Swim Team Pictures

For the Lehi High School Swim Team.

To order your pictures of the swim team this year, please email Carl Hacking BEFORE Wednesday, Feb 8th with your order.  We will be printing them on Thursday, Feb 9th

Sizes available:
5"x7" = $5.00
8"x10" = $8.00

Send email to: cvhacking@yahoo.com

We need the following information:
1.  Swimmer's name
2.  Which picture you want (choose from TEAM, SENIORS, or CAPTAINS)
3.  Which size you want of that picture.

In the email subject line, please put: SWIM TEAM PICTURE ORDER
*We will let you know how to pay after you email us.

If you plan to order, please do so before the deadline.  Thanks!

TEAM:

SENIORS:

CAPTAINS:

Hot Cocoa

I love hot cocoa.  I buy it in 25lb bags.  My kids love hot cocoa.  We go thru it almost faster than NesQuick chocolate milk mix.  We even have hot cups and lids on our counter that the kids can have their hot cocoa in.  My two high-schoolers love taking a nice hot cup of it with them on their way to the bus stop in the mornings to help keep them warm.
On Christmas Eve my mom brought me some Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa mix that she had gotten as a gift.  My first thought was - of course, thanks mom!  But then I thought - pumpkin spice?  Hmmm!?!?!
Well, this morning - not really in the mood for a big breakfast, I just had toast with hot cocoa.  MMMMmm.  One of my favorite things.  I was brave and had the pumpkin spice hot cocoa.  WOW!!  Loved it!!

So for all you hot cocoa lovers out there - this is what I had.  You may want to try it yourself.  It is very good - it is still chocolaty, with a hint of pumpkin spice to it.  It was very good.

I am not sure where you can buy it locally....wait just found where.  Here are the locations from their website. But you can still buy it on their website here.

And the stockings were hung....

We finally got the stockings up!

Temple in El Salvador

My Aunt and Uncle are serving a mission in El Salvador as my Uncle serves as the very first Temple President over the San Salvador temple.  Here is a fun, touching, inspirational video on the youth there and how having a temple close to them has inspired and helped them.
My Aunt keeps a blog of their adventures in El Salvador - and it is fun to see the culture, experiences and people of this country.  I hope they don't mind me sharing their blog with the world.  You can see some fun pictures of their adventures here.

Our new Nativity Scene

This year I really wanted a new Nativity Scene.  I have one that is like the one my parents had growing up - ceramic figures, with a wooden stable.  It is cute, but not really my style, and a lot of the pieces are now broken, so it is on its last leg. I didn't really know what kind of Nativity I wanted - but I felt when I saw it - I'd know it was the one.  Well, I saw it (and if you know my house at all, you are well aware of the metal theme...dinner table, huge clock, etc...) and immediately knew I had to have it.  Here is the Nativity Scene I got (except mine has a few more pieces in it than what is shown in the picture).  Isn't it just gorgeous?!  I absolutely love it!  I got it from Bishop Built - they do all sorts of metal items - one of my fave companies!

The Plan of Salvation, a.k.a The Plan of HAPPINESS

Today I was able to attend the viewing of a friend of mine, from Oklahoma, who passed away last week.  When we lived there, I was able to serve in the Relief Society Presidency with her, side by side for many months.  Her name is Diana Hawks, and she was a friend to many.  Non-judgmental, caring, uplifting, just a wonderful lady.  In fact, I think she was one of the first people to introduce herself to me when we first moved to Claremore, OK.
Diana and her husband, Ralph, just recently moved to Utah - just 3 weeks ago. He retired from his lifelong occupation and now works for the Church. I was able to talk with Ralph today.  He said the most comforting things.  The first thing he said was that he *knew* Diana's urgency to move to Utah was so he could be close to his family during this hard time.  All of his daughters live here, so that was a great blessing to him.  He would have been all alone in Oklahoma.  The second thing he said that made a huge impression on me was - when asked how he was doing by one of his daughters, he simply answered "I'm at great peace".
What a blessing it is to KNOW that he will see Diana again.  That she is in a far better place than here - doing what she loves best - serving in the Church.
I, too, am so grateful for the knowledge of heaven and that there is a loving Heavenly Father watching over our every move.  He has a perfect plan for us.  I see the little miracles happening in the Hawks family, and know that they are tender mercies from Him.

General Relief Society Meeting

The General Relief Society Meeting (not Women's Conference....this is what's held at BYU each Spring) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held on Saturday, Sept 24, 2011.  It was a fabulous meeting.  I attended the meeting in the Conference Center with my friends Jill and Pam. If you missed it live - be sure to watch it now.  You can view highlights from the meeting, watch the whole meeting, or read the talks here.  If you only have time for one little highlight right now - watch the clip from Pres Uchtdorf entitled YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.  What a great uplifting meeting to get us through the next few months as women in the Church.  And I had a great night out with the girls.

Salt Lake Connect Pass

So - I just found out about the Salt Lake Connect Pass.  If you are planning a trip to SLC or you are a resident of Utah, and want to explore Salt Lake, the CONNECT PASS may be the way to go. It is a pass you buy - then you get in to several attractions free with the pass.  What a great deal!  Be sure you read about the pass and understand how you use it before purchasing, but what a deal!

Yellowstone Park

Over the Labor Day weekend, we packed up the family and took a road trip to Yellowstone Park. Our kids had never been there. I went (so my parents claim) when I was little, but I didn't remember it. Carl went when he was around 8 years old, but didn't remember too much of it either.

We took off on Friday and drove straight to my Aunt Judy's house in Rigby, ID. They were gracious enough to open up their home to us for a night. It was great seeing them again.

The next morning - Saturday - we drove to Yellowstone (about a 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive from Rigby).

We stayed at this GREAT place called Mack's Inn, in Island Park, Idaho (about 30 minutes from West Yellowstone). They are open year around, and offer hotel rooms, cabins, etc... We rented a cabin - we thought it only appropriate to stay in a rustic cabin while visiting Yellowstone. We loved our cabin. We did mainly just sleep there, but it was so much fun and adventurous. It had a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and a little kitchen. It was just perfect for us.

Here are the pictures from Yellowstone. They can explain what we saw better than I could try to describe it. They are all pretty much self-explanatory, but if an explanation is needed, it's there.

We liked this geyser because of its name: Spasm Geyser

This geyser is on a little trail up from Old Faithful. It is called Solitary Geyser. This is a must see. It goes off every 4-6 minutes. Few people make the short hike to see it. Well worth it!

Old Faithful - to me, kind of cool, but not what I had anticipated. The steam from the hot water blocks your view of the water - so to me, not too impressed. I was more enthralled with the angry elk.

Carl showing some of his mad camera skills:

So, this is our angry elk. When you enter the park, there are signs everywhere that warn you about the wildlife. Warning you to keep a safe distance. Their recommended safe distance is 25 yards from animals like elk, bison, moose, etc... And 100 yards for bear, and wolf.

We passed the meadow and saw this elk on our first night in the park headed back to our cabin. The second night, he was there again - it must be his home. Well, this time, people were inching closer and closer to the thing! Right before Andrew took this picture, the elk stomped his hoof, and blew air out of his nose, and lowered his antlers toward the group of pine trees on the right? Why? Because there is some idiot with a camera right in the group of trees. As you can see, NOT 25 yards! That elk was not happy about some dude invading his space. We were hoping to catch an elk attack on camera - but luckily enough, the elk's warning was enough for the guy to high-tail it out of there. Duh!! But, it was one of the most memorable moments of the trip. We were just laughing at the stupidity of people.

More of Carl's mad photography skills.

There were 2 fatal bear attacks in the Park in August. This sign (although blurry) was one that closed off the area trails heads where both of them happened. Scary!!

We did a lot of this:

On our way home, we drove thru Teton National Park, and down thru Jackson Hole. Boy am I glad we did! We didn't see a bear the whole time we were in Yellowstone - and we were in posted bear country more than once! Within 10 minutes of entering Teton, we saw a bunch of cars pulled to the side of the road. Sure enough! It was a mama grizzly and her cub!

You can see the mama middle left of the picture. The cub is middle right, right above the top power line. Can you see them?

Andrew is going to China!!

Andrew (handsome young brute on the far left): 17 years old, a swimmer, a big brother, a great son, a senior in high school, I could go on and on and on about Drew.

This year he is taking a CHINESE class. He has been yearning to learn Chinese for quite some time now. He even "Google translated" his name and cut it out of vinyl to put on his bedroom wall last year. He is the proud owner of a Chinese Book of Mormon (although he cannot read it quite yet).

His Chinese teacher - who is an American who grew up in Hong Kong, is taking a group of people on a 2 week tour of China in June 2012. Andrew is on the list to go!! We are so excited beyond belief what a great opportunity this is for Drew. He has had a desire to go to China for a while now, and now he has an opportunity to go.

The trip is $3,000.00.

If you also remember - this is the time of year his swim team does their swim-a-thon to raise money for this years swim team and all the meets they go to and equipment they buy. Well, Andrew's swim money has been donated by an anonymous donor - so that is covered.

So, we are asking for generous donations to GET ANDREW TO CHINA! Carl and I are going to save every penny we can to put toward this trip for him. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Andrew and we want to make it happen! We are asking for money donations. Any amount will help! You can donate to Andrew's CHINA fund by:

1. You can mail a check to us (email us for our address - cvhacking@yahoo.com)

2. We can take credit cards. Just call us (we have SQUARE on Carl's iPod).

3. You can send a payment to Vickie's PayPal account: ywbooks@yahoo.com

We know this is a HUGE expense for our family - but we want to make it happen for Andrew. And I think we can with everyone's help.

In the case that - for some unforeseen reason - Drew doesn't go on this trip, all money already donated will be applied to his first semester of college (at BYU-I), and/or to his mission fund. So either way, the money donated will go to Andrew - 100% of it.

If you want to see/hear first hand how excited Drew is to go on this trip, give him a call. You'll be able to tell within seconds of asking him about it.

Thank you friends and family for your generous donations to get ANDREW TO CHINA!!!

A House Without a Mom

A house without a mom can be devastating. I totally understand why God made women - so children can have moms, and husband's can have wife's. There are so many things that mom's do that no one else does - or even attempts.

This past weekend, I had a booth at the Utah County Fair selling lemonade - The Lemonade Stand. Basically I was gone from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday night about midnight. Needless to say - my house suffered terribly while I was gone. Even though I am still in the process of cleaning it, I did get my kitchen done....this morning.

Here is what I came home to late Saturday night:

Here is my clean kitchen as of Thursday morning (after numerous loads of dishes and keeping up with the everyday messes of life):

I think I can go on with life now that I have a clean kitchen. (If you know me at all, you'd know I can't do anything unless my bed is made and my kitchen is clean.) The rest of the house - well it will have to wait.....until all my kids have moved out.

BYU - I bleed *blue*

Saw this on FB and had to share:

A BYU fan, a U of U fan, and a USU fan are climbing a mountain and arguing about who loves their team the most. The U of U fan insists that he is most loyal and then yells, "This is for the U!" and jumps off the mountain. Not to be out done, The BYU fan next professes his love for his team. He screams,"This is for the Cougars!" and pushes the USU fan off the mountain...

Internet coming to LDS Meetinghouses

Finally! We all knew it would come eventually. But by the end of 2011?!? YAY! You can read articles about the internet being available in 85% of LDS Meetinghouses by the end of 2011 here, and here. I can't wait until we can pay tithing online - oh, you know it's coming, too. Just a matter of time. Think of how much time this would save the ward clerks? Love modern technology - and how the church is keeping up, if not ahead.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

I love Chocolate Molten Lava Cake - always have. If you have never had it - it is a soft chocolate cake with a gooey fudge center. To me, it is like having hot fudge sauce in the middle of my chocolate cake. Yummy!! I always serve it with fresh whipped cream (use the real stuff - none of that Cool Whip stuff!)

I have not, however, always loved every recipe I have tried making it from. Well, yesterday, I FINALLY found the perfect recipe for it while browsing the internet. I made it - and WOW! My kids gobbled it up. There were even a few tears shed over *not* getting the last bite. This one is a keeper! You can find the recipe here. If you need a step by step tutorial, that is here.

My tweeking of the recipe (if you know me - I am always changing something in a recipe):

*Instead of the 4 squares of semi-sweet chocolate, I used 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

*Using the chips - I only had to microwave the chocolate and butter about 50 seconds.

*I cooked mine in two 5" round pans (2" high) for 14 minutes. I only used 2 pans (since they are a little bigger) instead of the 4 custard cups suggested in the recipe. Each pan was enough for 2 people to share.

*I did not invert mine onto a plate. I ate it right out of the pan.

Now - go make a sweet, sweet, heavenly dessert right now! Go!!

Church Website Tutorial #3 - Upload a family picture

In Tutorial #2 I said I would be doing more on Mormon.org. Well, I decided that a quick tutorial about the new membership directory would be so much more fun!

When you go to lds.org to view your ward website (you did know that your ward has an official church website, didn't you??), you will notice off to the right, there are two links with pictures, under the heading CHECK OUT THE NEW LOCAL UNIT TOOLS. One says New Calendar, and one says New Directory. This new directory is what I want to focus on today - specifically uploading a family picture to this directory..

Click on New Directory. This will take you to a sign in page. You will need an account to access this. You can easily create one. You will need your membership number - which you can get from your ward clerk, or off your temple recommend.

Once you sign in, it will take you to the main *new* directory page. Once there, click on HOUSEHOLD in the left column. Then scroll down to your name and CLICK on it. This will take you to your family's information (other ward members can view this info, too).

Now click EDIT PROFILE. This will take you to a page that you can edit your information and upload your family picture. To upload your family picture, click on the button that says CHOOSE FILE. This will pop up a box of uploading guidelines (copyright info), click CONTINUE. Click SELECT PHOTO to get to the file of your photo. Find the file you want and click UPLOAD NOW. When it is done uploading, it will show you the picture with the rest of your information.

If you ever need help with these new tools, click on the help button on any of the pages and it will help you tremendously!

Now that you have uploaded a picture of your family, view it in PHOTOS (in the left hand column beneath households). This will bring up photos of your whole ward. Scroll down to your name - and there you are!!

Here is what my ward's looks like - I am only one of two families that have taken advantage of this cool new technology in my ward as of today. I am sure it will get filled with photos soon.

Family Picture in Sunny California

Over the Christmas break, we spent most of our time at my dad's house in San Diego, along with all of my siblings and their families. While there, we decided to take a family picture on the beach. Can I just say...disappointed. We didn't get a "real" photographer, just used family members. We got one semi good picture (see beach picture below). My hair is being blown by the ocean breeze, but other than that, it is printable. What a let-down. I was so much hoping for a nice little photo album of cute beach pictures. Oh well. You live and learn - and Carl and I have learned to hire a professional the next time we travel 12 hours to find a nice backdrop for a family picture.

I just ordered my 24x36 print of this picture to hang in our living room to replace the cool family picture we have up right now of us by a helicopter. It is a few years old, and the kids have changed so much. I ordered it from MPIX. If you haven't discovered them yet - you need to! They are great and very inexpensive and such high quality if you are ordering large format prints, like I do.

So my advice for the day - hire a professional photographer when traveling to sunny California for a family picture.

Growing a Lily Plant

Last summer I planted a lily plant. I wasn't sure if it would bloom. About August I had a lily! Only 1. Then came winter - I didn't do much to the plant except cut it down a little. Well, this spring the plant came back to life. I admired it as it grew nice, big, dark green leaves (this is why I originally planted it in the first place). Then I noticed a strong shoot coming up out of the leaves. My lily! I am guessing these plants only produce one flower each year? Here is the lily coming to life. It is now in full bloom - and beautiful - in my flower garden in front of my house.