Creativity Abounds!

Well, actually I should just title it "Jill comes up for the Weekend". Why, you say? Well, I'll tell you. You know how I'm always complaining that all I ever get to hang out with is stinky boys? Well, this weekend, Jill came up. She arrived on Friday night. On Saturday, she, Ken and I set out for some shopping. Poor Ken. We dragged him to Tai Pan, Rod Works, JoAnn Fabric and a few others, then we went to see Mama Mia! It was a very crafty, all-girl type day - and Ken was such a trooper! Of course, there was a yummy lunch at Boston's and popcorn involved....



So - I had found a great picture for my dining room wall, but it wasn't quite big enough - it needed something else. So that was my main focus at Tai Pan. Jill spotted these cute baskets and we picked out flowers & grasses to go in them. Jill arranged them and we hung them up on Saturday night. We are very happy with the way they turned out.

The other thing I found was this saying to go on the wall in my office. We put it up this morning and I really like it!

Thanks for all the help Jill! It was great fun having you around!

Cloverleaf Campground

More camping. We took a long weekend and went camping up St Charles canyon (west of Bear Lake) on Friday. Mom & Dad were there, then me, Ken & Luke went up. Later that day, Jill, Matt & Rachel came up. Then on Saturday, Corey, Trevin and Brady came up. We went through Minnetonka Cave and hiked up to Bloomington Lake. The weather was great. We had good food and played lots of games. We laughed a lot.

Here are some pics. For more (and better!) pics, see Jill's blog at http://jillbesfavorites.blogspot.com/

Corey and Trevin at Bloomington Lake. This one's for Gram!

Luke & Trevin wading in the VERY cold creek (or is it "crick"?)

There weren't as many chipmonks as usual, but this one was cute!

My three awesome, cute, wonderful, great kids!!!

Banana Split "Cake"

Several people asked me for the recipe for my Banana Split "Cake", so I said I would post it here.

Banana Split "Cake"
Prep: 15 min.

9 graham crackers, finely crushed (about 1 1/2 cups) - (I use cinnamon grahams)
1 c. sugar, divided
1/3 c. butter, melted
2 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, drained
6 bananas
2 c. cold milk
2 pkg (4-serving size each) Vanilla flavor Instant pudding
2 c. Cool Whip
1 c. chopped pecans
Mix graham crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the butter, press onto bottom of 13X9 inch pan. Freeze 10 minutes.
Beat cream cheese and remaining 3/4 c. sugar with electric mixer until well blended. Spread carefully over crust; top with pineapple. Slice 4 of the bananas; arrange over pineapple.
Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Gently stir in 1 c. of the Cool Whip; spread over banana layer in pan. Top with remaining 1 c. of the cool Whip. Refrigerate at least 5 hours.
Slice remaining 2 bananas just before serving; arrange over dessert. Sprinkle with pecans. Store leftovers in refrigerator.
Makes 24 servings.

ENJOY!!!!!

More Camping

We had Corey & Trevin over for dinner yesterday. Ken made Zesty Lemon Ribs and we had FRESH corn on the cob, and I made the BEST dessert - it's called Banana Split cake. But there's no cake in it. It's got a graham cracker crust, then cream cheese, vanilla pudding, pineapple, and fresh bananas and whipped cream. Sooooo yummy!

Anyway, Corey brought over the pictures that he took when we went camping and 4-wheeling, so I thought I would post a few more. :-)

This is me, Ken and Mr T. He LOVES to go camping!

This is our trailer.

Brady & Luke after 4-wheeling. Aren't they precious?

Brady really wanted to go fishing. He is holding (yes, holding!) two that he caught, but he caught another one after this. He was very proud.

Annual Camping Trip

Each year (this is our 4th year now), we go up to Stillwater in the High Uintahs and camp for a few days. The past couple of years, there has been quite a big group of us that go. Some people don't stay the whole time, some even just come up for a day. But it's a whole lot of fun!

This year, all together, we had a total of 19 people there at one time or another. We went up last Wednesday. On Thursday, a bunch of us rented ATVs and rode up to Lily Lake, then up to the Ridge Yurt, back down Wolverine, then Brady and Corey had races around the parking lot. Corey did donuts and covered us all with dust! It's all good - it was way fun!

We had great weather the whole time - there was only one day when it threatened to rain, but never really did. The wind tried to rip the awning off of our trailer, but it was just a microburst, gone as fast as it came.

There was much fishing, game playing, hiking, playing in the river, and r-e-l-a-x-a-t-i-o-n! A good time was had by all. Except maybe Rick. I don't know....it's hard to tell. :-)

Here are a few pics.

This is Lily Lake (before Trevin threw rocks!).

This is a little waterfall that's on the way up to Ruth Lake.

The whole ATV gang (except Corey, who's taking the picture).

Another view of Lily Lake.

Trevin LOVES to go "4-Wheelering".

Brady's Darth Vadar impression...

The whole ATV gang (again), this time we're missing Ken, who's taking the picture....

Matt, Jill & Rachel, who came up for our last night.

BADLANDS

So....even before we crossed the border from Wyoming into South Dakota, we started seeing these signs advertising "Wall Drug". I mean, there were a MILLION of them! Apparently, back in the 1800s, they were this little drug store out in the middle of the dusty prairie that had this genius idea of offering free ice water to customers. I guess it made them famous. It's now a full block long. They have western clothing, a restaurant, a multitude of tourist-trap-type souvenier shops, a restaurant, an arcade a bookstore, and tons more. They have 5¢ coffee and homemade donuts...

After that slightly odd experience, we went to the Badlands. Imagine living back in the 1800s and riding your horse along the prairie, which looks like this...

...and all of a sudden, you come upon this....
It's very odd. Standing at the edge, if you turn around, it's all green prairie grass, and turn around again and it's this beautiful canyon of red and yellow and white rock.

This cute bunny was just hanging out at one of the viewpoints.

Ken & Luke at one of the viewpoints. It's always windy there...

Today was our last day in Rapid City. We'll be leaving here in the morning and traveling to Billings. More pics tomorrow!

Love and miss you all!

Are They Bison or Buffalo?

The South Dakota trip continues....

Today we went to Custer State Park and to Wind Cave National Park. Custer State Park had two personalities - one a beautiful, mountainous area, and one a part prairie/part pine tree area. It was very green. LOTS of wildlife. We saw buffalo (or bison, not sure which), prairie dogs, pronghorns (which are like antelope), deer, wild turkeys, and even a vulture (eating roadkill, of course!).


We toured the Wind Cave, which was interesting, but not NEARLY as pretty as Minnetonka Cave.


Here are some pictures.

Luke at Wind Cave Ntl Park

Pennie & Luke getting ready for the cave tour.

Just a small specimen of the wildlife in the region...

Some cute wild burros. They're not native to the area, but are decendents to some burros that used to pull wagons of touristsup to the top of the mountain.

Just some beautiful scenery from the wildlife loop of Custer State Park.

Dead Presidents and Native Americans

Ken, Luke and I are in South Dakota. We arrived yesterday - drove almost 700 miles to get here! Wyoming was sooo boring. But South Dakota is beautiful.

This morning, we went to Crazy Horse Monument. It was a beautiful day, partly cloudy with a bright blue sky and whiter-than-white clouds. But it was really windy and cold. When the wind wasn't blowing, it was nice. So we toured around the monument and saw all that there was to see there, then went to Mount Rushmore. It was more beautiful there than I remembered (I was there when I was about 12.....or so). The wind died down and it was pleasantly warm. We all bought souveneirs - Luke bought a book, Ken bought a pin and I bought some Black Hills Gold - a necklace.

We left Mount Rushmore and went to a little town called Keystone, which is an old wild west town, with saloons, shootouts and tourist traps. As we were walking back to the car, it started to sprinkle. We were traveling the same way as the storm was, and it followed us back to Rapid City. Right now, the sun is shining, but I can hear thunder. We're just resting now, then we'll head out for dinner, then we'll be in for the night.

Miss you all and wish you were here!

Here are some pictures from our day.

Ken & Luke in front of Crazy Horse

Pennie & Luke at Crazy Horse
(Notice the wind!)

We took a bus tour to the base of the monument. WINDY!
There is much work left to be done on the monument...obviously.

This is what the monument will look like
when it's done.

Here we are at Mt Rushmore.

Meme

Yeah, I realize that I haven't posted a blog in over a month, and now two in one day! Well, I have been catching up on my blog reading, and I noticed that Jill passed me a meme a month ago and I didn't see it. So - here you go, Jill!

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
1. Produce: Clementines
2. Bakery: French Bread
3. Meat: Ick. Um…some sort of fish maybe?
4. Frozen: Ice cream – Ben & Jerry’s!
5. Dairy: Skim milk (to offset the Ben & Jerry’s)

Let's say we're heading out for a weekend getaway. You're only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what's in your bag?
1. Comfy Jeans
2. T-shirt
3. Jammies

If I was to listen in on your conversations throughout the day, what 5 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1. Duh
2. That’s Crap!
3. Oh Dirt!
4. Whatever, dude!
5. Are you kidding me?

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn't get to do, you probably wouldn't be in the best mood?
1. Eat breakfast!
2. Read email.
3. Drink a cup or two of tea.

We're talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 5 activities might we find you doing?
1. Watching TV (HGTV, Food Network, TLC, girl-shows)
2. Talking to the cats
3. Cleaning
4. Playing Sims
5. Laundry

We are going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it'll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
1. Monkeys
2. Lions
3. Polar Bears

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on t.v. of your choice. You can pick between 4, so what are you deciding between?
1. Oprah
2. Tonight Show
3. Iron Chef
4. October Road

You're hungry for ice cream. I'll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
1. Wow – when? Ok…Carmel Sutra
2. Cookie Dough
3. Chunky Monkey

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what's in there?
1. My big fat leather wallet
2. Purple glass case with readers in it
3. Keys with Mickey Mouse keychain that Jilly gave me.
4. About 12 kinds of lipstick/gloss
5. Hairspray

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let's pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 4 careers would be fun for you?
1. Hm…a little late for this one! Nurse
2. Interior Designer
3. Photographer
4. Chef

If you could go back and talk to the old you, when you were in high school, and inform yourself of 4 things, what would you say?
1. Cherish the time when your kids are young! They grow up too fast!
2. Take a risk. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll learn something.
3. You can never have too many shoes.
4. Don’t buy records – they’ll just take up space in the basement later.

Reality

Reality. Lots of reality shows on TV. I like them. Biggest Loser, Survivor, Iron Chef, American Idol....there's not much else to watch! Brady's girlfriend, Lara, interviewed for a new reality show the other day. They want to do another interview in front of the camera next. Cool! Sounds fun. I hope that whatever it is, they don't make her eat anything gross. Good luck Lara!

We took the parental units down South last weekend. We left here in the cold...with lots of snow. It was gorgeous at Cottonwood Cove! The sun was shining and it was so warm!

We had a good time hanging out with Brady. We did some shopping, lots of eating, and a bit of gambling. We ended up winning a little...at least we came home with more than we went down with. It was fun.

Here are some pics from our trip.

This is the marina at Cottonwood Cove. Look at that sunrise!

This is looking out the window of our hotel room at Sunset Station.

The District, where we went shopping.

And below - is Hoover Dam.

You Call That a Snowstorm?

It snowed today. I don't mean a little snow. It snowed - HARD - all day. Finally at about 1:30 they told us we could use "liberal leave" and go home. Gee, thanks. I can take my leave and go home any day! The roads were definitely better this afternoon than they were this morning, though! But my poor car got stuck in the driveway. I made it over the gutter (after gaining a "running" start), but couldn't make it up the hill - it was just too deep.Of course, I took this picture (and the next one) from inside, where it was warm and dry!

(This is the grill out back, in case you can't tell....)

After Ken got home and used the snowblower on the huge driveway, the sidewalk and one of the neighbor's driveways, he took these pictures. Pretty!

Laptops & October Road

Ken and I both got new laptops. When they came, mine wouldn't boot. Apparently the hard drive had come loose in transit (we ordered them from Dell). It was a pretty easy fix, but I was not very happy when it first wouldn't work! Mine is pink and I got a cute little pink wireless mouse with it. Ken's is midnight blue.

So I'm sitting here, lounged out on the couch, with my laptop on my lap, watching my current favorite show - October Road. LOVE that show. But because I love it so much, they'll probably cancel it! That's what always happens! Knotts Landing....Beverly Hills 90210....Real Life....Friends....Windfall, etc. Anyway, I guess you just have to enjoy them while they're on and know that if they cancel it, another new one will come along!