Basketball season is now over and we are on to baseball. Kameron and Kallan played basketball and had great seasons. Britton is the only one playing baseball and tryouts were yesterday for Major League, so we should know today or tomorrow if he made it. We sure love watching the kids play ball!
Why is it that everything always falls on the same day around here? This year the Blue & Gold Banquet was on the night of my "Stickman Class." I was really staying pretty calm, all things considered. We baked the cakes the night before and I frosted them-- Kameron's white, Britton's yellow. Britton wanted to make a spongebob cake and Kameron wanted to make his favorite book. After a run to Hursts for some cake supplies, we had about one hour to pull off TWO cakes. I thought we did pretty good, all things considered. I didn't get a picture of Britton's cake because he took it over to the church before I got my camera out. I hope someone in the ward has a shot of it because it was cute and he did it all himself with some fondant and edible markers. He made spongebob's face. Kameron had a little more help from mom and dad. I rolled and cut the fondant, Paul drew the picture, Kameron "painted" the book cover red with some red water since I couldn't find any red fondant. Personally, I thought they both turned out cute.
They had a good time at the dinner. Kameron got his Wolf award. He has been waiting for it for a long time. He tried to become a Wolf in one week. ;o) Hope he keeps up his enthusiasm.
Britton got a lot of activity pins and they both got some belt loops. You have to love scouting!
Paul celebrated his birthday just the way he wanted-- on a quiet Sunday with his family gathered around. It was fun to have all the kids home and be together. I couldn't convince anyone to wrap his presents nicely. This is what I got-- The biggest box they could find to hold his clothes with a newspaper taped to the top. Well, they did wrap a couple of things separate-- rolled them up in newspaper. You can call this frugal OR just plain old white trash!
The funny part is that I asked Paul for some money to go get him something for his birthday and he handed me the Kohl's card his mother had given him for Christmas. So essentially he got his Christmas for his birthday. Now THAT is a trick in frugality! ;o) Just so you know, I did spent a chunk extra to get more clothes since he REALLY needs some. But his mom did get a kick out of us using her Christmas for his birthday.
Here are a couple of shots of Jadon & Natalee Hunt for Jr Prom. Our kids grew up next to the Hunt's, so it was fun for him to ask Natalee to the dance since they had grown up playing together. They looked so cute and had a blast! That's what friends are for!
Last night Jadon sang at the tabernacle. It was his vocal coach, Brodie Perry's, concert. Jadon sang one number, and by our prejudiced opinion, stole the show! Here is the video. I need to preface by saying that the reason for the opening comments is that Jadon went to the mic and had to raise it because he is quite a bit taller than Brodie. Jadon said, "I'm a little taller than Brodie, so I have to raise this up" sort of a comment and everyone was laughing. That's why Brodie commented about his lesson coming up.
Since I can't figure out how to post it on here yet, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU8eHJ01yA0&feature=channel_page
I have found a new and exciting trick-- Homemade Yogurt. I guess it was taught in our Enrichment meeting in November when I missed, but Annette Bashford took it on and learned how to do it. I went over the other day for a taste and a lesson. I will tell you it is SOOO good and very easy! It is a great way to use your food storage. My family just loves it! I have had fun playing with different flavors. The vanilla is really good. I also like the banana with some bananas sliced in it. I really want to try a vanilla bean, just because it sounds good. When you freeze it, it is like golden spoon yogurt. So Fun!!
Here's the recipe:
20 Cups Hot Tap Water
5 Cups Powdered Milk (from cannery-- not Morning Moo's)
4 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Start (use Dannon Plain Yogurt-- or borrow someone's start)
2 tsp. Vanilla
Flavorings-- (I use oil flavorings that I got at Leavitt's Magic Mill and/or Hursts.)
6 quart jars & 1 pint jar
Place start on counter to bring to room temperature.
Put hot water in large stock pan. Put on stove and turn on heat. Add powdered milk and mix with electric hand mixer. Add sugar and whisk in. Put thermometer in pan and begin heating to 180 degrees. I stir constantly so it doesn't burn on bottom. When temperature reaches 180, turn oven off and leave it too cool. Do not touch it until it cools to 115 Degrees. It takes 1 1/2 hours to cool to temperature. Yep! Just let it sit.
When it cools to 115, add vanilla and start. Mix thoroughly with whisk. Pour into clean quart jars. When in jars, add flavorings and colorings if desired. Put lid and ring on, then place in "incubator." (My incubator is a styrofoam ice chest with a polar fleece blanket (1 3/4 yards).) Place bottles in incubator and cover with fleece, then place lid on top. Let sit for 7-9 hours. (If you make this around 8 pm at night, you can have it in the incubator by 10 pm and can wake up and put it in the fridge.
After it has processed for 7-9 hours, take out of incubator and put in fridge to chill 3-4 hours. Drain off liquid before serving. You can put it in little Glad 4 oz storage containers for individual servings. They can be placed back in the fridge or frozen. They make great little snacks for school lunch. The frozen ones defrost to just right by lunch time.
You can also add fresh fruit to the bottom of your container, then add the yogurt on top. Bottled fruit or jams are great to put in the bottom and then mix in, as well as fresh fruit. They are so yummy and easy.
The pint jar is to be used for your next start, so don't eat out of that one and make sure no one else does!
Tip: If you are using lemon flavoring, it is really strong. You only need about 3 drops. The peach, strawberry, and banana all need about 8-9 drops of flavoring. We just tried strawberry/banana with 4 drops of each, so we'll know how it is by tomorrow. I'm going to go get some other new flavors as well. (The strawberry banana is good. If mixing flavors add 3-4 drops of each flavor.)
Try it! You'll like it! The milk is fat free and it only costs 50 cents a QUART!!! How can you beat that??!! Plus, you get to use your food storage! Now we can survive off wheat bread AND yogurt! Isn't that a plus??!!
Here is just a little update on the family. We have really just been busy with school and work. Our Exfuze business is growing so rapidly. We have over 160 people in our group right now and we are working hard to help them all create some great income. The counter top business is actually still busy for right now. We feel so blessed to even have work. We're not sure what will happen next month, but for now, we are glad to have what we do.
Jadon is working on his Eagle project. He will also be singing a lot this week. He sings the national anthem at the basketball game on Wednesday. He has competition on Thursday and will be singing in the concert with Brodie Perry at the Tabernacle at 7:00 pm on Friday. Saturday is Jr. Prom. It is also our Stake Conference.
I am also trying to help Britton with the history fair. I've also started on Grad nite. Needless to say, I am running very ragged right now. Trying to keep my brain about me.
Paul's birthday is Sunday, so we will have a nice dinner. It will be the perfect day for him just to have his family gathered around.
We received the Greatest Gift on the 21st. A sweet granddaughter was born to Whitnee & Misi. Her name is Palo. She is named after Misi's great great great grandmother who was a Princess to the King in Samoa. I think she is so beautiful! But I guess all grandma's think their baby is the best!!
Whitnee did such a good job in delivery. (Thank you epidural!) It made all of our experience great. I have never seen such a tender and sweet husband and father as Misi. He is so kind and sweet in taking care of Whitnee and he just adores this little girl! I can tell you that NO ONE will mess with her! We do not want to face her dad!!
Everyone in our house is pretty excited. Paul and I are still having a little trouble with our new titles, but LOVE having this little sweetie around!
One of the most tender experiences was seeing Grandma and Grandpa Frei with her. I don't think I've seen Grandpa smile that big and for such a long time. You couldn't wipe the smile off his face. 
Whitnee wanted her dressed in purple just for Grandma Frei. It was so cute because Grandma was dressed in purple, too. It isn't very often that you have a 5th generation with BOTH grandparents! It was so touching!
Whit is pretty sore. She hurt her tailbone in delivery, so she is not moving very fast. She's doing better today, but we can't miss painkillers. She is such a cute mom. She is so good with her and is going to be a great mom.
We are having a hard time not taking a thousand pictures. They are just so darn cute when they are this tiny.
You can read about all the details on Whitnee's blog.
