Amazing Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Last night we celebrated Rebecca’s 21st birthday at YSA FHE. I wanted to make a cake; she wanted chocolate. I wanted it to be yummy, but I wanted to take a Sunday afternoon nap so No Frosting. We tried this recipe from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. It was simply delicious, decadent, rich, and amazing!

PAM with flour for dusting the pan
1 package chocolate cake mix (original said German chocolate)
1 package (big box) chocolate instant pudding
1 cup sour cream (16 oz. tub)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1-1/2 cups Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mist & flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Shake out excess flour. Set pan aside.
Place all ingredients in a stand mixer  except the chocolate chips. Blend for a minute, scrape down the sides, blend a few minutes more. Batter will be thick & well-combined. Add chocolate chips & mix. Pour into Bundt pan & smooth prepared batter with a rubber spatula. Place pan in the oven.
Bake the cake for 58-62 minutes, until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger & is just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool on wire rack for 20”.
No frosting or glaze needed. Just lots & lots of ice cream or milk. It is very rich.

Random September shots

   

The boys ran the Midnight Flight Race in Anderson. Chris surprised us all with a time of 20:23. Ryan ran 24:26.

Jared continued playing soccer – practice & games are Friday night & Saturday morning so it doesn’t conflict with any other events (a minor miracle).

Ryan came down with the flu first & then the other kids & I followed swiftly behind. We were well-cared for by friends who brought us dinner & gave priesthood blessings. We had 3-4 bad days each & then it was better. The boys missed a whole week of school and had LOTS of homework to make up. Jared took the nap of the century last Thursday & slept from the minute he got home from school until 7 the next morning! The best part of that night? Scott finally got home from Wichita!!!!!!!

I had my hair done by a new guy. Since I went on a late-night run for Play Dough to Target, I had the checker take my picture – how many pictures of the 365-pictures of the day include the photographer? Not many.

Ryan is back to playing baseball. His finger is mostly healed – it just hurts if he pushes on it. (Don’t push on it…)

The Boy Scouts had a court of honor. Ryan earned his Tenderfoot & Chris earned a few merit badges &  his On My Honor award. It’s great that we have dedicated scout leaders that keep the boys moving along.

Memories without Pictures

Most of you probably know that I LOVE to take pictures! I have been working a resolution to take a picture a day for the whole year. There are many events and days in my life that do not have pictures to go with them that are very special. If I had a digital camera, I would probably have a million photos, but instead I just have the feeling in my heart.

Meridian Magazine had an article today about the origins of the Primary songs. I am especially fond of I Am a Child of God and my memory took me on a quick little review of some important events of my life. This might be boring but I need to capture the feelings now.

My Baptism: October 22, 1983. I had been attending church for years and finally decided that I wanted to be baptized. I started attending seminary and getting huge doses of the Spirit every day & realized that I wanted to feel that peace every day of my life. At my baptism I requested the song “I Am A Child of God”.

Temple Square: I met Scott in a physics class at the University of Utah when I was a freshman in college. His opening line? “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?” We dated for a long time. One activity that we did with his parents was to go to Temple Square for FHE. While there, the missionaries pleaded for volunteers to work five hours per week. I was so inspired by the message that I asked how I could sign up. Soon, I was working every Saturday afternoon from 12:30-5:30. I was set apart as a full-time missionary and committed to learn the tours. I eventually knew three tours – the Life of Christ (upstairs near the Christus), the church history tour (around the grounds), and the Book of Mormon tour (South visitor’s center).  I was able to see a major shift as the church brought in full-time missionaries to replace the member volunteers. I still remember Sister Barnes & the powerful testimony that she brought on her mission. I was able to sit in on discussions & to see lives change. It was very powerful.

On one Saturday afternoon in September, I was invited to go to the Tabernacle to see the General Women’s Broadcast & sit on the third row!!! I knew that I was sitting in VERY reserved seating. I turned & asked the woman behind me why she was sitting in this section. She sweetly replied, “I am Naomi Randall. I wrote I Am A Child of God.”

One other Temple square memory, because the men let the sisters leave their shift early so we could go to the women’s broadcast, we filled in for them for the General Priesthood Session a few weeks later. One Saturday night I was standing near the door to the Tabernacle so I could see the prophet, Ezra Taft Benson. As I looked in the door, President Benson took off his suit coat & invited everyone else present to do the same thing. (If you know which talk this was, please let me know.) As he took off his coat, he just GLOWED and inside I felt very much that he was the prophet that the Lord had chosen to lead his church!

These darling children are singing the song in the Tabernacle on Temple Square (the egg-shaped building). I love the words & the message. When I learned to play the piano (as an adult), several (lots) of kids from the ward were taking from the same piano teacher as I was. When we went for our practice recital at a nursing home, I played the piano & all the Primary kids who were taking piano sang while I played. Very sweet because I was the Primary chorister at the same time.

Better run! If you want, let me know your favorite children’s song – Primary or otherwise.

Recipe for Disaster

One traveling husband + Three kids with the flu + One mom with the flu + Hungry stomachs

Mix generously for eight days.

Note to self: Paper plates & bowls for emergency kit.

Update

: I am so proud of my kids!!! Without me saying a word, Chris realized that this pile of dishes was over Mom's head & unloaded the dishwasher. Unloading the dishwasher prompted Ryan to load the dishwasher and then hand wash the rest of the dishes. I will post a picture in the morning, but the dishes are gone!!! Now if only the homework backup could be so easily taken care of. :)

Funny side-note: Scott's co-worker was looking over his shoulder as he [Scott] looked at this picture. The guy said, "She must have really been sick!!!"

Quote for the Day (& an update)

“A man does not work only for the sake of producing, but to set a value on his time. We feel more satisfied with ourselves and with our day if we have stirred up our minds and made a good start, or have finished a piece of work.” --Eugene Delacroix

Today, this week, this season – I have had a hard time having enough health and energy to feel that I have accomplished very much. When all is said and done, what value is there on my time? Are we accountable for the use of all of our time or just the healthy time?

Having the flu has been a major bummer & I am starting to feel discouraged today. The kids and I have been locked in the house together for a week. EVERYONE e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. is going to go to school tomorrow. And I am going to try to do something productive and something restorative, not necessarily at the same time or place.

Update: Jared is not going to school tomorrow. He still has a fever and added diarrhea to the equation today. He is still his happy, perky self but his body is fighting a tough battle against the flu!

I wanted to give him something from the BRAT group (bananas, rice, applesauce, & toast) so I dug into the food storage & found freeze-dried bananas and a big jar of applesauce. I have plenty of rice & toast but fruit sounded better. I opened the bananas & gave him a sample. He smiled & said, “Hmm, better hide these!” … He didn’t continue liking them but the initial taste was positive. Then, after applesauce, he said, “It’s good! You’ll really have to try some mom!”

Cousins!

Cousins are built in friends – love that these guys are so good to each other. My kids really look to them as examples. So grateful that they are good ones! We drove down for Tanner’s farewell – he’s going on a mission for our church to Quito, Ecuador. His farewell talk at church was Amazing.

 

Here’s the same kids in 2002 & 2003. Can you believe how much they’re grown?! Brandon is missing in the first two pictures – he is married with a darling wife & baby girl now. And I think he was at work when we took the Christmas picture – I can still hear Spencer saying, “Shouldn’t we wait & take a picture with Brandon?” Yes. We definitely should have waited.

 

Frequent Flyer's Club

What do you get when you combine an active 11-year-old, a bag of skittles, and too much time in a doctor’s office waiting room? Pure & simple silliness. Ryan (probably) broke his finger at his baseball game last night. It was very purple & swollen & ugly so I insisted on taking him in to the after-hours clinic.  You can kinda sorta see the purple-ness of the middle finger of his left hand. His fingernail peeled back & there’s a purple stripe on the back of the fingertip.

 

 

There was a hint of trouble when I saw FOURTEEN cars in the parking lot. We filled out four pages of paperwork, waited in the TV waiting room, went for X-rays, waited in the little orange-walled waiting room, and then the doctor told us that it was probably broken but hard to tell on kids. While waiting for X-rays, the physical therapist came out to check on us. He saw Ryan’s name & wondered if it could be the same one that he treated last year. (Yep!)

 

 

I just had to walk away & think how great it was to capture some funny moments with a boy whose been a little serious since middle school started. Isn’t he adorable???

 

Movie Trivia

I saw a darling idea for the soon-to-be big TV wall at this blog. Scroll down to the TV picture. :)

We play a game around Scott’s laptop with lines from movies. He plays a sound bite & all present try to guess the title of the show. I am pretty bad at it – even when I have played the game 20+ times. We say A LOT of movie lines in our everyday conversations. Our kids collect lines from shows – Jared will say, “I know a good line …” and then proceed to say a line that he thinks is repeatable. Here are a few favorites:

• “Honey, where’s my SuperSuit?” (The Incredibles)
• “Are we there yet? “ … “We’ll get there when we get there!!!” (The Incredibles)
• “It’s just the way things are.” (Babe)
• “The four food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn, & syrup!” (Elf)
• “I’m not dead yet!”
• .

Side note: I really miss little kids being home & watching Disney movies with them. The kids don’t watch the same great things any more. I’m glad that they’re growing up, but I still miss the good-old days!

What are some of your all-time favorite movie lines? What are some of your favorite quotable movies? We like Finding Nemo, Napoleon Dynamite, The Incredibles, Toy Story, and more. I will add a few more as I think about them throughout the day.

Jared LOVES to play soccer

Jared found some of Christopher’s old (very old) shin guards & decided then & there that he was going to play soccer this fall. I secretly wished that he would not remember when sign-ups came around, but he reminded me every day.

On Friday night it started to rain and lightning right before practice so it was canceled. He was SO disappointed!!! Not so disappointed that video games couldn’t make everything better though.All was not lost though as the first game was the next morning.

 

 

 

Jared diligently listened to most of what Coach Nick said. He had to sit out for the first few minutes because he had missed the only other practice (and he had never even been to a soccer game before).

His enthusiasm was so pure – it was really fun to watch. I am sure that soccer will get serious very soon, but it was nice to see him just scrap around with a bunch of like-minded kids, unaware of scoring and strategy.

Jared has on red shoes. He was great at chasing the ball, getting in and kicking a bit, and SKIPPING. Whenever he wasn’t running after the ball, he was skipping on the field. It was seriously one of the best soccer moments of my life!!!

Christopher’s Cross Country Saga

Chris is running x-country for his high school this year. He enjoys it when his calves are not cramping up & CRAMPING his style. Yesterday, he was running when he was stricken by exceedingly painful & severe leg cramps. He fell to the ground and would have quickly recovered if the friendly (& possibly bored) paramedics who work next to the campus had not driven by and seen something to do. I had to tell them that I did not want him transferred to the hospital & sign something stating that I understood that he had been treated.

Fast forward 24 hours. Scott got off work early. Jared waited in the car line (extra long since I was late). Ryan walked to the car instead of waiting. We drove one hour and thirty minutes to the town of Salem. We excitedly walked down the hill to see Chris race. There were three high schools there and almost ninety runners. It was going to be a great race… except the coach would not let Chris race. OK, I can see his point – let him get a practice under his belt before letting him run off in the traffic & everything. But (and it’s as huge as the state of Texas) BUT – do you think it might have been nice to notify the parents of his disqualification??? Almost four hours of extra driving and an hour waiting for the last runners to come in. Could you just pick up the phone & let me know of a detail like your kid’s not going to run?

You better believe that I am going to count the time spent driving to and from the meet towards my service hours for the school. I took bagels and tangerines for the runners so I think it’s legit.

The following are some photos from the trip…

    The post-race pep rally – Chris could have probably placed in the race. He had turned in practice times faster than the winning times today. At least they are having a rematch on September 10th.

Lake Keowee – love the green foliage, the blue water, and even the color of the red clay on the shore.