You have to try these pancakes!

I don't think I may ever go back to eating 'regular' pancakes again! Forget the maple syrup. All you need is a little powdered sugar on top. They remind me of something you would only eat at a Bed & Breakfast. I served mine with cut up strawberries too-mmmmmm! I received this recipe from my friend, Ann Lewis. I knew if she thought it was good then I was definitely going to enjoy them too. Enjoy!


Lemon Soufflé Pancakes
In a large bowl, mix:
2 c. flour
2 T sugar
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

In a small bowl, whisk:
2 egg yolks (save whites)
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
2 T melted butter
1 ½ T grated lemon peel
3 T lemon juice

Pour batter milk mix into flour mixture, stir to blend.
Beat the 2 egg whites until stiff, gently fold into the rest.
Serve with fruit and a dusting of powered sugar.

Dedication

This summer has been an interesting one for us. Since May, three of our friends have lost their precious sons and it has left me feeling very saddened and depressed. I was able to attend 2 of their viewings and/or funerals and it almost broke my heart. Even though these sweet boys were not my children, I can't help carrying around a heavy heart. As a result, I haven't felt like posting any photos or doing anything this summer. These sweet boys lived their short lives to the fullest and I should learn from their example instead of being so depressed. Therefore, I am dedicating this post to them.

So...here's to Life, Family, Friends and FUN!

In June we had a yard sale. We did one last year too. We asked a few of our neighbors to join us this time and it was a lot of fun...and a lot of work. It feels so good to de-junk and earn a little extra cash! It was fun to see what stuff sold and what stuff just sat there! I jokingly put all my 80's earrings in a box just to see if anyone would touch them and ALL OF THEM WERE GONE after an hour or so! On the other hand, I had some brand new baby stuff (bottles and etc.) and no one bought those until the last 15 minutes! Very interesting...

The 4th of July!

These two received more candy from the parade than anyone else. They stood out of the crowd because they were dressed alike and because everyone thinks they are twins. After a while we had so much stinkin' salt water taffy coming out our ears that Ben finally asked the people not to give them any more. So the moral of the story is...if you want your kids to personally be handed loads of candy at a parade, dress them in identical clothing and tell them you have twins, triplets, etc.!

It was so hot outside that Luke started to overheat a little and had to lay down...but he was still so happy to be at his FIRST parade. It was actually the lamest parade Ben and I have EVER been to...but Luke thought it was the greatest thing and still talks about going to his NEXT parade. The world is so wonderful through a child's eyes.

And what could possibly be more patriotic than an American flag MADE IN CHINA. That's so American! It made us feel so proud. Watch out Ben...you probably have lead poisoning now.

Yeah!!!!!!!!! Ben was unbelievably excited to put on his own fireworks show. The kids weren't sure why Daddy all of a sudden had a case of ADHD.

Ashlynn wasn't a fan of Daddy's fireworks show. Here she is running for her life.

OH Luke pie! This little man always brings a smile to my face that I can feel from my head to my toes. He loves life and thinks it is just one big Halloween party. One day we caught him riding his bike in his Buzz Lightyear costume too. I noticed that his face was bright red and he looked like he was going to pass out any minute. I ripped off his costume and discovered that he was also wearing a long sleeve black shirt and black pants. It was 100 degrees outside!!! Crazy boy!

The many adventures of Luke Pie.

Luke likes to display EXACTNESS in the characters he portrays. He demanded that he have a 'curly' on his forehead just like Superman and he had to try to lift everything in the entire house...including me!

See what I mean about EXACTNESS! Luke asked if he could use the scissors to cut some paper and this was the end result. When my mouth fell open, he assured me that it was 'Okay' because now I was able to sew it back on just like the guy in the movie.

Needless to say, I couldn't be mad at him for very long. That toy is well loved and worth the $20 we paid for it.

Another summer visitor! Yay! This is our friend Stephanie and her cute kiddos. She is the sister of one of my roommates (Valerie) from BYU. It was fun to see her and meet little Hannah for the first time. Stephanie got herself and the kids ready and then made us pancakes ALL before we had church at 9am! She's a Superwoman!

Prison Break Season 3...hurry up!

OK. This is the 5th time I have tried to upload my June and July photos! Since I am unable to post any photos of my family at this time, I decided to go ahead and post something else so that I can stop swearing at the camera and computer for a little while.

Are there any Prison Break fans out there? I feel in some way I need to confess how I spent every single evening for the whole month of June. I usually do not watch TV-except for an occasional Oprah and Lost. That's it. I have never been a fan of watching TV for longer than one hour but....Ben rented 2 seasons of Prison Break and we watched all of them in one month. Watching that much of one particular show has caused me to have withdrawal symptoms. I also have dreams about the characters and find myself worrying about them during the day as if they were real people. I know it's sad... but true.

It all started when Ben asked me to watch one episode of Prison Break with him and I was NOT interested at all! In my mind I only committed to the one episode and that was it! I sat down and watched it and discovered that Wentworth Miller was in it. You know...the hot guy from the Mariah Carey videos! I know you know who I am talking about! If you don't, you better check out those videos. Anyway, Wentworth was definitely a bonus, but the show is written really well and is full of suspense. I now know more than I ever wanted to know about what men do in prison-but the story moves on from there and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. By the way, Dominic Purcell isn't so bad either. One more bonus for the show.

Don't worry Ben...I still love you. I was just making some observations from a female perspective-that's it. You know, while driving a car a women remembers or give directions using landmarks instead of street numbers. But we still get to the same destination and we still can both enjoy this show for the right reasons.

Just for Luke

In honor of the opening night of Batman, I thought I would post a picture of the cutest Batman ever! Luke's Grandma Carolyn made him this cape...which happens to be the coolest cape we have ever seen. Let me remind you that this cute little Batman has been known to go anywhere dressed like this. He even asked if he could go to church like this! Yeah. That would go over with the neighbors really well.

Random Thought of the Day

WALMART SCARES ME!

If you have been there lately-or at least the one in our town- you will know what I mean. The last few times I have been there I have observed large groups of severely obese teenagers-usually girls- who are scantily clad and overly loud and obnoxious...and usually sipping from the largest Mountain Dew cup I have EVER seen. To be honest it breaks my heart to see these girls acting like that and looking like that. They could be so much better:(

Have you ever tried to return something at Customer Service at Walmart? Well, I think the 'uni bomber' or someone looking just like him, was standing in line next to me waiting to return a backpack. He was next in line and threw the backpack onto the counter. The woman behind the register flipped the backpack over and pointed to something on the backside of the backpack. She said, "What's this?" The 'uni bomber' said, "That's my name...do you have a problem with that?" Okay...the dude drew all over the backpack with paints. The outcome was a very fancy-graffiti- looking like piece of artwork that spelled out his name. The moron had enough guts to attempt to return that! He then started swearing at the woman and getting very upset that SHE wouldn't accept his !#$@ backpack. Can you believe that? The idiot stood there for 5 minutes and would not move until she accepted the backpack. She became feisty with him and threw his backpack right back at him. At this point I was ready to grab my children and hit the deck or run for our lives.

Also...just a side note...I recently saw 2 teenage boys with a drug dealer in the parking lot. The dealer wrapped a rubber tube around one of the boy's arms. The other boy grabbed a syringe and shoved it into his friends arm. I was horrified because they were standing 5 feet from me in broad daylight next to my car!!! They turned and looked right at me, finished what they were doing and started to walk into the store behind me. Scary!!! I think I will stick with Target for now on. I personally think Walmart is a magnet for...well...let's just say the examples above explain it all!