He's Here!

Eli Ren Swenson

Born: 05/07/09

@ 6 a.m.

9 lbs 0 oz

21 inches long

(Looks just like Daddy!)

More pictures and Eli info coming soon!

Easter S'mores in a Jar

Summer found these cute Easter treats (they will work for any holiday that has Peeps) on-line. You can find anything on-line! :D So I decided to make them for the people that I visit teach and the families that Kevin home teaches.

Here I have assembled everything that I will need to create these Easter S'mores in a Jar. Peeps, M and M's, graham crackers, brown sugar, spring fabric to finish off the jars, and the recipe cards.

To make the graham cracker crumbs I used my food processor. I add the brown sugar so that it would be mixed together well. Then how to put the graham cracker crumbs into the jar. You can put them into the bottom of the jar and them add the rest but that seemed a bit messy. So I went with the little baggie idea. But how do I get the crumbs into the baggie.

I remembered a frozen meal trick. I took one of my large drinking glasses and put the opened baggie inside the cup and then folded the top down over the rim of the cup. (If you are using a bigger bag use a pitcher instead of the cup) It worked really well.

To assemble the jars first put the M and M's in the bottom of the jar. (recipe to follow) Then put the marshmallow Peeps in on top of the M and M's so that they are standing up, and they are pressed against the jar.(you can use just one color of Peeps or mix up the colors)

Then smooch the bag of graham cracker crumbs into the center of the Peeps. If you are using a wide mouth jar this is pretty easy to do. But if you are using a regular mouth jar it is a problem. I ended up having to divide the crumbs into two baggies to get all of the crumbs into the jars. All of this will fill the jar clear up to the rim.

Next put the lid on the jar and a piece of fabric that is a 3" or 4" inch square on top of the lid. Then screw the ring on. Add the card with the recipe and you have a cute little gift.

Easter Bunny S'Mores

1 sleeve of Graham crackers

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup of M and M's

8 marshmallow Peeps

1 large mouth Jar

Here is the instruction to go on the card that you attach to the jar.

1. Empty the jar contents into a bowl. Snip the bunnies into bits with kitchen sheers or cut up with a knife. Return the bunny bits to the mixture. Mix well.

2. Melt 1/2 cup butter; add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour this over the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pat into a greased 9" square pan. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

(makes 9-12 bars)

*Option-leave bunnies whole; combine remaining ingredients and place the bunnies on top; then bake as directed.

Cleveland Tourism Video

Mom, I found this video to get you all excited for your trip out here in July. I know the rest of you will be so jealous after you watch it, so please know that you are welcome to come visit us anytime!

Graduation Day

Okay Here is the info for graduation day!
The graduation ceremony will be held at the Austrad Auditorium in the Browning Center on Campus of WSU. The Convocation will begin at 12:30 pm and will probably run until 2pm. Those that can come should probably be there by 12.
We do have a little lunceon prepared afterwards at mom and dads, yes I finally made a decision! Just ask Mom and Jenny if your wondering what that means....
Hope to see you there!!!

Happy Birthday Kody

Sorry Kody I am a day late on your birthday blog.

Kody is our forth child. You were our surprise baby. Everyone has a surprise baby.

You were born on April 26th, 1985, Papa Thompson's birthday. You were late just like most of your siblings. Dr. Moore had to start me. You were a very big baby, 9 lbs. Back then we didn't have to many options for pain during labor, so your birth was hard for me. We had lots of visitors at the hospital, Grandma and Papa Thompson, Vickie and Debbie, and I think Trevor was there too. Trevor didn't come into my room but I think that he was there.

Papa was pretty happy when you were born on his birthday. Dr. Moore induced me on the 25th, but as usually it was the middle of the night when you were born. Dad had picked out your first name, Kody with a "K". But then when you were born on Papa's birthday we just had to give you Papa's name for your middle name.

Dad was working in Ogden, he had graduated from BYU two weeks before you were born. So during the week I was home with you, Summer, Justin and Jenny. Dad came home on the weekends.

You were blessed on June 4th, I think. You were only about 5 weeks old. But I wanted to bless you in a ward where we knew people and so that our friends would be there. You wore the same little outfit that Justin wore. Aunt Debbie designed and made it. You almost didn't fit into the outfit, Justin was so small 5lbs 13 oz, and you were so much bigger. So I suppose it was good that we didn't wait to bless you, or you wouldn't have fit into the outfit.

After dad blessed you, you started to cry. So I took you out to the mother's room. I just couldn't get you to stop crying. So the two of us ended up spending all of Sacrament meeting crying in the mother's room. I really should have waited to bless you. Then we both would have been more stable.

We moved up to Washington Terrace soon after your blessing. The house that we rented had two bedrooms upstairs and two bedrooms downstairs. You had the upstairs bedroom, Summer, Justin and Jenny were downstairs.

We had a little porta crib for you to sleep in. You slept in this little porta crib forever. You loved it. We tried to get you to move into a big boy bed when you were older but you just loved your little crib. While we were in Provo you slept in Summer's room. Which by the way you slept through the night as a newborn. When we moved to Washington Terrace you stopped sleeping through the night. I think that Heavenly Father was helping you to sleep so well because he knew that I needed my sleep because I was a single parent of four children. It was a great blessing to have you be such a good baby.

After we moved to Washington Terrace and you got to be with dad, and get to know him. You turned into a daddy's boy. If dad was around all you wanted was him. This was real sad for me, up to this point none of the other children had really shown such a big preference. But, when Danny was born she was a mamma's girl so that kind of helped me to not feel so bad about you wanting dad so much.

While we lived in that house in Washington Terrace we had many accidents. You were in your walker-I know now that walkers are not safe. I had a gate up to the stairs, but you pushed real hard and fell down the stairs. That was scary. But you did fine.

You had your first birthday in the Washington Terrace house. We got you a little fire engine riding/walking toy. It had a siren and a horn. Who knew that someday you would be driving a huge ladder fire engine truck and be the engineer on that truck.

We moved to Layton in June.

You were baptised and confirmed on May 1, 1993. One of my good friend help me make you a special cake for your lunch after you baptism.

We lived in Layton until the summer before you started 7th grade. Then we moved to So. Weber in August right before school started, so you went to Sunset Jr High and then Northridge High school.

There is many more memories of your life that I have, but I will save them for other birthdays.

I love you and I am very proud of you! Happy Birthday Kody.