HOT DOG BAR

My aunt and uncle are visiting from Utah, so we had a family bbq - a hot dog bar, to celebrate.

On the menu:

Polynesian dog - hoisin sauce, pineapple, scallions
American dog - ketchup, mustard, relish
MacDaddy dog - mac and cheese, salsa
Thai dog - cilantro, peanut sauce, carrots
Chili dog - chili, cheese, sour cream

Everyone brought a side dish to share and their favorite drink and voila, we had a feast to go along with the laughter and chitchat.

I am one lucky gal.  I seriously have the BEST relatives and John and Ann are two of my favorite.

And for those of you wondering about the hot dog bar.  All of the dogs got rave reviews but there was a clear favorite - the Polynesian dog.

SWIMMING PARTY

The older boys were out for the evening having teenager fun.  Our parent's ward was having a swim party and they invited us to bring the wee ones.

I have titled this photo as Farmer Tans and Loosing Britches

The lovebirds on the left are celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
The lovebirds on the right just celebrated their 45th.
Our parents rock and I'm so glad they are best friends!

It was a fun summer evening and a super fun ward activity.  Hopefully we'll get an invite next year! (hint, hint)

ARMPIT FUDGE

Landon learned how to make armpit fudge at scout camp and has been teaching anyone and everyone he can about his new culinary skill.

We had Elder Lightheart and Elder Adams over for dinner and now they have a new skill.

Want to make it yourself?  Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP butter
2 tsp cream cheese
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp vanilla

Put in a ziplock bag, seal well, and mix with your hands.  Once it starts getting incorporated, put in in your armpit and move it to keep mixing.

We don't have any vegan cream cheese on hand, so I haven't tasted it yet.  Larry said it tastes like chocolate icing.  It's a hit with the boys and has them laughing like crazy during the armpit mixing.

Lach is already making plans to teach his children.

ANCESTOR CAKE

Tonight we started a new family tradition that will help the family learn, in a fun way, a little bit of their family history.  Ancestor cake.
I went back six generations and wrote down all the grandmas and grandpas birthdays and did the same for Larry's family.  This month we have eight ancestors who had birthdays.
I looked to see if we had a photo of them, wrote down their vitals and if there were any interesting tidbits about their life.
We took turns reading a life snip-it of a birthday ancestor and then sang happy birthday to them.  The kiddos got to blow out the candles and then we talked about family history memories over dessert.
I hope that with us doing this every month, it will help our family realize their ancestors were real people.
Also, I hope it ignites some family history interest.  Some of our ancestors, all we know is a birth and death date.  No photos.  No personal information about their life.  Some ancestors have a few mysteries to solve.  Some have skeletons in their closet.  Some information is heartbreaking.  Some, we have loads of information about, including fun journal entries that really help bring alive their personalities.  I hope when my children are studying something in school, like the Civil War, for example, they come home and ask me, "remember that one grandpa that fought in the Civil War?  Can you tell me more about him?"
More importantly, I hope they connect with an ancestor and want to help fill in 'the dash' between their birth and death dates.
This new family tradition, besides being delicious, is enlightening, humbling and exciting.

PINTEREST FAIL

There is a foot soak circulating Pinterest that I thought I'd give a try this afternoon.

"Ideal to help with those crusty feet!  Get it right ladies!! …the BEST way to get your feet ready for summer.  Sounds crazy but it works!  Mix 1/4c Listerine (any kind but I like the blue), 1/4c vinegar and 1/2c of warm water. Soak feet for 10 minutes–the dead skin will practically wipe off!"  

 I had all the ingredients on hand and 10 minutes, so why not?

Friends, I'm using my serious face, remove this pin from your boards.  It doesn't work.

I made two separate batches because I didn't have a container that would fit both of my feet and sat back and relaxed.

Besides making my feet tingly fresh feeling, the only thing it did was make my feet pruney and blue.  No skin was sloughed off.  My skin remained and was turned a shade of watery blue color that makes my toes look bruised.

Unfortunately, the photos don't do it justice, which is a bummer because it was quite hilarious.

I feel ready for seeing Smurf 2 tomorrow with the wee ones!

AND, now I can say that I have turned my eyebrows black, my hair purple and my toes blue!

LAKE MERIDIAN WAS THE LOCATION OF OUR DRAGON BOAT RACE

Wow, what a beautiful venue!  My paddling mates had told me how awesome Lake Meridian was and it lived up to the hype.

We had perfect weather for our fun day of racing.  We didn't make it to the finals but we did really well and I'm happy with our day.
I'm already looking forward to next year's Lake Meridian race!

A FACTORY TOUR AT THEO CHOCOLATE

was on our Seattle weekend agenda and it was a delicious excursion.

Theo Chocolate shows you the process from bean to bar.  They are organic and fair trade certified, most of their dark chocolate is vegan and besides the tour being delicious, it was fascinating and informative.

If you are in the Seattle area and haven't gone on the tour, put it on your to-do list.  You'll be glad you did!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO YOU

We started off our Independence Day celebrations with a parade in Independence.

It is the cutest parade with SO MUCH small town enthusiasm, spirit and excitement.  We are usually at the beach to celebrate the 4th, so this was our first time at this parade.
Larry, Laird and a few other longboarders decided to participate in the parade and of course the infamous couch was in it too.
Needless to say, it was a super fun morning and now my man clan have only one thing on their minds - fireworks!

IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY!

We're celebrating our 20 year anniversary today.

In 20 years, we have moved 8 times in the same city

purchased 1 home

created 4 boys

owned 1 iguana (RIP Ernie), 1 dog and 5 chickens

rescued and hand fed 1 baby bird and 2 baby squirrels

had 6-ish jobs and many hobbies
had fun vacations

owned 6 cars, 1 truck and 1 motorcycle

we've felt rich and we've felt poor

we've had good times and we've had not so good times

we've had sickness and we've had health

Larry Peterson, I'm so glad I'm the one that gets to be with you.

I love this man.  

I love that I get to kiss him whenever I want.