July 2012 Adventures

We were lucky enough to be able to go up to Washington for Independence day.  That's always an adventure in and of itself.  We dressed up to be in the Strawberry Days Children's Parade for our little city and have been playing around the house and at the local "wild" park.  Here's a few photos from all of that fun.

Grandma's air conditioning...  New window being put in my super talented brother in law, Randy McKee of Highland Construction.

Gar discovered why oranges are more than just fun to eat.

My amazing and amazingly beautiful momma.

Lala; Rubber boots, roller skates and juice.  The girl's in Heaven!

A motley crew of cousins taking a little break.

Magnus the Tiger

The cutest Frankenstein around!

Jack 'o Gar

Face painting by the lovely and talented, honorary Walker girl, Carol.

Ben and I.  This must be our 2012 photo.  One a year is about all he and I can handle/manage.

Aunti Melinda and our newest cousin.  It's a boy but the name is a secret.  Can you guess what it will be?  She's the cutest prego around!!!

The proud daddy, my brother Owen.

My sister, Sariah giving her daughter a little shooting lesson.

Eva entertaining herself.

Now she's playing with the ear protection.  She wouldn't keep anything over or on her ears.  Eva, if your hearing is ruined I'm sorry that I wasn't more forceful  in making you wear them.  You were too cute.  Next year you'll be old enough to do it.  I'm also thinking that next year we should have cute little ear protection with flowers, skulls and other fun decorations.

Lavender and her daddy, Adam.  He's as tough as he looks but a real sweetie too.

Olea shooting from the him, Old West style.  I think she actually got two rounds in the target like this!

These shots are from the Children's Parade.  Gar's a hot and tired pirate and Uly is a wizard who I believe is casting a spell on someone.

Eva getting her first hair cut from her cute Aunt Olea.

Mag, Cora, Gar, Uly and Lala having some sparkler fun.

Those curls!!!

Those eyes!!!

What a handsome boy!  Gar right before his 7th birthday.  He sure is a fun guy!

Playing with a Pokemon toy and a motorcycle.  He made me take about 50 shots of this guy and the motorcycle.  It was fun.

Eva and my shadow.  I liked it.  I want to actually be this skinny!

Three cute boys deciding if they should jump into the irrigation ditch or not.

Eva walking with her little friend, Lizzy.  

She's the cosmetologist already.  She loves to sneak into my makeup and make herself look pretty.  I've had to start locking up my fingernail polish for this very reason.

Were you wondering where Gar was?  Just look at the picture and you'll find out.

Family photo at the Seattle Temple, where Ben and I started this whole crazy, fun ride.  15 years and 4 kids later, we're still going strong and having fun!

"I love to see the temple,

I'm going there some day..."

Three Boys

I <3 Faces theme for All Boy.

Eva Marie is 2!!!

Her daddy built her a little swing in the backyard.  She loves it!

Two years of fun!  

This little darling is my shadow.  She helps me in the kitchen, helps me with the sweeping, helps me with everything she can.  And she really is a help too, not just an adorable nuisance.  She loves to climb up on my bathroom vanity when I'm getting ready and tries to put makeup on or comb her hair too.  She is 100% girl!  Although she's the toughest little girl I have ever seen.  She can get knocked down on the driveway by one of her brothers and she will just get up, brush off her knees and keep running.  Oh she's a runner too.  She loves to run and can run and run and run for such a long time.  She must be a Stier!

She loves pretty things.  She will eat spicy food and come back for more; her older brothers won't do that!  She loves shoes and all types of accessories.  She's a true girl through and through.  She has her daddy wrapped around her finger too.

Her big brothers all are so proud of her and love to show her off to their friends at school or at church like a special toy.  They are usually very helpful and protective of her, only occasionally getting angry with her because she is trying to play with them and their toys too much.

Eva Marie is sometimes shy and makes this funny little scowly face when she's in a new situation or faced with lots of new people but she can also be extremely outgoing, saying "hi!" to everyone she sees.  If the person replies she will keep repeating it as long as they are in her line of site.  She loves to wave bye-bye to dadda when he leaves for work in the morning.  If she doesn't get to wave and say "Bye-bye, Dadda! Bye-bye, Momma" when we leave on a date, she will get very upset.

Our family has been so blessed to have her in our lives.  I am so thankful for Eva Marie and love her so much.  She has brought a whole new level of joy and love into our lives and our home.  Happy birthday, Little Sister!  This year is going to be so much fun!!!

Crazy Good Coconut Cookies

I love coconut. Like a whole, whole lot. These cookies are so chock full of delicious coconut goodness that it's hard not to eat them all until I burst.

Ingredients:

1/2 C Butter

1/2 C White sugar

1/2 C Brown sugar

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 1/4 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking soda

1 1/3 C Flaked coconut

Directions:

Put butter, sugars and vanilla in a bowl and mix until creamy. Add egg and continue mixing. Add dry ingredients and combine until well mixed.

Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

This recipe makes a flat chewy cookie. It's super yummy and makes me think of tropical warm beaches. Perfect for a cold winter's day!

Great Grandma's Chewy Gingersnaps

I'm not going to lie. These are my favorite cookies this winter. My Great-Grandma Pfeifer made my mom these cookies when she was a girl, my mom made them for me and now I make them and eat them all by myself because I love them too much to share with my children. Not really, my kids love them too!

They make a chewy cookie with a little bit of a crust on top. Did I mention that I love them. Maybe you will too. They sure make your house sell Christmassy and yummy!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C whole wheat flour

2 1/2 C white flour

1 C butter - softened

1 C sugar

1 large egg

2 T cider vinegar

1 C molasses

1/2 C milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3 T ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

Add sugar and butter together, mix well. Add egg, vinegar, molasses and milk and cream all wet ingredients until fluffy.

Sift dry ingredients together. Then add to wet ingredients.

Chill for at least an hour. Scoop balls of dough out and roll in sugar before putting on ungreased cookie sheet. Cook 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on racks or brown paper bag. Enjoy!

A few recipe notes...

The last batch I made, I did not have any whole wheat flour, ground ginger or ground cloves. I made them anyway. So I used 5 cups of white flour instead of the whole wheat and white flour combination listed above. Instead of ground ginger, I took my wrasp and grated about 1 tsp of fresh ginger. Instead of ground cloves, I used 1/2 tsp of allspice. They turned out delicious.

When my mom would make them, she would first grease her cookie sheets, then put the dough balls on the directly on the them. She would take a glass that had a pretty cut pattern and dip it in sugar and then squish the balls down with the sugar coated glass. These made for pretty cookies, but I think my way makes for more chewy cookies. If you flatten them first they will be more crunchy. So if you are a fan of crunchy cookies smash them first. If you are like me and like them to be chewy with a crunchy surface just roll the balls in sugar and put directly on an ungreased cookie sheet prior to baking. You don't need to grease your cookie sheet as the sugar will help them not stick.

Also, if you would like a molasses cookie instead of a gingersnap, just leave out the ginger and they are still divine!

The most important thing?

Eat lots of them. Dip them in milk and enjoy!

Maybe tomorrow I'll share Ben's favorite cookie this year; Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie.

Merry Christmas!

Knights, Ben and Baseball

Ben & Ben's show is going to be airing on National Geographic Channel in under 30 days; November 15th to be exact! Nat Geo has started an advertising campaign and we are going to start seeing ads pop up. We saw one behind home plate in the 5th World Series game last night. It was so exciting. It's getting to be a reality!!

So I was looking through some old photos and found this shot of my handsome husband. He hates when I post photos of him, but I'm rebelling and posting it anyway. He's so cute! I'm so proud of him. He is a really great husband and a fantastic father to our babies. I hit the jackpot the day he walked into my life! I love this guy!

Yellow

Mag's favorite color is yellow. He wanted to paint his bike yellow so he went ahead with that project (with my blessing). Then when he was done, he decided he didn't want a brown doggie, he wanted a yellow doggie. Next he decided he wanted to be yellow too. It was a very yellow day!