My Birthday Weekend

It looks like the Dog Walker volun-told me to tell you all about my birthday weekend, although I did have a nice one and I don't mind sharing it, I'm just not sure when he got so bossy...

So my actual birthday was on Saturday and as you know, that day is covered with Jr. Jazz games, but I did manage to slip in a few more things. Baby Doll had the first game at 9:00 and the other team forfeited although we loaned them a player and we still beat them.

Since Curly's game wasn't until 3:00, Grandpa, Curly, and I went to the Draper Temple. Together, Curly and Grandpa did 8 baptisms and I did 10 names in Initiatory. We got back with only a few minutes to change before we had to leave for the game.

Curly's game was crazy with one kid who was fouling everyone, but the official "didn't see it." We were down by 3 and Curly threw up the final 3-point shot to tie and it bounced in and out. He was pretty devastated, but I was fine with it. The boys played hard and I was proud of them. They even sang to me! (Mostly I think that is because Curly bribed them with Dunford chocolate donuts...)

Back at the house, Beauty and The Beast showed up with their boys. I had planned to go to Sport's game at 6:00, but when they came, I thought I would skip it this time. Then Sport called me all frantic about 5:45 and said both their coaches were out of town and could I please come and coach his team.

His buddies are all great guys and it was actually pretty fun! Strangely, the game came down to a 3-point shot, just like Curly's game. One of our guys was fouled, but he missed it and our plan to bounce the second shot off the rim and put it back in was lost. Then we decided that tossing in the 3 was the best plan. Sadly, that same kid missed the shot, in and out just like Curly's, and the game was over so we hustled back to the house.

We had planned a pizza party for Saturday night and a bunch of the kids came over and we watched the 1st Jumanji (not the Robin Williams version) so my sweetie could see all that he had missed. It filled in all the holes for him and the pizza was good too, but my favorite part was the carrot cake and the sweet singing!

Then we had the rare opportunity to set off fireworks because it was also Chinese New Year, so my sweetie brought home 4 aerials and the Dog Walker brought a big box of the pop-it type. It was so much fun thinking that the fireworks were just for me.

I was going to squish both Saturday and Sunday into one post, but it looks like I got a bit excited about the basketball games, so I guess we will just have to wait...

Food For Thought: Apple & Banana Salad by the Dog Walker

Mom has asked me to write a post for her, because she figured that I remember that there was one thing that she used to do every Friday on her blog and that she hasn't done it in a long time: Food For Thought. She always tells everyone about her delicious recipes that she makes for the family and that she likes to share them with her followers who want to give them a try. For a long time, she thought that she got all of her family recipes posted on the blog, but I did tell her that there was one recipe that wasn't mentioned on this blog, Apple & Banana Salad.

I quickly made this salad for Mom's birthday party and everyone really liked it, just like they've always liked it. Mom will tell you about how her birthday weekend went.

This fruit salad is not like any other fruit salad. It's a very simple and quick recipe and it turns out very delicious that you want to keep eating until it's all gone. So this is how the recipe goes.

All you need is;
One bunch of ripe yellow bananas,
Five apples
Three containers of Cool Whip
Raisins (Optional, since mom likes to add those to hers)
Walnuts (Optional, again, mom had it this way as a child)
Pomegranate Seeds (REALLY Optional, Grandma used to put them in hers)

1.
Chop bananas into round slightly thin and slightly thick circles

2. Chop apples into small cubes (Note: Makes sure you take away the core!). Some of the kids like them peeled, but I think it takes too much time and I don't even notice the peel anyway.

3. Put the chopped apples and bananas into an appropriate size bowl.

4. Pour in the cool whip and stir it all up, until the fruit is all covered (you might not need 3, depending on the sizes of your fruit, but I like lots of Cool Whip on mine.)

5. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Me...

I was sort of watching the clock, my Christmas stocking I was stitching, my phone, and the TV all at the same time. Some of my kids are super competitive about who gets to make the first birthday wish. I was not surprised to see this cute wish from the Dog Walker at 12:02.

Teach was a close second at 12:16 with her fantastic emoji wish.

Happy birthday!!!!! 

Fifty-five seems to be a major birthday although I'm not sure why... because it ends in five? I'm feeling a little knocked around lately. I can't seem to get my body to obey me. As soon as I solve one problem, something breaks somewhere else.

Did I tell you I have a longitudinal tear in one of the tendons of my foot? I'm not sure when it all happened, but it's finally decided it wants to be fixed and that means surgery. I'm trying to hold off until after Jr. Jazz season is over. I don't want to let down my teams. But we only have a couple of weeks left after today's games and I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. It might be time to finally write it on the calendar.

Anybody out there ever have this surgery? Did it work?

Go San Diego - USS Midway and the Beach

Today is our last day in California and we couldn't leave without seeing the beach in the daytime. So right after we packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel, we drove back over to Belmont Park. It was too early to walk through the park, so we parked in one of the side lots and walked back to the entrance to the beach.

The water was beautiful and cold, with big pounding waves. In the summer, it might have been full of surfers, but not today. We walked out to the water line, but not quite close enough to get our feet wet. There were a few random pieces of seaweed on the hard-packed sand. I was surprised that we didn't find any shells or much of anything really. At least these beaches were clean and well kept. It appeared that someone was making a movie a little way down from us (may that is why it was so clean!) In the opposite direction we saw a few couples walking on the beach like we were.

We finally left the water and drove down to the docks to we could board the USS Midway. This is a gigantic aircraft carrier that was finally decommissioned and turned into a museum. My sweetie really wanted to do this part of the trip and today was the day.

First, let me just say that we were astonished by the size of it all! They have little audio sets that tap each sign and then they have stories from the actual people who walked through the hallways. It was so interesting. I'm glad we planned to spend the rest of our time there until we left for the airport, because I think we could have gone another hour easily.

As it was, we were there over 3 hours, exploring as much of the carrier as we could possibly see.

The top two floors housed all the airplanes and the shops and simulators. They had elevators and were easily traveled by someone with a bad foot. The bottom floor was not, but it had some of the most interesting stuff: like the cafeteria and the laundry.

My favorite part was the top where the airplanes and helicopters were housed. I hadn't realized the nostalgia I would feel when I first saw the CH-46. Back in the day when I was working as a technical writer, our company made flight simulators for the government. The CH-46 was my baby. I modified all the documentation for two contracts.

See this flight panel? I edited and wrote procedures and troubleshooting documents, operations and maintenance manuals that included every one of those panels.

This helicopter could have had one of my books in it with the modifications from our company!

So weird. Once I even flew out to Tustin to see the simulator in action (I got sick on the simulator), but my sweetie did a great job!

When we were finally nearing our absolute time to leave, we said goodbye to the Midway and hurried to get gas, turn in our rental car, and take the shuttle to the airport. Our trip was over... but I want you to know how things worked out with our Go San Diego passes. We tallied nearly $600 for our 7-day trip and they only cost us half that. I'd say it was money well spent.