Pool Time

After work yesterday Chris decided that he was ready to get in the pool and the kids jumped at a chance to be in the water with their Dad.  Fun was had by all and even Dylan was getting into it.  He has started jumping into the water from the ladder.  I think he has finally learned to hold his breath so that he doesn't swallow water when he goes under.  Then last night Chris started throwing him in the air and it was pretty cool to watch.  

Then Tawny wanted Dad to throw her.  She is a little big to be throwing around anymore lol.  But he tried anyway.  This picture looks pretty funny.  I am glad I was able to get him throwing the kids around.

Of course Caris had to get in on the fun too.  

Dakota did not want to participate last night so it was just Dad the girls, and Dylan.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Matlock for the pool.  It has been the life saver this summer.  It has been good to have so that the kids can go out and cool off and be out of my hair so I stay sane.  Caris has been telling me for the past two week how long until school starts.  Now last year I would be chomping at the bit to get them back in school and this year they are starting a week earlier and I am not in such a big hurry to send them back.  Yes we have had out days where they have gotten on my last nerve.  But we have had more fun than not this summer. 

When school starts this year it will be just Dylan and I for one more year and then he will start kindergarten.  I am not sure what I will do once I don't have any kids at home during the school hours.  Ever since Grandma Matlock has been living with us we have been working on the kids to help them take over some of the responsibility of cleaning the house.  Besides they are the ones that make a mess of it to begin with.  So we are working on chore lists and just the other day I was listening to something and I am going to change the chore list to their job list.  Then hopefully they will take a little more pride in the job that they do and once they are out in the world with a real job they will know how to behave and how to make a good impression with the work that they do.

My girls........aren't they beautiful.  Tawny has learned a new way that she likes to have her hair.  So I guess she and Shalynn will be braiding her hair every night that she has a shower before she goes to bed.  She said the only problem with it is that it takes forever to undo all the braids.  

I do have to say that I happen to like it and maybe she will actually keep her hair down some of the time instead of putting it up in a ponytail all the time.

Pampered Chef Fall Launch

This last weekend I was able to go down to Anaheim with Sheryl Rhodes my up line Director in the Pampered Chef for the Fall Launch.  I have never been able to go to a Pampered Chef meeting like this before and it was a lot of fun.  The only downside was that I had to get up really early and leave Ridgecrest at four in the morning so that we arrived in time to register and find seats before the meeting started.  

There were only three of us from Ridgecrest that went but it was pretty awesome to be there at the meeting and to be able to see all the new Fall products before they are released to the public.  There was also a lot of good information shared for helping us keep our businesses running and how to make it better for ourselves and for those that we share the opportunity with. 

 I would really like to make Pampered Chef work for me and the family so that we can have some extra money that I can put away so that we can go to family reunions and do other fun family things.  

There are over 40 new products making their way into the catalog this fall.   I can't wait to share them with all my family and friends.

Diva Dylan?

Yesterday after swimming in the pool with the kids, Tawny was responsible for getting Dylan showered and then dressed again in his clothes.  So everything is going along fine and then she walks out with Dylan and he has a towel on his head like us women like to wear so that our hair dries a little faster.  I thought it was so cute so we had to get the camera out and take pictures.  He will look back on this and laugh I hope.

Let's hold the towel on so it doesn't fall off

A monkey towel for a little monkey.  He has totally gotten braver with the pool this year.  Grandma Matlock bought him a little floatie and he jumps into the pool from the ladder all the time now and just starts kicking around the pool.  It is good to see him so relaxed in the water, now we just need to work on getting him to hold is breath and go under the water a little bit.  

 Look Mom 

Yep there he went jumping into the pool again.  Chris and I just have to make sure that the ladder is out of the pool once the kids are finished swimming.  Dylan like to climb on it and we are a little afraid of  him getting on the ladder and falling in when no one is watching him.  He is such a treasure that we do not want to loose him or any of the kids.  

"The Pool" My Sanity Saver

This summer Grandma Matlock was gracious enough to purchase a pool for the Bear Cubs.  It has been my sanity saver this summer.  I have not let them get out in the pool during the hot times of the day since living here in the desert they would be burned to a crisp. 

So they normally have to wait until around 2 in the afternoon and then they have to make sure that they have all been sunscreend up so that they have a little protection from the sun.  So normally in the mornings they will get up and we all do chores, I hope that they will keep this up once school starts.  Then we have tried to have Scripture Study and then after lunch we try to have quiet time where they either take a nap or read a book.  Then after the quiet hour they are allowed to get in the pool.  Trying to keep the t.v. down to a minimum during the summer.  I have asked Shalynn, Tawny, and Dakota to read during quiet time but so far not one of them has wanted to do that.  Then yesterday after church Tawny asked me if there was something that she could read.  well we have a bunch of books that are good for her and she started reading one and she wanted to read even after we told her it was time for bed last night.  Then this morning she has been reading again.  YAY YAY  hopefully she will continue this habit.  I remember one summer (I don't remember which summer it was) for me when we were at Grandma Johnson's for the summer and I was totally board.  I remember picking up the book Island of the Blue Dolphins and ever since then I have loved to read.  Movies are great but they just don't get all the information and all the fun little quirks that you get when you read a book.  Keep up the reading  Tawny I love you.

I have Young Women now???

Yesterday I was sitting in Relief Society for the opening exercises with the young women.  A few months ago I was called to be the Beehive Advisor and I had my oldest daughter Shalynn in my class.  It was really great to have her in class and see how much she has grown and how she handles different situations.  Then the end of June Shalynn moved up to Mia Maids and in July Tawny turned 12 and joined me in the Beehive class.  So getting back to where I started, sitting in Relief Society with my two oldest girls I started thinking that I am not going to have much more time with them living with me.  I started to think that I hope that I have taught them well and that they will be able to stay strong in the gospel once they leave home.  It was pretty scary but also pretty awesome at the same time.  Time really seems to fly by as you become and adult but then it speeds by even faster once you become a parent.  It feels like it was just yesterday that I was coming home from the hospital with Shalynn and Tawny and they were the only two babies that Chris and I had at the time.  I remember attending a youth conference one time while I was living in northern California with my family and I went to one class where the teacher had stretched a rope across the entire length of the classroom and once he got to talking about out life here on earth he asked us if we could find the knot in the rope.  It was a little hard to find but in the end we did find it.  It didn't take up that much space on the rope and when we stated that fact the teacher told us that is pretty much like the time that we spend here on earth.  We are sent here for a short and small test.  It is up to us to make sure that we pass with flying colors.  I hope and pray that I am giving my children what they need to pass this test and meet up with Heavenly Father again.

Artisan Bread made at Home

I was on Pintrest the other day and I found a great recipe that I really wanted to try but I did not have a Le Creuset Oven to make it in. The recipe also said you could try something else that has a lid and could take the heat needed to make the bread.  I started thinking of another way that I could try and make the bread at home.  Well I am a Pampered Chef Consultant and we do sell the Deep Covered Baker and the new Round Covered Baker and the oven that the blog wanted us to use had a lid on it like a dutch oven so I thought I would give it a try in my Deep Covered Baker.   I had read the article on the blog and seen the pictures of how the bread should look when you lift off the cover so I was really hoping that it would turn out.  So here is how things worked at the Matlock house when I tried to make Artisan Bread.  You need to start out with 3 Cups of Flour, 1 and 3/4 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp of yeast.  Mix all of these ingredients with a whisk.   I have added two oranges zested, 3/4 dried cranberries, and 1/2 cup chopped almonds.

Now add 1 and 1/2 cups of water

Mix all together and it should look like a shaggy mess

Now you want to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let is sit on your counter for 12 - 18 hours

DO NOT REFRIGERATE

After your wait time your dough should look really sticky.  You want to preheat your oven to 450 degrees and then you want to place your Deep Covered Baker, Le Creuset oven, or whatever pot with a lid that you have decided to use in the oven for 30 minutes.  I mad a double batch so that is why it looks like there is a lot of dough in my bowl

While your pot is heating up in the oven  you will want to dump the dough onto a heavily floured surface, shape into a round ball and then cover with the plastic wrap that you used to cover the bowl.  

After you bowl has been in the oven for 30 minutes take it out and put your dough into the pot, put the lid back on and then put it back in the oven for 30 more minutes.

Now all you have to do is wait for 30 minutes and you will have some really awesome bread.
When your timer goes off pull the lid off and see a beautiful loaf of artisan bread that you have made yourself and pull it out to cool on a rack and then enjoy.

This was so good and so easy to make I will be doing it again soon.  If you don't like cranberries or orange you don't have to add them to the bread.  It is also just good with nothing extra added to the recipe.  This was just so good that I wanted to share it.

Scripture Study

Last year I found a great resource for studying the scriptures with your kids.  I was not able to put it into practice but I have decided that this year we are going to try it out.  You are supposed to read 8 pages a day and it should only take you 2 months and few days to finish the Book of Mormon.  I have tried to read every day of the summer with the kids so far but we have missed a few days and then there was one day that we didn't finish all 8 pages but we are doing pretty good.  Shalynn and Tawny are willing to read and we take quite a bit of time to actually talk about the things that they are reading.  We just got to the part in 1 Nephi where Nephi is having his vision and he is seeing what is going to happen to his seed and how Christopher Columbus is going to discover the Americas, and all the other fun things during that time period.  The kids thought it was pretty cool that Nephi had seen all those things before they happened.  It was really great to watch the kids as Chris and I were discussing how the Americas were founded and to see the dawning of understanding in the kids eyes.  Even Dakota is having a good time with scripture study and Caris wants to read all the time.  This is going to be great for their reading skills over the summer too.  I am so greatful that the kids are actually willing to sit down with me and pull their scriptures out.  I didn't know how that was going to go over with them during their time off from school.  I am thinking that I would like to continue the scripture study once school starts again but we would do it after school and we wouldn't read 8 pages but maybe a chapter a day just to make sure that they get their reading in.
As the kids get older and with my calling as the Beehive Advisor I see that the more armor and weapons that I can give my children against the advisory the better off they will be.  I hope that they will learn that they always have someone to come to when they need help and when I or their dad is not around that they can always call upon the Lord to help them.

Putting up the Gazebo

Since Grandma and Grandpa have moved in with us they have been helping us turn the house we rent and live into a home, and the outside of the house a nice place to want to be instead of just a sand pit.  After visiting with her friend Terry up in Redding, Grandma brought down a gazebo that she was getting rid of and we are putting up in in our backyard for a little more shade that is sorely needed here in the desert.  

Dakota was helping to put all the top pieces where they needed to go and using some tools to make sure that they were secure so that the wind would not blow the gazebo over.  We do tend to get quite a bit of wind here and you never know when it is going to come up.  Dee (Grandma) has an idea for the gazebo and we are going to actually attach it to some old railroad ties that were in the front yard.  This way once we put the cover on the top it will not get picked up by the wind and blown around.  

After Cody had everything tightened we had to take it apart again anyway because some of the pieces were in wrong, but he did a great job for his first time working with tools.  Pictures of the finished project will follow soon.

Caris Bridging from Daisy Girl Scouts to Brownie Girl Scouts

After school finished the second week of June Caris and her Daisy troop had their bridging ceremony.  Caris is now a Brownie Girl Scout. 

So the bridging ceremony was a potluck dinner that all the families of all of the girls brought something to share.  The leaders mad sure that we had all kinds of different types of food so we didn't all deserts, or main dishes.  The Matlock family brought Italian Chicken so I knew that at least my kids were going to eat something.  But I had to make sure that they ate something besides all the deserts first.  I was lucky if Dylan ate a single slice of cheese pizza before he started on the brownies.  This year for Girl Scouts Caris was in two different troops.  The first one was out in Inyokern and she rode out every Monday with Mrs Sheri to go to the meetings.  It was just too far for me to take her and to much gas money all the time, and Mrs. Sheri was already going out there to help out with the troop so she said that she would be willing to take Caris to and from the meetings.  

Then later during the year there was a new troop that got started here in town and they were going to meetings just down the street and Mrs. Sheri asked if I would like to put Caris in that troop.  I had to think about if Caris would like to be moved into another troop after getting use to the one that she started this year in.  Last year she was in a different troop and most of the Daisies ended of leaving.  Some of the mothers decided that they wanted to start their own troop and so they just pulled their kids and started their own troop.  I did not pull Caris then and let her finish out the year there.  So in her short two years of Girl Scouts so far she has already been in three different troops.

This year she also earned a trip to Build-a-Bear and she and her troop will be going there in July.  I don't know if I will be going or just letting her go with the troop.  I have done pretty much everything with Shalynn and Tawny and I am not sure that I want to let Caris go and do things without me lol.  We will have to see as the time gets closer for her to go.

Dog Hair

When Grandma and Grandpa Matlock moved in they brought with them their two dogs Rose and Patch.  Whenever Chris and I would take the kids up to see Grandma and Grandpa Matlock the kids had to spend at least one day getting use to the dogs again.  For some reason all of the older kids were a little afraid of them.  Maybe because Chris and I did not have a dog for them to grow up with.  Dylan on the other hand was fine with the dogs from day one.  But anyway getting back to my story.  Since the grandparents have moved in we are dealing with DOG HAIR all the time.  It is not just on the rug or the floor it is all over the place and all over the kids and our clothes all the time.  That is one thing that I am really not use to.  So after going to church a couple of times and having to use duct tape to get the dog hair off the boys black pants and such I went out and bought some of the big lint rollers and I have a few in the house and at least one out in the van at all times.  Just to make sure that I am dog hair free when I go places.  

So here we get to my funny story.  The other day Dylan was wanting to help clean up and and he told me that he needed to get the dog hair off.  So thinking that he was going to use the lint roller to get the dog hair off his clothes I just gave it to him.  Little did I know what her really wanted to do with it.  When I arrived in the Kitchen and was getting ready to ask him to give me the roller back he was actually running it over the dog getting the dog hair off.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I mean he was getting dog hair off just not of himself or one of his siblings it was actually getting it off the dog.  I just love my kids and all the great ideas that they come up with.

Cold Soccer Game

This last weekend Ridgecrest was actually blessed with some rain.  In face all Flex Friday it rained from after the kids left for school until they came home from school.  I am not complaining though.  We need all the rain that we can get because I already think that we are going to have a pretty dry summer this year and I think we are also going to get really hot in June.  I was raining pretty hard and I was wondering if they were going to cancel Caris's soccer game.  Besides the field being wet from all of the rain it was getting pretty cold and the wind was still blowing when I got ready to take her to her game.  None of the other kids wanted to come and just sit out in the cold and I didn't blame them.

So we get to the game and I send Caris in to her team and I walk around to go sit with the rest of the parents.  Once I get my chair out I am looking for her and I can't find her.  The reason I could not see her was because they had put the goalie shirt on her and I couldn't see the clothes that she wore to the game.  This was her fist time playing this position and I am not sure that she really knew what to do.  But at this age I think all the kids are out there to just have a good time playing.

As the kids were playing the parents were freezing.  I got some pretty good pictures of the clouds just coming over the mountains and it was pretty impressive to just see them coming over the mountains like waves in the ocean.

The wind would just not stop during the game and it was called before the kids were able to play the entire game.  We were playing against our neighbors the walkers and their team won this time around.  I guess we will just have to keep the kids in soccer and they they will get better and have more fun too.

Cali Girl Trip for Shalynn and Tawny

This last Friday we finally were able to go on the Cali Girl trip that the girls earned last year will selling cookies. Last year when the Girl Scouts went our girls were in the wrong level so they were not given the proper ticket or told about the proper trip.  I talked with someone last year and actually told them that Shalynn was a Cadette and they told me that they would call me when the Cadette trip was up and ready to go but I never received a phone call so Ellen was nice enough to get on the phone and she got tickets for Shalynn and her daughter Katie and we went on Friday.

These pictures were taken at the end of the day as we were leaving.  When we arrived at the park, trying to get in was a job.  The girls and I got in one line and when we got up to the front we were told that we needed to to to another line because we had a military ticket and they didn't do those in this line.  So the new line we got in was even longer than the first line we were in.  But to make long story short Shalynn and I used the free tickets that we got for the Cali Girl trip and Tawny was able use the new ticked and it was turned into a year pass.  So she will be able to go back for a year and just go in.  I think I will talk to Chris about getting a few more season passes because the park was not that far away and it was pretty fun to just go down for the day and hang out.  

So the first ride of the day was the Simpsons Ride.  Shalynn, Tawny and I did not have to wait in line that long because we were still in the line to get in while Ellen, Katie and Daniel were in the line for the ride.  Once we got to the ride we had to catch up to the rest of the party.  So once we actually got in line I think it only took us about 10 minutes to actually get on the ride.  For this ride you get in a stationary car and then the car is moved around during the ride.  The graphics on this ride were totally awesome.  The car that we were all in was moved all over the room that we were in, up, down, left, right, forwards, and backwards.  The graphics were good enough so that when you were on the roller coaster part of the ride you really felt like you were dropping down a real coaster.   We even got hit with water during parts of the movie that had water or spit being thrown at us.  

There was even one part that the roller coaster car went in the baby's mouth and you could smell the babies mouth and it was actually we in there too.  YUCK  but it was still fun to ride. 

After this ride we needed to decide if we wanted to stay up on the upper level of the park or head down to the lower level and do all the rides down there and then come back up.  The kids decided that they wanted to go to the lower level so off we went.  To get to the lower level we had to take 4 escalators to get there.  You could also use the stairs but I was all into the escalators.  

This is us at the top of the escalators before heading down to the lower level.  We were also able to see the space capsule that was in the move Apollo 13 

The first ride that we decided to do once we arrived at the lower level was the Jurassic Park water ride.  Ellen was not so sure about going on this ride because of the last drop in the ride.  She is not a roller coaster person but her kids and I said that she would be fine during the ride and I was going to be sitting right next to her so she could hang on to me if she got scared. 

Tawny at the beginning of the line for the ride.

Shalynn on the Jurassic Park Water Ride

Tawny on the Jurassic Park Water Ride.

Some of the smaller dinosaurs fighting over popcorn during the ride.  After this part of the ride I had to put the camera away because of all the water being thrown our way.  As we took the next turn we headed into a tunnel and we got a really good look at Tyranasauras Rex before we headed up again for the long drop to the end of the ride. All of the kids were in the front of the boat and Ellen and I were sitting right behind them.    So the kids in the front got wet and Ellen and I got a little wet.  I was thinking that since we were sitting in the front of the boat we were going to get even wetter than we actually did but it was pretty cool.  And Ellen did really great on the ride, she can now say that she has been on that ride.

For this ride you get in a roller coaster type seating arrangement and you are on tracks that run you through the ride.  This ride at the end take you backwards and if you are not prepared for it your stomach gets thrown for a loop.  Ellen went on this ride with us too.  It wasn't like some of the other roller coaster that I have been on at Kings Dominion in Virginia or even Disneyland here in CA, but it was still fun.

Shalynn said that the ride was pretty cool and awesome and a little scary especially when it went backwards.  After this ride we decided that we needed to eat some lunch so that we could continue to see the rest of the park on a full stomach.  The girls and I decided that we wanted Panda Express since we don't have one of those up in Ridgecrest.  We wanted something that we couldn't get up in Ridgecrest.  After lunch as we were sitting around just eating and deciding what we wanted to do next we saw a few different characters from different movies and tried to get pictures with them.

Daniel, Tawny, Beetlejuice, Shalynn and Katie

Shaggy, Daphne, Tawny, Scooby Doo, Katie, and Shalynn

Katie and Shalynn with one of the characters from the Revenge of the Mummy ride.  If you look in the background of the picture you can see the new Transformers ride that is going to be opening in May.  I guess Chris and I will have to get a few more Season Passes so that the rest of the kids can come down and enjoy the ride.  :)

So the kids ran through the Jurassic Park ride a few more times while we were down on the lower level and then we headed back to the upper level.  Tawny, did all the flights of stairs except for one and Katie did all of the stairs.  Daniel and Ellen did one flight of stairs and Shalynn and I just took the escalator all the way.  Once we reached the top we headed for the Shrek ride. 

This is not really a ride but it is a 4D experience.  You have to wear glasses during the presentation and that makes it 3D.  When we say 4D we add in water being thrown on you and the seats moving up and down and air being blown on the back of your neck and other such things.  It was pretty cool.  The only part that was a bit rough was coming into the staging area before you get in to sit down.  It was really dark in there and hard to see.  So we had to hold onto one another to make sure that none of us got lost.  The little 3D movie was very well done and it was pretty awesome.

After the ride the girls saw Shrek just walking around and we ran to catch up and get a picture with him.

Shalynn and Tawny with one of Dylan's favorites cartoon characters.  I loved the hats on the girls, and I was thinking about getting a hat for Dylan but I had already gotten him a Jurassic Park hat since he loves those movies.  

JAWS anyone???????

By this time of the day Ellen and I were ready to sit down for a little bit so we headed over to the Animal Show.  I think we stood in line for about 10 minutes and then we were able to go in and sit down.  It was pretty fun to see how some of the animals were run through their paces.  

It was really great to see the guinea pigs run across the stage.  Chris had some when he was growing up and he and I have been debating back and forth on if we should get one for the kids. When I saw them run across the stage I thought of Chris.  It made me smile.    After the animal show we went and sat through the 4D Terminator 2 show and it was pretty good with all the special effects and the way the chairs moved and all the other 4 D special effects that they threw on you.  After this last experience we were all getting pretty tired and looked in a few stores to see what the kids wanted and then we were going to go outside to the Universal Studios City Walk and then head home.  

We walked through the small French part of the park and the girls had to jump on the moped.  I am now thinking that is what we should get them when they get ready to go to High School.  Then I will not have to be the Taxi for them anymore.  :)

We then stopped in England for a pit stop and some phone calls 

As we were on our way out the Girls just had to Pose by the Blues Brothers car.  They like watching their dad as he watches the movie.  

Daniel, Katie, Tawny, and Shalynn with the Blues Brothers Car

Wow do I have beautiful girls or what.

As we were finishing up looking in the stores the girls decided that they wanted to model some of the hats that we found in the store 

I thought this picture was to cute not to include lol

If I had a little more money to spend I would have totally bought these hats because they are so true.  I would have them made the girls wear them all the time.

The main place that Katie and Daniel wanted to go before we headed home was Yogurt Land.  This is a store that you go in and it has a bunch of different yogurt machines and you get to put whatever kind of yogurt you want in a cup and then add all the topping that you want and then you end up paying for how much your cup weighs.  It was pretty fun and I think the girls had a good time trying to make up their minds on what kinds of different yogurt to try.  

Here you can see that they really had a lot of different types of yogurt that you could try.

Tawny with her yogurt minus all the topping that she put on it.

Shalynn getting ready to add her toppings. 

After yogurt we headed out of the park and went to the car and headed for home.  It was really nice to take my shoes off and put the flip flops on so that I could drive home in comfort.  I think that I will need to talk to Chris and see if he would agree to maybe get some season passes and then come down every once in awhile with the kids.  If we have season passes you don't have to buy souvenirs all the time and the kids can just come and rid all the rides and just enjoy themselves.