road trip-part 2

After staying a few days with Grandma and Grandpa M. at their house, we spent a few days in the car, driving to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

This was just a little stop along the way through the Colombia River Gorge. It is so unbelievably beautiful to someone who has lived in a desert for her whole life.

The kids were so happy to get to their Aunt Shellie’s house to get to see cousins and stay in a house with this right behind the backyard.

It was a perfect place for exploring.

Being with aunts aunts and cousins and Grandma made it all even better.

 

 

I asked them to smile for a picture, and this is what I got. 

This was just one afternoon, there’s still more to come.

road trip- part one

It seems like I either have nothing to blog or too much to blog, and thus, no blogging happens.  But I am going to attempt to get caught up.

Last month I packed up with the kids and we took off on a three week trip to visit my family, in their various locations.

Our first stop was with Grandma and Grandpa M. up North and a trip to Mom and Dad’s Alma Mater.  I took them on a tour of the the demonstration gardens where I spent many an hour as a Landscape Horticulture major.

I couldn’t really give them much of a tour though because most of it has changed. Sigh.

That tree they are standing on was there before. I recognized it.

I had fun telling Cali that that is the building where she was blessed and went to church for the first two years of her life. And I pointed out the apartment  where we lived in with Cali and Kimi when she was a newborn.

It was tempting to go knock on the door and show it to the Cali and Kimi, but I thought it might weird-out the girls who live there now since it is now just girl’s dorms.

Cali says that she hopes to go to school there someday. I hope she does.

This place brings back some of the happiest memories I have.

chocolaty-gooey-goodness

So for book club last month we read a book about the legend of a woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to be Pope in the 9th century. (Interesting read: Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross)

Anyways, I like to come up with a dessert that kind of corresponds with the book. After searching recipes I found this cookie that has a hidden surprise inside. Perfect.

I have tried many recipes for book club that I wouldn’t pass on. (The ladies there are so kind to serve as my guinea pigs for new recipes. :) ) This one on the other hand was definitely a keeper and with all the zillions of cookie recipes out there finding one that is worth repeating  is noteworthy to me.

These were soft brownie-like cookies with a chocolate buttercream frosting and  a gooey marshmallow filling (the surprise part.) Very easy to make and very good. Ian practically cried when they were gone.

I did too.

Brownie Surprise Cookies

(Recipe #54847 on Food.com)

(The yield was about 30 cookies if I remember correctly)

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup of milk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

24 marshmallows cut in half (I didn’t need that many, I think I only used 15)

Frosting:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 dash salt

3 tbsp. butter or margarine, softened

4-5 tbsp. milk

(I added a few tsp. of vanilla while adding the milk also)

 

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter or margarine in large bowl.

3. Beat at medium speed until creamy.

4. Add egg and vanilla and continue beating until well mixed.

5. Reduce speed to low and add all remaining ingredients except the marshmallows until well mixed.

6. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased ( I greased them) cookie sheets.

7. Bake for 6-7 minutes until the edges are just set.

8. Remove from oven.

9  Press one marshmallow half into the center of each cookie.

10. Return cookies to oven and bake 2 minutes more or until marshmallow is softened.

11. Cool one minute. Remove from cookie sheet. (I patted the marshmallows down with a spatula at this point to make them more flat.)

12. Cool completely. (It doesn’t take too long.)

13. Mix all frosting ingredients together, adding milk until you get the desired consistency.

14. Frost over the marshmallows and cookies.

ENJOY!

another memorable memorial

We had another fun holiday weekend. Its hard not to have fun with this troop.

 

We got start Memorial Day off with breakfast with extended family up in the canyons.  (This little girl is starting to add a lot of ham with her “cheese.” when I take pictures.)

Then we were off to the park for a picnic and some fun.

Cali and Kimi have both moved on to bigger and scarier things.

One little kid lost his lunch after this ride, but luckily it was after it slowed down because I was in the “splash zone.”

We ended the day with a trip to the cemetery to visit some departed family.

We are thankful for all those people in uniform that make it possible for us to be able to enjoy days like these!

boy or girl?

Yes, it is definitely a boy or girl, but we are not going to find out which until sometime in September. (The measurements of the baby has now set my due date to about September 24. Two more weeks of pregnancy tacked on. Yipee.)

We have already told people that we are going to let it be a surprise, and believe me, that was probably what kept me from giving in and finding out yesterday during my ultrasound. It took about all my will power.

The one reason I would like to find out is that I get pretty caught up in picking names and it would be nice to cut the field of possibilities down by 50%.  Or we could just pick a name and use it no matter which it is. Scott and I once knew a girl named Brandon. :)

But I don’t usually get true surprises. (I usually have all my Christmas and Birthday presents figured out by the time I get to open them.) So this is one of those times that we would like to have a real surprise.

The kids vacillate on their guesses. Ian, whom I thought would be a sure voter for boy says he would like a sister. That way he keeps his own room and toys.  He’s given this more thought that I credited.

So you guys can go ahead and guess, and we will see who is right.

april showers

 

We had some record breaking temperatures this past week, so Ian and Natalie got to do something that we normally don’t do in April.

I’ll just let the pictures explain themselves.

easter dressy

Is it really so hard to sit still and smile for a picture?

This was after about 100 tries.

Are you wondering what Natalie is holding? We just had the lawn aerated and that is dirt plug. We don’t have a dog.

“Put down the dirt, Natalie.”

She looked so sweet, digging in the dirt in her fancy dress.

I’m sure that picture taking is their favorite part of Easter. :)

the birthday boy

Someone at our house just turned FIVE!

The older kids are out on Spring Break this week, so we all got to go have a picnic by Dad’s office.

And we got to go to a museum near by. Indiana Jones loves museums, so this was a cool thing to do. In the children’s section they got to dress up and try Latin American dances.

He got some new Star Wars Lego’s from Grandma and Grandpa M. I can’t really tell if likes them or not. He’s so hard to read.

He asked me to make him an “I” cake. I thought he meant an “eye” cake, and was kind of grossed out. I was glad he explained it to  me and didn’t have an eyeball staring at him when he expected his initial.

Happy Birthday to my little man.