Wednesday... & David

The fires and such all around the state have been making life pretty miserable. I woke up this morning and had a huge allergy attack... and I proceeded to take allergy medicine which in turn made me like a zombie.  I'm not sure what is better. I had to baby sit at 9:00 AM this morning and it was a blessing that she took a nap an hour earlier than usual!  We were in her room reading when she fell asleep on my lap  at 11:00 ....I took a nap on the couch.... SO THANKFUL for that.  Then I had to be at work at 1:00 PM and as much as I love that we are busy on Wednesday evenings with high school & middle school students .. I was tired and not totally up for all of their energy. ...

But to make everything seem better... MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND David... made me a surprise dinner.... Stuffed Green Peppers!!!! How awesome is that... he just googled the recipie and made them after work.... and even better... HE DID ALL OF THE DISHES!! I LOVE HIM SO SO MUCH.

I am so blessed to have a man who Loves me... Who is the most thoughtful person I have ever know... and I love that he is my BEST FRIEND!  Thank you babe for making my miserable wednesday a memorable one.

Love you David Gene!

David & I on our first "real" date... at Chico Hot Springs

My lil sis...all grown up.

Last night David & I went back over to my parents house for a "Going Away" party for my sister. She will be moving to Minneapolis, MN to pursue her photography!  How cool is that! I am so excited for her.. and I know that she will do AWESOME there... you can check out her work here.  Its crazy for me to thing that my little sister is all grown up. We are 2 1/2 years apart and I feel like she is so much older than I am.... is that normal? Its like she is the first one to grow up and leave home... I know that is crazy because I am married and moved out.. but it just feels that way..... Did I mention that I am so excited for her.

My grandparents are here on their way through to Iowa for a family reunion and really wanted to make homemade ice-cream for Arianna's  Going Away Dinner... SO we had the best food ever last night!!!! Kabobs on the Grill... Potatoes... fruit...Banana Bars..... and HOMEMADE ICE CREAM! yummy. And apart from the ice cream/banana bars this meal wasn't too bad for me! Here are some pictures from the evening:

Shea (Arianna's Boy Friend) helping me with the Kabobs

David & Grammie cutting up the veggies

Before the Grill

David taking a turn cranking the ice cream

My turn

While Shea and my Mom grilled.. I built a fire...

Ready to Eat!

The "Party" Girl

Shea had just taken Arianna's Chicken off her plate.. great moment

Yummy..

My Dad and his best friend..Hobbie

Arianna reading her card from all of us

we got her a healthy living cookbook

Shea Making fun of Arianna

My Mom and I

It was an all around good time. I love that we can all get together and enjoy life together.  I hope that one day David & I will have a nice patio and fire pit that our friends and family can congregate around and just do life together...

HorseShoe part 2

If you haven't read part one...click....here

We went to my parents house to use my Dad's saw to cut down the wood to make the boxes for each back-board... and like a bad girl.. I forgot to take pictures of that.... so we will just get to see them all put together. While Dave was working on digging the holes I puled more weeds and the closer I got to the stupid Orange Tire.... I found a whole bunch of the "goathead" weed plant!! YUCK... and of being me.. I wasn't wearing any gloves. So my fingers have pokes all over them and the "goatheads" must have some sort of poison on them because I now have little red bumps on my fingers that hurt... Thank you weeds... NO thank you to the Day Care that used to rent out this place that never took care of anything!!!! we have a yard full of weeds and pokey goatheads!!!!! ..

Ok I am over that.... but seriously... David and I have worked hard to make this yard look good and we still have a yard full of weeds.... the hard part is that we are putting in all of this work to make it look nice and we are renting... its not even our home... oh well... its better to leave places in better condition that when you get there.

So the Orange Tiger Tire used to be the Day Care's sand box... so the area surrounding the tire is all Sand... no dirt at all.. which has become the neighborhood Cat Box/Playground.. I swear that there has to be at least 3-4 cats living in that tire. And if they are not living there they hang out there all the time.  When we moved in the landlord had planned to get rid of it, but the lady that had owned the Day Care called and said they still wanted it and were going to come by and get it... That was 4 months ago!!! I want that STUPID orange Cat House out of my back yard!!! thanks...

Now back to the Horseshoe Pit....

What are we supposed to do with all of that sand! I plan on mixing some of it into this spot in our yard to help with proper drainage... but I mean there is so much sand... maybe we can use it for when we put in a stepping stone pathway from our "parking lot" to our front door.. but I'm not sure if its the right kind of sand for that? ...

Anyway.. now that we have the boxes built we will start digging out the area for them and use some of our sand to fill them... then insert the pole and we will be ready to play in no time.... maybe even tonight.!!  I will post pictures of the finished product  Soon.

HorseShoe Pit part 1

If you don't already know this... David and I love playing games.. board games...yard games.. Game Games... and we love spending time with people.. SO we thought it would be lots of fun to install a horse shoe pit in our yard so that when we BBQ we could also have some fun!!  In our yard we have this narrow strip of grass on the side that is perfect for horseshoes... The project started out as we think this would be fun and then it started falling together really fast.

one of David's friends parents used to have a horseshoe pit but decided to take it out and gave us their backboards ... NICE... free stuff is always a blessing.  Then David went around town and got all of the other supplies we needed and we have been slowly working on it each week trying to get it all put together. 

David filling the tiki torches so that we don't get eatn alive by bugs while we work

David digging the holes for the back-board... Notice all of the weeds...

Our back yard.. the horseshoe pit will be on the far left-hand side

First backboard in

The area is almost free of weeds... YAY

My pile of weeds....

More to come later!!!

Fireside chats

Last night David and I went to my parents house for dinner and we had such a great time! My grandparents had come into town and after dinner we sat around their fire pit and my Papa told us stories of his childhood....the stories were great but watching him laugh and "re-live" the moment was so enjoyable.

One story was about how he and his friend got one of their roosters drunk.... First off, who would even think of trying this.... He went on to explain that his mom had gone into town and they went to the medicine drawer to get the whiskey that his Dad used when he got a cough...  anyway... they filled a small glass with it and then stuck the poor roosters beak in just far enough so that the it forced the bird to take a breath.... thus causing the rooster to suck in the whiskey.  At this point my Papa... and the rest of us... are laughing so hard its hard to breath. 

They made the rooster take about 4 of those forced drinks and then they let him go... hahahaha

That poor bird couldn't walk straight or even know what to do... he wandered around the yard drunk as a skunk...   

Isn't it crazy to think that is what was entertainment for him and his 11 siblings. Papa was one of 12. All the kids shared 2 full sized beds and didn't even own toothbrushes.. but they have some of the best stories I have ever heard.  I hope that as I go through life I am able to make memories the way my Papa did... so that one day I will be sitting around a camp-fire sharing those moments with my own family.

Grammie & Papa.. I love them so much... Look at how cute they are!!

Monday's

So its Monday...my day off.. well kind of! Its my day to get all of our house work & book work done. I usually watch at least one move while folding clothes...  PS i hate the "folding" part of laundry. Today I decided to watch "the Parent Trap II" and it was fun.. really cheesy but I guess I like cheesy.  I Vacuumed and swept the floors did laundry and made lunch for my hubby... I LOVE HIM.

Speaking of cleaning..


We have this red slip cover on our couch that greatly improves the look of our living room... but at the same time It is so obnoxious because I feel like every time you sit on it, it requires straightening out after and frankly I am really tired of fixing it.... I am hoping that one day we will find some awesome fabric that is in our price range so my Papa Buzz can cover it.. I am also hoping that he can make us an awening for our door so that when winter and snow come we will have a little cover from the snow and it won't track in as much mess...

Red Slip Cover... (ps the pillows are the actually couch fabric...now you can see why it needed covering up)

I also have this pile of "stuff" (that keeps growing) that I want to take to a second hand store so that someone might find use of it... but that would require me to make an appointment and take it somewhere... Lazy me, I know... so instead it stays by our front door collecting dust.  I keep telling myself that next week I will take care of it... but it hasn't happened yet.  Maybe next week will be the week.

My growing "pile of stuff"

and that leads me to another list of things that we seem to keep putting off.... like finishing our "thank you" cards from the wedding... I think I only have like 10 left ... I think I will celebrate when that is done... but we also need to take care of switching our car insurance and combining our phones to one plan. You wouldn't believe how much "paperwork" is involved in getting married.


So this weekend we had the opportunity to go to Casper, WY for David's cousins (Jason & Wendy) "wedding vow renewal" Ceremony.   And we had such a great time together.  Jason & Wendy have a blended family of 5, and the welcomed us in as if we were part of the family... well we are family.. but you know what I mean.  They had a simple ceremony in their back yard and they even had David and I read a poem during it. It was such an honor to be part of their special moment. I am so glad we are able to get to know them.  On of the best parts of the trip was the conversations we had together late at night when the kids went to bed... it is so cool to talk about what God is doing in our lives and listen to how He is moving in theirs....

Wend & Jason recommitting their vows :D

David and I love road trips... because it gives us hours of uninterrupted time together! This trip I read the entire book "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins (the 2nd book of the Hunger Game Series). It was so fun! I love reading out-loud to my husband... and it was fun being able to talk about the book together...Because we don't have TV to watch in the evenings I hope that we start doing that more in the evenings instead of reading by ourselves. Its really nice being able to share that time together. 

David & I road-tripping!! good thing Dave is still watching the road.. we have to be safe drivers ;)

David and I have also started some yard projects... one being installing a horse-shoe pit ..... I will show you the progress once its all done :D but we are excited and hope to have people over to play soon.....

A rant

Today I am out baby sitting and we take their dog on a walk down the street to play in the field and when we get there we let Charlie off the leash so he can run around and sniff stuff ... and while he was doing that I watched the grossest thing happen!!  THE FIELD WAS FULL OF GRASSHOPPERS!! and with every step Charlie took a swarm of them fled out of his path!!!! YUCK yuck YUCK!!!!  If you don't already know... I Hate Grasshoppers... and I know that its silly because they don't bite or anything.

But I don't really care,... they are yucky and I will always think that.

It didn't help that Jantzen.. the boy I am watching, thinks its cool and tries to grab as many as he can... but he did the sweetest thing when he realized how much I don't like them!  He ran ahead of me and all of the grasshoppers fled so that when I got there there was a lot less of them to attack me :D   I LOVE HIM

His older sister started school yesterday.. so its just me and the little man on Tuesdays again....  He decided to be a "picture taker"  Here is his work:

 Another thing that is bothering me today is all of the wind... its not too bad.. but I can totally smell the fires that are all around the state... and that gives me a headache.... ok done complaining... but seriously I am tired of my allergies making me tired.

Sweet Zucchini Bread.. and more

Hello everyone.. today I decided to be super productive.. I mean creative.

Last night I went to Target to look for some storage drawers so I can try and contain my massive scrapbook mess.  While there I found these shelves that were on sale so I got them and decided I was going to make them into a desk... You see I was sure my dad would have something lying around in his garage (he did).  So when David left work work I set to work also...  Here I'll let you see my progress..

all of the pieces on the floor

Finished :D

 So that took about an hour and then I went to work on a scrapbook for a gift .... I got so into my work that 3 hours went by and Dave was already back for lunch and... I didn't  have any lunch ready... bad wife haha (just kidding) fortunately we had left overs :D..

Then after Dave went back to work I decided to make Sweet Zucchini Bread.... and it was a lot more work than I thought... the Recipe called for 2 cups of grated zucchini and I was able to grate most of my little finger a slice of my thumb and I nicked my wrist... !!! AGGGH .... so the task was much harder than just add 2 cups of grated zucchini!..... THEN halfway through grating the zucchini I had an allergy attack (probably from the flour I got in my nose... but who knows!) So I had to leave the kitchen and sneeze like every min and so I took some meds but then I was groggy and I  & the kitchen was a mess....

 None the less I finished it.. Here is the recipe.

SWEET ZUCCHINI BREAD
~from "the JOY of Cooking"

0ne 9x5 inch loaf pan.
preheat ovan to 350F. Grease the loaf pan

Whisk together:

• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flower
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Blend Well in a large bowl:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir in the dry ingredients. Blend in with a few swift strokes.

• 2 cups of grated zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture
• 1 1/2 cups ground pecans or walnuts (optional)

Scrape the batter into the greased pan. Bake until the bread pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 45 mins. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before unfolding to cool completely on the rack


Here are my pictures of the process:

you must wear a cute apron.... it makes the experience better