Cub Scouts: July Hike

Aaron and I (and the boys) had so much fun on last month's hike so we decided to do it again! This time we had more boys and a tougher hike but it was still lots of fun.

Even though it was overcast outside when we started (thank you so much Mother Nature), it started to warm up really fast. The boys were really smart about staying cool. The stream was freshly melted snow so it was great for keeping the boys cool. I even dipped my hat in the water.

The view was beautiful the whole way up. What was tons of fun, was standing here and pointing to where we started walking and seeing the boys realize what they are capable of.
When we got to the end of our trail, we had the boys sit down to have a snack while we taught them about "The Outdoor Code".
Aaron looks so cute teaching the boys. I'm 100% sure that I was the only person up there who felt that way...but there you have it. Look at this cutie!


"As an American, I will do my best to- Be clean in my outdoor manner, Be careful with fire, Be considerate in the outdoors, and Be conservation minded."
The boys did a great job memorizing that and I hope that they can remember it whenever they are in the outdoors.

I really hope that we can find time in August for one more summer hike.

Dee's Birthday! (A Week Late)

Aaron and I took a trip down to Provo on Friday to celebrate Dee's birthday! Her birthday was actually the Friday before that but we couldn't make it down since we were dining with my family in Murray that Friday (Mimi's Cafe! So good!).

So on Friday we packed up the car and headed down to Provo! We had tons of fun visiting with my favorite sister in law. We enjoyed some lunch at Zupas (since it helped me stay on my diet) and then afterwards we went to visit Aaron's aunt and uncles since we haven't seen them since we got married.

Then I ran off with Dee to take some pictures. I told her that I could get a good one of her and I think I did.

She is a beautiful girl and I loved focusing on her. She is such a special person.

We went to Bridal Veil Falls for a little walk around and visit. It was so nice talking with her.

She was so cute playing in the FREEZING cold water.

After this, there was a little party and hang out with some of Dee's friends. Meg wanted to see Geoff and so I went and picked him up. Didn't get any pictures of them together though. This is Geoff....but no Meg next to him. She was probably making out in the corner or something. :)

Being ridiculous while keeping cool with our feet in the pool. Wish I would have brought my swimming suit because it would have been glorious to go swimming.

Even though we were only in Provo for about 8 hours, it was still really nice.
The ride home was...interesting...and long. We were stuck in traffic on I-15 for an an hour at point of the mountain. It was nice to have that time to hang out with Aaron...but I would have preferred to hang out with him at home. We got home at 12:40am after leaving Provo at 10:10pm. We had to get rested for our hike the next morning!

On a Lighter Note: Pink Underwear

One thing that I promised myself that I would do when I was an adult was to never laugh at children's problems. I wanted to be taken seriously when I had a "big" problem and my mother had...has...a hard time not laughing when something is clearly funny.

I totally failed yesterday at the pool with the scouts.

We had Every Cub A Swimmer yesterday and so we were will ALL of the cubs scouts in our area. After we did the things that we needed to get signed off, the kids went off to play...and some adults played too.

There was this game with a ring...the kids were against the adults. When the adults got tired of the game, we left the kids too it and forgot all about it. Apparently some boys were keeping it away from other boys...and the boys who could not get it, got their feelings hurt.

Well, one of the boys...who was not one of my cubs, came over to me and told me what happened and then he said, "And then he said that I was a girl that wore pink underwear" (I held it together...but barely) "and I don't know why he said that because I don't wear pink underwear anymore!"

And that is when I lost it. The "anymore"!

One of his friends came to his rescue and said, "I've worn pink underwear. When the white clothes all turned pink, I had to wear pink underwear." Then he inquired, "Is that what happened?"

And the boy said, "No. It was just pink."

Anyone else feel bad when they totally laugh out loud in a kid's face?

Recipe: Paleo Diet Hot Chocolate

Aaron and I both have chronic diseases that we are kind of sick of. After having a crazy allergic reaction to some walnut cookies (I've never been allergic to walnuts before this), I decided that somethings needs to change. Mostly, what I'm putting in my body and that included medication...but I might talk about that some other time.

While my hands and feet were swollen, I called my mother to tell her that I've had enough and I want her crazy radical health advice. She sent me two books, The Paleo Diet and Fasting and Eating For Health.

Aaron and I started the Paleo Diet last night and since I've gone a whole day with the Paleo diet, I decided to reward myself with a treat. I couldn't find a recipe online for paleo hot chocolate so I made one up. Even though it is a paleo recipe, I want to be clear that this would be something that the author would stress was still to be drinking in moderation.

Paleo Hot Chocolate:

1 1/4 cup of water

1/4 cup cocoa powder

7 oz. coconut milk (Regular dairy is NOT paleo...so this is what really makes the recipe paleo)

1 tsp vanilla

cinnamon

honey

1) Boil the water

2) Throw the cocoa powder and coconut milk in there and whisk it around until you don't have any lumps.

3) Throw the vanilla and a dash of cinnamon

4) Pour into a mug and pour in some honey to taste and you are ready to go.

The coconut milk and honey are what make it...not the best for you even though it is better than the alternatives. But you know what, as a treat, it is very worth it. This stuff is good! Honey, cocoa, coconut, cinnamon, vanilla....yeah...this drink is pretty awesome.

Wish us luck as we try and eat healthier and live a little better!

Pioneer Day Parade

I did something crazy this morning. I woke up at 7:15am to go to the church for the Pioneer Day breakfast. It was a nice way to greet the day...free food. I wish that Aaron could have been there with me but he had to work. Luckily I had some friends to hang out with and talk to while we ate breakfast on the lawn of the church.

A couple in our ward invited me to come to the parade with them...which I wasn't planning on at all. But then I found out that there would be CANDY so I had to go! And I knew that I could take pictures and then write a blog about it later...since I'm getting pretty obsessed with this blog.

On to the parade!

Anyone have a Weird Al song in their head. (Don't watch this if you can't handle cartoon graphic.)

I love this horse in this next picture...and this picture is pretty patriotic.

Tons of free things for the children. I don't know who Jonny Ballard is but he made a lot of children very happy.

We got some actually Pioneer Heritage in the parade too and maybe a little outlaw heritage...hey, it is what made Utah.




But mostly, the parade was high school bands and anyone near by with an interesting vehicle.



I'm glad that I hauled my rear end out of bed today so that I could join in all the festive fun.

Even if I didn't get any candy.

Cub Scouts: Sportsman

I haven't been keeping you very up to date on what we are doing with scouts...probably because I've been traveling and probably because I'm lazy.

Some of you might not know this but...I think that Aaron is super sexy. I love watching him teaching the boys things. And so a couple weeks ago, I got to perve on Aaron teaching the boys how to play football.

Little known fact about Aaron: He played Football in high school. Don't let him trick you in Two Truths and a Lie.

We played a quick game of flag football and it was pretty fun. We are trying to get the most out of the warm weather while we have it.

The boys seemed to like it once we were done doing drills and going over the rules. Like any football game, it was pretty slow goings since the teams were pretty evenly talented.
We have one boy in our troop who is pretty talented at sports and so he is loving working on this pin. The other ones...not as much. What I love about this one boy though, is his sportsmanship attitude. {C} is great at cheering people on and complimenting them when he sees them do something right. When they mess up, he is right there telling them to get back in there and keep trying. I'm really glad that he is in our group and with us while we work on this merit badge.

Last week, we played Ultimate Frisbee. It might surprise you to hear that I didn't take pictures. The reason for that is because I was teaching the boys how to play. SURPRISE!!! When Aaron and I were looking at the sports to choose from, I said, "I played softball and some ultimate frisbee in high school." and that shocked him. He knew about the softball but he didn't know that I ever played ultimate. It is crazy that we have known each other for 3 and a half years and we are still finding out stuff about each other. I found out that....Aaron is...not so good at ultimate.

Teaching the boys and playing a game with them was so much fun. The teams were pretty evenly split. I was the captain of one team and {D} was the captain of another since he had the strongest arm of the two boys that showed up and better aim than Aaron. It was quite a workout with just two people on a team but I had a blast. Even if we lost 2-3. It was a really good game and we all improved by the end.

This week, we will be doing "Every Cub a Swimmer" and I might not get pictures of that either since...I will be in the pool with the boys. They needed as many leaders in the pool as they could get so it looks like I won't be taking pictures. I'm sure it will be tons of fun.

Recipe: Homemade Raspberry Tea

I know that you are all DYING to know what I am doing with all my raspberries!

Well, when we left for California, we left a bunch of berries that were just days away from being ripe enough to pick. By the time we got back, they were all too far gone to really pluck off of the bush to eat. Which made me sad.

I picked them anyway and I sat and wondered what I could possibly do with them. I finally decided that I could try making them into a tea and if it turned out nasty, I wouldn't really be down anything...since I was going to have to throw them away anyway.

I got some warm water and threw the berries in. I smashed them up, heated it, smashed them up, and heated them. I did that a couple times trying to get as much as the fruit off the the seeds that I can.

After I did that, I scraped off as much of the top, in the way of seeds and skin, as I could. All of that extra stuff ended up back in the yard for fertilizer.

I mixed some truvia in with it and some lemon juice and then added more water...since the flavor was stronger than I thought it would be. It turned out pretty good and I loved it so I thought that I would share. I felt really good for making a natural tea from my own garden.

California: Long Ride Home

I sat in the back on the ride home by myself. I think that everyone was pretty happy about it since I was couldn't really talk with my mom the whole time. Aaron got a ton of sleep.He caught me taking pictures and woke up. I guess he thinks that I have too many pictures of him sleeping! :)
My dad caught me taking pictures too and threw me a wink.

Taking pictures gave me something to do when I woke up a little before we got to Las Vegas.



There was no shortage of things to look at! I loved this! It reminded my mom and I have this dragon that was poking out of a backyard in Thailand. Love this!

Even when we left Las Vegas, there was still a beautiful view to look at. The world is such a beautiful place.
This was pretty much the end of our trip and even though it was almost a week long, it felt like such a whirlwind visit. It was so fun to introduce Aaron to everyone. It is hard for him to believe that he hasn't even met everyone yet!! Maybe someday! :) But for now, we are home.

California: Sitting On the Beach

Our last day in California, we decided to hit the beach since that is really the only thing we had time or energy for. As Aaron put it on our drive up to Ogden, "That wasn't really a vacation...it was like an extended BBQ." {Side note: Who is ready for a road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway? Too many trips so little time.)
Basically we went to the beach for my dad and I to take pictures...since no one except Aaron really wanted to swim. (Do you like my dad's camera bag?)

And Aaron didn't want to swim alone....so we both put our feet in and let me tell you....It was clear that the current is coming down from Alaska. After the beach in Mexico....I'm spoiled....this water was COLD!
The beach was full of bright colors, giggling children, and endless umbrellas.
This is the only picture of me that I have of us at the beach...and of course...it is a cleavage shot!! Of course! But we are at the beach so...I'm wearing a dress and not a swimsuit so I'm a little more modest than usually? Yeah...that's what I'm going with.
It was a good trip. We spent about two hours there which was just the right amount of time to burn my feet! It was the perfect end to our trip. A time to just sit and relax from all of the visiting that we did.
And here is an extra picture since the last post had so few pictures to go with it!!