Rob had a 5k at his work and they also sponsored a kids 1k.
Luke was so excited to do this and would practice in the backyard. They had the
kids run around the baseball field at American Express 3 times. He was loving
that all of Rob’s co-workers were cheering him on. He did such a good job and
only stopped to walk a couple times. He got a little trophy and a t-shirt.
We did two backyard projects this summer. We put in two 4 x
4 raised box gardens and we did an 8 x 8 sandbox. The gardens went in fast and
we only had to move one sprinkler!! (I think we have rearranged all of our
sprinklers in the backyard at least once.) We have gotten a ton of tomatoes and
are overwhelmed by cucumbers, but the kids love it. None of our strawberries
have made it inside the house because Sophie eats them all.
The sandbox took a LOT of work. There is a huge 80 year old
tree next door that shades half our yard, so we wanted the sandbox under that.
The only space to put it was where a 10 x 10 cement pad was that the previous
owners used as a dog run. We obviously don’t have a dog so we tore the cement
out, but left a one foot border of cement around where the sandbox would go. We
found out the cement was 10 inches thick and had rebar in it! It took SO long
to break it all up. Nic even broke a sledge hammer trying to pound it out!
After that we built the frame and had sand delivered. They dumped it in the
street and we had the entire neighborhood playing on the sand pile before we hauled wheelbarrow loads full to the backyard. It has been the place to play
since then. The knocks on our door to play in Luke’s sandbox haven’t stopped.
It doesn’t matter what hour it is! It is a great toy!
Sophie turned two in June. She is so fun and has grown into
such a girly girl. She’s always trying to put on my heels and sneak my makeup.
And her toes are always painted pink, her FAVORITE color. She is talking like crazy! She isn’t the best
eater. She’ll eat one or two bites of any meal and be done until the next meal.
She is very different than Luke and I because she has a major sweet tooth! I
can’t get Luke to eat a popsicle or ice cream, but Sophie will sniff it out and
inhale! She loves nursery and all her little friends. She officially doesn’t
take naps anymore. Well she hasn’t all summer now. She is a very tired little
girl by the end of the day.
Lehi had their annual round up week. It is a huge deal
around here. We braved the crowds for the cow stampede down Main Street. Sophie
loved all the rodeo princesses and waved to each one. Our ward does a float
every year and the primary kids get to walk next to it. These floats are so
time consuming and are so amazing and huge. It is a calling I never want!! Our float
for the Mini Float parade on Friday night was a Dr. Seuss theme and all the
little primary kids were Sneetches. Luke got to ride in a wagon for the 3 miles
and I walked beside him. It was 100 degress and I died a little. Luke was great
and waved to everyone the whole time. All the adults had spray bottles and we
were soaking down the kids. Mom and dad came too, so that was fun for them to
see Luke. We went to the big parade on Saturday morning so Luke could sit and
watch and it was equally hot, but all the floats throwing candy made up for it.
That afternoon we had the family over for a little swimming
party for Sophie. We just had lunch and the kids swam in the pool and played on
the slip and slide. We had a gigantic chocolate cake with pink candles. Luke
made her a cardboard baby bed that he painted pink and purple and helped me sew
a baby pillow for it. He was so proud of himself!
For 4th of July we went to the Packer family
reunion up in Fruit Heights. Rob’s uncle has an amazing yard that is perfect
for all of us. There was a little kids parade, a gigantic homemade waterslide,
sand pile, and the traditional soft serve ice cream machine. All of the aunts
and uncles were reminded of a young Rob when watching Luke go gang busters on
the waterslide with no fear. Rob was quite the active little boy. We had to drag him away from it after 4
hours. That night we had Mom and Dad and
grandpa over for Chinese. Luke has been obsessed with all the fires around here
and always wants to watch the news about them. He heard there were lots of
places with firework restrictions and bans so he told us he didn’t want to do
fireworks this year because it was too dangerous. (His preschool was within a
few blocks of one of the fires a few months back.)
For Pioneer day we headed down to mom and dads and had some amazing ribs by Uncle Sam. It started to pour rain and luckily I brought the kids swim suits so they could play in the rain with Bryce. Luke agreed to some fireworks and he and Sophie thought they were great!
We also got to go to the Days of 47 rodeo with Rob's work. We got a little behind the scenes tour and met a bull named "Orange Juice." Luke loved his name and we watched for him until the very, very end for a rider to ride him. Sophie was pretty entertained by it all, surprisingly. She sat there the whole time watching all the cows and horses and cowboys.
I thought I wrote in June! Guess I have a lot to catch up on.
At the beginning of June we were still in Utah and we'd just gotten our car back from the shop with it's "new" (used) transmission. ($$$) We left the evening of Sunday the 3rd to head home. We thought we'd drive all night but by about St. George Addie was so tired (it was about 11 PM) but couldn't get comfy to sleep in her chair. She fell asleep for about 45 minutes and woke up screaming mad. She screamed for about an hour straight and even managed to get her arms out of her seatbelt. Ugh. We gave up and stayed over at South Point in Las Vegas. (Stopping in Las Vegas and realizing all our friends were gone made me so sad!) Addie woke us up early the next morning so we just got right on the road and drove to Fresno. We got in around 1 in the afternoon. Jacob had brought in all the furniture and boxes but nothing was unpacked. (Wait, it's August and we're still not completely unpacked. Oops.)
Our new house is older, I think early 70s. We have 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a dining/living room, a "den" and a garage. And the back yard is pretty nice, besides the part of the grass that is dead from the previous tenants' above ground pool. We like the space but the house has some quirks. The kitchen and dining have new fake wood floors but the rest of the house is carpeted in hideous dark brown carpet. Every room has a different light fixture. The ceilings have a really ugly popcorn texture and the walls are textured too. The sink is tiny. The water stinks, literally (we still haven't figured this out yet, but we're not drinking it!) And our neighborhood is not our favorite. But we definitely got the biggest/nicest house possible for the really affordable price. Jacob constantly says we're going to move as soon as the lease is up though.
Our ward is nice but we haven't really clicked with anyone. It's mostly got families with older kids and lots of seniors. Nobody has really taken much effort to get to know us, including the Bishop who didn't even introduce himself till we'd been here 6 weeks. But I'm still trying to go to Relief Society activities and meet people. I'm hoping when the weather cools down a bit there might be a play group or something. On a positive note, Addie LOVES nursery.
June kept us busy doing lots of mundane tasks like registering the cars, getting new drivers licenses, changing the car insurance, setting up the utilities, etc. Jacob's car's check engine light has been on forever and in CA you can't get your car registered if it's on so he spent DAYS trying things to get it off. Finally he got it off just long enough to get it registered.
Jacob's residency orientation started June 18th and he started seeing patients on the 23rd. Every 4 weeks he'll be on a new rotation. His first one was "wards" which is one of the hardest. Morning Report is at 7 AM which means he has to be there with his charts done before that. Most days he didn't get home until 6-7 PM and at least once a week he had short call which means he was on until 8 but wasn't done with charts until at least 9. Once a week he also had clinic in the afternoon which meant he had to go back to the hospital afterward to finish his patients, which was always a late day. He got 4 days off the whole months, every other weekend. Needless to say, Addie and I hardly saw him and he was so tired.
Luckily, he started a new rotation the end of July and it has been great. ER at the VA. Twice a week he has the morning off then clinic in the afternoon. He always has the weekends off. He's usually home by 6:30 at the latest. It has been a nice change of pace! Good to know that not every single month of residency will be really hard.
Addie got hand, foot, and mouth early in July. It was awful. She didn't have the hand or feet rashes which was good but made it harder to identify. We went to the urgent care and they didn't know either. I finally figured it out by searching the internet. A week later we found out that the whole nursery had come down with it but nobody had thought to call us (and save us a trip to urgent care...) Addie went a whole week without using her binky because of the mouth sores (and subsequently not sleeping much) and I thought she might give it up for good. But then she found one and now I think she's more binky obsessed than ever. Oh boy!
Heidi and I have been having really great success with our business
lately and that has kept me extremely busy. In just 2 months we've made it into the top 100 sellers of ALL TIME on the site we use and one of our products is currently the #8 most popular item on the whole site. It's been good to have that
distraction while adjusting to the new place. I have a mother's helper
who comes 2-3 times a week in the morning to hang out with Addie so I
can work. She's a little younger than I wanted and sometimes Addie is
too big of a handful for her but overall it's been good.
At the end of July we made a super quick trip to So Cal. We stopped in Santa Monica to visit my dear friend Emily and her family. We went to the In-N-Out at LAX where you can watch the planes land. Then we continued to San Diego to meet up with Jacob's sister Erin who was there on vacation with her little family. We met up with them at La Jolla Shores and enjoyed the evening there. It was actually pretty chilly (a nice change from Fresno weather.) Then we went to El Cajon (where Jacob's grandparents used to live) to go to this frozen yogurt shop that their Grandpa loved. It has a 30 minute line! The next morning we joined Erin's family at Singing Hills (a country club) to have breakfast with them and Grandma Bell and Jacob's aunt Lisa + her 2 adult children. Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach (a much quieter beach than La Jolla but it was actually an inlet so the views weren't as good.) Addie was in heaven at the beach! We took off mid afternoon to head home. It was a super quick trip but we're glad we got to go. It was really nice to get out of Fresno.
One of the things we've loved here in Clovis (when the weather was cool for a little while) is the Farmers Market.
Again, from Studio 5, a local daytime TV show on KSL.
Unlike movies and television shows there is no content rating system for
books. The pages may contain sex, violence and foul language or be
perfectly clean; it's a gamble. If you are content conscious, it is especially
risky to pick up a book about romance or love.
But who doesn't enjoy the smolder, intrigue and sigh-worthy romance of a
well-crafted love story? So if you want all the good stuff of a romantic read
without worrying about content, look no further than this list of favorite clean
romances. All of these books are free of graphic/descriptive sex scenes (in a
few of the books sex occurs, but is only mildly described or happens "off-
stage") and contain no or only small amounts of foul language and violence.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Hazel is terminal. She's known it since she was diagnosed with Stage IV
thyroid cancer at age 13. Now at age 16, thanks to a miracle drug, she's been
given some time to live a quiet life, but knows there are still fewer days
ahead. The last thing she expects is to fall deeply in love, but when seriously
handsome, intelligent, bold Augustus Waters appears at Cancer Kid Support
Group, Hazel's simple life takes a whole new direction.
This book is simply amazing. The story is so real and achieves that elusive
goal of speaking about life, death and love in a way that is meaningful
instead of pretentious. Bold, slightly irreverent and genius.
The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum
Abby, a senior in high school, has a normal, predictable life: good friends,
reliable boyfriend and college applications in the works. But all her normalcy
is interrupted when mysterious, gorgeous and Italian, Dante Alexander shows
up. He's unlike anyone she has ever met and Abby soon discovers that she
cannot resist Dante's allure. But as Abby is swept up in his love she is also
pulled into his world of danger and time travel, filled with secrets that reach
all the way back into the sixteenth century.
Pick up this beautifully written young adult novel, the first in The Hourglass
Door Trilogy by local Utah author Lisa Mangum, and forget everything else
for a day or two. The love story is loaded with swoon-worthy moments and
the time travel adventure feels fresh and new.
After Hello by Lisa Mangum
After you finish The Hourglass Door Trilogy, get your hands on Lisa
Mangum's next young adult book, After Hello, which hits shelves in
September 2012. With inviting writing, a quick pace and a wonderful first-
love story, this book is a pure delight to read. Mangum has a gift for subtle,
but smoldering romance.
It's Sara's first trip to New York City. With her camera in hand, she is ready to
capture every moment of the experience. As she stands on the busy streets
of the city she watches a handsome guy step out from a bookstore and she
impulsively takes his picture. From that one picture a whole day of adventure
is born. Sam and Sara partner together to find an elusive piece of art work
and along the way discover the unexpected: love and themselves.
To join in a special promotion for the book visit trackthepacket.com Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs
The Kerr family is a family of secrets. Lady Elizabeth Kerr hides her devotion
to the auld ways. Her husband, Lord Donald, hides his shameful behavior
from the household. And the dowager Lady Marjory hides gold under her
floor boards and harbors regrets of the past. As the city of Edinburgh is
turned-over in the wake of a rebellion, so, too, are the Kerr's secrets left bare
for all to see.
Everything about this book is intoxicating: the romance, the writing, the
emotions, and the vivid eighteenth-century Scottish history. It's nearly
impossible to put down and, thank goodness, when it ends there are two
more books to finish the story (a trilogy).
Thorn in My Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs
Ah, the fated love triangle. In the autumn of 1788, on the mysterious Scottish
Lowlands, Jamie and Evan McKie fight to inherit their father's lands and
flocks and two sisters, Leana and Rose, vie for the attention of one handsome
man. Only one brother can inherit and only one sister can be the bride.
Liz Curtis Higgs, master of historical fiction, pulls the reader in from the first
word and takes them on a journey of passion, drama, deceit, betrayal,
jealousy and secrets. This is also the first book in a trilogy.
Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson
From a harrowing attack by a highway man to the unexpected attention of a
handsome gentleman, Marianne's visit to the fabulous English country estate
Edenbrooke is nothing she expects. Local author Julianne Donaldson's new
Regency (think Jane Austen) love story is a pure delight. The first in a new
brand of novels called "Proper Romances" from local publisher Shadow
Mountain, this book has all the smoldering romance without any of "that
other stuff." Watch for more "Proper Romance" titles coming out yearly.
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Can a hummingbird cake bring back lost love? Is there a ghost dancing in the
woods? In the small Southern town of Mullaby, North Carolina, these kinds of
questions are not a rarity, but the norm. When Emily Benedict comes to town
to stay with the grandfather she's never met, in hopes of learning more
about her mother, she is surprised to find that strange is around every
corner. From the wallpaper that changes to fit her mood to the strange light
flitting around the yard late at night, Emily finds nothing she expects, but
everything she needs.
Sarah Addison Allen's writing is magical. This endearing story of every-day
magic and loveable misfits will enchant readers from the very beginning.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), of the small English village of Edgecombe St.
Mary, is everything a proper English man should be: loyal, wry, courtly and an
expert on a properly brewed cup of tea. After his brother's death the Major
finds himself in an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani
shopkeeper from the village. As they share a love of literature and bond over
the shared grief of the loss of their spouses, the two soon find their
friendship blossoming into something more. But the village society is not
entirely comfortable with their relationship. Can they push past culture and
tradition to find happiness?
A perfectly charming and thoroughly enjoyable book. As funny as it is
sophisticated, Major Pettigrew's love story between two older people will
leave the reader with a smile and a warm heart.
A Time to Love by Barbara Cameron
Television over-seas correspondent Jenny Knight faced the unthinkable while
in a war zone and almost lost her life. Now, as part of her recovery, she's
staying with her grandma at her home in an Amish community. As her body
heals from the devastating injuries sustained in a car bomb attack, Jenny
finds a teenage crush for her grandma's neighbor, Matthew, sparking to life
again. But can she look past her scars and their different lives to find love?
This book is filled with hope, redemption and sweet romance. Not only is the
story romantic, but also intriguing as life in the Amish world is revealed. A
quick, satisfying and memorable read. This is the first book in the Quilts of
Lancaster County series.
A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin
Violet Hayes is a proper young lady of wealthy society, but she longs to
experience mystery and romance, the kind she secretly reads about in novels.
After discovering a shocking truth about her mother, Violet manipulates her
way into visiting Chicago, intent on tracking down the woman she thought
she'd never see again. Her grandmother and three quirky sisters open their
home to Violet and each decides it's their duty to help her find a purpose and
a husband. From the thrills of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 to the city's
depressing slums, Violet's journey will be everything she hoped for and many
things she never dreamed of.
This light, fun read is rich with interesting history and keep-you-guessing
romance.
The Shoemaker's Wife by Adrianna Trigiani
Enza and Ciro first meet as teenagers in the majestic beauty of the Italian
Alps. But after one night of heart-felt conversation and a first kiss,
circumstances beyond their control pull them apart. They meet again,
unexpectedly, far from their native home in the hustle of turn-of-the-
century America, but still fate seems to want to keep them apart. Fate,
however, is not strong enough to keep these star-crossed lovers apart
forever. From the beauty of Italy, the drudgery of garment factories, the
trenches of The Great War and the glamour of the Metropolitan Opera, this
epic and beautifully written story of love and family is one that everyone will
be talking about.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
One of the bestselling novels of all time, Rebecca deserves every accolade it
gets. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." With this haunting first
sentence, the second Mrs. Maxium de Winter begins her tragic story of
romance and mystery. Married young to a husband she barely knows, the
new bride is forced to live in the shadow of the life of the first Mrs. De
Winter, the beautiful Rebecca.
This mysterious, suspenseful romance should be on every love-story-lover's
list. The writing is so atmospheric and the emotions of the poor second Mrs.
De Winter heart-wrenching. A must-read!
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre's quiet patience, endless perseverance and sharp mind catch the
eye of her handsome and arrogant master, Mr. Rochester, after she is
employed as governess to his ward. Despite the fact that Rochester is far
above her station, Jane falls irrevocably in love with him and soon discovers
that he may share her passion. But tragedy and old secrets arise to stand in
the way of Jane's happiness.
Deep sigh. Few love stories are as affecting or as tragically romantic as "Jane
Eyre." First published in 1847, Bronte's quiet but stalwart heroine broke the
mold of standard class conceptions and is one of the most endearing female
characters of all time.
Book Rating Websites
Also, check out these on-line resources that are helping readers take the
gamble out of picking up a book.
Rated Reads (ratedreads.com) - Book
content rating website, all genres
The Literate Mother
(theliteratemother.org) - Content ratings for youth and
young adult books
Compass Book Ratings
(compassbookratings.com) - Book content rating
website, all genres
We had a great time on a trip with Greg and Lindsey and kids to Yellowstone. Here we are in Burlington at the cemetery. We also explored the old tank on the farm where we gathered a few treasures: some of Mark's early school workbooks, his little bicycle, an old sled and a milk bucket. It was also fun to discover that the old store was still there and everyone chose an icecream bar. It was hot there, and we found that the temps would be high in the park too.
Mark wanted to show the kids the Cody Chapel with it's famous church history mural. There is a senior missionary couple there and Mark was able to tell them a lot about the history of the building. I was especially fascinated with the old Junior Sunday School room which hasn't changed since Mark's day. It felt like stepping back in time. And even though it wasn't MY old sunday school and Primary room- it brought back little-kid memories...with the giant picture of Jesus we used in the 60's and the old pew that stretched across the back of the stand, and the little podium and the old chairs. This is now a favorite memory for me from our trip.
We spent the night in Cody and went to a rodeo. The next day we drove into the park and looked for a picnic site. We pulled into the first good one we saw ....and drove right out since there were two huge buffalo by the tables! It was so fun to get up close and personal...from the safety of the car! We were able to see a LOT of animals in the park,. including a black bear, and mother bear and 2 cubs, a grizzly (see below), elk, a wolf, pelicans and LOTs of bison.
We enjoyed some hiking in the park. The trail down to the brink of the falls of the Yellowstone River was the hardest. Even though this was an amazing view, i was glad to leave.....scaaaary!
Another favorite memory was seeing this grizzly up so close!!! We watched him pawing at the ground and Sarah informed us that he was digging for worms! (cute!)
Sarah- age 6, Mark, Adam- age 8, Linda, Isaac- age 4, Greg and Lindsey at Yellowstone Canyon. A fun memory is how i taught the kids how to play string games (Cat's cradle ya know.) We also had the fun of finding $5 Yellowstone Park t-shirts.
Loved picnic lunches in the park. We ate breakfast in our cabins and had dinners in the cafeteria at Canyon or Lake Lodge. Our last night in the park found us waiting outside our cabin for a buffalo to move so we could get out of the cars! After leaving the park we drove down to Star Valley and had dinner with Lindsey's family. She and the kids stayed there and we drove to Salt Lake with Greg and took him to the airport the next day. Mark and I enjoyed hitting a few favorite stores in the valley, and eating dinner at Thai Siam in downtown SL before heading to Salem to see Nette and Jess.
Nette and I yakked and yakked!!! We made a cute table runner that looks like a giant ruler. It was a lot of fun to go to dinner at a favorite Thai place in Orem and to Hale Theater where we saw "Crazy for You." Nette made us the BEST meals....loved the tacos with the grilled chicken and fish. And Nette made the most scrumptious (Rumbi's Voodoo) salad. She is a master with food. It was amazing to see the stuff they were taking on the trek and to hear what they were in for!!!
I was delighted when Project Runway started in July. I took inspiration from their new "workroom" decor and added these stitching lines to my studio with vinyl strips.
This is one of my favorite little groupings on a shelf in my studio. Isn't the book perfect?
Hope you all have a good last month of summer. I have been thrilled to be able to walk outside again now that i am officially at the 2-year-recovery mark. Getting my hip replaced was one of the best things i have ever done. Happy August to all!
Yesterday the remodel project moved indoors. My kitchen was dismantled, including the laminate flooring in about 90 minutes. The biggest problem encountered came when they opened the drop down ceiling over the actual kitchen area. They had hoped the original builder had sheetrocked at the ceiling but no luck. They had to sweep the insulation out of the way up in the attic, then open the ceiling and catch all that fell in a big plastic tarp. New insulation was installed yesterday and it was sheetrocked today (I haven't taken a picture yet, there is still work going on out there.)
The biggest change is the removal of the wall between the living room and kitchen area. That came down surprisingly quickly too. It looks like a totally foreign place now! We still can't use the living room - everything is covered with tarps. We can begin to see the end now. Thanks for letting me share our adventure!
Wow! I'vee been a slacker. Well, a Newsletter slacker. Everywhere else in my life I've been running like crazy!
So May...We survived end-of-year testing. Phew! And I agreed to help teach the district math trainings introducing the new Utah Core Standards for math. We call them the "Utah Core Standards" because calling them the "Common Core State Standards" like the rest of the country apparently implies we're part of a socialist plot to take over the world. Yeah, don't get me started (and maybe edit that part out when you send it to Grammy). Anyway the idea of teaching it didn't really excite me but, 1) the money was decent, 2) I had to attend regardless so I may as well teach instead of sit through it, and 3) I'm about as well informed on math education theory as anyone in the district so I knew I could make it worth while for the attending teachers. Agreeing to this meant taking a couple half-days away from school. This was the first time I'd left the darlings with a sub all year because they were so CRAZY for me. The one time I tried to have a sub I'd had to come back to school part way through the day, so this was new territory for us. And they did really well! Yay! They have grown up!
I managed to get a sinus infection half way through the month and ended up taking half a sick day (the first all year--thank you Vitamin D and your immune boosting benefits!). Again the kids did really well!
We also staged our opera. This is the last one we're doing. We're doing something else instead next year. Not sure what yet...
The plot this year was some hungry wildcats hear a boulder rolling toward their jungle. They try to eat the magical golden meat that will make them strong enough to save their homes, but the anacondas and monkeys fear the wildcats are tricking them (with their inferior sense of hearing they don't know about the boulder) and just want to take over the jungle. So the wildcats drug the monkeys and try to sneak the meat. Then the anacondas hear the boulder too and the sound wakes the monkeys. Everybody eats the meat and they all work together to stop the boulder. And then they have...a fiesta!
Instead of taking a trip this year, I've been updating the living room. New entertainment center (Ikea) and a new TV. It finally looks like adults live here instead of college students! I still need to paint and decide on some pictures...
On the last day of school, I threw a Scottish Appreciation Night for some friends. I wanted an excuse to use the new TV and watch The Decoy Bride (set in Scotland) hence the theme. We had a "Shepherd's Pie Bar" Like a mashed potato bar with different toppings, except I cooked up some shepherd's pie filling. Thanks for the Bisto (and the push pops) Aunt 'Nette! I made empire biscuits (man those are time consuming!) and shortbread. We had sausage rolls and Welsh rarebit crostini and beans-on-toast crostini. I made a chilled pea salad which was surprisingly good. And chocolate trifle push-pops! We played Scottish trivia (Emily won) and watch the movie. It was loads of fun!
ETA: I stole this picture from Em's blog.
I spent the first part of June recuperating. Then was off to Core Academy training (tres dull) and worked on getting the Morning Work Book and 2nd grade homework listed in our shop. It turns out that those are 2 very lucrative items! It's making me eager to get more up for sale!
We had our first book club at the end of the month. I hosted and we read the book Matched. I have pictures, but my camera's downstairs so...just imagine!
We had chicken salads, mac & cheese, and ham sliders in separate foil bowls like in the book. And we had lots of desserts (like Grandfather's feast in the book). Lots of fun! I hope this becomes something regular (although I don't want to host every time!).
For July 4th I went to see the parentals. The house looks so different! I can't wait to see the finished product!! Now I'm in the middle of teaching the district math trainings. Half-way done! Hopefully this week will go without anyone yelling at me...Teachers are the worst!!
I have nothing of interest to report so enjoy the following recipes
Apple Cranberry Salad
1/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. sour cream
1 T. sugar
Mix together.
3 apples - 2 red, 1 green, chopped
1/2 c. walnuts
1/4 c. cranberries
1 stalk celery, sliced
Stir the last 4 ingredients into the mayo/sour cream mixture. Serve over lettuce if you wish.
Orange Waldorf Salad
1 c. drained pineapple tidbits
1 apple, sliced into chunks
3 oranges, segments sliced into chunks
1 6 oz. yogurt (try lemon)
1 T. honey
1/2 c. walnuts
1/4 c. cranberries, optional
Mix fruit together. Combine yogurt and honey, and pour over fruit. Stir gently to coat. Add nuts.
Glazed Citrus Doodles - Martha Stewart
Preheat oven to 350.
2- 3/4 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix together.
2 sticks soft butter
1-1/2 c. sugar
2 T. orange zest
4 tsp lemon zest
Mix till light and fluffy, 3 minutes.
Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time.
Add flour mixture and combine.
Roll dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes.
Transfer after 5 minutes and cool completely.
Whisk together:
1 T. orange zest
3 T. orange juice
2 tsp lemon zest
3 T. lemon juice
2-1/2 c. icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Spread glaze over cookies.
