Family Reunion

Ok, so it isn't that good of an idea for the Blankenagel family to get together. We all went to La Sal for a week for a reunion and vacation. The first day we laid a new sidewalk/front patio with Mom, Dad, Uncles John and Bill. The next day I got to mow the lawn with the tractor. Mom is just cleaning up my messes with the girls. After the lawn was done Mom let the girls drive the tractor. They had the biggest smiles in the world!!
We spent much of the rest of the week shooting prairy dogs, Jeeping, and four wheeling. Nathan had a great time just going out with the 22 and went through a box and a half of bullets in the week. He was happy.
On Wed we started having everyone else arrive. We had fun going up on the mountain to see the scenery for the next few days. I will say again that it isn't safe for all of us to get together, especially in the 7th year.
So on Thursday we went up to Cash and Copper to take pictures for Brittney's announcements. Dad and Jeff went to go follow the road a ways on the 4-wheelers to see where it went. On the way back Dad was trying something he shouldn't have been doing. The 4-wheeler rolled over him breaking his wrist, bruising some ribs and most of his back. For the rest of the week he needed help getting up and down from his chair and bed.This was our eating arrangements and Uncle John helped the kids put up this cute little tent to play in.
On Friday we went to go meet the rest of the family that had decided to camp out on the mountain to go play with them. Most of them were gone so we decided to go for a drive ourselves. We didn't realize how long of a drive we were going on and how bumpy the road was. We went up to a lake and found a new way back that wasn't going to kill the kids in the back of the truck. Kristl was driving the jeep in front of Kenzie driving her truck. We were going down the mountain road a little fast, and coming to a blind corner, and all of a sudden another vehicle was there. Both Kristl and the other vehicle slammed on the brakes and moved to their side of the road. All would have been fine but the other vehicle had a trailer that started jackknifing towards Kristl so she moved even further over. The problem was that there wasn't any more road or shoulder to move over onto, so she drove up the side of the hill rolling the jeep. It did a 3/4 rotation ending on the passenger side.Nathan, Kenzie and I Jumped out of the truck at the same time yelling at the kids to not get out of the truck and ran to help. By the time we got there Sheena and Ben (passengers in the back of the jeep) were running away from it so we weren't worried about them. We started yelling for Kristl and John to answer us, and once they did we knew that everyone was alive. None of them were wearing seat belts, so that added to our worries. We made it over there and John was yelling that he had broken his arm. After getting the top off the jeep they were finally able to climb out. We tipped the jeep back up and got it out of the road so that the other 4 vehicles that were waiting behind it could go by, and got John braced together with a camera bag. The jeep made it off the mountain and didn't move the rest of the weekend.
They ran to Monticello and once there the Doctors decided they needed a little more help with this so they life flighted him to Grand Junction to go through surgery. He spent the next few days in the hospital watching the injury.
We spent saturday a little calmly. After a while of just the playing around the ranch thing we went swimming at the reservoir. Avi and Dailynn got to show off they swimming skills, and we all got to cool off. While there we got called by our cousins that had left that morning saying they were stranded on a jeep trail in Moab. They needed help getting the truck fixed. All the lug nuts on one wheel had broken so they need to get a ride back to the truck to fix it. Oh what fun. Luckily no one got hurt on that one.
On Sunday we left after church and dinner and headed to Ephraim. We stopped at Nathan's sister Sharalee's house and played with them for a few hours and then came home. It was so nice to be in our own beds!!!!
All in all we did survive and it could have been a lot worse. I know that prayers are answered and that there were quite a few angels floating a little closer to our family that week!!!

Summer activities pictures

I had never been to the Timpanogos Caves, so Nathan, Avi, I, Jaxson (her cousin) and Jana (Nathan's sister) went up to see them. This was within the first 1/3 of the hike, so I am not too flushed by this time. It wasn't that bad of a hike, but I am so out of shape that I was just huffing and puffing by the time I got up there. After the hike we went back to camp, and Nathan cooked dinner for everyone.During Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days, there was a fun parade. Since it starts just 2 blocks from our house we had floats and horsed going by to go line up. We left to walk to the parade and we found that outside our house we had a horse trailer and they were unloading the horses. I asked if I could put the girls up on them and get some pictures. The people were so nice to let them up there. The girls wanted to camp out, so we set up the tent in the back yard for two nights. We combined the tents with the tarp so that it would be easier for them to feel comfortable.We signed Avi up for T-ball this year. It took a little while but she finally got into the game a little better. She can hit the ball pretty good if she concentrates enough. By the end she understood what was going on. It helped her so much to get out of her little shell a little more.While Avi was playing her game Dailynn was bored and wanted to do something herself. She climbed the hill behind us and rolled down it the whole hour. Every once in a while she would have a boy treat her like a china doll worried she would break or something and just keep a very close eye on her so that she didn't get hurt. It was cute.On the 4th of July we got invited to a BBQ where they decided to get a blowup water slide. It was so cool!! Dailynn loved riding it and the older girls loved taking her on it. The squirt guns were fun on it too. Both of the guns are controlled by my girls in this picture. That was their favorite part of it.I signed both girls up for swim lessons this year. It took a little more effort to get Dailynn in than Avi which is so not normal. Once Dailynn got used to the idea she loved it. Every once in a while the girls teachers would play games with each other so they saw each other once in a while in the pool. On the last day the teachers took the kids on the water slides. Avi got to go once while Dailynn got to go like 4 times. They had so much fun with the lessons and I am so excited to put them in again next summer.

Apripops

Ok, I know it has been a long time, but while my pictures copy over to my computer I might as well put in a food tip.

I got this from a great friend of mine that is just loving to do all this fruit and veggie preserving that I am enjoying right now. We are both teaching each other a lot. So we are both over run with Apricots, so to finish up some puree that we both had, so put it in her Popsicle container and froze it like popsicles. Add enough sugar to your puree to make it sweet enough to enjoy. They come out great, and are a healthy alternative. It also uses up some of the excess puree. Also fresh home made apricot jam is delicious. I have also made some fruit leather, and am hoping to maybe bottle some today, but I am not sure how to yet. Good luck and happy cooking.

AAAAAHHHHHH

ok so some of you may have heard, but my sister is engaged. This happened last week, and the fun part is that the wedding is August 23rd. Kenzie and I had so much fun dress shopping with her and planning everything we can for her. The fun part is that we also have a huge family reunion in the middle of that, so between the bridal shower, the wedding and trying to prepare for that, I feel like a chicken with it's head cut off. That's ok because that is how I work the best. I just need to get off the computer games and actually clean once in a while. That is sometime pointless though since the girls are so good at destroying the house faster than I can clean it. That's life. OOH I just heard something not so good. Bye

Memories

I am excited about this, and hope to hear from all of you.

So here's how it works...
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

So there you have it! Post away! Oh,and if you don't "know" me well enough to have a memory, feel free to use anything you've read here. A favorite post you've read, etc. that way everyone can play!

PB Cups

So I know this isn't much of a tip, just a favorite recipe. I have loved making these PB Cups for years, and many of you have tried them so you know why.

PB Cups

1/2 cup Butter (softened)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 pkg Gram Crackers (the plastic pkgs in the boxes)
2-3 cups (I think, I don't measure this part) powdered sugar.

Mix all of those together until you get about a cookie dough consistency. Don't get it too dry or it will be hard to work with.

Next take 1/3 pkg chocolate chips and melt them in the microwave about 1 min. Stir until melted. Pour the chocolate in a zip-seal baggy, close the top, and snip the corner off to pipe chocolate into the Silicone Floral Cup Cake Pan (yes that is a PC product). After putting a thin layer down, either use your finger to spread it around, or tap the side of the pan to help smooth it out. Place the pan in the fridge for a half hour or more to set the chocolate.
Take a small scoop and put one scoop of peanut butter mixture in each chocolate base. Use the Mini-tart shaper to press down peanut butter to make it even in the cups. Melt the rest of the bag of chocolate chips in microwave as before. Using the same baggy, drizzle more chocolate over the peanut butter mixture. Tap down the side and cover trouble spots as needed. Place in the fridge again to set the chocolate again.
When the chocolate is all set, pop out the individual cups and serve. One suggestion is to have some milk handy because you are going to need it.

If you don't have the cupcake pan and you are just needing the sugar rush, you can just push the mixture flat in a cake pan or small cookie sheet and spread the melted chocolate on top, but that isn't and pretty.

It's been so long

Sorry if it looks like I have dropped off the face of the earth, it's just summer. I know, what should summer have to do with it when my kids haven't been to school yet? I think summer is summer no matter how old you are, and we have been having a ton of fun. I don't have the pictures or videos downloaded, but soon I hope. (I will keep telling myself that) Avi had been in T-Ball, Story Time, and Swim Lessons. Soon we will start Soccer, but not for another few weeks. Then on August 18th she will start Kindergarten. I can't wait, it will be so fun for her. I have been worried about her because she has a hard time with new activities sometimes, but with everything new I have put her in this summer she is doing great at adjusting to the new situations with no one there that she knows. Then when she goes to kindergarten with a few of the 25 kids that are going this year from our ward she won't be as terrified. For some reason everyone that had kids in 2002 had them after Sept, and everyone that had them in 2003 from our ward had them before Sept, so there are a lot of them going this year. I need to go switch the laundry now, so I think I better quit goofing off.