The garden continues to grow

The other day I picked some basil and parsley.  I made almost a quart of pesto with all that basil and I didn't do anything with the parsley.  I have to say that I love the smell of freshly picked basil and parsley.  Hmmm...heaven.

Our patio garden continues to grow.  We are currently growing our second big spurt of peppers.

The weather has started getting cooler and wetter.  I hope that I will be able to continue to get tomatoes off of these plants.  They haven't yet stopped producing and are very happy on the patio.

I wanted to throw this photo in to show that the peppers are taller than I've ever remembered them growing.  They too are very happy on the patio.

Tomatoes and more tomatoes.  I am proud that the patio plants grow large tomatoes and not just small ones.  I've used the tomatoes to make salsa and taco sauce and bottle them for the colder months.

They aren't very pretty but that's what you get sometimes when you have heirloom tomatoes.  But they do taste very yummy!  I think I have four different varieties shown in this picture.

Yep, that's a large tomato!  I'm so glad my garden has produced so many yummy veggies!

Soccer

My husband loves to play soccer.   Currently he's in a over-30 (years old) co-ed fall soccer league and he was in a spring and summer league.  This little town in Ohio where we currently reside also has a winter league that meets and plays indoor soccer.  My husband is a great defender and really loves to play back near the goal, defending the goal whenever he gets a chance. (Both of these photos are not really good photos of SM but they are all I have.)     

 

  Unfortunately, every time my husband has played, he's received some injury, small or large.  SM currently has two black big toe nails.  One nail is getting really close to falling off.  He is nursing a pulled hamstring and pulled groin muscle.  I've often asked him if it's really worth all the injuries and I always get a resounding "YES" back as his answer.  So, here's to my husband and his love of soccer and the scars that prove it!!



Everything is BIGGER in Texas

This last weekend we had the opportunity of taking a quick trip to Austin Texas to visit some good friends.  Above you see breakfast Saturday morning.  This is a Round Rock Donut...just one...plenty big for all of us.  Ever heard the saying that everything is bigger in Texas.  Apparently this applies to donuts also.

This is a rack of ribs that our friends BBQed and then baked for us.  The BBQ sauce was homemade and had ginger and peanut butter and garlic and soy sauce and a few more ingredients.  What a wonderful flavor!  SM was trying to eat the whole rack but found that he was unable to...but he still ate much more than his stomach was comfortable with.



And this was what was left over on his plate.  He loved every bite!



Dish cloths

I was thinking that I needed some dish cloths because I kept taking my nice dish rags and using them on the BBQ grill or on the car. I was getting so upset with myself when my dish rags would be stained because I didn't find my old rags when cleaning up things besides just my regular kitchen stuff. Anyway, instead of getting more upset, I went to my bin of yarn, found this 100% cotton yarn and used a double crochet to make me some new dish cloths. Perfect! And I am going to try not to stain these particular dish clothes, but if I do, I'll just make up some more.

Ta Da! Fun AND useful!

Family comes to Ohio

SM's parents and youngest brother came to visit us in August. The weather the week previous to their arrival had been very hot and very humid but cooled down for the visit. It was nice. We did a couple of days of touring Northern Ohio. One of our first stops was the Smucker's store.

We also stopped at a place called the Wendell August Forge. This was the first time for all of us. We loved looking at the hand-crafted metal and the process that they do to make each piece.

Here's an example of a metal serving platter...or wall decoration.

And we stopped in Berlin to share some Amish things with JC. We actually spent many hours in Amish Country. We had some cheese at Heini's Cheese Chalet and went to the Ashery and had lunch at the Amish Door and saw lots and lots of countryside. We had a great day!

We also took a trip to Kirtland. Once again the weather was nice and we had a great time together, learning about church history.

We were able to walk around the Kirtland temple and take a few pictures.

I really like this picture at the Kirtland temple grounds of SM's mom and JC. They really enjoy each other and their time together.

We took a short trip to the Morley farm. This is an odd picture of the back of SM's mother as she's taking a picture of the woods, but I love how beautiful the woods look against the red of the shirt. This was my first time to the Morley farm and I learned all sorts of things about the Morley's and their belief in living a communal life.

And then we drove to the Johnson Farm. Here we are in the kitchen learning a bit about the Johnson family and their role in early church history. I love this home and it really was a mansion during the 1830's.

I love this photo! It is taken on the front porch steps of the Johnson home where Joseph Smith preached about brotherly love and kindness that Sabbath morning after being torn out of bed and then tarred and feather and almost killed with poison the night before.

On Saturday of the visit, we took everyone into Cleveland to the West Side Market. SM and JC stood in line for one hour to buy us all gyro's from Steve's Gyro's while the rest of us walked around, checking out different booths.

The gyro's were very big. That is what SM's mom is telling me as I snapped her picture. I think JC was the only one able to each his whole gyro. The rest of us had about enough when we got half way through the gyro. They were tasty...a bit salty for a couple of us...but now we have bragging rights and can share this experience with anyone who wants to know.

Here the brother's are eating their gyro's! Yum!

And on their last day visiting us, we went to Dan's Dogs and got a couple hot dogs.

Here JC is trying out the Peanut Butter and Jelly Hot Dog. (Don't knock it until you've tried it). And of course, we had time at home to play many games and just enjoy being together. Thanks for coming and visiting us!! Love ya!

Baby Blanket

I finished this baby blanket last month. I love the material for the front and the back of this blanket. And I love them together with the red crocheted edge. So cute!

Mt. Timpanogus Hike

This summer our vacation schedule was really crazy. I actually went out to Utah one week before SM joined me. I was there with him for five days and then I flew to Seattle and was there for a week while he stayed in Utah for a week and then we both flew home the same day but arrived at two different times.

Anyway, back to the hike up to Stewart Falls which is on the back side of Mount Timpanogus. The above picture show us getting all set for the hike. Of course we are standing outside the bathrooms...after having made everyone make a trip there before starting the hike. And we're off!

This picture reminds me of the story of the Pied-Piper. My SIL is leading us up the trail and everyone is following! As a side note, the three oldest girls and a friend decided to try a different trail and we never saw them again for the rest of the trip. They ended up hiking above Sundance Ski Resort and had to borrow a lady's cell phone to let us know where they ended up and this lady also told them how to get down to the resort where their mother picked them up.

It was quite warm at the beginning of the hike but as we got higher, a breeze came through to keep us cooled off.

Yea! We made it to the lower falls. Everyone was glad to take a break and enjoy the scenery and all the cousins.

"Sisters, sisters...Everybody loves a set of sisters." I'm pretty sure those aren't the exact words to that song, but it works for this picture. Aren't those two cute!

And sometimes I wonder why my husband is so drama oriented...and then I see his parents. And I think it's GREAT! I love these two pictures.

And a self photo...not always the best but at least I know I was there! I love wearing pony tails because they keep my hair back and out of my face AND I do look okay in them. BUT, for picture taking, I really should have my hair down or at least my forehead not so big.

Grandpa is enjoying the spray off the falls. It definitely cooled us off after the hike. This waterfall is actually the upper falls at Stewart Falls. We decided to hike further up and check out these falls AND they were terrific. Even the kids got to hike down to the water and play with the rocks right there at the falls.

And I had to include this picture as the last photo showing that we had a great time. Check out my SIL smile. We all had smiles on our faces like that when we got back down and ate our lunches. It was a work-out but we had a great time together as a family!! Love ya all!!

Missionary Homecoming

My brother-in-law, JC, came home from his mission in the Hawaiian Islands at the end of July. It has been a bit crazy since then and so I'm finally blogging about the homecoming. Here we are all waiting at the airport for him to come down the escalator. Have you ever been to the airport, waiting for a loved one to arrive home from their mission? I have, and I've also been that loved one returning from their mission. My feelings were very strong that morning. It brought back so many memories.

And his first hug goes to his mom! She hung on for awhile...and was so glad to have him back from his mission.

And now come the lei's. JC received a lot of candy lei's from the family and then he gave us lei's that he'd received from friends in Hawaii. Lot's of hugs were exchanged and most of us had permanent smiles plastered on our faces.

Here are a couple of my nieces that really grew up while JC was on his mission. He was a bit surprised when he saw them again for the first time in two years.

Just a general picture of family standing around listening, watching or talking to each other. There seems to be a theme of plaid shirts...um, apparently I didn't get the memo.

Look at those cute nieces! They are growing up so quickly. I married into the family when they were five and six years old...and now they are eleven and twelve years old. Where did the time go?

SM and JC are showing off their leis and their large smiles. JC did question why made him candy and Twinkie leis since he's not really a fan of candy and usually just tries to stuff Twinkies into the face of one of his sister-in-laws (they have a Twinkie war going on....). We told him not to worry because there were enough nieces and nephews around that they would eat the candy leis...and they did!

This is actually a great picture of me. I had been crying a lot when welcoming JC home from his mission but the picture doesn't really show my red nose and red eyes.

Here's JC with his former mission president that was released from his mission just a month earlier. These are the six missionaries that came home that last Friday morning in July. JC is the one wearing the red tie.