Staking his Claim

Miles wanted to celebrate his return to school with doughnuts.  I told him that if he went to school and didn't cry, I'd buy him doughnuts.  Yesterday, he came home to 2 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Miles loves doughnuts and, evidently, has a hard time sharing them with his brother.  He ate 6 sprinkle doughnuts yesterday before starting in on the glazed doughnuts, eating just enough of the doughnuts that no one would try to take one from him.  Here's his bowl of doughnuts.

Miles' school year has started off awesome.  Both days, he's come home with a positive note from his teacher.  The first note said, "Happy on his first day of pre-school!"  Today's note said, "He answered a lot of questions!"  Nice to see that the teacher feedback supports what I see and indicates that Miles is happy and feeling confident and comfortable at school this year.

First Day of Pre-School

Today Miles returned to school.  He was so excited to go that he insisted on going outside at 8:18 this morning to wait for the bus.  His bus didn't come until 9:08 a.m. (FYI- school started at 9:05 a.m.).  He absolutely refused to come back inside and wait for the bus.  When the bus finally came, he happily bounced over to the bus and hopped on.  School ends at 11:50 a.m. so I started watching for his bus around noon.  I watched and watched and watched.  Last year his bus always arrived by 12:15.  Around 12:30, I started to get concerned, and by 12:40 I was panicking because I have to leave at 12:45 to pick up Nolan and get him to THS by 1 p.m.  Miles bus finally arrived at 12:45, and a happy four-year old exited the bus.  I didn't learn much about his day other that "School is fun, not scary," and he ate pretzels and decorated a bus.  Hopefully tomorrow (and every future day) will be as fun as today was.

Waiting for the bus...

Ready to go!

Home!

In Honor of U

Dear Jonathan,

Tomorrow your classes start at the U and I know that U're going to do great.  U are well prepared.  U have studied hard, taken great preparatory classes, and are academically gifted.  Do your best to stay on top of your classes.  Once behind, it's so hard to get back on schedule.  Use your planner.  Seek help from labs, professors, roommates, family, etc. when needed.  Find balance.  Call/text home once in a while (or a lot!).  Most important, have a great semester.  Learn, study, make friends, have fun, don't get arrested.  On Saturday, I (yes, for real... I) mowed the lawn.  I mowed it in honor of U. 

Can you see it?  I mowed a "U" into the front lawn.

Love you!
Mom

Lunch with Jonathan

Jonathan allowed us to see him at the U yesterday.  We brought his bike up to him and a bunch of other random stuff... printer cable, measuring spoons, dustpan, cookies, etc.  Then we bribed him into hanging out with us for awhile longer by taking him to Sweet Tomatoes- his favorite!  It was so good to see him again.  He's only been gone for 6 days, but I missed him.  Pictures from lunch...

Jonathan was sucking cylinders of cucumber up through a straw...

 

Nolan was the master of facial expressions...

 Miles actually looked at the camera! (Maybe because he couldn't see it with the glasses on)

After lunch we gave Jonathan the option of getting a ride back to the U or being dropped off at a Trax station.  Guess what he chose.  The Trax station.

Nolan's Roommate

Nolan has a roommate.  Nope, it's not Miles.  It's a butterfly!  Seriously.  Nolan is sharing his room with a living butterfly.  Why?  Because he "grew" it.  Yep, just like the second grade science activity.  Nolan is taking biology this year and the first major assignment is to amass an insect collection which must include, among other requirements, a larva, pupa, and adult of the same insect.  When Jonathan took biology, I had no idea how to get a larva, pupa, and adult of the same insect.  Luckily, Bona's brother saved the day for Jonathan.  Bona's brother is a beekeeper and he happily supplied a bee larva, pupa, and adult (and an egg).  Knowing that Nolan was going to have to do the bug collection, I planned ahead and bought him a "Grow a Butterfly" kit.  It arrived and Nolan immediately sacrificed a caterpillar.  Larva obtained!  When he got back from the bike trip last week, three chrysalises were formed.  From there, I based my knowledge of butterfly metamorphosis on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar where it says, "He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.  He stayed inside for more than two weeks.  Then he nibbled a hole in a cocoon, pushed his way out and he was a beautiful butterfly."  So, two weeks in a chrysalis is what I planned.  Imagine my surprise on Friday when I looked over and saw a living butterfly in the cup with other 2 chrysalises!  I immediately transported the butterfly to the butterfly house, then sacrificed the remaining chrysalises to the bug collection.  Killing a beautiful butterfly seems so harsh and cruel, so Nolan decided to let the butterfly live out its life in Nolan's room, and when it succumbs to natural causes, the butterfly will join the insect collection.  Here's his roommate... It doesn't have a name.

Crock -Pot Brioche Attempt #3

It burned.  Again.  Less severely, but it's still burned.  However, it tastes heavenly.  Final assessment?  Maybe the bread takes 4-5 hours to cook on low if you're using a tin foil solar oven during a blizzard.  The bread burned in less than 2 hours on low again.  I think the recipe would work amazing if you have a wire rack and a pan of some type that can fit in your crock-pot so the bread cooks in the pan and never touches the sides of the crock-pot. Also, if you use a big Bosch, the dough volume is too small for the Bosch to mix/knead the dough effectively.  The bread is good enough that I think I'll keep the recipe and use the oven instead of the crock-pot.

"Crock-Pot" Brioche

Poolish

•  In a mixer bowl, add 1/2 C warm milk, 2 1/4 tsp yeast.  Let sit for 8 minutes
• Add 1 beaten egg and 1 C flour.  Mix until combined
• Turn mixer off, add 1 C flour and let it sit for 1 hour

Brioche

• Turn mixer on and to the Poolish, add 3/4 C sugar, 4 eggs (one at a time), 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 C flour
• Knead for 10 minutes (it will be a sticky mess, each time, I've added additional flour)
• Melt and cool 1/2 C butter
• Alternate adding butter and 1/2 c flour.
• Cover and let rise 2 hours

Bake in a sprayed something (probably 2 "somethings" unless you have huge bread pans) at some temperature (350?) for a while (45-50 minutes?).  Or if you're brave, let the dough rise in a heavily sprayed crock-pot for 2 hours.  Cook on low for "4-5 hours" or on high for "2-2 1/2 hours" (but expect the bread to burn, so turn off the crock-pot when the burning bread smell gets to you and let the bread continue cooking in the crock while the pot cools)

Crock-Pot Brioche Attempt #2

Yesterday I tried to make the Crock-Pot Brioche exactly as the directions stated.  No doubling the recipe.  I still feared that the dough would look tiny in my monster crock-pot, and it did; but it wasn't a problem.  It rose beautifully and made a lovely sized loaf of bread.  But, there was a problem.  The bread burned again.  The recipe said to cook the dough on low for 4-5 hours.  After 1.75 hours, I could smell burning bread.  I verified that I had the Crock-Pot on low, and it was.  So I turned it off and let it sit in the crock as the pot cooled.  The bread cooked through.  It tastes amazing, but the crust has to be cut off unless you like burnt bread.  So what to do now?  Well, one more attempt is in order.  My mom suggested that maybe the "low" temperature on my crock-pot is too hot.  I'm going to break out the small (normal sized), old, ugly, non-removable insert crock-pot and try the recipe one more time... stay tuned.

Overheard Today in Target

Let me start out by saying that today was "grumpy people" day in Target.  It was loaded with ornery, overwhelmed mommies with kids hanging off every possible part of the cart.  I thought it would be filled with happy mommies with only pre-schoolers in tow, but nope, grumpy mommies with lots of little ones.  Multiple places throughout the store I heard mommies snapping at their kids.  Poor mommies.  Poor pre-schoolers.  There was also a more diverse clientele than I usually see at Target... the middle aged lady with the Kool-aid died blue hair, the guy wearing overalls without a shirt underneath, etc.  It made for good people watching.

Now, back to the title of the post... Overheard Today in Target.  There were 3 college aged non-freshman aged men together shopping for stuff.  Two were excitedly charging through the pharmacy/beauty section of the store while the third was dragging behind pushing the cart.  Excited guy #1 says, "There it is!  Men's body wash."  Excited guy #2 says, "Gross!  I don't want to smell like a man.  I want to smell yummy... like a pomegranate!"  Bored guy with the cart rolls his eyes.  I bust out laughing and hurry away. 

Made my shopping trip.

An Ordinary Day

Today was one of those days that if asked what went on today, I would have answered. "Nothing.  It was just a regular day."  Looking back, there were 3 happenings that made the day better than regular.

1. I got to go back to bed after getting Nolan off to school.  I slept for an additional 90 minutes!
2. I had to go buy a bike part for Jonathan's bike.  The price on the box was clearly marked as $41.50, but it rang up at $21.25.  The clerk noticed the discrepancy, but sold me the part at the discounted price.
3. Ice cream is a rarity in this house.  Today, I decided I wanted some.  At the grocery store, not only was Dryers on sale, but Dryers has returned to half-gallon containers and they had a varity of chocolate/peanut butter something.

Okay, not very exciting things, but earlier today I started looking for the good things that happened today that I would probably overlook and forget about (yes, I had to write them down and while writing this post, I had already forgotten one of the items and had to consult my list).  Looking back, these 3 things turned today from "just a day" to a good one!

Back-Blogging

Time to fill in some gaps...

The other day I needed to run some errands.  As I went out to the garage, I found Miles trying to help remove already removed lug nuts from the Prizm.

I came home and was surprised to see that not only was maintenance was being done on a different vehicle, but also who was under the truck learning how to change the shocks (or the struts?  I don't know what they were.). 

The other morning I heard some odd animal sounds.  I went to investigate and found that 'Jing had an uninvited visitor.  She was not happy.  Check out her tail!

I was afraid that the screen wouldn't hold...

In time, the visiting cat got bored and wandered off!

The Lindon parade marked the official end of parade season for the year!  Hallelujah!

That bass drummer is my favorite!

There was a large wildfire burning across the lake and west of the mountain.  It made for some amazing sunsets!

Darn powerlines!  Shot without a filter!

And now, I am caught up on the blog!

Today's Baking Experiment

There's a cooking blog I follow that I basically trust.  Usually the lady's recipes are really, really good.  Recently she posted a Crock-Pot Brioche recipe.  Bread in a crock-pot intrigued me so I decided to give it a try.  To say the experiment went without incident would be a lie, but the problem with the recipe was completely my fault.  The blog lady lives in Brooklyn in a tiny kitchen.  Looking at the recipe, it seemed that since it only called for 4 cups of flour, it would make a nice loaf in a normal sized crock-pot.  Well, I live in the land of large families and own a pretty big crock-pot.  I assumed that if I made a single recipe, the end result would be a flat blob in the bottom of my crock-pot.  I decided to double the recipe.

I mixed everything up without incident.  I dumped the goo into the crock-pot to rise for 2 hours.  After an hour, the dough had already risen to near the top of the crock-pot.  I decided not to let it rise any longer (I just had to Google "raise vs. rise", stupid verbs, hope I understand their usage now and still don't have them backwards) and turned on the crock-pot.  About a half an hour after the starting the crock-pot, I had to go get Nolan from the junior high and take him to the high school for marching band.  After that I ran to the bike shop and bought a part for Jonathan's bike, then took Miles to see a Bouncy-Bounce, then we ran over to Smith's.  I got home and looked over at the baking bread and here's what I found.

Lovely mess!  So I cleaned it up and cut off excess dough to prevent future spillage.  A couple hours later, it smelled like the bread was burning, but the middle of the "loaf" was obviously gooey.  I turned the crock-pot off so the dough would continue to cook a bit as the crock-pot cooled.  After the crock-pot was cooled, I took the lid off and admired the gooey blob in the middle of the bread.  Knowing that no one would eat the unbaked center, I scooped out the goo.

After it was 95% cooled, I turned the crock-pot out onto a wire rack.  Guess what?  I did smell burning bread. 

The final result and my analysis of what went wrong... Honestly the bread is really good!  Well, the cooked and unburned parts are really good.  The problem with this bread was all me- I doubled a recipe that should not have been doubled and overwhelmed a crock-pot with a volume it was unable to both accommodate and cook.  So I am planning for "Take 2" tomorrow.  I will follow the recipe.  I will not second guess the recipe.  I'm sure the end result will be much better aesthetically.

The "Last Day of Summer Vacation" Dinner

I'm jumping all over the place with blog posts!  So, earlier today I established the fact that Nolan returned to school today.  Last night, knowing that the return to school was imminent, he felt he was deserving of a special dinner... Smashburger style!  Happy boys!

The BIG Bike Ride

The Belnap boys like to dream big.  This summer's big plan was to ride bikes on the Mormon Trail.  The total length of the ride was to be around 120 miles.  The ride was open to all who wanted to participate regardless of physical condition.  That always makes things interesting.  4 adult and 5 kids decided to ride.  Thanks to a lovely wildfire, the start point was moved from Kamas to Wanship (which was probably a good idea since it may have been faster to walk the route rather than ride it, almost, but not quite as fast. The additional distance would have meant that no one would have arrived to the day 1 end point before dark and dinner would have been ready around midnight).  Day one took the riders from Wanship to Coalville to Echo, to Henefer, then down highway 65 to East Canyon State Park.  Miles and I arrived at the park 3 hours before any of the riders.  Day one will be remembered as the day that the lead riders didn't know what gooseneck thorn plants looked like and flat tire after flat tire after flat tire had to be fixed.  One brother was riding a bike with tubeless tires.  The tire developed a several case of acne... bumps/bulges in the tires, and new tires had to be bought.  And being an exceptionally hot day, one rider experienced a bit of dehydration, but other than that, the ride was uneventful. 

Day 2 started with a patch-a-thon of the bike tubes. 

Two tubes were deemed "trash" and many others were patched and patched (but still held air).  This day's ride was down East Canyon to the Mormon Trail turn off, then over Big Mountain (with a nice 2,000 foot elevation gain), down Emigration Canyon, then to the hotel in West Valley City that Miles loved so much.

 Well, the riders were ready to leave around 10 a.m. and got to encounter some "wildlife" on the road.

Yep, the herd was being moved.  Cows are impressively big as they brush against your car.  So Miles and I went and played while the rest of the group rode and rode and rode.  Jonathan's shifter broke and a "pioneer" style repair had to be made.  Dan jammed a rock between the bike and the shifter, locking the chain in the middle ring, but allowing Jonathan to shift as necessary in that ring.  I thought it was an impressive and ingenious repair.  See the rock?

Around 7:00 p.m. the riders arrived at This is the Place monument and everyone except for Dan, Nolan, and Jonathan declared themselves done with the ride and got rides back to their various abodes.  My boys rode across the valley and arrived at the hotel around 8:30 p.m., tired as expected, but with enough energy to swim and go out to eat (But Miles, who had played all day was too tired to go get food; he and I stayed behind and I put Miles to bed!).

Day 3, or Saturday, the boys hit the road... Jordan River Parkway to Redwood Road back to the Jordan River Parkway to the back roads of Saratoga Springs, Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, then up the last hill to home.  They got to encounter less-than-ideal weather- 15-20 mph headwinds (until Lindon where the winds increased), and exciting thunderstorms.  Twice they had to stop and seek shelter due to too-close-for-comfort lightning strikes.  They made it home a little after 5 p.m. tired, grumpy, but hopefully Jonathan and Nolan also felt a sense of accomplishment. 

The next day the boys were rewarded with "shredded" and stiff quadriceps. 

Back to School 2013

Today Nolan got to go back to school.  He is a FRESHMAN in high school, but attends Oak Canyon Junior High.  I really hate that his first year of high school is at the junior high.  Bugs me!  Well, he's in for a beasty year (by his own choice).  Nolan is taking Honors English, Honors Secondary Math I (thanks to "common core" I'm not sure what that really means), Honors Biology, AP Human Geography, Spanish 3, 4 band classes (early morning Jazz and Percussion, Symphonic band, and Marching Band at THS), and seminary.  He seems to be related to his older brother!  In addition to his academic schedule, Nolan has percussion lessons, trumpet lessons, lacrosse, and mutual.  Nolan is going to have to become the master of time organization or he is going to experience stress and frustration.  Should be interesting... he can do it!

Now, what does a freshman look like on the first day of school?  Well, this freshman begrudgedly agreed humor his mother and allowed her to take the traditional back to school picture...

Mini-Vacation with Miles #2

This past weekend, Miles and I took a mini-trip.  The boys were going on a 120-ish mile bike trip.  I decided that rather than stay home with Miles, we'd go have our own kind of fun... all of it 4-year old focused.

On Thursday, we dropped the boys off in Wanship and drove back to Park City.  There, Miles played at the Splash Park.  He had the entire park to himself for about a half hour.  I wasn't sure if Miles would like the splash park since he hates sprinklers, but he had a great time!

Next, Miles got to choose where we went for lunch.  McDonalds.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a PlayPlace, but he was happy to eat tons of French Fries and drink and drink and drink Coke.

After lunch we drove to the end point for the cyclists for the day- East Canyon State Park.  We had a yurt reserved at East Canyon.  Miles thought it was awesome.  He loved playing on the top bunk and was disappointed to learn that the top bunk was mine and he'd be sleeping below (becuase I don't trust him to climb down safely when he's been asleep).  After checking out the yurt, we went down to the reservoir to do one of Miles' favorite activities- throwing rocks and mud into the water.  He can do that all day.  After a looooooong time of rock/mud throwing, I convinced Miles to go back to the yurt.  Happily, he complied and played more in the yurt.  (While I am not a lover of camping, "yurting" is something I can handle.  Bunk beds, chairs, a gas BBQ, a box fan, electrical outlets, a light mounted to the ceiling, a deck, a doormat, nearby restrooms, showers, etc.  Yep, my style of camping).

Around 6:30 p.m., the cyclists appeared and Miles conned his Daddy into taking him to swim in the lake.  He played in the lake until dinner.  By the time dinner was finished it was dark.  Miles was wiped out.  On the way back to the yurt, he got to see a porcupine.  He was facinated by it!

Miles slept and slept and slept.  In the morning, we drove to Salt Lake.  I decided to let him relive a few summer activities that he'd loved.  We went back to the Children's Museum and the Planetarium.  Earlier in the summer, I had to drag him out of those places.  This time, in 2 hours, he was done.  This was minorly problematic becuase I'd planned that he would spend all day in those places.  Well, with time to kill, and knowing that Miles was hungry, I let him choose where to eat.  Again, he chose McDonalds.  I googled reviews of McDonalds in the SLC area, and one stood out far above the others.  It was way out on the west side of the valley, but with time to spare, we went there.  Miles ate a ton of fries again and drank liter(s) of Coke, and played and played at the PlayPlace.  After FOREVER had passed, I'd had it with McDonalds and bribed Miles to get him out of there.

A few blocks away was a DI.  I told Miles that he could get a "new" toy if we went to DI.  Great idea, or so I thought.  Miles looked around for his "new" toy and from many feet away, he spied it.  Miles told me to go "over there" and once I got "over there" I saw what had won his heart.  There was no detering him.  Miles wanted a bowling ball.  A real bowling ball.  A "way too heavy for him" bowling ball.  A "can do serious damage to the floors and walls" bowling ball.  But Miles really, really, really wanted a bowling ball, and I caved.  Happily he selected the heaviest gray/silver bowling ball I've ever lifted.  He was so excited.  Once he was buckled in his car seat, he tried to hold it on his lap.  Within a couple of blocks, the ball rolled off his lap and thudded to the floor of my car.  Everytime I stopped or turned, the ball rolled and slammed into the back of my seat or into the interior of the door, or whatever else it could roll into.  I told him the ball had to stay in the car until we got home (and then the ball had to live downstairs where it can't hurt a basement floor).

We had reservation at the Staybridge Suites in West Valley City.  I chose that hotel specifically for the waterpark in the hotel.  You can see the hotel from I-215... it's the one with the waterslide that starts in the hotel and twists around outside of it before it ends back inside.  Unfortunately, Miles was too short for the big waterslide, but they have a "little kids" play structure that he loved.  He also liked trying to play water basketball.  Miles swam for a couple of hours, then we went up to our huge room... a 2 bedroom suite.  Loved having all the space (but didn't love the price so much).  Miles decided that he needed "man cookies" so we went to a grocery store.  At 8:30 p.m., the cyclists arrived.  Miles convinced his daddy to take him swimming again, and he got to swim for another hour.  Well, when Miles finally went to bed, he again crashed hard and slept like a log.

Saturday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, then headed home.  Vacationing with a 4-year old is quite an active event.  I was really tired afterwards. but it sure is fun having "Miles" time.

As soon as we got home, Miles needed to bowl with his new bowling ball.  He used the train table top as a bowling lane, set the pins up, then bowled.  It was really funny to watch...

On to the Next Phase

Yesterday we dropped Jonathan off at the University of Utah.  He had so much stuff that 2 cars were required to haul his stuff up to school.  As I watched his "packed" pile grow and grow, I couldn't help but think, "How much stuff can possibly fit in 96 sq ft.?"  I fully expected to bring half of it back home, but somehow, 97% of his stuff stayed.  Jonathan moved in about a week before any of his roommates because he still has to attend orientation.  Today was the boring part- "on campus" orientation.  Tomorrow, the fun begins as he heads off on a field trip- whitewater river rafting.  I know I never attended orientation like that.  Here's Jonathan is in his dorm...

Driving away was harder than I expected.  For many, many years, Jonathan's departure has been anticipated/expected.  But the day finally arrived, and my heart hurt.  Actually, I was fine until I was around the 53rd South exit.  Then I started feeling emotional, and by the 114 South exit, I was blinking back tears.  I had a parenting epiphany earlier in the day.  I realized that the main purpose in parenting was being fulfilled.  A parent is trusted with a helpless infant and the role of the parent is, over 18 or so years, to teach and prepare the child to leave the home and be successful.  Yesterday the role of a mother bird nudging her chick out of the nest so that the chick can learn to spread its wings and fly was done.  I'm sure Jonathan is going to be fine.  He's prepared, for the most part, I think; and he's not that far away if he needs help/support.  I just hope he remembers to call or text on occassion (or frequently).

An Arrowman

Last winter, Nolan was "called out" for the Order of the Arrow.  To become a member of the OA, he had to complete an "ordeal."  Nolan did that last weekend.  The ordeal was at Maple Dell on Friday and Saturday.  Friday night, Nolan took his oath of silence (that lasted until the end of the induction ceremony on Saturday evening) and slept out under the stars.  Since the OA is a service-based group, the inductees had to spend most of Saturday engaged in a service project- tearing down and packing away Maple Dell... hauling canoes, dismantling staff tents, taking down pavilions, etc.  I think Maple Dell looked at it as a source of free labor!

We were invited to attend the "Yay!  You're a member of the Order of the Arrow" ceremony, but due to a communication error, we arrived just as the ceremony was concluding.  One good thing about that was I didn't hear the "no pictures" announcement so I was, in ignorance, taking pictures.

Here's the arrowman.

What's next for him in the OA?  No idea...

He's Back!

Jonathan finished his summer job at Maple Dell on Saturday.  Was it a good job?  Well, you decide.  Here's what he posted on Facebook...

"What do Wah-Ka-Rah Ridge, rendezvous, environmental science, lion hunts, "doom on you," paperwork, KYBOs, class B's, armed salutes, a garrison flag, lurps, rhinos and backhoes, pine forest, albino woodchucks, "a song, a song, it's time to sing a song," CITs, azurite, Ivan, and The Companions have in common? 

An amazing summer on the Maple Dell staff teaching merit badges, befriending scouts, and having adventure. I can honestly say I have loved my job there and it's possibly the best job someone my age can hold."

He had a great summer!