Painting Polk-a-dots

My daughter wanted me to paint polk-a-dots on her wall, so I came up with a cool way to make this happen for her. I had just bought a set of three plastic mixing bowls with lids, so I took all three different size lids and traced them onto the walls with chalk. Chalk is great to trace things with, because it is easy to wash off, you do have to be careful of the color, it can change the paint color a little if it mixes in too much. Then, I just filled in the circles with the colors I wanted to use. She loves it! And it was so easy :)

Peanut butter Chocolate Chip Bars

I just made the yummiest bar cookies, my kids are divided when it comes to dessert, half want chocolate chip cookies and half want peanut butter, so the logical answer is to combine them, of course.

 1/2 C Butter Crisco
1/2 C Peanut butter
1 C Brown sugar
2 tbsp Honey
Mix together then add
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
Mix together then add
2 C Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 C Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
Mix together and spoon into a 9x13 cake pan
Bake @ 350 degrees for 15 to 20 min.
It will be a little gooey in the middle.

Goblin Valley, Utah

 

Beautiful sunset at Goblin Valley, Utah

Our camp spot is amazing, the kids can be entertained for hours in these rocks, there are caves and cliffs to climb on. The best part is, it is contained and private. The dogs can run and so can the kids, we don't have to worry about bugging anyone, but when the sun goes down, it is DARK!







This is Goblin Valley in Southern Utah, me, my brothers, our parents and our families try to camp here once a year. It is beautiful and there is lots of hiking to do. The neat thing about the actual park  (shown below) is that there is one way in and one way out. So we take the kids over at dusk and give them head lamps and glow necklaces, and they play game until past dark, they love it. We can just sit on the hill and watch them.

Pumpkin Soup

If you are wondering what to do with some of your pumpkins, besides carving them, try this delicious, low fat pumpkin soup.
We cut the pumpkin in half and roasted it in oven for about 45 min @ 375 degrees.

1/4 C. Canola Oil
1 med. Onion (diced)
2 cloves of Garlic
2 stalks of Celery
Cook onions, garlic and celery in oil until translucent. Then add
2 can of Chicken broth
1 C. 1% Milk
1 tsp of Veg. Curry
1 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp. Rosemary
2 tsp. Hot sauce
1 tsp. of salt (more if needed, keep adding till it tastes right)
(Once these are added, blend in a blender or with a had blender in the pan) then add-
2 C. Cooked lentils
Heat until warm and then simmer about 20 min. on low heat.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese (I would have used Parmesan, be we were out, so Cheddar was used, it was tasty.)

Backyard Chickens

 After patiently waiting for 4 months, our chicken finally started laying eggs. We get about a dozen a week.
So far I am enjoying having our back yard chickens, they are fun too watch. They do like to destroy flower gardens though, I will have to plant accordingly next year, or fence them into their own space. If they are locked in their coop, they beg to be released when they see us come into the back yard. Often times, they will sit at the back door and beg for treats. They are a lot more social than I thought they would be, but they are very messy, we have to clean up after them quite a bit.

Uinta Camping Trip

 We went camping in the Uinta Mountains over the 4th of July. It was amazingly perfect. We saw a mama and baby moose walk right by our camp, and 3 bull moose while out driving, also saw countless deer, including one who hung around camp the entire time, my kids named her Sheila. Went fishing at Whitney Reservoir, my husband caught 5 trout, practically in a row. It was in the low 70's the entire time (it was in the upper 90's back home). We were practically alone where we chose to camp, so the dogs did not have to be chained up. It was so relaxing I could have just sat in camp all day.
We drove into Evanston, WY for the fire works on the 4th, that is something everyone should try at least once. No matter where you park in town you can see fireworks going off in every direction for a couple hours. My kids kept saying "I don't even know which way to look, they are everywhere!"

Roxy

This is our beautiful pug, Roxy. She is my protector! When possible, she will not let me out of her sight. I love this gal. We adopted her into our home and our hearts almost 2 years ago. We found out 2 days ago (when this pic was taken) that the lump in her mouth is a tumor. It is a fast growing cancer, and she might not make it through the year. We are saddened by this news.
My experience with pugs- My daughter had been begging for a pug for about 3 years, finally, her boyfriend gave her one for Christmas. Roxy! I was not happy about this as we had 3 dogs and did not need another. But she kept looking at me with that face, and her temperament is amazing, Soon, she won me over and I did not want her to go. We can walk her around the neighborhood without a leash, she will not leave my side, even if we pass another dog or person. I have never had a dog that I could do that with, usually they are dragging me or I am dragging them. I would recommend a pug to anyone now that I have had an opportunity to have one. (You just have to be able to tolerate snoring and snorting noises).

Here she is, 2 months later and still with us. She is loving her stuffy. Roxy's tumor has gown to 3 or 4 times the size it was when she was first diagnosed in Sept. She seems to be getting weaker, but she is still eating and like to take short walks. She hasn't needed medication yet. We spoil her rotten. She gets to go everywhere we can take her, and I stop at the gas station and get her pepperoni sticks whenever I can, she expects it now :)