Down the River with a Paddle

So, if you aren't busy Saturday, why not get a group together to take a little ride on the Clearwater. We have 2 Wards on this activity. Our Ward owns and Maintains 10 high quality mountain bikes. The other Ward owns and maintains 7 good canoes, paddles, and PFD's.

Some of the youth from our ward above, and 3 exchange students from Japan below. They had a great time on the river. We talked about their country, and they tried to explain things in their limited English. They did manage to teach me how to say a new phrase in Japanese (more on that later).
Some of the youth from the other Ward.
And a couple of late comers to the party. These 2 guys have another brother that just had major surgery and could not join us on the river. We missed him, just as we missed the other youth that did not make it to the activity.
If you are going to play on the water, you must get your ride there first. Everyone toted a canoe, and made sure they had the proper gear ready for the trip.
Then we had paddling lessons. Of the people on the trip, there were only 2 with prior canoeing experience, and one sister that has a kayak. So, there was a lot to learn in a short time.
After prayer, it is adios muchachos. "Fire one!"
"Fire Two!"
"Fire Three!"
"Fire Four!"

There was also another canoe on the trip, but their launch was nor recorded with a good picture.
Part way down stream, we found this little knoll from which to take a simple picture of the canoes on the water. Only after we down-loaded them did we see how great of a picture this was. This picturesque spot is only 25 minutes away from our house, and less than 15 away from down town.
After work, Jacob joined us in the park for a picnic lunch.
So here is the lesson. How do you say "hot dog" in Japanese? Let me remind you that Kobiashi is a well known sports figure there, and that baseball is as Japanese as Chevrolet is American. In reply to the query, all three girls said in unison, "hotta dogga." Now you know, as do I, another phrase to help you expand your meager language skills. We all had a good chuckle about that one.
This is just a pretty good picture.

A good time was had by all. Next activity we expect to have a few more people. We are planning for the Opening Social now. We will share those photos with you in a future post.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan

Get the good stuff.

About a week ago, the Young Women in the Ward wanted to have a cooking night, and so we planned to make fajitas. Before you can cook them, you have to buy the things to make them, so off we went to the local grocery store. Most things are readily available, but on this day, we were lucky to have our choice of one package of skinless bone-in chicken breast. The other 8 packages of poultry were all thighs or fryer parts.

So we finished all our shopping and were ready to check out and go cook. The cute cashier was really enjoying the lime light for a few minutes. he even said,"take my picture while I make change." The bow tie may tell the rest of the story.
Next came the lessons in preparing food to cook. De-boning, slicing, dicing, chopping, shredding, etc. The Malteasers were not ours. The Canada Dry was for the lemonade. The Nilla wafers are hiding.
Cooking the chicken and adding the peppers for the tastiest of treats. Too many cooks do not spoil the dish. All the YW had a hand in the preparation of the meal.
Now the Nillas make their stage debut. They starred in the only dish they know, Banana pudding. After the meal and the desert were ready, we enjoyed a great meal.
The lesson worked well. Two of the girls and another of the leaders each made fajitas later in the week for their families. Chalk one up for the Meximos.

These girls are great, and the opportunities to serve here are almost endless. This is really a beautiful place, and what makes it so beautiful? The people, of course. It is similar to Concord in that respect. The people , their goodness, and their loving natures far outweigh the inconveniences and trials of living in a remote place.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin, - Keep Them Doggies Rollin...

Michelle had a Relief Society Activity a few weeks back where the sisters made Grandmother's House Cinnamon Rolls. They were outstanding, with soft dough, and plenty of flavor. The recipe is quite easy, and if you try it out, you will not be disappointed.

3 tablespoons dry active yeast
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar

mix sugar into warm water until dissolved, add yeast and stir until it is all wet (no clumps). Set aside until the yeast is risen, approximately 5 to 10 minutes.

10 cups flour
1 cup milk powder *
1 cup instant mashed potato flakes **
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs

Mix 5 cups flour, potato flakes, sugar, salt, and milk powder in a large bowl. (I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the whisk attachment) Add and mix in water, oil, and eggs. Add and mix in risen yeast mixture. (Switch to the paddle blade or the dough hook on the mixer.) Add the remaining flour one cup at a time until the dough is well mixed. Knead for 10 minutes. (This is where the mixer is my bff) The dough will be very soft. Place is a large greased bowl and let rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size, or about 1 hour. (inside the microwave works well - do not use the microwave while the dough is rising.) Punch down dough and follow along...


Roll out the dough on a clean lightly floured surface into a large rectangle. I rolled until the dough was approximately 3/8-inch thick. Spread 1/2 cup canola oil over the entire surface of the dough. (I cheated here and used butter instead because I like the flavor better.)
Spread 2 cups brown sugar over the dough. You may use a little more brown sugar if you wish, for a sweeter roll. I did.
Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon. This is not the time to be ultra right wing conservative.
The recipe does not require nuts or raisins, but I do. So, spread around lots of your favorites. We use Stahmann Farms Pecans from Stahmann Farms in southern New Mexico. It has been a family farm for over 50 years, and the product is without equal, imho.
If you like a little more moist roll, sprinkle the dough with Perrier. Just kidding. Little joke. Some people like to drink a little when they cook. Michelle likes to drink a little Perrier when I cook.
Here is another departure from the original recipe. Steep some raisins in warm water. I covered about 2 cups of raisins with water, popped them into the microwave for 2 minutes to rehydrate, making them more delicious and less like little rocks or other forms of detritus. Decant the water into the sink, or trick one of your sons into drinking it.

Sprinkle the hydrated raisins around. A word of warning, the water in the bottom of the cup, and the last few raisins, will be hot. Be careful not to burn your fingers. If you do burn your fingers, sue Micky D's. not me.
Roll the dough as tight as you can, the tighter the better. It helps to have a good looking sous chef. He just returned from speaking in another Ward with the High Councilor. Jacob scored an 8.785 out of a possible 10 points, scoring a gold medal, and the HC took the silver medal in Olympic pulpit pounding.
Heat the oven to 350 F. Cut the rolls in any way you want. You should get 36 rolls, or 39, if you subscribe to the bakers dozen theory. I cook the rolls on parchment paper because they are less likely to stick, and clean-up is a little better. You can spray the paper and/or the pan with Pam or other cooking spray. I try to stay away from Pam, but that is just another in a long line of old girl friend stories i will never tell. Bake each pan (I had 3 pans with 12 rolls per pan) for 10 minutes, then spin the pan 180 degrees, so the back rolls do not burn, and cook another 10 minutes. Ten minutes is an EPA estimate and not an actual time limit. Your mileage may vary. When you like how the rolls look, take them out of the oven (but not to the zoo)
If you like frosting, and I recommend a good cream cheese frosting for best results, make it and apply it now. If the rolls are hot the frosting will melt and make a glaze. If the rolls are cooler, the frosting will stay in the amorphous state. The original recipe called for margarine, powdered sugar,vanilla and milk. Use your favorite quick recipe for frosting.
Remove from pan with fingers so you can lick your digits after you are done devouring the poor helpless rolls. Enjoy them, share them, or hoard them. It is all good.

Notes:

* I used buttermilk instead of milk powder. Again, you can decide what to use if you like one over the other.

** Baked or microwaved potatoes work just as good, and i prefer the real thing over flakes.

Have fun making and eating these little treats. We sure enjoyed them.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle

Anniversary and Birthday Week for the Simpson Family

Joseph and his friend Aaron recently returned from EFY in Calgary. They taught a Family Home Evening lesson to both families about the importance of good choices and music.


The next night we hosted an activity for the YW (and the YM, who got rained out of their plans) at our home. We made enchiladas, beans and rice. A good time was had by all, and some pretty good food was also had too.

Here are 3 of the lovely YW and 2 of the great YM. Note the fresh pico that they learned to make? We also stressed the importance of learning how too cook now, while there is time to practice on the family, so once they are in college or serving a mission, they will not have to rely on others, especially Brother R. McDonald, for nutrition.

Then the next day they paved our street. We are living in a great place, in a great house, we attend a great word, and we have great friends and great employment. What more can you ask for?

Last night the company celebrated "25 years of Building Communities." So, what do you need to have a great party? How about a little Dance Dance Revolution...

a little volleyball (by two teams from our commercial construction company) where the referee cannot keep score, makes you serve with the opposite hand, pays you for just hitting the ball, and penalizes you for cussing...

a little putting for dollars (some of our commercial mechanical and HVAC workers) ...

a little Wii Tennis (our assistant Controller and his wife) for fun, until a guy handing our money shows up to give thousands of dollars to anyone having fun...

and a little Black Jack Game where vast fortunes were won and lost by all the employees. We played all the games for about 2 hours, after which you could buy things in our company auction with the monopoly money you had won, begged, borrowed, stolen, or lied about. Here Dan, the General Manager of the residential construction company begins his turn at dealing Black Jack.

Here a few of our younger employees (l to r, Jacob, Michelle H., Teresa B., and Vanessa H), all of them here on summer internships, try their hand at 21.

See how easy it is to win?

and win big?

Show me the Money!!

Sold. The auctioneer was hard to understand, with the real thick accent he had, it was hard to understand him, except when he cried out sold and made one person real happy and another person real sad. At the end of the day, we all had a good time and enjoyed celebrating with the owner, his family, and all our friends and co-workers.

The actual anniversary was a great day too, although not as exciting as watching 300 inebriated people bid hundreds of thousands of dollars (of monopoly money) for everyday real life things and gift certificates. The top prizes, 2 days off with full pay, and a fishing trip with a local celebrity fisherman, each sold for about 850,000 each.

We ate lunch at the Kozy Korner, a local diner where the newfie food is "Hot, allot and brown." Jacob went with us and he had a hard time understanding our waitress. The food was so good, that a nap was in order. After a little snooze, Jacob and I mowed lawns while Michelle read on in her book, which she finished today.

We finished off the day with a hot pizza from a local eatery, which is really really good, and a little TV, Olympics, and Michael Phelps.

The highlights of the day were talking with our children, and opening a card that Samuel rode his bike to the store, by himself, to purchase. Picture this in your mind's eye. Don't close your eyes or you will miss the rest of the post. On the front there is a picture of an old couple, a man and a woman, who look to be in their early 90's. He is doing a cross word puzzle, and she is reading a book. He asks, "What's a three-letter word for 'on-fire'?" And she never even misses a beat as she says, 'You'."

Yep, that's us. Happy Anniversary Darlin.

Happy Birthday Ashley.

Hugs and Kisses to all,

Alan and Michelle

Summer Time in the Rockies - or - (How I spent my summer vacation)

When you go on vacation, you have more fun if you travel with good Friends. This is the first day of our trip through the Canadian Rockies, in the town of Creston, BC. We were with The Fitzners and the Bevans. They were on motorcycles, and we (Michelle, Jacob, and Samuel) followed in the 4Runner after we threw Joseph out of the car in Calgary. It wasn't that he was misbehaving too badly, but he and Aaron Fitzner attended EFY there last week. Alan got to stay home and work to pay for the trip.

A little sunscreen for the guy in the beet red face saying, "I don't think the sun is too strong." The sandwiches from the panini shop were really good.

We stopped at Christina Lake for a rest and a chance to our stretch legs. The scenery was nothing short of breath taking. The lakes were all beautiful blue, and the water crisp and refreshing.

This was one stop on our trip through the country side. Osoyoos (pronounced o-SOY-yews) is much like the Imperial Valley in California, not like Death Valley.

This is in a fruit stand on the side of the road in Osoyoos. It is called Fernandez Farms. That is right, my gente are here! And look at what we do! We enjoyed great fruits and treats from the farm for the rest of the trip. We even saved some to take home.

Gentlemen, Start your Engines! One of the high lights of the trip was a stop to race go karts. Jacob borrowed a helmet from Bill because the ones from the track were "gross." The smile is left over from the race, and I am surprised that there are no bugs in his teeth.

I love the Canadian flags on the little karts.

Here we are at Lake Louise. (if you double click on the photo, you will be able to read the plaque, then you can use the back button to return to this post.) Everyday was new and beautiful scenery. Lake Louise was one of my favorites.

Wow! What a view. I am for the opportunities we have had to see more of the great creation and the beauty and variety of the landscapes given to us by a loving Heavenly Father.

The Misters Incredible.

Beware, all you evil doers. (or, Hey! Look at my white arms and be blinded)

Samuel posing in Banff. (or is he wiping his nose?)

This is just another example of the marvelous vistas and thrilling memories we saw and made.

So, when you have a few minutes for lunch in Edmonton on the way home from a great trip, what do you do? You call the missionaries and invite them to lunch at a favorite local dive. This was in Thanh Son Restaurant, Vietnamese Cuisine. The missionaries love the place for the price, $5 for a big bowl of delicious soup. And the boys had rice bowls with a delicious yellow sauce described as, "Tastes great, but smells like dirty sweaty gym socks." (mmmmmmmm)

Of course a trip to Edmonton, or in this case a stop over in Edmonton on the way home, means a stop at Costco. Since we had also stopped earlier in the week, this trip was much smaller than usual. Samuel is doing his best Bay Watch slo-mo running sequence.

Samuel, Joseph, and Aaron. In the back ground is one of several fields of canola between Fort McMurray and Edmonton. We were stopped on the way home for road construction, so again, it was a perfect time for a leg stretch.

You need to plan for a visit to the great un-white north. There are literally thousands of beautiful places to see, and things to do. We have only begun to see the wonders of the area, and we are already planning for more trips to see the country.