We did it!

After today, we have visited 11 of the 13 temples in Utah.  Our goal was to get to 10 by the end of the year.  The only 2 we lack are Monticello and St. George.  Both are about 4 hours from us, so they are a little too far to go to on a Sunday afternoon after church!  We will have to shoot for those next year.  Here are the pictures...

Jordan River Temple

Manti Temple

Logan Temple

Ogden Temple

Bountiful Temple

Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Provo Temple

Salt Lake Temple

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Vernal Temple

Draper Temple

Kids fall pictures

 Kaiden

 

 Nicolas

 

 Luke

 

 Afton

 

 Makensi

 

Garrett

Red Knoll Hike

Today we decided to take advantage of the 70+ degree weather and go for a hike.  We went up to the Spanish Fork Reservoir and hiked to the Red Knoll.  It was a nice short hike and even Garrett was able to do it.  We  had an awesome view of the entire Utah Valley from the top. 

At the bottom getting ready to hike.

Going up.

We had to stop and play in the black rocks. 

The view from the top!

Someone who had been up there before left a pirate flag to mark the spot!

 Garrett & Kaiden had to stop on the way down to throw some rocks down the road.

 

Garrett had a blast and went up by himself just fine.  It was going down that was hard for him.  Kaiden helped him out!  What a good brother.

School: Sept. 21-25

School: Sept. 21-25

Math - Individual lessons in Saxon; Kaiden - Algebra 1, Nic - 6/5 , Luke - 3, Afton - 1

Geography - Politics, Religion, Resources

Science - Astronomy: Constellations

Word of the week: conscientious 

Family Reading - For school, we are reading "Daddy Long Legs"; for fun, dad is reading them "Fablehaven 4"

Individual Reading -
Dad - "Brisingr" by Christopher Paolini
Mom - "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens & "No doubt about it" by Sheri Dew
Kaiden - "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens
Nic - Ranger's Apprentice 2 "The Burning Bridge"
Luke - Magic Tree House: "Midnight on the Moon"
Afton - Phonics practice readers

They also all do individual Book of Mormon reading and journal writing every day as well as passing off something in scouts or Duty to God/Faith in God for the boys.

Kaiden goes to the Provo Temple each week to do baptisms with a group of his homeschool friends and will also be starting piano lessons next week.

The kids Friday classes are:

Kaiden
P1 Art
P2 Home Economics
P3 Boys Dance
P4 Seven Habits for TEENS
P5 Choir
P6 Creative Writing


Nicolas
P1 Home Economics
P2 Shakespeare for Children
P3 Boys Dance
P4 Reader’s Theater
P5 Sports
P6 Science Lab


Luke
P1 I Love America
P2 Sports
P3 Fifty States
P4 Art
P5 Reader’s Theater
P6 Science Lab


Afton
P6 Choir

On Friday mornings after we drop the boys off at the Charter school, we have Kindergarten for Afton & Kensi with some of our friends. We take turns teaching. Today Jami & Pam taught about the letter A, apples, the book "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" and they made an apple pie from scratch. Kelley & I went to the temple. Next week Kelley & I will teach while Jami & Pam go to the temple. We LOVE this!

Fruit Flies?

We have been having a major problem around here with fruit flies. I saw the following post on a blog that I read and IT WORKS! Everyone should have one of these on their counters if they have fruit flies. I put mine out yesterday morning and have no more problem!

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/07/frugal-natural-pest-control-fruit-flies-ants-be-gone.html

School: Sept. 14-18

I'm sure that all of you out there wonder what we REALLY do all day every day. Sometimes I wonder myself! I thought I would start posting here so that I can see what we have accomplished. Of course now that school has started, I have little to no free time to blog, so we will see how trying to post weekly goes.

We love homeschooling and have such a wonderful time. This year we are in a great co-op with so many of our friends. We meet on Thursdays and do most of the English, Science & History projects together. This year for English we are studying Journalism; History - World Geography; and Science - Earth Science. On Fridays the older boys go to our local charter school for some elective classes and I have "kindergarten" with Afton, Kensi and 7 other cute little kids...and their moms. We are truly blessed and I am excited to share it all with you here!


Math - Individual lessons in Saxon; Kaiden - Algebra 1, Nic - 6/5 , Luke - 3, Afton - 1

Geography - Population, Climate Zones

Cooking - wheat bread, homemade mac-n-cheese, homemade ice cream & hot fudge sauce

Science - Astronomy: Stars

Family Reading - For school, we are reading "Dear Mr. Henshaw" & "Daddy Long Legs"; for fun, dad is reading them "Fablehaven 4"

Fieldtrip - On Sat. Sept. 12th we went up to the top of Woodland Hills with several other homeschooling families and had a star party. It was great fun running around on in the tops of the mountains in pitch black looking at stars through the telescopes. We saw Jupiter and 4 of it's moons, the binary star in the handle of the Big Dipper, Polaris, Cassiopeia, the Andromeda Galaxy, too many stars to count and of course the Milky Way. It was a perfect, warm night with no moon. It was great!

Individual Reading -
Dad - "Brisingr" by Christopher Paolini
Mom - "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart, "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens & "No doubt about it" by Sheri Dew
Kaiden - "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens
Nic - Ranger's Apprentice 2 "The Burning Bridge"
Luke - Magic Tree House: "Midnight on the Moon"
Afton - Phonics practice readers

They also all do individual Book of Mormon reading and journal writing every day as well as passing off something in scouts or Duty to God/Faith in God for the boys.

Homemade ice cream, hot fudge sauce & mac-n-cheese!

These are so good! So I am posting the recipes here to share (and so I will always know where the recipe is if I loose the hard copy)! I have NEVER liked homemade mac-n-cheese...until now. This recipe actually has flavor! It is so good. Enjoy!

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 stick butter
2 C. powdered sugar
12 oz. evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract


MIX chocolate chips, butter, powdered sugar and milk over medium-low heat. Bring to a slow boil, then simmer slowly for 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.



VANILLA ICE CREAM (probably triple this for a normal ice cream freezer's worth)

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1 c. milk
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract (or according to taste)

First of all beat and mix together the egg yolks and sugar until thick. Separately, pour the milk into a saucepan and scald it (bring slowly up to boiling point). Pour the hot milk into the egg yolks and sugar mix whilst continuously stirring. Then pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently, stirring until the custard thickens - DO NOT BRING TO THE BOIL OR IT WILL PROBABLY CURDLE. When you can see a film form over the back of your spoon it's time to remove the saucepan from the heat. Leave to cool.

(This is the custard base and one you can use in many other ice cream recipes where you want a rich, creamy ice cream.)

When the custard base is cold, stir in the cream and then the vanilla extract, then transfer the whole mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

BECKY'S MAC-N-CHEESE

2 c. chicken broth
1 c. + 2 TB. uncooked macaroni
3/4 c. evaporated milk
2 TB. butter
2 TB. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese

Mix everything but the cheese together and put in an 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Stir. Cook 30 more minutes. Take out of the oven and stir in the cheese. Serve immediately.

baby and dog

We love our dog, Cassadi. She is so good natured, especially with the kids. Garrett LOVES her. He follows her around, tries to ride her, pulls her tail and barks at her. And she lets him. These two are inseparable!

Morris family pictures

Everyone was in town for my cousin Jordan's wedding. Even Christy and Nick are in from out of state. So we decided to get family pictures. We had the best photographer around...my awesome friend, Becky! They turned out great.

Mom and dad

us

Sarah & Alex

Nick, Christy, & Raigan

Travis

Amy

Cloward Family in WY

We went to Green River, WY last weekend for the blessing of our cute little neice, Mia Bella. All of the family was there. We hate to miss a photo opp...especially when we are dressed up. Here are the pictures.

Our cute little family... lots of personality!

the whole Cloward Clan...all 21 of us in front of Nykki and Carson's new house!

Happy Birthday, Afton!

Cute, cute Afton. I can't believe you are 6 years old! Where has the time gone? You are such an independent little girl now who is trying to teach herself how to read. You love being a big sister and want to "mother" every baby you see, little or not. Your favorite colors are purple and pink and you love princesses. But your favorite Disney character is Goofy because he makes you laugh. You are an excellent artist and love to draw pictures and write notes to people. You love to give hugs and can almost always be found sitting on someone's lap. Your favorite foods right now are Mac-N-Cheese and hot dogs and pretty much anything sweet that you can get your hands on. You are so mischievous that you keep us constantly on our toes and guessing at what you will come up with next. We love you so much! Happy Birthday!

newborn

a couple of days old. You were our first girl, so we dressed you in pink constantly.

your big brothers were excited to have a baby sister even though we had them convinced that we were going to name you
Afton-boxdudderdox-berkhummer-snu.

cute, cute smile

1 year old

almost 2 years old

3 years old w/ your favorite kitty at Grandma's house


4 years old

5 years old

last month at the Mt. Timpanogos temple. You are such a big girl!