Baking and Buddies

This is one of Ben's favorite people in the entire world, and with good reason. Maddie is hysterical--she has the best facial expressions of any four-year-old I know. She is sweet, funny, silly, and a great buddy to play with. Ben and Maddie are like two peas in a pod. I love seeing my boys with good friends who enrich their lives.

Eating the spoils of the birthday cupcakies--I actually caught them re-dipping their beaters in the batter for more dough. Shhhh. . .don't tell.

Cheeseball. Love him.

In defense of the burger

So, we have changed our diet around the McMillan house lately, meaning we have made a dramatic reduction in the amount of meat we consume and a dramatic increase in all plant-based products. This hasn't made me extremely popular in the eyes of my little carnivorous beasts.

So, the other day I was frying up some veggie-bean burgers (which are delicious, if you want the recipe). Todd was bemoaning his lot in veggie-life, quite vociferously I may add. He had commented on their taste, their smell, their general appearance. He paused for a moment and then looked up, "Mom," he said, "it's like taking the name of a burger in vain."

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

Jack is Back

So, call us crazy (we are. . .a little), but we made a special trip to Utah again for the Jack Johnson concert. And it was totally worth it. We went this year with my brother and sis-in-law (who think we're looney). Halfway through Jack's first song, Tal leaned over and said, "He's amazing live." Yep. That explains our lunacy. He is amazing live. And we love it.

Fun date night with the sibs.

Fun shots with the swanky camera. Lovin' it.

Cool screen.

Pre-show (laughing at the G-Love lyrics--not our favorite)

So many cute couples on our blog today.

Seriously fun date night. I'm so glad that I enjoy the company of my husband--(did you know some people don't love hanging with their husbands)? I'm a lucky girl. It was also a ton of fun to ditch all our kids and hang out with Scott and Tal. We both been married for 13 years this year. It's fun growing old/up together. When Jack is back again, we will be, too.

Boise Trip--August

We had a great time in Boise in August, enjoying the company of Grandma Cheri and Grandpa Kevin. The only event we got pictures of? The pool at Ivy Wild. We love this little gem of a water park. I think it costs us $9 for the family to get in. Every summer someone suggests we try out the "real" waterpark at Roaring Springs, but my kids always ask for Ivy Wild. I figure as long as they're happy with the less expensive stuff, why fork out $100 smackeroos? Let's just keep it simple. One of these days they'll want more, but for now I love that they're happy just being kids.

Aren't my mom and dad just the cutest? We had to -get this Vegas friends- wait for a day that was warm enough to get to the water park, and then we finally had to settle for a high of 72. Even as cool as the grandparents are, they wimped out and never even touched the water. But it was a nice day for shade-bathing.

Ben was not deterred by the lack of sun or warmth. He was shallow diving with the best of them.

This is the boy who refused to put his face even close to the water at the beginning of the summer. Thanks to Grandpa Glenn and some magic goggles, we are now a swimming family.

The incredible twin drop slides. Fun stuff!

What else did we do besides swim?

• Well, we chose the hottest day of our visit to go on a geocaching quest on a local trail. Grandma Cheri caught the geocaching bug and had a hard time leaving one of the caches unfound. It's much more difficult to find those hidden caches in areas where plants actually grow. I think we did find four caches in our 2 hours of hiking.
• We drove up the canyon toward Idaho City to Greyback Gulch. We had a fun time caching again and hiking. Ben had a crash and cut up his knee. We lost Ryan and Todd (though they claim they were never), we thought we lost Grandma, but we all made it back safely. Some gorgeous scenery and nice to be out in nature.
• We experimented with some delicious plant-based recipes.
• We enjoyed seeing grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles that we haven't seen in a while.
• Thanks for the fun trip, Mom and Dad.

Stingray Part II

This morning we enjoyed the 100 degree morning at Todd's second swim meet. He greatly improved his performance since his last meet and was dog-tired and GROUCHY by the time we got home. After a PBJ he's improving. . . In his individual heats, he placed 1st in freestyle, 1st in breaststroke, 2nd in IM (individual medley), and 3rd in butterfly. Way to go, little man.

Stoic after his warm-ups (we can't call him Vast the Stoic, perhaps Skinny the Stoic?)

Putting on his game face

Check out the 6-pack on this kid. (And his race tattoo)

After a good race

Getting some good height on the butterfly--poor kid in the next lane lost his goggles

Freestyle form

Treading water waiting for the other kids to finish

Sierra Ranch Girls Camp 2010

So, I have an excuse for my lack of blogging presence for at least one week--I was at Girl's Camp. And it was fun! I had many offerings of condolence when I was called as the assistant camp director, but I was excited. I have only great memories of my time at girl's camp as a youth. My mom and aunt were my camp leaders every year, first in our ward and then at the stake level. I didn't appreciate them or their efforts nearly as much as I should have until this year. You guys were both amazing to share girls camp with me for FIVE years! Love you both.

It was surprisingly FREEZING up there at night. Coming from the mid 90's, this girl was freezing. I had a serious claustrophobia attack in a tent with four other adults and a sloping ceiling. I'm used to sleeping with very few covers on in the heat, so that zipped-up sleeping bag about did me in. Then, when I'd finally talked myself into relaxing, we hear, "Sister Warner!" Ginger got out to check and seconds later yelled, "Back up." So I hopped out of my sleeping bag to find a puke-covered tent. Delicious. Note to self for next year--don't give the girls free access to the snack box on day one. That was seriously a test of my constitution. Ginger Warner is the most amazing woman I know--it didn't even phase her. Then back to the sleeping bag and another round of claustrophobia, and another half hour of clenching and unclenching my feet to try and relax. Finally, I drifted into that blissful land of nod when, again, "Sister Warner." This was followed with another, "Back up." At least round two only consisted of emptying the bowl. . .After that we finally got to go to sleep for the night.

So, we did have a bit of drama and there were moments of homesickness. I wanted to strangle a few of the girls repeatedly. But overall, it was fantastic. There is truly something amazing that happens to so many of these girls when you get them away from the city. One afternoon during free time I looked over to see little groups of girls spread across the hill. And they weren't holding anything. . .no phones, no iPods, no nuthin'! They were talking and laughing and having a good time. Electronic devices were not only prohibited, there was absolutely no reception up the mountain, so sneaking them in wouldn't have helped. Aside from the lack of technology, there is just something about being close to the Father's creations that I truly believe brings out a spark of divinity within these young women. The world around us is so filled with things that simply aren't real. When you can take a girl away from that, she is filled with things that are real, that are tangible, and that bring out her true divine nature. I loved it.

On Friday night, the bishopric came for dinner and testimony meeting. It was a serious crack up to me. Those girls were so excited for these three middle-aged men to come up for a visit. They asked me all afternoon when they were coming. I kept reminding them that I had been with them all week and I had no idea when my bishop husband would show up. When they arrived, the girls surrounded them and sang them camp songs for an hour straight. This is in no way an exaggeration. They were giggly and giddy--it cracked me up.

I was glad to be back home and sleep in my own bed on Saturday night. I was glad for a return to my flip-flops. I was even glad for the heat so I could sleep with a sheet and not wrapped up like a mummy. A little sunburned, a little sore, but happy to have shared a week with these amazing young women.

Watching the flag ceremony. The girls called the bandana look "beast mode"

Brother Dill cooking up some good food

Brother Thiriot

Cute Miss Meaghan

Ally and Katie--"Spirit Fingers"

Only at girls camp will I play a raging bull--sorry you all missed it

Emily (with a peek from Aubrie)

Our flamenco dancers

Allyson Gunnell (and Ginger's hands), Cami, and Hayley

The dancers strut their stuff

Dutch oven deliciousness

Our Little Stingray

One of Todd's adventures of the summer has been participating in swim team for the city. We have LOVED it! He comes home hungry, physically tired, well-exercised, and happy. I have been very impressed with the high school/college-aged kids who run the program and do a marvelous job. Todd's swimming skills have improved by leaps and bounds. It has been something of a struggle to find something that has really clicked as far as Todd and sports. I feel so grateful to see him confident in his emerging talent. This team is just the right mix of preparation and competition for our boy who does not thrive under scrutiny. They have seven weeks of daily practice M-F and two meets. So it's been more about honing skills than about rigorous competition or focusing on time trials. Perfect for our emerging fish.

He looks like a pro! (I am admittedly a little biased)

Love that orange. This next series was a fun one Ryan captured during Todd's breaststroke--

Go Stingrays!