Snack Time

I have it in my head that if I know how to make a delicious snack from scratch, I should do that instead of buy it in a package at the store. Now that I can make these Granola Bars, I have a hard time buying any. We eat them fast, before any pictures can be taken. I even allow them to be made in the summertime and heat up the house with my oven. Yes, they are that good.

Granola Bars

1 c. melted butter	1 t. salt
1/2 c. honey	1/2 c. coconut
1 t. vanilla	1 c. crisp rice cereal
2 T. dry powdered milk	5 c. quick oats
1 c. brown sugar	1/2 c. mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, mini M&Ms or dried fruit (raisins, craisins, blueberries, etc.)

Mix all ingredients, in a large bowl, until all of the oats are coated in the honey and butter. (Batter should be sticky.)

Spray a 9x13 or 11x14 pan and put mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan until flattened.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and cut into desired shape (rectangle). A pizza cutter works best. Store in sandwich baggies for a portable snack.

America's Pastime

I was reminded last night that I really enjoy watching live pro-baseball*. We took our family to see the Boise Hawks play the Spokane Indians using the tickets the kids earned by reading lots and lots of books this summer. We got to sit on the second to the top row on the 3rd base side. (I didn't have my fear of heights make itself manifest, but Ryan sure did watching Roderic and Hyrum sit close to the end of the row -- a puny chain link fence was the only thing between them and a drop of 100+ feet.) Roderic is showing off the popcorn we got and amazingly enough, you can see the runner approaching homeplate in the background. I don't know how I lucked out with the camera! We sang, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"...my kids don't know what Cracker Jacks are. The Hawks won 3-0. What a great night.

*During the summers of 1994, 1995 and 1996, I worked as an usher at Franklin Quest field in Salt Lake City and got paid to watch the Salt Lake Buzz play. Usually I worked in the elevator lobby and heard the play-by-play on the speakers (except for the day when OJ was being chased down the freeway in SoCal), and I'd give breaks to the other ushers and watch the game from all over the field. Rained out games were fun and double-headers were brutal. I even got to sing the National Anthem with my sisters once (we sang it so slowly because we weren't used to hearing ourselves in the speakers) and once with Keturah and 2 friends. I first used a cell phone at this job - the phone was gigantic - the ushers were given them as a promotion for guests to be able to use while at the game. I used it a couple of times to call Ryan at BYU in 1996, but I don't remember ever being asked by a patron to use it. It was while working the ball games that I learned to love to put pickles and tomatoes on Polish dogs. YUM!