Cowboy Stew - Scout Recipe:July 26

We're thinking of going camping today :) (going to post here for fast reference - the link is there though :) )

Cowboy Stew - Scout Recipe

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion
3 potatoes
(all cans are about 15 oz.)
1 can green beans
1 can baked beans
1 can black beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
Notes:
main course
Instructions:
Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes.
Dice onion.
Heat dutch oven to 350 degrees for Frying.
Brown ground beef and onion.
Add potatoes and all cans, undrained.
Add spices (more or less if you like bland or spicy)
Cook until potatoes are soft (about 45 minutes), stirring every 5 minutes.

Serves about 8.

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Roses::July 24

The roses are in bloom. Beautiful!!

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29/52::July 20

I wrote about his birthday here.

This pic seems to sum him up on his birthday. He loves the idea of them, but for some reason he looks everywhere but where his candles are and will.not.blow them out. Funny, funny boy. Maybe one day he'll be able to verbalize why that is, but until then, we'll just keep doing what we do and blow out his candles for him :)


"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014."

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Michael's Birthday::13!!::July 20

These pics seem to sum Michael up pretty well :) He loves the *idea* of his birthday. He loves the treats, cake, ice cream, and presents. On most days, he even loves attention! But on his birthday, it all seems to bug him a bit.





We already realize that he's not going to blow out his candles. Ever. So we blow them out for him in unison.





He loves his presents, but he's going to look every other direction too.

And as for the attention: by the end of the day he is just bugged and wants to be left alone. Pretty interesting attitude from a boy who has to get everyone's nose that we come in contact with and is known by name at Walmart by strangers to me (and the kid is with me every waking hour of his life!) Hahaha! Funny, funny boy!

Happy Birthday, Michael. You are very loved and valued in our little part of the world, especially by me! ♥

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Bee on Oregano::July 18

I harvested oregano a few days ago, and this little bee loved the taste SOOOO much, he followed the cut oregano clear to the porch. I bet this little guy would LOVE pizza! :)

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Checking up on the garden::July 16

I need to start being more aware of the garden and take pics in the morning or evening instead of when the shadows are short and the sun is high. Oh well, at least I'm journaling the garden this year which is better than most years. :) These pics are from the 11th:

The first couple are big pics of the garden, and the rest are of the individual squares:





It is interesting to note that when I planted these two squash plants, the one on the right (the smaller one) was the larger of the two. In fact, the one on the left looked pretty sad and pathetic; I wasn't sure it would survive. The big one, (the one on the left) is a zucchini plant from VG nursery; the one on the right is a yellow squash from OG nursery. I have already gotten 2 big zucchinis so far! :)



Cherry tomatoes - I'm not growing beef steak tomatoes this year; for some reason, my soil doesn't product big tomatoes.



This square has rhubarb and onion/garlic hybrids. I didn't plan for the onions to be that way; they must have cross pollinated with the garlic somehow. The bulbs are small, like green onions, but instead of an onion taste, they taste more like garlic. Kinda weird!



My herb garden :) So far, I've harvested the oregano; if I took a pic now, you'd actually be able to see the flowering lavender that grows right behind the oregano :) I need to harvest the sage too, but I love sage flowers. There is also parsley growing in there - I eat a little everytime I work in the garden.



Green peppers in front, spaghetti squash in back. The green peppers have tiny buds on them - hopefully the start of many peppers!



Two more cherry tomato plants in front of more spaghetti squash plants.



This view looks on a lavender plant, 2 sage plants, 2 rose bushes, Asiatic lilies, and the overgrown irises I need to separate.



A better pic of the lilies and the miniature rose bush my friend Sherry gave to me for Mother's Day (you can see one tiny pink bloom):



And this is from the other direction: the overgrown irises and a miniature rose bush - the rose bush loves my garden and is thriving so well! Well, so are the irises :) I just have some work to do for them.



I'm so excited that everything is growing!

If you are so inclined, paste a link to pics of your garden. I'd love to see how yours is coming along too! :)

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Scottish Festival 2014::July 15

Steve went to the Scottish Festival early in the morning with Matt, Michael, and Emily. Josh & Hayley + 5 went soon after that. When I got there, Michael was ready to leave, so I took him home. Come to find out, Josh, Hayley, the kids, and Matt had already come home to put Ben down for a nap and to feed Mercedes.

After a little while, we all went back. I don't remember what delayed me, but by the time I got there, Josh & Hayley were ready to leave because Aiden had had it. I took Aiden with me, and we went and sat in the shade and listened to the music and watched the dancers.

Then Amber showed up, and Aiden wanted to hang out with her instead:





They went off and found Josh and Hayley and hung out for a little while, and then the kids were completely, 100% finished with the festival and wanted to go home.





I went to hug Hayley and Josh and the kiddos bye and had Steve hold my camera, so there is a picture of me to put up here too. ;)







After everyone else left, Steve and Michael and I sat and listened to the music and watched the dancing. Again. In the shade. Because I think we're getting old. ;)







Nothing can stop Michael from making new friends though, so of course, he did.



Oh yeah, Emily had stayed at the festival. I forgot, because we didn't see her much during the day, since she was hanging out with friends.



Then it was done and the shops started packing up and heading home, so we did too.

Another of our summertime traditions & activities has been checked off of the to-do list ~ the list is getting mighty short from here, and unfortunately, so is summertime.

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Sun Tea::July 14

My mom used to make sun tea for my whole growing up years. I use green tea rather than black, but it's nice to have it in the summertime :)

Sun Tea Recipe
1) Put three (3) Lipton Family Size Tea Bags in a clean gallon jar and fill with cold water. (If desired, you may substitute nine (9) regular (cup size) tea bags.)*
2) Cap loosely and place in the sunshine, away from combustible materials, for three to four hours.*
3) Remove tea bags. Add recipe ingredients, such as sweeteners or lemon, if desired. Serve over ice.
4) Refrigerate within five hours of brewing start.

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Deer Pics::Cartoonized and Realistic::July 14

I took this pic on the drive up the canyon yesterday. Sadly, it turned out super dark. As I lightened it, it changed the colors a bit more than I wanted, so I thought if I cartoonized it, it would look better & the colors wouldn't detract from the pic ~ I think it does :) Cute little Bambi.



And with this one, I thought I was going to get a good shot, and then she ran away. I followed her for a bit, and got her to turn around and look at me and I hurried and snapped a pic :)



As we were coming back down the canyon, I saw a view that I don't normally see ~ perhaps because the light was shining just right or something, but look at how incredible this is:


Those big pine trees growing where it seems impossible to grow is amazing! God is the ultimate artist!

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28/52::Michael at the Scottish Festival::July 12

We went to the Scottish Festival today. We walked around and looked at all of the little shops, ate some ethnic food, and sat and listened to the music and watched the performers. Michael sat in front of us for a little while but turned around often to talk to us often.

He liked the festival, but needed a couple of breaks as the day progressed. I understood, because the heat and intense sounds got to me sometimes too. Overall, it was a lot of fun!

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014."

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Mid-life::Madeleine L'Engle quote::July 8

I've been reading Madeleine L'Engle's book A Circle of Quiet. Today, I came across a passage that really touched me and made sense on a deep level.

Jung disagreed with Freud that the decisive period in our lives is the first years. Instead, Jung felt that the decisive period is that in which my husband and I are now, the period of our middle years, when we have passed through childhood with its dependency on our parents; when we've weathered the storms of adolescence and the first probings into the ultimate questions; when we've gone through early adulthood with its problems of career and marriage and bringing up our babies; and for the first time in our lives find ourselves alone before the crucial problem of who, after all these years, we are. All the protective covering of the first three stages is gone, and we are suddenly alone with ourselves and have to look directly at the great and unique problem of the meaning of our own particular existence in this particular universe.

I believe it would be the period of time in which we have our "mid-life crisis". It is when we look at our lives and what we've made of it and think that this is the best it's ever going to be.

I think it is an illusion, by the way. Yes, our bodies will only creak and groan a little more from here on out, but as long as we keep thinking, keep our minds open, and keep gaining wisdom, we're just getting started. Here's to the second half of the journey!

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Lavender Days on June 28::July 8

This is the first time in a year that I am posting pics w/o post-editing software touch-ups. These are straight out of the camera, which gives me the same feeling as going out in public with no make up on LOL :)

This is Lavender Days at Young Living Farm. It is my favorite event of the year!

So, the first thing that we did when we got there was take a ride on the horse-drawn wagon, and I took pics as we went around the farm:


Medieval human-powered children's ride:


Teepees and some representatives of a local Indian Tribe (I don't remember which tribe though :/)


The camel:


Bison:


A view of one of my favorite mountain ranges:


Picking lavender:


Medieval style buildings:





The blacksmith shop:


The waterwheel:


Another medieval human-powered children's ride:


The stagecoach:


Old Western Town:




Paddle-boats:




The human hamster balls:


These horses are massive! Seriously, dinner plate size hooves. Big and glossy black, beautiful horses!



I was sad that the wagon ride didn't include the herb field this year - I asked the driver and he said that the route had changed. Later on, I saw him in his wagon, waiting for people to ride, and he saw me walking by. I saw him turn and talk to his riding partner, and then called me over and asked if I still wanted to take that ride in the herb field. I did! So away we (both drivers, Matt, & I) went.

Chamomile, Sage, Melissa (Mint), Lavender, and many other herbs are in this field. When the chamomile is blooming, it smells like honey in these fields.




As we were driving, I noticed that a butterfly had landed on his back. I thought I remembered something about it being lucky for a butterfly to land on you, and I smiled, hoping that luck would follow this man who was kind enough to take me on my favorite loop of the farm :)


They dropped Matt and me off at the jousting tournament, and we went inside to find Steve and Michael. This is what we saw:




About 10 minutes before the festivities were over, we left. Good-bye old friend! See you next year.

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