Paint Service Project

John helped in a Stake service project at East Farms Elementary school. It took about 2/3 of the day to paint the entire school. There were teams that masked the windows and doors ahead of the 4 individuals with sprayers who rotated clockwise around the building applying the undercoat and by the time they got around, it was ready for the top coat. John spent much of his time on a lift with Leon Stevens masking the upper portions.

From the East Farms September Newsletter: Our building is bright and shiny thanks to our local LDS Church who used East Farms as the Community Day of Service in honor of 9/11. It was an amazing sight to see young and old scrape, tape, clean, paint and repaint. We will never forget this gift of time and energy!

From Spokesman-Review Article - 8/27/2011 - Mormon Church Devotes Month to Community: If you drive by East Farms Elementary School today in Newman Lake and see 300 men, women and children wielding paintbrushes, feel free to jump in and help. Organizers will be delighted. The school-painting project is the kick-off event for an upcoming September filled with service projects throughout the Inland Northwest, sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church.

“We encourage anyone who wants to come,” said Alicia Mattoon, the church’s director of media relations. “You don’t stand around wondering what to do. There is something for everything.”

The East Farms Elementary painting initiative was inspired, in part, by the failure of the East Valley School District bond in April. The school is in need of some tender loving care. In time for the first day of school Sept. 7, the elementary school will have a fresh coat of beige paint, with brown trim. “I’ll be here and others (from the school) will too,” said Tammy Fuller, principal of East Farms. “This is what the community is about.”

Did you know?
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has about 50,000 members in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
• More than 10 percent of the Spokane Valley population is made up of Mormons.
• Spokane County has five LDS “stakes,” each with about 3,500 members. The stakes are made up of wards; each ward has about 350 members.
• The church in Eastern Washington has 22 church buildings, the Temple in the Spokane Valley, the Spokane Mission with 190 missionaries, four genealogy family centers and LDS Family Services, which provides social services for LDS members.
• September’s service projects are open to all community members.

Riverfront Park & BBQ

John's work hosted a barbecue event at Riverfront Park. It included dinner (hot dog, burger or chicken) and dessert (ice cream bars). It was a very warm day! After (or before) dinner they also provided the employees with a day-pass to the park. We were able to ride the 100+ year-old Looff carousel and enjoy walking around the park after our meal.

Audrey Day at Lake

Diane and Rich Collins took Audrey and Cindy K, Tycie D and Sarah T to their lake place to spend the day boating and tubing. Audrey came home with totally wind-blown, play-in-the-sun hair. She had a great time! When I asked Diane if they had taken any pictures, she said:

I think that we were so busy just having fun that we totally forgot about the camera. Glad she had fun. Think your daughter is special. Diane

CDA with Marcie

We headed to Coeur d'Alene with Marcie and her kids (Derek, Lindsay, Gracie) with plans to see the boat show. We were pleasantly surprised to find there was a car show being held that weekend too. We had a fun time checking out cars and they even let us sit inside. We then made our way to the dock to check out the wooden boats on display - one of John's favorite summer activities.

Had to check out the candy store in the shops across from the CDA Resort. What do you think about this tub of bubble gum!? The store had all types of candy that you could buy by the pound. Audrey would have loved it, but since she had to be to work mid-afternoon, she did not want to risk being late.


We made our way to Hudson's Hamburgers, a local restaurant that has been open since 1907. They serve burgers (no sides, no fries), soda pop and pie. That's it. We ordered our burgers and luckily some room opened up at the counter about the time our order was ready. There are only 18 stools. It was fascinating watching them slice the pickles and onions, thin and quick.

An excerpt from Get Out North Idaho article on Hudson's: A Huddy burger is uncomplicated, iconic, handed down like a symbol of local pride from generation to generation since 1907. It comes in four varieties; single, double, single with cheese and double with cheese. Onion and pickles are the only garnish options, sliced fresh per order right there at the grill. Hudson’s trademark spicy ketchup and mustard should be applied in generous doses, and a fountain Pepsi in a tiny glass is the only way to chase it down.

We checked out some shops along Sherman Avenue as we had to make room for our final destination, cupcakes! We went to Sweet B Cupcakes and tried some small cupcakes (lemon, peanut butter chocolate, red velvet) and because they did not have a small cupcake size, we had to get the regular Oreo cupcake to try. They were very tasty. Loved that there was an Oreo as the base of the Oreo cupcake. The kids enjoyed using the provided chalk to draw pictures on the tables.

Marcie & Family: Thanks for taking the day to play with us!!

Hawaiian Scrapbook Night

Another summer event where I took a picture before everyone arrived, and then had so much fun that I forgot to break out the camera again. I invited a few friends over for dinner and scrapbooking and surprisingly everyone was able to come! Amy K, Angela H, Cristal G, Jean B, Jessie M, Mary H, Kathy C, Audrey & I. We provided the rice, chicken and gravy for Hawaiian haystacks while they brought the toppings. Everyone enjoyed eating outside and visiting until we were full and headed inside to scrap for a few hours. FUN TIME!
HAWAIIAN HAYSTACKS
8 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can herbed cream of chicken soup
2 cups chicken broth
2 pkg. cream cheese
Pepper to taste
10 cups steamed rice
Garnishes: Chow mein noodles, diced tomatoes, sliced olives, chopped celery, chopped green onions, chopped green pepper, pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, grated cheese, slivered almonds, coconut

Summer Reading List

Below are just a FEW of the books I read this summer. Reminded me of when I was in 1st Grade. Each child got a little gold star sticker for every book they read. These were the ones that were maybe 2mm big. The names & stars were posted on the wall. By the end of 1st grade, my teacher had to keep extending my chart until my stars literally wrapped around the perimeter of the entire room. I loved to read! Still do, obviously.

SUMMER READING LIST:

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Miss You Most of All - Elizabeth Bass

Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand

Look Again - Lisa Scottoline

A Lesson in Secrets - Jacqueline Winspear

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt - Beth Hoffman

Crunch Time - Diane Mott Davidson

A Year on Ladybug Farm - Donna Ball

Huckleberry Finished - Livia Washburn

Ghost in Trouble - Carolyn Hart

City Limits - Sheralyn Pratt

The Walk and Miles to Go - Richard Paul Evans

High Priest Corn and Steak Feed

John is one of the counselor's in the High Priest group at church, so was helping with the annual Steak Feed held in the Mattoon's back yard. We brought our barbecue and then John, Darin Christensen and Eric Clifford did a great job of cooking the steaks (hand picked by Kevin Erickson)and boiling fresh corn on the cob for around 70 adults. Everyone brought items for the potluck (salads, desserts, rolls) and we actually kept running out of room at the tables - kept having to set up more tables to hold the food for the buffet. It was a great turnout and we had wonderful time enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the great conversation. In fact, had such a fun time visiting that I did not take any pictures of the event....but here is the salad I brought.



PARADISE BAKERY SUMMERY BERRY SALAD
1 lb. romaine lettuce
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup toasted pecans
Poppy seed dressing

Slice fruit and combined with lettuce and dressing. Enjoy!

Orange Rhubarb Bread

We have had a rhubarb plant in our yard from the day we first moved to our house (so 22 years). I'm always on the hunt for rhubarb recipes to add to my collection.

ORANGE RHUBARB BREAD
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup orange juice
1 & 1/2 cups chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb
1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in orange peel and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg; add to creamed mixture alternately with orange juice. Fold in rhubarb and almonds. Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out

Cowboys and Aliens

This could easily have been the weirdest movie I've seen in a long time. I guess with the premise (cowboys AND aliens) I should have been warned, right?! Anyway, John and Audrey loved it! And treating ourselves to Sonic Drive-In after the movie on a hot summer day was great.

CDA: Date Night

With Audrey working every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, John and I have gotten into the habit of having a date night once a week. Tonight we went to Coeur d'Alene because there were three different events happening in the downtown area. We started at the Art on the Green near the North Idaho campus.

After we saw some fantastic arts and crafts, we headed towards the public park where there were more crafts vendors as well as food vendors. We shared a Mexican burrito bowl and then bought candied almonds. We then headed to downtown CDA where a street fair was in full swing. We spent the rest of the evening checking out the booths and the shops, tried some lemon shaved ice and had two cupcakes at Frosted Cupcake. Thanks for a great date night honey!

Kitty Vet Visit

Kitty had her annual vet visit today. I have to schedule a day off to do this as it is a two person job to get her to the vet and back in one piece. She does not like the ride in the vehicle, she starts getting rather nervous. And then we get there and he takes her temperature and gives her shots - really, what should she be looking forward to anyway? But I think it is sweet how they always give her a kerchief to wear for being a good patient!