Home By the Creekside

2 cups shredded chicken ( I chopped mine with my pampered chef chopper) 1 cup chopped celery 1 apple peeled and chopped up 1 cup cashews or almonds chopped Mix with 1 cup mayo (or salad dressing), 1 to 3 tsps of ranch dressing mix a packet, and 1/4 tsp pepper. We bought these cute mini hamburger buns in Arizona. I have only looked at Winco and they do not have them. If anyone knows locally where to get them, I would be happy. I could use dinner rolls but why bother? Yum!

I like FHE's when they are short and sweet. I have the attention span of a gnat during the summer. I loved the VT message this month and how there was a simple FHE activity. I went on the Friend and found more about Lehi's Dream. Here is the link . I discussed the pictures with my kids in small kid terms and then we did the activity from the visiting teaching message this month. The kids loved it and I think that they really grasped it--the lesson.    I have found that Monday evenings do not work for me but Sunday's instead. We are already in the church mindset. Why not continue the spirit through to the evening? Thought I would share....

We celebrated being back on our home turf with a weenie roast. I am in the pic yay! Even if it is my shadow. I even bought firewood for this occasion as our smores werent the best.See below. We had smores before our vacation. I can't remember if I posted them. This was the first fire in our fire pit. It wasn't much because I forgot to buy firewood. The only thing we had was our walking sticks and firewood from last year that was crappy. We did not have much of a fire but we had some yummy smores.   Isnt she cute? Next step...my dutch oven.

The kids really enjoyed the pool and so did I. I love my parents' pool. It was salt water. I loved floating in it and relaxing especially when the kids were in bed. Whoops..not a pool pic but I thought Sister Lou looked cute in that big hat. They went to the park. Me..I didn't..It was too hot. I am glad to be home in my 80 degree temps and cool nights.

We had such a great time visiting family and enjoying the 113 degree weather. The kids wanted their pics taken near some cacti. This was how about 40 minutes of our 14 hour trip looked like..wished they would have napped more. We are home safe and sound! See ya all next year..We might fly instead.

We are ready to head home...I love the statutes that are displayed in downtown Tempe. This one caught my eye. I wished we could have stopped and had our pictures taken in front of it...but I like my air conditioned car. We headed home with rain in Flag, rain on reservation, and some rain thru Jacob's Lake. Awesome! We saw the flooding that was happening in Flag...yuck! It was yucky because not so many weeks ago there was a fire north of Flag...The 1-2 inches they received sent everything a-tumbling down. Here is a link for your view pleasure.

On Wednesday, our last day in the land of the heat. We went to the Mesa Southwest Museum. I guess it is call the Museum of Natural History. In all my years living in the valley and in Eagar, we never went to this museum. It rocked! I wished that I could take my students there. This room was all black with flourescent lighting. The kids could write on those white board with light wands. Whatever the kids wrote would be gone in about 20-30 seconds. It was pretty cool. I loved the interactive the stuff. I have been wanting to do this for years with my classroom. I have wanted them to create their plays. Then act them out in front of a green screen and then use a computer program to put their scenery in. I think I am going to find a grant and write one! Sister Lou loved being on T.V. We would couldn't drag this little starlet off it. Isn't this cute? They got behind the TV and now they are projected into an old western. They had a part of the old territorial prison in th

Nothing's complete without riding on a merry-go round at the mall before heading back to Grandma's house.This was the kids' first time. We went over to my awesome bro and sis-in-law's house to celebrate my fave nephew's birthday...age 9. Can you believe how fast these kids grow? Happy birthday......

Of course...we must start our day with a yummy breakfast..Thanks Grandma... We took our kids to Sea Life Aquarium at Arizona Mills Mall.  My nephew and parents were coming with us but a certain nephew got sick in the car,  so we ended up being on our own! The kids here could touch real live starfishies and wispy white things. I think they were sea anenome. Sister Lou here kept pulling her hand in and out of the water. Daddy-o had to touch one and then show her it was safe...so cute. Then there was a huge tank with sand sharks, hammerhead sharks, and gobs of sting rays. Could it be giving us the evil eye? The kids and husband walked up the stairs and then walked out over the huge tank.  When up there, you have to step on a huge frosted glass plank...which freaked me out. The kids crawled in these tube things to look out into the water life. A bad picture of a shark.... This concludes are trip to Sea Life.