Monday, August 24, 2009

Dew


Have you ever seen a more perfect blanket of dew?
It was beautiful.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Byes

Surprises:
  • I loved Star Trek!
  • I loved Sonic's Chocolate Cream Pie Shake
Not a surprise:
  • I had the most amazing good-bye get-together with these ladies a couple nights ago!

Why must they go back to college??!!

We are planning a cruise soon, so that makes their parting not so bitter. Adds a little sweet.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Redemption!

Where are all these tortoises coming from??!! This is a new guy^! Just like King, only no crown. The reason why he is so significant is because of THIS story. Just over a year ago, I killed a poor crossing tortoise. I've always felt bad about it, until now! I have totally redeemed myself with this guy! He was crossing (slowly, like most turtles do), and I saved him! Karma is back on my side!
P.S.- King is free. This kids and I let him go back to his wild ways...

Friday, August 21, 2009

The New Cookin' Club

I have a good movie suggestion: Julie&Julia
Mindy (my older sister) and I went to see it the other day, because it was right up our alley. We both love cooking, and we both love blogs. In fact, I was over at Mindy's house watching Food Network, when I brought up Julia Child, wondering how she got to be who she became. Right then, the preview came on! It was meant to be. So, we saw it and enjoyed it.

Kind of out of inspiration of the movie (more out of our enjoyment of trying new foods), we have decided to meet once a week to try out new recipes. Tuesday was our first day, and it was NOT looking good. I was late, and forgot half the ingredients I was supposed to bring. SO, on top of having to run back to the house (luckily not TOO far away), the main ingredient for Mindy's was...unavailable. It was corn still on the ear. Just the week before we had totally cleaned out the garden, and had already canned (more like bagged) all of it. Boy, this was shaping up to be a disappointing night. In need of the perfect, uncooked, un-de-cobbed corn I strummeged through the garden again. Who knows! Maybe I'll find some...Well at the beginning, I did:I found these mini tiny things we left behind. Shucks! (excuse the pun...way too dorky) But, finally I had victory! I found a good couple ears. I headed back to Mindy's. Once I got there the sun had already set. Mindy had to grill in the dark, but everything still worked out ok:I was finally able to get started on my recipe too: Raspberry-Lemonade. Simple, yes. But I am a huge water drinker. I never have anything with flavor. So, for the benefit of future guests, I thought it would be wise to know how to make something satisfying for them.
Plus, I got to use the electric lemon juicer thing for the first time! My favorite part of the night.

And the raspberry syrup smells amazing...
We had a not so great start, but once things were rolling it was wonderful! We finally got to eat some time past 9:00pm, and it was GOOD. The beverage was perfect and the Grilled-Roasted Corn and Tomato Salsa/Salad was GREAT!We are definitely going to keep up this tradition. If you have any crazy recipes let me know! I need a new one every week.
Mindy and I also are starting a list. We've only got a couple of them so far(cause they were just things Mindy would say when she would do them), but I'm sure the list will grow.
How You Know a Recipe is GOOD:
  1. When you have to cancel plans to eat what you made for the next day, because you ate it that night.
  2. When you lick the plate clean.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Thursday

Today was a pretty fun (free) day around town. My niece and nephews were at my house, and I just couldn't sit around any longer. I packed up Ella and Preston, and headed to the library (leaving their grandma with the babe). I told the kids they had to wait to see if I could check out books though, because my card was so old. When we got there I showed the lady my card, with the reaction "Wow, you definitely need an updated card, by the looks of it" as she looks at the kids...I replied "They're my niece and nephew, but you're right. I definitely need a new card". We had a lot of fun, and read great books. After that we made a quick stop at the playground, and headed for our free dessert (suckers at the pharmacy). I love these kids so much. My favorite question today was from Preston: "Mal-lurie, does Honey Bunches of Oats come from honey?" I explained that there is honey on the the oats. Then he asks "How do they make Shredded Wheat?" and then they just asked about all kinds of cereal. I stopped the conversation when "Where does Life come from?" Kinda felt like a "Where do babies come from?" question, so I turned the music up, and watched the kids make their crazy faces:


...It was a good day...

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

King {Insert Cool Name}

Meet King:

King of what? You decide. All I know is that if you're born with a crown on your back you're automatically royalty:
Sometimes I think I'm cool for having 3 freckles aligned like Orion's Belt, but this turtle has definitely got me beat. King is going to be my new model. After seeing his amber/gold markings, and agile moves (for a turtle) I can see no better future for him:If you have any suggestions for the rest of his name feel free to let me know. As for now, eat your heart out.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Squmkin?

The garden has been good to us this year. Now we've got tomatoes and zucchini and cucumbers and green peppers...at least that's what's ready this week. Always something new as the summer goes on...


Speaking of something new; have you ever heard of a squmkin? Probably not. I just made it up. That's what I call this:

Last year we kept the seeds from a spaghetti squash to grow this year. Only, when we went to pick them they were definitely not that. We were a little baffled considering we knew exactly where the seeds came from. Then I found this explanation. We created a hybrid! Our squash cross pollinated with a pumkin, creating the squmkin. In the explanation it says "Cross pollination is not a concern for gardeners unless they want to save seed of a particular variety to plant."...That's funny...because we did.

Not Alway Cheese

...Looks more like a tangerine slice this night.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Visitors

Creatures around here are getting braver and braver.


...I continually add to this post, whenever I have meet someone new...

Friday, August 14, 2009

The Hummingbird

It's not often that I get a hankering for cupcakes, but memories of this bakery render nothing less than a hankering of extreme proportions.
...It's a weird feeling to miss a cupcake...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Well,

Today one of the kids I tutor said she had a secret to tell me. She gets up and walks around the table to quietly say "I know what the tooth fairy does with the teeth she gets. She puts them in babies' mouths. And if the teeth have a cavity, she has to throw them away." Hmm, really?...She continues..."Yeah, and I have the tooth fairy's phone number, and as soon as I get more minutes I'm going to call her" as she takes out a cell phone...

I don't know what's worse. The fact that a child who believes in the tooth fairy is considered old enough to have a cell phone, or the fact that the tooth fairy has yet to give me her private line...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Trees

I was taking a hike a couple weeks ago, when I saw a tree that seemed kind of a metaphor of what I was going through. After that, I started to see lots of them. Sometimes we get off course before we start going in the right direction.


Sometimes we get too close to the edge.

Sometimes we are tangled in things from the past.

Sometimes others take advantage of us.

Sometimes we carry those who fall.

And sometimes we have to take a step back from those we are close to, to see what truly makes them beautiful.

...We all have our seasons, and continue to grow...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Oops.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who accumulates a bunch of useless 1 second video clips, when I'm trying to take a picture?

Someday I'll remember to check the settings before snapping...Maybe

Spring in August

I've always thought thunder sounded like it was hungry.


So, I guess a rainbow must be a sigh of satisfaction.

Monday, August 10, 2009

City of Beautiful

Yet another wonderful road trip last weekend.
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There's no way I could have picked better people to go with. As soon as we got going Anne declared we needed rules, so she started writing them down in her Zac Efron notebook. We decided each rule needed to rhyme. A couple of my favorites were "No waving emphatically, it increases danger dramatically" and "If you don't want flack, sleep in the back".
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Of course we were all given nicknames as well: *P-Jackie the Perfect Person*Mallory the Mediator*Holla-pa-Haley*Da-Anne Da-Dictator*, and alliteration was necessary (The reason for the new first letter in a couple names).
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We also had great little "adventures" whenever the GPS would steer us in the middle of nowhere. Example:I can't believe how much we were able to pack in those two days (or more like a day and a half), but the highlight was definitely being able to go to the beautiful Nauvoo Temple.Here is a great video sharing a little about the blessings of the Temple. Nauvoo was so much fun, and a great reminder of the sacrifices of those who lived before us. ...Can't wait to go back again...

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Birthday Week!

My mom, dad, and 2 sisters all have their birthdays in the same week. So, I believe it should be our family's time to have a reunion every year, and call it
Birthday Week.
Birthday Week started off with a little fishing trip. And I'm still trying to figure out boys' (and men's) fascination with throwing things in the water...We also had an amazing time kayaking down the Little Miami River...Which ended in a rather...what's the word? Ah, spectacle.
Next was Youngs Dairy


Rain came in and out that day, and it was great. Helped the place from getting too busy, and we had a blast. I'm not a big fan of putt-putt, but we ended up having lots of fun with their Utters and Putters.

^Love this picture of Chase^
And let's not forget about their wonderful ice cream. This is Bekah's 'Wow, 2 scoops is way more than I was expecting' face:
The PA Goldie's have even more photos from the week's happenings. It was great.
...Wonder what we will all do next year...