A Most Welcome Spring Break

It took forever to decide what we were doing, but finally determined to just go to Elephant Butte for a little break. We really wanted to make it a chance to see some family, but no matter how we tried we just couldn't make it work. Mary Lynn Pack was willing to take care of Grandma, and we didn't want to over burden her.

It was a bit of work to get the travel trailer ready for it's first outing of the season. We had cleaned it out pretty thoroughly last fall. Dad had to de-winterize which took a while. We did forget a few things usually kept in the trailer, but we had simple meals planned and not anyplace dress-up to go so it wasn't too bad.

We had a really good time. It was restful and refreshing--just what a spring break should be.

We left on Tuesday morning after we got Grandma off to the Sr. Center. We weren't traveling far, so we didn't have to hurry and we got to our camp sight fairly early. (It was right next to a man who had out bird feeders to attract birds) It was so nice to set up in the light and have time to make supper when we weren't too tired. Because Aaron wasn't too far away he got to come and join us for our evening meal and we talked and talked, and watched a movie Angela had been saving for the event.

Wednesday after a leisurely breakfast we drove to Percha Dam and Angela and I started the bird watching more seriously. We were excited to see several birds we hadn't seen before. We drove around to see Caballo Dam and ate our picnic lunch, watching more birds, and checking out several good camping spots in case we wanted to change places.

Thursday morning we moved the trailer to the Percha Dam campground. It was a great place for birdwatching and that way we, Angela and I, could go out early and Dad could sleep in (much more enjoyable for him than bird watching).

Unfortunately one of the things I forgot was my camera, and then I just couldn't remember to use the one on my phone. So, there won't be much in the line of pictures. Hopefully Angela will post with some of her pictures.

Aaron had a change of plans due to a part that didn't come for his work at the exact right time and joined us again that day. We drove around including back to Elephant butte to really see the lake. We were trying to see the two types of pelicans that were on the lake at that time--white inland and some of the Brown ocean type, but we were too late in the day. Lots and lots of Western grebe on the lake and that was fun. We even met Allen Brown, another of Cousin Carols brothers, saw a fun little museum, and lots of pretty places that need farther exploring.

After some bird watching Friday morning, we took our time returning home, and all in all it was a wonderful time. When we arrived home. Grandma was really happy to see us, but not once, complained of us leaving her. That is a real testament to how well she likes the Packs, and Mary Lynn's good care.

We were all ready to enjoy conference the next two days and that concluded our spring break on a very high note!

Just few of the birds we had not seen before, thanks to the Cornell bird websight.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide

A great place to look up birds and hear their songs.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Phainopepla

Pyrrhuloxia

Flower Power

Sometimes it's good to have too much of a good thing. I just didn't get time to dig out more of my ever spreading Maximillian Sunflowers. They are spectacular this time of year. I have just missed their prime, but thought you might enjoy with us.

Chocolate Sunday!

I have a million things to write, but somehow something always comes up. So--although I need to catch up on a lot of things that happened this Summer I will just tell you a quick fun treat we had.

It was a Fast Sunday and I was looking for a fast easy chocolate cake to put under the fresh peaches I had sliced and sugared lightly. I didn't want a lot of leftovers or at least something I could freeze for later. This seemed to fit the bill. We all decided that the size of the cakes was a bit large. The note on the recipe will tell you what I will do next time.




Dark Chocolate Cake

Since this is a very rich cake and I use chocolate cake as a vehicle for other things like sliced fresh peaches and ice cream, I would make this in large muffin tins next time. Muffins should make the cakes smaller and more in keeping with what I would consider a suitable serveing size. It took considerably longer baking in my oven, so the smaller size should make that quicker also. I would fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full for a nice level top. PS Chocolate and beans are good for you!


1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups (19-oz can) garbanzo beans (chick peas) [I used a 15 oz. can 1 1/2 cups]
4 eggs or 1 cup egg substitute
1 cup no-calorie sugar (Splenda) or sugar [I go real]
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar (optional) for topping
1 teaspoon vanilla
I added 1 tablespoon water and 2 Tablespoons flour to make up for the smaller amount of beans and the fact that we are so high in altitude.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, carefully melt chocolate in microwave, 2 to 3 min. In a blender or food processor, combine beans and eggs; process until smooth. Stir in Slenda or sugar, baking powder, melted chocolate, vanilla, [water and flour if using]; process again until smooth. Spray 8 4 or 6 oz. oven proof custard cups or ramekins (see note) with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly amoung baking dishes

Bake for 23 min or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool and place cakes upside down on a large plate and sprinkle with confectioners'sugar . Serve on individual dessert plates with fruit or fruit sauce and/or ice cream if desired.

Adapted from a recipe by Jean Carper in Eat Smart.

2010 Family Reunion 3

Closing Ceremonies

Editorial note: Some explanation for the unusual arrangement of photos for installment 2. I had it looking so good then I checked the publishing preview and there were so many things wrong including pictures on top of each other and all kinds of sizes to the script. I worked and worked and couldn't get it to do anything. Then Aaron helped me and we at least got it to where we could publish. I'm hoping that whatever I did last time will be different this time.

What good are Olympics if you don't get an award. We had some great ones. Everyone got something as you will see. The ones Melanie gave out looked pretty close to the real thing, at least for a reunion.

We started with the youngest. Aren't these the cutest little boys and girls



















Worked our way up.























Not the best picture of Sarah and Annaliese
Then the young men young women



























And Aaron being crowned


















Then we women panning for the camera.












Next the over 30 men:












And finally the passing of the torch for the next reunion in 2012.
(A fun torch watched over all our games.)

Good luck Emily. We are all willing to help in
what ever form you need.

Thanks again Melanie for a wonderful time!

2010 Family Reunion 2

Family Olympics
We had a fun time with the Olympics part. The family flags were a great idea and each unique and fun. There were activities that everyone could have fun trying. 'Course it helps to be the only ones in your class. Dad and I had it made!


We did kick the shoe.
It wasn't as easy as it looks.
sometimes it goes UP








Record keeping became quite involved, and two heads are always better than one.
The hula- hoop had quite a following. Some practiced and practiced until quite expert!













Most of us tried the standing long jump. I think I made a little over a foot.






I think Melina jumped farther than I did.
Aaron was the over-all winner. Much to his older brothers chagrin.

The water balloon shot put and the Frisbee discuss throw were very entertaining. I think the shorter family members were really excited when they saw all those water balloons.

Granddad got lots of exercise chasing the Frisbee.


There was some haggling with the judges.



And lots of looking at the posted results charts.



Studying and figuring where involved!

And that about covers the better pictures I had.
There will be a part three about our closing ceremony

Disappointment and Reprieve

This is a bit of a catch up blog so that you will understand some of our current concerns. The last of March first of April for a "last fling/spring break" vacation we got a fun young women from our ward to stay with Grandma and went to Texas to visit the Parkinson family and pick out a new travel trailer at the largest dealer in the nation.

We had a really good time at the Parkinsons swimming and visiting, and picked out a great 5th wheel. We wanted a floor plan in the Harry Potter tent idea but had to contend with reality. There are no perfect floor designs but we felt we got the best compromise. Since it was in a huge showroom they only take them out and rearrange every two weeks so we couldn't take it home with us as we had planned. We made plans to pick it up when we came back to Alec's graduation.

A couple of weeks later when we were trying to get in touch with the dealer we discovered that they had gone out of business. They had some money and our trailer. Dad did have the phone number of the salesman we worked with. He called and found our salesman was very surprised to be out of work but was gracious in giving us suggestions of what to do. We called the manufacturer and because we had all the info on the trailer they were able to locate it and get it shipped to another dealer in the same area. Unfortunately we had by this time purchased plane tickets for Alec's graduation and couldn't pick up the trailer at that time. We are still trying to get our down payment back, but we have a 5th wheel somewhere south of Dallas.

Here a the couple of pic. I remembered to take. I only used my cell phone and sometimes those don't turn out all that well.
Picnic at the church for conference.




Megan and friends ready for the Church Prom. I got to help a little with the dress Jenny was sewing for her. It was beautiful and a lot of work, and didn't quite get finished in time.


PS...... We just found out that Visa has gotten our down payment money back. Hurray!

2010 Helm Family Reunion Part 1

2010 Fun and Games

What a delightful and successful family reunion we had. Way to go Melanie! I'm not going to do much writing, but thought you would like to see the few good pictures I got. I've either got to get a better camera, or take photo lessons.

Waiting for breakfast. Didn't we have some great meals.

Hard at work

We did a lot of visiting

Bird watching
(Black-headed Grosbeak)
taking photo's

Lunching
Hiking and waiting for buses.
some got a lot of time to play in the dirt
And had fun with cousins!
thanks to Melanie and Emily there were also bubbles when we weren't busy with other stuff.

All in all we sure had fun. Thanks everyone.
Olympic events to come.