Treat To Share

Tomorrow we are heading to Yuba Lake for the Sweet family campout. So don't expect any blog updates until Saturday night or Sunday...
Anyways, we are supposed to bring a treat to share. I finally decided to make "All gone goodies". They are fast, easy, and very yummy. Do you want to know how to make them? I knew you would!

2 cups Corn Syrup
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
2 cups peanut butter
12 cups GENERIC Cap'n Crunch

Combine Corn syrup, chocolate chips, and sugar in a pan and heat it up until bubbles just break the surface. Remove from heat and stir in peanut buter until all melted. Add GENERIC cap'n crunch until the cereal is coated. Spoon only wax paper.

Trust me, if you used real cap'n crunch, the cereal stays too crunchy and they aren't as good.

The great thing about making treats that you drop onto wax paper is the messier your 'drops' are the better because the person making the goodies gets to eat all the pieces that don't stick to the larger 'drop'. Get it?

Well anyway, I have like a zillion things to do before I can consider myself "ready" to go camping tomorrow. It's a good thing we'll be gone for 2 nights because one night camping isn't even worth it for all the effort it takes to get ready.

Be good while I'm gone!

Happy Flowers, Dead Flowers

Dead Flowers


Happy Flowers, I love hollyhocks!


Dad and Sam just chillin'


Mom taking her turn as an "actor" on stage


Carson and Parker on stage


Dad...dancing?


On Saturday night I convinced mom and dad to go to 'This is the Place' park AGAIN with us. I needed to check on the flowers we planted at the beginning of the month. I was pretty happy at first because the flowers looked pretty good. Then I walked around the corner...whoah-a, those are some dead flowers!

We win some, we lose some... now tomorrow I have to call the gardener and give him a piece of my mind. Should prove to be a great time.

Right by our flower beds there is a pavillion with a stage. Carson hammed it up for an hour on this stage. He kept calling us all actors and we each had to take our turn on stage. Mom did a kicking line and dad was doing the charleston without moving his legs...pretty hysterical. Carson did a cartwheel and landed on his knee pretty hard and Parker scraped the back of his thigh. This is good because we can't consider an evening successful until both kids have cried at least once!

2 Years Ago Today

Tom and Nick Sweet - Christmas 2002

I know I am usually sarcastic and flightly on my blog, but for right now, I have something solemn to say.

2 years ago today, my nephew passed away. It was such a difficult time. I had given birth to Parker 3 days earlier and was thrilled to be blessed with another child and at the same time I felt like it was so unfair that my brother-in-law lost one of his children. Words can't express what transpired that day and the weeks that followed. James, you are a remarkable man and your strength is inspiring. You were able to find the light during the darkest times, which only made me love and respect you more than ever.

The following was Thomas' obituary.


Thomas James Sweet 3/18/2000 ~ 6/23/2004 BLUFFDALE - Thomas James Sweet, our precious angel, was taken tragically on June 23, 2004. Thomas lead his brother Nicholas into this world, and now, his mission completed, his perfect spirit enjoys the warm embrace of his Heavenly Father. Thomas never had a bad day. He radiated happiness and his love for others was genuine. His example and influence will teach us all to show more patience and love for one another. He loved to hang with dad, Sydnee and Nick. Afternoons at the pool with mom were among his favorites, along with slurpees and ice cream cones which he requested daily. He will forever be in the hearts of his parents James and Melanie Sweet and his best friends, big sister Sydnee and twin brother Nickolas, who share his infectious smile and love for everyone around. He will be missed by his grandmothers Fontella Sweet and Lois Bills, Grandpa Sidney Sweet and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Grandpa Stan Bills who preceded him in death will learn from Thomas how to swing a golf club and shoot a basketball and hip sayings like "yo, yo, yo wuz-up hot baby?" A special thanks to friends, family, emergency personnel and Dr. Morris and his staff at Primary Children's Hospital for their valiant efforts. A gathering to remember our time with Tom will be held at Bluffdale 1st Ward, 14400 So. Redwood Road at 3:00 p.m. Monday June 28th. Friends may call one hour prior. Interment, Bluffdale Cemetery. We love you and miss you Tom and look forward to the day when we will see your sweet smile once again. A Memorial Fund has been set up by our friends at Trendwest Resorts in the name of Thomas Sweet at any Washington Mutual Bank. Funeral Directors Broomhead Funeral Home.
Published in the Salt Lake Tribune from 6/26/2004 - 6/27/2004.

Happy Birthday Parker

Parker turned 2 on Tuesday, the 20th. We had a hectic week so we celebrated tonight. My parents made a yummy taco salad and then the plan was to open gifts. Well, Parker was perfectly happy goofing around at his grandparents house and it was really hard to get him to open his presents. Clearly he just hasn't grasped the concept. Carson, on the other hand, was practically impossible to keep away from the presents and the cake. It's just not fair for a 5 year old to watch his little brother passively observe his birthday! Just to keep him happy I had to re-light the birthday candles for Carson so he could blow them out. It was a really enjoyable evening with lots of balloons to blow up. Sam started a nasty trend...he would blow up his balloon and then pinch the edges so it deflated while making a horrible screeching sound. At one point Sam, Carson, and my dad were all doing the screeching song at the same time. Somewhere, something in my brain imploded, just a little.

Tonight Sam set up our tent and decided to sleep outside with the boys. Of course I'm thrilled at the prospects of going to bed and not waking up until my eyes pop open, but I won't hold my breath. I remember all those nights of saying to my friends "Let's sleep on the tramp!!". I think we would make it like one hour and end up hauling all the afghans back into the house and sleeping inside. Although, tents don't sag everything to the center when you sleep on them like a trampoline does! And I wonder why I have back problems...

Well, anyway, happy birthday Parker.

Fun Screensaver

Sam emailed me this screensaver today. At first I was like "whatever", but then I couldn't stop watching it and maneuvering George around the bubbles. If he gets stuck, just move him with your cursor.

Enjoy!

Who's Your Daddy?

Our neighbor used to live in Georgia and after he moved to Utah, he used to travel back to Georgia quite a bit on business trips. He emailed this picture to us and I can't stop laughing about it. In the email he said

"Some times, I miss the South…this is not one of those times….

For when the paternity testing shows make you wonder.....

This is a local phone number in Atlanta. Use it if you need it."

Thanks Mike Harris, I hope you never need this phone number!

I'm Sorry, But I Can't Stop Laughing!

Last night we had some friends over for Family Home Evening. We always get together on the 3rd Monday of each month and rotate houses. We decided to have some kabobs on the grill and eat outside. Carson has a little basketball hoop outside that has a hornets nest on it. The kids knew about it but that just makes them want to get closer! One boy, Tanner, was especially curious. He kept throwing the basketball at the nest. I'm a believer that sometimes kids need to learn their own lessons....

That's right, Tanner was stung on his upper lip. I had to keep apologizing to his parents because as the swelling got bigger and bigger I had to supress my laugh more and more. He looked so awesome! Everybody kept saying to Tanner "What did we learn tonight?" He would sadly say "don't play with bees" Oh man, it was so funny, er, I mean sad!

Enjoy the progession of pictures. The total time that lapsed from first picture to the last one was probably 1 1/2 hours.

More FHE pictures

Anabelle and Carson hanging from a tree


Every time kids get together they always get hurt! Here are Carson and Anabelle showing off their owies


Davis and Matthew Strong


Carson, Anabelle, and Parker under the canopy


Besides the bee excitement (see above) here are some other pictures from last night's FHE.

Happy Father's Day Weekend

Saturday we went to Curtis and Shandy's house and had a very yummy dinner. Dad did dutch oven potatoes in Curtis' fire pit. Curtis did some chicken on the grill. We also had watermelon and lots and lots of soda. Yummmm-EEEEEE! Then we did some s'mores. Carson loves to burn his marshmellow to a blackened crisp.




This morning (Father's day) we were awaken by what else? Kids screaming and playing. I guess it's appropriate since the kids are what make Sam a "father". Ha!

Sam wanted 2 complete work outfits for his big day. So here are his first attempts at trying them on this morning. I love the green shirt picture because that tie length rocks!




Happy Father's Day to the menly man or manly men or something like that...

The BM...(Big Move! What Did You Think "BM" Stood For?)

Friday night we helped Cody and Karena move into their new house in Cedar Hills. It's a beautiful house and I'm really excited for them. I can't wait to have lots of family parties there...hint hint...

I didn't get a ton of photos of the new place, but that's okay, I'll take pictures when they've had a chance to unpack and then you can get the full effect.

My favorite part of the evening: Watching Cody and Curtis haul the Love Sac up the stairs.

My not so favorite part of the evening: smelling Sam, Cody, Curtis, and Jed! PHEW!!! Hit the showers!

My favorite story of the evening: Jed's story about "Lamb Chop" his little lamb that he took care of and fed with a bottle until it was old enough to take care of itself. His imitation of feeding a lamb with a bottle is hysterical. But then as some children do, this lamb was very defiant and had issues with Jed. Jed SWORE that the lamb looked for him so he could charge and ram Jed's legs. Jed was ever so scared and clung to his dad one day while the lamb was looking for him, just as Lamb Chop started charging him, Jed's dad had a shovel in his hand and....... well, if you want to hear the rest of the story, you'll need to call Jed.

Fun Friday

Yesterday we visited Sam's mom in the hospital (she's fine). Carson radomly said "Grandma, can I have a dollar?" She said "I'll give you a dollar if you give me a hug and a kiss" So both Carson and Parker promptly obeyed and each received a dollar. They are treating it like a toy, all morning they held their dollars while they watched some "spongebob" on TV. Now remember, I used to play Monolopoly by myself so when I saw my children playing with money I was just so proud!



Carson's friend came over to play this afternoon. I went to check on them outside and we found this nice dragonfly on our sliding glass door! They thought it was so cool until it flew away, you should have SEEN them jump and scream with fright. Very hysterical!





Well, the kids woke up at 6:45 AM, so today seems really long to me. It's only 1:00 PM now... anyways...

Sweet Campout - 2005

Sam and Parker taking a hike around Payson Lake


Parker in the tent


Sam and Carson


The kids taking the raft out for a spin - literally, they just kept going in circles!
Brad, Angie, Sarah, Emilee, and Carson


The funniest thing about this picture is my nephew, Jordan, in the background. We caught him with his hands down his pants!


I don't have anything new to post tonight, BUTT...

In a few weeks we are heading to the Sweet family campout. This has been a tradition since before Sam was born (I think). This year we are going to Yuba Lake which I think is in central/southern Utah. Clearly I have never been there, but I'm sure it will be a blast. Sam has 7 siblings so there will be 7 siblings and spouses and somewhere between 25 and 30 nieces and nephews plus several more who have been invited (mom and dad, are you coming?). Anyways, here are some of my favorite pictures from last year's campout. We went to Payson Lakes, which is a favorite for the Sweet's. I'm glad Parker is older for this year's excursion, the older the better when you are camping... waking up in the middle of the night to prepare a bottle in a tent isn't really that fun, especially when Parker is screaming for all the other campers to hear.

Baby Birds & Surprised Parker

Asiatic Lilies in my yard

Baby birds in a nest right by my front door

Parker's reaction to the birds. Also, check out that lavendar bush!


Tonight I thought I'd take a few pictures of my flowers. As I was about to take a picture of my awesome lavendar bush, I heard some baby birds chirping. There is a tree right by our front steps. I pulled back a brach and found this little nest full of 5 birds. That is the 3rd nest I have found in our yard this year. We are quite popular with the birds, now if we could just find friends!

How do you control your kids on a Sunday afternoon?

How do you control your kids on a Sunday afternoon? By putting laundry baskets over them! Yeah, that'll teach 'em!

18th Ward Reunion

On Saturday night we attended the 18th Ward reunion, which is the ward we attended for the first 4 years of our marriage. It was fun and exactly what we expected-we knew about 4 people and the rest were OLD. Within the first 5 minutes of being there somebody fell and couldn't get up (I'm not kidding). There were a lot of old timers doing skits on a stage and all the white hair the eyes could behold. My favorite photo is attached, there was even a parking area for all the motorized wheelchairs.

Here are some interesting facts about the "Historic 18th Ward":
In 1883, the 18th ward chapel had the first church steeple in Utah. It was the first ward in the church to construct a cultural hall (1907), the first to organize the Junior Sunday School (1908), the first to charter a scout troop in Utah (1911), the first to use individual sacrament cups (1911), the first to organize a program for young men beyond scout age in MIA (1919), the first to organize a program for girls of the same age as scouts (prior to 1915), the first to host fireside programs on Sunday evenings (late 1920's), and the first ward in the Church to be divided and share the same building on a permanent basis (1939).

Also, 11 of the 15 presidents of the Church have lived in the 18th ward.

What Happens When You Force Your Child To Eat Their Dinner?

What happens when you force Carson to eat all his chicken?
A. He loves it and eats every bite
B. He's not crazy about it, but eats it anyway
C. He gags down one piece and then promptly throws up

And the answer is...... C!

Luckily he is smart enough to hold it in his mouth until he reaches the toilet. Then he dramatically scrubbed his tongue, with his fingernails, until all traces of the chicken were gone.

Nothing personal, Sam! I thought the grilled chicken was delicious!

Finally...Planting Day!

Today was the big Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment night where the sisters of my ward planted flowers at our adopted garden at 'This is the Place Heritage Park'. It was a very good experience. This morning I went to Okubo's Nursery with Amy Curtis and Alice Bolinder. Okubo's was nice enough to match what we spent, so we walked away with about $115 worth of flowers and only had to pay for half.

Amy and Alice went ahead of the rest of us and placed the flowers in the beds right where they need to be planted. It worked out tremendously well because nobody stood around going "where do you think I should put this??"

The end result? Dramatically different compared to what I saw when I first visited these flower beds in April. It was really fun and I'll cross my fingers that the flowers live and it stays pretty like this through the summer.

Here are some before and after shots...

Oh yeah, the one traumatic thing: I lost my voice a few days ago and there is nothing worse than being with a van full of awesome people and not being able to TALK!!! That is probably almost as hard as Nalani only being able to ask 5 questions instead of 20 to somebody she meets! j/k, you know I love you Nalani!