The 4th of July was very different this year. All the traditional things we did like the 5k race, attending the local hometown parade was cancelled in addition to the festivities at the park (especially BINGO and the baseball game) and the nighttime fireworks show. We were pretty bummed about it. For lunch Aaron did some grilling, though. He made some Sonoran Hot Dogs. A Sonoran hot dog is a bacon wrapped hotdog (grilled until the bacon is crispy) topped with pinto beans, sliced avocado, chopped onions, salsa, sour cream, Cotija cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro put inside a buttered and toasted hot dog bun. We had these for the first time when we went to Tuscan, Arizona a few years back and were hooked. They were pretty tasty!!
Josh had to work that afternoon so we dropped him off at work. While driving back home we did drive by the 'Patriotic Tractor Guy'. This guy drives his patriotic tractor in all the different city parades around us every summer. My kids love to look for him in the parades. It was fun to see him out and about despite not having any parades to participate in, but driving around to show off his tractor.
That evening we went over to my brother Bryan's house for dinner along with my sister Johanna and her family and G&G T. Josh got off of work about then so he was able to come, too. We had hot dogs and hamburgers. We chatted for a bit while the cousins all played together. Awesome enough their city did not cancel their fireworks show for that evening. When it started getting dusky we drove over to a nearby church to watch the fireworks show. While we were waiting for the fireworks to start Aunt Michonne was awesome and kind enough to share some sparklers and glow sticks with the cousins. Everyone had fun playing with their toys:
Matthew, for some reason, was absolutely afraid of the sparklers and wouldn't even get close to one. It was a beautiful night with a full moon that came up while we were waiting:
Since most of the different city fireworks shows got cancelled there were A LOT of people setting off their own fireworks. We had a lot of different fireworks around us to look at while we were waiting for the Hooper City fireworks show to start.
The next day was Sunday and Aaron always loves cooking Sunday dinner. This particular dinner he wanted to make Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. He cooked the pepper and onions while he buttered and toasted the rolls.
He then cooked the meat:
Next he put them altogether while it was still super hot so the provolone cheese would melt. It was yummy!
Call it a pretty good hunch, but I think Aaron really likes his Blackstone griddle--haha!
This past week I finally talked Daniel into cooking something. Daniel isn't a big fan of cooking and if he wants something he can usually sweet talk someone into making it for him so he doesn't have to cook. So when he wanted to cook something this was a big deal. I found a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe for him to try. I told him he was going to make it (not sweet talk me into doing it for him). I said I would answer any question he had and that he should get started. In the middle of him assembly the ingredients I had to go to the store and he called me three times while I was there asking me different questions about the recipe. He got started and did great. The cookies were great.
However, he got tired of scooping the cookies out on the cookie sheets so he wanted to make one HUGE cookie to finish off the batter. He made his huge cookie and put it in the oven and promptly forgot about it. We didn't realize it until we started smelling something burning. That is one of the quickest ways to burn 1000 calories I have ever seen without exercising--haha! That is not a chocolate cookie if you were wondering--haha!
The kids snarfed down all the cookies by the next morning. Daniel offered to make another batch and everyone was on board for that! He didn't forget about any cookies that time--thank goodness!!
Last Saturday we went and played some Pickleball. Aaron still isn't able to run and twist with his ankle so he sat out, but took a picture. We are all not very good, but at least we had fun.
This past week we acquired a huge amount of fresh onions. I have always wanted to try making a French Onion soup so I decided to try it out. You caramelize the onions and then add beef broth and a few other ingredients. You are supposed to put it in an oven safe bowl, top with a slice of crusty French bread topped with Gruyere Cheese and broil it. I don't have an oven safe bowl so I toasted the bread topped with Gruyere Cheese separately. It still turned out pretty tasty, though! I also used up all my onions so it was a win win situation.
It is fresh vegetable and produce season and the best way to use it up is by making soup! I know it is summer, but I love soup during anytime of the year! I also made a minestrone soup and a cheesy broccoli/zucchini soup as well for different dinners last week. The kids have liked it for the most part, but they are starting to get sick of eating soup for dinner, though.
Sarah is doing a summer STEM program. Since it can't be held in person on Weber State Campus this year due to COVID they are doing classes virtually. However, they are averaging about one group session a week at a local park where they have a 2 hour group lesson. Everyone has to wear a mask or stay 6 feet away from each other. Sarah was a bit nervous to go for the first time, but she said she had fun. They made the tallest tower they could with straws and tape to help them understand engineering and design. Here's Sarah working on her tower:
Sarah's friend's mom is a photographer and found a really cool mural wall she wanted to take some pictures of. She got Sarah's group of friends together one evening and they went and took some pictures. They turned out great! The girls had a great time taking the pictures, too. I am glad Sarah has a good group of friends especially with starting Jr. high this fall!!
This past Saturday was a bit crazy. However, Aaron and I squoze in a quick date night. It wasn't anything too special, but it was still nice. We shared and enjoyed some sushi in the car. Pretty romantic, huh--haha!
Last Sunday Aaron made omelettes for dinner. He cooked up a bunch of diced peppers and onions in addition to sausage and bacon. He had all the ingredients sitting close by so everyone could choose what they wanted in their omelettes. They were pretty good! Here's Aaron's grill surface--I have never seen him so organized--haha!
Two weeks ago we found a killer deal on another cheap kid car. It is a 2002 Honda Accord.
With me working, and Aaron not accessible by phone while he is at work, we really needed Josh to have access to a working car for emergencies and for his busy schedule. However, with his driving record we have curtailed a lot of his driving. He can only drive to work, school, and cross country practice. We also told him with his crazy driving record he needs to start paying us the increase in car insurance premiums due to his accident(s). He also has to pay for his driving citation and traffic school. Good thing he has a job!! If he wrecks this car he will get upgraded to a bicycle or have to walk everywhere. That will severely curtail his dating scene which he wouldn't like. Most girls don't think tandem bikes are very cool if it's the only mode of transportation--haha! Besides I think if he got into another accident that totaled another car he might get kicked off the car insurance....Keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have to find out!! Anyway, Josh has been working quite a bit lately. There are two Little Caesar Pizza locations by us. One of them had a Covid positive person so they had to quarantine the regular staff. While that staff was on quarantine they had the other location employees fill in for them after doing a super disinfecting clean on the store. Josh picked up quite a few extra shifts. It was nice for him, but a pain for me because he didn't have a car to drive during this time so I got to shuttle him everywhere. That tandem bike sure would have come in handy during that week--haha!
I got myself a new t-shirt this week and I love it. I think it is hilarious. It says, "Support Wildlife--raise boys". I am doing my best to support the local wildlife--haha!
I heading back to work next month and am really excited. There are a ton of back to school clinics and even more rescheduled clinics since everything has been shut down for the past few months due to COVID. It will be a busy month and they told us to expect an even busier flu immunization season this year since no one wants COVID
and the flu if they can help it. Anyway, it will be nice to be back to a bit more of normalcy next month. Usually at work I am very people oriented, however, driving to work is a bit different. I found this meme that explains things a bit better--haha! I do have a bit of road rage when I drive, not excessive, but it's only while I drive I promise--haha!
This week I took the kids to the library and then to a park and we had a picnic. Josh was able to score two free pizzas from his work so we were set for lunch. I now have a pizza guy--haha! The kids ate the pizza and then played.
Here's Daniel:
Matthew and Josh were with us, too, but for some reason I didn't get a picture of them. After eating Noah saw the sprinklers were on and couldn't help himself. That kid is inexplicably drawn to water! Ugh. He got sopping wet, but at least he had a good time.
Josh wanted to start up the Pancake run again in Cross Country. The pancake run is where a boys running group teams up against a girls running group, but they do their individual day workouts together with their boy or girl team. Afterword they eat pancakes at the host's house. Whichever team gets through their whole box of pancake mix first wins. Josh picked up the pancake mixes and gave one to the girls and kept one for the boys. It was Josh's turn to host Wednesday morning. While the boys were out running Aaron made the pancakes on his griddle. He happened to be home that morning because he had a physical therapy appointment for his ankle he had surgery on. I was glad because I didn't want to have to make all those pancakes! Here's Aaron in his sexy zebra apron--haha! He couldn't find his regular black apron so he was lucky enough to wear this one:
The boys finished off the pancakes, but the girls beat them to it. The girls won this round, but Josh wants to start another round soon!
Sarah had a project for this week's Prep in the Park. However, she failed to tell me that she needed supplies until 9 pm the night before it was due. DOH!! Josh heard me muttering and sent this meme to me. Ugh!!
Sarah was just lucky the stores around here are starting to stay open later instead of closing at 7 pm due to COVID. Anyway, she was able to get her supplies so she could build her soda bottle rocket. That was a bit of late night getting everything put together, but what can you do?! Here's the finished product as I dropped her off at her second prep in the park two hour group session:
The Prep in the Park people took this picture of Sarah while she was at the park, too:
The object of this Prep in the Park was learning about Newton's Laws of motion and to see how far they could launch their rockets.
Last weekend Josh was with friends, Daniel and Sarah were playing night games at the park with a bunch of friends, too. Matthew was tired and went to bed early so that just left Noah, Aaron and me. It was so quiet! Noah loved having all the attention on him the whole time, though. Again it was quiet which doesn't happen a whole lot around here. It was weird, but nice, too, for that evening at least.
This past week my niece and her husband had their first baby. We are pretty happy for them. I guess that makes me a Great Aunt for the first time family wise! Here's her cute baby boy named Wodin Alan Gilmore:
He's G&G T's first great grandchild and my sister, Jennifer's, first grand baby. How exciting!
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