GBE Day 6 - Young Womenhood Recognition

Amber and Co. with their medallions and certificates of completion.

This group of girls received their YW Recognition all together.  For Amber, this was a great achievement.  There were times she declared she was done with Personal Progress, there were times when she'd get geared back up, and then times she would wane again.  But in the end, she persevered and earned her medallion.  We couldn't be prouder of her.  

As you may or may not know, the girls have to complete eight 10-hour projects as part of the process.  Some of the projects Amber did were reading the Book of Mormon (mandatory for the Virtue value project), planning and preparing meals for 2 weeks, participating on the High School Tennis Team, and probably her least favorite, making a quilt.  Her favorite was her Faith Project in which she studied the Preach My Gospel book during Mission Prep.  (There is a potential blog post in and of itself).  You can see that it is a very cute quilt, but she didn't enjoy the process beyond picking out the pattern and the fabric.  Again, she finished, although, not without a lot of, shall we say, encouragement from me. :)

The very cute quilt, made by a girl who loves wearing rain boots.

The important thing in all of this is that she completed the program, and did it because she wanted to, and because of that it will bring blessings into her life.  

Good job, Amber!!!

Day 5 of GBE, and the end of the season...maybe

"Our spot"

 Summer is waning, and although I am excited for the crisp autumn air, the yummy fall food, and getting to wear my favorite clogs and cardigans, I do hate to see our time at the river draw to a close.  Today was possibly our last day at the river and it was a beaut!!!  
 This is "our" spot and today, although we had to share our rocky beach with a few other people, we were not disappointed.  The air was still, which means the water was smooth, which means the Trev and Amber enjoyed some quality time on the wakeboard.  

Trev making a sweet "dismount" (not sure what you call the end of a ride!)

Kristin is always happy to get her dose of Vitamin D!

Loading up at the end of a pretty close to perfect day!  (My kids have been incapable all summer of just smiling in pictures!!  Drive me crazy!!)

And today, in a break with tradition, all 5 of us mounted the jet skis and headed downriver for a ride.  It wasn't terribly far, and we stopped for a bit to let the kids swim, but it was nice to just ride and enjoy the rocky walls lining the river on one side, and the farmland on the other.  I feel gratitude for the beautiful earth we live on, and the safe and free country we live in!!

Day 4 - Summer Harvest and Vegetable Tian

The garden has been producing zucchini and yellow squash, plus cucumbers for about a month, but just recently the tomatoes and peppers have come on.

This is the best red pepper I have EVER grown!!  I know its not much, but I'm so proud!!

The zucchini has given me fits because I have tried all season to get them when they are small like the one pictured.  If you've ever grown this vegetable, you know that in the morning it won't be quite big enough, so you intent to pick it in the evening, but of course, you forget, so the next morning, it is large enough to be Fred Flinstone's club!!  AAUUGGHH!!!  (Actually the same goes for the crookneck squash!!  What is it about summer squash anyway?)

At any rate, there have been some successes, and tonight I was able to create this yummy and very pretty dish.  Its called a vegetable tian.  Maybe you know what tian means, but I didn't, so here is a definition for all of us.   

"Tian is a French word that describes an earthenware square or rectangular casserole dish.  A tian can be a variety of dishes but originally referred to a Provencal-style mix of vegetables that are cooked, baked or roasted in a gratin style."  

This definition comes from this website http://aspoonfulofthyme.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-is-vegetable-tian.html

Well, that explains why I was attracted to this dish!!  French Provencal-Style? I am there!!  This is from a recipe Chelsie posted on Pinterest, and it is yummy, but here is a tip...When it says to season the dish, really season it, don't just sprinkle a little salt, pepper and italian seasoning on it.  It can take some serious flavor.  And I didn't use potatoes, because the first time I made it, I didn't care for them, so they are gone!

This is a perfect way to use up those fresh vegetables, and is a nice change from sauteed, or steamed then mashed squash.  YUM!!

GBE Day 3 - The day after

The day after the wedding we went to church with Shannon and Steven.  The building we went to was right next to the Newport Beach Temple, so after Sacrament Meeting and before we took Mom to the airport, we took a few minutes to snap some pictures of this beautiful building.  

You will note that the people in this picture are pretty small, but I couldn't resist getting as much of the temple in the picture as I could.  

The history of this temple is interesting.  It was paid for by the members in the area.  Some paid as much as 30% tithing to help pay for it.  The original stone for the exterior was white, but the residents wanted it to blend in with the surrounding structures.  A local business had ordered the pinkish stone for a project and wanted white, so a switch was made and the result is what you see.  

It was a great experience to be in this temple, and I am grateful my kids were able to see it.  

Day 2 of the Great Blogging Experience (GBE)...

Its back to school time, so that means it's soccer time.  Time to head out to the pitch and watch the Bengals battle it out with their competitors.  

Kristin's first game was Monday, against arch-rival Coeur d'Alene High School.  The Vikings brought their A-game, but so did the Bengals who ended up on top 4-3.  Kristin said the Varsity team already has the same record as last year in league play!!  ;)  Maybe this bodes well for the team.  

Kristin got quite a bit of playing time, was credited with one assist, and was in front of the goal with the ball.  Unfortunately, the angle was bad and it wasn't possible to get her foot on that ball.  :(  But, she was pleased with her performance, the team was ecstatic to win, and everyone went home happy!!  They even lucked out and had a nice, dark cloud cover the sun for a large portion of the game!  That was a blessing for players and fans alike!!  

As a side note - I think I finally understand offsides...all those years of soccer have paid off!!  :)

Back-to-school time also means the first day of school, which was today!!  Kristin headed off bright and early to participate in Bengal Connections, and Trevor was so happy when he realized he doesn't have to wait for anyone like he did last year, so he won't have to worry about being late!!  That put a little extra spring in his step!!

30 days, 30 pictures, 30 posts

In a valiant effort to get back on the blogging horse, I'm posting 30 posts/30 pictures in 30 days.  It may be a failed experiment, but if one doesn't try, one won't know if something will work, will one???

So here's to a new blogging day, and we must start with the big event of the Summer...

Allison and Ryan's wedding!!!

The beautiful Newport Beach Temple was the place, August 10th was the day, and it was all a wonderful and fun experience.  There will no doubt be more pictures from the trip, but here are two of the happy couple.  (The top one is my favorite!!)

How did he do this???

A beautiful bride, and a handsome groom.

Here are a few more tidbits of info...

-Everyone from our family was able to come except Brandon, T1 and T2.  (You guys were missed!!!)

-Grandma Sollenbarger came to California for the big event, as did Shannon and Steven.

-I made Allison's dress from 2 patterns and a picture off the internet

-Their reception in California was a Mexican Fiesta!!  Ole!

-It was wonderful to have 3 of our daughters, and 2 sons-in-law in the sealing room.

-We had a simple open house in Lewiston after Ryan and Allison got back from their honeymoon cruise. 

Now the newlyweds are getting settled into their apartment and getting ready to start classes next week!

We couldn't be happier, (nor could they, I think!!) 

April in Review (and a Smidge of May)

Amber and Kristin were paired up as doubles partners for the match against Moscow.  They won the first set, lost the second and were tied 9-9 in a tie-breaker when the match was called for snow!!  Sleety, hail-y, snow!!

Trev's soccer season ended today.  They lost to Grangeville 4 - 2.  It really could have gone either way.

Thanks to this little guy, born 49 minutes before Grandpa's birthday...

I got to go hang out and play Grandma with these two...

And I got to make this very cute airplane quilt.  Notice the minky backing.  I love it!!

The whole Dallas family.

And the end of the school year means end of the year dances.  Amber came out of Seminary to find her car completely filled with balloons.  She said yes!!

Forrest, Mikayla, Amber and Aaron.

A little better shot of Amber's dress and yours truly, seamstress of said dress.  It was brutal toward the end, but it all turned out.

Of course, Freshman year wouldn't be complete without Freshman Dance.  Miranda,  Kristin, Riley, Ashley and Nikki - all fancied up.  (I made Kristin's dress also)  Hopefully her slip wasn't hanging out all night!  :)

And because they are Freshman, (well, really just girls who like to have a bit of fun) they had to jump on the tramp in their fancy dresses.  This is not a quality shot, but I think it conveys the feeling of the moment.