A little trip to LA...part 1

My sister-in-law Mai and I were blessed to have a quickly planned trip down to LA to visit my mom's side of the family. Daniel and my nephew Charlie came as well and they can still fly free. I didn't think we were going to be able to see my SoCal family this year but the Lord provided a way. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to see all of my cousins, aunts, uncles and Gramma. My Gramma got to have her three great grandbaby boys with her on Mother's Day.

I finally got to meet my cousin Eva-Karin's little guy Ethan. He is 4 months old and the cutest little chunk ever! I still can't get over how chubby his legs are. His mom called them tree trunks. I love squishing and mushing on babies who have rolls. Daniel was and still is such a skinny guy like his dad that I didn't get to do much squishing and mushing on him. Although I did and still do shower him with tons of kisses.


Yes, my son managed to step in dog poop in his bare feet on Mother's Day.
The mommas' reactions. :)


We took a day and went to Vasquez Rocks and Placerita Canyon up in the high dessert in the San Gabriel mountains. It was much hotter up there than down in the city but it was a beautiful day. Daniel had fun romping around and Charlie had fun hanging out in the shade. Daniel looking forward to the day when he will be big enough to climb all over those rocks. :)


Placerita Canyon was beautiful! Daniel and Charlie really enjoyed getting wet in the little creek.

And my son decided to sit in the creek. :) And then he decided to sit in the sand on the edge of the creek. :)




To be cont...

Campfire cooking...

I finally bought the cast iron dutch oven ( 12inch, 6 quart) that I have been eying for a while. (Thanks mom for the early birthday present!) I have been wanting one for camping and even for cooking outside at home. I also bought Camper's Guide to Outdoor Cooking which is a great book with pretty much all the information you need for cooking outside. I want to practice cooking some meals now before we go camping that way I will have the kinks all worked out.

Last night I made my first meal outside. I made the Mountain Man breakfast of potatoes, sausage, eggs and cheese. It's not what I would usually make for dinner but it sure will be good, hearty camping food. It was a big hit with everyone who came over for dinner last night. I used charcoal under the dutch oven to cook up the sausage and saute the potatoes. And then when I added the eggs and cheese I put the lid on and put charcoal on top of it to turn it into an oven.


When we are camping I will be using a mix of coals from the campfire and charcoal. I want to use the keyhole fire pit method when we are camping. The fire pit will look like...well...a keyhole. The big fire will be in the circular part of the pit and then your rake hot coals down the little neck of the pit to where you are cooking. This allows for more control of the heat you are cooking with. I also bought a standing grate to put over the coals.

I am really looking forward to camping and cooking some yummy campfire meals for my family. Summer is on the way!

Finally getting to plant veggies...

Spring has been such that I waited quite a while to plant anything. Night time temperatures are finally suppose to be warmer so I figured today would be a good day. My veggie garden is at my parents' this year since they have much more space. I planted two different kinds of lettuce, two different kinds of carrots and broccoli. I will also be planting potatoes and celery soon. My tomato plants will be arriving the end of May. And of course I will be planting squash and pumpkins.




My happy little helper! :)

Here is the pretty pond next to the garden. I am looking forward to doing all my gardening with this lovely view.

Here you can see the barrel my brother converted to catch rain water for the garden. It's so great to have water right there in the garden and even better that it's free! He even made one for me at my house for my garden at home.

It looks like spring might actually be arriving finally! :)

And I must give my mom credit for all the pictures. :)

Schoolhouse Tunic...

I finally made the Schoolhouse Tunic from Sew Liberated. I had such a fun time making it. She included very detailed instructions which kept any hair pulling to a minimum . I made the mistake though of making the largest size in the pattern because I have always found patterns to run small. Well, she is very true to size and it ended up being a tent on me. So then I had to learn how to do some taking in and even then it's still just slightly big but fits much better. I know for next time to make my actual size. I already have more fabric to make another one! I love to wear it with a comfy pair of leggings and the cute boots my hubby bought me for Christmas. :)

Resurrection Sunday...

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!

After a wonderful church service this morning that had me fighting back tears we all headed to my parents' for Easter dinner. Mom and I decided to leave it nice and simple so Dad BBQ'd hamburgers, mom made a broccoli salad and I brought fresh strawberries, angel food cake and whipped cream for dessert.

This is the first year that Daniel could enjoy hunting for Easter eggs. I hid some little plastic ones. I left them empty since he is still young enough that he didn't realize there were no treats inside, just finding the eggs was a treat enough. I have no plans of making a big deal about all the secular Easter traditions. Easter is such a wonderful day just celebrating the resurrection of our Savior that I want that to be the focus not the Easter Bunny, candy and Easter eggs. But that being said I don't see any harm in having a little Easter egg hunt and giving the kiddos a chocolate bunny just as long as Christ is the focus.

I had to include one of my nephew Charlie! Couldn't you just gobble him right up! :)

First hike of the year...

I don't mean to be negative but here in the Northwest we have been having a pretty crummy spring. Rain, rain, rain, rain and cold have been the main theme. On a positive note though my tulips are tuliping and we are getting closer and closer to summer. I will have a nice sized veggie garden at my parents' this year but that is for another blog post.



Thankfully we have had a nice little sunny streak this week which allowed us to go on our first hike for the season. Rue and I had the day off together on Tuesday so we headed out to Green Mountain near Belfair. We last did this hike a little over seven years ago when we were first dating. Time sure does fly. Rue and I both admitted we don't remember much from that first hike probably because we were all oogley about each other.

I carried Daniel in the backpack and I was very happy that the weight was just fine even though he has definitely grown since last summer. It is wonderful that he can actually get out and do some walking on his own now which also gave me a little break. The Olympic mountains had some clouds around them so we couldn't see them completely but the view was still beautiful.




Rue even carried Daniel on his shoulders for a little bit and we got a kick out of Daniel's choice for handles.


A tired Starbuck and Daniel at the top. Starbuck carried my water for me in her doggy pack which helped take some of the weight off my pack. She is such a good hiker.


We could see all the way to Seattle from the top!


We REALLY needed that hike! We have been having some pretty bad cabin fever! Can't wait for camping season to arrive!

REALLY!?...

Okay, so I just got an entire post done and it took me a nice chunk of time. Then as I was finishing the power cord pulled out of the computer and shut it off erasing the ENTIRE post. *SIGH* I really don't feel like writing the whole thing over again today so I will try again later. :(