Chocolate Chips

Arthur is an avid baker.  He likes it a lot and likes it even more when I request something or try, and like, an experiment.  

While we lived in California over the last year, we went through a lot, and I mean A LOT, of chocolate chips.  Arthur made something with them probably once a week.  As a going away gift, my parents hooked us up with this...

...a 25 pound box of chocolate chips.  We were pretty excited about it.  

Now how exactly is 25 pounds of chocolate chips packaged?  We thought for sure it was in individual bags, like the ones you buy at the store...WRONG!

We got a KICK out of how we found them; in an ENORMOUS blue bag just loose inside.  We've since moved them into our own make-shift individual 2 cup bags.

The box was given to us before we moved to Utah and we were pretty curious how the chocolate chips would do on a move to Utah; with an extended vacation in Tahoe in the middle of that move.  They were stored in our van at the bottom of the storage space in the back.  We were pleasantly surprised when we first opened it to find them still tiny pieces of chocolate.  As we moved them into smaller bags, it turns out, the whole bottom became melted together, which is great for me since I like to enjoy a 'little' bit of chocolate 'every once in a while.'

Arthur will continue baking with the chocolate chips from this box for a long time to come.  I look forward to the experiments and the tried-and-tested recipes he'll make!!

Bonus on the 19th!

My amazing cousin posted this on her blog today...I loved it so much that I wanted all of you to love it too!!!

If you aren't smiling after watching that, something is wrong with you.

Being outside

We love spending time outside around here.  Lately the weather has been ok so we are trying to take advantage of that as much as possible.

Since Jett is big enough to be on the baby swing, Kade is having to get the hang of the big kid swings.   He's doing a great job and loves it!!! 

Jett loves himself a good swing too.  

In our complex we have all kinds of fun things to do.  There is a fairly large playground with several slides and monkey bars to boot.  Around the corner from our apartment building is the set of swings; one baby swing and three big swings.  There's also a half court for basketball, Kade's favorite thing to watch, and a sand volleyball court, which I hate because of all the sand that ends up getting brought into the house.  During the summer there's a pool and spa too.

The other day the kids just stood at the fence where the pool is and asked me a hundred times when they could go in the pool again...next Spring guys, next Spring.

Temple Square

After we finished up at the Church History Museum, we walked over to Temple Square.  

We first walked past the Tabernacle and explained a little bit to Maya what it is used for.  Then we walked to the South Visitors' Center.  In this particular building they have a large model of the Salt Lake Temple.  It has been cut out so people can see inside and know where each room is and what it's purpose is.  I'm a huge fan of this because I have a closet love of architecture and many people don't know this, but when my parents were doing construction on their house, adding on, I drew the plans in order to get permits to start the remodel.

Jett always enjoys being strapped to Arthur...such a fun age!!

We walked around outside a little bit and watched as grounds workers were setting up the Christmas lights.  We headed to the North Visitors' Center where the Christus is.  Maya really liked that we were hanging out in space while we sat and looked at the huge statue.  

By the time we finished up there, our meter was up and we had to be on our way.

We really enjoyed showing our children all the wonderful things that the church has to offer to those who come asking questions.  There are also so many things for us who are already members of the church.  It was cool learning so much while at the Church History Museum.

This is what Temple Square will look like in a few weeks when they have the lighting ceremony.  Very beautiful.

Church History Museum

On Friday, we got to spend some time downtown Salt Lake at the Church History Museum and Temple Square.

It was a pretty chilly day and I forgot my coat on the ground in our place because I had to get a water bottle for the kids.  I'm very forgetful these days so if I don't write it down on my grocery list or if I put something down (like my coat) to do something else, then it will never happen or get purchased.

We parked along side Temple Square and walked across the street to the museum.  We immediately went to the information desk to ask what we should do first or if we should just wander around.  

They saw that we had littles with us so they said that we should head upstairs to the Book of Mormon play area.

We wandered through the section that had several early church artifacts first.  Arthur really enjoyed that.  He'd never been here before and he really liked seeing all the neat things that make up much of our history as Latter-day Saints.

The kids stayed busy pulling a handcart.

There were so many amazing things to look at.  They even had a little replica of the inside of a ship that many saints traveled on.  They had bunk beds that the kids could climb in and get a glimpse of what it was like.

There was a whole lot more that I thought was cool; Joseph and Hyrum Smith's death masks, artifacts from the day Carthage was attacked and they were killed, some history of Nauvoo, clothing that the early saints wore, a sealing alter from the Manti Temple, and a bunch more.

After that, we headed to where they had the Boy Scouts of America display and the kids' Book of Mormon area.

The BSA area had stations for learning how to tie knots.  I was very interested in that.  Since I only spent like two weeks in Girl Scouts (wish I had stuck it out) as a Brownies and I've only observed my dad tying stuff down, I thought it was time to finally become seasoned in the art of tying knots.  They had big 1/2" ropes and a plaque that had pictures of how to tie each type of knot.  It was very cool.  BUT, I didn't last very long.  I'm a very visual person so when my knot didn't match the picture, I walked away. :-)

Next we headed to the kids' area.  They had Nephi's boat and the kids could help put planks together to build the ship.  They also had a large room that had every kind of kitchen appliance, utensil, food, etc.  Maya was pretty much in heaven there.  There were huge, soft building blocks that I enjoyed lounging on and Kade liked building them up just to knock them down = destroy!

The last area we went to was a dress-up area that taught the kids how to do popular Latin dance.

Maya and I are wearing matching skirts.

The adult ones were extremely heavy and, as you can see, had plenty of fabric to recreate the beautiful dances.

We ended the museum tour by walking through the hall called 'The Presidents of the Church."  It was very cool to read about some of the, unknown to me, experiences they had while preparing to be a prophet and while they were serving as the Lord's anointed.

It was a very fun day and very spiritual, believe it or not.  

Tune-in tomorrow for a brief summary of what we did on Temple Square.

Half way!

I can do hard things!

To many people this may not seem hard; writing everyday....but for me, it's VERY difficult.  We'll see if I can keep it up after November.  Maybe a couple times a week is doable.

I'm giving myself a pep talk :-)

Callings

In the LDS/Mormon church, many of the members have callings.  Callings are an assignment that allows one to serve wherever the Bishop (the leader of a particular demographic) and the Lord want.

These are unpaid positions that provide opportunities for a person to learn, grow, and serve.

Right now, I am the Nursery A leader.  There are three 18 month to three year old children classes.  Each of the classes has anywhere from eight to 20 kids.  And in each of those classes there are four capable adults that switch off each week.  

So, I attend the class twice a month and teach the children once a month.  It's really a great setup; I still get to attend the adult classes and I am able to feel fellowship with the ward members.

Arthur is the 16-17 year old Sunday School teacher.  He LOVES it.  I knew he would be great because he has a special ability to reach these young people.  When we lived in CA, he worked with two or three young men and he was able to connect with them. He let them know they had a friend.

He has taught a few times since he received the calling and he's tried a few things in order to establish trust between him and the youth.  He is a very good teacher and is very spiritual and I know he will help these kids do great things.