Camping/Road Trip

We survived: 5 states, 4 blown camper tires, over 30 hours in the car, one dead SUV battery, two overnight stomache bugs, one broken cooler, and still managed to have one of the best family vacations, EVER!


Yellowstone National Park is just amazing. From the wonders of the surroundings to the animals that live there, we saw and experienced some incredible things---things we won't soon forget. In the process we all learned some lessons on patience and making the best of any situation.
If you'd like to see more of our favorite Yellowstone photos, go here. We also got some great video, so we're working on a little slide show.

We ended our trip at Bear Lake in Utah for the 4th of July weekend. Our friends were also there to enjoy the sand, sun and beautiful lake. It was very relaxing.

Above from top left, Jack catches a dragon fly, a peek at the 50 miles of shoreline on the lake, canoeing and fishing an inlet, Lily waited all week to get to play on the beach. Katelyn and new friend Melissa, Julie and Lily on Joe's boat, Jack riding the "Manta Ray" tube, the last of our five camp sites from the week.

Camping in Montana

What an adventure! While Julie was in Kansas, John brought the kids to Montana for a family camping weekend, hosted by his friend John. They joined families with kids of all ages to fish in the ponds, catch frogs and turtles, sing karaoke around the campfire and even search for treasure on a hunt designed for the enjoyment of the beautiful natural surroundings. The kids did great on the car ride--practice for our next trip! We're off to Yellowstone, Teton Natl. Park and Bear Lake (Utah) on Friday.

To see more Montana Pictures, Click Here.

Angel of the Year Award

Julie has just returned from The Angel Company's annual seminar, where a new catalogue is unveiled, there are projects, classes, lots of fellowship and an awards banquet. Julie was honored to receive the 2008 Angel of the Year Award. It's one of three that don't necessarily recognize sales and recruiting, but rather creative and charitible endeavors. Her design work for TAC, along with collaborating on events and projects with other Angels and stamping friends has brought her great joy and the feeling of making a difference in the lives of others. What a blessing.

Scouts, Scooters, a Parade, and Dad's Day

Here's our weekend in pictures. See more Here.

Thai Dinner Club, Die Hard Ice Cream Socialites and Camping

Neighbors Anne and Kevin hosted our recent dinner club and we enjoyed Thai food. It's so fun to try new recipes and get together with friends. Our hosts prepared the main course and we all brought side items. Our dish was chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce. Pictured in the photo is Ellen, Deanna, Julie and Anne. You can see more photos from the evening here.

Another fun neighborhood event (although a little chilly) was the first ice cream social. They are scheduled throughout the summer months and last year it always managed to rain or be generally yucky on ice cream night. This year's first followed the same pattern. There was a break in the rain, so Margaret (who organizes the event) and I started scooping. Helen arrived and said, "Well, you must be die hard ice cream socialites to brave this weather!" I guess we are. (Click here to see the photo album.)

We had a visit from John's cousin, Scott, who was in town for a bachelor celebration for a friend who will marry at the end of the summer. We look forward to the wedding, when Scott's wife and two kids, as well as our Uncle Rick and Noreen will come too!

We went on our first camping trip to Jackson Lake, about an hour and a half northeast of here. We joined our friends, Joe and Wendy, who took us out boating.

The first night was a little stormy, but the second night was more mild and we got to have a campfire, which of course is one of the highlights of camping. We roasted perfect marshmallows, (Lily toasted her first all by herself!) lit sparklers, and we have a new favorite camp recipe: baked bananas. Yum! We will definitely have to make those again on one of our next camping trips. Later this month, John will be taking the kids to Montana camping, while Julie is in Kansas for TAC's Annual Seminar and together we will all travel on a 10-day trip to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Flaming Gorge and Bear Lake in Utah. (Click here to see all camping photos.)

Summer Fun: Digital I Spy

Well, raindrops inturrupted what was a glorious day of outside play, so after the kids were tired of crafts, we tried something new: Digital I Spy.


Jack has been taking pictures with our old digital camera and putting the SD card into his Wii to play slideshows. This gave me an idea for a game. I gathered up a few flash cards, busied the girls with something else and took him around the house, placing each card on an item that had an interesting pattern or texture. We took about 10 photos on the macro setting, then played them back for the girls to guess what the item was. They were so excited when they guessed what the item was.


After a little practice, they got the hang of it and the girls did one round for Jack. This has been great fun! Hopefully tomorrow they can play outside and I can try to get something done in my studio!



Are you a mom looking for kids' activities? Go here! Rocks in My Dryer

Pancake Morning

Memorial Day was a little cool here, so we

started the day with a pancake breakfast, to warm us up. Kate and Lily both helped mix and flip.

We made our favorite: letter pancakes. My mom, Lois, started the tradition when I was a kid. She had a large French's mustard container that she would fill with pancake batter, so she could precisely write the letters to our names. What fun! When I had kids, she even gifted me a recycled mustard jar so I could carry on the tradition, which of course, I have!

Well, with all sorts of new packaging on the market, I've added an additional letter pancake dispenser to my arsenal. It's from a squeezable jelly container (and it has a little wider mouth so I can pour the batter directly into the dispenser.)

I also have another favorite tool, which I feel is absolutely essential if you have kids, but even if you don't, it's super handy. It's a plastic pizza cutter. You need a nice sharp metal one too, but this plastic version is safe for the kids to use and it won't damage your Dora the Explorer plastic plates or non-stick bakeware. You seriously need this thing if you cut your share of pancakes, waffles, pizza or almost anything that you want to turn into bite size pieces in a hurry. If you have a helper in the kitchen, it's an even better tool---what could be more wonderful than a kid that is learning that cooking is fun and she can do it all by herself!