John New Calling

Today they put in a new Young Men's presidency. Dave Adamson President, John 1st Counselor and Varsity Coach, Brandon Berezey 2nd Counselor Assistant Scout Master and Darfus Moore Secretary. Dan Cutler is the new Scout Master. President Pitcher made a comment a few weeks later during Sacrament meeting that is was very moving to see both Brother Carter and Brother Cutler at the Sacrament table.

Aprons

I had asked my sister if she would make me some aprons. She said yes as long as I bought the fabric. Once I shipped the fabric, she sent me emails with different pattern numbers so I could decide how I wanted them.
Look what showed up in the mail!

Family Events

James came to Spokane from Denver to spend some time with Grandma McMackin. We were able to get together with him on Saturday afternoon (7/20) and take him to see Lone Ranger. We met up with the Heerdink's at the CDA Riverstone Regal cinemas. Got the unlimited popcorn and pop for all. Loved the movie! And of course Audrey was more than willing to see it again. Funny, interesting, good story line. I'd watch it again.

Afterwards we stopped by the Heerdink's new house in Post Falls as they had recently moved. After visiting awhile, we went back to Grandma McMackin's house to meet with her and discuss dinner and the rest of the evening plans. We ended up playing pool for a couple hours (super fun and she is very good) and then we all went to Noodle Express. Grandma treated us all (thanks!). We were able to have a wonderful day!!

On Sunday after church we went up to the Gramlow's for Cheyenne's birthday party. James and Grandma McMackin were able to join us. They had a taco bar (either soft or taco salad fix-ins) and fresh watermelon. I made a jello salad and it was a hit with everyone, but especially the pop lovers in the crowd. It was a great weekend. We love doing things with adopted Grandma McMackin and it was a sincere pleasure to hang around with James. We don't see him often enough and he was a delight.

Cherry Cola Jello Salad
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 cup water
2 quantity (3 oz) packages cherry flavored jello
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
3/4 cup cola
Drain pineapple (save the juice) and set the fruit aside. In a saucepan, bring the pineapple juice and water to a boil. Add jello and stir until it's completely dissolved. Stir in the cola, pineapple, and the pie filling and mix until completely incorporated. Pour jello into a large serving bowl or 9x11 pan. Refrigerate until firm (about 4 hours).

Busy Weekend

John and his brothers (Steve, Ralph, Robert) went to the Arlington Fly in. He left on Thursday evening so they were able to spend all day Friday and Saturday at the airshow and drive home on Sunday. He called a couple times so I asked him what they did. "Looked at airplanes, saw air shows, saw a WWII re-creation, went to the outdoor movie "Always", played dice games. Had chicken salad sandwiches for dinner and Subway for one of the other meals". When he got home we also heard about the proximity of their tent to the Honey Buckets. You can imagine some of the issues, but he said the worst was when they were still sleeping, early in the morning, they would hear the back-up beeping of the truck to empty the Honey Buckets ...beep, beep, beep. Then the noise while the trucks actually emptied. Lovely....

While John was on his Bro-Weekend, Audrey and I had our own fun! Friday we had oriental food and watched Skyfall. On Saturday we went to Meredith's baby shower at the Cliffords. Everything was pink - punch, cake pops and Italian buttercream frosting. Remind me to look up a recipe for Italian Buttercream frosting - it was delicious. Then we went home, made no-bake cookies and brought them with us to the Thompsons to watch Red. Bob and Kathy had never seen Red, and it is one of our favorite movies. They also had fun exercise equipment to try (a Bow-Flex and a Vibratrim 400).

Bishopric Barbecue

John decided on Sunday (7/7) that we needed to have a barbecue at our house on Tuesday (7/9). We invited all the incoming Bishopric and their families and all the outgoing Bishopric and their families. Everyone was able to make it! (Christensens, Freedlands, Simmons, Cutlers, Scotts, Carters). We provided hamburgers with all the toppings, punch and cupcakes. Everyone brought a salad or side dish. There was more than enough food to go around and it was all delicious. We had chairs and tables set up outside and everyone was able to spend time relaxing and visiting with each other.

Papa T's Burgers
1 pound hamburger mixed with 1 pound Jimmy Dean Sausage roll
Add chopped onions, ketchup (or BBQ sauce) and grated cheese.
Shape into patties and cook on the grill.
Top with cheese, pickles, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, mayo, tomatoes

Nancy's Punch
10 cups water
6 oz can frozen lemonade
6 oz can frozen orange juice
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 quart 7UP
Mix together, add ice and serve

Cupcakes - Made cupcakes from an orange creamsicle and a pink lemonade cake mix. Used the same frosting recipe that I did for the Key Lime cupcakes, just substituted frozen orange juice and orange zest for the orange frosting and frozen pink lemonade and lemon zest for the pink frosting.

Mom's Birthday

Today was mom's 73rd birthday so we made some lime cupcakes (from a cake mix) and took them up to her hours. I did make a homemade Key Lime Frosting as I think homemade frosting is the best. Happy Birthday Mom!

Key Lime Frosting
8 TB butter, softened
8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 TB key lime juice
1 teaspoon key lime zest
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar
Cream butter, cream cheese, juice and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add 4 cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time; continue beating until light and fluffy. If icing is too thin add additional confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Mary Poppins

Tonight was the other performance that we had purchased tickets to the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre. Audrey went with me this time and we stopped at Paul Bunyan for burgers and shakes before the performance. Did I tell you our seats were in row 3? Awesome seats! In fact, my boss Brian and his mom also attended this same performance and commented on how good our seats were.

The performance was "perfectly perfect" in every way. Mallory King played Mary Poppins and Christian Duhamel was Bert. Daughter Jane was originally to be played by an older girl, but she got ill at the last moment, so the understudy Tia Sandhu (6 years old) stepped in and did a wonderful job. Today was the first time she was officially on stage and she was darling. Tamara Schupman (a friend of Brian's) played the Bird Woman and did a great job on "Feed the Birds". And of course the "Step in Time" was awesome when Bert walks up the wall and dances on the ceiling. A fabulous production!