Saturday, December 18, 2010

Growing up we had some old records that we loved to listen to. Stuff like Hair by The Cowsills, Sweet Pea by Tommy Roe and Snoopy vs The Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen. But after all these years I had never heard the Christmas version of Snoopy vs The Red Baron, called Snoopy's Christmas! Today we were driving to the Big City and listening to the radio. When I first heard the song come on I was kind of surprised because I don't think I have ever heard Snoopy vs The Red Baron on the radio. But I was even more surprised when I realized the lyrics were different and it was actually a Christmas version! Maybe I'm the last to know about Snoopy's Christmas but I figured I'd share it with you all! So, here it is, Snoopy's Christmas...

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I know it's been a loooong time since I posted. I'll try to do better in the future. But today I have a little Christmas greeting to share with you. Hope you like it!
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

So this week is the Nevada State Fair although this year I guess they have changed the name to the Wild West Fair. I decided to take the kiddos to go to the fair. We saw the sheep and goats and alpacas and they had replicas of old west camps and things. Somehow we missed the other livestock but that's probably because the kids were preoccupied with the rides. They started out in Kiddie Land.

Fun Slide...

Carousel...

Then moved on to the kiddie coaster...The Dragon Wagon.

Sno cone break....


Ring the bell!

The BIG ferris wheel!

The Silver Streak Himalayan...look at their faces!

And they even wanted to go on the Super Shot! MoMo wanted to go on it again! They take you up to the top and drop you...


We did almost all the rides including the Tilt A Whirl, Dizzy Dragons, the Sizzler, the bumper cars and the Gravitron. Riley went on the Tornado, Zendar and the Kite Flyer but MoMo was a bit too short so she and I sat out on those. Neither of the kids was big enough for the Zipper but I'm sure before long they'll be loving that ride too! They are definitely thrill seekers. MoMo's favorite ride was the Tilt A Whirl and she screamed and laughed the entire time. Big R's favorite ride was the Zendar. I had bought unlimited ride wristbands and we definitely got our money's worth since we rode many of the rides several times. But it was a cool and windy day and when the sun started going down it got too chilly for us. I broke one of the cardinal rules and didn't bring jackets! What!? Anyway, I don't think I could have spun around and around at high speeds many more times. Getting too old I guess. LOL So, there you have it. The Wild West Fair. And my dare devil kids!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Hello again, friends! So, it's been awhile since I last posted but school has started and I have more time on my hands now. You might get sick of me because I'm blogging so much. Kidding! I will hopefully keep you all up to date but I have a number of projects around the house that I plan on tackling, mainly organizing. And also finishing my classes. So I'll be busy but I can work at my own pace.
Anyway, I mentioned that the kiddos have started school again. Big R is in 3rd grade this year and MoMo is in 1st. This year they both go to the same school. Big R has done a great job looking after his little sister at school. He walks her to the bus stop and helps her get to her class and all. Before school started they had a Meet the Teacher event and he gave MoMo the grand tour of the school, sharing bits of insider info that he has accumulated in his 2+ years there. And MoMo is so excited to go to the same school as her big brother. To be a 1st grader and eat lunch at school. Here's a photo of them on the first day of school. Aren't they adorable?
I love how they threw their arms around each other. Sure, they do their share bickering and squabbling but they really are the best of friends.
Well, I meant to also share my new wall art but I think I'll do that another day. Love to all! Talk at you soon!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Alright, I know I've been promising some new pics but haven't delivered. But today's your lucky day! I'm actually gonna post them! So, these are from way back in June. We went camping/gold panning at Bear River for the weekend. MoMo when she heard we were going camping told me she didn't want to go. But then she heard it was Bear River and she got all excited about the blackberries. Unfortunately, the blackberries were still blossoming and though there were some berries starting to grow, there weren't any ready for eating. She still managed to find some fun there.All you need for hours of fun is a hammer and a giant nail! (Large stump is optional) The first evening after we were done panning and playing in the (VERY cold) water the kids went to work pounding these nails into the ground, the stump and about anything else they could find.Meanwhile the dog was so tuckered out that he plopped down on the ground and tried not to move a muscle. Not sure what that was all about. He hardly did anything all day. But he was pooped. Later we had a campfire and smores before bed.
Next to us at the campground were a couple of fellow gold prospectors. Hubby got chummy with them, talking gold and even helping to get their truck started when it wouldn't start. This paid off when they sent over some leftover dinner they had made. It was basically lasagna but instead of actual lasagna noodles they used rigatoni. And it was A-MAZ-ING! Seriously amazing. Like restaurant quality. And believe it or not, the whole thing was prepared directly over the campfire. No campstoves were used in the making of this marvelous dish. The noodles were boiled over the fire. The sauce cooked over the fire. All of it. And there aren't enough superlatives to adequately describe how yummy and delicious it was. It would have been awesome if it had been served at a regular dinner and yet it was prepared CAMPING over the fire. Wow. Well, that pretty much covers the weekend. The kids did some panning but mostly they played in the water. Hubby and I panned a fair amount of gold. Not that we're rich from it but it's slowly adding up. (today gold is $1181.92 an ounce) and it's fun to just get out there and spend some time in nature.
I also have something else to share with you. I have been busy this weekend canning jam and stuff. I made blueberry jam, sweet cherry jam, pineapple jam, and peach butter.
Aren't they pretty? And tasty, too. My favorite is the peach butter. I'm going to go get some more peaches and make more peach butter. Yum! And then we have some beets in the garden that Hubby wants me to pickle. And maybe even some cucumber pickles if I can find some pickling cucumbers. This is another of my things that once I start I can't stop! I'm addicted! So, anyone need some jam?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Ok, I know I haven't really been posting much lately. And I think I did promise some photos and stuff from our last trip to Bear River which I haven't gotten around to yet. But I have a pretty good excuse. I've been really trying to study for my Medical coding course. I'm more than halfway done! Anyway, I just HAD to share my excitement about something totally unrelated to Bear River or coding. So, yesterday me and the Hubby went to the Big City. Last week someone had told me all about this supposedly awesome thrift store there in the Big City and I wanted to check it out and see if it really was that awesome. And it is really that awesome! We spent like 3 hours in there browsing through all sorts of things and when I got to the furniture section I immediately found a table that I wanted. It cost $40 and it's in almost perfect condition. No scratches in the finish, just a couple of small indents. It looks WAY nicer than the cheapo table we currently have. No chairs with it but I really don't care. I'm sure I can find something. We'll just use our old chairs in the meantime. So, here's a pic of it. It's in the garage in the photo. We don't really keep our fishing poles in the dining room! LOL In the pic it has its 2 leaves in it but when you take them out it is a perfect circle. I love it!
And I also found a bed for MoMo's room. Headboard and footboard. It needs some sprucing up for sure but it was only $20. I'm thinking I'll probably paint it. If anyone has any ideas for it please share them! The big oval is a mirror. (It's reflecting Hubby's hunting blind so it looks kind of weird I know.)Yeah, I'm pretty excited with my finds. And you know what? I've got to go help Hubby bring the table in and move the old one. Later!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Ok, I guess I'm a little behind on my blogging. I haven't even posted any pics from Big R's birthday! Bad me. And then we went camping at Bear River last weekend and I have a few pics from that. AND here's the really excellent news...Hubby had interviewed for a job Friday morning before we left for Bear River. On Monday he got a call offering him the job! Yay! I was hopeful that he'd get the job since he used to work with people from this company at his old job. he knows them all and gets along with them and the work is pretty much what he did at his old job. But there were other people interviewing as well so I was little nervous. Apparently another thing he had going for him was that he already has the clearance (ie. Secret, Top Secret, etc) required for the job. That he already had the required clearance also means he can actually start working sooner instead of waiting for the clearance to go through, which can take 1-2 months or longer. So, I guess that means that we will be staying here for the foreseeable future. Not that I mind so much. It is a nice place to live (when it's not -20 degrees LOL). The biggest downside is the distance from all of you. But I digress...
So, anyway, Big R's birthday. He decided this year that he didn't need a theme. "Just whatever," he told me. But he did want to have his party at the park and play baseball so I went with a baseball theme. He recently started watching Major League games on tv and his favorite team is the San Francisco Giants. I found some Giants party things to mix in with the generic baseball things. Ok, so here are some pics of him opening presents. On his actual birthday I made him a cherry pie instead of a cake. (Hey, I asked him if he wanted cake or cupcakes but he said no) The next day was his party. The bad part about having a summer birthday is that people go on vacation. Only 3 of his friends were able to make it (though NO ONE RSVP'd) but he still had a lot of fun. Now I normally bake him a cake and I actually did bake him one for his party. But he and his dad had come up with the idea of having an ice cream cake--vanilla cake with mint chip ice cream and Magic Shell on the top. I bought all the stuff, baked the cake and then realized that my freezer was not big enough to freeze the cake in once assembled. Ooops! So, he ended up getting a store bought ice cream cake instead. I know, blasphemy! LOL So, here are the party photos.
Unfortunately with the party being outside, the candles wouldn't stay lit so we just sang sans lit candles. And that about covers it. Big R's 8th birthday. Can't believe he's getting so old.
Well, I will try to blog again soon about our Bear River trip and I have some photos from that. But for now, I'll say adieu.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Happy birthday to Big R! Today he turns 8! He's been dying to see Toy Story 3 and was pretty excited that it came out on his birthday so I took the kids to see the first showing in 3D at midnight. Wow! It was so awesome! Just amazing. I definitely recommend seeing it. Anyway, in honor of Big R's birthday I have some photos to share. Some of my favorites. I scanned them and they could use a bit of editing to fix them u p but my Photoshop is malfunctioning. Grrrr! Well, here they are, anyway.









I love you so much my big boy! Happy birthday!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

So, we just got back (well, ok, a few days ago) from our annual family campout and I have a confession to make. I took absolutely NO photos while we were there! I know, what is that!? But we did have a nice time fishing and enjoying the scenery for a couple of days before the second wave of family members arrived, bringing the rain with them! It was nice until they showed up so they must have brought it...LOL Anyway, I was very happy to see my adorable nephews, especially my newest, LilBear, who is only 2 months old! My sister and her boys braved the elements for a day or so before opting to head home to their warm, dry beds. And I really can't blame them. I'm just grateful for the time we did have. It's really the pits living so far apart. But my nephews Lil B and C had the best of times together getting dirty. My kids were really looking forward to fishing and the first day we were there they wanted to hit the creek for some fishing before nightfall. MoMo caught her fish right away! Big R was unsuccessful that evening but he eventually did get his fish a couple days later. Unfortunately the rain that came, along with the cold it brought, put a damper on things, forcing us (well, some of us. Others went out fishing anyway and my bro D caught a HUGE trout!) to huddle in the food tent around a propane heater. First time ever we've had that much rain when we've gone. But we survived. Now, Hubby and the kids and I planned to camp at Great Basin National Park on the way home. Guess we just can't get enough camping! LOL But while in UT there was a dog altercation and our dog got a nasty wound. Well, it started out fairly small and we tried to treat it with antiseptic wash and ointment, however, it got worse until it was a large wound oozing pus. Gross! So, we skipped Great Basin and headed home to get his wound treated. But on the way home we did make a couple of stops. We discovered the ghost town of Frisco along UT highway 21 and stopped to investigate and stretch our legs some. We're suckers for ghost towns. Here is the historical marker with some info about the town.And then one of the most striking features (I think) was five domed ovens or kilns set together up on a hill. Apparently at one time the tops were lined on the outside with brick, though most of it is gone now. You can see in one of the photos where there is a bit of brick left on one of the domes. You can also see that the domes are falling apart, with big holes in the tops.
It's pretty amazing to me how they were able to place the rock just right to make a domed shape. There were a few other structures there as well in various states of decay.
It was a nice little rest stop and then we headed on, soon coming to this scene.
We drove right into a storm. The kind of scary thing was that this is open range. The rain was coming down so hard that visibility was poor and we had to be on the lookout for cows in the road and cows near the road who might dash into the road as we approached. Thankfully we didn't hit any cows and we made it through, out of the storm and the rain.
As I said before, part of our original plan for the trip was to camp at Great Basin. Another part of that plan was to stop near Ely at Garnet Hill. Garnet Hill is a cool rockhounding site which is managed by BLM and is free to those who want to try their hand at finding garnets. So, we stopped there for a couple of hours until the sun started to go down to try our luck at finding garnets. Big R right away found a garnet imbedded in a rock. (Sometimes I call him "Eagle Eye" since he spots things so well) Really, it wasn't too difficult to find garnets imbedded in the rocks that lay all around, though most were pretty small. And then old Eagle Eye found a big one, just lying there on the ground and not attached to a rock at all!This photo was the first garnet he found.

And then here's MoMo. She found a number of garnets on her own and then she also claimed any that her dad found as her own! Here's a bit of a teaser. I tried (unsuccessfully) to get some good shots of our garnets. This is the best I could get. (boy, I sure do wish I had a nice DSLR and knew how to use it!)
This was one that I found. Still need to remove the remaining rock on it. This one got chipped out of a larger rock. This last picture is badly out of focus but it gives you more of an idea of the sizes. The coin is a dime. And notice that the biggest chunk of rock has TWO garnets poking out, wedged together. Oh, and Kaos is doing well. He's got some antibiotics and a lovely Elizabethan collar (think lampshade around his neck). His wound should heal up just fine. Well, I guess that about covers everything. Until next time...