Sportsmanship Award

Andrew played flag football again this year. He was delighted to make it on the team he's been wanting to play on for the past 2 spring seasons. It is the same coach he had for 3 years of tackle, and the boys he's known since arriving.

The team had a rough season but Andrew made a lot of progress in his game. He was catching balls and pulling flags with more confidence than we'd seen in years past. He scored 7 or 8 touchdowns, including one in the final (heartbreaking) tournament game, against the top seeded team. He worked really hard, walking straight from track practice to flag football. Track started right after school ended until 5pm, flag from 5:30 to 7pm. You can imagine the nights that he had Scouts at 7pm following that were long, long days.

His team won the Sportsmanship award, which was a free dinner at a local burger restaurant, a nice way to end the season.

/ch/

Once there were chronicles
about a chunky Chinese chinchilla
he ate too much cholesterol
so he had to chop
and churn chlorine
he ate chocolate for Christmas
instead of cholesterol


This is one of Caitlin's assignments from the school year. She was attempting to use alliteration. SUCCESS!!!

(We are going through school papers today and have a very full recycling bin). Trying to find our kitchen island again.

Run, don't walk

To the store and get any ingredients you are missing to make these:
Blueberry Lemon Rolls

They are so very good. I found my Spring General Conference Breakfast tradition.
Something about lemon zest & blueberries.
First time I've let dough sit in the fridge overnight. What was I waiting for?

1000 miles with my kids

We returned from an 8 day trip on Saturday night.
Nathan had an oral board exam in Chicago. For months, I went back and forth about whether or not the kids and I would join him. My mom was not up for grandchildren watching this time around . . . she would have but the timing wasn't right.
So Nathan flew and the rest of us drove the next day.
I didn't like telling anyone (except friends from Chicago who do this drive annually by themselves) because I got all kinds of negative feedback:
"You are doing what?"
"With all your kids and not other driver?"
"You should really take someone else with you."

I was going to order AAA, but then I realized my auto insurance had a similar program, but even better b/c you only pay for it if you use it. Armed with that phone number, I knew we could do it.

Not sure who took this photo, my guess is Bryn . . . . note how calm and relaxed I look

My kids rose to the occasion. They entertained Eddie, helped me with navigation, $ for the toll roads, distributing food for lunch. They were super helpful.
I was very happy to see Nathan when we met up, and I let him drive a lot after that, but it was a big success for me to do something so far out of my comfort zone.

YEAH for long road trips!!!!

I have lots more to say about going back to Chicago and 198 photos . . . . but that will wait for another day.

World Record Pace

Nathan finished his marathon this morning.
Last summer, he and his brothers started running a marathon, in sets of two hundred meters. Stephen made a google docs spreadsheet so they could see each other's progress. They ran ten 200 meters intervals with 200 meter rests in between.
How many 200's to make a marathon?
211.
Nathan ran a 1:56.4.
The men's world record pace for the marathon is 2 hours 3.6 minutes.

We live close to a high school track. Last mother's day, bought me a key. He paid the school district $25 for a key to get in. Many times he's gone alone, but often we go with him. 80% of the times we go, we are the only ones there. Ed is pretty happy to sit in the long jump pit with a bucket and shovel. The other kids play/run/sit/cartwheel and keep themselves entertained as well, which has been helpful.

Great job, Nathan and thanks Stephen for the challenge.

My science (kitchen) experiments

Hot Wheatberry Cereal from Lazy Day Cooking

1 C Wheatberries
5 C water
butter, milk, honey, salt

1) Rinse and sort berries. Cover with water and soak all day, or 8 hours in slow cooker.
2) Cover. Cook on low overnight (or 10 hours).
3) Drain, if needed. Serve hot with honey, milk, butter and pinch of salt.


I doubled this and added extra water because I was afraid of running out. I had plenty.
It turned out great--but I'm pretty sure only the adults in my house want to eat it again. I want more fiber at breakfast but don't love most bran options, so I will be making this again. This is a great way to use wheat if you don't have a grinder.
I think salt should be added in the cooking step, but I don't know how much yet. Will play around with it.



I'm making craisins! Can't wait to see how they compare because we go through a lot of them.

(Keeping it real: For the past several years, I've bought extra cranberries during the holiday season intending to make craisins with them. Then, sometime in January or February when they weren't looking so great anymore, I would throw them out. Yeah for progress!)