Chef Megan

My birthday was earlier this week.  Megan has been taking a Culinary class in high school this year and decided she was cooking dinner on my birthday.  She was sneaky!  She gave Emily a list of ingredients she needed and Emily went to shopping without me. I was banned from the fridge for the day.

That evening, I was banned from the kitchen while Megan did all the cooking.  Emily was at work, so Heather and I watched a movie while Megan cooked.

Here is the finished product:

Pan-seared, caramelized chicken with a cream sauce

Homemade vinaigrette dressing over greens

I made garlic bread

 

Dinner was delicious!  I think she should cook more often.

 

Emily's boss is one of the guys in my program at school. She came home from work and had this picture of the district manager and her store manager.

Santa Jim and Elf Kyle

Russian Missionaries

My niece Taralee entered the Provo MTC earlier this month.  She is heading to Russia.

Tara is the redhead on the right.

Her companion is from Sweden.

 

Emily's good friend Ross is also heading to Russia next month.  He had an open house on Sunday and looked so awesome in his Russian attire (and Soviet hat!) that I had to post some pictures. (No one ever explained how his dad comes to own a Soviet hat....)  His grandparents just got home from a mission to Moscow and were in town on Sunday to say goodbye.

 

He looks Russian already, doesn't he?

Hamming for the camera

It will be fun to read their letters and see how they experience Russian culture.  Taralee will be on the western border of Russia and Ross will be on the far eastern border just above North Korea.  Will it be like comparing New Jersey and California--very different cultures within the same country?  It will be interesting to find out!

Ross's grandmother made Russian celebration foods: borscht, plov, and Olivier salad.  The plov was AMAZING!  It looked and tasted like Thanksgiving dressing, but had pork in it instead of turkey.  Yum!

Megan, Ross, Emily, Heather

She looks so short!

In addition to our new Russian missionaries, Taralee's sister is currently serving in Bolivia and the girls' stepbrother is going to Tacoma Washington starting the end of October.  It will be very exciting to see them all grow.

And Heather is counting the days until she can leave in 2016!

Three Amigos

Megan changed schools last year but ended up having two great friends, among others, that she spent much of her time with.  We are going to miss that camaraderie.

7th grade basketball teammates

8th grade volleyball championship game

 

Shopping for 8th grade promotion dresses

School talent show - 8th grade 

Talent show curtain call

They all wanted to have matching hair styles.

8th grade promotion

Thank you, Alyssa and Abby, for being so good to my girl.

14 Going on 20

Megan recently had a birthday.  She is officially 14 and can attend church dances.  Her first one is this weekend.

 

 She recently decided to get "sweep bangs" and she loves to have her hair crimped so it is wavy.
 

 

Heather doesn't like frosting so we left part of the cake unfrosted for her.

 

She insisted on having one taken in the dark.  Silly girl!

 

 While we were eating cake there was a knock at the door.  Her friend Rachel and her brother Carson had heart attacked our door!  Megan loved it!  She left it up for a long time but when the wind started tugging the hearts off I made her take it down.



Softball Championship

Megan played softball again this year.  Her team played in the district championship today.  Unfortunately, they lost the game.  However, they held the toughest team in the district to 3-0 in four innings.  Good job, Lady Mustangs!

Megan is 2nd from left on the front row.

Daddy, assistant coach, is in the back with hat and sunglasses.

Cooking for Camp

Heather and Megan are going to church girls camp in June.  To help each girl raise money their youth group hosted a spaghetti dinner and dessert auction.  The money raised by the spaghetti dinner was divided evenly between all the girls; however, the money from the dessert auction was applied to whichever girl brought the item.

My girls spent the morning at Grandma's house baking.  Then we came home and did some more baking at our house.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  Their dad loves pecan pie but Grandma only makes it at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The girls wanted to learn how to make it for dad and practiced by making two for the dessert auction.  Grandma was kind enough to have them make a third one for Dad.  He was appropriately excited!

We also made triple chocolate brownies, no bake cookies (Papa's favorite!), lemony lemon brownies (Heather wanted to try this new recipe), and Cookie Monster cupcakes.  Everyone was very generous and the girls earned all the money they needed for camp.  Megan was excited because the highest selling item was her Cookie Monster cupcakes.  She said next year she will make a whole bunch!

Megan made chocolate cupcakes.  The eyes are white chocolate melts and chocolate chips glued on with white frosting.  We bought a small bag of mini chocolate chip cookies and made blue frosting.  I piped the frosting onto the cupcakes and Megan added the cookies and eyes.  We used a special frosting tip -- Wilton 233.  The frosting took a while, but Megan was patient and SO excited about how cute they turned out. 

Reliving Childhood

She takes up a whole lot more space than she used to!  Good thing I only needed a few things.

Megan for President!

In the school yearbook, Megan was voted Most Likely to Become President.

Her best friend, Abby, was voted Most Likely to be on American Idol.

Looks like I'll be making some visits to Washington, DC, and attending some concerts in the future!  Yahoo!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

This year Megan has participated in cheerleading, basketball and now softball.  She has decided that softball is her favorite. 

Her best friend Abby also joined the team.

Several dads, including Megan's, helped coach the team. 

Work clothes get pretty dirty on a softball field, but he didn't seem to care.  He and another dad acted as base coaches, telling the girls when to run to second, third, and home.  At one game Megan walked to first because she nearly got hit.  She then stole all the way home. She was so excited!

My stupid camera thought I wanted to focus on the rusty chain link fence.  I wanted to focus on Megan batting. 

Abby batting

I liked this picture of them watching their team play.

The team with the coaches

Posing after the playoff game.  Just as I clicked the camera one of their team members threw water on them.

Abby's classes were covered by she doesn't seem to care.

What a fun year we have had!

Choir Festival

Megan and her friend Abby recently participated in a district choir festival.  The students practiced the songs at their own schools with their music teachers.  On the day of the festival, they spent the day at the high school learning to sing together.  That evening they performed for family and friends.

This is the elementary choir.  They sang four songs.

I like how the overhead light shines right on Megan's blond head, making it stand out.

With her heels on and her positioning, Abby blocked Megan's face throughout most of the concert but I did snap this one picture.

Later, the two junior high choirs sang two songs (Megan was part of that) and then the high school choir sang two a capella songs.

The entire choir (elementary, junior high, high school) then closed with "Rainbow Connection", which I still always associate with Kermit the Frog.

Afterwards the girls were all smiles.  What a fun experience this was for them!

Look Out, WNBA!

Megan and her friends Abby and Alyssa joined the school basketball team.  They didn't always know what they were doing but they sure had a good time!

Megan throwing in the ball

Abby and Megan hustling on the court

Offense!

Outa my way, girl!

One of them wanted a picture of their numbers.

Megan, Abby, and Alyssa after the last game of the season

I am glad she had the chance to commit to a team and be involved. 

Valentine's Day Flash Back

When Megan was in 3rd grade, she had a wonderful teacher that she loved dearly.  When Valentine's Day rolled around, Megan insisted on buying her a giant Hershey's kiss.  The teacher thanked her profusely, took a token bite, and took it home for her husband to eat.

Several days later Megan asked the teacher if she enjoyed the chocolate kiss.  The teacher casually mentioned that her husband, who frequently volunteered in the classroom, had eaten the kiss.  Megan had always loved her husband, but suddenly she was furious with him.  She was SO upset that she stormed around the house for days.  We were at the store after Valentine's Day and found some on clearance.  Megan insisted we purchase another chocolate kiss for her teacher....NOT the teacher's husband.

Poor guy!  He told me later that he felt like his wife threw him under the bus with Megan.  She was mad at him for about a month.  (He also ate the second chocolate kiss, but we never told Megan.)

The following year, Megan purchased TWO chocolate kiss:  one for her former teacher and one for her husband.  He laughed and ate both of them!

This week we were at the store and saw the giant kisses.  Megan remembers part of the story and wanted a picture to remember the year her teacher's husband ate the teacher's Valentine's Day present.  She is still a bit steamed about that, which makes me laugh.

The Benefits of a Good Camera

Several weeks ago I posted pictures of Megan's cheer team.  The following week they took team photos.  My sister Sharilyn is working on a college degree in photography and has the snazzy equipment to go with that major.  Here are some of her pictures:

Her zoom lens sure gets up close and personal, even from across the field.

Crisp, clear pictures

I had to include Miss Attitude. 

Actually, she was listening intently to one of the moms give directions, but the look on her face was priceless.

The whole team

Another zoom shot

Best buds!

More attitude

What a goofus! 

My favorite shot of Abby

I think when I graduate and get a job, I will get myself a fancy camera.  And I need to have Sharilyn take some family pictures!