Eatmeal cookies

Hi everyone.
After another long silence, a new blog post has been written. I couldn't think of a movie/tv quote for the title, so I decided to quote SquiRe, who used to say "eatmeal" instead of "oatmeal".

These oatmeal cookies are so delicious, if you're fan of oatmeal, which I whole-heartedly am. Plus, they're gluten free, so that makes them healthy, right? Right.

Recipe: Alton Brown

16 oz (approx. 2 cups) rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
10 oz (approx. 1 1/4 cup) soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Optional: Chocolate chips/raisins

Spread oats out on a sheet pan and toast in a 375* oven for 20 minutes. Let them cool a couple of minutes, then grind half of them (1 cup) in a food processor until flour consistency. Mix in baking powder, cinnamon and salt, then set aside.

Combine butter and sugar in a stand mixer for about 3 minutes, then add egg and vanilla at low speed. Slowly add the dry mix until just combined, then stir in the remaining oats and chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough in rounded tablespoons onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until they start to brown on the edges. You may need to rotate the pan.
When these first came out, they seemed pretty fragile, soft, and fell apart easily. But once they cooled, they were the perfect consistency. So good!

Now for some pictures, something we haven't posted in a while. These are slightly dated, from December.


Wow, such convincing smiles...



Fiona had her first piano recital last month and did very well.



Poor Oskar. Cleopatra chased him up a tree about three times last month, twice he wouldn't come down without help.



And we went to yet another We Make History event! It was so cold and wet...and fun.



Now sure who this guy is, but I like his style, haha



SquiRe decided he wants to be a black smith when he grows up, thanks to these guys.



The World War 1 booth! My personal favorite.



Vietnam...



And WW2. These three were all very interesting.



This lady was great. She went around hitting people over the head with that Bible, as part of her Salvation Army role.



A Native American. I didn't go to his booth, so that's just an educated guess.



Those southerners sure do like to dance.



Lately Mario Kart Wii has been the big thing at our house, and SquiRe was trying to teach Joe how to play.



Playing Kings.



And finally, we went to a Marty Goetz concert and came back with a DVD, so we watched that the following night. The kids enjoyed pretending to be the orchestra.

In other news, I may or may not have been tagged again for the Leibster award by Ava, so I'll answer those questions here. (Mine being such a common name, I'm never entirely sure when people are referring to me on the Internet, haha)
Anyone who hasn't already been tagged by me and would like to answer some questions can consider themselves tagged and answer these.

1.If you could decorate your room two colors what would they be? Our old room was yellow and forest green, I liked that. But I would let someone else choose the colors, because I'm hopeless when it comes to color coordination.
2.What's one word you would use to describe your style? Non-existant. Haha, or probably: comfortable.
3.What's your favorite bible character(s)? That's a really hard one. Hm...well...I don't know that they're my favorite, but I've always really liked Ehud and Jael.
4.If you were an animal what would you be? I've been told by my family either a sloth, a fox or a snake. I'm so flattered.
5.If you could go to France, Germany or England where would you go for vacation? France, but I'm not picky. I'd go anywhere.
6.What's a song that makes you want to dance? David Danced (Salvador), Daring Daylight Escape (Caedmon's Call) and a lot of MercyMe songs. Oh, and Chattanooga Choo Choo. Go Glen Miller!
7.What is your dream job? (besides being a stay-at-home mom) Exotic mammal verternarian or freelance artist. Both would be cool, but I doubt either will happen ;).
8. What are the three main quality's you want in your husband? IF I get married, I'd like a man who is devoted to God, loyal, and responsible.
9. If you could change your name what would it be? Socorro. That was actually an option for me before I was born, but my parents decided that no one would be able to pronounce or spell it right. But that would be half the fun ;).
10.What bible verse is seemed to be written for you? Another hard one! There are so many verses and chapters that never fail to encourage me....for just one, I guess I'd have to say Joshua 1:9.

If you made it this far, congratulations! That was a long one. Should hold everyone over for another month or so, right? Comment if you think Mari or Risa should post next! ;)

"Is this a test?"

..."Yes, it is." Had to finish the quote ;).

We got tagged....a WHILE ago with this questionnaire thing. The Leibster award. We were going to, per BBB tradition, all answer together with color coded answers. And we might end up editing this to do that. But, with Mari working at the hospital/going to school every day but one, Clarisa working nearly full time, and me sitting around doing nothing at home (that's not true by the way, it just seems to be common opinion since I'm unemployed ;]), I figured I'd fill it out myself so that the blog doesn't die from neglect.
Ready?
Okay. Here are the rules:

 -Link back to the blogger who tagged you. Thanks Riah!

 -Answer the 10 questions that blogger asks.

-Nominate 10 other blogger at the maximum.

-Let those Nominees know they were tagged.

1) What is your family’s strangest tradition? Probably eating lo-mein (a Chinese noodle dish) every Thanksgiving. I'm very proud to have started (aka forced it on my family upon threats of death) this tradition.
2) Where is the farthest you’ve traveled? Yellowstone National Park.
3) At what age were your parents married? 22 and 31. Yeah, he didn't know how young she was when he asked her out ;).
4) What is your favorite book in the Bible? Judges, I think.
5) Ice Cream or Cake? Ice cream cake.
6) What language do you wish you could speak? Spanish. Porque no peude hablar espanol como una Mexicano, pero estoy una Mexicano. *sigh* I'm trying. That was probably wrong.
7) How old is your blog? How many posts have you written? What year did you write the most? (Is it okay that I asked three (now four) questions in one?) 4 years old, 199 posts, most written in 2010. And no, it's not.
Kidding.
8) What is the last movie you watched? RED.
9) What is your favorite music video? Hmm...um...I don't know. The last one I watched was Love, Liberty, Disco by Newsboys and that was fun. In case you look it up right now though, just a fair warning: Guy-liner. And plenty of it.
10) What song do you feel was written just for you? Um. Can't Take Me, Bryan Adams, from the movie Spirit. I don't feel like it was written just for me, because it was written for a horse, but I usually end up singing it all day long once I hear it.

Okay, so my ten questions!



1) What is your family’s strangest tradition?
2) What is/was your favorite subject in school?
3) What is your favorite book of the Bible?
4) Favorite cartoon/animation (now or as a kid)?
5) Funnest song you've listened to?
6) Do you speak any amount of any other language not including pig-latin?
7) Was anyone in your family born in another country?
8) What nationality are you (besides American. I'm talking heritage.)?
9) What was the last thing you saw in theaters?
10) What song do you feel was written just for you?

And I'll tag...
Sarah, Julia, and Jenny
Hannah
and Kayla

Sam

"Now I know how Washington felt when Napoleon beat him at Pearl Harbor."

We had a great time at the Revolutionary War re-enactment and learned a lot more than the quote-title suggests! Most of the costumed volunteers/re-enactors were very helpful and informative.

I tried getting pictures of all our friends in costume, but we missed a couple. : {

I'll commentate as we go along, per usuality.

General Washington (far right) and some of his men

This guy was so nice and helpful!

The man on the left is a former dance teacher.

The men in white uniforms got it lucky! It was really hot outside, and all the soldiers in those thick, dark, layered uniforms were sweating profusely. Poor guys XD.

Two of our 7 or 8 friends who re-enacted that day!

The British/loyalist soldiers listened very considerately to General Washington's inspiring speech XD. 2 more friends featured here.

Not sure what happened to this picture...guess it uploaded wrong. A friend from church.

At one point they let the children charge the British soldiers, and everyone had a great time...

...well, everyone but the soldiers who had to play dead. Some of those kids were brutal, ha-ha!

Another friend from church in there somewhere.

 

Overall, it was a very educational and fun experience, and we look forward to attending the BIG re-enactment in a neighboring city next month (that one will be mostly Civil War) where we'll be seeing a lot of these same friends re-enact!

 

And here's one just for fun from around the house.

 

Sam

"You beautiful fish, you!"

Our friend, Rachel, sent us this video, and it is great. A modesty spoof on OneDirection's  "What Makes You Beautiful."
It's really nice to know there are at least a FEW guys [though these guys happen to be mormon, grrr >( ] out there who feel this way. Plus, it's funny.



Enjoy!
Sam

"It's not a graduation." "It's a cermony!" "It's psychotic!"

 

Graduation pictures! We took them. Or, actually, a good friend of ours with a real camera took them. Thanks, C!

As most of you know Mari graduated earlier this year and I recently graduated (a couple months ago). It's very nice to be out of high school and starting to explore our new options. Mari is enrolled in a CNA (certified nursing assistant) and licensed Caregiver....school....thing, with the same friend who took these pictures. They've really been enjoying the learning, and will be having a grad party in another week. So you can look forward to a post about that.

And now, the pictures. Enjoy!

 

 

A personal favorite

Isn't she beautiful? The great scenery we have out here is a bonus too. 

Another personal favorite...such a pretty dog I've got

 

All three of us - a rare picture

All three of us AND Dad - even rarer. Ignore the squints.



So that's all for now folks. I know we haven't been posting much lately, and I'm not gonna promise that it's gonna change. Our camera sort of went AWOL so until we find it again (hopefully soon) updates will probably be few. Sorry.

We will try to find it in time for our next blog-worthy happening, which would be attending the Liberty Festival over the weekend, which celebrates the Revolutionary War, and in which several of our friends will be reenacting. Cool.

Until next time,
Sam

Camp "You know what camping is, right?"

 

I feel like a kid in second grade writing a, "What I Did at Camp" report :D.

So, we had less kids than expected -- ten. Still, enough to keep our hands full. A couple of people who were gonna come up and help had to pull out, so it was just me and my friend Riah. Here we all are:

 
 

They were all about 12, but David (in back) was so much older looking than them all

These kids came here from China knowing only basic English to gain the "American experience". Really though, it's a big witnessing opportunity for my grandpa. =] They've gone to Disneyland, the Grand Canyon, a horse ranch, and are attending a Christian school.

 

 

 

Lisa, Hettie and Carolyn

 

 

"Bob", Rainer and William

 

The kids all certainly had interesting tastes. They all had, in addition to our American foods, noodles at every meal. One "interesting" breakfast food we saw: Toast with American cheese and peanut butter. Also, in the above picture, was a soup of drinking water, a few noodles, fruit chunks and strawberry tops. Yup.

 

The girls beating the boys to the basketballs =]

 We were definitely kept very busy with all the cooking, cleaning and activities. But it was nice to go back to my childhood church camp, and the weather was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

The fuse ball and carpet ball tables were huge hits

 

 

 

The horny toad comes with an interesting story. Papa, Gully and  I were all on a hike, and Papa spotted a horny toad. Gully was extremely excited to catch it; they had been looking for one all week and had, apparently, never seen them before.

Papa: How are you going to carry it back to camp?

Gully: Oh...hmm...I know! *digs into pockets* Yes! *removes one single dirty sock* I don't know why this sock is in my pocket, but we can use it.

He proceeded to laugh about finding the solitary sock the rest of the way to camp. The things boys keep in their pockets...

 

 

 

One conversation Papa had with Gully was funny enough to report. (Background: Gully's mother is a very devoted Buddhist, and the kids have been learning about Christianity their whole stay here)

Papa: So, Gully, what is the biggest difference you can see between Buddhism and Christianity?

Gully: Christians...can eat meat.

Me: Do you like meat?

Gully: Yes!

So, it seems we have a convert, however insincere. ;-]

 

Seriously speaking though, this trip has had a big impact on these kids and their moms. Two moms and three children have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise God. Please pray that they would continue in the faith and that they would all become saved.

 

In Christ,

Sam

 

 

(this quote title thing is starting to get difficult...)