State B Volleyball Champs

Just in case you haven't heard, the Northwestern Wildcats are State B Volleyball Champions!

We watched Thursday and Friday's matches from home on TV and traveled to Huron Saturday evening to watch the final two matches and cheer on our Wildcats!

We're just so happy for this team. They are all great girls who set an excellent example for all of their fellow students of what hard work, dedication and perseverance can accomplish. No matter what, they keep their heads in the game and keep moving forward to the next point, giving each other credit for their success. 

It remains to be seen if I will raise any volleyball players of my own, but the team's example carries over to every activity and class of which my children are a part.  I am grateful for their positive influence all through the season. (This would have been the case even without the State Champion title!) :)

These photos were shared courtesy of Gail Stoltenberg.

 After a hard-fought 4-set match, this final point made the Championship official! I LOVE this photo. (Thanks again, Gail!)

Monsters and the love of Jesus

Yesterday as we were driving, Rachel was behind me in her booster seat.
As we approached our destination, she was telling me about what would happen if a monster were beside her. She talked about it a little bit and then said, "I suppose I could talk to him about Jesus."
I asked her what Jesus did for her, but then she was on to another subject.
Oh, I am so thankful for all of the people in Rachel's life who have taught her about Jesus, and that no monster is a match for Him!

And just like that . . .

. . . I turned 38!  

I had a wonderfully wonderful birthday at the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese Youth Conference. It's one of the perks of my job as DRE at our parish and it is such a blessing of a day!

Landen and I saw Pope Francis hanging around before lunch, so we had to get a photo with him.  (No, it's not really the Pope . . . just the Diocese's cardboard Pope.  And that security guard is not the Swiss Guard . . . he was guarding the food on the other side of the curtain!) :)

They estimated 1700 youth in attendance this year.  There were people visiting from North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota parishes. 

Here's our great group that went with us.  (Our Junior High teachers attended with us, too!)  

On the way home, we stopped at Applebee's for supper and even got the same table as we had after last year's conference. After a little Happy Birthday singing and a complimentary brownie bite, it was time to return home!

My birthday was a lot like Nathan's this year in that our family celebrated and in shifts. Rachel helped me decorate my angel food cake. :)  I still got to blow out candles, so it was all good.

38 is pretty great . . . so far!

Crock Pot Yogurt

What do I do all day?  Well, on one day in my life as a SAHM, I made yogurt!  Before you start to think I've gone all organic granola mom on you, let me explain . . . .

It all started with my friend Michelle, who shared a recipe for yogurt made in a Crock Pot many, many years ago.  I printed it and saved it with my recipes because I fully intended to try it sometime. Over the years, I intended to make it several more times, but I either didn't have the extra milk to spare, I didn't have plain yogurt on hand for a starter (I am not a fan of plain yogurt, so it was never on my shopping list!), or didn't have the hours at home to see it through to the end.
We've even discussed making yogurt at Well-Read Mom and a few of my friends there make it for their families, too. In fact, thanks to my friend Sue from Well-Read Mom, who shared some delicious whole milk fresh from their cow last weekend, I finally made Crock Pot Yogurt!

The only problem was I could no longer find that original recipe!  But I did find one on Pinterest that worked out very well.

It is super easy to make your own yogurt and it's GOOD! Just be sure to plan ahead so that you will be available to turn off your Crock Pot after 2 hours 45 minutes and then again to add the plain yogurt after another 3 hours. After that, it will take 8-12 hours to culture. I started mine at about 2:30pm in the afternoon and took it out of the Crock Pot at about 7:30am the following morning. I used Chobani Greek Plain Yogurt for my starter.  Because I like my yogurt on the sweeter side, my assistant and I stirred in a container of thawed frozen strawberries with sugar. The result is not as sweet as store-bought, but still delicious.  Of course, you can make it as sweet as you want it to be.

My little sidekick also had the idea of using some of our yogurt to make frozen yogurt pops!  This was a genius idea, as my children haven't noticed the slight lack of sweetness when it's frozen on a stick!

Are you ready to try it, too?

Here's the recipe including helpful tips to make your own yogurt:

Crock Pot Yogurt Recipe

Wildcats win!

If you live in South Dakota and follow volleyball at all, you have most probably heard of the Northwestern and Warner volleyball teams. These two schools are roughly 9 miles from each other and are consistently, year after year, ranked as the top Class B teams in the state. Whenever they meet, it is the equivalent of a state championship match. The thing is--because both teams are in the same district, only one can move on to the Region Tournament . . . and then hopefully State!

After several years of Northwestern coming out on top in the tournament, Warner had owned it since 2012. Warner won in their first meeting this season and then Northwestern won a hard-fought battle the second time in regular season.

This past Friday's championship game was not only a lesson in how to play top-notch volleyball, but a lesson in never giving up.

After Northwestern came up short the first two sets and was behind in the third, I was beginning to fear that it was going to be a short night.

Well, I don't know a whole lot about volleyball, but what I have figured out is that it is a game of momentum and it certainly wasn't on our side. Shortly after that, however, it did switch to our side and stayed with the Wildcats. Northwestern came alive as Warner started to fade and made the errors that we had previously been making. Northwestern won that third set, the fourth, and the final deciding fifth set to take it all!

If you ever get a chance to see these teams play next season or the seasons after that, take it.

It is some amazing high school volleyball on both sides.

Now it's on to the Region Tournament tomorrow.

Go Wildcats!

Barbies at Work

Rachel makes sure her Barbies pull their weight around here!

Nathan told me last week, "My fort has been turned into a Barbie house!"

That's what happens when little sister is home!

Happy 11th Birthday, Nathan!

Just a few days after Teresa's birthday, Nathan gets to return to being 2 years older than his sister.

He received a football and a solar light from us.  The football is so he can continue working on his journey to the NFL.  The light is for his animals. :)

Teresa made this sign for her brother. We all got a good laugh at him being a "Cool dud." :)

I actually don't have any photos of the cake and candle blowing yet, as I wasn't home for that part of the day! Landen played in the pep band for the District volleyball tournament, so I was with him in Aberdeen. Grandma Melius was very nice, however, and warmed up the spaghetti supper I had halfway prepared for him and shared some cake with everyone.  I got home in time to see how his day was and tuck him into bed. Even though it wasn't a traditional birthday, he said his day was a good one. :)