Milkshakes

For Friday night out Ralph and I went to Shivers for a milkshake.  The goto place has always been Iceburg, but the line is always so long.  Shivers moves you through quickly and I think the milkshakes are better than at Iceburg.  We didn't need it, but it tasted good.

I ordered my standard favorite which is

An almond joy shake with fresh raspberries.  You get toasted almonds, coconut, flecks of chocolate and raspberries.  You can see Ralph's in the background, He chose a grasshopper shake.  Ice cream  with creme de mint and chunks of oreo in it.  It is rather tasty. 

We stopped at the park and let Riley run around until he did his business and our shakes were eaten.  We then headed home to watch what was left of the olympics for the day and headed to bed.

Not fancy, but fun to hang out and chat.

Generosity of neighbors

Look what landed on our doorstep

A box full of red current branches loaded with berries.  A family in our ward has an over abundance of bushes, so to cut down on production they cut the branches and dropped them off to a willing recipient.
I sat there and watched several Olympic swimming competitions and picked currents.  Right in the comfort of my livingrooom.  Ralph came in about half way and helped me finish.

These are the results of our labors.  It ended up being a good 4 Cups of berries.  We put them in our freezer until we have time to deal with them.  All I could think about was a jellyroll with whipped cream and red current jelly.

We have been trying to keep cool during this incredibly warm summer.  The tomatoes in the garden love it!  Ralph, Riley, and I...not so much.  Our swamp cooler and window air conditioning unit have been working overtime.

Here is a pic of Riley sharing a creamy with me.  Don't you fret now...I ate my share first.

Ta Ta for now

Shut the Front Door!

The Hobbit is now going to be a trilogy????

Can't wait to see it!

   

Where to start....

Lfe happened, and certain things took a back burner .  One of those of which happened to be my blog.  I kept waiting to have a second to post all the crazy things going on.  When I had a second I thought of other things that could fill that time that seemed a little more fun.
In a nutshell since I last posted....

• Funeral
• Weddings
• New babies
• Camping trip in the Uintahs
• 2 fishing trips
• Dinner group - we have one tonight in fact!
• Garden work - don't you just love fresh tomatoes.  We made our first bowl of gazpacho from garden vegetables.
• Girls Camp Assignment - Was asked to play Emma Smith in a Women of Faith Hike.  I learned so much about her.  In the process strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith.
• Family Reunion - Gardners.  We are an odd bunch, but I love every one of them.
• My stamping group - we have made some great cards.
• Stampin Up Convention - Here are a few of our group.

I will close this post with a recent recipe find on pinterest.  I made this bread to accompany the gazpacho.  Ralph reports that I can make this anytime I want.

Cheese, Olive, and Buttermilk Bread (i'm sure there is an official name - don't know it)  Found here at sugareverythingnice.blogspot.com

2 1/4 C all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard powder

60 g freshly grated parmesan

60 g grated cheddar cheese

1/2 C green olives sliced

8 pieces sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 tsp gresh ground black pepper

1/4 cup mixture of spring onion and Italian parsley

2 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried

2 eggs

2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 C buttermilk

Egg wash - made from 1 egg yolk and 2 tsp water.

Extra thyme sprigs and sea salt for topping

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350F. generously grease a large loaf pan

2) Sift flour baking powder, soda, salt, pepper, and mustard powder into a loarge bowl.  Whisk with a whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients.  Add both cheeses, olives, sundried tomatoes, spring onion, parsley, and thyme.

3) In a seperate bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the oil and buttermilk until they are well combined.

4) Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients.  Stir together to form a thick sticky batter.  Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and spread out evenly.

5)Brush the top of the batter with the egg wash and then sprinkle some thyme leaves and sea salt onto the loaf.

6)Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle of the load comes out out clean.  Leave in the pan for 5 mintues before turning onto a wire cooling rack.

Ta Ta for now

Playin with paper

When plans change 3 to 4 times within a matter of days...I have found myself with some free time.  Here is what I did with it.

I played with the paper from sale a bration 2012.  My ribbon is so obviouly crooked...Dang!  Oh well

This is the summer smooches paper that will be in the new catalog.  I love the bright colors.

This is how sweet Riley spent the free time.  Smart Dog!

Headed to dinner with some friends. 

Ta Ta for now.

A Visitor From Across the Sea

We got a message about a week ago from one of my cousins over in the UK.  There was a neice coming over to the US for a visit and could we please "house" her for a couple of days.  No problem.  We get treated so well when our family travels to the UK, I had to return the favor.

I have taken a couple of afternoons off of work to spend time with her and take her around to see some of the sites in SLC as well as do a little bit of shopping.  With the exchange rate, it is definitely to her benefit to buy a few things over here. She spent two mornings around temple square, the church office building and campus, and city creek shopping center.  I think she even made it over to the conference center.  It has been fun for me to see these things that I see everday through a first timers eyes.






Yesterday we went to This is the Place Park.  They were having baby animal days at that time, so we got to see baby chicks, ducks, turkeys, pigs, goats, and rabbits.  We even got to hold one

They had a couple of Highland cows. Who knew you would have to travel across the ocean to catch a glimpse of this little lady named Penelope







We have introduced her to deep fried dill pickles which really weren't a hit for her. American sandwiches which seem to "house a hole meal in a bun".  She has also tried tacos, sausage gravy and biscuits, peanut butter cups, grape flavored crystal lite and cake bites.  All of which have been a hit.  We keep a supply of Lucky charms for breakfast which happens to be a favorite.  A friend is picking her up tomorrow evening and taking her to Gunnison.  Not much there to see, so I hope they have some fun activities for her.

We have thoroughly enjoyed having her with us.

On a side note...Riley got a new bed, which he loves.  He tried it out before we even got it up the stairs.

Ta Ta for now

  

I got a tan

So today has been a great day.  I spent the morning with my stamping friends working on the projects for the month.  Want to see?  I am going to show you anyway. 

This is the Petite Purse Bigz die that Stampin up is selling as part of their Summer Smooches promotion.  It will also be in the 2012-2013 Catalog.

This little cutie will hold 4 hershey nuggets, 3 ghiradeli squares, a tube of chapstick...the list goes on. Who wouldn't want to get one of these?

Paper - Rich Razzleberry, Summer Smooches DSP, Whisper White
Accessories - Dotted scallop ribbon border punch, itty bitty punch pack, pearls

The next project used the Diagonal Score plate Stampin UP has added to their Simply Scored tool.  We made the back ground of the next card with it, but it can be used to make all kinds of goodies.

Paper - Whisper White, So Saffron, Bashful Blue
Stamps - Easy Events
Ink - Stazon Black, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, More Mustard
Accessories - Pennant Bigz die (circle doily), 1 1/2 circle punch, blender pen, diagonal simply scored plate, white gel pen

And last but not least a design I swiped right off of pinterest.  Isn't it cute?!  I think Patsy Waggoner was the original designer, but was posted by her upline in Stampin UP (gotta give credit where credit is due)

Paper - Island Indigo, Summer smooches DSP, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight.

Ink - Island Indigo, lucky limeade
Stamps - Summer Smooches, Sweetheart
Accessories - Summer Smooches Brads, 1in circle punch, large oval punch, Modern Label punch, Blossom punch,dimensionals.

So here is the part where you wonder why I got a tan??? We went to the spring Red & White game at the UofU Stadium.  The last day of spring practice the team splits and plays a quick game of football.  We took our nephews Monkey's #2 & #3.  We went to Chik fil A by request (what happend to the fruit, veggie high fiber thing???)  Then we went to the stadium.  The day was gorgeous and the boys are not into sports.  They have picked their Utah alliegences, but didn't seem too interested in what was going on.  They were bored and complained about how hot is was and how much longer we were going to have to sit there. 

They made it through and we stopped and got an ice cream and cold drink for the drive home.  Actually they were pretty good kids to hang out with.  By the time we got to their house, they were covered in ice cream, but completely happy to be squirted down with a hose.

Ralph headed to the garden to help get a few things done and came home with a whole bunch of rhubarb.  I  can't wait to see what gets made with it.  I love spring!


Ta Ta for now,