And so it begins...

School year 2011-2012 is here and boy are the girls excited!!! They were up, ready and even practiced their piano before it was time to leave. Here are some pictures of their happy, shining faces.

E

E and M&M

H

R

The girls ready to go.

Here are the girls with their teachers. 

 Some of the teachers might look familiar. We've had two before.

We are so excited for school. It's going to be a great year!!!

Final Fling

Our summer vacation is quickly drawing to a close. We decided to have a final fun adventure before we are back to the daily grind.  We landed in Seattle for our end of the summer blast.

Here we are on the top of the Space Needle. It was JR and the girls first time on top.  I haven't been up there since I was about 8.  It's amazing to think that it will be 50 years old  in 2012.

The day was so beautiful and clear we could see forever!

(Including Mt Adams that JR climbed this summer)

Then we headed to Pike Street to eat our way through the market. We had hot mini doughnuts, chocolate dipped macaroons, pot stickers on a stick, bulgogi (a beef Korean BBQ), white nectarines, chocolate covered blueberries....So yummy! [I don't like seafood. So, though there is tons of it available we didn't eat any, yuck]

If you look in the background you can see a wedding party there for their pictures.

To end our trip we headed to the Seattle temple.  The girls love to go to the temple on our trips because their Primary has any child that has visited the temple that week come up and put a "fuzzy" in the jar.  My girls love to be able to go up.

Currently the temple is closed for cleaning. We were glad because we had the grounds all to ourselves. The Seattle temple has beautiful and extensive grounds. We didn't have time to walk all of it. The girls loved the bronze statues. Here they are playing Ring Around the Rosy. These statues remind me of the ones at the Nauvoo Visitor Center I always played on when I was a kid. 

Here are JR and E, R, and H on the back side of the temple

Here are JR and R. They were the only ones patient enough to wait while I tried to get closer. 

Here are all 4 of the girls. This is still on the temple grounds. We wanted to include S who was trapped in the stroller the whole time. Hopefully, soon she will be out running around with the rest.

We also were able to have dinner with JR's cousin and family. It was a great end to our summer vacation!

Life is Better at the Beach

So as the summer is winding down we decided it would be fun to head to the beach. FYI, the beach is one of my favorite places to go. I love warm beaches and cold beaches (I prefer warm). There is just something magical about looking out at the waves rolling in as the sand squishes between your toes.

I took this picture out the car window because I liked the view.

JR and S enjoying the day. It was sunny, but windy. We had to stay bundled up. 

Unless of course you are young. Then you play in the water for hours until you realize you are freezing! Thank goodness for a sister to cuddle with. 

 E is smiling because she has a dry towel and the sun. 

Here the girls are enjoying the sand and sun. I think they are discussing how to dig a hole to China. 

It was a lovely way to spend the day at the beach.

Summer 2011

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

Here is a great recipe if you have zucchini you need to use. My friend Leanne C. shared this recipe with me a few years ago.

1/2 C softened butter
1/2 C oil
1 3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, add 1/2 T of vinegar to 1/2 C of normal milk. Thanks to Grandma Z for that cooking trick)
2 1/2 C flour
4 T unsweetened cocoa
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
2 C finely chopped zucchini
1 1/2 C chocolate chips

Add butter, oil, and sugar. Cream together. Add eggs and beat in.  Mix in vanilla and buttermilk. in a Separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.  Gradually mix into other bowl. Fold the zucchini and 1 C of chocolate chips to the batter. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 C of chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy!