As I am contemplating what to eat for lunch today, I am realizing that
I have a lot of criteria for the perfect meal.
1) healthy and nutritious
2) quick and covenient
3) cheap (read: eat out less!)
4) tasty
Should eating be this complicated? I mean, life would be so much
easier if you could buy gourmet food on the McDonald's dollar menu
that is organic, low calorie, and still tastes like French Fries.
The world's greatest neighbors and our dear friends, the Riches, invited us to spend this past weekend with them in Bear Lake. We love Bear Lake. It is so beautiful there, so even though the weather has been too cold to actually do lake activities, we jumped at the chance to go up there and spend some time with them.
Scott's family owns a "cabin" there (if this is a cabin, my dad is the president). Actually, they share it with another family. Both families are quite large, so they use this cabin quite frequently, and there is often a crowd there, so it is easy to see how they would need so much space.
This is the view of Bear Lake from their deck.
Dad, if this is anything like your vision to retire in a house by a lake, I get it. Being here, I really felt the "family togetherness" they must have when they come with their extended family. There are activities for everyone: a tennis court, trampoline, swing sets, sand boxes, ping pong tables, etc. We didn't even leave the house when we were there, but really enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few photos of the memories we made:
Thank you Scott, Amy, Jaxon, Zachary, and Tyson, for the fun weekend!
Ever since we went camping in the Uinta's with our friends this summer, Tom has had a little dream of owning 4-wheelers. Since we've planned to eventually buy a trailer anyway, this meant we'd need a way to haul the 4-wheelers too. Thus, the idea of buying a toy-hauler emerged.
Tom has a way of working me I think. Because, as adamantly as I insisted we wait until next Spring to put in our RV pad, then buy a trailer, and then maybe buy 4-wheelers, before I knew it we had acquired 2 4-wheelers. Tom had a buddy that wanted to buy new ones, so he was willing to sell his. Okay, I admit, it probably was a pretty good deal. Then, we found out Tom would be traveling more frequently to the job in Page, Arizona that he has been scheduling for. The job is falling behind schedule and they have need of him to be there about 3 days every week. So, he worked out a deal to get extra money for them to cover his living expenses while he is there, and he is spending that money to buy a trailer to live in while he is there. Here is our new toy hauler:
The inside is quite nice. In the back there are 2 drop down queen beds. Then the dinette and couch fold out to beds, and when we pull the 4-wheelers in, they completely fold out of the way. (The back drops down as a ramp.) In the front there is another queen bed and the kitchen and bathroom. So, maybe I'm a pushover, but I do admit I like it a little, and I'll be looking forward to using it once it is back up here when Tom's job is done, around April we hope.
Since Abby and Sarah's birthdays are only about 2 weeks apart (Sarah on the 1st and Abby on the 15th), we usually celebrate their birthdays together. We can get away with that for now, anyway. This year we had Grandpa Rog & Amma (as they are lovingly referred to around here) come to help us celebrate!
Mom (Over-Achiever #1) and Me (Over-Achiever #2) made these adorable Panda cupcakes for their party. Yes, it was a lot of work. But worth it for the Kodak moments (and coordination opportunities).
Sarah is 3!!!
Abby is 6!!!
Yum! See more pictures here. Also, being the over-achiever that I am, I brilliantly under achieved and failed to blog about Tom's birthday on the 6th of this month. He is the big 3-4. Happy birthday sweetie!
The entry won. I had really made up my mind about it before I even asked. See how I am? But it helped to have some validation. :) Here is the final result (compare to the Photoshop version in the next post). Thanks for your help Mom! I could not have done it without you. Needless to say, I won't be wallpapering anything again soon. It is a big messy job. However, I'm happy with the result! You can't see it well here, but I have a big mirror on the opposite wall that reflects the print for double the impact.
I am now the proud owner of this wallpaper from ferm LIVING. I read about some crazy discounts they were offering on their closeout designs and couldn't resist buying this pattern. I got it in the mail today and could not be happier with it. The colors are perfect for my house. This photo probably doesn't do it justice.
So, here is my dilemma. What wall do I put it on? I bought it with my entry way in mind, but my dining room wall would work nicely too. I originally planned to paint a mural (simple pattern or leaf motif) on my dining room wall, but now I'm worried about it competing. Anyway, I used my mad Photoshop skills to do a quick and dirty mockup of what it might look like on both walls. Readers, please help me decide! I only have enough for one wall.
Here are a couple of photos from our shoot with Casey this afternoon. I might share a few more as I get them. Thanks Casey and Dirk. It was fun!
Folks, starting today you can order online at www.stampinup.com! I
know for most if you it is like "Big deal. What else is new. Isn't
online ordering-like-so last century?" Well for us it is a big deal
and it has consumed much of my life at work the past several months.
So come visit and do a little Christmas shopping!
Miss Sarah is three today! She was so cute today in her new birthday
dress. And she was excited to bring her cookies and milk to school.
Wish I had taken a pic!
Sent from my iPhone
Little girls start so young. It goes like this.
Sarah: my dress is clean. I wanna wear a dress.
Me: okay. And I show her the three dresses in her closet.
Sarah: ummmmmmm..... That one, she says, pointing to a cute little
dress perfect for the fall. I am pleased.
Me: I get her dressed.
Sarah: no!!!!!!!! Kicking and screaming. I want a pink one!!!!
Abby: whiiiiiiine. Mom, you said I only had to wear these shoes one
more time and that was last time.
Me: okay, so maybe they are getting to be a touch too small. But
really, you haven't worn them nearly enough for how much they cost.
What will it be like when they are teenagers?
Sent from my iPhone
Update: Funny joke courtesy of the clown:
What did the father buffalo say to his son when he left for school?
Bye-son.
The fifteenth time's a charm. Apparently I needed a google e-mail account for the photos to work properly with mobile blogging. I have great hopes that with my handy dandy iphone I can now post from wherever whenever and keep this blog updated a bit more often. Here goes good intentions!
It was very hard to choose the best photos from our trip to post here, so be sure to visit our Picasa Gallery for much more.
We spent the weekend outside of West Yellowstone with both of our parents and Tiffany & Justin and family. We rented this great little cabin that had plenty of space for us to sprawl out.
Dad brought his boat and we played on Hebgen Lake while the weather held out. It is really a beautiful spot! (Oops...shh... I don't wan't too many people to know that secret).
We overheard someone at the grocery store talking about a crack in the dam and evacuations. Well, as far as I know the lake is still there...
We had fun touring Yellowstone a little, and this time we actually saw quite a bit of wildlife! A bear, some elk, bison, and coyote.
On the way home we took the long way and went through the park and down through Jackson Hole. (We thought of you on our way through, Keith and Melinda! But it was a bit late to stop.) On that road we saw another bear and a couple of moose. Had we known it was almost twice as long that way, we may have changed our mind because we got home after midnight, but as Tom kept saying, we made some memories! True.
We spent our 11th anniversary taking the girls to the zoo! We tried to get there early, which turned out to be a wise idea. The heat chased us out in the early afternoon.
A smiling monkey...
And our smiling monkeys. More photos here.
I took this picture from across the valley where I work. This fire burned quite a few acres for a couple of days before it was put out. It is pretty dramatic when it is so close to the city and easy to see! For once the west-siders have the advantage, ha.
Wow. This guy is a true inspiration. 8 gold medals. What more can you say? He was in the pool training for 5 hours every day. (And he consumes between eight and ten thousand calories a day. Yikes.) Anyway, Tom and I have enjoyed watching some of the Olympics, and every morning I looked forward to the newspaper headlines to find out if Michael had gotten his next gold. It was a close one sometimes, but I am truly amazed that he actually did it. I think I will remember this for a long time. My favorite moment is the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. You can watch it here. The race is toward the end of the video. It is worth watching!
We were also blown away by the Opening Ceremonies. China really put on an impressive show. You can watch highlights of that here as well.
Tom took this picture of me driving Dad's combine, in the middle of the night. What get's more farmer-girl than that? :)