What Happened in August?

It has been awhile since I blogged.  August has been fun with lots of things to keep me busy.  I thought I would share some of them. 

Yes.  I went to the Utah Opera Festival again.  It has sort of become my August thing.  We had a bigger crowd that went this year.  We enjoyed watching "South Pacific" and "Oliver".  Emil De Beck had quite the voice.  Shelley was ready to swoon.  He was really amazing.  And then the little Oliver was very sweet and precious with his little voice.  He had the perfect little accent, as if he was from London.

Hannah enjoying the Logan Chrystal Inn. 

We made our ceremonial trip to The Bluebird.  Does anyone recognize this concoction?  Yes, it is a Lime Freeze.  They are yummy.  I hear that Banner's can revile what they serve at the Bluebird though.

We sat at the lunch counter.  I have not done that for years.  I ran into one of my old friends and we had a little "catch-up" right there in the middle of everything.

Slurrpy, slurp slurp!

I was invited to go to the Salt Lake County Fair with Josh's family.  They had a car show going on the night that we were there.  Cars of every color and make.  The kids enjoyed standing by their favorite car to have their picture taken.

Hannah liken the sweet ride of a Corvette.

Not sure what this is.  I should have looked closer.

This one was my favorite.  All of the owners were sitting quite close to their cars to make sure nothing happened with little or big hands.

This one also caught my eye.  Wouldn't it be fun to have an old souped-up car.

Then we went in to see the animals, exhibits, rides, etc.  Then my camera died.  So no pictures or the rest of the night.  We saw and touched bunnies, pigs, sheep, cows, snakes, and chickens and probably more than that.    The kids enjoyed riding some of the typical fair rides.  Then we went in and saw the garden vegetables, canning and quilts.  There were some nice quilts but you definately see nicer ones at the State Fair.  I have decided that I need to enter something into the County Fair.  I am thinking I would start with canning and do the famous Raspberry Rhubarb Syup.  I think it is worthy of a blue ribbon. 

A few weeks back Jonas came to me and said.  "Wouldn't it be cool if I had a laser pointer?'  We then talked about the dangers of pointing them in someones eyes, etc.  He said the typical thing to me, "Maybe you could pay me to do things around your house and you could buy one for me."   We got on Ebay and saw one for $2.00 that would ship from China.  So I bought it and told him that he had to earn it by helping me clean my garage and then he could have it.   The garage has needed a good clean for a few years.  It has been on the "To Do List" for months.  So last week his laser pointer showed up and I new I could get some cheap labor and get the thing done.  Hannah joined us for the event.  Good thing she did or he would not have earned it.  Hannah organized while Jonas swept and I hauled things out.  We made a trip to D.I and the end result was great.

 

The 2 cars fit nicely and everything is in it's assigned place that Hannah gave it.  She really is an amazingly hard worker.  And she still finds cleaning at my house exciting.  I really appreciate her help.

This past week we had a Relief Society Meeting all about cupcakes.  We learned handy tips and did tasters table and then decorated these cute apple cupcakes.  I really prefer things to taste good instead of being all gussied up but it was fun to make it.  I never tried a bite.  I left that up to Leah and Lily.

Yes, Leah and Lily came for a visit.  Oh yah, and Morgan and Andrew were there too.  They were in town for Andrew's cousins wedding and stayed with me for a few days.  I fed Leah and Lily cupcakes  and Razzles for breakfast.  That is what happens when their mom and dad stay in bed and Sara lets them eat what they want.  I did slip in a little banana as well.

We were together for dinner on Friday night and Lily got a hold of the little pink twangy guitar.  She was loving it.  Tapping her feet, wiggling her hips and pretending to strum it.  We were entertained.

Then I got very brave and invited Maren and Esme over for a sleep over to be with their cousins.  I made a big geomatt bed and put on a movie and let them just hang out.  The movie might have been a mistake.  I thought they would be so tired that they would fall right to sleep.  No they had to watch all of the 3 Little Pigs.  I think it was 11:30 before they were all asleep.  It was Esme's first sleep over.  She did quite well until today when it was dicovered that she was sleep deprived from her late night.  She was invited to go home with her Dad this afternoon.

Can you guess who is who?

Here they are glued to the tube.

Then before I knew it Maren was waking me up and saying she was ready for her big breakfast. 

On the menu:  Fresh Huckleberry Muffins and Egg Scramble.

Morgan had brought me down some huckleberries.  I had wanted to make homemade blueberry muffins but I switched it up and did Huckleberry ones instead.  Delicious.  I told Morgan I would put the recipe up so here goes. 

Any Fruit Muffins

1 cup dry oatmeal

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

1 T. orange zest.   (which I did not have)

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. cinnamon

fresh berries or fruit

Mix all of the above ingredients  except the berries.  Do not over stir.   Then spoon muffin tin half full then sprinkle berries in then add some more batter and then sprinkle berries on top.  We used a fair amount of huckleberries and it was just right.  Bake at 425 for 15-20 min. depending on your oven.  You can dust with powdered sugar.  We did not do that though.  They were yummy.  Not too sweet which really helped us taste the berry flavor.  For a muffin I think they were pretty healthful.

Speaking of projects.  I bought a shelf a few weeks back and painted it and needed to get it up on the front room wall above the couch.  Andrew helped me get it accomplished.  I am so glad that he loves helping me get projects done.  That's what he says anyway.    Thanks Andrew.

The little girls were out in the front yard in their jammies helping me pull weeds this morning.  I noticed that Lily didn't pull the flowers and seemed to know which ones were weeds.  It was pretty amazing.  Has someone started her early on the gardening skills or is it just genetics.   I will have to ponder that one.  Well anyway after pulling weeds in the sun they were in need of refreshment and asked for Otter Pops.  I told them they had to eat them in the kitchen and this is what they came up with.  They figured as long as the pops were over the kitchen floor that counted.  Little stinkers.

I just said goodbye to Kelsie.  She is making the big move to Odgen today.  Starting college is always a big thing.  So to all of you who are starting college or high school or middle school or just going back to school or whatever,  have a great first week of school and know that Auntie Sara loves you all.