Flags at Roselawn Cemetary

Aryan placing a flag at a fallen veterans grave site

David and his teacher placing flags at her grandfather's tombstone

All three at Kristy's grandfather tombstone.

This is what we did on the Friday before Memorial Day. The CAR (children of the American Revolution) and the DAR (daughters of the American Revolution) do this every year. We have made it a tradition for us to do. It is fun and a learning experience . It had rained the night before and earlier in the day we weren't sure if we would be able to do this. The rain stopped and out we went. It was easy to place the flags since the ground was soft. We are looking forward to next year.

Homemade Trail Mix

Gathering the materials

Mixing it into a large bowl

Storage

This is how I make trail mix. I always add a big can of mix nuts, a bag of pretzels and about 4 bags of M&M's. I put 2 bags with peanuts and 2 bags of plain. I also add chocolate chips. The rest depends on what I have on hand. Almost anything can go into a trail mix.  If I add raisins and cranberries I don't add a whole lot because Aryan doesn't like them and he will pick them out. This batch happens to have coconut flakes because that is what I had. When I store it I put some into sandwich bags for lunches. I also have a clean ice cream container to put some in for home for snacks. You can also freeze this. We like this so much more than store bought.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Ever wonder on how to save money on some simple products. This is one of the items I save money on. I make my own taco seasoning mix.

This is what you need.

6 teaspoons chili powder

4.5 teaspoons cumin

5 teaspoons paprika

3 teaspoons onion powder

2.5 teaspoons garlic powder

1/8 -1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all the ingredients, and store in an airtight container. The homemade mix is twice as strong as the store-bought so add only half as much. I store my mix in the freezer and I don't add the water or if I do I add very little. I got this recipe from a book call tightwad gazette. I don't notice a taste difference.

Aryans last Track Meet

Getting ready for the last meet of the year.

Nice and slow.

Getting ready for his heat. Why do boys refuse to use their hands to take off clothes?

Third in line for the 4x400

Heading for the last hand off of the race.

The awards. The medal was for the 4x400 team coming in second in the district. The ribbon was for the 4x400 team coming in fourth for the county and city. They did a great job this year.

the last of the family

Well, there won't be any pictures in this post. I thought I had some of the rest of the animals but they must be on the old computer.  We have a bird named Jill, she is a one person bird and that person is Mike. She does get loud at times. She doesn't like it when it gets loud in the house. With young boys and their friends around she lets us now when she has had enough.
The next is the oldest cat. She is a dark calico and named Jazzy. We got her from the humane society. She is a very independent cat and only allows you to pet her when it is her idea. She loves Mike as all the animals do. We call her the Queen. She puts all the other animals in their place except Jill.
Then there is Zeus. He is our black Chihuahua. He is the protector. He barks at everything including the neighbors in their own yards. If he can see them he has a fit. He is the most spoiled out of all the animals. Mike calls him his buddy.

Last but not least is the rest of my family. I won't go into too much detail because he has requested that I don't. My oldest is my son. He is married with four children. If you are family reading this you know who he is and his children. Sorry I can't go into more details but I am honoring his wishes.

So that is the immediate family. 

Bekah and Sadie

Now is the time to write about my middle daughter. This is Rebekah but we call her Bekah for short. In this photo she is with her daughter Sadie which she placed with a very loving family. Sadie's adopted Dad is also in the above photo. This is from last Christmas. Sadie will be three later this month. Bekah is working two full time jobs and taking one class on line. She sees Sadie as much as she can. Sadie has an older brother and a brand new baby sister. I am so glad we get pictures of her often because we are unable to be in Utah very often and I love pictures of my grandchildren.

Tara and John and their dogs

Here are my oldest daughter's three dogs. Their names are Jimba, Gris and Shroud. I think I spelled them right. If not Tara can correct me. She calls them her boys.

This is Tara and her boyfriend John. They live in Connecticut. They just moved there in October.

She is getting used to it. She calls me about once a week. I enjoy talking with her. She even has her own you tube channel called TheNotSoBiggLife. She also has two blogs one is called justanaverage20something.blogspot.com and the other is biggsbookreview.blogspot.com.

She keeps busy being a substitute teacher and working at a salon.

Aryan Track Meet

Here are the promised pictures of Aryan.  As normal he doesn't smile.

I finally got him to smile somewhat. Just before the picture he rolled his eyes because I told him to smile

Here he is running the hurdles. He is next to the football field, in the middle.

Here he is running in the anchor of the 4 by 200 relay race. As you can see this is where I spent my day yesterday. Our school district doesn't have school on Fridays. This was the district championship. His school got 2nd place. Last year they were champions. He has one more meet because his other relay race he ran got 2nd place so they going to see how they do for the city/county.

Mike and Jake

This is my Husband Mike. He is with a co-workers spouse. They went ice fishing and as normal he didn't catch anything . The fish was his co-workers.

Here he is again. He is on his kick boat. Again nothing caught. He really enjoys fishing. He also enjoys camping but I don't have any pictures. I will have to post some later when I get some.

This is one of our dogs. His name is Jake and he is a malamute. He is a big boy, but a teddy bear. He is great with kids. He doesn't bark but howls all the time. He enjoys being around family and loves attention.