Lauren's Twelve!

Lauren turned twelve on July 24th. She got kidnappped and taken to breakfast in her PJs by some friends, she played with her presents, got her ears pierced, got her hair cut, and went to SPAC to see the NYC Ballet. What a birthday. The next day she had a friends birthday party. They played twister on a giant twister board, decorated little cakes, ate ice cream pie, opened presents, and played Apples to Apples.



Then on Sunday Grandma B., and her Aunt, Uncle, and cousins came over to celebrate with Lauren's favorite dinner - scrambled eggs, sausage, blueberry muffins, hash browns, and OJ. Her Aunt brought a cake that was decorated with half for Lauren and half for Rob, as it was his birthday that day. They each blew out half of the candles.

New Bedroom Furniture!

Today we got new bedroom furniture. I can't tell you how thrilled I am. There were times when I didn't think it would ever happen. It totally changes the look of our room - in a good way.

Fireworks at the Empire State Plaza

The ward had a 4th of July pancake breakfast outside today. It was fun. There was also a hot air balloon there taking people up about 30 feet. That was fun. Lauren and Glen rode their bikes over. I had food to take and Jared can't ride his bike right now so I drove us over. After that we went and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the Scotia Cinema. It was just what you expected, which made it fun. After that we went home and grilled ribs and potatoes on the BBQ. It was yummy. Then we went to the Empire State Plaza to see the fireworks. We've never actually been to the plaza for fireworks before. Once long ago we watched them from across the river, but that's not the same. Brian Adams was the act before the fireworks. I really only recognized one song and it was really LOUD! The fireworks were the best we've seen in NY. Usually we go to Clifton Park or Scotia for fireworks. They do about half of what the Empire State Plaza does. It was a lot of fun, and we managed to be at the front of the crowd leaving so getting to the car and getting home weren't too bad. It was a fun, relaxing 4th of July.

Jared has surgery

Yesterday at 5:45 a.m. Jared and I left for Ellis Hospital-McClellan Campus to have arthroscopic surgery done on his wrist. He had some torn cartilage that had been causing problems for about 9 months now. First it's wait to see if it fixes itself. No - then call primary care physician. Wait weeks for appointment. Told to try 3 Advil 3 times a day for a month (stomach eaten away). Doesn't fix problem. Sent for imaging. Inconclusive. Sent to orthopedist, suggests physical therapy. Two months of that, no better. Back to orthopedist, sent for imagine where they inject dye into site. Yes, something is wrong. Will surgery fix it? Do we want to try to wait it out? Decide to do surgery because it's not getting better on its own. At this point it's almost tennis season. Ask orthopedist if it matters at this point if he has surgery after tennis. He says "No". After tennis it's the end of school and he needs right hand to write for finals. Decide to schedule surgery right after school ends. Get an appointment on July 3rd, changes to July 1st, and finally settles on July 2nd (unfortunately we were supposed to meet a good family friend getting home from a mission on the 2nd - Oh well, what can we do). Who would ever have thought that something that happened last August would finally get fixed the next July. He'd supposed to be in the bandage until July 9th, then probably in a splint. And then we hope it's truly fixed!

Strawberry Ice Cream

Last night for FHE we had Helen and Suzanne & kids over for a BBQ. Afterwards we got ready to to freeze homemade strawberry ice cream. But...just when the freezer started turning our power went out. What a delima - do we wait and see if it comes back on soon, or do we go to Suzanne's house to freeze it? After a call to the power company and an estimate of four hours before we'd have power we headed to Suzanne's. It was done about 8:45p.m. So we had our FHE lesson while we ate the ice cream. We haven't made homemade ice cream in years. It was delicious!

Ice Cream
from Helen Brooksby

5 c. blended strawberries or peaches
juice of 1 lemon
3 c. sugar
4 separated eggs
pinch of salt
1 qt. 2% milk or whole milk
1/2 pt. heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla
2 drops red food coloring (if needed)

Blend 5 c. berries, 2 c. sugar, and lemon juice and set aside. Beat egg shites and salt until stiff. Add 1/2 c. sugar. Beat until it looks like meringue. Beat egg yolks with 1/2 c. sugar until llight yellow. Put fruit in. Fold in yolks. Fold in meringue. Add milk, cream, and coloring. Freeze.

Note: strawberry-banana tastes great!