Girls Weekend

It was a Girl's Weekend. Friday, Shelby and I headed to Bethany's for dinner.She had prepared a fabulous dinner for the three of us. Chili served in homemade bread bowls, fresh cantaloupe and sauteed spinach with garlic, almonds and a raspberry balsamic vinegar.
Next we went to Mothers house for a visit with her and Aunt Betty.

Part of our visit included attending Callie's Bridal Shower. We had a great time visiting with family. We also feasted an incredible salad bar. Dessert included:

Randi's Lemon Cake decorated with fresh roses

and a Fudge Swirl cake surrounded by Kit Kat's prepared by one of Tim's sisters.

GRUBS! :(

A couple of weeks ago I looked out the kitchen and saw that one of the tomato plants looked thirsty. A bit odd since its our rainy season. I checked the soil and it was moist. Then the pepper plants next to it also started wilting. Randy checked the soil. It was moist. He then did a little digging and found GRUBS!!!! The creepy critters are eating the roots of my garden plants. Randy did some research and ordered beneficial nematodes. Microscopic organisms that eat the grubs. Sadly it takes two weeks for them to get here.

The destruction continues. Hopefully we will be able to save the summer garden. If not, we will treat the soil and get an early start on our winter garden.

It's a good thing that we enjoy Fried Green Tomatoes!

"Life will sometimes hand you a magical moment. Savor it."

(Life's Little Instruction Book #639)

One of those magical moments for me is music. I love the sound of live music. It's is so much better than listening to music on a stereo system. Morgan knows that music calms the "savage mom" and indulges my desire of calming music. Recently I watched the remake of Ice Castles. I asked Morgan if she would learn to play some of the music from the movie if I bought it. Thankfully she said, "YES".

Morgan is currently learning/playing Ice Castles by Hamlish, Pravane by Faure (both from the movie). Hymn 22-We Listen to a Prophet's Voice for ward choir (she is an accompanist) and February Song by Ondrasik, Groban & DeVries from one of her current favorite DVD's Awake Live.

Thanks for the music Morgan, I savor every magical moment!!!!!!!!

1000 words

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Cami's smile says it all!!!"The words could never show the you I've come to know"

Garden Play

We are truly enjoying our garden this year. Every Sunday I visit (check on) a homebound sister in our ward. The first time that I visited she asked me if I made soup. Good Soup? I responded that I did and she promptly asked if I would bring her some the next week. Sunday rolled around and I realized that I had promised to bring soup when I visited my new friend. Randy run out to the garden and pulled up a few carrots. I sauted some onion in butter, added diced carrots, simmered them in chicken stock. When the carrots were tender I pureed them in a blender and added milk. She LOVED the soup! Every Sunday I make another small batch of soup and go visiting. My friend is nearly ninety. She always tells me, "This is the best soup ever, grins, scrapes the bowl clean and licks the spoon clean! Our plum tree produced well this year. This week I made a plum pie. It was so good that I made another today! I also made jam.
A first for our garden this year is potatoes. Randy built a raised bed area and planted the potatoes.
Yesterday Randy dug up a few of the plants. The potatoes underneath were beautiful.
Last night for dinner Randy grilled chicken, summer squash (some from the garden and some from the store) and I made garden fresh buttered potatoes. What a feast!!!!!

Hey Grampa!!!

It was good to be home after a week in Alpine at YW camp. Saturday Randy spent the morning delivering items we brought back from camp, washing a very dirty Suburban and working in the yard. Around noon we hear one of our favorite voices, Hey Grampa!!!!! Mark and his family had stopped by. Grant greeted us and headed to the backyard to help grampa. The watering system was on and I knew that it wouldn't be long before it switched from the garden to the lawn and suggested that Grant put on his swimsuit. He had a wonderful time playing in the sprinklers. Cami also crawled out and got in the water for a tiny bit. Grant always seems to enjoy helping in the garden.
Grampa and Cami

Grandma and Grant

It's always a treat when Grant and Cami come to visit. Grandparenthood is delightful!

PS: It was good to get home to fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, grapes, plums, chard, basil and onions. Randy tells me the potatoes are almost ready. I like having a garden.

Stake YW Camp 2010

I was called to serve as an assistant cook at our YW Camp this year. I had a great time serving with these wonderful women. We were usually up around 4:30am and didn't get back to our cabin until around 10pm. We cooked for 130 people. We arrived at camp on Saturday afternoon and didn't leave until the next friday. In addition to lots of food prep and tons of dishes, we shared songs, stories, book reviews and LOTS OF LAUGHS!!!!!!! In addition to being a cook Randy and I were assigned to be assistant 4th level hike advisors. Morgan was a YL over 4th level. Tuesday morning after helping prepare breakfast (up at 4:30 helping crack 12 dozen plus eggs for a breakfast casserole) I was temporarily released from the kitchen to go on the 4th level overnight hike. The horses met up with us about half way through our 4.4 mile hike (stroll). Randy got to help bring the horses out to us and assist YW as they took turns riding during the remainder of the hike.

Morgan loved riding and was thrilled when she was asked to ride with the leaders who rode the horses from our camp site back to the stables!!!

At our camp were various activities for the YW to do. In addition to riding horse. Randy assisted girls with shooting bb guns and archery. I was responsible for assisting girls who wanted to do the Zipline. Randy and Brother "H" did not have a ladder when they set the line up, so it was only 9 feet off the ground. This is me trying it out.

It got a little low near the end and I had to pick up my feet in order to not touch the ground.

We had a great time. Randy supervised the dutch oven cooking while the horses were being returned to the stables. For dinner we cooked three large dutch ovens of enchiladas and two dutch ovens of cobbler. Randy also grilled squash and onions that Bro & Sis "H" brought up from their garden. While the enchiladas and cobbler were cooking the girls made ice cream in baggies. I couldn't believe that the 30 girls and leaders ate all that food! It stormed during the night, but most of us stayed dry. Wednesday after we took down camp we headed to Luna lake for canoeing and paddle boats. Then back to camp and MORE COOKING AND DISHES for me!!!!! I had a great time but as OH SO GLAD to be back home on Friday night.