I just thought since the Kachers are such big fishermen, you guys would appreciate seeing what Grandpa Koko took Mikaela to do while we were in Utah. And, you're probably wondering-- No they didn't catch any fish, But Mikaela didn't seem to mind.

My First Lesson

Hello Everybody! I hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to give an update. Today I got to teach my first lesson, it was a P.E. Lesson using the parachute. It went really well, except the students got a little out of control at some points, but that is to be expected during gym! I have never had to teach a P.E. lesson before so it was a really good experience. I am in a 4th grade classroom this week and next week I will be in a 3rd grade class. I will be switching between them as of right now, but I'm not sure I want to. I'll give it a try. I have all girls, which is different. They are all pretty chatty! Today in class one of the groups asked me to spell horse, so I did, but they said the only reason they asked me was because I say "h" funny! It was cute. They are all very interested in America and ask about it all the time. The teacher I am working with right now is very friendly and is giving me plenty to do! Starting today I will be teaching PE one day, science one day, history one day, and geography, on the other day! I'm really glad that she is letting me have the opportunity to teach a lot, it will be good to get all of that practice in!
I love the house I live in, it's really unbelievable and only a 10 min walk to my school! I live with 5 other people in a 3 bedroom house, so it gets a bit cramped. So far everybody is very friendly and we seem to get along well. We all went to the grocery store and found it a bit overwhelming, but I'm sure we will catch on! That's about it for now!! I miss everyone! - McKenzie

Update from the Dunhams

We are back from Ireland after an excellent trip. As soon as McKenzie has internet access from her computer she can email me pictures from our new digital camera (that she is keeping while in Ireland) and I can post them here. The trip started poorly as Mckenzie and Sam were sick, by the third day everyone was perking up and we were getting use to driving on the wrong side of the road. We drove all over the Island and saw the major sites including Connemara peninsula, which was along the Atlantic ocean, Galway, Cliffs of Mohr, Dublin, and Wicklow. More on that later.

Before we went to Ireland Lauren, Mike and I went fishing on Bush Lake, so I am putting some pictures up so you can judge for yourself the fishing skills of our group. Notice who is not holding up a fish… but he did come in very handy with the battery on our trolling motor got too weak to get back to the boat launch. Although he didn’t really want to get in the water and push ;)

SALSA RECIPE...



Let's see if I can write this so that it makes sense...



You will need:



One food processor

one bunch fresh cilantro

one lime

one medium onion, white if possible

one jalapeno pepper

about4-6 tomatoes



dice/chop onion into 1/4" pieces, rinse with cold water and drain.



In the food processor, put in:

approximately 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, washed and dried

the jalapeno pepper, just the outside stuff, not the seeds or "ribs" unless you like it very spicy

run food processor until finely chopped.



Add the tomatoes which have been cored and seeded (cut out core and squeeze out seeds) and cut into large chunks. PULSE food processor a few times until the salsa is the consistency that you want.



In a large bowl, stir together tomato mixture, onions, lime juice and salt until you like the way it tastes.





I hope these directions are helpful. Please call if you need more clarification. I will get together some more recipes and post them. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.



Amelia, I am so sorry to hear about your Grandpa Miller. He was such a great guy.

Tomato recipes...

So, as a way to get everyone to post on here, I'm asking for people to submit recipes that use tomatoes- either cherry tomatoes or any big tomatoes. Any kind! Our garden is providing more tomatoes than we can handle, we'd love to know your ideas of what we can do with them!

Thanks, hope everyone is doing well. And make sure you keep scrolling down to see all the new posts.

love

amelia

Mikaela has some news to share...

Yes, it's true Mikaela is a big girl now :)

Where is everybody!!??!

I keep checking and NO ONE is writing, so I guess I will need to. Well, it was back to school for me this past week. It was a fun week and easy because there was no teaching involved. i am looking forward to Tuesday, however as I have brand new kitchens at school, even if there are no chairs for the students to sit on and no projector for my powerpoint. The kids can stand and I will use boring old black and white overheads.

Amelia...what about your garden? I would love to post some beautiful pictures of my tomatoes but my digital camera is BROKEN! My garden is wonderful and the tomatoes taste excellent. I have made many quarts of fresh salsa and canned 25 jars of cooked salsa. Will that get me through the winter?

Nonny Pat begged and begged me to read a book called, Bringing Back the Streetcars. I am finaliy reading it and I think that it must bring back lots of memories from her youth. It is a good book and I enjoyed reading it and wondering about if this is what it was like when her and Grandpa (Mom and Dad, to many of us, of course) young. I think it must be and that is why it was important for someone to read it. I am glad I read the book.

It's late and I have to break this habit of staying up so late as my alarm will go off at 5:45 on Tuesday. I hope that everyone is still checking the "blog" because I think it is a great way to keep us all connected.

Love to everyone from Kari