Awards

'Tis the season for end of the year recognition at school. Madison received the following awards: State Recognition for participation in the Duke University TIP program (It was also told that she received the highest score of those 7th graders who took the ACT this year, a 21), "A" honor roll all three semesters, and the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. We celebrated Friday night by getting frozen custard with her Andy's coupon. Way to go, Madison! Ready for 8th grade!



Love the signature!

Sunday Funnies

Jam Session

We had a fun time last night making Strawberry Freezer Jam. Thanks to everyone who came to the class. Here is the recipe for anyone else who is interested. The Farmer's Market has beautiful berries right now!

Quick and Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam
“Takes about half the time of cooked method, softer set, fresh fruit taste”

For each batch you will need 2 pints of berries and 1 box of Sure-Jell. Make 1 batch at a time.

1. Wash and rinse plastic containers with tight fitting lids. Use 1 – 2 cup containers.
2. Prepare fruit: Wash 2 pints strawberries. Remove the leaves and stems. Cut if berries are large. In a large, wide bottomed bowl, crush 1 cup of strawberries at a time with a potato masher. Pour crushed strawberries and their juice into a large liquid measuring cup. Continue crushing additional fruit until you have exactly 2 cups crushed fruit and juice. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
3. Measure 4 cups of sugar in a separate bowl.
4. Mix sugar into prepared fruit. Mix well. Let stand 10 minutes; stir occasionally.
5. Stir 1 box powdered pectin (I use the Sure-Jell brand) and ¾ cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring the whole time. Remove from heat.
6. Stir pectin mixture into fruit mixture. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy. This will take 3 to 5 minutes.
7. Pour jam into prepared containers, leaving about ½ inch space at top for expansion during freezing; cover.

Let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. Otherwise, store in freezer for up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator.

National Spelling Bee

Ok, you may not know this about me, but I LOVE the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. Yes, I said Spelling Bee. LOVE IT! I love the bizarre words they have to spell (like where have I been that I have not heard the word civitas or onychorrhexis?) I love all the questions they ask to get hints at the spelling like, "May I have the language of origin, please?" I love the Spell Master (yes, that's a real title!) Jacques Bailey and all the pronunciations he has to do. I love the look of relief when the kids find out they spelled a word right that they weren't sure about. And I love that they put this on TV! The preliminary round was today. Tomorrow from 9am-12pm you can watch the first rounds on ESPN. Then the finals are at 7pm on ABC. It is so exciting! I know, I'm weird. But I watch this every year and would not miss it.

Memorial Day Weekend

Last Friday we drove to Tulsa to spend Memorial Day Weekend. We had a lot going on! Friday evening we had a graduation party for Mitchel. Lots of friends and family came to wish him well. Lisa did a great job organizing this for us! Then it was on to the Checotah High School Football Stadium to watch Mitchel and Brycen graduate. This was the 100th graduating class from Checotah. There were nine Valedictorians and they each had to give a little speech. My favorite was the girl who's speech was entitled, "Everything I Know I Learned from Zelda." Ha! I love graduations! The next day we spent going to the zoo with Jared's mom and Mitchel. The girls and I had not been there in a while and we had a great time. Lunch at Coney Islander's (a Tulsa tradition since 1926) was a must. The next stop was Best Buy to got Mitchel all set for college with a new laptop, printer, bag, etc. We caught an afternoon showing of "Night At The Museum 2" The girls liked it a lot-- pretty cute. I liked the first one better. We ate dinner at Fish Daddy's and then went to Boyd and Rhonda's house for dessert for Boyd's birthday. I have already eaten way too much this weekend, so I have stopped counting at this point. It was fun for the girls to see their cousins, especially that cutie Zoe. We rested a little Sunday morning then went to church with all our old friends (all the kids are so big!) It was great to see everyone. We miss all our Mingo Valley friends so much! After church we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Karl, Tiffany and Kennedy came too so the girls got some more cousin time! Karl made a delicious dutch oven peach cobbler. Again, I am not counting until Tuesday because Monday morning we had Krispy Kreme donuts that were so conveniently close to the hotel. After a little shopping we started for home, stopping in Springfield at the Bass Pro (along with a kajillion other people). We drove through some pretty heavy rain at the Lake area, but made it home ok. It was a great weekend, and thanks to Jared driving, I got two books read! Now I am just trying to catch up on my work. I picked up the doggies from the kennel Tuesday morning and boy were they glad to see me! Now the girls just have a few more days of school (June 2nd is the last day) and then the summer can officially begin.

Graduation Pictures





Other Activities

American Idol Finale

I know this was almost a week ago, but I am little off my schedule. I was so happy Kris Allen won American Idol. My favorite moment from the finale though was when Danny Gokey sang "Hello" and then Lionel Richie came out and sang a couple more songs with him. What will we do now that this show is over? I got to watch the pilot episode of "Glee" which was pretty good, but apparently won't be on until Fall. Oh but wait, The Next Food Network star starts June 7th. Set the DVR!

2009 Spring Concert

Last night we enjoyed Madison's final concert of the school year. The band played 5 pieces with a soli for each instrument as well. These were some complicated songs, one of which was composed specifically for them by a graduate student friend of one of the directors. It was called "Pride of the Leopards". This video is of the overture Legend of the Eagles. Madison has worked very hard this year and we are proud of her!

Go Kris!

American Idol Finals part 1 is tonight and all I have to say is GO Kris! Go GO GO Kris!

I Got it Right!!!

I got it! I am so happy! Kris made it through to the finals! He looked so shocked when they said he had made it. Simon looked pretty surprised as well. Danny sang "You Are So Beautiful," as his final song on the idol stage. It was pretty sad when they showed pictures of his wife who past away just months before the auditions. Now Kris Allen and Adam Lambert will perform in the finals next Tuesday. They are so different! I hope everyone that was voting for Danny will vote for Kris next week! This is going to be so good! I can't wait! GO Kris!

Who's it Going To Be?

Adam, Kris or Danny? Who will go home tonight and which two will make it into the finals? Although I like him, I think that Danny will go home. I voted like crazy for Kris last night. I hope that Kris will make it in to the finals. I am sure there will be some big drama. No matter what happens--Kris has been awesome and will definitely have a big career after Idol.

Vote For Kris!

American Idol tonight! Let's vote Kris Allen into the finals!!!! Go Kris!

Peanut Butter Snowballs

Here are the yummy peanut butter balls that many of you have requested the recipe for. They are delicious. I affectionately refer to them as "protein balls" to make myself feel better about eating them one after the other. The recipe makes about 5 dozen. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Snowballs

2 cups peanut butter
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups rice crispies cereal
1 package white chocolate chips or vanilla almond bark

In an electric mixer, mix peanut butter and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and blend well. Add rice crispies and mix until combined. Form into 1-inch balls. Put on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and freeze until firm or overnight. Melt white chips or almond bark according to package directions. I add a Tablespoon of shortening to thin for dipping. Dip the balls in to coat completely, (I use a fork to dip and lift them out of the coating--shake off extra coating) and put back on wax paper to harden in the fridge or freezer. You can store them in the freezer until your ready to use them. Caution: addictive!

Garage Sale This Weekend

Friday and Saturday our neighborhood (Timber Ridge) is having a garage sale. I hope it doesn't rain! We have all sorts of goodies ready and waiting. Come by and see us!

Allison

Seventeen year old Allison Iraheta rocked this week, but it wasn't enough to keep her around. The last girl standing, Allison now leaves it to the boys to belt it out on the Idol stage. Top three Adam, Danny and Kris all now get the homecoming parade and get to sing two songs each next week. One song is a judges choice and the other is their choice. Go Kris!!!

Good Advice

Yesterday former defensive end for the New York Giants Michael Strahan joined Martha Stewart on her daily show to make turnovers (the fruit filled kind) and demonstrate the proper way to iron a shirt. He had a lot of fun and was a great guest. I thought it was interesting though when they did a question / answer session at the end of the show with all the guests, one audience member asked Michael who was the best motivational speaker he had heard, either an athlete or a coach. His answer was that he had heard the great golfer and now golf commentator Johnny Miller (who is lds) said something that really stuck with him. He told him that "no amount of professional success can account for failure in the home". Way to go Johnny Miller! Just think of all the advice this guy has heard throughout his career and when asked the best, he goes to this advice from Johnny Miller. That quote as we know originally came from President David O. McKay who served as Prophet and President of the Church from 1951 - 1970. His other world famous quote is "Every member a missionary!" We never know when little gospel principles we share with our friends and co-workers will impact their lives. Share something today. "By small and simple things are great things come to pass."

Poor Menu Planning

When I planned my meals a couple of weeks ago, I should have looked on the calendar. It is Cinco de Mayo and we are having chicken fried rice and egg rolls for dinner tonight! Does anyone know how to say Happy Cinco de Mayo in Chinese? Please pass the sweet and sour sauce.

Pickles

Coming Soon: Garage Sale!

Saturday we spent the day cleaning out the garage and sorting through boxes and items for our neighborhood garage sale. It is in Timber Ridge off Ballenger next Friday, May 8th and Saturday, May 9th. We have lots of good stuff and so do our neighbors! Come on over if you live nearby!

Sucked In!

I had successfully avoided the whole Twilight phenomenon until this Friday when we decided to rent the movie. Both Jared and I watched it and liked it, (well, most of it). But I couldn't even sleep very well that night (a rare thing for me) because I was wondering happens next. So now, even though this is so not my genre, I had to borrow the book from a friend. I usually like a book that has been made into a movie better if I see the movie first. Hope that is the case with Twilight. That Edward guy reminds me of a guy I went to high school with, Maybe he was a vampire, too.

Baby Shower for Jessica

Thursday we had a baby shower at our house for our friend Jessica. It's going to be a girl, so there was plenty of pink to go around! Kelie made the AMAZING cake. I think she should apply for the intern job at Charm City Cakes. It was soooo cute and very tasty too. Thanks Kelie for rising to the occasion. Thank, too, to everyone who came to celebrate this special event with Jess. Jessica has been serving in the Young Womens Presidency in our ward. Now they are moving to sunny Arizona. We are going to miss Jessica and Jon and the boys!

Idols Sing the Rat Pack

Tuesday and Wednesday we tuned in to American Idol. This week the remaining 5 contestants sang Frank, Dean and Sammy Davis, Jr. My favorite is still Kris, who sang "The Way You Look Tonight". Wednesday night was the elimination show. Dueling pianist Matt Giraud (who was previously saved by the judges) got the least amount of votes, and so he had to go. The shocker was that Adam (boy wonder with eye liner) was in the bottom 3 along with Kris. Next week, it's Rock and Roll for the remaining 4! I will miss Matt, I liked him. Gabrielle liked his hats.

All-City Band Concert

Monday night we attended Gabrielle's 6th grade Spring concert. This was a combined concert of all three middle schools (in other words, a lot of kids). It was held at Rock Bridge High School. Each section got to play by themselves as well as with several pieces for the entire band. It was great. I can't wait until they start marching. Gabrielle can really keep the beat!