We have had a very eventful week around here. Here's the gist. On Sunday Dale got down with his back. He was in an extreme amount of pain off and on. He had a hard time walking and we borrowed a walker from a friend to help support him. Monday he was feeling a little better and only had to use the walker once. Tuesday was our anniversary (19!). Dale went to work, but only managed to work until lunch. Later that evening, after he had rested, we went out to dinner and to see Little House- the musical. It was all very nice. Dale did pretty good through it all too. I decided to cancel my trip to Oregon/Washington on Wednesday morning. I didn't want to leave just in case Dale had a relapse. Wednesday Dale was able to work all day and go to church that night.
Today's Thursday, I wonder what's going to happen today??
An eventful week
Fall Clean Up
This is a picture of our other kitchen cabinets. I think it's a pretty good match! We didn't paint the hinges on the new cabinet because we plan to replace the painted hinges on the other cabinets.
Our weekend
We had such a good weekend. It all started on Friday because Andy and Dale didn't have work or school that day. We drove to Boulder and scoped out the job Dale is getting transferred to and also did some Christmas window shopping. They have a great mall nearby. It was huge! We brought hot soup and ate our lunch in the car, then continued with our shopping. We all enjoyed it very much.
On Saturday we worked on the house, getting the pantry cabinet closer and some much needed cleaning and organizing done. Whenever there is a project to do, Dale always has to clean the garage first. This used to really irritate me, but then I thought about when I have a big cooking project, what's the first thing I do? I clean the kitchen. That made me feel better about it, but I am still annoyed when the whole day is spent cleaning the garage and the project is put off for another day, when the garage will need cleaned again. But, this was not the the case on Saturday, and at least part of the projected work was completed. We didn't have near as many trick or treaters as we expected, so we were left with way to much candy. Needless to say, I am going to go workout today.
Yesterday we had a good meeting. One of the prayers really touched me. Many of the words were the feelings of my own heart, but I hadn't yet put them into words. It was beautiful to me. Our ministry was about forgiveness, and how that is the only subject in the Lord's prayer that Jesus elaborates on. Sometimes it is very hard for us to truly forgive, but don't we want to be truly forgiven?
After church dinner, we went and had some family photos taken and a few more senior pictures of Andy. I am excited to see them all.
We spent the rest of the day at sis Sharon's playing games, visiting, and watching movies. A great end to a wonderful weekend....
Then up at 5 this morning to get Dale off to his new job, and here comes another week!
I think winter is here...
Our first big snow storm this season started Tuesday night. It has been a slow but steady snow fall ever since, and is still falling now, Thursday morning. School was let out at noon on Wednesday and so Andy had plenty of time to get out there and shovel the walks. It is a city ordinance that sidewalks be shoveled. Church was cancelled last night and there's no school today. The picture of Andy below is after it had been snowing for about 18 hours.
This next photo was taken at 6:30 this morning after Dale shoveled the walks again, and 36 hours after the snow started to fall. It wasn't snowing much when I took this picture, in fact I didn't realize it was still snowing until I looked at the photo. It is snowing heavier again now.
This is our garden where we still have onions and carrots. Yikes! I hope they will be okay, but I pretty certain the onions won't be able to make it. We have over 12 inches in most places, but it is supposed to stop snowing this afternoon.
I'm not ready for winter. I don't like being cold, and also the closest assemblies are 4&5 hours away, over the passes. It makes me feel a little claustrophobic even though I live in this huge city. To end on a positive note though, I do think it is quite beautiful and it is getting me excited for the holidays. On Tuesday I was at Costco getting groceries and I knew the snow was coming, Costco had their wrapping paper out and I couldn't resist buying some. Winter is here so I might as well embrace it!
We got some things accomplished this weekend, well Saturday really. Dale worked on a new pantry cabinet for the kitchen. It is in place but it still needs paint and doors. It is 8 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. I am so excited to fill it up! I will post some before and after pics later.
Andy and I worked out in the yard on Saturday and I made a big discovery. I absolutely hate yard work. I remember thinking this as a young girl, but I thought I had grown past it. I feel like I have put sooooo much time into my yard this year and it still doesn't look great by any means. I feel judged by our immaculate neighbors who tell me to my face that it would be no big deal to get our yard looking great, we just need to bring in a CAT. That's all, just dig up our entire yard, oh and build a retaining wall, but definitely get rid of all the horrible white rock. By the way, he told me all of this the first time I met the him! Ya, I really hate yard work at this point, but we did make a little head way. We freshened up the bark in our little side yard and put a brick path through it just across from the brick path in the rocks. Again, maybe I'll post pictures later.
One thing that feels awesome through all of this is that we own our house. I can't get used to the feeling and it surprises me sometimes. Oh yeah, I can paint that wall if I want to. It feels great.
We had a good meeting yesterday and Bro Joe and Sis Kortney came home with us. It is strange here as opposed to Olympia, because it feels like we have so much more time on Sundays. Church starts at 10 and we are usually out by12 or 12:30. We live 5 minutes from church so we are normally home by 1, eating by 1:30. Yesterday was a little shorter meeting so we were home even earlier. Joe and kort stayed until about 5. We had a great visit with them and felt it was a good Sunday. At 5 in Olympia I felt that my time with the brethren was just starting.
I hope everyone else had a good weekend.
Back on the net
We have been without internet for the past few weeks, but now we are connected again and the connection is much faster. It has been about a year since I've been able to hear the music on my blog because of it. This morning I sat almost teary eyed and listened. The first song is very special to me.
I have been sewing lately. I am going to make my dad a rag quilt for christmas. They are so much easier and faster because there is no quilting invoved. I chose 8 flannel, plaid materials in several colors; red, blue, green, and cream. The material basically looks like the flannel shirts he always wears. I hope he likes it.
More Canning and pumkini?
This is our un-named squash that came from our zucchini plant after it mixed with the pumpkin plant. This is a common occurrence when squash plants cross. We planted them across the garden from each other, but this didn't keep them apart once they started growing. We don't mind though, it is much like zucchini in taste and texture, maybe even a little tastier! I had several of these football size squash and so I made some into dill relish. It has been a huge hit!
Dill relish. I am more than happy to share the recipe, I had a hard time finding one and we don't like sweet relish.
Pickled jalapenos
Lately, I have been putting one chile pepper in every jar of dill pickles. The results have been amazing!The Mile High Flea Market
I have found a new favorite place here in Denver. I want to take you all there. The Denver flea market is enormous and exciting. It almost feels like you are in another country. The outdoor booths have anything you might be looking for; produce, knives, hats, used garage sale items, new tires, musical instruments, video games, rugs, furniture, carpet, sunblock (just in case you forget yours like we did), antiques, ect, ect. Then there is the food. Smells of fresh roasting chilies and turkey drumsticks are enough to make your stomach growl. The fancy baker sells amazing breads and yummy treats. The chocolate macaroon is to die for, truly. There is also a carnival area with kiddie rides and lots and lots of places to spend your money.
Last spring we took Kaleb and Lanise. It was the first time we had been there in 10-12 years. I must say it was a little overwhelming. There is just so much, and so many good deals. I got a 5 pound basket of tomatoes for 3 dollars, I was excited to get such a bargain. An hour later I found a man selling 20 pounds of tomatoes for 5 dollars!!
A few weeks ago we went again with Randy and Cheri. We got there about 10:30 that morning and left about 3:30. We didn't have time to see it all!! I did scope out some places to come back to though. The tomato man was still there with 5 dollar tomatoes, and we found some very nice American made knives to think about. I found a full set of strings for my violin and we both bought hats, mine is a big floppy one. I love it! I had been looking for one all summer and the price range was $12-$24, so needless to say I was very excited about the deal!
This past Saturday Dale and I went by ourselves. We quickly scoped out our favorite places and picked up these deals:
2-20 lb boxes of tomatoes 7$ each
8lbs strawberries 5$
15 lbs plums 8$
12 giant mangoes 10$
3 piece knife set 14$
18 jalapenos 1$
The tomato man had gone up in price, but the quality was better. I had been pricing the same box of tomatoes at local farm stands (we have them everywhere, even more than Starbucks is in the northwest!) and they were 18$ per box there, so we still got a good deal. It also cost us 3$ each to get into the flea market, but kids under 12 are free for those of you who are interested!
Since Saturday we have been making plans for our next trip. Dale needs a new watch, we still want more produce, and Andy can wheel and deal with the video game man. I can't wait to take each and everyone of you there and I still haven't made it all the way through!
Canning
9 bags of frozen green beans
4 quarts of salsa
8 bags frozen zucchini-enough for 16 loaves of bread!
9 bags frozen peaches
12 frozen mangoes, diced
5 quarts frozen plums
8 lbs frozen strawberries
29 jars of peaches
11 jars of peach jam
30 bags frozen green chilies
37 quarts of frozen Olathe sweet corn
13 half pints of dill relish (so yummy)
3 half pints and 3 quarter pints of pickled jalapenos
3 dehydrator trays of dried tomatoes
2 trays of dried bananas
The green beans, zucchini, pickles, and some of the tomatoes came out of our garden and it is still going strong. In fact our zucchini and pumpkin crossed each others path and now I have several huge squash that I don't know what I'm going to do with. They are yummy, but we can only eat so much of it. Hmm... maybe I'll try to can some! In the past I have frozen a few berries and maybe made some jam, but that was pretty much the extent of my efforts. I am really enjoying all the canning this year and I'm excited to get some more things put up, like chili and soup! I will continue to update this list through the canning season for my own journal.
Our Trip, FINALLY!
I know I am a little behind in posting, but I want to share my trip so that I can have this to remember it by later.
Our trip to Oregon/Washington for the family reunion was wonderful. We flew into Portland and had a day at Dennis and Trina's. We all met Sean and Marisela at a storage unit auction. This was a first for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good job on those awesome buys, Marisela!
We headed up to Olympia for church on Sunday and had a nice day of visiting at the park. We spent our nights at James and Gale's. Monday almost everyone went to Mt. St. Helens. I was ready for some rest and Gale wasn't going, so we enjoyed a day of just hanging out. Good times!
The next few days were busy and full of wonderful visiting and catching up with everybody. A fish fry was a huge success except for the worm I found in my fish. I should have been prepared for it, this type of thing has happened to me many times, a maggot in my snickers bar, buggy graham crackers, and wormy sunflower seeds. But no, I was shocked and grossed out. Thankfully I was pretty much done anyway.
A surprise party for mom was truly a surprise and a lot of fun.
I got to love on my baby great nieces and nephews.
It just wasn't enough time to spend time with all of our brethern we would have liked to.
We drove down the Oregon Coast on Thursday with Bill, his boys, Reuben, and Tristin. The boys took Bills car the whole way and had a memorable time. After a pit stop for taffy and shopping in Seaside, we met John and Laurie and family at Tillamook cheese factory and then headed to Oceanside, our favorite beach. Walks on the beach, going thru the tunnel, watching kids "swim," and just sitting in lawn chairs enjoying the amazingly calm day, made it all wonderful.
Made it to church in Portland that night, along with other visitors headed to the reunion.
After spending the night at Dennis and Trina's we head to Salem to the reunion. I had so much fun just visiting and enjoying the people there. The auction was very entertaining, especially the guys in aprons!
Back to Portland for church on Sunday and dinner at Sean and Marisela's.
I SO enjoyed my whole trip. I have wonderful memories and pictures! I love and miss you all already!!
Trip Pictures!!
I totally enjoyed our trip and have 275 photos to remember it by! Here are some of my favorites. Some of them aren't fantastic, but they have a memory or a story that is precious to me and maybe some of you too.I hope to put all of them on walmart.com soon so that who ever wants to get copies can. I'll let you know when that happens, but please don't hold your breath.
The calm before the storm
I can't wait, only 6 days until we fly to the northwest! We have been pretty busy lately, which isn't unusual, but I talked Dale into having a nice lazy Saturday today. He normally can't handle just hanging out, but I reminded him that we have a few busy weeks ahead and he agreed to have a low key day. Here's the gist of it:
I finished reading my book, mistaken identity. It's an awesome book by the way, a real tear- jerker. It's a true story about two girls in a car accident. One is mistaken for the other. One of them dies in the accident. The wrong family cares for the girl they think is their daughter for five weeks before finding out she isn't. The book is about how the families coped.
We went for a bike ride. Believe it or not we went yardsaling on our bikes. Not on purpose, we just saw some and then tracked down some more. I found some more custard dishes, we use those all the time.
Read some gardening tips for our garden. Did you know that you can sprinkle crushed red peppers (the kind for pizza) to get rid of ants in the garden? Very interesting!!
Got some sun out in the hammock, while reading the readers digest. It got a little warm, but the experience was cool!
I created a blog for one of our sisters here, and now I am doing some blogging of my own.
Hope all of you have had as great a Saturday as I have and hope to see many of you VERY soon!!
Pictures and updates
We have been so busy the last month or so working on our yard. Here are a few pictures of the progress.
Traci and Martha (mother and daughter)
Here's the star of the day, Zoe. She is 9 months old and was born 2 months premature. She is tiny, but very healthy and friendly. Oh, then there's her dad Jerod.
Ashley and Sharon. Everyone went their separate ways in the zoo and then met back to have lunch. We hung out with Sharon and Ashley most of the day. I love Sharon's hat and am thinking about one for myself :)A few yummy recipes
Cranberry Walnut Bread
This is a new creation I got from Lanise. It was a huge hit at church dinner! Try it toasted and drizzled with honey. You'll be hooked!
You can use any basic white bread dough, instead of the one here, just add the craisins and nuts to it.
1 1/3 c warm water
1/4 c oil
3 T sugar
2 t salt
4 c flour
2 1/2t yeast
1 1/4 c craisins or raisins
1 c walnuts coarsely chopped
I mix all the ingredients in the above order into my bread maker or mixer and mix well. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours minimum. Knead. Place into 2 oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm place for 1-2 hours. Bake 350 for 25- 30 minutes. ***For high altitudes, use 1 1/4c warm water instead of 1 1/3. Don't be alarmed, this bread doesn't rise super well, but it's still very good.
Arroz con Pollo
1 onion
1 bell pepper (I leave this out)
3t garlic minced,fresh
2T oil
2t taco seasoning
1T chicken bouillon
1 can peas (frozen works too)
1 can mushrooms (or fresh)
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cooked chicken breasts
3c rice
Saute first 4 ingredients.
Add all but rice. Cook until veggies are done. Add rice and heat thoroughly. This is a fast and easy one pot meal. This made 4 very large servings. Dale and Andy had 3rds, I had 1sts, and there was over 1 cup of leftovers for dales lunch.
Happy Birthday Dale
We had a suprise party for Dale and chose his favorite cartoon character for theme.
SPONGE BOB!!
This is what Dale's first view of the party was. We have a beach ball over head, water wings decorate the table along with the napkins, cups, gifts, and angel food cake topped with berries, cool whip, and a stuffed sponge bob.
Dale when he first realized what was going on.
Opening the presents.
Dale and I enjoying the gift Andy got him.
Our guest were Brycen, Ashley, and sharon (who requested not to be photographed). Our little party was a huge hit all the way around. It started at 4 when Dale got home from work. After the festivities, Brycen stayed and had dinner with us, thia green curry at Dale's request. We then played boggle and sequence, two of my favorite games. Next I fixed mango crepes, also Dales request. Afterward we played poker until almost midnight! It was a blast!
