Do I like Brunch?

We're having an unusually lazy and quiet Saturday morning....ahhhhh....it's SO nice! No games to run to, no church activities, no MK parties.....wow! Don't get me wrong---I love all of those things, but sometimes it's nice to have a lazy morning. Especially since I'm going to our MK Seminar next week and will be gone for 4 days---today is family day! :) (although we're missing 2 cute family members----Sadie and Liam are in Utah with G & G Sessions----but I'm pretty sure they aren't missing us! Too much fun with cousins and family there!!!)

So, there's this yummy French Toast Souffle recipe that I've been wanting to make forever. It's in the oven as I type this and it smells DIVINE! Briggs keeps coming downstairs asking what smells so good! :)

As you can tell from the time on the post, it's almost 11:30 am so yes....lazy is the right word for this morning!!! I told Lydia that breakfast was almost ready and then said, "Actually, we're having brunch." She answered, "Do I like Brunch?" I of course laughed and told her YES! Who doesn't like brunch? It's the epitome of living life to the fullest and taking time to smell the roses along the way. I think our lives are all too busy so sometimes-----a Brunch Morning is the best answer...especially when it involves French Toast Souffle and homemade raspberry syrup! (Thanks for the recipe Kaye B.!)

French Toast Souffle--

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

6-8 cups bread (I used french bread...yum!)

6 eggs

1 cup milk

Topping:

Powdered Sugar

Boysenberry, Blueberry or Raspberry syrup

Melt cream cheese, butter & syrup in a sauce pan. It will be lumpy. Grease 9 x 13 pan and break up bread. Mix cream cheese mixture with bread in pan. Beat eggs and milk, then pour over bread. Bake at 350 for about 45-60 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and pour syrup over top. Enjoy!

Raspberry Syrup--

1 package frozen raspberries (10 oz)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. water

Combine sugar and water in saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the raspberries and bring to a boil. Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and then slowly add it to the boiling raspberries, while stirring. This will thicken it. Serve warm.

p.s. ......and yes, it DID taste as good as it looks! MAGNIFIQUE!

Our sweet Spencer…we miss you!

June 22, 2001  to July 20, 2006

We love you so much-----Can’t wait to see you again, little Buddy!

Spencer Family Night

 

Liam gave a talk on Sunday in Primary about Temples and why they are special to him….it was so precious and all about Spencer and being able to see him again.  It was so great that we had him share it for Family Night. 

Orange is Spencer’s favorite color so we always have the ribbons in orange and the balloons are white because he is our special, little angel watching over us all in Heaven!

These are the things that we are going to work on as a family so that we can do what’s right---Pray,  personal and family prayers; Read the scriptures daily; Smile because God gave us so many things to be happy about and a positive attitude makes life so much better!

Sadie writing her love note to Spencer

Liam’s love note to Spencer

Briggs…deep in thought about Spencer---he always wears his orange shirt on this day too, because it is Spencer’s favorite color!

There they go!!!

Cousins that LOVE SPENCER!

Sadie posted this as her FB profile pic

Our Favorite Superman, SPENCER!

Today’s blog post is all about a special little man, Spencer.  He is our nephew, cousin and sweet spirit that returned to our Heavenly Father 5 years ago this week.  It’s so hard to lose a loved one, especially when they are so young, but I am so grateful for families and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Many of you that read this are not members of our church so I hope you’ll indulge me a bit to explain Temples and that aspect of our religion that gives us hope and peace, even during very trying times. 

One of the most touching and important parts of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (you know us as Mormons! ) is that we believe that our families can be together forever.  Our church website www.mormon.org says

“In temples, Church members participate in ordinances designed to unite their families together forever and help them return to God. In the temple, members:

• Learn eternal truths.
• Receive sacred ordinances, including those that bind husband and wife together for eternity, as well as join children and parents (Malachi 4:5-6).
• Provide ordinances such as baptism for those who have died without the opportunity to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:29; 1 Peter 4:6”

 

Knowing this about “mormons” helps explain why death is not the end for us and because of this, we have a great hope that gets us through losing a loved one.  On the anniversary of Spencer passing away, we go to our temple here in OKC and do a special family night where we talk about what we need to do to stay close to Heavenly Father and Jesus, follow the commandments and do what is right so that we can return to them and be a forever family.  We also write a few things that we are going to work on being better at (kind of a promise or commitment to Spencer) on balloons and then we let them go…sending our love up to sweet Spencer. 

These are pictures from when we did it a few years ago.  Notice Lydia kissing Spencer’s photo….she did that all on her own. It was so tender.  I’ll do another post with the Spencer family night we did this week next.

Pink at the Park!!!

One of my director friends organized a Pink at The Park fundraiser for the Mary Kay Foundation with the OKC Redhawks and it was fun but it was SOOOO HOT!  Really…..112 degrees here in “Bake City” USA and that didn’t include the heat index with humidity.  SHEEEEESSSSHHHH!  I honestly can’t blame Sadie & Liam for not wanting to come but Briggs and Lydia were really excited to go and they got spoiled rotten!  Footlong corndogs, pretzels, cotton candy,  snowcones and a $10 refillable soda---really?  I paid $10 for soda? YEP!  And it was worth EVERY PENNY because we refilled it SO many times…we just needed liquid!!!  The kids really had a great time---free t-shirts and Redhawks hats and the best part?  A night out with Mom and Dad, of course!!!  (I refuse to add up how much we spent---those vendors at the ballpark are thieves!  But they’re smart thieves!!!  It was so hot we were willing to pay just about anything!)

Here’s the group at the game—pretty in pink!

Joann, Janice, Bernie, Maria & Mary

Date Night with Mom & Dad!

Awwww….I really like this picture!!!

4th of July at our favorite place!

Colette, Lydia & Briggs

Sadie and Trieste

Grandpa and Grandma

Briggs and Ella

Liam and Lily

Patriotic Briggs….wearing his Italia hat!

Cute kids at G & G’s house

Ahhh….this is more like it….CRAZY FUN kids at G & G’s house!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!!! Last year we went up to Kansas to spend the 4th of July weekend with Grandpa and Grandma Sessions and we seriously couldn’t wait to go again this year. It’s just so much fun to be there (and I love it because I can relax and have my Mom take care of me….is that so bad?! There’s just no place like home (especially in Kansas!)….even if it’s not the home I grew up in. Home is where Mom and Dad are! Then we got an extra treat and Celeste brought the girls down so we got to see them too!!! (We missed you Dr. Dan…sorry you had to work!) Our kids have so much fun together that they didn’t even want to go to the city’s firework show…they just wanted to stay at Grandma’s and play and do our own fireworks! Which were pretty awesome---thanks Chuck! That was a great weekend Mom and Dad…we love you so much! Other highlights of the weekend were Grandpa’s caramel corn (always!), going to the Exploration Center and seeing the CSI exhibit, pancake breakfast at the church, the Raptor Center (see below), playing the ice cream game on the NEW Wii!!! (Skipping rocks was awesome too---who would have ever thought that MY parents would have a 60” TV AND a Wii!), having old-fashioned Chocolate Soda’s and just hanging with family….so awesome!

Bird Refuge---WOW!

 

We got to visit the Eagle Valley Raptor Center in Cheney, KS while we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Sessions. It was AMAZING!  The kids are still talking about it 4 days later.  They got to feed a Turkey Vulture (Sadie LOVED having it rip the head off the mouse!), hold a Hawk, pet a Perigrine Falcon and get their picture taken with Wazoo the Bald Eagle! WOW!  It was pretty amazing! STRONGLY suggest you visit!