Popcorn Popping

Several weeks ago, when I was either excited that it was spring or hoping that spring would hurry up and arrive (I can't remember which), I saw this fun and simple craft on the blog Serving Pink Lemonade. Benjamin liked it so much that he asks to make another one about every other week. So far there are only these three (two made at home and one made in nursery), but I have a feeling there could be more of these on the wall before spring is through.

I was impressed with him for not eating any popcorn with glue on it, but most of the stuff he grabbed from the bowl went into his mouth rather than on the paper. I thought it was fun too, so I helped fill in the gaps.

Of course, the several cups of popped corn was more than enough for a couple of popcorn trees, so what did we do with the leftovers?

We made caramel corn, of course!

This recipe came from a woman in my ward when I was a kid. My mom has the recipe typed (with a typewriter) on an old index card in her recipe file. I wish I had a copy of that, but this (rather dirty) page you see is from the cookbook I made myself when I went to college.

First, measure five cups of popped popcorn into a paper grocery sack.

Next, put 2 Tablespoons corn syrup, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine into a glass measuring cup or other microwave-safe container.
(When Paul and I were first married, I tried making this recipe using a plastic bowl with a lid that I assumed was microwave safe (because I didn't have a paper bag), but the candy got so hot in the microwave that it melted the entire bottom of the bowl and filled our apartment with burnt plastic smoke. I learned my lesson and now only use glass to be on the safe side.)

Microwave the ingredients in the glass measuring cup for 1 1/2 minutes on high power, then stir. Microwave for 1 more minute, and stir. Then stir in 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. The mixture will get foamy. Pour it over the popcorn in the grocery bag, fold down the top of the bag, and give it a good shake. Stick the whole bag in the microwave for 1 minute, then shake it again. Microwave 1 minute more. Shake it one last time before carefully dumping the popcorn, which will be very hot, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Let it cool for a little while, and then enjoy!

You can experiment with different microwave times with the paper bag. The longer you microwave it and the more powerful your microwave is, the more dark and crunchy your caramel corn will be. I've reduced my microwave time to thirty-second intervals in the past, resulting in gooey, chewy popcorn, which was good also if you don't mind it sticking to your teeth.

This is a really easy, simple recipe that makes a good, inexpensive treat in minutes. And who doesn't love some good caramel corn?

April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is our backyard ...
Vicky and I have been greatly blessed to live in an area where moisture is in abundance. And with that abundance comes lots of green. And most things that are green also have flowers.
In this blog post are pictures of flowers in our yard. Not all of them are posted here and not all of them are ready to bloom. Most of these flowers were planted by others and are being enjoyed by us. And hopefully the flowers we have added to the yard will be enjoyed by others to come.
Recently I celebrated another birthday. One of my gifts (pictured below) was a wildflower book. I am not sure how I got so lucky to receive such a great gift, but I did. The gift actually came as a surprise, but a good surprise. Previous to my most recent birthday I was on a hike with my boy scouts in the woods. As I hiked up this steep trail with my ever-getting-heavier backpack I kept noticing a beautiful white flower (unfortunately I have not included a picture in this post). I stopped to take a closer look. While enjoying the simple detail of this flower and wondering what it's name was, from behind me one very intelligent 12 yr old scout said, "That's Trillium." I right then and there wanted a wildflower book. Two weeks later my wish came true. And yes Trillium, or Western Wake Robin, is in the book.
For as long as I can remember there has always been a fascination of flowers inside of me. When I was young my parents always planted a wide variety of flowers. In addition to our vegetable gardens we always had flower gardens throughout the yard. Each year additional flowers were grown, some more exotic and tropical, others more plain and traditional. But each flower had it's own beauty.
As a boy scout, my father was the scout master. So guess what we learned about while hiking in the mountains of Washington and Utah? That's right, flowers. There were all shapes, sizes, species, and colors of flowers pointed out. Some bloomed yearly, others multiple times each year, and others once every seven years.
So maybe there is something in my genes which is drawn to these delicate creations. Maybe I'm a softee and not as manly as others may think I am. Maybe I am odd because I love to buy Vicky flowers not just because I know she will like them. But rather I too really like them and enjoy finding new colorful species to share with her.
Or maybe there really is something more to these beautiful and often unique plants which blossoms inside of me. Some power which speaks to my heart. A power which entertains my mind. A power which draws me to a greater appreciation of One who loves me more than we could imagine. The One who each day helps me to blossom as I allow myself to be nourished by Him.

How beautiful it is to flower.

Fun Family Visit

Last weekend we enjoyed a fun visit to Utah. My older brother, Jason, was graduating from college and we felt it was important to support him in his achievement. Jason is probably the most intelligent person I know and I have looked up to him ever since I can remember. He's been working on this bachelors degree for roughly 10 years, and I am very proud of him for sticking it out. Jason and I even took Statistics 221 together from BYU Independent Study. (That was the hardest and worst class I ever took. After full days of work and school, we spent many evenings one semester trying to work on that class. It sure seemed like most of our time ended with us lost and confused, bored-out-of-our-minds, and either exploring on Google Earth or sharing fond memories of the past ... Both of us did end up passing that class though.)
Jason was part of the first class to graduate from UVU (used to be UVSC, but the state college is now a university). Since he's been in college he has gotten married, bought a house, had three kids, and was the head branch manager for a very large company. And he was one of seven students older than 30 to graduate from UVU.

Pretty fitting to honor Jason, President Monson came to the graduation and spoke.

In the audience were the other members of the First Presidency as well.


After the graduation song had finally finished replaying over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again it was time to go back to my parent's home to enjoy family time. I love spending time with family more than anything else in the world. Whether its with me, Vicky, and the boys, or with my whole family, parents, siblings, and all the kids, I love it. (Wow there were a lot of commas in that sentence.)

Rhett likes swinging.

Benjamin likes to ride pink lawn flamingos.

I even had helpers to help me blow out my birthday candles.

The visit was very enjoyable. Many late nights, a trip to the fish tanks at Cabela's, and lots more time with family. This was a fun trip and a welcome short vacation.

Sunbeams

The sun has been shining on our neck of the woods. The tulips are blooming, our jackets have been shed (temporarily, I'm sure), and we've eagerly ventured to the back yard to soak up some Vitamin D (because it's cheaper than buying infant vitamin drops, for one thing).

Rhett has taken to the outdoors like a champ. After his first introduction to the grass/moss in our back yard, he hasn't been shy about romping through the dandelions. He also took the time to sample the gravel outside the back door yesterday.


This is a rare specimen of Rhett's radiant smile caught on camera. The "caught on camera" part is rare, not the smile.


Benjamin loves getting dirty outside these days. Last year's garden plot is getting put to good (good?) use as he stomps through it, digs in it, and relocates its contents to various places in the yard. The other day he thoughtfully tossed handfulls of dirt on a new planter of flowers that Paul recently put together for me. And I wish I had taken pictures of Benjamin the other day when he first removed his shoes and then his socks (after they were saturated with dirt) and threw the dirt up in the air, letting it settle in his hair, clothes, and diaper (augmenting an already painful diaper rash).


Even though sunny days never cease to light up these faces, the smiles don't always last till we get back in the house.


We are really hoping for some stretches of warm, sunny weather before we head north to the clouds and drizzle that I am told we should expect in Juneau this summer.

Easter

I have so many things to blog about, but I'll start with Easter and work back from there.


Recently Benjamin has become really receptive to being taught about a variety of things, and it's particularly rewarding for us to teach him about Jesus Christ and the gospel and to see those lessons taking root in his memory. The week before Easter we had a Family Home Evening about the Resurrection and put the picture of the resurrected Christ up on our wall. Throughout the week Benjamin often requested that I sing the "Jesus and Mary" song to him.

He also painted that great egg with watercolors, and I meant to have him make more because I thought they were nice, but didn't get around to it.

We thought that it might be fun this year to host an Easter egg hunt in our back yard. It being the first time I've ever done that sort of thing, I was left afterward with dozens of thoughts of things that could have been different or better. Nevertheless, I think it was fairly fun for the kids who came. Free candy, right?

We invited some friends from church and our friends who live in the house next door. The kids ranged in age from 17 months (not including Rhett) to four years old. We felt really lucky to catch a break in the rain. Just as we finished up our activities it started sprinkling.

Off they go!

Some of the eggs kept coming apart and it seemed like there were jelly beans everywhere. Benjamin walked around half the time with blue Robin's Egg candy dripping from his mouth.

Thanks to you guys who participated in our first ever Easter egg hunt! We had a good time!

Later that afternoon it was time to dye eggs. Benjamin and I covered the table with the only four scraps of newspaper we had (why did I recycle it all earlier in the week?) and dyed our eggs with the last tiny drops I could squeeze out of our food coloring bottles. (If you can't tell, this Easter lacked a lot of planning on my part. I didn't even buy our Easter ham until Saturday evening.)

I made the swirly ones by wrapping the eggs in paper towels secured by rubber bands. Most of them we just dyed in random colors and later decorated them with stickers. I think the football ones were Benjamin's favorites.

While we were dying eggs, Paul was preparing his church talk for Easter Sunday. He did a fantastic job.

Due to more inadequate planning, the Easter Bunny didn't arrive at our house until around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night. Yes, our kids were still awake.

Wheat grinder update

Well, it seems that the deal on the VitalMill is a no-go after it was agreed that the NutriMill is a better product. BUT, I guess now the group of ladies putting this together is going for a deal on Nutrimills! I don't have as many specifics as I'd hoped before posting this, but if you are in the market for a Nutrimill and would like to save some money on it, let us know. I think (again, short on specifics) that with a group of 10 people, each NutriMill goes down in price to $230 from a regular price of almost $300. Just thought I'd put the word out there.

A new question

Wheat grinders.

Do any of you have them? What do you use?

For a while now I've been planning on getting this one:

The NutriMill.

My sister-in-law Heidi has one and she sold me on it. I'm particularly jazzed about the variable speed feature which allows you to adjust the coarseness of the product.

It costs $270.

However, now we have an opportunity to get a really great deal on a different kind.


The VitalMill.

It's regularly $200, and on sale now for $180. But we can get in on a group discount and get one for $120-$140. I love the price, and I've been wanting a wheat grinder for a long time. But it doesn't have variable speeds, and I guess I got my heart set on the NutriMill.

So back to my question. What do you use?

Do I need a variable speed mill? Does it matter? Is there anything I can't make with the flour produced in a grinder like the VitalMill that doesn't have variable speeds? Do you know something about the VitalMill that I should be aware of before buying it?

I have done some research into the matter, but nothing compares to hearing from people who actually use a product. I'd really like to know your experience with whatever you have.

I was (and am) so pleased with the responses I got to my baby food mill question. Now anything you know about wheat grinders would be a big help!

Celebrating Spring

Thursday was a typical dreary day in the Northwest, so we spiced it up a bit with some lemon cupcakes.

Our baking was partly prompted by Benjamin's interest of late in the book Frog and Toad Together, and in particular the story about the cookies. Toad makes some cookies to share with Frog, and after eating till they are almost sick, they commit to find some will power to stop eating cookies. When tying the cookies up inside a box and putting the box on a high shelf proves to be an insufficient formula for will power, Frog feeds the cookies to the birds. When Toad mourns their loss of the cookies, Frog consoles him by saying, "Yes, but we have lots of will power," to which Toad replies, "You can keep it all Frog. I am going home now to bake a cake." When the story is finished Benjamin always says, "Let's bake a cake!" So we did.


This weekend we had beautiful weather! Friday night we took advantage of the beautiful, clear skies and the lasting daylight to take a walk on the campus of Western Washington University. I loved the look and feel of the campus, and it was so nice to take a stroll on a university campus as finals draw near without feeling the pressure!


I had a professor once point out that peoples' dispositions often show up by looking at pictures of them during childhood. I think this is generally true based on pictures of myself and my sisters growing up, as well as Paul's family. However, we have been disappointed to take so many pictures of Rhett looking just like he does above! He really smiles and laughs quite a bit, but we have a hard time capturing it in pictures. Benjamin is definitely more of a ham, but hopefully some day soon we'll get some of Rhett's big grins on film too.


Warm weather also means it's time to pull out the Dutch oven! Last weekend Paul made a great Dutch oven barbecue meal for the missionaries (including one who we found out twenty minutes before dinner was a vegetarian). We had them over again yesterday between Conference sessions for some Dutch oven sweet and sour pork (the vegetarian came on an exchange last weekend, so he was not here this time). Benjamin is so curious and was poking around in Paul's Dutch oven stuff all afternoon.


Here's to a beautiful Easter week!

A baby food answer

It was one of those choir-of-angels sort of moments. I wish I could articulate it better, but you know what I mean? I was at Goodwill and I thought to myself, Wouldn't it be great to find a baby food grinder here at Goodwill? Just then I turned my head forty-five degrees... and there it was! What are the odds? I was planning to buy one before our trip to Utah, and I'm pretty excited about paying less than two dollars for it. So far it works like a charm! Thank you all for your input and advice!