Muppet Meet and Canning

Highlights are the best you're going to get this week.

Muppet Meet: Underfoot and Hurricane participated in a swim meet for 8 year olds and younger.

The races were broken up by ages. There were at least 5 heats per age. This is for girls and boys age 4-8. The meet was fun. Each heat winner was awarded a ring pop.

Hurricane took 23 seconds off his initial time from the beginning of the swim season. Underfoot improved on his times as well.

They had fun but got in the car and said they didn't want to swim for the finals in a few weeks because it was SO HOT.

We'll see if they change their tune before the declaration time this week.

Space Wars: The Gaslight Theater presented Space Wars.

It was a change from Star Wars. Underfoot and Hurricane were surprised to attend.

They have been singing the changed song lyrics from popular songs since last week.

Not So Junior Ranger: Underfoot participated in Junior Ranger camp for the 3rd time. When he graduated, he was awarded the "Not So Junior Ranger" badge.

His group were the scorpions. They were tasked to create a National Park. Their park's focus had habitats for Ewoks, Wookies, Yoda, Jabba the Hut, and other Star Wars characters. The park wasn't an amusement park with rides but wilderness and new habitats. He had a blast!

Bountiful Harvest: We have harvested apricots, tomatoes, apples, and grapes from our yard. This is huge. So last week I processed the food. (Yes Uncle Eric here comes the canning report.....) Apricot jam was made with an ice cream bucket full of apricots. The others were eaten or put into an apricot pie. We made about 6 quarts of applesauce total and are eating it fresh. The tomatoes are paired with basil (basil grows like a weed here in the summer) which are so yummy.

With the 55 pounds of grapes, we yielded 2 3/4 gallons grape juice. The grape juice took the longest. One afternoon/evening to make the juice and another afternoon to strain and can it. It is sure pretty in the jars.

Night Wings: Saturday evening Sweetheart took the boys to the Pima Air and Space Museum. The museum had set up children's activities from 5-9 pm. They saw an example of the Boeing 787, played at the controls of a 737, tasted astronaut ice cream, sit in the cock pit of a jet fighter, drew pictures, and looked at airplanes. I was processing grapes. :)

Adoption: In the state of Arizona, applicants for adoption must be pre-approved before starting the process of actively looking/asking to birth parents if they would think a family would be a good place for their child to live. We completed this process this last week. We will hear hopefully from a judge by the end of July. Our case worker believes there will be no issues. We are asking for your help. We've never felt that our family was complete and believe that we must try each avenue. If you know of a birth parents that are considering adoption, will you consider connecting us with them? We don't know what the future holds and are very hopeful.

Be Well.

Havasupai, Las Vegas, and Home

Sweetheart has been on a desert Southwest tour for the last 3 weeks by going to Havasupai, Las Vegas, and Home.

Havasupai - Sweetheart was asked to accompany the 17-18 year old young men on their high adventure trip to Havasupai. A group of 6 left EARLY on Monday morning (12:30 am) and arrived at the trail head at 8 am.

They hiked to the bottom of the canyon and spent the week exploring and jumping off cliffs. Hurricane loaned his camera to his Dad.

After 7 pictures the camera broke because Sweetheart slipped and fell on it. Dad will be replacing said camera.

While Sweetheart was doing his thing, we did swim team, piano lessons, visited the doctor for Hurricane's well child, and got ready for the family reunion.

We drove north in another leader's car to swap cars in Prescott. We met the hiking party at Golden Corral. The boys were excited to see their Dad as was I.

Las Vegas - The annual Locey family reunion occurred in Las Vegas. Thanks to Ford for organizing a FUN reunion!!!

 

Before we went to the reunion, we went to be with our friends who moved one year ago. Our children were so excited to see each other that K-man ran when he saw our car pull into the parking lot at the park. They picked up like they had never been apart.

We spent the night outside on their deck because the night was cool. It was fun to sleep under the stars. The children were up early because they were so excited to play together. We are grateful the Ryan family hosted us!

The Locey family gathered on Saturday and spent the next week together. We saw the Hoover Dam, Nevada Southern Railroad,

Cirque du Soliel's Kà,

Las Vegas Mini Grand Prix, Bodies,

Bellagio Fountains,

Bellagio Gardens,

and Shark Reef.

We also went to a buffet called the Wicked Spoon. SO YUMMY!!!!

We spent lots of time at the pool and catching up. One night we had a talent show - violin, singing, piano, drums, bells, and a bass guitar. After the talent show, we played Locey Family Jeopardy.

The family laughed as they tried to form questions from the answers.

We returned to the Ryan's house and spent the afternoon. Sweetheart and Mr. E drove very fast indoor electric mini go-carts. Miss C and I went out to dinner. We drove as far a Kingman, AZ that evening. In the morning, we went to church. The ward we visited for church was so excited to see our family come that they were disappointed to learn we were traveling through. We descended on my friend, Shaulan and her family, after she moved from Oklahoma to Arizona in last 2 weeks. Thanks to such wonderful friends to let us come and be with them.

Home - We returned. It took us a week to unpack and still not everything is put away. Ford had said we were to get fat at the reunion. We have come home to eat so we don't get fat.

 

On Tuesday, Hurricane swam for swim team, got out of the pool, and was burning up.

He had a fever for 5 days of 102+*. He ended up having an ear infection. He never complained about his ear hurting once.

Underfoot swam at the swim meet. During the meet he stepped on a bee.

The stinger came out easy peasy, and we used baking soda to draw out the sting.

When we returned home, we were greeted by an awful ammonia smell. All the fish in the aquaponics had died. This really troubled Sweetheart . On Saturday, we replaced the fish with 20 tilapia in one pod and 2 Koi fish in the other tank. Balance was restored.

Birthday

Here are some highlights from last week.

*Hurricane's Birthday - Hurricane had a birthday. Sweetheart and Underfoot were going to Cub Scout day camp. Hurricane and I spent the day together.

We woke up to balloons in his bedroom, did family scriptures, and opened presents from Underfoot (Lego set and platform) and Sweetheart (a bucket of Legos from a young man in our ward.) Hurricane shared Otter Pops with his swim team. Later in the day I surprised Hurricane by taking some of his friends to Dairy Queen for ice cream.

Over the past 6 months, Hurricane has been talking about the birthday party he was going to have. He even made invitation and gave them out. There was no birthday party.

*Gaslight - For Hurricane's birthday, we took the whole family to the Gaslight where the cast performed a parody of Robin Hood.

At the show, they announce birthdays and anniversaries. Hurricane stood on his chair and waved to the crowd. He was happy.

*Girls Camp - I was asked to be the service coordinator for the camp. With the youth leader counselors (YCLs), they planned multiple projects. The projects were trail blazing, sewn hygiene bags, stenciling for the camp, and a clothes drive. I went and stayed Tuesday and returned home for Hurricane's birthday. I went back for Thursday and Friday.

*Cub Day Camp - Underfoot attended his first Day Camp. Sweetheart wanted to go with him. They enjoyed being there doing BB guns, archery, hiking sticks, and other things. Underfoot was very polite and had a great time.

*Memorial Day - We worked during the day. Later that evening, we hosted a BBQ.

*Game - Sweetheart has learned how to play a game and has played often. When I came home on Friday, he was playing with his friends. He likes the challenge.

Be well.

Party Week

We had party week at school. The last week of school seems to have a different party each day - field day, kindergarten promotion, class awards, movies, and pajama wearing. We had a few interruptions in the parties from vomiting though.

Hurricane started off the week by vomiting in the middle of the night. After cleaning up the mess, Hurricane and I went back to bed. He missed field day. The next evening at Cub Scouts Underfoot showed his lunch to the rest of his den. His good den leader and the cub master cleaned it up. Underfoot decided to say thank you by getting them ice cream.

We had one day when all were well which was Hurricane's kindergarten promotion.

He declared his future profession as a ninja.

Underfoot missed the last 2 days of school for being sick. He was really bumped he couldn't attend the last day.

We went early before school started so he could get his class award and say thank you to his teacher. The boys had grown sunflowers and decided to take one to their teachers as a thank you.

On Friday we attended Mary Poppins, a children's only cast.

Sweetheart was to attend with us, but the boys shared their bug with him; he stayed home. The boys sang and danced to the songs. Hurricane sat on my lap to see the show. He kept trying to go to sleep which is odd for him.

Saturday we were going to get ready for the first 3 crazy weeks of summer. Part of that was Sweetheart getting a physical. Hurricane had a 103 fever, and he accompanied Sweetheart where we learned he had strep throat. Underfoot and I went on the rest of the errands by ourselves.

Underfoot decided to make it a date and bought me yogurt! What a sweet boy!

We are grateful for Memorial Day and for what the day reminds of us. We are thankful for those who came before us.

Be Well.

Slow Week

School is winding up this coming week. I wonder where the school year went. This week will be full of lots of celebrations and the beginning of summer.

Hurricane and Underfoot both brought home really nice cards from school. Underfoot adapted a story that was written like "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" instead "If you give a Mom a Muffin." The Mom in the story sits down to have a cup of coffee. Underfoot crossed out all the coffees and wrote in milk. Hurricane gave me a card and then he made me a Lego castle which he destroyed after showing it to me.

We went to the temple with our ward. Sweetheart helped out a coworker who locked himself out of the building a few weeks ago. Ed, the coworker, asked if he could take Sweetheart and I out to supper as a thank you. Ed picked a really nice steakhouse, and he ordered each of us 28 oz Porterhouse steak. We had such a great time, and I didn't have to cook supper for Mother's day.

I got a 2nd opinion on my ankle. The doctor shared with me the MRI report. I have some tendonitis in my ankle and not arthritis. He also said that if I am gentle and build up I will be able to run again. That was super exciting for all of us to hear.

This last week was very quiet.

Be Well.

Piano Recital and Little Chef

We had many adventures the last 2 weeks.

County Fair: The county fair is in April. We look at all the buildings.

The favorites are the old time equipment display, the handicrafts, the photography, the model train, and model airplane video game. The boys made jump ropes from twine.

They would play the airplane game and purposely crash the plane then they would laugh and laugh.

Little Chefs: Hurricane's club made yogurt parfaits and rice krispie treats.

I've taken to making our yogurt in a crock pot at home. It is plain so it is tangy. The children were startled to taste it without the sugar added. We made our rice krispie treats from Fruit Loops and Cocoa Krispies.

Apparently they were delicioso.

Newsies: The 3 Kings brought show tickets for the boys. The last one in the series was Newsies.

Our seats were split by 2s so we split time by having one boy sit with each parent for the Act 1 and then to swapped for Act 2. The dancing was great!

Piano Recital: Underfoot had his first piano recital. He has completed the 3 years of Musicgarten and will begin private lessons.  

He is very excited for private lessons. He played Minka, a Russian folk song.

Teacher Request: Hurricane has decided who he would like as his 1st grade teacher. He asked the teacher if he could be in her class. She said he would need to asked the principal. Hurricane undaunted walked up to Mr. Gt and asked if he could be in Mrs. M's class. Mr. G said he would have to see. It kind of threw Mr. G for a loop that a student was requesting.

Rain:

Sweetheart: hurry hurry to the car it's raining in Arizona. 

Hurricane: that's because I always pray for rain duh. 

Passport: We attempted to renew Hurricane's passport. After 2 court houses, we will need to return and finish the process. Make sure you have time for the process as it takes some time.

Art Institute (AI): An AI for Culinary Arts is located here. We have a friend who is attending and told us about the student bistro. It is a restaurant where students learn how to be waiters and cook on the line in a kitchen. A table can be requested in the kitchen.

Hurricane and I went to lunch in the kitchen with our friend, Nicole. It is loud, busy, and productive. Hurricane was given a paper chef's hat that he is thrilled to own. The Chef doesn't just give his hats away. Hurricane made an impression.

Birthday: Hurricane decided we needed make a cake for Grandpa Kirky's birthday.

Hurricane: What kind of cake do you want? 

Grandpa: Chocolate. Is there any other kinds of cake? 

Hurricane: Yes. White. Yellow. Lemon. What kind of frosting? 

Grandpa: Chocolate. 

Mama: What about Nutella? 

Hurricane: What about Nutella frosting? 

Grandpa: That sounds good. 

We made a double layer chocolate cake with Nutella frosting and boysenberry center. It was delish.

*****

Hurricane's Photo 

Random Pictures

 Broccoli from the Aquaponics

 Jump Rope Making

 Jump Rope Making

Grandpa Kirky's Cake

Wings of Freedom

Swim Team: The boys began swim team. They swim 3 days a week. Since they began swim team 2 years ago, they've made a lot of progress.

Hurricane has started to side breath instead of flipping over on his back. Underfoot learning the 2 strokes he didn't know before and making progress especially on a dolphin kick.

Father and Sons Camp Out: All the men went and camped at a mine. The boys ate dutch oven lasagna, shot BB guns, slept in a tent, slid down dirt mounts, and came home filthy. They look forward to going camp with their Dad.

TILE IS DONE!!! While they were gone at the father and sons camp out, I sealed the floor and we are done.

Sweetheart wrote for this past week.

During the week:
Underfoot was awarded his Bobcat for Cub Scouts and attended his first  pack meeting.

He decided to give his parent pin to his Dad.

Swimming team. Mama started exercising and cleaned out the aloe in front of our house this past week.

Friday: I cleaned up the yard,

took a load of yard materials to the dump, including some of the old carpet. Hurricane and Underfoot went to a birthday party.

Sweetheart played board games with his buddies. He likes to win.

Saturday: We took the boys to Wings of Freedom, toured inside a B-17G and a B-24J,

and rode two rides on a 5 ton truck. First time in back, second time in front. Hurricane really liked it. So much so that he asked to go a second time.

Hurricane wants to improve his photography skills. His hope is to create a book of his own. We thought it was fun to watch him take pictures.

After the Wings of Freedom event, we traveled to Uncle T-Bone and Aunt M's house. Goldilocks' birthday was that day, and we helped prepare for her party. Afterward we went to the temple and then to supper with only the adults.

Sunday: We went to church with my sister and her family. After church we drove home, cleaned up, and had supper and FHE. For our treat, we enjoyed homemade mango ice cream. Thanks, Cyndy Ryan.

Here are pictures from Wings of Freedom -