Another Post...

As I may have mentioned before, in a poor me moment, last week Brandon was at scout camp, and then for the 2nd half of the week my mom took my 2 big girls on the quilt shop hop. Needless to say, I was going crazy without them all...bored and lonesome... By Wednesday afternoon, me and the 3 "babies" had to get out of the house, so I took them on a little hike up Coldwater Canyon in Ogden Canyon. We had alot of fun, and we only saw 1 snake...(yikes!) I got some major blisters on my feet because my hike shoes are horrid, but Lucy and Will were both awesome hikers! We didn't make it to an actual destination on the trail, just hiked for half an hour in and then turned around and hiked back out. It is a great trail, the trailhead is just after the smokey the bear sign up the canyon, close to milepost 10. Brandon and the girls are back home now, and we are back to life as we know it...chaos!!!! Not so lonesome anymore!...

Here's a couple pictures from the hike. Will was my photographer, so as you can tell I was giving him instructions as he snapped the shot! Funny. And in the last one he tried a couple of times, but just couldn't seem to get me in the shot! Darn!

The Garden

I am so lucky that my dad's garden is right outside my door! My kids (especially Will and Abby) have spent alot of time out there so far this year, and I am definitely enjoying the produce so far...
I apologize in advance for posting so many pictures at once, I'm not very good at matching up pictures with captions, so we'll see how this turns out! Good luck matching them up if they don't make sense! :)


Odie trailing Pop...


Willie learning how to run the cultivator...



Abby and Will planting...



Odie even planted his own little beans! Of course they aren't very easy to water and they are in great danger of being trampled, because they are right on the side of my driveway instead of in the garden!



Odie helping...or hindering? Yes, he is in his pj's. For some reason, he spends a lot of time in pajamas some days...


Abby was certain she was tough enough to do it herself. Turns out it's harder than it looks!

So noticeably absent from any garden pictures are my other 2 girls...too hot and dirty for the Phoeblet, and Lucy is too busy supervising and ordering everyone around to pose for pictures, I guess...

And as far as Brandon goes, I should have some pictures of him out there! Every evening if my dad is out there, so is Brandon. He pretends to help, but I think he enjoys it as much as the kids do. I hope he's learning something...

Tuesday Tell All--Taste

So I feel like y'all probably know what I like to eat...I tried to shake things up a bit by trying to share a favorite food for every letter of the alphabet...Here goes nothing!
A= Apples...no, not plain, of course! The kind from Rocky Mtn. chocolate factory!
B= Banana chocolate chip cookies...my all-time favorite!
C= Chocolate, of course!
D= Donuts.
E= Eggplant. Quite possibly my favorite veggie.
F= Feta cheese. mmmm.
G= Grilled pizza. Grape Nuts cereal.
H= Hummus.
I= Italian food. (you didn't really expect me to say Ice Cream, right?)
J= Junk food. All of it, pretty much...
K= Why can't I think of a food that starts with K?
L= Lasagna. Veggie, of course!
M= Milk. Heaven with anything chocolate!
N= Nachos
O= Oh-so-delicious Oatmeal (SW elementary cookbook, thanks, Mandy!)
P= PIE! (almost any kind that doesn't involve fruit, unless it's berries)
Q= Quaker oats. (sorry, this one was hard!)
R= Rice Pudding.
S= Spinach (my other favorite veggie!)
T= Tapioca pudding
U= Un-sweetened cereal.
V= Vegetables. As long as they are cooked, I can't think of one that I don't like.
W= Water. Really.
X= X-tra delicious brownies.
Y= Yellow cake with chocolate icing.
Z= Zucchini bread. Did I have a choice with z?

Well, that does it! Have a yummy day!

Home From Camp!

Book Club Query

So I have book club at my home in a couple weeks and I just finished the book tonight, so now, on to the planning... We usually try to match the food we have to the book, but I need help! I think the only food mentioned was like a beach house dinner, main course being Oyster Stew. Sorry gals, that is NOT on my agenda! The book was in no way set at the beach, either. Just one little dinner...They also had cake, and lots of iced tea and wine, etc. at other points in the book, but I like to serve an entire meal......SO-- I know lots of my blog readers are amazing cooks, and have a plethora of recipes to share, and lots of you belong to my book club, and maybe picked up on some other food ideas that I missed. Or maybe you just have something you think would be yummy. I'm looking for suggestions, here, from everyone! Not just book club members! I will not reveal what will be served until the night of, but food is my favorite part of planning things. So help me out here! What shall I serve? Is this even worthy of posting about? It's my blog, so I guess can post whatever I want...plus I like to ask questions so that I get lots of comments...so suggest away! Or just give me some other lame comment. You all know what I think about that!

Tuesday Tell All--Smell

hmm.. I decided I don't really like these "sense" tta's. Kind of boring! I have to say, my favorite smell right now is brownies baking! 2 other things that come to mind, Tiff brought me some of "grandma's" flowers from her yard last week, and they smelled beautiful in my kitchen for days! mmmmm....and on my last day at work before furlough, my buddy Bill (the homemade yogurt guy, to long-time bloggers) gave me a bag of 3 lavender "starts". The bag was disgusting from the outside, all dirty and slimy looking, but I could smell the most wonderful smell everytime I even touched the bag! The sweetest smelling lavender I've ever smelled! Too bad it rained all that week, so I didn't get them into the ground until a week later, and now I'm afraid I've killed them! Oh dear, I never claimed to have a green thumb! And when searching for a lavender image, I didn't intend on one like this, but I thought the lavender field ones were beautiful! Can you imagine the scent in the air around these places? Wow..
I have a very sensitive nose, and Brandon has hardly any sense of smell at all. So I'm always saying what is that smell? and he never knows because he can never smell it! Willie has inherited my nose, though, and maybe even an exaggerated version! Last night I was making Pesto Pizza, and Will came in the house "What is that delicious smell? that smells delicious! It smells like Garlic!" He can identify smells like no other! This has also carried over into his sense of taste, he is my resident food critic, and luckily for me, he is a very positive critic. He likes everything...and there have been times when we sit down for dinner and he practically tells me the recipe of something, because he can identify all the different individual flavors! He is a funny boy, that Will of mine!
Have you ever noticed how I can turn every subject into a post about my kids? That is not what I set out to do on this one! Go figure...

Our Friend Roxy

Roxy, Rico, Rockstar, Rocky, however you want to say it, we have a new best friend. To me, she is a running buddy. To Brandon, a reminder that he really does love dogs. To Abby, someone to care for. To Will, constant entertainment. To Lucy, someone to boss around. To Odie, a fun little buddy, and someone else to give loves and kisses to constantly. and to Phoebe... well, lets just say she's not really an animal lover...but she's doing a good job of faking it!



No, we are not owners of a new dog, but only dog-sitting for a week. Will is certain Roxy is going to be sad when she has to leave our home tomorrow. I think she'll be thrilled to see her family, but we will miss her! Thanks for the fun, Roxy!

Tuesday Tell All--Sound (I think)

Hello, World...It is SO good to be back! I can't stop smiling! Ahhhhh....and after all that time away, you would think I should have something clever to say. Nope. It was hard, but way harder on me than anyone else, except maybe Brandon, but it was tv for him. I thought he would cheat! I honestly didn't even come close to accomplishing anything more than usual, I didn't bake anything, except for dinner, which I would do with or without time spent on the computer. I did, however, make a wonderful cashew pizza (thanks, Angie b.) with fresh spinach from the garden. Yum. Lucy was my biggest fan that night. And I learned that Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownies are not as good as their Double Chocolate. Thanks again, Angie b...So now for my tta...SOUND.


In the words of Seaweed J. Stubbs "The man can dine me on a diet of detention, but just don't starve me of my tunes, baby!"
I LOVE music. Mostly acoustic guitar, and sweet harmony. There is nothing better! Whether it's the Indigo Girls, The Judds, or even Hymns...I LOVE it! I am actually a pretty mellow music person, the hardest I get into is definitely Jane's Addiction. And that is mostly because it reminds me of the days when Brandon and I first met and were dating. Other than that, as my playlist will attest to, I guess the category I stick to would be "folk music"...I can't call it easy listening, because I don't really like Bryan Adams or anyone like that. I can't think of any other examples right now, because Phoebe is trying to make me play name that tune as she plays High School Musical songs on the piano...if only I could lock myself in a closet and sit in silence for my first blogging time in a week! :)

Tuesday Tell All--Sight

If that's not a beautiful sight, I don't know what is! this is the coconut shrimp I made for my mom's retirement party on Saturday...Yum!
For the next 5 weeks on the TTA we are doing the 5 senses. First week, sight. As I contemplated this post over the weekend, a song kept playing in my mind. So this is my tuesday tell all. In the words of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers "The saddest sight my eyes can see, is that big ball of orange sinking slyly in the trees." (from Get out the map...check out my playlist)
On another note...in hopes of starting off our summer on the right foot, my fam. has decided (ok, I strongly suggested, they grudgingly went along) to have a screen-free week. Think UNPLUGGED! Harder for me and Brandon than the kids, I'm afraid. So yes, this means no blogging for an entire week! No e-mail, no researching, nothing on the computer, tv, ipod screen, etc. It will all be OFF until next wednesday. When I will, perhaps, do my tuesday tell-all for next week. (Notice I planned it so I could get this week's in)

Soooo...don't have too much fun without me! to my daily contacts: Jeni, Angie b. and Shaur, I will miss that front porch and that oh-so-delicious lemonade! Mandy, Jenny, Diana and Aleesha, I have reading to do, anyways, as do you....Stacy, Carrie and Angie N, you probably will finally post again while I'm gone! Megan, Ginger and Tiffany I'm sure I'll have lots to catch up on from yours, especially Tiff, with 2 blogs now! Amy, I already printed up your list of 101 things to do, so I could refer to it often! And to all of you who don't comment regularly, but visit often, I have now linked you to some other blogs to enjoy while I'm gone. (Just click on their names...)

Adios, Amigos! I'm off to organize my house, bake yummy stuff and spend time OUTSIDE, before that big ball of orange sinks slyly in the trees!