Maddie's 10th Birthday!

I can't believe it, but Maddie is 10 years old today! I can remember, as if it were yesterday, the day she was born...and it truly does seem like yesterday! Ten creeps up on you fast. But my oh my how she has changed! She is becoming a young woman and teenager tendencies are rearing their ugly head, but what I love is the sweet innocence she still has.

These pictures really capture Maddie...she is so silly!

10 GREAT THINGS ABOUT MADDIE!

1. She is so silly! She is not a serious child...hardly ever. I am so happy about this. I see other children who are far too mature for their age, not age appropriate. In Maddie, I see a true 10 year old!

2. She loves to read. Once she starts a book, she can hardly put it down. At night, I have to go in and make her stop reading and turn her light out.

3. She is a good friend. Maddie is a loyal friend.

4. She loves yummy food...seriously, she'll try anything and usually likes it! And she LOVES to cook.

5. She is a very talented artist...probably one of her favorite things to do is draw. We have a wall in our house of her beautiful, framed artwork.

6. She is a beautiful pianist. Her piano teacher said "Maddie must have played the piano in Heaven."

7. She is always honest and expects others to be also. She is very surprised when she finds out someone was not honest.

8. She loves to learn new things...about anything and everything. She is interested in space, animals, science, how all kinds of things are made, cooking, history...you name it, she can tell you something about it! She is so smart!

9. She is passionate about almost everything...our Drama Queen! (I'm not sure if this is great or not, but it is true and is a driving force in Maddie's life)

10. She loves her family...she would rather be with us than with anyone. She loves to plan things to do with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I know this wont last, so I'm happy she's this way now.

Menu for the Week

Spaghetti Carbonara, steamed broccoli, crusty bread, Hazlenut & Chocolate Pie w/Vanilla Whipped Cream
I like Rachael Ray's recipe for the spaghetti

Night out for Maddie's birthday!
She loves to go to Bonsai!

Venitian Rolled Pizza, crispy romaine salad, raspberries

Asian-Style pork chops, cucumbers and tomatoes in olive oil and red wine vinegar
These could not be any easier...seriously they take about 10 minutes!

Steak Quesadillas with avocado corn salsa

Pork Tenderloin with honeyed butter, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli
I've got to use up that big bag of broccoli from Costco...good thing we all love it!

The last three recipes come from Martha Stewart's Dinner Tonight. It has some great recipes! Check it out!

Hunting for Moose!

Who knew playing in a tent in the front yard could be so fun! Actually, I think I knew that.

Bob had been to youth conference and was airing out the tent, so Will and his friend hopped right in. Bob got out a backpack for each of them, a headlight, and a lantern. They played "camping and hunting" all day long. They hunted moose, bears, deer, and the salmon we had for dinner that night, Will had caught! :D

Such a great memory of the day with his friend and his dad.

Jordin Sparks is REALLY famous!

Where can you find a bunch of screaming tweenie girls and Orem Senior Citizens wondering why they are where they are...at a Jordin Sparks concert at the Scera Shell!

Last night I took Maddie to the Jordin Sparks concert-her first concert and boy was she excited! She opened with her new song "One Step at a Time" and of course "Tattoo". She sang some Alicia Keyes and a rockin 80's song "Heartbreaker" (the only song I knew all the words to).

Maddie sat by her friends who were right up by the stage. The highlight of her night was being right next to Jordin while she sang "No Air". She even "touched" her! As we were walking to the car, she told Joce and me "that was the best day of my life!" (She thinks Jordin Sparks is really, really famous.)

Children and Chores...

With Summer here and many hours of the day to occupy...I have been wondering how to best teach my children to work and do hard things ("We Can Do Hard Things" is our family motto-a whole other topic). And of course, playing is important too.

Maddie is totally at the age where she can really help around the house. There really isn't anything she can't do (don't tell, but I've even let her use my sharp Santoku knife and she is really good at it!). She loves to help in the kitchen with cooking and especially baking. So I wanted to take full advantage of this important teaching time in her life.

Well, I found this thing called My Reward Board and I am in love! No more "chore charts" on the wall, door or refrigerator-it's all done on the computer.


sample from myrewardboard.com

We have been using it for two weeks and have found huge success-especially with Maddie. I have taught her to clean her own bathroom and she is really good at it! We have no more arguments on practicing the piano either. She has not missed a day of practice in two weeks. She waters the garden and flower pots daily, helps with dinner, laundry, etc. I never have to ask her to do her jobs and her behavior is joyful. She asks many times throughout the day "Do you have a favor?" And Will is doing so great too! He even has special jobs like emptying the inside trash cans each week, taking them to the outside trash and bringing in the empty trash cans on trash days. The chore chart is only one part of it...there is a virtual piggy bank (so if you don't pay allowance on a weekly basis because you forget, your child can't come to you months down the line and tell you you owe them $80.00!), demerit system, reward system, goal setting-it's the best thing I've found. Check it out!

Menu for the Week

photo via Breakfast Lunch and Dinner

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Cream Sauce, couscous, asparagus

Garlic Chicken Farfalle, baguette, salad

Fish Tacos, watermelon

Frozen breaded tilapia filets at Costco, corn tortillas, cabbage, LiteHouse jalapeno Ranch dressing and Harmon's store made salsa

Grilled Salmon with mango salsa, rice, asparagus

Costco had the most delicious box of almost perfect mangoes...add a little red onion, red pepper, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice and salt to taste

Grilled Balsamic Chicken Bruschetta Sammy, watermelon

Grilled hamburgers, chips, fruit

BLT's, apples, Toffee Fruit Dip

I think menu sharing is the best idea...I love all the foodie blogs out there. I have found some of the yummiest things and some twists on things I have been making for years!

Father's Day

Just some fun photos from Father's Day. We went to my parents after church for some yummy food and good company.


The cake Maddie made completely by herself-words and all! She was trying to be so secretive the entire time she was making it...telling the guys to get downstairs and watch golf!

I love the progression from this photo to the next...mostly from Bob and my dad...can you tell Bob is ready to be done taking his picture (he can be so charming). Sometimes men can be do difficult when you're trying to take their picture...very impatient. Maybe it's not all men, just my husband!

I Want These!

About a year ago, my sister Kelli told me that her father's company was making colored garden hoses and now...I see them on line...I wonder if they're made by her father's company? These would almost make watering the flowers fun. You can get them here.

What's Up?!

It seems like everyone's been in a blogging slump lately...including me. I can't seem to put my finger on the problem, but it's kind of been the last thing on my mind...

But for a quick update of the past couple of weeks:

Maddie and Wills finished up at Challenger. I must say, I cried knowing it was the end of Challenger for Maddie and never really started for Will! The Orem Challenger is moving up to Traverse Mountain (a good 20 minute drive each way). I would be spending a good 2 1/2 hours of my day in the car...no thank you! However, I am sad to see Maddie leave Challenger. She has made some wonderful friends and has received an EXCELLENT education. I have her enrolled in the Accelerated Learning Class at Foothill Elementary in Orem. And I met with the teacher a month ago and the 5th grade curriculm is what she did in 4th grade at Challenger. I'm not quite sure how 5th grade is going to go for her. It's really weighing heavily on my mind-I'm sure it will all work out. As for Will-he's just excitied to be going to Kindergarten!

The school year ended with lots of festivities, The Family Picnic, A class party for Maddie in Highland, Field Day and Maddie spending her last day of school at home in bed with Strep Throat-bummer! She tried going to Field Day, but after a couple of hours, she begged me to take her home.

The Family Picnic at Scera Park

A couple of moms in Maddie's class hosted a party in Highland at their swim and tennis club one day after school. They had so much fun. Mrs. Johnson came and the class presented her with a wonderful gift. They ate, swam, played karaoke and had a great time playing! What great memories they made.



And you know Summer has started if you have a little boy and he's playing T-Ball!

Friday Night Fun

Having trouble deciding what to do on a Friday night?...We were. Bob was "itching" to take a drive in the new car. (We got rid of the van and got a Yukon Denali a few weeks ago). So we decided to take a drive up to Squaw Peak...and I forgot my camera so here is a shot from my phone.


We took a little hike up this path and a little way up, I realized my shoes were not fit for the rocky trail. I headed back down and Bob and the children kept going. I spent some time alone looking out over the valley-so beautiful! After a while, I hear these mountain bikers coming down the same trail we all went up...they were going incredibly fast...then I hear Bob scream "Will" and then I hear William screaming as he's coming down the trail. Apparantly, Will had run ahead of Bob and Maddie and was out of their view. Then the bikers came and Bob was hoping Will had got out of the way-he had and he got a little turned around and thought he was lost! He found the trail and ran down it screaming "Mommy!" Needless to say, we headed home right after that!

We went for treats at Sub Zero Ice Cream. Yummy Treats. I like it because it's hard ice cream with mixins, not as soft as Cold Stone. You choose a base that's liquid and they freeze it with Liquid Nitrogen-Maddie and Will thought it was pretty cool!

Not too exciting of a Friday night...but it was good, cheap fun!