Come To Our EPIC Lemonade/Cookie Stand (for charity)

Posted on August 31, 2012 by

Mark your calendars for tomorrow. It’s our 2nd annual EPIC Lemonade/Snicker doodle Stand!

It’s time to make # 280 on our list a reality!

**We’ll be out in front of Rose Crest park from about 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. depending on how long it takes for my kids to get grouchy about standing on the street.

We’ll tempting cars to stop by being adorable and selling overpriced canned lemonade and the MOST delicious homemade snicker doodles!  Come early if you want cookies because last year we sold out fast!

Alyssa drinks ice cold lemonade every time a car passes by. A technique that seemed to sell more lemonade.

How could anyone resist buying Lemonade from these cute little girls and with their suggestive selling techniques.

Last year we supported UNICEF after Alyssa was bothered by seeing a TODAY Show story on starving children in Africa.   We raised $87 and donated it all to UNICEF.

Since then, I believe we’ve received at least $87 worth of junk mail from UNICEF and various similar charities all addressed to Alyssa asking her for more money.

This year, we’ve decided to keep the money a little closer to home, supporting our own Operation Undies and the Centro de la Familia Migrant Headstart Preschool.

We hope to see everyone who stays in town at our Charity Lemonade Stand!   If you don’t know Rose Crest Park, the address is…13850 South Rose Crest Road (5600 West) in Herriman.

We recruited some of our best customers last year to help us move the product. With four kids out shaking lemons it was hard for any passing motorists to resist.

If you’re unable to make it out to buy Lemonade. You can still support our cause.  Patronize our new and gently used clothing drive September 29  in Daybreak on Soda Row. 

The nice folks at Kennecott Land have agreed to lend me some vacant retail space to host the clothing drive.  More details to come. It will be a party with FOOD and Prizes!

For the latest news on how YOU can help support this cause, be sure to LIKE The Vocal Sokol on Facebook so you don’t miss an update.

And since we’re talking about Facebook, if you don’t mind, share this post with your friends. If the social share buttons don’t appear at the bottom of this post on your screen, click on the title of the post and they should appear.  Thanks, thanks!

**The weather doesn’t look great for Saturday, but we’re hoping for the best.  In case of severe weather, we’ll probably run our stand on Monday instead at the same times.  Check our Facebook status if you’re not sure if we’ll be out or not.

Posted in EVENTS, OPERATION UNDIES, PLEASANT EVENTS, THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

So You’re Planning a Trip to Disneyland

Posted on August 29, 2012 by

It’s trite, but I’ll say it.  I LOVE Disneyland. I went for the first time as an adult.  Somehow I never made it as a child.

When I went with my kids for the first time, I cried like a baby walking down Main Street USA.  It was just as magical as everyone said it would be!  Seeing the castle was a seriously BIG moment in my life.  Then, meeting Cinderella…I think my little blonde was only slightly more excited about it than I was.

Since the first trip with my kids, we’ve been lucky enough to go back about every 18 months. We’ve developed a few tips and tricks made each trip better than the last. Over the next few weeks, i’ll share all our best tips and tricks.  Starting with my Top 5 List of Disney Do’s and Disney Don’ts.

1. DON’T travel in large packs.  I LOVE to go the DL with friends and family. The more the merrier.  However, nothing will ruin your trip faster than waiting for everyone else’s kids to go potty or finish eating before you get on your next ride.  You’ll waste half the day. It frustrates everyone. Don’t do it!

Instead, break up into small groups for rides and exploring the parks.  Plan to meet up with the larger group at regular intervals for meals, parades or other big park events.  Everyone will see more and be much happier at the end of the trip.

2. DO see a fireworks show.  In the summer they do fireworks every night.  During off peak times, its only on weekends. The fireworks show is AMAZING right over the castle!   So absolutely see it.  HOWEVER, you DON’T have to be in the park and you don’t need a ticket to have a great seat for the show.

It gets SUPER crowded for the hour before fireworks, standing room only, BUT…the plaza in between Disneyland and California Adventure is a great seat for the show.

3.DON’T hold back taking photos.  Seriously…you’ll kick yourself when you get home if you haven’t taken enough photos.  When everyone groans at the sight of your camera you’ll know you’ve done a good job.  Also consider bringing a point and shoot camera.  Lugging around the fancy heavy SLR camera gets old fast.

4. DO bring a stroller.  Even if your kids are 10 years-old and you don’t think anyone will use it.  It’s really nice to have a cart to push everything around in.  If you’re planning to bring in some of your own food, jackets, hats or water, it’s nice not to carry a sweaty backpack all day and there’s stroller parking everywhere!

Even your BIG kids will be tired at the end of the day. It’s nice to have a ride for the whiners at the end of the day.  I know because on our last trip, I was one of the whiners. This is the view from inside the stroller.  I took this photo as my husband pushed ME + our two kids in it after our 4th day at Disneyland.

5. DO more than just Disneyland. If you’re at Disneyland more than one day, consider taking a day off  to do some other awesome Southern Cali stuff.  We love see the Angels play ball. They have group seating for large family groups. Even if you’re not into sports it’s fun to be in the stadium eating a hot dog.  We also love Huntington, Balboa or Newport Beach. We have a ball playing in the sand or renting a bike car.  That’s a family memory no one will never forget!

Is there something I missed?  What makes your trips extra special?

 

Posted in DISNEY, GREAT FAMILY GETAWAYS, PLEASANT EVENTS, VOCAL TRAVELS | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

A Day With No WHINING

Posted on August 27, 2012 by

We may look like we know how to have fun, and for the most part, we do.  But…We’re real people and we have real problems.

Lately, incessant WHINING and general sibling disputes have paralyzed my life.  I simply can not tolerate incessant whining.  I can’t.  I just can’t.  I wish I could.  I wish I could take me a little chill pill and let the moment pass, but I can’t.

My main goal as a parent is to see my children grow into happy, successful and contributing members of society.  I think about this on an hourly basis.  I sound uptight, don’t I.

My older daughter is very obedient and will do anything to please me.  My second daughter is also a good girl, very cute, fun and playful.  She, however, is not as eager to comply as her sister.

Some days I swear the only thing that will get her to listen to me is if I yell at or threaten her with some grave consequence.  I’m a LOVER not a FIGHTER.  All the yelling makes me tired and gives me a headache.

I will now share a very REAL moment (judge me if you must) I had a few days ago since it led me to a very useful solution.

I was having a day where I just couldn’t take one more second of any of it.  My younger daughter did something rude to her sister, a squabble broke out and I LOST MY MIND with RAGE. It wasn’t this one incident, it was everything over the last several weeks.

I was practically a lunatic.  A raging lunatic.  It was not good for me.  It was not good for my children. They did, however, stop what they were doing immediately and listened intently and complied with my every request.

An hour later, however, it was all back to normal.  Like nothing had happened.  My extreme rage had accomplished nothing.  All the whining and fighting resumed.

I knew I had to try something new.

My older daughter’s Sunday School teacher appears to be dog training the class of six-year-old kids while at church.  He seems to be getting great results from it too.

His theory is this…If you reward good behavior, you’ll see more good behavior and it will choke out the bad behavior.  Each time they exhibit a good behavior they receive a bead.  10 beads = a prize.

I was skeptical that this would work for me.  My younger daughter seemed only to be responsive if she knew I was REALLY mad at her.

Since I can’t stand the thought of fighting any longer, I decided to try it anyway.

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought two bags of colorful little puff balls.  I also bought a bag of licorice and a bag of Smarties.  I also took two jars out of my cabinet.

I explained to the kids that when that when they did something I liked or appreciated, they would receive a puff ball as a reward.  When the jar was full of puffs they could choose between the two treats.

It’s now been several days.  We’ve had ZERO fights.  We’ve had almost ZERO whining.  We’ve had a big reduction in crying.  All the bad behaviors are nearly gone.  I haven’t been frustrated.  I haven’t raised my voice.  I haven’t threatened anyone. I’m mystified.

I know one week of peace does not a happy-home make, but it’s a pretty good start.

I’d love to hear any feedback.  I’m no parenting expert.  What has worked in your homes?  What hasn’t?  Don’t hesitate to share.  If you’ve never made a comment here, it’s super easy.  There is NO typing in strange little letters in a box.  I just need your name, e-mail and your comment.

Anyway…I hope this post was useful for someone.  This little thing seems to be working for us against all odds.  It’s thrilling.

Posted in THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Operation Undies Update

Posted on August 24, 2012 by

Hello all and Happy Friday!  I thought I’d take this opportunity to give a little update on the Progress of Operation Undies.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about read here.

I’m planning a massive clothing drive for both new and used warm clothing September 29th in the Daybreak Community on Soda Row.  So if you’re cleaning out your closets for back to school save your best items to donate to Operation Undies.

I’ve added some partners to this project including Becky Vilos from Utah Sweet Savings and Karina from Karina’s Challenge and a few others.  My hope is that with a lot of help we can help several of the Centro de la Famila schools. In years past, I’ve helped one of the five schools.  This year…I want to help more.

Let me be VERY clear.  I want and NEED help with this.  So…other bloggers, if you’re reading this and are into charity around the holidays contact me and tell me what you have in mind or…if you don’t know, I’ll give you a fun assignment for you and your readers. I promise your participation in this project will bring your holiday season more meaning and joy.

Once more…I will be announcing all the details on facebook, so if you haven’t liked The Vocal Sokol on facebook, please consider doing that so you won’t miss the posts.

This is such a hard-working, deserving group of children.  They’ve been so appreciative of every little thing we’ve donated in the past.  I can’t wait to see what we can do for them this year!

In addition to the new and used clothing collection, I’ll also be looking for families and groups who want to sponsor a specific family for a Sub-for-Santa project.

It’s a little early to be making those assignments, but just be aware that these opportunities will be available later in the year.  If you want me to add you to the list of sponsors contact me here and I’ll be sure to give you an assignment when they come.

If you know of a larger organization like a dance group, choir, team, office group, club, etc. that want a cause to support contact me here and I’ll add them to the list.

Thanks again everyone for being interested enough in this project to read this post.  The efforts we have all made in the last several years have gone a long way to bring relief to some of the hardest working families in Utah.

 

Posted in CALLING FOR HELP, OPERATION UNDIES, THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Top Ten Great Summer Activities AND a Photo Contest!

Posted on August 22, 2012 by

We found this on a family bike ride up Provo Canyon. I swear I didn’t write this graffiti although I do concur.

I live in the foothills above a big farmers field.  I watch the field from my kitchen window all year long.  In the late fall and winter I deeply mourn the green lushness I see in summer. 
When I see it covered in snow or looking brown and dead, when I’m shut inside waiting out the winter, I promise myself that when Summer comes I’ll make the most of the warm weather. 
I promise myself I’ll spend the entire summer running around and doing active, fun, great Summer Activities.

 

Well, it’s nearing the end of summer and here’s what we’ve done.  Here are my TOP TEN Great Summer Activities.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m part of Intermountain Health Care’s Intermountain Mom’s campaign.  This post is in conjunction with their Intermountain LiVe Campaign and Summer Photo Contest.

I’ll show you what we did and show my best photos.  Then, you think about what you’ve done and enter your best photo.  Maybe we’ll both win?  I don’t know.  Either way, I know we’ll both get to reminisce about how great summer has been and we’ll think of what we still want to do before it gets cold.

1. Attend a Bike Rodeo

We attended our local bike rodeo.  The kids rode in some races, got a new bike helmet for free and learned some important bike safety tips. They also entered a contest to win a new bike, which Sunny actually WON!  We ended up with a NEW BIKE!They Both felt great about their blue participation ribbons.

2. Attend a Parade

We LOVE attending the Riverton Parade on July 3rd.  It’s a great way to kick off Independence Day Celebrations. We bring the whole family and most the neighbors and look forward to it all year.

3. Take a Hike

We have a book called 60 Hikes in 60 Miles.

Our book guided us to “The Living Room” up Red Butte Canyon. Sand stone slabs arranged into chairs and sofas complete with ottomans. It was perfect location to hike.

We’ve used it to guides us on dozens of hikes around.

We also conquered Y mountain. It was pretty steep, but we ALL made it to the top!

I’d recommend the book to anyone interested in any local hikes.

4. Do a raceOne of the REAL Highlights of Summer for me was participating in Triathamom.  It ended up being a ball for the whole family.

5. Visit a Mountain Resort

We beat the heat in July by heading up to Park City Mountain Resort to ride the Alpine Slide. We rode the chair lift up the mountain and slid down.  We had our Chinese house guests with us for this event.

6. Go to Town Days

We gathered as many cousins as we could and headed to the park to celebrate summer!

We it took some serious coaxing, but we got Sunny to ride the BIG Eli Ferris Wheel.  Turns out she LOVED it and is still talking about it.

7. Catch a Fireworks show

We always LOVE watching fireworks on the 4th of July.

8. Ride a Zip Line

For my birthday Steve took me to ride the Max Zipline in Provo Canyon.  It was AWESOME!

9. Take a Family Bike RideWe love the bike path in Provo Canyon.  Or you can just ride in your own neighborhood, that’s good too.

10. Work in a Garden. Eat your work. The whole family loves to work, play and eat in Grandpa’s Garden.  It’s Delicious!

I can think of about 100 other things to do that would be even more fun than these things, but most of this stuff is easy, free and available to families.

Here’s an invitation to go through your pictures see what you’ve done this summer and submit your best photo to Intermountain LiVe’s Summer Photo Contest.  The winners will receive a FREE HD GoPro Hero camera or gift certificates to Dick’s sporting goods.   But Hurry, the prize drawings start September 3rd.

Posted in DAYTRIPS, THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS, VOCAL SOKOL LOCAL | Tagged , | Comments Off on Top Ten Great Summer Activities AND a Photo Contest!

Triatha-What? — Kristin Tri’s Again!

Posted on August 20, 2012 by

I’ve set a new tradition in the last five years, an annual triathlon!

My first was with my brother and his scout troop, me and a dozen boys. I made it through the short swim and the bike ride, but half way through the run, my legs gave out and I had to quit.

The next three years, I worked a little harder, got into better shape and completed several triathlons!

My goal in this is not to win the race, but just to HAVE a goal to work toward.

I’ve found I feel better when I am exercising on a regular basis. AND, I exercise on a regular basis when I am preparing for a specific event.

So today, I am posting this Pleasant Event from the List.  I am counting it as number 218.

This year my annual triathlon was called Triathamom.

The nature of this race fits me, my mindset and my goals so well. If you’re looking to set a new goal or exercise regimen for yourself, you might not want to count yourself out of Triathamom 2013.

If you’ve never done one before, this is the perfect race for beginners. No need for fancy equipment or extreme training schedules. With a little planning, and practice time in the pool, it can be done. You’d be really proud of yourself if you did.

You’d also set a fantastic example for your kids! They’re way more likely to want to live a healthy lifestyle when they see your example.

I’ll let the pictures show what Triathamom is all about.

First you get your Body Markings, usually the night before the race.

They mark your body since you’ll be in the water and it’s hard to wear a bib.

They mark  your race number and then put your age on your calf to make sure you race with the right age group. My girls NEEDED to have their ages marked too.

The morning of the race, you get all your stuff ready and set out in the transition area.  This is where you’ll come after the swim to get ready for the bike ride and the run.

After you get all your stuff set up, you find your friends and take nervous, nerdy pre-race pictures.  This is my good friend Tabitha who took up lap swimming earlier this year at our local Masters Swim class to prepare for this race.  Tabs is SO much fun.  So glad to know her!

 I was super lucky and was one of the very FIRST of 400 swimmers to start.

Which was good because the last swimmer didn’t start until an hour and a half after me!

Swimming is most intimidating part of triathlon, at least it was for me.  My friends Skyler and Elise told me to get some lessons at a Master’s swimming class in my area and learn to swim laps.  That was four years ago.  Now swimming is my favorite and best sport!  Don’t let the name Masters Swimming intimidate you.  It really just means adult swimming lessons. Ask your local rec center if they offer Master’s Swimming.  It was fun to have my family there to cheer for me while in the water.

After the swim I ran to my pre-set up stuff in the transition area.  I slipped on my pretty pink Team-Sparkle skirt and put on my bike shoes and headed out!

Since I was the first to start the swim, I was one of the first to be out of the water and on the bike.  It was thrilling to be out in the lead even though I knew I wasn’t really in the lead.  Here I am finishing the bike headed back into transition to get ready for the run.

You might be wondering what my family was doing this whole time. Most triathlons are painfully boring for kids to spectate, this was not true for Triathamom.  They provide a carnival for spectating families.  This was my kids favorite day in a long time. These photos will show you why. 

Triathamom isn’t the cheapest race you can find, but for what you (and your family) will receive, it’s a bargain!  Nothing is quite as much fun as a bounce house!

NOTHING beats a giant slide! Triathamom is a fun race for the whole family.

Despite the carnival atmosphere, it was a REAL race that required hard work, effort an endurance to finish.  Triathamom did everything right to help their racers to succeed. One of my favorite things they provided was a sign making station.  They created tons of templates that my kids colored.  When the race started to get long, I saw my darlings standing there cheering me on with their signs.  It gave me the boost I needed to keep going.

This was my favorite and my best race ever.  I don’t know if it was the carnival atmosphere and the fact that I wasn’t worried about my family or if it was the psychology of beginning first and feeling like the champion (even though I wasn’t) that made the biggest difference.  Either way…When I came in after finishing all three events, I was excited and felt great!

The other great thing was the food afterward.  I’ve never seen a more beautiful spread and a better selection of make-you-feel-better-after-a-race foods.

Triathamom created such a great race and a fantastic event to go with it.  It encouraged so many moms to come out and try a triathlon.  There were experts there, but mostly it will filled with beginners and people of every age you wouldn’t expect to see racing.

Here’s some of my favorite Triathamom photos.

Finishers!

I saw her out on the course. She was amazingly fast. It was so cute to see her cuddling her baby right after.

Thanks Triathamom!  Can’t wait to see you in 2013!

For Historical purposes only…my timing results were: 1:40:05.6 Total Time

Swim: My recorded swim time for 300 Meters was 7:45 this however included my 150 yard run to the transition area and all my transition time. I estimate my actual time to be around 5 minutes.

Bike: 45:45 (also included transition time.)

Run:42:37 (Unfortunately, this was my actual run time. My slowest ever. In my defense the course included a long uphill portion though grass that was SUPER long.)

*Disclaimer: Triathamom allowed me to participate in this race free of charge in exchange for this post, but I probably would have done it anyway and written this post the same way.

 

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Vocal Travels–An Introduction

Posted on August 15, 2012 by

Here we are on property at Brighton Ski Resort near Salt Lake City hiking just past Silver Lake to Lake Solitude. It was the most beautiful and memorable family hike we’ve ever had. Luckily another hiker was nice enough to take this treasured photo.

If you know the Sokol’s at all you know we take our travel and leisure VERY seriously.

Before I met my hubs (we just celebrated our 8 year anniversary) I really hadn’t been anywhere, because I thought travel was a lot of work, was expensive and probably over-rated.  In college, I thought my friends who wanted to go study abroad were completely nuts.

I freely admit that I was just wrong.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.

My hubs has instilled in me a LOVE of traveling, thinking about traveling, planning travel or even hearing about other people’s travel.  I also credit my father-in-law Charlie who in 2007 invited us to spend a week in Maui Hawaii at their time share condo.  We could barely afford it, but that week in Maui changed me forever.  Seeing Charlie vacation was an awakening for what can be accomplished while on a weeks’ vacation.

After my life went kinda dark with postpartum depression, thinking about, planning and actually taking trips were one of my favorite pleasant events that helped in my recovery from the blues.

With this in mind, I am creating a new category on The Vocal Sokol.  It’s called Vocal Travels.  My hope is for this section will detail our many adventures at home and abroad.  We LOVE to travel far and near.

Here we are at a scenic overlook in Maui Hawaii. I know it sounds trite to say you love Maui because of course, everyone loves Maui. But…I REALLY love Maui. I love it so much I feel angry that I’m not Polynesian. I want it to be my homeland.

I hope that seeing our adventures will inspire you to take trips or plan adventures you otherwise might have put off.

We make such magical memories as a family going new places together, visiting places we LOVE, and generally exploring the world.

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the destinations you’ll see me post about in the coming weeks and months.  Some are unique locations, others are not.  I hope each post will provide tips or ideas that would be useful to anyone planning a trip to these destinations.

I know, I know…Disneyland…But I love it and I went for the first time as an adult. It was awesome and I have some useful things to say about it.

I learned to ski two years ago. If you haven’t picked up skiing yet, it’s time. Anyone can do it. It’s hard, but worth it if you get photos like this.

Moab has to be my #1 pick for extended family vacations. I’ll never forget how much fun it was to march all these kids three miles up and back to see the Delicate Arch. It was a lot of work but TOTALLY worth it.

Posted in VOCAL TRAVELS | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Yin and Yang—Eight Years Together

Posted on August 13, 2012 by

Today is my 8th wedding anniversary. Really.  Eight years.

My question is…What was I doing nine years ago?  I honestly don’t know how I ever got along in life without him.

We have a very good, happy, fun marriage.  Steve is the easiest person to live with for several reasons.  I think mainly it’s because he does the laundry.  No, seriously, he does.  He’s more particular than I am about the way it’s done, so he just does it.  And…he does a way better job than I could ever do.

We are very opposite people.  We have opposite personalities and opposite skills.  We are mentally as opposite as a pair can be.

We’re both so far lopsided on the personality spectrum that we desperately NEED each other to balance out and navigate this crazy life.  And when I say we desperately need each other, I really mean that.  I feel desperate when he’s not around. 

I recall being madly in love with my fiance 8 years ago. Multiple people told me to enjoy our engagement and all the affection for each other because engagement was as good as it would ever be.  They said somehow after we were married we’d lose interest in each other and wouldn’t care if we got to sit by each other or not.

I just couldn’t imagine how this could be true?

Well, it’s been eight years and we’re still right next to each other on the couch.  We still hold hands when we drive.  We still call each other five times a day.

Yesterday at church I saw a young couple whom I think will soon be engaged.  I noticed how closely they were sitting to each other.  It was so cute!  I remembered feeling that compulsion to be as close as possible to my future husband.  I remember the annoyances our affection for each other caused our families.  They didn’t care for our PDA.

As I was looking on at these two little love-birds I looked at my own sweetheart who was sitting two away from me as we were bookending our kids in the chapel benches.  All of a sudden I had a competitive surge.   I wasn’t about to let any young couple outdo me when it comes to chapel PDA.  If any couple was going to annoy others with PDA, I wanted it to be us!  So I quickly moved my children to my other side and slid next to Steve where we held hands and cuddled for the whole hour.

I credit the a lot of the expressions of love in our marriage to a book I read while we were engaged.  I’ve mentioned before how much I admire and respect Dr. Laura and her opinions.  She wrote a book called The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands that came out around the same time as we got engaged.

I recommend the book to anyone married for any length of time. Don’t let the title of the book put you off. The advice in that book has brought me amazing happiness and has helped guide our marriage in love and respect for each other.

The advice is simple and common sense, but when deliberately applied on a regular basis will help to yield undying love and affection for each other.

Today my hubby has taken the day off work.  We’re going to spend it together doing I don’t know what really, but I bet we’ll have a good time.  I’m probably being a little presumptuous, but I’m guessing we’ll be checking number 98 off the list.

I wasn’t joking before when I mentioned being annoying with the PDA.  You’re welcome.

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS | Tagged , | 3 Comments

The Secret to Amazing Jello…IKEA

Posted on August 10, 2012 by

Here’s my 2011 Thanksgiving. It’s 22 layers thick. It took me a four days to create. Totally worth it. Doesn’t it look majestic?

I Love Jello.  There, I said it.  I know it’s not cool to love Jello, but try and stop me.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed crafting spectacular Jello.  I get really motivated for beautiful Jello around Thanksgiving.  Over the years I’ve tried many different formats.  Each year I try to out do what I’ve done the last year.

Here’s some of my better works of art. 

I’m always looking for new pans or better molds to create new and different styles.

Mini layered Jello. The big hit from Thanksgiving 2010.

Surprisingly, I have the hardest time finding pans that work well.

The key is finding a VERY thin pan.  Getting a Jello to release from it’s mold is an art form all its own.

The best way I’ve found is submerging the pan in warm water for around 30 seconds.  BUT…if your pan is too thick, it won’t release in 30 seconds. You have to add some time, but you only get one shot.  If you get it wrong, and leave it in the water too long, the Jello will melt and the hours you’ve put in on a layered Jello will be all for naught.

Here’s a Thanksgiving Jello gone wrong. It wouldn’t release. I didn’t want to ruin it by leaving it in too long so I gently warmed it with a blow dryer. *Disclosure: The Vocal Sokol does not recommend handling food in the bathroom. In this case it was Thanksgiving and the kitchen was crowded with relatives.

Nothing is more disappointing than ruining a Jello you’ve spent three days making.  It’s a real time commitment.

Imagine my delight when I found myself at the Draper IKEA looking through the kitchen supplies.  I haven’t been through Ikea in a while and I found so many useful things.  I’m just about to celebrate my 8th anniversary which means all the lovely gifts I got for my wedding are old and need to be replaced.

My best find, you might guess was this AMAZING jello pan!  The Drommar pan has ALL the features I look for in a jello mold.  It’s thin, it has a simple but beautiful pattern, and it was VERY inexpensive!  You might be surprised how much a bundt pan runs.  I just can’t pay $30 for a pan I only use once or twice a year.

This Pan was less than $7.  Now we’re talking.

So for my test, I tried a new recipe, one I’ve been wanting to try for a while from Jamie Cooks It Up.  If you don’t know Jamie’s site, you should she’s never done me wrong.  I’m totally counting this as number 55 on my list just FYI.

I wasn’t sure if this is a recipe that would release, but I thought I’d try it and hope for the best.

This recipe calls for these simple ingredients.  Also pictured here is another pan I bought at IKEA Draper for the same price.  Looking forward to scrumptious things to come out of this pan too.  I may even try a Jello in this pan sometime soon.  The bottom of this one comes out, so I know getting the Jello to release won’t be a problem.

Anyway…we had fun putting this Jello together.

Sunny helped me stir in the Jello.  She’s a good helper.

It came together so pretty.  I loved how it looked pouring it into the pan.

 

 

 

 

 

I kept my fingers crossed with that the finished product would turn out great!

As it turned out…This is the BEST pan I have ever used for Jello and I’m not just saying that because IKEA Draper gave me this pan for free as part of a Blogger Special Event I attended recently. 

I have some pretty hefty experience dumping Jello out of their pans and this was the easiest one I have ever done! I know you’re impressed too.

If you love the platter it’s sitting on, it’s also from IKEA.  It’s actually just a cute plastic place mat.  I found these and switched from fabric to plastic place mats.  Saved myself a batch of laundry, plus they’re SUPER cute and summery. 

Thanks IKEA! I’m certain I WON’T be winning any contest when it comes to DIY projects, but I sure love your stuff!

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

My 100th Post–An Operation in Happiness

Posted on August 8, 2012 by

Since you’re probably not counting, I’ll just tell you…This is The Vocal Sokol’s 100th post!  Many thanks to the loyal readers here.  You’ll probably never know how much it means to me that anyone reads what I write or cares about what I do.

My main goal with this blog is to help people, especially women.  I hope you’ve found a bit of inspiration or at least some entertainment here.

I stand by my Pleasant Event List and the Funnest 30 Day Challenge Ever as things that have brought me great joy.  It’s only fitting that for my 100th post I share one other thing that has brought me significant joy and happiness.

I’ve spent the last three Christmas seasons organizing an effort to provide relief to a nearly invisible population of children.  These kids are the children of migrant farm workers in our community.

The kids eat breakfast and lunch at the school since there isn’t always much to eat at home.

These hardworking families have many short-term needs and I feel absolutely compelled to provide them with some relief.

I found the Centro de la Familia Migrant Headstart program almost four years ago when one of my friends, a preschool teacher at the school, reached out to all her friends through a mass e-mail asking for help to provide some practical Christmas gifts for a for a struggling family at the school.

She noted that the kids were well behaved and the family very hard working. Despite their best efforts their life circumstances were bleak.  She offered the mother help assembling some items the kids needed as a Sub for Santa.  The mother declined twice.  Knowing the family’s needs were serious, she offered a third time.  The mother reluctantly agreed but only asked for a box of crayons saying she thought she would be able to buy some, but didn’t have any extra money for them.

It was then that I realized how wealthy, capable I am as a person.  It’s hard for most of us to imagine not having the money to buy crayons any time we wanted, yet this is a reality for some.

So with this as my motivation I’ve gradually begun a Christmas Service Project to benefit the kids and families at this school.  Over the years it has evolved into what I call Operation Undies.  I named it this because one of the main things I collect for this school is new packages of socks and underwear since there is a critical need for it amongst the students there.  Every child should have socks to wear in the winter and underwear that fits and functions properly.

Every year with the help of my family, friends, neighbors and church group we’ve done more and more to provide relief to this group of hardworking people.  Last year our donation to this school was estimated to be just over $10,000.  This donation affected every family at the school.

I now plead with the readers of this post to come together to help make Operation Undies not only the success it’s been in the past, but to help me reach out to help a second school.  There are five schools like the one we’ve been helping.  This year the plan is to provide relief to at least two schools.

My first event will be a used clothing drive.  I’m planning to hold the event at 11277 Kestrel Rise Road Soda Row in the Daybreak Community on Soda Row in South Jordan, Utah on September 29 from 2-4 p.m. in the retail space next door to Oopsie Daisy Children’s Boutique.  As you’re cleaning out closets to accommodate back to school clothing, I’m hoping you’ll think of Operation Undies and save your best used clothing to donate.

I’ll be collecting new and gently used clothing, especially warm clothing in any size infant through teen.  We’ll also be taking new packages of socks and underwear.  Be sure to Like The Vocal Sokol on Facebook so you don’t miss any information related to this cause.

If you’d like to help or have items to donate or just want more information about Operation Undies, feel free to leave me a comment or contact me privately here.

If you have or are aware of any group or organization (office, family groups, preschools, dance studios etc.), who are looking for a Christmas service project I’ll have lots of fun heart-warming opportunities.

We’ll be collecting new shoes, boots, socks, underwear, air mattresses, blankets, sheets, hats and gloves.   It’s a massive undertaking and I’ll need a lot of help.

I can’t do this alone.  I need your help.  I would be more than delighted if you’d repost this on facebook with a personal plea to anyone who is looking for opportunities to love their neighbor.

Posted in CALLING FOR HELP, OPERATION UNDIES, THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments