Things I Love Right Now

-Hearing Spencer sing the Star Wars theme at the top of his voice as he wakes himself up every morning
-doing chores with Sophie, who willingly folds the laundry, cleans my lint catcher, and vacuums. When she's in the mood for it, that is.
-Hearing Maggie recount entire chapter books at bedtime while she tickles my hair, and vice versa.
-going to the temple. We've really kicked it up lately.
-my favorite breakfast of a baguette and cheese (currently aged white cheddar), an orange, and herbal tea with creamer (it's cold enough in the mornings now to appreciate it!)
-admiring my freezer full of the goods from our garden, and looking forward to carving our home-grown pumpkins come October!
-getting good sleep. Yes, it happens once in a while.
-a husband who LOVES his job (and lets me input once in a while - he is teaching a Humanities class, after all!)
-My comfort food, pad thai
-Sitting on my back porch at sunset with Gary, looking over the shorn fields dotted with cattle, listening to elk bugling down the street and the hundreds of geese flying south in their V formations overhead, and watching the cats and kids and neighbors playing hide and go seek in the twilight garden. I don't think I would trade living here for anything... unless it meant being closer to family.

Life is pretty darn good. I'm trying to appreciate it for all it's worth.

Quote of the Day

So school's going well, the studio is thriving (I'm only teaching one class! hooray!), our backyard grass is growing, the nights are cooling, and Gary's classes are making him stretch in a whole new way (he's teaching an academic Humanities class for the first time and the prep is invigorating but time consuming). It must be fall.

Nothing exciting to report, really, except that Spencer can now kind of sing the ABC's and we planted a new peach tree. We are gearing up for Halloween and Sophie's birthday already, but first we get to spend Harvest Break in Del Mar with Mom and Dad, Kars, Abby and Kate! (and spouses and kids, on and off, right?) Can't wait for the beach and Disneyland!

In the meantime, here's my thought for the day, because after destroying my minivan's bumper by hitting a perfectly stationary trailer today, I've needed a laugh: The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. But the stupid man will just lay down on some seaweed and roll around until he’s completely draped in it. Then he’ll stand up and go, “hey, I’m Vine Man!”

The "Honey-Do" List Achievements!

Good thing Gary had four weeks off this summer between teaching semesters - I had a mile long list for him to help me with! Actually, it was a team effort. He painted the barn (thank heavens for Grandpa's paint sprayer!!!) and I did the detailing on the deck; he planted our new grass plot in the backyard while the garden, raspberries and fruit trees have been all mine. What can I say - we work well together!

Note our lovely rock collection - that's actually part of the parking lot for the dance studio in the barn. I finally talked Gary into putting in just a little grass though so my kids have a place in back to play!

Next year's project, is, um, the front yard, which is basically a weed haven. If you know anyone who needs Scottish thistle, alfalfa or crab grass, we got them covered!

First Day of Third Grade

Today Maggie started the third grade with a bang! Our awesome neighbors organized a breakfast for all the kids, so we were all out there to eat food (I made nutella crepes, of course!), chat, and hug our kids goodbye together. What a fun tradition! I hardly even cried this time! Maggie's all excited to go, as always. We hope it will be another amazing year for her.

Where did summer go???

Our #1 New Recipe of the Summer

This was the top new recipe we discovered this summer. Between us and our neighbors, the Fransons, we have probably made it 20 times. If you can get over the fact that you are using refrigerated crescent rolls, these are so dang yummy! Beware all diabetics out there - this will send your blood sugar levels through the roof! Even if you're not diabetic, this may make you one, it's that sweet. But so, so, finger-licking, plate-licking, pan-licking good.

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

2 cans crescent rolls
2 apples (I like Fuji or Granny Smith)
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (two sticks)
cinnamon
1 can Mountain Dew

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and cut apples into 8 pieces each. Roll a crescent roll around each piece of apple and put in two 9x13 pans (I like glass better than metal). In a saucepan, bring sugar and butter to low boil. Add a bit of the Mountain Dew and stir well to make sure sugar is dissolved. Pour around the crescent rolls in pans. Pour the rest of the can of Mountain Dew over the rolls and sprinkle all with cinnamon. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered, then cover and bake for 10 more minutes. Serve with cream, ice cream or Cool Whip.

Enjoy the sugar rush! You can get away with serving one per person, but invariably your guests will want two each. Or three. Then they start licking the pan... oh wait, that's just me.

We've Been Initiated!

So, you're evidently not a true Idahoan until you've been taken on a secret mission to the wilds to procure that elusive treasure, the official state fruit, the wild huckleberry. When we lived in Sugar City, we heard about everyone's secret patches and the pilgrimages they would take to visit them, but nobody volunteered to divulge the locations of their private stashes. In fact, they guarded their secrets more ferociously than the goblins at Gringotts. We left Sugar feeling a little deprived of the true Idaho experience.

Here in Lyman, however, we were lucky enough to stumble on a friendly (and generous!) neighbor who selflessly agreed to let us accompany her on her family's huckleberry mission. Four hours later, gloriously dirty, scratched and berry-stained, we returned with our precious pint of purple berries which I hurriedly transformed into muffins and a cheesecake before the kids finished them off.

I now can say, I'm a real Idahoan.

Tad and Dee Dee's Wedding

Last night two of our favorte former students of Gary's, Tad Sakota and Dee Dee Murdoch, got married. We've loved them both for a long time; DD was Gary's student director for Dance Alliance this last year, and Tad is like a kid himself so our kids just adore playing with/on him like a big jungle gym. We got to go to their temple ceremony, made fondue for their reception (the recipe is in my cook book, Aunt Lynne's fondue, and guys, you gotta try it because it is SO GOOD!), and Gary clogged with some of the other DA members as part of the entertainment. And as a special piece de resistance, during DeeDee's dance with her dad, Maggie and Sophie sang the song that Mag and Gary wrote together called "Waltzing with My Daddy". They did such a good job, and I was so proud.

It was a definite dancers' reception, because the last half hour of it was a total dance party. DD even changed out of her wedding dress so she could relive some of their greatest hits (the 80's medley, Gid and Alyssa's duet, the DA finale, Dance of Discovery that Sophie joined in which I thought was appropriate...). All the non-dancers there must have thought we were all raving lunatics, but we had so much fun. This was a party after our own taste!

They went to Island Park for their honeymoon. We gave them mosqito repellent as part of their wedding present. :-)