Let them eat CAKE

Head on over to Marty's Kitchen

if you want your sausage ground.

It's finally together

Before & After

We started this project back in October. We got it all apart and stripped and even sanded and re finished and then it moved to the basement with all of the hardware and there it sat. Finally we found time to put it back together and move it up stairs. Yeah for a finished project.

Staring at the night sky

Today was a big day. We left our house early this am. I had to work for a bit on our way to Cache Valley for a mountain man meeting. After the meeting we went to our friends house for a "moment". It was a lot of fun just relaxing and chilling. Then we headed to my brother Greg's house. We visited and then hit the dinner spot. After dinner we headed to my other brother Matt's house. He had connections (with his home teacher) to get us pigs. That was great. While we were there our other brother Drew showed up to get his pig. It was a lot of fun to stand around the kitchen and visit. We don't very often get the chance to just visit with each other. After we left Matt's John and I enjoyed one of our favorite things. We drove on a long car ride. We got to talk about deep subjects. Sometimes it feels like we are solving the world problems and if others could just see it as we do that would be great. Tonight we discussed predestination vs serendipity or our choices influencing our path in life. It was very deep. Then as we came through the canyon the sky was clear and there were thousands of stars. It was amazing and lead into more deep thinking. I enjoy going on a ride and being deep in thought and having no interruptions. Tomorrow is bound to be a great day because we had a great evening.

Annual Corned Beef Dinner

When I was a little girl 17th of March was a huge celebration. It was my mom's birthday and yes St. Patricks day too. We always had dinner and green, green, green. As I got older it was still fun to celebrate and always fun to find some thing with clovers or green on it. When my Mom started getting sick and we moved back up North we started having them over to celebrate her Birthday. Lucky for us we live close to both sets of parents.


That was all it took. A tradition was born.

This year the tradition changed a bit. My Dad and Carol are busy moving stuff into their new house. Gene's Mom and Dad said they would come. We invited Gene's brother Vince and his wife Ruth to come to dinner also. We had a great time and enjoyed each others company.

Thanks for a wonderful evening.

72 things I learned from LaRee

1~ Things are what you make of them
2~ FAMILY is important
3~ Be organized
4~ You don't always need new things
5~ You can make a wonderful meal with basic things
6~ Sisters are your best friends
7~ Take time for your self
8~ Learn something new every day
9~ Listen to others stories
10~ Love everything you are doing
11~ Spend time doing simple things
12~ Write down your memories
13~ Spend time outside
14~ Grow a garden
15~ Eat what you grow
16~ Use the space you have creatively
17~ Be happy to clean up after your husband....because you love him:)
18~ The best part of life happens around your kitchen table
19~ If you think you can your right
20~ Serve others
21~ Let others help you...you don't always have to be Super Woman
22~ Everyone has at least one good quality
23~ Lay on the grass and look at clouds
24~ Insist on a clothes line outside
25~ Don't be afraid to work hard
26~ There is no such thing as woman's work or mans work. Do it all
27~ Love the person you are. I made it
28~ Never get together without something to eat
29~ Love everyone
30~ A Skore bar will make it all better
31~ You can always fit anything you need to into the trunk of a car
32~ Food always tastes better on a fire
33~ Love your kids no matter what happens
34~ Taking care of your family is worth it, even if it is hard
35~ Time spent in the garden is time well spent
36~ Always agree to go for a car ride
37~ Washing dishes is better than drying them
38~ Singing makes the time fly by
39~ Peaches are better in the winter out of a bottle
40~ The smaller the bathroom the less you have to clean
41~ Be the organizer. Someone has to do it.
42~ You can make a castle out of a few chairs and some blankets
43~ Playing store in the garden adds hours of time spent in the garden
44~ It's ok to clean and cut a deer on your kitchen table
45~ Picking flowers and pressing them makes a fun activity
46~ Remain positive in the face of adversity
47~ Forth of July is a great time for a BBQ
48~ 7 kids can all use one bathroom and survive
49~ Back to school canyon dinners are a necessity
50~ Don't make divinity on a rainy or cloudy day
51~ Navajo Tacos are a family favorite
52~ When you are hunting you can make rain puddles in the road and no one cares
53~ You are never to old to swim in Bear Lake
54~ Never camp near skunks if you are having a kidney stone attack
55~ You can never have to many sewing projects
56~ Neighbors are great people to serve dinner to
57~ Reading every day is not an option
58~ Don't worry just make it happen
59~ Quilts are the best hugs you can make for your children
60~ Food storage is not only fun to store but fun to use
61~ The Easter bunny likes to color the mini eggs the best
62~ You can pretend to be "little house on the prairie" even in the city
63~ Sleeping in the great out of doors is the best sleep you will ever have
64~ Live today like there is no tomorrow. Enjoy today
65~ The school of life is a great place to learn
66~ Throw papa down the stairs his hat
68~ Your kids will never forget hearing you call them down stairs
69~ It's ok to cry
70~ Someday, we will be together again. I can't wait for my great big hug
71~ You will have a plate of fudge waiting for me because I can't make my own
72~ You are always here we just may not know it
73~ Everyone needs their own leprechaun

Let them eat rolls

I thought I would be a good wife tonight and not only make the meal but also make the rolls to go along with the meal. Usually when I make weekday dinner we settle for a slice of bread or just skip it all together. Tonight I had a bee in my bonnet and I not only made dinner but rolls to boot. I decided that half of the recipe would be plenty because I don't really care for rolls that have been frozen and my freezer is full.




Here is what we ended up with. I would hate to see what a whole batch would make. Now, why on Earth would two people need that many rolls? I don't know that we have the answer for that but they were delicious and made the house smell sooooo good.

Sleepy Saturday

I was the only one in the house that got up early enough to see the sun. When I got home in the afternoon after a long day teaching a class....



There was Zack, Snowflake, and Uncle Gene. They were in bed with cartoons on and evidence of breakfast in bed (cereal, bowls and spoons). They were sleeping and enjoying the rainy day being lazy. I woke them up and made them get dressed so we could go eat and run our errands.

They were good sports but they did rub in the fact that they got to sleep in and take the morning easy and I had been up at 6:00am. Maybe next time I will be able to sleep in with them.

Then again, I don't make it sleeping in too far. Not til noon at least.

What does your name mean

Today is national "Learn what your name means" day so here goes

AMANDA:
Latin: Loved by God, She who must be loved


JOHN:
Hebrew: God is gracious, Merciful


Find out what your name means.

The count down is here

By the end of the month we will be heading out on our first Camp trip of the year. That means that we have to go through everything in the trailer and in the garage. That doesn't seem like all that much work but, it is. You accumulate a lot of things for camp as the years go by and before you know you....

You have so much camp stuff you can set three camps up in order to use all of your camp stuff. So now it is time to dig through all of the "stuff" make sure we have some dry fire wood and get ready to set the tipi up for it's maiden voyage of 2010.

They're Back

div>My Aunt and Uncle left on a mission a while ago....Now they are home. I got to have lucnch with them a few weeks ago. Here we all are.

And now they are home. My cousing made lunch for us all the other day so we could get together and visit and welcome them home. It was so much fun to see them. They had stories to tell us and things to share. My Aunt sat with me and looked at my whole blog. That is an undertaking and she was a good sport. We can hardly wait to go to Soda Springs, Idaho and visit at their house.

Their house is very nostalgic to me. I spent a lot of weekends there in my child hood. My mom and I would also go to Soda for St. Patricks Day and April Fools. You see, my Mom and Aunt are identical twins. So on April Fools Day my mom would teach Aunt LaRue's class then they would surprise the students and they would see two Mrs. Curtis'. St. Paddy's Day is their birthday. We would go and take Aunt LaRue to lunch at the Arctic Circle. Who knew those would be two of the fondest memories I would have.

Now as an adult I have been blessed with being able to still go "home". John and I love to go to Soda. Uncle Ron and Aunt LaRue are always willing to have a visitor. They also love to sit around with us and play musical instruments. It is so much fun.

We are so glad they are home so we can visit once again. I am sure the people of Texas loved them, but we love them MOST!!

What's not to love about that?

Last month we had Family Project night at our house. After every one had gone home here is what we found on the white board on the rubbish door.......




That makes me happy. It has almost been a month. The grocery list has changed and been erased but all of the "LOVES" are still there. Thanks kiddos for the great messages!!!
Aunt Mandy & Uncle Gene love you all very much.