Iron Chef is at it again...

Well he hasn't been in the mood for a long time, but he was back in the kitchen and back at it again this week... Iron Chef Jacob's wontons!

These are so good, but not really on the healthy eating plan for me... and apparently strong silent mysterious men don't eat appetizers as dinner.

No matter how pretty you make it!

But good job buddy, they look soooo good!

Senior Pics...

We went out for another senior picture shoot... only this time I didn't have anyone to direct Jacob in his poses for me.

I will admit I am not good at giving directions behind the lens, but he is even worse at taking them. And he brought with him some very specific ideas about what kinds of shots he wanted, since this shoot was at the golf course.

I am sure these premeditated ideas came from some high end golf shots of Tiger Woods he had seen in a magazine somewhere... so no pressure on amature Mom or anything.

These are some of the ones that didn't turn out, because if we decide to use the good ones he didn't want me posting any previews of them on my blog! He is so bossy!

This one didn't turn out either, but I really wanted to have it in my journal that the teenager does still know how to laugh with me! I question if his laughing box was replaced in the middle of the night one night with a snarl o meter that is set on automatic talk back. So this is proof... the laughing box is still in there!

These were interesting shots... he tells me I have to lay on the ground and "take one for the team"!!

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What does that mean? I questioned... But I did it, and kept clicking away while he sprayed me with sand shots.

He kept complaining I wasn't capturing the spray of the sand right... I think he just liked taking shots at me. I am still feeling grit in my teeth and finding sand in my scalp.

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I hope this isn't the sand they use to fill in the holes that has grass seed through it... I could wake up looking like a chia pet.

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It was fun to go out with him on his turf and try and meld our two worlds of photography and golf together... and fun to see him smile and laugh again. I am so grateful he is letting me take lots of pictures this year. We still have a few more photo sessions to go. I want fall leaves and snow scenes before he graduates!

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It will be fun, if we don't kill each other in the process! I do understand why Mom's hire professionals for this job. But I am up for the challenge!

Hillbilly Golf...

For family night we built a hillbilly golf game... finally golf that I can beat the boys at!

Poor Dad, we made him work when he got home from working all day... but the good news is he found something fun but easy he could have his scouts build this week.

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We just made one tower, the scouts will build the other one to learn how. Then you have a set of 3 bolo's (2 golf balls on a rope) for each team. Set up the towers like you would horse shoes on each side of the course and then you take turns shooting at at each tower. You can find the instructions on building and playing the game on the internet.

It only took a few minutes to build and you can take it apart and store it in a bag all together to move from party to party to play.

It really is so fun!

Then the game playing fun begins...

It's really all in the wrist...

Not like that...

He totally had to set up for this picture... no way was he hitting the top rung that many times tonight... but practice, practice, practice makes perfect son! Your too cute anyway!

The spiritual application: Is your goal to reach the highest kingdom? (the highest/hardest rung)
Are you just getting by, doing what's easy (only need one point to win, so you just aim for the lower rung hoping to snag it or with any luck something higher) or diligently pursuing your goal to get there? (working to do your very best on every shot, not just doing enough to get by) Do we apply ourselves to strive to reach our highest potential, or are we just getting by?
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3 Nephi 13:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Hard to blog...

I am having a hard time blogging this week... but lots going on behind the scenes.

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Jacob got asked to Homecoming (I know, it should go the other way... I tried to encourage him to be an upstanding guy and ask one of these adorable girls that look forward to these things so much... but he is putting everything away for his mission, who can blame him there, and what is a Mom to say to that?).

So now that he is going... slowly he is letting me inside his life a little to help him out. Boys shouldn't be on their own to pick out a pink tie. When he said "pink is pink"... I knew he need an intervention.

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Wednesday night we had our Stake Standards night with about 250 youth... it turned out amazing, and soooo fun! But lots of work, and I felt like I had been run over by a train on Thursday.

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I am so happy it's Friday... and really excited to watch General Conference this weekend! It's been a very emotionally draining week and I am so ready for the spiritual feasting!