Super Bowl Champs!

You may be thinking to yourself, "Julie is off her rocker, the Super Bowl is in January!" But as far as we are concerned, the REAL Super Bowl took place a couple of nights ago at Springville High School--and the BRONCO's took the trophy! Calvin has been playing city league football for the past couple of months (it seems like longer! That might have something to do with the fact that the games were dark and cold--Jeff and I ended up wearing our subzero puffy coats so we could last!) and he has really loved it! He ended up with several "tackles" and learned a lot about football--his new favorite sport. We'll see if that changes when basketball comes around! Proud of you, Cal! (He's the one with the orange arms!)




Just a little bit older and tougher than a couple of months ago! Love my boy!

Wow!

We went on a family drive to see the awesome leaves last Saturday and look what we happened upon at Squaw Peak! If you listen closely you can hear Lindsay getting excited about flying.



Now, that looks crazy to me, but I guess that's how some people enjoy the journey! Amazing!

Hey Dog!

I don't know how I let this happen, but I was in charge of Reflections again this year. (This year it was at the Junior High instead of the Elementary School--for future reference--it's much easier at this level!) I "hired" these cute girls to help me with publicity the final week.


Aren't they adorable? Alli and her friends, Tori and Cora were so nice to advertise Monday and Tuesday morning this week as the kids were arriving at school. They were good sports cause it was COLD! And they came relatively cheap--Hot Cocoa, Belgian Waffles and a ride to school made them happy afterwards.



They said lots of kids were taking their pictures and they were sure they would hit YouTube. I couldn't quite tell if they thought this would be cool or not. Thanks girls! You were just what the Reflections Program needed! A Hot Dog always gets people's attention! Now, Who's Hungry?

Where have we been?

We've been busy with sports in our neck of the woods. Alli has been in soccer for the first time and LOVES it! She usually played forward, unless she needed a break "It's a lot of running!" and then she would play defender. She did really well--even scoring 2 goals in her final game of the season,a wickedly cold and stormy day--No these pictures are not of that game,it was too cold to take hands out of pockets to take pictures! The weather must have helped Alli keep running! Way to gooooooooo-al Alli!





Calvin tried flag football this season. Another first for our family! He played defense and had a great time. He says football is his favorite sport ever. He loves to pull the opponent's flags. His first flag of the season, he pulled the flag, then held it up above his head and yelled, "Yeah!" He did get a little discouraged a couple of games into the season when he was getting knocked around quite a bit. He told Jeff, "It's FLAG football, they're not supposed to do that!" Needless to say, Jeff and Calvin had some 'toughening up' practice that night after the game. Poor kid, he hasn't had a lot of that with three sisters. His team, the Broncos are in the play-offs right now. They play for the championship against the only team that beat them in regular season! GAME ON!






Lauren is playing Intramural Tennis again this year at the Jr High. She is having a great time with her partner Allison and they are winning all their matches so far. Today and tomorrow she is in tournament and looking forward to playing lots--you keep going until you loose! I just hope she's done in time for Jeff and I to head to Round-Table at 7! She has also just started her real favorite--Volleyball. She has really become busy now that she's a Freshman, but seems to balance everything well.






The rest of us are the supporters of the group! We have learned to bundle up for night games, bring the camping chairs, and always have an extra blanket and umbrella in the back of the car!

The Big Day Finally Arrived

Calvin with Grandpa and Grandma Barrett
Here he is with Grandpa and Grandma Clarke
Our family

Calvin was baptized this past Saturday. It was a beautiful day and he loved it. We had lots of family and even some friends come to share our special day. I asked Calvin how he felt after his baptism and he said, "I feel like I've done everything right." What a cute guy! We had my brother's baby blessing on Sunday, so we had to choose between going to the blessing and attending our ward where Calvin would get sustained as a new member, sit on the stand, and bear his testimony. When I asked him which he would prefer, he said, "I'll do either." Then a minute later he said, "But if I go to our ward, I'd get to be a REAL member of the church that much sooner." You guessed it--we stayed at our home ward. We're proud of you Calvin. Aren't kids what the journey is all about?

Tomatoes!!!!

I have an awesome new favorite! Slow roasted tomatoes! Oh! My! Goodness! This is a totally easy and delicious way to process those fresh tomatoes from your garden. I got 4 ice-cream buckets full from my parents last week and knew exactly what to do with them--see I don't actually LOVE plain tomatoes. I've tried over and over in my lifetime because my Dad has always grown them and they look delicious, but I've always sort of gagged on them. I do love a good bruschetta, caprese salad (with lots of balsamic) or salsa, etc--but not usually straight-up. Anyway...If I were you, I would do this with your tomatoes!

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side down on large cookie sheet that has been covered with:

1 Tb Olive Oil
2 T dried Italian Seasoning
1 T coarse salt
1 T fennel seed (a must!)
fresh ground pepper
unpeeled garlic cloves (my recipe calls for this, but I just add garlic to the sauce when I use it)

Rub the cut side of the tomato in the "paste" and pack in pan tightly--I do it tight so I can fit as many as possible on a pan. Cook on convection bake 225 F for 4 hours or until tomatoes are soft and skin pulls right off. I drain some of the juice off the tomatoes when I am packing them up in a ziploc tupperware. You can use this for pizza sauce--YUMMY, lasagne sauce, on a pasta, etc. We just had it for dinner at our house last night! Loving the journey!

Dishwasher Miracle!

A couple of weeks ago Jeff and I returned home from our date to hear, "Oh, did I tell you that our dishwasher won't close?" What? "Yeah, Calvin was hanging on the door and now it won't close." Seriously? So upon closer inspection, our dishwasher door wouldn't stay closed, which means it wouldn't turn on and stay on unless someone held it closed--and I don't know anyone who wants to do that. We decided our hinges are probably bent, and after trying to "unbend" them we decided we should call a repairman. I called Doyle's and they sent out a really nice guy, Dennis, to take a look. After a few minutes he determined that the hinges were bent. He tried to "unbend" them too, and then decided we needed new hinges. Guess how much EACH hinge costs? About $70. So when Dennis told me how much the service call + the hinges + the labor added up to($250), I swallowed hard and tried to fight back tears as I bravely said, "Kids are expensive."
He came back a week later, long enough for my kids to learn some really good dishwashing skills and realized he had two left hinges. He apologized and we realized the kids would get another week to really hone those skills--LUCKY!
A couple days later... Lauren calls me from home while the rest of us are watching Alli play soccer and says, "Did someone fix our dishwasher? The door is staying closed now." What? Yup! The door now miraculously stays closed and runs normally! Now I'm kicking myself for calling in a repairman so quickly, thinking we'll probably have to still pay for everything! But when I called Dennis he said he'll just cancel the order. What? Seriously? Are you sure? Yup--A Bonfied Dishwasher Miracle!