Random Act of Kindness

I just had to share this experience we had on the way home from our California trip.  We drove to Kingman, AZ on Thursday, and stayed at the Springfield Inn & Suites.  The next morning, we went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast.  Since we'd slept in a bit (all the way to 7!) the breakfast area was pretty full.  So we started navigating our crew around the tables until we found one.   So as we made our way to the table, I noticed there were two older couples sitting near-by and I was just hoping the kids wouldn't be too loud or obnoxious.  With older couples you usually get one of two reactions;  either they are crusty and annoyed, or they think the kids are the most adorable things they've seen since their own grandkids.

Well, we lucked out and these people ended up being extremely friendly!  A family of our size is used to getting all kinds of looks and comments.  Among the most typical are "Boy you have your hands full"  or "Wow, you guys are busy!" But this gentleman & his wife kept commenting on what a beautiful family we were and how you don't see people having large families anymore.  (I was pretty happy that the kids were all smiling and behaving well . . .) He told us that his company makes commercial baking pans and gave us $20 to treat the kids to McDonald's on the way home because his company makes the pans they bake their buns on.  

He and his wife were very taken with Sydney so I might have her to thank this next part. He then told me that his company just started making bakeware for home use and their line is being carried at Bed Bath & Beyond, and Williams and Sonoma.  If I'd give him my name and address, his wife would send me some of their pans for free, and if I liked them I could tell my friends about them.  I gave them my name and address, not actually expecting pans to come, but just thinking that it was a very kind gesture, regardless.

When they were finished with their breakfast they said good-bye to all the kids and told us if we were ever in Ohio to come visit their baking museum.  I just came away from that breakfast on cloud nine--feeling so good about the human race, and that there are still good, genuine, kind people, and people who believe in families--even large ones.  I also felt pretty proud of my beautiful, well-behaved children, whose worst offense that morning was blurting out how old I was.  :)  (It could have been much, much, worse, believe me.)

So of course we finished our drive home and got back into our summer routines (if you can call them routines . . .)  And then last week, I received a heavy box with these inside them:

2 jelly roll pans, 2 bread pans, a muffin tin, a 9x13 pan, and an 8x8 pan

Oh my goodness--I am still overwhelmed at the generosity of these people whose path we crossed on our way home.  I didn't even know their names until I read the card they sent in the package.   I haven't used these yet, but I will recommend them to anybody just because the owner has a heart of gold.  The brand is USA-Pan, made by the Bundy Family Baking Company and you can find them at Bed, Bath and Beyond, or Williams and Sonoma.  Three cheers for Russ & Liz Bundy, who we met at our complimentary breakfast at the Springfield Inn & Suites in Kingman, AZ.  I will remember them fondly, every time I bake something for my family.

Cookbook for Kids

At the last school bookfair, I bought this book entitled "Cookbook for Kids" thinking we could use it during the summer.

When we got back from California, I told Dallin and Daphne that each week they could choose a recipe and I would help them make it.  The results so far have been GREAT!  They are both really excited about trying out new recipes and are getting pretty independent at it.  Here are some of their creations:

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries-beautiful and delicious! 

It took great restraint to save them for dessert that night.

Crusty Macaroni and Cheese--so nice we made it twice!  

Daphne giving us a little entertainment during baking time.

Chocolate Swirl Cake (with fudge frosting that was TO DIE FOR!)

In addition to these tasty treats, Daphne made banana bread that was so delicious it was eaten before we could get a picture of it.  And Dallin made us french toast for breakfast one morning completely by himself.  

This cooking skill is coming in very handy.  :)

Happy Father's Day!

I was looking for a picture of my Dad to post for Father's Day, and I found this picture of my two favorite Dads of all time:

My Dad with my youngest brother, Nathan, and Arthur with our oldest son, Dallin. 

I am so grateful for Arthur, the father of my children, and my own father.  They are both great examples of men who honor their priesthood and who tirelessly serve their family.  Both of them are heroes in my book!  Happy Father's Day!

Daphne made this crown for Arthur to wear during his amazing Father's Day breakfast of homemade waffles, berries and cream.  I told him he should wear it to church.  

I think it would really compliment his tie:

I thought these ties were the cutest idea.  Our primary got these old white ties from the temple.  The primary children each helped decorate one for their dad.  For families with kids in both Jr. and Sr. primary, the Junior kids worked on it in their sharing time, and then it was saved for the older kids to finish up, so each child (except Sydney, of course)  helped to decorate that tie for Arthur.  When Arthur opened his tie, Sean was pretty disappointed that unbeknownst to him, Dallin and Daphne had added feathers. He didn't want any feathers on that tie.  (Evidently, he and Hayden had a circle theme going on with lots of shiny circles and pom-poms and googley eyes.)  

It was so fun to see all the Dads in church with their special father's day ties.  

Visit to California

May 27-July 2

Visiting Nona & Papa

Modesto, California

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we headed home to California to spend some time with Nona and Papa.  We got to celebrate my Grammy's 80th birthday, attend my brother Nathan's 8th Grade Graduation, and see my brother Reed, recently returned home from his mission.  I broke this visit into several posts so it wouldn't be so long.  (Maybe I should stop taking so many pictures!!!)

We loved being out there for Grammy's special birthday and spending time with Mom and Dad and the "Uncles." (Reed, Jacob and Nathan.)   

Making Cookies with Nona

She even let Hayden try cracking an egg.

Just a random picture of Hayden.

Hayden loves pacifiers.  We took them away before several months before Sydney was born, and he was doing great without them.  But when she was born, he started stealing her pacifiers, or coming over and taking a few sucks of her pacifier that was looped on my finger while she was eating.  Anyway, I let him have his pacifiers to go to sleep with.  A couple of times while we were out in California, he just went into the room and put himself down for a nap with his pacifier.  In this picture he is sucking on his favorite pacifier, has one in each hand and another one there just in case.

Nathan's Graduation from 8th Grade:

I know 8th grade doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it was a big deal for me that I got to be there.  I left for college when Nathan was 2 and got married a year later, when Nathan was not quite 3 years old, and as a result I haven't been there for all those little things that family go to; sporting events, performances, his baptism, etc.  So when we found out that Nathan was graduating from 8th grade the day after we were planning on leaving, we just decided to stay another day so we could be there for it.

Getting his diploma. (or certificate?  I don't even know what you get when you graduate from 8th grade.)

Nathan with Mom and Dad.

He is officially taller than all the girls in the family.  

(Even Natalie, though she'll tell you otherwise.) 

Mom and Dad with their boys.

Just bein' silly.

Since the grandkids were there, Mom got a pinata for us to celebrate with.  We ended the night with delicious ice cream sundaes with yummy homemade chocolate sauce. mmm.

Hayden

Sean

Daphne

Dallin

We got some sweet videos of the uncles with the pinata, so enjoy that below.

Huddling together for warmth.  It was so cold out there!  

And I told my kids, "Oh, don't pack that long-sleeved shirt--you'll be so hot!"  Well, it was not hot--the only time we broke out the swim suits was at the hotel on the way home, and we were borrowing sweaters from everyone who had extras. But we had a great time anyway!  Thanks for putting up with our noise and our messes, Mom and Dad!  (And Reed, who gave up his room for us.) 

We love you guys!

VIDEO UPDATE:  I made a pretty sweet video montage of a "Surprise Gorilla Attack" (Uncle Reed scaring the pants off his nieces and nephews) and some funny clips of the pinata-breaking.  But I haven't been able to download videos directly via blogger for some reason, and now there is a problem with google-docs. So I'll try to post it later  if I can ever get past all these technical issues.  Can't waste any more time trying to figure it out!

California Train Museum

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
California Train Museum

Old Town Sacramento, CA

Old Town Sacramento & The California Train Museum

Arthur really wanted to take the kids to the train museum up in Sacramento.  He remembers going there on a field trip and loving it.  Uncle Reed didn't have to work that day, so he came with us, and Nona kept Sydney at home with her.  That ended up being great, because a stroller would have been a nuisance!  And Sydney wouldn't have been very impressed by the trains anyway.  Thanks again, Mom!

 We had to break a $20 to pay for the parking meter, and where better to do that than a candy shop?

There were barrels and barrels of soft, delicious, salt water taffy of all different flavors. 

Raspberry Cheesecake, Orange Creme, Huckleberry and Caramel were some of my favorites.  While I picked my taffy based on flavor, the kids picked theirs based on color.  I'm not sure what flavors they picked, but suffice it to say that not all flavors are created equal!  

We didn't have to coax these kids to smile for very long.  

They were in a CANDY SHOP for crying out loud!

At the Train Museum:

Had to get a picture of the family in front of the Santa Fe/Cochiti Car since we are from New Mexico, after all!

Hayden could have stayed in this section of the museum all day!

Hot Dogs and Pretzels with nacho cheese for lunch

And here we are sporting our fancy Cassette Optics Sunglasses, courtesy of Reed who is now an official Cassette Optics Sales Representative.  Haven't heard of Cassette Optics?  Well they are an up-and-coming sunglasses company founded by my future brother-in-law Jade.  You can check them out on facebook.  They're gonna be big, folks.

Visiting this museum made me think about how the railroad really changed everything.  It changed where people lived, (making some places much easier to live than before) changed farming and production since the farmers were able to ship their crops all over the nation, changed the way people travel, and in general made the country a much smaller place to live.  The railroad had a pretty significant part in the shaping of our nation.

Grammy's 80th Birthday

Monday, May 30, 2011

Grammy's 80th Birthday Celebration

Del Rio Country Club & Grammy's House

Grammy's 80th Birthday Celebration

Grammy and Grandpa arriving at the Country Club.

The great-grandkids greeting their Grammy.

(And I just realized what a GReat example this is of the poetic device alliteration.)

Grandpa, and his sons

Arthur and I got to sit at a table with all children.  I was going to say that was an adventure, but not really since we do that every day.  We just had a few extra little people than normal.  In fact, we were like magnets. Even the ones who were seated at other tables ended up at our table. They all knew that our table was the fun table!  

Grammy loves talent shows.  So of course, for her birthday celebration we had one.  Each family had offerings for the talent show.  Here are the married RJ Stone girls who came out for Grammy's Day (Natalie, Julianne and myself) with our husbands singing "Old Fashioned Wedding" from Annie Get Your Gun.  I can't decide if I am sad or happy that it wasn't recorded.  I think it was probably better live, but it's not often that we get the guys to sing with us, so I do wish it had been documented.  :)  Anyway, it was super fun for us to do this, and my kids (including the boys) still go around the house singing, "I wanna wedding in a big church with bridesmaids and flower girls! . . ."   

The RJS Men singing "Let the Lower Lights be Burning."  

They sound GREAT together.

And here is a video of the Great-Grandchildren singing to Grammy.

The RJS family's present to Grammy was a scrapbook entitled, "Patricia--Glimpses of Grammy from A to Z."  Mom and Dad provided the album for all the layouts and Natalie, Jenny, Julianne and I all split up the alphabet and did layouts for each of the letters of the alphabet.  Each layout takes anywhere from 2-4 hours, (depending on volume of creative juices -- the lower the volume, the longer it takes.)  And Julianne did all of her layouts with a gimpy hand!  (She had several stitches in her left hand due to an incident with a Cutco knife.)  Anyway, it was a labor of love, and we hope she will enjoy looking back and remembering glimpses of her life for many more years to come!

Looking through the scrapbook

Happy Birthday, Grammy!  You are still beautiful as ever.