Clean Eating Blueberry Crumble

It's time once again for our latest clean-eating recipe. I'm not gonna lie, this one wasn't as impressive or tastey as the banana bread. But....you win some, you lose some! :) I think it was due to a few factors: (Trish or someone else, what do you think?)

1. My granola was too dry?

2. I didn't bake it enough. Or maybe.....

3. I should've put in on the bottom rack of my oven.

See, about 3/4 of the way through the baking, I noticed that the granola was starting to get dark brown on top, so I tried to sort've rearrange the granola on top so it wouldn't burn. But then I got so anxious that I just pulled it out! The granola was practically starting to catch on fire! So the blueberries weren't quite cooked through, and the granola was WAAAAY over just toasty, the arrowroot effect had definitely not kicked in b/c it was way too watery (as you'll see in the pics). I really want this to work out. Maybe some of you talented baking experts could help me out!

Here's the recipe (I have heard nothing but good things about this recipe, btw, that's why I'm convinced it's something I did wrong.)

Blueberry Crumble

6 c. blueberries

1/8-1/4 c. sucanat or honey

1 T. arrowroot powder (thickener)

4T. water

2-3 c. granola or muesli

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place berries in a deep oven-proof baking dish or in individual baking dishes. In a small bowl mix water and arrowroot powder thoroughly. Stir in honey or sugar and pour over the blueberries. Top with granola. Bake uncovered for 30-40 min.

Keaton's First Day of Second Grade!!!

Well, the day has finally arrived. Our Keaton is in 2nd grade! I just can't believe it. Seems like just yesterday she was going to preschool, and now this? It's enough to make a proud mama cry. Here's Keaton before we walked her to her first day of school. I don't care, I love uniforms!
Keaton and our neighbor Lilly. They are in the same class this year, Mrs. Johnston's class!

Keaton is a nerd like me and chose to sit in the front. Mrs. Johnston actually let them choose their own seats! She's nicer than I was as a teacher, that's for sure!

Of course Keaton and Lilly had to sit next to each other. I really feel like it's going to be a great year for Keaton. Good luck Keaton, we're thinking of you! Hope you're having a great first day!

Pioneer Day Celebration

We had so much fun at the ward Pioneer Day Celebration! We went to Goodwill and tried to find some pioneerish type dresses! This was the best we could do! They had so many fun things to do like watermelon seed spitting contests, go fish, bean bag throw, stick pull, tug o'war, and a pie bake off (that was my favorite part!). The girls even made their own bonnets out of paper plates and tissue paper. At the end, Brian got to pull the head chariot for the parade. All the kids of the ward got to decorate their bikes and ride in it. I would've gotten shots of it, but my card was reading FULL! So much fun!

FHE: Honoring our Pioneer Heritage

Since the ward is having a pioneer party this weekend, I thought I'd have an FHE on our pioneer heritage so that the kids could gain a greater knowledge of who the pioneers were and the sacrifices they made to bring the church to us in these latter-days. We talked about the pioneers and what life was like for them. We also had the kids watch a clip on how Brigham Young recognized the Salt Lake Valley as "the place". Here the kids are coloring while listening to a story about a little pioneer girl from England and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley.
Then.....we made butter like pioneers! Of course, the pictures are out of order, but we had the kids shake heavy whipping cream in an airtight container. After a while it turned into a ball of butter! Cool! Of course to the mormon community, this is nothing new, but it was new to us! Ha!ha! The kids had so much fun, and I think they gained a greater understanding of how much work the pioneers endured for the simplest of things....like butter.


Enjoying the fruits of our labor (and sore arms!).

Here's what it looked like at first.

This was a cute little coloring page I printed off of Sugardoodle. They got to color the pioneers and assorted items they would be taking with them on their trek. Then they tried to fit it all in the handcart. It was tough! Another cute activity that we did was to hide an item while a person was out of the room and then direct them to that item by saying hot or cold. We talked about how it takes faith to find something that you're not sure about. Just like the finder had faith that the item was located somewhere in the room, the pioneers had faith that they would find their Zion, even if they were not sure where they were headed in the first place. Like being directed by the words hot or cold, the pioneers were led by the spirit to find Zion.

What better way to end FHE than with a monsoon storm? Who needs tv when you've got entertainment right outside your windows? :)

SeaWorld with Nonna and Papa

Thought I'd post a few pics of the kids' trip with their grandparents to Seaworld and the SanDiego Zoo! The kids had such a blast! It was so fun to hear what they were doing each day. I'm so glad the kids had an opportunity to make fond childhood memories! : ) Here's Kendal and her Papa at the San Diego zoo on the lift.
Here's Keaton and her Nonna!

The kids on a ride at Seaworld. Supposedly all the big kid rides had too long of a wait, so they went on the little kid rides.

Sharks at Seworld (it is Seaworld afterall!). Keaton said she was afraid they were going to eat her! Ha!ha!

Shamu and friend.

Keaton and Kendal in the "soak zone". We got a frantic call after this show. First, Kendal got on the phone and was sobbing hysterically that she was soaking wet and how could daddy tell her to sit in the soak zone? Then Keaton got on the phone and was like, "Daddy! We got soaked! It was awesome!" Are they related?

A dolphin. Sorry not much detail! I wasn't there. But the kids had a blast.

My Newest Obsession

My newest obsession (and there are many folks) is EATING CLEAN!!! I've been slowly but surely swapping out all of our white/processed fare for the more natural and whole wheat stuff. But I must say, I'm all about being healthy, but I'm also a girl who likes to have her cake and eat it too. So.....I am now obsessed with not only cooking with clean foods (read natural, unprocessed) but with baking using nothing but clean ingredients. So in my quest for eating clean and my love for baking and sweets, I will research some recipes, make them, and report back here from time to time. I love a good dessert at the end of the day on the weekends, so I'll probably start with more dessert type stuff and move from there. Here's my first experiment, clean eating banana bread! Yummmm!

Clean Banana Bread

1-1/2 c. wheat flour (I like heavy breads, but if you don't, sub half with all purpose white flour or spelt flour)

1-1/4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. salt

2 slightly beaten egg whites

1 c. mashed bananas

1/3 c. agave nectar (this is the sub for white sugar, use 1/3 c. agave nectar for 1 c. sugar, you can also use 3/4 c. organic sugar cane crystals)

1/4 c. canola oil

1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce

t. good quality vanilla

1/2 c. dark chocolate pieces (you can also use craisins, raisins, or nuts).

Grease an 8x4x2 in. loaf pan. Beat eggs, mash bananas and add to wet ingredients (including agave nectar).

Combine dry ingredients in a seperate bowl. Add wet to dry. Fold in chocolate pieces. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Our Fabulous Flagstaff 4th!!

So this is our fabulous 4th! As everyone who knows me well knows the 4th of July is: MY FAV. HOLIDAY! We thought we'd spend this year's 4th in Flagstaff, seeing as last year was such a yaaaaawn fest! And boy, I'm glad we did! Aren't these hats so dang cute? Of course Nonna got them for the girls. As may or may not be able to see, the girls got their faces painted, which they love. Kendal got a traditional flag, while Keaton opted for purple and pink fireworks.
Just bundyin' out on the patio. Don't you just love sidewalk chalk? It's like a dollar and can easily be hours of fun.

My fabulous fourth Flintstone feet. So patriotic, don't ya think?

Here the girls are decorating the red, white, and blue cupcakes I made. I'm such a 4th of July cheeseball!

The piece de la resistance!

Huh, what? Yeah, it HAILED while we were there! Scary! But it didn't ruin our 4th! :)

Playin' mini-golf. The girls had so much fun with this. There were some interesting strokes, that's for sure! I'm sure more than one squirrel was scared right out of it's tree! Ha!ha!

Blowing bubbles at the parade. This is the highlight of the day (well it is for me!). It's always so much fun, and thank heavens the rain gods decided not to let us have it! Although, right at the end, it started to sprinkle.

The girls got more than one compliment on their lovely patriotic frocks. Thanks Nonna....again! :)

This was right before the parade, and right before Keaton spewed chunks! Poor thing is trying to smile in this pic. She threw up in the car on the way over and opted to stay home. But right after we got to the parade, she called to let us know she felt better and was coming right away! I think she was too excited to hold her breakfast down! Can't blame her, I was too!

Here are some pictures of fireworks off the tv! Macy's Annual fireworks. We weren't able to see the real thing this year, but we had fun watching these anyway!

Swimmin' at the club! We all got so burnt this day, despite the 50 spf! That Flagstaff sun is strong y'all! I mean, you have to reapply your sunscreen like every half hour or so. Whoops!

YAWWWWNN! What a great end to a great holiday weekend!