Flower

John came to where I was working on the computer and told me I had to see something. He walked me around to the side of our house where this beauty was growing. PRETTY!

Twin Lake

We were invited to the Hartman's lake property on Twin Lakes. Audrey was not able to come as she had to work later that day. Before we left John said he wanted to drive the truck and "toss his bike in the back". I asked him why, since we were planning on playing on the lake for most of the day? He mentioned that his work hosted a Sprint Triathlon at the end of August and he was thinking about entering, but did not want to enter if he would not be able to complete. Though he had run often this summer, he had not gone biking or swimming. Basically he wanted to do the entire Sprint Triathlon from start to finish - and the Hartman's were up to the task! While Richard and I road the boat alongside John swimming the 1/4 mile across the lake, Mary took the van to plot out the 11 mile bike course and the 3 mile run. While John road his bike, we followed in the van and passed him water and cheered him on. And during the final stretch, we rode the van alongside him while he ran. WOW - he finished in 91 minutes from start to finish with pretty much no training. I was impressed!

And after exercising for 90 minutes straight, he still was game to try surfing behind the Hartman's boat. Once you are riding the wave, you actually let go of the rope yet continue to ride behind the boat. It was fun to watch.
We enjoyed also getting to know some out of town visitors that came along for the surfing, swimming and jumping off the cliff into the lake. Afterwards they joined us for a meal of 7-Up chicken (the kind cooked on the BBQ over a pop can), watermelon and salads. A very nice time.

7-UP CHICKEN
1 whole chicken
1 can of pop
1 disposable pan
Seasoning

Wash the chicken, pat dry and sprinkle with seasoning over the inside and outside of chicken. Drain or drink half of the pop in the can. Place the chicken over the pop can and ensure it stands up. BBQ the chicken on indirect heat for about an hour, turning the front of the chicken to face the back of the BBQ every 15 minutes to ensure even crisping of the skin. Carefully remove the chicken with tongs and cut the chicken into quarters and serve.

Talk in Church

I was asked to speak today in church. Lisa Farman spoke first, then me and then mom was the concluding speaker. Surprisingly even though we all spoke of Pioneers, none of us repeated what the other had said. Everyone brought in different and interesting information. Mine came from Russell Ballard's July 1997 "Faith in Every Footstep" address and President Hinckley's July 1984 "The Faith of the Pioneers".

Below is an excerpt:

Pioneer Day commemorates the day Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. This day is celebrated to honor the bravery, strength of character and physical endurance of the original settlers.

The vast majority of the Utah pioneers got their first glimpse of the sagebrush and desert landscape of the Salt Lake Valley on foot. Before the railroad reached the Utah Territory in 1869, approximately 70,000 pioneers, 9,600 wagons, and 650 handcarts made the trek from Winter Quarters in present-day Iowa and Nebraska to the Salt Lake Valley.

By 1856, the expense of outfitting several thousand immigrants each year with the covered wagons and livestock was becoming too great for the pioneers and for the Church. Leaders decided to furnish immigrants with small two-wheeled carts, close in size to those used by apple peddlers in Eastern cities, which could be pulled and pushed by hand to the Salt Lake Valley. Although the Latter-day Saints did not invent this method of crossing the plains (some gold-rushers had used wheelbarrows and handcarts as early as 1850), their development of this method became the most remarkable travel experiment in the settlement of the American frontier.

The idea seemed so practical that nineteen hundred people signed up for the handcart immigration in 1856, traveling by train from the ports of Boston and New York City to Iowa City, Iowa, where the handcarts were waiting.

The handcart era lasted only five years, bringing about 3,000 Saints to the Valley. Out of the ten handcart companies that were organized, eight arrived safely and with little difficulty. Two companies in 1856, however, under the leadership of James G. Willie and Edward Martin, started too late and suffered terrible hardships in early winter storms in Wyoming. Rescue teams were sent out from Salt Lake City, but they did not arrive in time to prevent many deaths from exposure and malnutrition. Of the approximately one thousand immigrants in these two companies, more than two hundred died.

Small though their total numbers were, the 3,000 handcart pioneers carved a monument of legendary proportions in the minds and hearts of the entire Mormon people.

Funeral Service

My sister's father-in-law, Mike McMackin, passed away on July 16th at the age of 74. After 20 years of attending various family functions where Mike & Donna also attended (birthday parties, 4th of July, Thanksgiving), they are just like family to us too. He will be missed. Besides being a very kind man and great story teller, Mike taught agriculture at SCC for 30 years, was a crop insurance adjuster, and was an avid gardener and train buff. After his service, Donna had an open house at their home. We were honored to help out. John set up the refreshments and watched the home during the memorial service and then I joined him to help serve. Their backyard was in full bloom, highlighting his love of gardening, and the train track he had built in the backyard was manned by his grand kids during the open house. Kathy asked to borrow some of our serving dishes and then asked if we had a good punch recipe. We gave her one that my sister-in-law had shared with me, so we refer to it as Nancy's punch.

NANCY'S PUNCH
10 cups water
6oz can frozen lemonade
6oz can frozen orange juice
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
1 quart 7-up
Mix together, add ice & serve

Cherry Picking Kitty

We have a cherry tree in our back yard. John and I went out to pick cherries and kitty enjoyed batting one around for about 20 minutes.

ER for John!

John started having pains a few days ago and finally went to the doctor, who prescribed some antibiotics. He felt better the next day, but then woke up this morning with excruciating pain. It hurt to stand up, lay down, or sit. Pretty much everything was uncomfortable. While at work I got a phone call from Audrey telling me she was taking John to the emergency room. I immediately left work and met them there. John was in a lot of pain, but then they gave him Dilaudid via IV. The next thing we knew he was happy and relaxed and saying things like "Groovy" and "Oh....that's nice" and "This feels really, really cool". He decided it was a good thing he had never tried drugs before.... One of the staff came in & then wheeled him away to take a CT Scan. They brought him back and the doctor came in with the diagnosis = kidney stones. The doctor said that if they were bigger than 5mm they would zap them, but John's were only 3-4mm (he had two), so he would "GET" to pass them. They sent him home with a screen and a couple of prescriptions. He's now on the road to recovery.

Independence Day

We spent the morning making our Beth's Barbecue Beans, Flag Rice Krispie treats and the Flag Cake. Then we headed up to mom's for her 4th of July potluck. And true potluck it was! This year a lot of folks thought desserts sounded good, I guess we were all in a sweet-tooth mode. It was a nice turnout of family and friends. The day was beautiful, the yard looked great and the pool was cool - What more could you ask for? A nice way to celebrate the birth of our country!

BETH'S BEANS
1-2 pounds hamburger, browned & drained
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 onion, minced
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. vinegar
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 TB prepared mustard
2 big cans Pork & Beans
1 can Texas BBQ beans

Heat on stove or in crock-pot.

Flag Cake

We also made this for the potluck. It was a lot of work, but worth the effort. It was delicious and pretty!!

It's a FLAG CAKE!!

BAKE:

• Red Velvet Cake: Mix according to directions on box. Bake 2-(8 inch) tiers
• White Cake: Mix according to directions on box. Separate batter and use 1/2 of batter to bake 1-(8 inch tier) in the white.
• Blue Velvet Cake: Use remaining white cake batter, add 1/2 TB cocoa powder, 1 tsp royal blue paste food coloring and a toothpickful of violet paste food coloring. Bake 1-(8 inch tier) in the blue.

Cut the white layer in half, lengthwise, so you have 2 layers.

Cut the red layers in half, lengthwise, so you have 4 layers.

Do not cut the blue layer.

Take a bowl (approximately 4 inches), place on one of the red velvet layers and cut so you have a 4 inch cake instead. Use the same guide and do this for 1 of the white cake layers. Now do the same for the full blue layer, except instead of pulling away the outer ring, you will pull out the middle.

At this point you should have: 2 (8 inch) and 1 (4 inch) red velvet cake layers, 1 (8 inch) and 1 (4 inch) white cake layer, and 1 hollow (8 inch) blue velvet cake layer that is twice the thickness of the other layers. You will have extra cake too.

Prepare your frosting. I used this recipe:

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 (80z) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, make sure to sift
1-2 tablespoons milk
Dash vanilla

Place an 8 inch red velvet layer on your plate. Frost the top of the layer, place an 8 inch white cake layer on top, frost that, place a red velvet layer on top of that and frost the top. Place the Blue cake layer on top of the cake. Frost the inside of the blue ring. Then frost the 4 inch white cake layer and lower it into the middle of the blue velvet layer. Lower the 4 inch red velvet layer onto the top of the white layer in the blue velvet circle and ice the cake. Frost the outside of the cake (crumb coat) and put it in the fridge to cool before frosting the top coat.

Flag Rice Krispies

We made these to take up to mom's 4th of July potluck.


FLAG RICE KRISPIES

You will need to make three batches, using the recipe below:

2 TBS butter
2 cups marshmallows
3 cups Rice Krispies

Start each batch by melting down the butter & marshmallows:

BLUE: Add blue food coloring, stir in the Rice Krispies and press into a 9x9 pan (Line with wax paper and spray with Pam first).
RED: Add the red food coloring, stir in the Rice Krispies and press into 1/2 of a 9x13 pan. (Line the pan with wax paper and spray with Pam)
WHITE: Add the Rice Krispies and press into the other 1/2 of the 9x13 pan.

Once the Rice Krispy Treats have cooled, turn them out of the pans onto a cutting surface. Using a bread knife, cut the white and red into long strips about an inch wide. Cut a square from the blue treats and press into the top left corner of the larger pan. Add the red & white strips, alternating. Cutting & pressing where needed. Use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut a few stars out of the leftover plain Rice Krispy Treats, and then add them on top of the blue section of treats.

Note: John called it pink, beige and aqua treats since I did not use a lot of food coloring. Feel free to kick it up a notch so they are actually Red, White and Blue!!

Interview & Internship

Audrey decided she wanted to get a job or internship that would directly relate to her future education and career. Besides applying to movie theatres and those type of businesses, she sent some communication to the Rockin' B Ranch. Emails were exchanged right before our road trip and an interview was set up for today. They offered her the (unpaid) internship at the end of her interview and asked if she would start tonight. So between the interview and when she had to be back, we went shopping for some cowboy attire - boots, hat and a shirt. She will be working alongside the light and sound person. She'll be getting a lot of good hands-on experience this summer that she can use in the future. Plus she gets to have a bit of the yummy meal each night she works! To see where she will be every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, you can go to their website - http://rockinbranch.com/


The Cowboy Supper Show $39

5:30pm - Doors Open with local musicians playing.

6:10pm - Outdoor entertainment including an authentic fake Western Shootout!

7:00pm - Supper Served, including:
• BBQ Beef roast
• BBQ Grilled chicken
• BBQ Pork spareribs
• Cornbread with butter
• Pinto beans
• Baked potato
• Applesauce
• Spice cake
• Lemonade
• BBQ sauce

8:00pm - The Main Stage Show: Riders of the Rockin’ B include musicians Scott & Pamela Brownlee, JayDean Ludiker, Sam Mazzola, and Gordon Grove. "And special this year: watch out for Dusty – he’s back with Rindercella, a tale for the kids in all of us, loaded with high def spoonerisms!"