Summer School

The last two years we continued to do school all summer long. It was too hot and humid to play outside, the boys didn't even want to go out to swim. This year, I just feel like I need a break.

Our summer curriculum will consist of reading library books, our Zoobooks, High Five, Which Way USA and Kids Discover magazines and traveling to National Parks. We plan to visit Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon and it's so awesome that we now have free access to these National and state parks!

We also hope to spend a lot of time at the pool and park, make lots of ice cream and just spend more time playing together before these little boys are all grown up.

Las Vegas, Nevada LDS Temple Pictures

Visit my temple website to download these free pictures of the Las Vegas temple.

Photographing temples is actually harder than you would think. Especially older temples. They are usually surrounded by houses and on busy city streets so it's difficult to find a place to stop to take pictures without people or cars in your photo. Once you do find a good spot, they are usually surrounded by trees so it's still hard to get a good shot unless you are inside the gates, but once you're inside the gates the temple is so massive that it's hard to fit it all in the lens. Sometimes I wish I had a helicopter...

I have seen pictures before of the Vegas temple with the spires and the city in the background and knew I wanted one like that. Unfortunately once I got there I realized there really isn't a great spot to get that photo (again, helicopter would be nice). There is a small hill and a mountain behind that. Anthony took the boys to explore a little cave and I began walking over to see if I could get a good shot. Fortunately I found a hill of gravel stacked up and made my way (in flip flops) over and climbed to the top. It was a bit off center, but it best I could do without falling off. As I started climbing down, I saw the van driving away! Apparently my husband couldn't see me and thought I had walked back down the hill to the temple... Fortunately I made it back to the temple before he left the city ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoy taking them!

Mt Whitney, St. George & Kolob Canyon

Our last stop in California was Mt Whitney portal. My husband is working on visiting the high points in each state, and I think this makes #38. He hiked alone, starting around 3am and it took a greuling 14 hours to hike the 22 mile round trip that climbed 6,000 feet of elevation.

The boys and I stayed at the hotel and swam and dug in the dirt all day.

We drove through death valley on the way home, very appropriately named.

We decided to stay overnight in St George so we could see my family. I took a few more pictures of the St George temple (you can download them from my free temple pictures site). We discovered the most family-friendly hotel- the St George Inn & Suites. They are extremely affordable and have both an indoor and outdoor pool and playground. The boys had so much fun and we will definitely be staying here again when we come to see family.

On our way to Cedar we stopped by Kolob Canyon to do a little hiking around.

It was a fantastic trip, the only downside was having to say goodbye for another four months. Oh, and I did get pictures of the Las Vegas temple, I'll share those next.

Los Angeles, California LDS Temple

Click here to download free pictures of the Los Angeles, California LDS Temple.

The LA temple is situated right on Santa Monica boulevard and is a pretty spectacular sight. It was the first temple constructed in California and at the time of construction it was the largest temple. It was announced back in 1937 and completed in 1956. There's a cute story on the lds temple website about the angel Moroni statue:

"The 15½-foot figure of the angel Moroni, sculpted by Millard F. Malin, was placed atop the temple in October 1954. During one of his frequent visits to the temple, President David O. McKay noticed that the angel faced southeast as did the temple. He informed architect Edward O. Anderson "that it was not correct in that position…that the angel must face east." The angel had generated much conversation among the neighbors, and one indicated, perhaps tongue in cheek, that she "certainly never would be interested [in learning more about the Church] until the angel faced her home." One morning she awoke to find the statue "was looking directly at her place." Brother Anderson had followed President McKay's instructions to turn the angel.^"

Click to download these and more free images of the LA temple.

Disneyland

Next stop on our trip was Disneyland! We've taken them to Disney World 4 times, but this was our first time to Disneyland. The boys had such a great time, especially Joshua who was too short for any of the Sea World rides (by an inch) and really wanted to go on a coaster. Last year we told them we weren't waiting in line for pictures with the characters again, but we lucked out and only had to wait 10 minutes to see Mickey.

It was interesting to see some of the same rides and some that were different. The Nemo ride was definitely better here than at Epcot, but there were a few favorites that were missing. We really liked that we could just walk to the parks rather than lugging all our stuff between shuttle bus and monorail.

I think this is our last Disney trip for a while, especially since we probably won't live close to Orlando or Anaheim in the future. It will be fun to bring the boys back when they are a bit older and can all ride the big rides.

San Diego, California LDS Temple Pictures

The San Diego temple is one of my very favorites. The inside is just as amazing as the outside and is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. It truly is heaven on earth. You can download this free artwork of the San Diego, California LDS Temple by visiting my temple photography website. Enjoy!

Beautiful San Diego

We're back from a fabulous trip to California! Our first stop was the beach in La Jolla. This is my favorite beach because you can always see the sea lions sunbathing on the rocks, it's hard to tell, but there are about 30 sea lions on those rocks below, they are stacked side by side nearly on top of each other.  

Then we headed over to Pacific Beach where the boys did some body surfing and building castles in the sand. It has been way too long since we have been to the beach.

Sea World was amazing as always. This is our first time at Sea World California, but it's pretty much the same as Orlando. We walked until we dropped, and then walked some more.

We visited the Mormon Battalion which was really cool. They have an interactive presentation, commemorative photo, the kids can pan for gold, and the tower has a great view. We walked through old town and then over to Coronado where we attempted to fly kites on the beach.

The San Diego Maritime Museum was pretty neat. We went on a bay cruise and got to go inside a submarine, the ship used for Master & Commander, and more. We even saw wilson ;)

Only wish we had a few more days to see friends and spend more time on the beach!

Life Lessons {from the little guys}

I recently watched the movie Grace Card and a really powerful message stood out to me. The quote was “I don’t know about you, but it sure seems to me that when God’s got something to teach me, He brings me a teacher."

I couldn't help but relate this to myself as a mother. My children are my teachers. They teach me gentleness, patience, faith, meekness, diligence, humility, charity, and above all long-suffering. Every Christlike attribute the Bible teaches us to develop, can be learned by caring for these little ones. It's definitely not an easy lesson to learn at times, but I've come to realize I'd rather learn them this way than any other.

I recently re-read Elder Packer's talk from conference titled And a Little Child Shall Lead Them, a fabulous talk about the importance of children and the love Jesus has for those little ones. I love where he says "One of the greatest discoveries of parenthood is that we learn far more about what really matters from our children than we ever did from our parents." It is so true. I always thought parenthood was about me being the teacher, but I am the one who is taught the greatest lessons.

Here are some other things they teach me:

I'm grateful for my {little teachers} and hope that I can learn everything they are here to teach me!

Homemade yogurt

After eliminating processed foods, I started buying plain yogurt. Having grown up on sugary store-bought yogurt, it was a BIG change. A hard one to swallow...literally. I tried adding honey and fruit and could manage it down, but I didn't love it, and neither did my boys. I had heard of people making yogurt before, and frankly thought they must be some kind of crazy to make something that really didn't taste that great. But lately I'm experimenting with crazy so I figured we'd give it a try...

You really don't need a yogurt maker, there is a crockpot method, but I kind of like having them in jars and it seemed like a yogurt maker would be more convenient, so I got this one from Cusinart for around $30. I was seriously intimidated by the thought of making yogurt and put it off for months after buying my yogurt maker. But, after getting our Magic School Bus Science Club Kit in the mail about bacteria, I figured it was now or never. After reading several websites on yogurt making, I wanted to just plunge in and do it the easiest way possible, even though it was slightly different than what the yogurt manual said.

9 hours later I removed the lid and stuck my finger in one of the jars for a taste. I was really surprised. It tasted more like whipping cream than sour cream. In fact, it was good. I put the jars in the fridge and waited impatiently for 30 to 40 minutes for it to cool more, finally just pulled it out and grabbed a spoon.

It had a slightly sweeter taste than the store-bought yogurt (I've tried regular and greek) and it was so creamy it reminded me of the heavenly European yogurt that I indulge in everytime I go to Germany (my first stop is always for yogurt, second for a döner and third chocolate). Earlier in the day I had pureed some strawberries, so I scooped a couple spoonfuls and mixed it in. YUM. I actually like it better warm than cold, there is still a learning curve for your tongue, but add a little maple syrup and some ripe fruit, the creaminess will overcome the bitterness.

When I came back from Germany the first time, I actually wrote Danon asking them why on earth couldn't they sell the same yogurt here that they sell in Germany? Their Obstgarten yogurt is to die for! Now I never have to crave European yogurt again, I can just make my own. I am so excited! Joshua snuck out of his bed and saw me indulging, so I gave him a spoon and his entire face lit up when he took a bite. He said "this is the best yogurt in the world!"

There are a dozen ways you can make yogurt. After viewing several recipes and techniques, it kind of seems like you can do it however you like. Here's how I make it with my yogurt maker.

5 cups whole milk (that's right, full fat, and no it doesn't have to be raw)
1-2 tablespoons plain greek or any yogurt with live active cultures

Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Everything I read indicated that boiling the milk produced a thicker yogurt, and that's what I wanted (another reason why I recommend whole milk rather than skim or 2%). The longer you boil, the thicker it will be. I don't have much patience so 20 minutes is my max- stir constantly once it starts to boil to prevent the milk from burning. It will be frothy and foamy (be careful it will boil over if you don't stir it!) Some people add powdered milk, but that kind of goes against my whole non-processed foods thing, so I wanted it to thicken the "natural" way.

Remove pot from heat and let cool until warm but not hot. Stir in a cupful of warm milk with your 1 to 2 tablespoons of yogurt (after your first batch use your own yogurt as a starter), mix and then stir back into the pot. *Do not forget this step! If you just stir your cold yogurt into the hot milk it will curdle and ruin your entire batch. Trust me.

Pour into glass jars and follow the instructions of the yogurt maker (i.e. plug in and turn on). The longer you heat it, the thicker it will be. I do mine for 9 to 10 hours and it's creamy and thick. If you wanted it extra thick like greek yogurt you'd have strain it with cheesecloth. I didn't and I'm pretty happy with how it turns out.

I highly recommend giving this a try, plus, the kids love to help.

FREE Homeschool Daily Planner 2012-2013

I've added a new Homeschool Daily Planner for 2012 to 2013. You can download it free from my homeschool page.

I view this planner as my child's educational resume. This is where I keep track of everything that he accomplishes during the year. At the end of the year, it will be the first thing I include in his yearly school portfolio outlining the days he attended school, the schedule we kept, the curriculum we studied, books we read and other activities of educational value.

I like to laminate the daily schedules and use a wet/dry erase marker so I can re-use the pages and easily make changes when needed. I also realized that there were many things we did together, like baking bread or making yogurt, planting herbs, traveling, attending a cultural event, etc... that I wasn't documenting as "school". So I've added a page to keep track of those real-life learning experiences as they occur. Hope this is helpful to some of you!

You can download my Free Homeschool Daily Planner for personal use here.

*Artwork created with brushes from www.obsidiandawn.com 

Memorization, scriptures & poetry

We often hear that children's minds are like sponges, however a sponge eventually gets full, a child's brain expands limitlessly to hold all the knowledge it can. I am constantly amazed at how much my children remember. My two year old has learned to count in Korean simply by attending his brothers' Tae Kwon Do classes. My oldest learned all thirteen articles of faith by age 3 and my middle son learned the entire poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost at age 3. Here are the resources I use to help my kids memorize.

Scripture Mastery CD's: There are some great scripture mastery songs you can download for free by The Sons of Ammon. I play them in the car and my boys can sing quite a few of the songs. Ethan can even say Helaman 5:12, quite impressive for a 5 year old, these songs really do work!

Article of Faith CD's: Ethan learned all thirteen articles of faith by age three and all I did was download the articles of faith songs, burn them on a cd and play them each morning during breakfast. You can find them at lds.org under the letter "T". We review them on our way to or from church on Sundays. He actually knows them better than I do. I know all the words to each, but I often get the numbers mixed up and he has to set me straight.

Scripture Memory System: There are other scriptures that I like them to memorize, such as Philipians 4:13 and Joshua 24:15. We try to work on one each month. When they get a bit older we'll use this scripture memory system.

Poetry: I love poetry and want my boys to love it too. Using my iPhone voice recorder I read about 70 poems, particularly ones that would be easy for the boys to memorize, with a few challenges (like The Road Not Taken) and burned them to a cd. We listen to them when we are in the car driving around town and they each have at least 10 poems memorized. One of our favorite poets is Jack Prelutsky. He has some super silly poems for that are perfect for little boys. This is my boys' current favorite, they laugh hysterically each time they hear it.

As Soon as Fred Gets Out of Bed
by Jack Prelutsky

As soon as Fred gets out of bed,
his underwear goes on his head.
His mother laughs, "Don't put it there,
a head's no place for underwear!"
But near his ears, above his brains,
is where Fred's underwear remains.

At night when Fred goes back to bed,
he deftly plucks it off his head.
His mother switches off the light
and softly croons, "Good night! Good night!"
And then, for reasons no one knows,
Fred's underwear goes on his toes.  

A few other favorites are:

Limericks by Edward Lear

The Rhinoceros

How Doth the Little Crocodile

Bed by Day

Wynken Blinken and Nod

I was going to post my audio files online, but since some of the poets are still alive, it might violate some copyright restriction...so if you simply don't have the time to record your own, send me an email and I'll send you my digital files so you can burn your own cd.

General Conference Scripture Study

I just got my conference edition in the mail and am so excited to review the talks. We've been asked to make the General Conference Ensign edition part of our regular study so that those message embeded in our hearts. One thing I've found that really helps me, is to incorporate it with my scripture study and journaling.

I start by reading through the talk, writing down impressions in my journal, then looking up each scripture reference and writing impressions about them. Not only does this provide a fun way to mix up scripture study, but it helps me to really ponder and apply the talks to myself.

For example, when reviewing the October 2011 conference edition, I came across the talk by Matthew O. Richardson titled Teaching after the Manner of the Spirit. I kind of sped read the first page was about to skip past it, since I no longer teach Relief Society I didn't think there would be anything in it for me. But I decided to stick with it and after looking up a few of the scriptures and writing thoughts about them, it dawned on me that I AM a teacher. Every single day. And the most important kind of teacher. This most definitely was written for me and I that I need to learn how to teach my children properly "real teaching involves much more than just talking and telling...and...the Holy Ghost teaches by inviting, prompting, encouraging, and inspiring us to act". I was so glad I didn't let myself miss out on this talk.

Real Food: Snacks

When you have little ones, snacks are extremely important. My kids need a snack two hours after eating breakfast, two hours after eating lunch and sometimes 2 hours after eating dinner and usually those morning or mid-day snacks are when we're on the go so I need an arsenal of relatively non-messy snacks.

I try to always have a basket of ready-to-eat fruit in the pantry where they can reach. This usually consists of bananas, cutie oranges, and apples. I also keep a basket or tray of pre-chopped fruit and vegetables in the fridge that they can munch on whenever they get hungry. Things like cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, carrots, red peppers, etc... I usually try to offer three different varieties of foods. Saturday, after picking up my bountiful basket, is my prep day when I get this all prepared for the upcoming week.

The great thing is that most of these foods are also great on the go. I used to think goldfish and animal crackers were the best portable snacks, but nature really provides the best portable snacks- grapes, bananas, apples- no packaging required.

Once a week I will make a special snack like fruit bars (larabars), brown rice crispy treats, no bake cookie bars, muffins etc... (I am constantly adding lots more healthy snacks to my food blog so be sure to check back!) and I usually supplement the fruits & veggie snacks once per day with cheese, cottage cheese or yogurt.

Here are a few of our favorite "special" snacks:

Larabars

Brown Rice Crispy Treats

No Bake Oatmeal Cookie Bites

Veggie Chips (aka chard chips/kale chips)

No Bake Cookie Bars

Fruit & Nut platter