Cooper's Haircut

IF YOU SAW THIS...

AND THIS....

WOULDN'T YOU DO THIS?

AND THIS???

Bet Cooper wishes he hadn't gotten a haircut yesterday!

ANYBODY ELSE???!

John and I literally got kicked and flicked out of bed this morning! I woke up at 5:30 am when an arm came flying across my face. I grabbed my pillow and a blanket and made my way to Hailey's empty bed. John moved to the couch about 30 minutes later. Guess the kids shouldn't have watched "Little Monsters" last night before they went to bed... Now what's Cooper's excuse?!

Requests Granted: Chocolate-Caramel Doughnut Holes

Now you know these are good when Garrett's Chemistry study group stuffed several in their backpacks as they were leaving so they would have some for tomorrow...

Unfortunately I ate 7 or 8 myself today... It only took about 45 minutes total to make them and made at least 30 large doughnut holes. The description alone sold me--"These quickly fried, cakey confections boast a molten center of liquid caramel." Aren't you just licking your lips???!

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 cup cocoa powder

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

28-30 store-bought caramel squares, unwrapped

1-1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

5 to 6 cups vegetable oil, for frying

1 cup sugar, plus more for coating

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, buttermilk, butter, and eggs until thoroughly combined. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture just until a smooth dough forms.

2. On a lightly floured work surface, pat dough flat and lightly flour. Roll out dough to a 1/3-inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter (to lift rounds from work surface, use a thin spatula). Reroll and cut scraps.

3. Place a caramel in the center of each round, pinch dough closed around it, and gently roll into a smooth ball.

4. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Fill a wide shallow bowl with 1 inch sugar. In a large heavy pot, heat 4 inches oil until it registers 350 degrees. In batches of 4-6, fry doughnuts 5 minutes, turning once with a slotted spoon and adjusting heat as needed. Transfer doughnuts to prepared sheet; let rest 4 minutes. Roll in sugar to coat. Serve immediately.

Wow.. What a couple of games!

Grayson LOVES basketball. He loves it so much that he asked to play on two teams this year. He enjoyed his coach from his rec. team last year so he wanted to continue to play on Coach Theobald's team. Grayson has been able to score the majority of the team's points due to stealing the ball from the other team, making the fast break and scoring the layup (as demonstrated below). On one of his moves he had three guys on him, he dribbled behind his back, lost the guys, shot, scored and the crowd said "whoa!" One of the high-school scorekeepers calls him Kobe each week and I am just in shock at most of the things he is able to do (because he's the smallest on both teams).

Hillary was nice enough to drive up from Provo to watch both of Grayson's games--payback since he's watched a bizillion of her soccer and lacrosse games since he was born. She and John like to shoot around at half time...

Grayson also plays on a Jr. Jazz superleague (comp.) team called Hot Shotz. He is the point guard and totally controls the game, ball and plays.

The most exciting game of the night was the comp. game. Our team was behind most of the night--got behind as much as 7 points at one point with 10 fouls so the other team was getting extra foul shots.

We closed the gap--tied it up with a minute left--fouled the other team so they got 2 free throw shots. They made them both so the other team is now up by two. We take the ball out with 30 seconds to go. They feed it to Grayson but he shoots and misses, he grabs the rebound and throws it to another teammate who also shoots and misses. We've got 10 seconds left. We rebound and get it to Grayson's bud Colby who is outside, sinks a 3-pointer and the buzzer sounds. We win by one and I have totally embarrassed anyone sitting by me with my cheering, yelling and screaming. (I honestly don't think Hillary is going to drive up for anymore games...)

I'm excited to keep my eye on this one!

Capistrano Beach

My parents have a condo at Capistrano Beach/Dana Point, California. They go several times a year and I join them AT LEAST once a year--this year twice (so far). Grayson was the only one able to come with me since Hillary, Garrett and Hailey couldn't miss school and John had a couple of bids he had to be in town for. I always say... "I'm going no matter what. Whoever wants to join me, is welcome!" I was born and raised here and I love, love So. Cal!!!

We stay at Capistrano Surfside Inn (center) and just walk across the bridge and we're on the beach.

One of my good friends JoAnn from high school was so nice to get all of us into Disneyland & California Adventures for the day... (it's a bonus when your husband is one of the senior Disney electricians!)

We also went to Legoland's new Sea Life Adventure park...

San Diego (Seaport Village) and Coronado Island (Navy Base)...

We spent HOURS on the beach and at the pool...

Went bike riding every day...

I was SO happy to spend the week in sunny, 80-degree weather with my pal Grayson! I hope he feels like this is his 2nd home...

So long until April...