. Pasties are a savory pastry, shaped like a crescent. My favorite (the traditional Cornish) has steak and potatoes and onions and carrots. It's delicious and cheap and filling.



Tom had to leave about 2 weeks before the program ended and right before we did our UK tour. Anders, his son, flew in to be the replacement driver. On our second day out, we managed to get parking tickets. Apparently the Conwy Castle parking lot is a van-free zone. Oops. Tom leaves us alone for two seconds and we run amock



Here's the van I drove and my wonderful, brave, patient passengers! We had a great time. I really love these girls and totally appreciate how cheerful and trusting and helpful they all were.



Every summer there's a festival down at Cardiff Bay. There are street performers and farmers markets and delicious cheeses and ice creams and meats etc. etc. We always go down and tour the Assembly Building and watch the crowds. This day I had a delicious sausage sandwich with grilled onions and fantastic cheese. And here I am chilling with Tom, Dannica, and Tom's daughter Zoe.



Great times!

These are a few of my favorite things

Well people have been asking for this for a while, so here it is:

Joseph's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (Single Batch)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and bring out a medium bowl, and a large mixer. With the mixer use either cookie or dough beaters, but not wire beaters because this recipe is too thick for them and will ruin them. Ungreased Cookie Sheets (I recommend two per oven), a rubber Spatula or equivalent, a Standard Spatula for removing your cookies, and a place to put your cookies while they cool and "degrease" (I recommend a Newspaper covered by paper towels).

Gather the following ingredients:
2.25 cups of Flour (You choose, but I use enriched unbleached flour)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda (Not Baking Powder)
1 teaspoon Salt (I use regular iodized salt)
1 Cup Shortening (Crisco)
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 Cup light Brown Sugar (I recommend not using dark, because a slight molasses flavor will come through)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large chicken eggs
1/2 12oz bag of Semi Sweet Chocolate chips (I usually double this recipe, and Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips are the best tasting in a cookie, Milk Chocolate is too sweet and has the wrong Texture)

To begin take the Flour, Salt and Baking Soda, and combine (you don't have to mix) them in the medium bowl. Set them aside and in the large mixing bowl put the Crisco, Brown Sugar, Granulated sugar, and lastly Vanilla in the large mixing bowl, and turn you mixer to low. As the mixer beats add, one at a time, the eggs. Once the eggs are mixed in to the dough scrape down the sides with your Rubber Spatula to make sure that all the ingredients will mix together. Now increase the speed of you mixer to Medium High (this should be quite fast), and beat the mixture until it is a light brown smooth mixture (the color should be close to a rootbeer milkshake and it should look like a thick milkshake).

Turn off your mixer and get your bowl of flour/salt/soda. Turn you mixer to low again (and if you have a kitchen-aide mixer now is a good time to engage the lock) and slowly add the flour/salt/soda mixture to the bowl. Make sure the dough in the bowl is completely mixed, once it is add all of the chocolate chips (you can do this in one go) and mix until the Chocolate Chips are well distributed.

Take the mixture and put it on your cookie sheets about 1-1.5 inch well spaced globs. Take the Cookie Sheet and put it in the oven from 6-9 minutes (the first batch takes the longest, usually 8 minutes, subsequent batches are about 7 minutes). Remove the cookies from the oven at the slightest hint of brown (this hint is usually at the edges of the cookies, and will not show on all of the cookies. If you see any cookies with any brown, they are now done) let the cookies cool for about a minute before removing them from the cookie sheet to your cooling station. Repeat until your cookie mix is exhausted (makes approximately 4 dozen cookies, depending upon how much cookie dough is eaten before they are cooked).

Joe's Burger Sauce (all of these measurements are approximates)

1/4 Cup Terayaki sauce (I recommend Mr. Yoshida's Terayaki sauce)
2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
1 Teaspoon Garlic Salt
5-8 drops Red Tabasco Sauce
1 Teaspoon Crushed red Chiles
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Mix all of these in a small bowl and use as a wet rub on top of your burgers while they cook.

Joe's Honey Mustard (All of these measurements are approximates)
1/2 Cup Yellow Mustard
4 Tablespoons Barbecue Sauce (Hickory brown sugar sauce)
4 Tablespoons Honey (I use Clover Honey)
Some Black Pepper for Taste and color
6-9 drops Red Tabasco Sauce

Mix in a small covered container and refrigerate for 12 hours for best flavors. If the recipe isn't sweet enough add more honey, if it tastes too much like mustard add more Barbecue sauce. I use this recipe to dip chicken into.

we're in a tight spot!

hello dear family! you would not even recognize this driver. we are on our week long trip through the uk. today we drove from the southern tip of wales to the northern tip--a totally beautiful drive. also, there were several tight spots, today and everyday. we really have been all over the place. here are some picture highlights of my favorite things on the trip so far:

these first couple were from our trip through cornwall. we were down there for two days. it is probably my favorite part of the uk and it was also the most intense driving. lots of really really tiny roads and having to do lots of backing down steep hills in order to let cars pass. at the end of the cornwall tour we were behind tom when he had to back up for cars in his van and he mentioned how crazy stressful it was later. we had done it in our van about five times. still, great great trip and we made it!

merlin's cave.



landsend--the western peninsula of cornwall and western most tip of the uk. one of the most beautiful places i have ever, ever been. we walked along the peninsula at sunset. the photo doesn't do it justice--it was painfully beautiful.




the motor boat we drove at st ives. it was SO slow--four horse power engine and i think at least 2 of the horses were out for the count. we were cracking up. st ives has beautiful white sand blue water beaches (also very good looking guys, it turns out, running these boats). i have put a vacation there on my bucket list. for the beaches rather than the boys.



we took the train to london and spent the day there, ending with a show at the globe (tom, zoe and i actually did a double header. henry iv part 1 in the afternoon and henry iv part 2 in the evening). the globe is perhaps the number one top thing to see in london. it was great as usual.



then we didn't quite make the last train back to cardiff so we spent the night (from 11:30pm until 5:30am) in paddington station. it was actually a great adventure. everybody took it like champs and had a great time. i didn't sleep at all until the train ride home.



loves to you all!

Young Victoria

Wendy and I rented (and watched) Young Victoria last night. It was excellent. It is a newer movie depicting Victoria in the year before her coronation and the next few years. Highly recommended.

The Clones?

I remember people used to call Me, Rob and Don the clones. They may have had a point.

Greg on the Carousel

This may be my favorite picture of Gregory. We were on the Carousel at Disneyland, and he was loving it. He is usually doing older-kid activities, but this was a chance to be little. I loved how he was balancing himself (similar to the scene from the Black Stallion).

To Infinity and Beyond!!!!

William and Buzz at Disneyland. We got William's face just right.

Balboa Bars and Ice Cream

Billy D, Willy R, G-Man, and B-Bob

Breakfast at the Beach

Burke, William R., William D.

Picnic at Rancho Bernardo Park

L-R (Joe, Don, Grandad, Will, Henry, Grandma, Mom, JB, Roberto)

Sandman

RSB Grandkids at Balboa

Boating in Balboa

Everyone please don't forget to post on JPB's birthday post.

Wendy and I had a great chuckle about this picture. Donald is imitating Soren who is unhappy he is not allowed to steer the boat.

Happy Birthday Joe

Happy Birthday Joe B. Hope you have a fabulous day! Picture to come later....

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!! Wendy and I hope that your next year is wonderful.

We love you because

You are so fun to talk with and hang out with.
You are smart.
You have a great sense of humor.
You like to discuss issues and a whole range of stuff.
You are a great cook.
You listen so well to others and make them feel like they are important.
You give good advice.
You are involved in church, community, school, etc.
You cleaned up after Daisy.
You gave up on swiss cheese pie and chicken-rice-cream-of-chicken-soup-cheddar-cheese casserole. Thanks for that.
You read a ton.
You make things beautiful.
You have great penmanship.
You write a great letter.
You are an ideal mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother.

We all love you.

John and Wendy

Who Just Installed A New Sink?

That's right. Yours Truly. After starting at 11:30 am (for the second time. The first time was last week), I just finished installing a new bathroom sink and faucet. What it required:

• Three trips to Home Depot
• One trip to George Morlan Plumbing
• Three pipe cuttings
• One sink-basin uninstall
• One brand new basin wrench
• One brand new mini hacksaw
• One hour of glue removal
• A couple mild profanities
• One long suffering wife

Phew. Don't talk to me for a few days. I am feeling ornery.

One down, two more to go. Shoot me now.

Aunt Robin is the Birthday Girl!

There are two birthdays in May for two people I love so dearly...Make sure you don't miss Rich's bday blog right below Robin's....
I love Robin because
she is the friend of a lifetime
she is full of compassion
she is smart and hard working
she is fun and so easy to be around
she is loving and generous
she loves family
she is a darn good cook (when she has time)
she is a fabulous seamstress
she is a fabulous realtor - who wouldn't want to work with Robin???
she is eclectic in her interests
she knows alot about alot of things
she is humble enough to learn from others
she is a survivor
she has a sense of adventure
she keeps moving forward no matter the obstacles.
Happy Birthday Sis!