Gymnastics season is over, but for those of you who have done gymnastics, you know gymnastics is a never-ending sport. Even a week or two out of the gym and you start to lose your flexibility and skills. Caleb has been in off-season for awhile and this means a time for learning new tricks. He has had to master his fear of one trick in particular before perfecting it - ‘The Giant’. He still gets pretty nervous as he learns to do these in both directions but he has all summer - 12 hours a week - to perfect it.
A little over two weeks ago we had a sweet little German woman from our branch pass away. Chris was her home teacher and always took Caleb with him to see Sis. Kehaya. After every visit, Sis. Kehaya gave them chocolate to bring home. You can imagine Caleb was more than willing to take her up on the offer, but Chris tried his hardest to refuse. There was just no leaving her home unless you had chocolate in hand. So, it is that these sweet visits were also followed by a sweet treat.
When I got the phone call of Sis. Kehaya’s passing, I called Chris then told the kids. It had the biggest impact on Caleb because of his visits with her even while she was in the nursing home and the hospital. He looked really upset for a little while and then said, “That’s so sad. No more chocolate.” Not to make light of the sad situation but it was even brought up at her funeral. She is just known for her chocolate.
Following this news, we also found out Sis. Kehaya’s sister and her brother-in-law were flying in for the funeral. I found out Sunday morning that they were flying in that day and we were actually hosting them for dinner. Who were they? Elder Spencer L. Condie from the Seventy and his wife! I was so surprised and nervous. It hadn’t been a shopping week and really I felt like the story of the widow’s mite as we tried to alter recipes or find new ones so we could have enough for everyone . . . and something good. I admit we did have frozen vegetables and canned fruit, but we had rolls and a yummy crockpot chicken dish that Chris concocted while I was at my meetings after church . . . followed by a chocolate cake (I knew we had that in our pantry for a special event!).
Needless to say, it was a neat experience and I absolutely fell in love with Sis. Condie. I wanted to hear as many stories of her life in Germany as she was willing to tell. Elder Condie played the piano for all of us and told us many stories as well. Caleb made sure he told the Condie’s about his love for Sis. Kehaya . . . and her chocolate.
So, guess what we got in the mail this week?
I opened it and I couldn’t do anything but stand there with a big smile on my face. When I showed the kids what the Condie’s had sent, Caleb matter of factly said, “Elder Condie told me he was going to send me some chocolate!” I just had to laugh. It made this ’sweet’ experience for us even sweeter!
We’ve done a number of Family Home Evenings on this subject but sometimes we’re reminded that we need to have it again. One of those reasons is that Hannah has forgotten why she can’t answer the door when I’m not there even if she knows the person. Another reason is that Chris is finishing up his 9 weeks of jury duty - week after week he has listened to sexual abuse cases preparing to go to the Grand Jury. Frankly we are afraid for our children . . . and they are with us the majority of their days being homeschooled.
So, this subject came up last week with other parents and leaders in the girls’ Girl Scout troop. One mom told us about a great movie they watch as a family called “The Safe Side.”
The founders behind it are John Walsh from America’s Most Wanted and Julie Clark, founder of The Baby Einstein Company. I immediately came home and ordered it. The kids and I watched it for Family Home Evening last night and they loved it. It is definitely for younger kids but even Emma liked it. I like how it paints a picture of ’strangers’ not being scary monsters but that we just never know . . . so always be on the safe side!
We had a pretty low-key Father’s Day compared to our Mother’s Day festivities. Chris didn’t get breakfast in bed but he did get to sleep in as he didn’t have his early morning meetings.
The kids sang with the Primary during Sacrament meeting to all the dads. Hannah and Caleb are very uninhibited and their voices seem to carry - they sing from their heart! Chris also took home the bounty loot of chocolate covered strawberries that the Primary kids gave to their dads. I guess that’s a benefit on Father’s Day for being the dad with the most kids in the branch!
After church we had Chris open up his gifts. The highlights:
A utility cabinet for all Chris’s tools in the basement
(he’s been living with his tools and supplies in
various boxes for too many years!)
One of the benefits of having church in the morning is that sometimes we have down time in the afternoon so we can nap - today was one of those days and Chris was able to enjoy a couple hour nap. I’m sure it wasn’t a sound nap as the kids kept going in and out of the room.
After dinner we had some friends drop by to visit and we just relaxed downing a whole pan of brownies. What could be better?!
Last weekend we had some friends over for a BBQ. They treated us to homemade ice cream for dessert. The kids were so excited to get to make their own ice cream. There is just something about throwing bags of cream around outside that works up an appetite for ice cream!
Measuring out the heavy cream and whole milk.
(I think we all gained a few pounds that night!)
Divvying up the ice and rock salt.
Ice cream tossing teams.
Cami was setting the fashion standard - notice her pink dress up shoes -
they each match one shade of her skirt!
Since Cami was Chris’s partner and she didn’t last very long, Chris had to ‘massage’ his cream by himself and used socks as gloves since everyone else used the rest of the winter gloves that haven’t been put away yet.
After all that work only Bonnie, Emma, and Chris had ice cream that actually set up. The rest of us enjoyed drinking ours with mixing in our toppings.It was a fun ’summer’ night treat.
Want to try? Here’s the recipe:
Hand-Tossed Ice Cream
3/4 c. whole milk
1 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1-quart sealable plastic bags
2 1-gallon sealable plastic bags
6-8 pounds crushed ice
2/3 c. rock salt
1. Place the first four ingredients into a 1 quart plastic bag. As you seal the bag, push out most of the air. Place the filled bag inside the other quart bag and push out most of the air as you seal it.
2. Cover the bottom of 1 gallon plastic bag with ice. Sprinkle 2-3 Tbsp. of salt over the ice. Place the double bagged ice cream mixture on top of the ice. Layer more ice and salt around the ice-cream mixture until the large bag is full; seal. Place the sealed bag inside another 1 gallon bag; seal.
3. Take the ice cream bag outside and toss it back and forth with family members or friends for 15-20 minutes. Remove the wrappings and unseal the bags, then serve the ice cream!
Caleb wrote a short story in his spare time this week and gave me specific directions to put it on our blog. So, for your reading pleasure, here is . . .
The Boy in Ice
By
Caleb Stephenson
Once upon a time there lived a boy named John. He was a selfish rich boy and his servants wished he will learn his lesson soon.
So one day when the prince was on his horse doing morning riding lessons the servants made a plan to try to freeze the prince so he will learn his lesson. So when the prince came back he would be frozen.
So when the prince came back he opened the door and got soaked. Then his servants came and made the water so cold that he turned into an iceberg. Then they said they were going to keep him in there until he learns his lesson.
We had scheduled over a week ago to go strawberry picking today with a friend. The weather was supposed to be wet and rainy but when the threat of thunderstorms was removed from the forecast, we figured there wasn’t much to fear so we took off anyway. We had rain on the way and on the way back, but only a light mist while we were picking. It was a little surreal picking strawberries in the fog.
The kids dove right into picking but then were sidetracked by some homeschooling friends who we had met once before who just so happened to be at the same place at the same time. The kids all had a great time playing and talking. But, here for the record . . . the strawberries Emma picked. She is not a fruit/vegetable person, often refusing to sit next to or touch anything resembling fruit or vegetables. But, she sucked it up and picked a handful.
While the older kids played, Cami took the initiative and pulled the wagon back to the barn herself. It was rather a heavy duty wagon but she refused to have anyone help her.
Of course, the highlight of anything for our kids is if there are animals involved. They were thrilled to see a number of animals . . and be given permission to feed them. Every single pig and goat received new names today from each child - poor animals are probably so confused at what name to answer to.
It really was a great day to pick strawberries and even better that we went with a friend and ran into more friends there.
At home I dove right into making use of all the strawberries we bought. I think I ended up doing 4 batches of freezer jam and then strawberry shortcake (thanks, Maile!) for dessert. I still have half of our pickings worth left so if you have a favorite recipe to use strawberries in, send it my way!
When Caleb was put on the gymnastics team almost a year ago, we all became fast friends with the other two boys and their families in his level. Both the boys and their families attended Caleb’s baptism in January and we all came together again this last weekend to support Zachary for his First Communion.
It was nice to take the kids to a different church so they could see how other people worship. They had many questions and were surprised other people don’t have our same beliefs. To them these beliefs are just common sense - I really am glad they feel that way. They are just common sense to me as well, but aside from that they ‘feel’ right. I know from that little burning in my heart that what we believe is true and I am so thankful my kids are gaining their own testimonies of that as well.
After the Communion was a reception where we had a great time visiting with our gym friends but also friends we had when we lived in our last ward 3 years ago. They happen to be mutual friends of Zachary’s family too and were asked to DJ the event. Hannah was given special treatment and was allowed to go behind the DJ table and help out.
This child LOVES music . . and can we say uninhibited?!
