A Raspberry Parable

It is funny how great you think something is until you taste something that is even sweeter than you ever could have imagined. This happened today. While in Colorado at the dude ranch, we had some great raspberries. They were very sweet and sumptuous, and I enjoyed them every morning for breakfast. Then today, I headed to our local organic farm for some fresh vegetables. I ended up with four pints of raspberries because they looked so delicious and the sales lady told me that this was the last of the berries. I can't even describe how superb these berries were. The seeds were soft and subtle and the raspberries tasted more like a true raspberry than any artificial substitute. They were the perfect raspberry and honestly by far the best raspberries that I have ever tasted in my life. Even the sweetest raspberry that I ate in Colorado paled in comparison to these. Raspberries do indeed get sweeter, yet I would have never have know this until I ate these berries. I have been thinking about these new berries in comparison to life. There have been times where I thought that I was the happiest that I could have ever been, yet just with the raspberries I have found even more sweetness around a turning corner than I ever would have thought were possible. The sweetest, most perfect raspberry my mouth has ever tasted, for today, reminded me of an even greater lesson.

Camping Project: Day 7 ~ Campfire Cooking

In celebration of pioneer day and to work on our project, we headed to the beach to do some campfire cooking on Friday. Benjamin and I made shish kabobs earlier in the day. He did the vegetable ones with zuccini, squash and mushrooms while I did the steak and onion ones. Then we made a tinfoil dinner of potatoes. When Stephen came home, we headed out to make our fire, cook, and eat our dinner. While at the beach, I think Benjamin was more interested in playing in the sand and water than actually helping with any of the cooking. Oh well~ he did get more involved when it came to making s'mores yet again. We did have a wonderful summer evening being together as a family and maybe learned a bit more about campfire cooking.

Family Reunions

We spent a good part of July in Utah and Colorado for family reunions on both sides of the family. We started out in Utah and spent some time with Rebecca's immediate family. Here are some pictures. You can click on any of the pictures below to enlarge them.



Next we went to Cedar City for a big reunion with all of Rebecca's Dad's side of the family. Here are some pictures.



After that we flew to Colorado for a family reunion with Stephen's side of the family. We began the reunion at a KOA in Canon City. We at a great time at the Royal Gorge Bridge Park.



After a couple days at the KOA we went to a Dude Ranch about an hour south. We had a really fun time!

Camping Project: Day 6 ~ Learning about Campfire Cooking

In preparation for our cook-out this Friday night, we learned about different ways to cook over a campfire. We researched pictures online of different ways to cook. We learned about how to cook over the flames of the fire and the coals. We learned about tin foil dinners, shish kabobs, grilling, and dutch oven cooking. Partly because we don't own a dutch oven yet, we decided to focus on making and cooking tinfoil dinners or shish kabobs over a grill. We got out our campfire and used our play food to learn about it and practice.

Here is Benjamin's version of what we learned today. "I learned about camping stuff. We can cook under a fire on the coals. We can cook over a fire on a grill. We make a tinfoil dinner on a fire or on a grill. The tinfoil dinner you can put tinfoil on it with some potatoes and tomatoes or some cinnamon all over the apple too. We had to wrap it up and then put it on the grill or the coals. And then we can put the whole thing done and then the shish kabobs is done and ready to eat. I am excited to cook on the campfire with my family. Done by Benjamin Norman and my helper Mommy."

Camping Project: Day 5 ~ Making S'mores

We had several opportunities, three I think, over our vacation to make s'mores. Benjamin even helped Stephen make the fire at the KOA campground. He loved to roast his own marshmallows. He learned how to roast the marshmallow while trying not to catch it on fire. He also remembered that to make the fire you need newspaper, wood, and matches. We love some campfire s'mores.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Camping Project: Day 4- Cabela's

Papa is our camping expert and so he took the children to Cabela's. The question we were working on answering was what kinds of equipment do you need to do camping. Each of the children had a checklist of things they should look for at the store. The checklist had on it tent, lantern, flashlight, campstove, sleeping bag, and tarp. Then they each looked for other equipment that wasn't on the checklist and took a picture of it. They also enjoyed lunch at Cabela's.

Five Months Old

Camping Project: Day 3

Benjamin seems to be obsessed about the s'more part of camping. (He is a boy after my own chocolate heart.) My plan was to go have a campfire somewhere, but literally Stephen and I have had church meetings, activities, or dinners planned solid for an entire week straight. I know that we will get our campfire in one of these days with s'mores, so we decided to do a bit of investigation online. I found a video of a funny song about s'mores on youtube, and then we decided we would write a recipe so that when we do make the s'mores we would know how to do it. Here is the song and the recipe.