Copycat Recipe- Chocolate Chia Goodness

When we went to the Natural Foods Expo in October I picked up a tasty sample, a full sized package of Ruth's Hemp Chia Goodness in Chocolate.  It makes a nice snack and has only 130 calories per serving.  I like it because it's rich and chocolately, has five grams of protein, and goes great with fresh fruit.  What I didn't like was the price when I looked into buying another package.  I looked at the ingredients on the back and created my own mix which I can store in a jar.  I had all the ingredients in the pantry except the buckwheat.  I ordered a big bag from Azure Standard and made a big batch.

Chocolate Chia Goodness
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup buckwheat
1/4 cup hemp
2 tbsp. dutch process cocoa
2 tbsp. cocoa nibs
2 tbsp. dates, diced
2 tbsp. almonds, diced
1 tbsp. evaporated cane juice
1 tsp. salt

Stir everything together.  To serve, add 2 tbsp. to a bowl.  Stir in 3 tbsp. hot water or non dairy milk.  Let sit 5-10 minutes.  I usually microwave mine for 1 minute before allowing it to sit.

I like to top mine with berries, vanilla coconut yogurt or ice cream, and a drizzle of chocolate raspberry syrup.  I'd never mistake it for warm chocolate pudding cake, but it does satisfy my sweet tooth.

I also made a boost for my daily hot cereal for breakfast.  I add a tablespoon of the mix to my hot cereal before cooking it.

Protein Boost
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup buckwheat
1/4 cup hemp
1/4 cup flax, ground
2 tsp. cinnamon

calories per tablespoon  54, protein:  5 grams

Anastaya and Elizabeth have a fun weekend

Elizabeth's special day with Janice and Sharon
Saturday morning, while I was off at day camp registration day, Dode was at home holding down the fort.  Janice called and said she had extra tickets to watch a gymnastic competition in Everett from Comcast's box seat.  She wanted to know if Elizabeth was interested in attending.  She's such an easy going girl.  She was quite excited to go, in fact she was jumping up in down in the kitchen when she heard she was going somewhere.  She thought she was going fishing but when she heard that she was going to a gymnastics competition she was still happy to go.  Her grandma Sharon was also going so she picked up Elizabeth on the way to Everett.  They got pretty spoiled in their box seat.

great view!

bottomless popcorn in the suite

Elizabeth, Sharon, Janice

taking advantage in suite hot dogs

chillin' with her book on her mp3 player

 Elizabeth is hopeful that she was good company and will be invited again to do something fun with Janice.  One thing I know,  she'll have a hard time going back to the cheap seats!

Girls' retreat
Friday night, Anastaya stayed at school for the 8th grade girls' retreat.  Some of the female teachers plan an overnight event where the girls learn about self esteem and how media presents a false idea about beauty and worth.

She got to spend quality time with her friends

The girls did some Zumba exercise

in their PJ's, ready for a fun night

what happens when you get a bunch of girls together? lots of laughter!

Vegfest

Saturday the 24th my mom, Elizabeth and I went to Vegfest.  It's an event put on by Vegetarians of Washington.  I'd read about it in the paper last year, on the day it was happening.  It was too late for me to make plans to attend.  I was pretty disappointed and that was even before I went "Veg".  This time, I checked their website in January and put it on my calendar.  For $8/adult, you get to sample over 500 different vegetarian products.  They also have featured speakers and a book sale.  My mom isn't a vegetarian but she's a healthy eater and I thought she'd enjoy going with me.  At the last minute, I asked Elizabeth if she wanted to go too since Anastaya and Isaac were gone for the day at the temple.

When we got to my mom's house, we met a very excited Ramirez.  He couldn't believe his luck to get us as visitors.  They have hard surface flooring and he was spinning out trying to run up and greet us.  Elizabeth entertained him with the red dot (laser pointer) while we waited for my mom to finish getting ready.  You can't be around that dog and not smile.  He's absolutely full of life.

My mom hates to pay for parking and had spied an area in Seattle about 5 blocks from the Seattle Center where you can park for free.  We weren't exactly sure where we were going so walked up to the center, walked around in circles just a bit, and finally made our way to the Exhibition Hall.

We rounded the corner to the entrance and saw a long line of people waiting to buy a ticket to get in.  It reminded me of some of the waits at the happiest place on earth.  The line moved as fast as the line to the Pirates of the Caribbean (quickly) and soon we were inside.  Once we made our way inside, we were greeted with huge crowds.  Dode would have absolutely hated it.  I was surprised at the variety of people at the event.  Kids, teens, adults, dread locked/tattooed, seniors.... everyone was clustering around the tables to get their free samples.

overlooking the show, toward the back where it was less crowded

90% of the products were vegan, score!  I tried some things that I didn't care for, some that I was neutral about, and some that I'd love to buy.  The problem was that while they had samples, they didn't have any literature to hand out so I don't remember the product names of what I liked.  I realized on the way home that I should have used my camera to take photos of the items I'd like to pursue purchasing.  I also realized that a water bottle would be a valuable thing for getting rid of bad tastes.  One thing I loved was that they had lots of garbage cans scattered everywhere.  There's nothing worse than being stuck with a yucky sample and no way to get rid of it.  I learned that lesson the first time I went to the Cookie Exchange with my mom.  Now I always have a plan for getting rid of things that don't pass muster.

They were having a special deal at the event where if you joined the Vegetarians of Washington for a year ($22), you'd get a free bag filled with goodies.  You also receive a year subscription to Vegetarian Times as well as discounts to Vegetarians of Washington events.

I got all these products, plus coupons for buy one get one free meals at 12 different vegetarian restaurants in the Pacific Northwest, as well as 4 free full size product coupons.  Definitely worth it!  I'm glad to have all the packaged snacks because in two weeks, we're going to the ocean for our annual Spring Break vacation and it just doesn't work to bring a lot of produce along (I do plan on bring a quart of frozen green smoothie for each day as well as quarts of green juice).  Then, whatever doesn't get eaten during that trip will come in handy the following week when I teach at National Camp School in Olympia for three days.  They say they always provide a vegetarian option at meals but who knows what it will be.

Some of these are things I already buy, like Dave's Killer Bread, Biscuit Spread, and Larabars.  Others are things I'll enjoy indulging in like Odwalla juice and a sprouted bagel.  One thing I gave to Dode, White Cheddar Half Popped popcorn.  Dode liked it so much, he got on the internet so see if you could figure out how to make it at home.  He hasn't found a recipe yet.

We were pretty full after the sampling, but not too full to try out a vegan/gluten free bakery, Flying Apron.  My mom and I had a medium spicy curried butternut squash soup and Elizabeth went all healthy with a cinnamon roll.  The gluten free bread that accompanied the soup wasn't very tasty.  I guess it must be an acquired taste!  After lunch, we headed across the street to Sweet and Savory Pie where all there pies are individually sized.   My mom bought some chocolate peanut butter pies for the boys as well as a berry pie for me.  I enjoyed it for dinner warmed up with a scoop of coconut milk ice cream on top.  On the way back to the car, we wandered into a cute shop where I found a few stocking stuffers for the kids.

We had a fun girl day.  I didn't feel pressure to get anywhere at a certain time and could just enjoy the day.  I'm glad my mom and Elizabeth chose to attend with me.  It's nice to have someone to turn to and say, "This is good!" or "Mozzarella rice cheese does not taste good following a cookie!" I tried a great vegan caramel swirl cheesecake from Jodee's  near Greenlake that I think would make a perfect birthday dessert (hint, hint!).  And, Ramirez made me feel like a celebrity to be so happy to see us.

for once, the face painting line was manageable.  Elizabeth only had to wait for one child.

a pretty girl, fancied up

Elizabeth enjoyed her day with the big girls (although her feet got tired after a while).  She thought it was fun to spend time with us.  She was pretty brave about trying things and learned a few new things that she liked.  She was more adventurous about the solid foods than the drinks.  She'd have me sample each drink to see if I thought she'd like it before trying it.  She knows from the things I drink that I'm not afraid to put some pretty strange things in my mouth.

Isaac has been inspired to try to eat healthier.  He's started asking for tastes of fruits and veggies and is even ready to try a green smoothie.  He was sitting by me when I watched the new documentary Food Matters on the computer.  It addresses what the standard American diet does to our health.  I think it inspired him to try to eat a more balanced diet.

In other news
At the produce co-op, we had a record breaking 31 organic baskets today!  Together with 30 fruit lovers baskets and 67 conventional baskets, we moved almost 4,000 pounds of produce this morning.  That's a lot of fruits and vegetables!  We had a catastrophic box failure with the beets at the end of the driveway,  We groped around in the dark for them and thought we'd picked them all up.  We must have missed some because by the time the co-op was over, there were quite a few "blood" stains at the end of the driveway.  We used so many baskets (229), that we thought we'd run short until a few more turned up.  Time to order more baskets from Dollar Tree.  Dode is wondering, "Does owning more than 229 laundary baskets get you in the record books, make you a freak or just label you with a disorder?"

Miriam turns 7

Tuesday March 13, Miriam turned 7.

3/13/05

She looks more like a doll than a real baby!

1 year later, back in the hospital for rotovirus

7 years later,

strong and healthy

We celebrated with my mom on the Sunday before. I got home from church late but Dode, my mom, and Greg put the finishing touches on our dinner. In fact, they were already eating when I walked in. I'd told Dode I'd be home at 5:30 but he'd remembered 5:00 (the time my meeting was finished). He figured they'd waited long enough for me and got everyone eating. I didn't feel very loved but at least there was lots of food!

Sunday night's cake

blurry photo courtesy of a youth photographer

getting her gifts on Sunday night, Gabriel is beside her

look how much farther his legs hang down, he's 1 year older but he looks huge!

My mom got Miriam more things for her American Girl doll, Maria. She got a crib, crib mobile, baby seat, baby food, and a new outfit.

Tuesday night

The cake stuck in the pan and we had to piece the top together,

it still tasted great!

Our children always get to choose what they want for their birthday dinner.  On Tuesday, Miriam made it very easy on me, homemade pizza and chocolate chip cake.  Our chocolate chip cake is an old standby and is much loved by the children.

Chocolate Chip Cake

1 yellow cake mix

1 small box vanilla pudding

1 cup oil

1 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees in greased bundt pan 50-60 minutes.

My mom made Miriam a special jumper to wear for her birthday.  Miriam brought m and m's (her nickname) as a treat for her class.  When I woke her up in the morning, she was her usual grumpy self.  She said that she didn't think birthdays were special if she had to get up and go to school.  I reminded her that she got a special dinner and presents but in her opinion, if she didn't get to open those presents right away, they might as well not count.

After dinner, she finally got to open her gifts.  We got her an MP3 player loaded with Disney hits and free kids songs I found on amazon.  We also gave her some big cardboard building blocks.  The blocks come flattened and when she opened the boxes and saw them, she was pretty disappointed in her gift.  We all pitched in and started folding them into blocks.  It was one of those times when it's a benefit to have a large family.  (Going out to eat at a restaurant is one of those times when it's a big liability for many reasons!) Soon, she was excited and got to work building a tower.

Once we were done playing with the blocks, it was time to go to the YMCA.  We're one month in to a three month membership.  The first time we went swimming a month ago, Miriam wanted to go in the hot tub to warm up.  Nope, the minimum age was seven years old.  She wanted to go in the sauna.  Again, the minimum age was 7.  She asked me, "Why are all the hot things not for little people?"  I assured her that once she turned seven, she could go in the hot places.  On her birthday, she knew two things she was going to do for sure.  She was getting in that hot tub and sauna!  So, we went swimming on her birthday.  She liked going back and forth from the pool to the hot tub.  It must be a kid thing to like that because to me, once my skin is all hot from the hot tub, going back in the pool is torture!  She also spent maybe 90 seconds in the sauna before deciding that it's so hot in there, it makes it hard to breathe.

Miriam is happy to be seven years old but she's still got a lot of frustration at being little.  She hasn't even lost one baby tooth yet, something that really bothers her.  I, on the other hand, am content with her being little as long as possible.

The PLSS- dividing the country into a grid

Some of you might read this blog because you're our family and you enjoy keeping up on our lives.  Some of you might read this blog because you're "blog stalkers" and enjoy the window into the lives of strangers.  (And we can be pretty strange around here!)  I'm sure there are none of you read this blog because you want to learn more about land surveying!  Too bad, because that's what you're getting today!  I have a curious mind.  Dode and I have spent hours and hours discussing survey law and techniques.  I've enjoyed our conversations and have found some things to be quite interesting.  Maybe you'll feel the same way.


By Washington State law, the one thing dealing with land that only a licensed land surveyed can do is put in your property corners.  Real estate agents regularly write up legal descriptions (bad idea - never let them do your property).  Contractors do their own elevations when moving dirt.  But, only a land surveyor can tell you where your property corners are.


Every piece of property ever sold by the United States is tied to monuments put in by government land surveyors.  The organized way they surveyed out the land while preparing to sell it is called the Public Land Survey System (PLSS).  The PLSS began shortly after the Revolutionary War and is still continuing on in some areas of the country.  After the Revolutionary War, the government wanted to give land to soldiers as a thank you.  They also wanted to sell land to raise money.  But, before they could give or sell off the land, they needed to know what they had and they needed a way to identify each parcel of land that got sold.  The Public Land Survey System was born.  Teams of surveyors were sent off across the country to divide up the land into a grid system.


They divided the land up into six mile squares called townships.  The surveyors would put monumentation around the outside of the townships (we'll get to what a township is in a minute) at half mile intervals.  They didn't have the kinds of monuments you see today, iron rods or brass hubs.  While doing the surveying, the survey crews would be on months long expeditions and had to make do with whatever they could find at the location.  Items such rock cairns, tree carvings, ash piles, even dinosaur bones at each corner were used.  The things they used to mark the corners is called original evidence.  Nothing makes a land surveyor more excited than finding a piece of original evidence.   Dode says I should give up on geocaching and we should start searching out original evidence.  He thinks it'd be much more exciting to find than an ammo box filled with junk.  More exciting for who is my question?

Here's the email from Dode that accompanied the above photo of original monumentation Dode found last summer...

"Do you see the letters “BT” in the picture?  Those were carved in 1859.  They are about 4” tall and that piece is the only part of the old stump left."

Dode continues to be amazed at the places he's found survey monumentation.  You're out in the woods in the mountains thinking you're in a place man has never been to before, you look down at a rock and you see that a surveyor has left his mark here years ago.  They had quite an adventure; mountains, swamps, deserts, they surveyed it all!

The PLSS system covers most of the United States (the areas in color).

Can you guess why the original 13 colonies or the state of Texas aren't part of the PLSS?

The land in the 13 colonies had already been sold by England to individual property owners.  The land in Texas joined the Union later and already had their own methods.

Do you see the different colors in the United States above?  Each area in the same color (Washington and Oregon are yellow) is controlled by the same principal meridian and baseline.  The one controlling Washington and Oregon is located in Willamette, Oregon.  Every township in both states refer back to that dot on the map, or point of beginning.  The meridian refers to longitude and the baseline is a line of latitude.  Here in Arlington, our township is 31 North.  That means we are 186 miles north from the principal meridian in Oregon.  If you look closely at the map above, you can see where the point of beginning (interception of the two lines) is for each different colored area.

Township:  A square parcel of land made up of 36 sections (36 square miles)

Range:  a measure of distance east or west of the principal meridian in units of six miles

Here in Arlington, our range is 5 West, so we're 30 miles west of the baseline.

 Once the surveyors had surveyed around the outside of the township, they surveyed the inside of the township into one mile squares.  The surveyors monumented the corners of each of the one mile squares the same way they had monumented the outside of the township.  The one mile squares they call sections.  Each section in a township gets a unique number: 1 - 36.

The government would create a legal description for each parcel listing it's section number, township, and range.  With that information, the property owner could go out, find the monuments, and identify their property.  The surveyors would also create a report about the land in the section,  including information like: rivers/lakes/streams, unique features, timber, roads/trails, improvements.  As the government received the information back about each section, they were able to sell it.  The original deed would sell the land between the monuments at each section.  Remember that sentence, it's an unexpectedly important one!

The original surveyors weren't using modern technology, they used a survey chain, surveyor's compass, jacobs staff and transit .  For the most part, their measurements were surprisingly accurate but there were times where they were surprisingly inaccurate.  But inaccurate or not, where they set the section corner became the section corner.

"While the original PLSS surveys were supposed to conform to official procedures, some errors were made due either to honest mistakes or to fraudulent surveys. Existing surveys are considered authoritative, and any new surveys must work from existing corners and surveys, in spite of errors in the original surveys and variations from the ideal. This sometimes results in sections that are far from square, or that contain well over or under 640 acres." taken from NationalAtlas.gov.  


In other words, the government sold you what ever land was contained within the monuments that they set.  They tried to do one mile squares but they knew that it was impossible to get it exact.  So, the property boundary was controlled by the actual monument and not by the distances the surveyor reported.  Did the purchasers get full one mile squares?  Nope.  Their property was defined by the monuments even if they were not placed very well.  The government sold the land between the monuments.  Some times that was more area than advertised and sometimes less, but it's just about guaranteed to never be exact.


When surveyors today go out and set property corners, they are doing what is called a retracement survey.  They are re-tracing the steps of the original surveyors.  Sometimes they find a mistake but like it says in the paragraph above, or in the sentence I told you to remember, wherever the original surveyors set the monuments, they are in the correct place.  Property owners were always sold the land between the monuments.  If you want your property surveyed then the surveyor will do many hours of research and field work to identify where the government surveyor had put the monument over a hundred years ago.

Now that I've got you convinced that those original dinosaur bones, ash piles, and stumps are the official legal corners of a section, next time I'll confuse the issue by sharing how those corners can change over time.  Stay tuned, I just know you can't wait!

Anastaya's 14th birthday party

Anastaya had her birthday party last week.  Her birthday is at the end of January but around here, we think the important thing is to have the party, not to have it on the birthday!  A few of her friends did tease her about having a party so far from her birthday.  We always plan an activity to do for each party.  Anastaya loves cute socks and decided that for her party, everyone would decorate socks.  We found some smooth weave socks at Target and some fabric markers at Michaels.  The girls began by drawing their designs  on paper.  Then, it was time for the real thing.  They spent almost an hour on their socks and each was as unique as the girls.  Anastaya chose to do pink zebra stripes.

Once they were done crafting, it was time for cake and gifts. 

Anastaya went easy on me and we got a cake from Costco.

The girls may be 13 and 14 years old but that didn't stop them from going down the fire pole repeatedly or enjoying the zip line outside.  When things were winding down, Anastaya got out her nail polish and the girls got to work doing their nails.  The kitchen reeked of nail polish chemicals when I walked in to check on them.  No wonder they were so giggly!  Isaac asked me part way through the party what it was about girls that make them laugh at so many things.  I told him he'd never understand.

In other adventures...
While in the car by myself Sunday, I re-discovered the joys of driving alone.  For one, there aren't two people competing to talk to me at the same time.  But, most importantly, I have full control over the heater.  We heat our home with wood.  Wood that we have to scrounge to find, haul home, cut, split, stack, and haul over to the house, and finally burn.  There's always the worry in the back of my mind of where we'll find next year's wood.  So, most of the time our house is on the cool end.  It's not unusual for me to wear a jacket all day long and for the kids to huddle up under blankets.  But, the heat from the car is free and unlimited.  I can crank it up!  Usually when I'm with the kids just as I'm starting to bask in the warmth, someone starts to complain, "It's too hot!", "I'm feeling sick!", "Turn down the heat!"  I think our kids are also used to a cool climate.  Sunday I was in the car by myself for an hour and the heat was cranked up the entire time.  Pure bliss.

Cats
If you drive up to our house, you might see a big beautiful white cat lounging around, or you might catch a glimpse of a calico cat disappearing into the garage.  You'd be justified in thinking that we have several cats as pets.  But, although you can often see a cat somewhere around the house, they aren't ours.  These are the same kitties that I had an adventure catching last fall.  More details here.  We have five feral kitties that give us quite a bit of humor.  We feed them on the porch next to the dining room.  I enjoy watching them and I wouldn't mind if they got tame enough for us to pet.  We've got a huge sliding glass door and while we sit eating our dinner, the cats are often eating theirs as well.  They're totally wild so as soon as they notice that they have our attention, they scatter.  Even though the food is only about three feet from our table, they forget we're there, get distracted and start eating.  Suddenly, they realize we're watching and they're off and running.

Sunday we learned that you don't have to be a domestic cat to enjoy chasing a red dot.  We had the laser pointer out for Ramirez, my mom's dog, to play with.  The cats happened to be eating so we shined the light outside through the window.  It was irresistible temptation for the cat to chase it.  Monday night we got it out when four of them were out eating.  Pretty soon, they were chasing the dot, playing with each other, acting just like a bunch of house cats.  Even though they're scared of us, we can play with them through the window now.

Can You Say Lazy?

I looked out the window the other morning and saw the above scene.  I thought Isaac was trying to manicure the lawn like a golf course.  It turns out that the mower deck on the riding lawn mower wasn't working and Isaac was too lazy to push mow.  He wanted to mow the lawn so he could run his RC car around.  Miriam thought it was amazing to watch the RC car go around, until it did a big flip in the air and broke an axle!

Cramped Quarters

                       "Light the oven," she told Gretel. "We're going to have a tasty roasted boy today!""

-Hansel & Gretel

 
One of the joys of heating with wood is needing to clean out the chimneys periodically.  In this photo, Dode had finished brushing out the chimney by standing on the roof and is now hooking everything up inside.  Look nice and cozy?  It reminded me of the story of Hansel and Gretel and the wicked witch.  I don't know that he'd be very tender and tasty though.

Roadshow

Saturday night was our stake roadshow.  For those who have no idea what that word means (I didn't before this year) here's a short description.  To start with, a stake is a geographic group of congregations.  Our stake is composed on seven congregations covering Arlington, Stanwood, Lakewood, and North Marysville.  A roadshow is cultural event where each congregation develops a short musical play based on a theme given by the stake.  The members of each congregation work together to find/write a play, direct, act, design scenery, and practice their performance.   Each congregation gets together on a designated night to preform them.  More details can be found here. 

Our congregation has been practicing for a few months.  In the beginning, Anastaya was quite disgusted because she was only cast as an extra.  She didn't even want to go to the practices and had a pretty bad attitude.  We wouldn't let her back out.  A few weeks ago, one of the lead stars had to go out of town for an extended period and Anastaya took her place.  She was much happier with her role from that time on.  Elizabeth acted as an ompa loompa.  She and four other girls would perform a song/dance on the front of the stage while the curtain was closed between each of the scenes that Anastaya was acting in.  Isaac got roped into being an extra.  It was not what he wanted to do, but he was a good sport and agreed to help out.

getting ready to be an oompa loompa

ready to go

Anastaya on stage

Elizabeth performing the oompa loompa dance

the entire cast in their big finale

after the show with Grandma and Grandpa

The overall theme of the roadshow was "heroes".  The play my kids were in was called "For the Strength of Youth Super Twins".  The story was that Anastaya and a boy kept being put in situations where they needed to make decisions that could be guided by the Strength of Youth pamphlet published by the church.  When it was time to make a tough decision (like which movie to attend or whether to go on a single or group date), the Strength of Youth super twins, dressed in their superhero outfits, would appear on the scene and give them suggestions from the pamphlet.   

Another of the congregations that performed was the one that Dode's parents and sister attend.  Their director chose to tell the story of how the church has grown in Arlington going from a branch (the smallest congregation size in the church) to the stake it is today.  Here's a short summary of the history which was told in the play.   The congregation began by meeting in rented temporary spaces including: the bowling alley, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, an upstairs of a furniture shop and a VFW hall.  The VFW hall had a bar/card room on Saturday nights.  When the church members would show up on Sunday mornings, they would have to sweep up the beer bottles in the room before beginning their services.  

The members wanted a church of their own to meet in, but, back then, church headquarters would only pay for half of the cost of building a chapel and the local members had to contribute the rest.  Over time the membership grew and they were able to form a ward, (the traditional congregation size, usually around 200 active members)  Dode's family has been a part of the church in Arlington for a long time, when the three Dickson brothers moved to Arlington with their families they doubled the size of the branch.

The first bishop responsible for the Arlington Ward was Dode's grandpa, John Dickson.    The members saved up their money and were able to get approval to build a building in Arlington.  Dode's grandparents, uncles, aunts, dad and mom helped with the construction of the building.  His grandmother even helped put the roof on the building.  The first event to be held in the building was Dode's parent's wedding reception.  His grandmothers finished putting down the floor in the room the reception was held in just hours before the reception began!  The membership in the area has grown to the point that our Arlington stake has smaller boundaries than the original Arlington Ward.    This was all re-enacted in their roadshow.

Sheri and Joel played the part of Sharon and Lynn (Dode's parents). Sheri is able to still fit into her wedding dress.  I don't think any grown up lady could fit into Sharon's wedding dress.  I think she had an 18" waist when she got married!  After Sheri and Joel's four year old son Seth saw them up their dressed in their wedding clothes, he asked, "Did dad marry you again?"  I wish I would have thought to have Dode take photos of their skit too!

The kids' cheering squad. My dad and his wife Cheryl came to watch the performance.

My dad was thrilled to hear they were sitting by the Stake President!

The show hadn't even started in this photo and you can see how much fun Miriam was already having.  Miriam was ready to leave after about 15 minutes and spent the rest of the evening in my lap complaining and begging to go home.

It was the first time our stake has put on a roadshow and there were a few things that need ironed out before they do it again.  The biggest problem was the sound system.  It was extremely difficult to hear anything.  Only by intently listening could I pick up 50% of what was being said.  With my dad on one side and Dode on the other (both who are a bit hard of hearing), I'm sure they heard even less.  They had microphones but they were the kind where you have to be really close to get them to register sound and they were too far away.  As I sat there I thought, I'd have brought my cordless microphone from day camp if I knew they needed it.  Then we could have heard at least one actor from each play!  With 10 years of experience doing presentations in the outdoors at day camp, I've learned that it's hard to hold people's interest when they can't hear.

All in all, the girls really enjoyed their experience and would gladly do it again.

Mini Dates

Each of our children gets two special days a year, one with dad and one with mom.  The kids look forward to their day and really enjoy the special time.  Last week, some friends of ours that we've known for years came over for dinner.  They needed some land surveyor advice from Dode.  They have worked in education for decades.  During dinner, the wife asked Dode how many time per month he goes on dates with his daughters.  He told her that he does a yearly special day with each one.  She told us that with years of experience watching little girls grow up to become women, she believes that the more time a dad can spend one on one with his daughter, the better she'll navigate the difficult growing up years.

With three daughters, work, projects that need done around the house, and a calling in the church that has him gone from home at least one night a week, there was no way he could do a monthly date with each girl.  We settled on a monthly date that will rotate through the girls.  Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I scheduled a monthly mini date for me that will rotate through each of the children.  When Isaac heard the news he asked incredulously, "What will we do together?"  I'm sure I can come up with something!

Friday night was the first date and it was Miriam's turn.  Dode took her to see The Lorax.  I'd written their date on the calendar and I was amazed at the magic that created with the other children.  Instead of complaining and pouting that it wasn't fair that they didn't get to go, they accepted that it was Miriam's turn and that was the activity Dode had chosen.

With all this dating going around, I thought I should schedule a monthly date for Dode and I as well.  I'm not sure how we'll do but I'm willing to give it a try.  Don't misunderstand, Dode and I love time away from the kids where we can talk without being interrupted every couple of minutes, or even every minute!  The problem with dating is the cost, and not the financial cost, but the cost in William's behavior.  William is the kind of person that needs consistency.  In his mind, if a rule isn't enforced 100% of the time, it's not a rule that needs to be followed.  When we try to have the kids watch William, they know what he can and can't do but they're so burnt out by dealing with William's difficulties day after day (stealing their things, deliberately breaking their things, picking fights) that they have no patience.  It quickly becomes a battle of William refusing to do anything they say and the other children getting more and more frustrated.   So, we get a babysitter.  William is cute, cuddly and smiley with the babysitter, they don't know his rules, he does things he isn't supposed to and the next days/weeks, I'm stuck trying to retrain him that the rules still apply.

But, he's a little older than the last time we tried leaving him, the kids are a little more mature, it's worth a try!  I find it ironic that I write this when just this week Elizabeth's MP3 player was missing for a couple of days.  She asked everyone and no one knew where it was.  She put up a sign reminding people it was lost.  The next day, Isaac found it in one of William's favorite hiding places, under the couch cushion.  He knew where it was the whole time but enjoyed the power of knowing that while he could get to it, Elizabeth could not.  So, will our grown up dates work out?  It remains to be seen.