Just what's on my mind at the moment!

So... as all of you might {or might not} know, I have this little cooking blog over here and I spend a little time cooking, baking, taking pictures, and blogging about my passion of cooking.  Well, I started my blog with the hopes that I'd be able to upload it and make it into books at the end of every year so that my kids would have all of my recipes that they grew up on, complete with a picture and a story that goes with it!  {That's what they always mention about me... she makes the "Best  Cookies Ever"!  It always makes me smile when they talk about my cooking.  They make me smile!} Anyhow, I'm now up to 140 followers on my blog and it's become a HUGE part of my life!  I don't go anywhere that I'm not picking up another cookbook or thinking about what I can add to my blog for people to want to read it {more}.  Well my hard work has started to finally pay off after a year!  I have had so many awesome people donate products for drawings, I've had lots of great comments that make me smile, and now I've had two great things happen within the last month.  First, I received an email from the sweetest lady at Woman's World magazine! She wanted to interview me about what my favorite gadget in the kitchen is and why.  You know... all those normal interview questions... But HELLO! My name is going to be in Woman's World Magazine along with a link to my blog!{out on newsstands Dec 2, 2010}  So maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal to anyone else... but I. AM. SO. EXCITED! I just feel like it's a great way to get my name out there a little bit more!  Then second, I was contacted by a brand new expansion of UCREATECRAFTS.com... Her new blog {not launched yet} U-Create FOODS is going to have it's launch on the week of October 18-24. She has a HUGE following on her original website and has decided to expand.  I am thrilled to announce that they are going to highlight one of my posts {I guess we'll all find out at the same time which one  :)} on their opening week!  I am ONE of FIFTY people being highlited!  Well, I am once again THRILLED because this is just another GREAT pat on the back for me... I feel like I've been rewarded for the work that I've done on my blog for the last 13 months.  Anyway, I don't mean to be a bragger or gloat in any way, but I just am so excited that my hard work is finally paying off!  It just makes me SMILE and sometimes a girl just likes to smile!!!

Finally...

Mike and I finally had a day to spend together and it was so nice.  We even got to saddle up the horses and go for a ride.  Bradey came out with the camera to capture the moment.  Apparently the chickens were more interesting to the horses than the kid with the camera!  What a great day!

The happenings this week!

I know... I know...!  I very seldom ever get on this blog anymore because I am so busy with all the others things that add up to life, including my cooking blog.  But I really want to work on posting on here too... I love reading everyone's blogs and keeping up with the goings on of all of my friends that I never get to see otherwise... So, I'll do my best!
This past week has been SOOOO crazy around our place... We started to have some septic system "issues", I got the privilege of putting a full set of tires on the car after both Mike and I had a flat (not old tires) that not only just "flattened" but ruined 2 of the tires, amounting in a hefty pricetag.  I finally finished paiting and decorating my kitchen...okay, I'll never be totally done with that...  I was so excited for a day off of daycare, when in reality the parents just 'forgot' to tell me that they needed me eventho they weren't working!  Well, that's the bad!  The GOOD has once again taken over and made the bad disappear!  Mom and I went to AABBAmania in concert Thursday night and it was so good!  We left around 2:30 from Mom's and drove up to Pocatello.  We went to Chili's and ate, then went to our favorite place, BED, BATH, & BEYOND!  There, we got us a free massage!  Hee hee!  Pictures to come.  Can't you just wait?  Then we went to the Performing Arts Center where the concert was held!  The house was packed!  They were great performers and they had such a postive air about them!  I would love to go see them again!  And besides, sitting to the side of my Mom is a treat, in and of itself!  We got home in time for me to fly home thru the canyon and get Mike's stuff all ready for him to go to work.  I was sad because he won't be home until Tuesday, which means that digging up the septic tank to find the lid is now my chore!  Ick!  So, this is what's been happening in my life!  It's crazy, but apparently that's how I like it because it doesn't seem to change!

Makenzie made it to the 100 POINT CLUB!!!!

I am so proud to announce that Makenzie made it to the 100 point club for reading at school last week and she was able to do the "Walk of Fame" on Friday. It's so cute that the school makes such a fuss of all those kids that make such great accomplishments in their schooling. Makenzie loves to read and I like that she reads herself to sleep at night. She also loves to read when we're in the car. We'll be driving down the road and she'll start giggling in the back seat because something funny happened in her book. When Mike and I are out of town, the best thing we can take home to her is a good book. She loves the "American Girl" books. And she laughed like crazy at the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".... We love her and we are so proud of her for making it to the 100 POINT CLUB!!!!

The latest news around our place!

This past week has been a rough one for our family... Our Grandma Jennie passed away on April 14, 2010. Today I was just going through some old pictures and found some of Grandma and the kids. Grandma was quite the lady... one with a very strong personality but deep down, a large heart! We had a beautiful service for her and I think she would have been extremely proud of how it turned out, and perhaps surprised at how many people thought the world of her! She will be greatly missed!

On a lighter note- I know I haven't been on here FOREVER!!! My cooking blog has kind of taken over my life and I am loving it! If you haven't visited it yet... go there and check it out. Become a follower and let me know what you think! I love comments!

:-)
Tea

Our Summer in a Nutshell--

So I know that I have been HORRIBLE at keeping up on my blog this summer. It's been such a busy busy summer but we have had some fun. We went on a day trip up to Glendale to ride the jetskis for an afternoon and have a cook-out on the beach. It was a great time and we sure enjoy our time spent with friends. This is Charlie and her baby boy Cutler... They are so much fun to hang with... We all had a good time. While Mike, Bradey, Charlie & Cutler were out on the lake, Kenzie and I sat on the beach and soaked up the sun. She was just sitting in the water and playing in the sand. There was this awesome warm breeze and we were enjoying every minute of it...

Lunch was sooo good. Why is that when we cook outside, it just tastes better? We had burgers and chips and lots of good garden veggies on the burgers. Yummy!

Well this is kinda out of order, but on the weekend of July 24th I went and spent the weekend with Mike In Wyoming. Everyone thinks he goes up there to work and lives in some sort of a shack and just suffers like crazy but this is his home away from home. This is where I stayed during the days while he was working. I so enjoyed my time alone. It was FABULOUS! And his house is so nice. He no longer has a room mate so this is what I consider my 'vacation home'. Ha ha.

Back to the trip to Glendale... Here's Mike and Bradey on the jetskis. Bradey even drives and it scares me, but he does really good!

Of course, the kids have spent alot of time this summer on the back of the horses! They are funny cuz sometimes they just decide to saddle one horse and ride together instead of riding 2. Kinda cute really. They really do enjoy each other's company.

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!

This is sweet little Phoebee at the Narrows waiting for me to cook. She was just so happy that she got to go and the other dogs had to stay home :-)

Every time I get out the camera, Daizee attacks me... She loves the camera! I love her and her corny personality! She's my little gomer!

You'd never guess, but I was weeding the garden and lost the family. Well here they came on the horses. I guess they didn't want to disturb my work so they went without me :-).... The kids need that time with their dad. I love seeing them on the horses together.

This is my garden, yes weedy I know. But eventually it became extremely amazing and we got it all weeded and it produced like CRAZY! We love our garden and next year we plan on doubling it's size.

This is Harry Norman. In this picture he was a week old and now he is over 2 months old. WE love him and he has the funniest personality. The kids plan on breaking him to ride. They just can't wait until he gets old enough to saddle. He cracks me up!

When we go fishing to the narrows I make sure and take a cooler full of food so that I can cook while everyone fishes and swims. I enjoy watching them all play while I'm cooking them dinner. The kids like Tinfoil dinners as long as all they contain is a hamburger, potatoes and green beans. Taste pretty good, if I don't say so myself...

As I slave away over the fire,

They PLAY!!! And I love watching them...

When Mike is home, Makenzie stays pretty close. I love this picture...

Our sweet little Makenzie...

Bradey got in one of his photog moments and decided there should be a pic of me too to prove I was there at the narrows too. Note Phoebee in her sound asleep state in my lap :-)

Time out from swimming and fishing for a snapshot!

I went on Makenzie's last 2nd grade field trip with her. We went to the dinosaur museum and the zoo in Pocatello. We were just getting ready to leave when she asked her friend to take a picture of us. I thought it was so cute that she thought of it.. And I think her friend did an excellent job!!!

For Mother's Day, I got my kids dressed in their nice clothes and sent them on a walk outside between rain storms. I snapped 20 pics of them. Here are some of my favorites...

Well, the summer was fun and now I can't believe my kids are back in school now. The house gets pretty quiet sometime but I sure do get a lot of baking done!

Just to catch up!

I know I haven't been blogging for awhile... and I'm sorry. Been really busy in the last month. Of course, the kids had their last month of school and that's always crazy with field trips and class parties. But it's always a great sign of summer coming. The summer has been great. We have been enjoying our place and been working really hard on our yard and the garden. We have put up a fence around our HUGE front yard and it's so nice not to have a little midget goat eating my little trees. He's so cute when he's on the outside of my fence :-)...
We adopted a little pony for Makenzie. She has been telling us forever that we were never going to get her a horse... the day we brought "Hemi" home she reached over and kissed her dad on the cheek and apologized to him for saying we'd never get her a horse. Now she has her own little "pet" and we all just love her. Abby (our oldest nanny goat) had two little kids! They are so dang cute and fun for my kids to take care of and play with.
We have been watching a robin's nest in the pine tree in front of the house. We watched her sit on the eggs, we saw them as soon as they hatched and we just watched them fly away the other day! I tried getting pictures but she was NOT happy with me at all! So I left her alone. I really didn't want her leaving her nest!
We got our garden planted. It took two full days of hard work. We included the kids and made sure that they are learning the importance of being self-reliant. It is extremely important to Mike and I and we work hard to be able to bottle enough for a year's worth of food. I have twice the garden I had last year and I'm slightly nervous about it considering how hard it was to keep up with last year's. But it'll all work out and I'm excited. I have 38 tomato plants. For those of you who know me, I HATE tomatoes, but I LOVE salsa! So I also have 16 green and jalapeno pepper plants and a whole great big row of onions to make fresh salsa!!!! YUMMY! And of course, everything for the dill pickles since I'm not sure what mom and dad would do without their years supply of pickles!
We only had to water our garden for a week then it started raining every day and we haven't had to worry about watering. But now it would be really nice to see the sun because my peppers are starting to go yellow from too much water! My strawberries are sure loving the water though!
Tonight I made mom her birthday dinner. Tomorrow is actually her birthday but I wanted Mike to be able to be here for something since he's always gone for everything (easter, birthdays, mother's day, etc). She asked for chicken parmigiana, fettucini alfredo, green salad, garlic bread, and a chocolate cake with parisian cream filling and whipped frosting. So ask and ye shall receive! It was a nice dinner and it was nice to have the family all together. Mom, Dad, Shawn, Brook & their kids and Mike & I and our kids all got together at my house and we ate and visited. It was great! I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did! Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you and I wish you many many many healthy birthdays to come!!!!
So now I am sitting here trying to keep kids quiet while Mike is trying to sleep, since Brenna and Cole stayed to play with the kids. They are being really good and they all play really well together. Mike will be leaving in about 4 hours and I have got all his meals ready to go so he won't starve!
Well, I hope to be able to post more than once in the next month and a half.... Have a great weekend!!!!