Camping at City of Rocks

Last weekend we went to City of Rocks in Idaho. We camped, did some rock climbing, and got really dirty. It was so much fun. The kids loved running all around and sliding down on the huge rocks, discovering little caves in the rocks, and chasing our little campsite critter who had no fear of humans. Our campsite was right by this huge rock that had a tunnel through it. It was really cool! Saturday morning we went rock climbing with some people that Rob was on staff with at Woodbadge last summer. Bruce brought all the gear and even the girls got up quite high. Ashlee was having fun until she "fell". She didn't go anywhere but just hanging there was not fun for her and she wanted down immediately. It was a fun camping place and we may have to do it again!

Grilled Pizza

I've been wanting to try grilled pizza for awhile. I've seen recipes and videos for doing it, and it doesn't seem to be extremely difficult, except you just have to watch things a little closer as you can burn things faster on the grill. So on Sunday, Kirsten took the girls to church and I stayed home with the boys, since Lando was all spotted with hives, which have since cleared up. Sitting at home, my mind wandered in the direction of food, specifically pizza, and I decided to finally try grilled pizza.

I enjoy making pizza, and if you recall just a short time ago, I posted about making Dutch Oven pizza, and how it wouldn't work to make the pizza on the camp chef stove/grill. Well, it actually works pretty nicely on the grill. As usual, we start with Jay's Signature Pizza Crust for the dough, but instead of splitting the dough in two, I split it into four. Normally we make two 12 inch pizzas, but I rolled the crust out thinner and made four 8 to 10 inch pizzas. One of the great things about making more pizzas is you can have a bigger variety in toppings.

As the dough was raising, I defrosted some chicken and marinated it with some fake buttermilk (milk with about a teaspoon of vinegar) and some chili powder. Marinating chicken in buttermilk gives it a really nice texture, even if you only have a half hour or so to marinate it. I grilled the chicken when the dough was just about ready, plus we had some cooked sausage leftover with the Tamarancho Chicken I made at a family party the night before (I'll post that recipe later).

To cook the pizzas, place the rolled out dough on the hot grill until one side is nicely browned. After cooking one side, flip the crusts over and add the toppings to the browned side. About 5 or 6 minutes per side is about right, depending on how hot you have it. When the other side is browned and the cheese is melted, it's done. You don't want flames directly on the dough, so make sure your gas grill has a flame guard or if you're using charcoal there shouldn't be any flames.

Two of the pizzas on the grill.

Here are the four cooked pizzas, clockwise from the bottom left: barbecue chicken, ham, italian sausage, and alfredo chicken.

And below is T going after a piece of pizza. He'd have stuffed it in his mouth if we let him.

Happy 31!

Monday was Rob's 31st birthday. We got an ice cream cake from Cold Stone...yummy! Ashlee chose the one that had red velvet cake, cake batter ice cream with sprinkles and Kit Kats on top. Yes, there are 31 candles and yes, he blew them all out in one breath!

The cake is on fire! So much for a frozen cake...hehehe!

Nice action shot, eh?

7/11 = Free Slurpees at 7-Eleven

Last Arizona Post!

Here's the last but definitely not the least! I stayed an extra week in Arizona with the kids since Rob had to go back to Utah for Scout camp. My mom drove us up to Phoenix on Thursday to stay with Allyson's family before flying home on Saturday. On the way, we stopped by my Grandpa and Grandma Kerby's house for a short visit. It was so good to visit with them! The highlight for the kids is seeing the cows in the pasture. Whenever I talk about my grandparents, my kids say "Are they the ones with the cows?"

My grandpa is 96 years old! I was a little worried when he was out there in the pasture, taunting the cow, but he just kept saying what a scaredy cat the cow was. I love my Grandpa!

Tyler had a baseball game that night so while we waited for the game to begin, we let the kids play at this water playground they have by the ball fields.

For the 4th of July, David and Noel came up and we all went to see "Kung Fu Panda" and then went to the Joyner's house (some of Allyson and Peter's friends) for a BBQ and swimming. Afterwards, we attempted to see some fireworks but after watching the lighting storm for an hour, we decided they must have cancelled the fireworks. It was pretty windy and Ashlee was quite disappointed...oh well, it's a good thing Logan does fireworks for the 24th of July so we'll get to see some in a couple weeks! I stole these pictures from Tiffany Joyner's blog since I, again, did not have my camera! Sorry they are a little blurry.

Tiffany and Marissa Joyner

The Kovacs Family Knows How to Play

Free time was spent just playing around. The cousins played in the sandbox, played the Wii, jumped on the trampoline, played "What Time is it, Mr. Wolf" and all around had lots of fun being with family. We played wiffle ball baseball (thanks to all who allowed me more than 3 strikes each time at bat :o)) and homerun derby. My dad bought Lasso Golf and after a few practice rounds, we set up the brackets for the First Annual Kovacs Family Lasso Golf tournament. After beating my nephew, Spencer, in Round 1 and coming from behind to beat my dad in Round 2, I faced Jake in the Championship Round…guess who won? Yep, that would be me! I shocked probably everyone, including myself!

Other fun times included a Blizzard run to DQ after the kids were in bed, board games "Ticket to Ride" and "Cranium", and Happy Hour trips to Sonic. One of the greatest things about having a large family was the ability to have two full teams for volleyball games. Two nights during the week, the siblings and spouses went to the church for some volleyball. It was a blast! Can I just say how good we are??!! I was actually pretty amazed at the awesome volleying, hits and digs that took place! Lots of fun and I already miss being with all my family!

Heather and David playing Lasso Golf

An explanation of "What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf": One person (the wolf) stands with his back turned on one side of the yard. Everyone else starts on the other side and yells "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?" The wolf calls out a time and everyone takes that many steps toward the wolf, ie. 6:00...take 6 steps. Eventually the wolf calls out "Dinner time" and turns and tries to tag someone as they all run back to start. The person tagged is now the wolf. The kids played this forever and had so much fun!

Brynlee doing a flip on the trampoline. We had a talent show for Family Home Evening and this was her talent :) Here are Ashlee and Rachel...I think they were playing Circus or something. For the talent show, Ashlee made up a little dance routine using the hula hoop and Skip It. She is such a creative little girl!

Playing Cranium...notice the array of Sonic drinks on the table!

Swim Party at The Cove

Most of us arrived in Sierra Vista on Saturday, June 21st. A couple of years ago, my dad was called to be the Branch Clerk of the Spanish Branch in their Stake so my parents attend the Branch. That night they were having their swim party at the Cove. It's an indoor water park with tube slides, a wave pool, a kiddie play area and a giant hot tub. It was a fun night of swimming, BBQ and nachos. I didn't have my camera but Amy emailed me a couple that she took.

Jake and Andrew on the pirate ship slide

I had to laugh when I saw this picture, not knowing beforehand that she had taken it. See that little boy climbing on the rock (no, you are not supposed to!)...yep, that's Landon. I was a few feet away on the other side of the ship and had been looking around for him. I see a little head peek over the top and hurry (as fast as you can run in water) to get him down. As I get around the side of the ship, I see the lifeguard going after him as well. Just then he slips and knocks his head on the rock. He got a nice little goose egg on his forehead. He always has been a climber!

Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, AZ

On Thursday, we had a pancake and sausage breakfast prepared by Grandpa and my nephew, Bryan, out on the back porch on the Camp Chef griddle. Grandpa was helping Bryan out with some cub scout requirements...you know my dad, always the scouter! Then, donning our matching reunion shirts, we packed in the cars and headed to Bisbee for a tour of the Copper Queen Mine. They have quite the assembly line going on. The first guy dressed you in your yellow slicker and hard hat, the second guy strapped the belt around your waist, and the third guy attached the battery pack to the back of the belt and strung the flashlight around your neck. It was pretty impressive :) Mary Anne showing off her cute belly.

All dressed and ready to go into the mine

Landon with the machine the miners used to drill holes into the rocks. They would then put dynamite sticks into the holes and blow the rock up. The tour guide went through this whole explanation about how many holes to drill, how and in what order to light the fuses and then run like heck...I think he used a different word, though :)

On the train that we rode into the mine. Don't we all look excited!

Here's Kaylee with the battery pack. That thing was so heavy. I'm surprised the little kids could walk with it hanging off their belts.

Brynlee and Kaylee looking like true miners!

Inside the mine...I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go!

Family Pictures

With everyone's different schedules on when they could be there, there was just one day during the week that we had everyone in Sierra Vista. Dusty and Mary Anne didn't get in until late Tuesday night and then Tyler and Peter had to head back to Phoenix for Allstar baseball on Wednesday evening so Wednesday morning was when we did family pictures. My parents, all seven siblings and spouses, and 15 grandchildren makes for quite the experience trying to get everyone looking, smiling, eyes open as we are looking into the sun peeking through the overcast sky...yeah, it was quite the event but thank goodness for Photoshop! Here's a few of the hundreds of pictures taken!

Kovacs Family Reunion 2008: Treasure Hunt

To make things easier and not bombard you with a million pictures all at once, I decided to break things up into main events/activities from the reunion. So you'll just be bombarded with lots of posts...I'll try to space them out for your viewing pleasure :) In no particular order...we'll begin with the Treasure Hunt.

Each reunion, my dad takes the pocket change he has saved up in a jar and buries it in the sandbox. The kids get to go at it and dig for coins. Grandpa let the kids age 4 and under go first and spend some time in there before the older kids joined them. Even after the official digging was over (it was getting WAY too hot out there!), the kids would find money throughout the week when they were playing in the sandbox. They would run inside all excited that they found more money!

Grandpa explaining the "rules"; Advice from the parents...dig and fill your containers as fast as possible and go for the big silver ones! :)

In the end it was Brynlee with $13.99, Ashlee with $10.79, and Landon with $9.38. I think my nephew, Spencer, ended up with the most...around $25. He had tons of quarters. My dad didn't count how much was in there but we estimated there was probably over $150 in coins!