Nature and Ward Sponsered Activities

On Thursday Abe (10yrs) started looking for bugs. He said that his class was paired up with a younger class through a mentoring program at their school and they were supposed to be looking for insects to bring to school to study. He solicited my help in finding and catching the bugs. He found a spider in their garage that he wanted to study-yes he and I both recognize that spiders are not technically insects. The big spider had this sack hanging in its web.

Friday afternoon we headed down to BYU's Timp Lodge up by Sundance for our ward retreat. Cambree and I wanted to be there early so we could hike around a little bit and have first claim on a bed for the night, and we had volunteered to help with dinner prep.

The lodge has 64 beds. All singles, with some bunks. They are all in three large rooms that are all connected to each other. We determined which looked the most private and set up our stuff I ended up with a bottom bunk by a window and Cambree was in a single bed next to me. When the other two people arrived I asked the one girl if she had staked her claim on a bed yet. Her response, "yep, the bed above yours!" Seriously?! Of all the 62 beds she had to choose from, she felt compelled to take the one above me! Then she didn't come to bed till 2:15. So needless to say I didn't get to sleep till after that. However, other then the lack of sleep, I had a really great time up there.

In the morning I snapped this picture of the mountain from the parking lot.

As many of you know I am on the mingles committee in my ward. The translation of that for those who are not familiar with that calling - each sunday, our committee plans a little snack for the ward to enjoy, which leads to people lingering after chruch and mingling with each other, thus the title, "mingles committee". Today we are having a boys vs. girls bakeoff mingle. A while ago I saw a creative idea for cupcakes in Parents magazine and I decided today was the perfect opportunity to make them.

Preschool type things really make me happy. I really enjoyed making these.

For those who may want to recreate this culinary delight.

1. Bake up your favorite cupcakes.

2. Frost with your favorite frosting.

3. Top with your favorite yellow and white jelly belly flavors-

I choose pina colada, coconut, and A&W cream soda

4. Apply small dab of frosting to yellow starburst candy and put on top your ear

5. Don't forget the corn on the cob holders.

Photographic highlights from the week

The joy of the fluffernutter is out of this world! What a birthday treat. I came home to a loaf of homemade bread and a thing of fluff. Melissa was the wonderful gift giver here. It had been a while since I had enjoyed the culinary excellence that can be enjoyed with the use of three simple ingredients.



I have a slight obsession with the bouquets of flowers at Costco. We go there just about every week and every week I say, "we should buy some flowers". However, I can never quite justify the purchase. Well, for my birthday on Monday, my good friend April gave me a bouquet of Costco flowers! I was so excited!

Some of you may remember my account of various "after-anatomy" celebrations. One of those involved the purchase and assembly of a puzzle. I don't know if I mentioned the size of the puzzle-2000 pieces! After a month, the help of many friends and a few late nights, it is finished. I put a sharpie marked next to it so you can fully appreciate the size. You had better believe it is now glued together and ready to hang in the extra/guest bedroom.

Now we come to Saturday. A fun filled day to say the least. We went to the Utah State Fair with Cambree's brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew. We took this picture at the beginning, little did I realize "Bushels of Utah State Fair Fun" we would have.

First we ran into Brooke, Darryl, and Zach. Seeing them is always fun. We all headed over to the reptile show. I don't think the Marshes made it through it though, did you guys end up ducking out? Anyway, lots of cool animals, but this was my favorite. 100+ (if I remember correctly) pounds of turtle, and they live to be super old too. I tried to be the crowd volunteer on this one, but some other lady was chosen.


This rooster is for Dad-point of reference on the size-that is a regular 8 oz. dixie cup in the foreground.

Our friend Ben took first place in the scenic photo category with his picture of Arches. That pretty much makes Cambree and I famous. I am proud of Ben, he is a good kid.

OK, this next one is random, but I find it really entertaining. On August 11, 2007 we went to the balloon festival and were very intrigued by this seemingly eccentric photographer. He left such an impression that we had to snap a shot of him.

Well fast forward to September 13, 2008. Who should we happen to run into at the state fair? I hope to see him in a years time. ;)

After the joys of fair fun, food and animals, it was time for my birthday BBQ.

Here are some of my favorite people. (Left to right: Dave Z. , April, myself, Jenni, and Garrett),

That was about a 1/4 of the crowd.

After the delicious food and some games we made cucumber boats to race down the river. April and I decided to work as a team. She is responsible for the winning design. Everyone else would end up stuck on the rocks, but not our trusty little skiff.

This is the launching of the boats. Fun times were had by all. Yeah for food, friends, fun, and most of all, Birthdays!

When was the last time you played in the rain?

Two Sunday's ago, my friend April and I were drawn to the puddles created by a wonderful rain storm. We decided to revisit our childhood and seek out the puddles instead of avoiding them. Definitely an activity that should be engaged in more frequently

For my birthday, Jennifer treated me to the 2nd annual birthday dinner at this fabulous Thai restaurant in American Fork. They just happened to seat us at the same table they did last year and we honored it by ordering the same food we did last year. I am very excited to continue this birthday celebration.

I think this next photo shows how I feel about it.

I found this praying mantis the other day. Just thought I would share my bit of nature.

p.s.

For more info and images check out www.ksl.com

The Wild Fire from Where I Sat Today

So today around 12:30 I came out on the deck to see this.

A little alarming, but still far enough away. 2 hours later it had spread significantly.

Don't worry, I kept a very close watch on it all day to make sure we were not in any danger of being trapped on the mountain.

It was actually a very educational experience for the kids, we talked about the causes of wild fires, how they try to contain them, the damages that can be caused by them and how we are glad there are people who are trained to put them out; especially the pilots that fly so close to homes and mountains. I wish I had gotten a picture of the one plane that flew directly over the Seares house, but I did get a video of one that got close.

Fun with Water Balloons

This weeks highlight was definitely when Jonah wanted to make water balloons. I decided we needed to make it a little more interesting so I had Jonah set up some dinosaurs on the driveway below.

The best part was when a couple of guys walked up. They were going door to door trying to convince people they needed their carpets cleaned.

Intoducing Crabby Jr.!

Yesterday I decided I was finally ready to get a new hermit crab. Crabby Jr. was purchased compliments of the $5 Grammy and Grampy sent to me in the card that arrived the very same day I was planning on going to get another crab. I always like to do something special with the money sent to me, and I thought this would be perfect (he cost $4.99). So Thank You Grammy and Grampy!