Chestnuts roasting...

I know it's hard to tell what this is. It is the little stove in our backyard. And we didn't use it to roast chestnuts, we roasted marshmallows. And it was November. But if you wanted to roast chestnuts it would give you a pretty good "open fire". I have to say though, the one time I had chestnuts roasted on an open fire I wasn't impressed. Maybe I just had a bad batch. Do you like chestnuts? Is the word "chestnuts" starting to look funny to you too?

Today is the first day of Christmas break and it has been snowing like crazy all day. Can you see what my yard stick says? Yes, it is nine and one-half inches. And I didn't go find a place where it was drifted, that is the middle of my front lawn. I know, we already had some on the ground, but I'd bet we've received about 6 inches today alone. I shoveled the front walk and then decided doing more was a lost cause. What is that saying... Cleaning the house while the kids are growing is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing? Something like that, and I am facing both today.

With all this snow I will be forced to stay home and entertain instead of getting some almost-last-minute running around done. I guess I will be able to do the official-last-minute running around tomorrow.

The plows have buried the end of the driveway again.

Good thing for 4-wheel drive and a running start.

Not quite Hawaii...

Did your hunter of a husband ever put you in for a deer tag while telling you that you probably wouldn't draw the tag anyway but then you actually draw the tag and find out the hunt is in Northern Wyoming... in NOVEMBER! Who goes to Northern Wyoming in November? (No offense Alice & Caroline!) :)

Well, guess what!? I drew a deer tag in Northern Wyoming. And yes- it was in November!

On Thursday, October 30th, after doing our civic duty (we got up at 6:30 am to go early vote), Mike and I left the kids with my mom and drove for 9 hours to the little town of...

We had reservations at the Oasis Motel. It wasn't a Marriott but I was impressed with how clean and nice the rooms were.

The sign says they welcome hunters (me)

and they still have official "keys" for their rooms.

No swiping a flimsy plastic card here!

Friday found Mike waking me up at 6 am (I thought this was a vacation!) to look for deer in my hunt area. That afternoon we met up with the ranchers who I had talked to earlier in the month, and who had said I could hunt on their property (3,000 deeded acres). They called themselves "common ranch folk"- I think they are the salt-of-the-earth (that's a good thing!). We spent the evening glassing around their property where we saw a lot of good deer and just as it was getting dark- what looked like a great buck!

Early Saturday morning found us back out at the ranch looking for the buck but not really expecting to be lucky enough to see him again. I was pretty excited to see the buck was still there! After working our way behind him... (details not for the faint of heart)... two weeks ago this morning I got my first (will there be more?) out of state deer!

So, I now faced the decision of loading up and driving back home 3 days early (we had planned to stay until Tuesday) -or- staying a few extra days for fun.

I have some pictures of the fun!

Meeteetse has a population of 351 and they have no fast food or grocery stores. They do have the Wea Market (pronounced "wee" and also "wee" in size), it is in the one gas station. They also have a 9-hole golf course- go figure! We ate where the locals eat- The Elkhorn Bar (and Family Dining). I loved that they still have board walks and hitching posts on the main street!

I was extremely surprised to find a Chocolatier in such a small town.

I was extremely grateful for the dark chocolate covered Oreos! This cookie's companions were not available for the photo shoot. They didn't make it back to the Oasis.

(They were definitely worth $1.00 a piece)

You have to take a peek at this web site!

Mike & I toured the museum that had a lot of old quilts, and I was impressed with the size of this Cathedral window quilt.

If you're ever driving through Meeteetse, the museum is worth a 20 minute stop- and it's free! They had a lot of old photographs showing the way life used to be on ranches. We really enjoyed it. We also visited the old-time bank that had "never been robbed". The curator there had way too much time on his hands and not enough tourists... we were lucky to get away!

(anyone know where I can get a copy of this print?)

Sunday we attended the Meeteetse ward. There were a total of 39 people in sacrament meeting. That included Mike & I and the other 4 people visiting. We owe the Bishop there an apology. I couldn't get Mike away from swapping hunting stories with the Stake President, 1st Councilor, and a quarter of the adult congregation, so Sunday School was late starting. The ward had such a nice feeling and were so welcoming and friendly. When they said come back anytime we knew they meant it. (They offered us jobs if we would move there) :)

We spent some time looking at deer even though the hunt was over.

This one wasn't hard to find.

Don't let your husband have the camera while you are trying to relax and watch tv after a hard day hunting, eating, touring...

We finally decided we should probably go back home and get the kids. So we got up early Monday and, enjoying the Wyoming sunrise, headed home.

Although it wasn't Hawaii, it was the most fun I've ever had on a hunt! The unseasonably warm weather, early hunting success, and fun things to see made me think about visiting Northern Wyoming again soon.

Have you seen the weather forecast?

Maybe I'll wait until spring.

Now we know

After school today I was looking through Clay's work and came across this-

After reading through the article I felt a little bad about my previous rant. According to the Weekly Reader News (Clay's 4th grade class has to read the articles and answer questions for class work)- 400,000 school-age kids have peanut allergies and between 1997 & 2002 peanut allergies in kids under 5 doubled- scary! It also says 18% of U.S. schools had some sort of peanut ban in 2007, a 50% increase from 2005.


I know the school has a "peanut-free" table for the kids with allergies and kids that have peanuts in their lunch can't sit there. I wonder if this is going to turn into a "club" issue where there has to be a "gluten-free" table and a "shellfish-free" table so all's fair. I'm just going to be glad I don't have to worry about this issue- apparently in our family we can eat anything... and we do.

So, for those of you who are going to miss the Peanut Butter Fingers at the school... here is the recipe- (Disclaimer- this recipe contains peanuts!)


Peanut Butter Fingers

3/4 cup peanut butter (I used creamy)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats (I used regular)
1 cup peanut butter

Cream the 3/4 cup peanut butter, sugars, and shortening together. Add eggs. Add soda, salt, and vanilla. Mix in flour and oats. Spread on a jelly-roll size baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350*. Do not overbake! It will look slightly doughy. Whip 1 cup peanut butter and spread on warm (not hot) crust. When cooled, frost with chocolate frosting. Makes 4-6 dozen.
The recipe I had said if you use the Duncan Heinz milk chocolate frosting "they taste just like the peanut fingers I used to get in grade school" but I just made some chocolate butter frosting (it was Sunday). Credit for this recipe goes to Shelley, thank you so much!

Happy baking!

Where did they go?

Do you remember these from school lunch?

Peanut butter fingers were always served the same day as chicken nuggets at my school. Needless to say, I would always eat school lunch on peanut butter finger day. They were delicious! Well... say goodbye!

The school has officially removed peanut butter fingers (along with those nasty peanut butter & jelly Uncrustables) from the lunch menu in an effort to protect the small minority of children with peanut allergies. Now I'm sure if I had a child with a severe allergy to something I would be more sympathetic. But I don't... so I'm not. I'm tired of the government trying to protect us from ourselves, but I have no interest in being in politics. I just wish the people who make the decisions for everyone were smart enough to make the right decisions. You know... the decision I would make.

So, I'm lucky to have the recipe that tastes as good as I remember from the good old days (thanks Shelley)! Now instead of eating one peanut butter finger at the school, I can eat a whole pan at home!

Oak City

We were invited by friends Phil & Jenna to spend the weekend with them and & their twin boys in Oak City during Oak City Days August 14th through the 16th.  So Mike, Eliza & I packed up and headed to this amazing little city where we were made to feel right at home.  The city had a full schedule of fun and events like-

A parade held Friday evening.  After attending an evening parade I think all parades should be in the evening.  Sometime during the day you put out some chairs, and then you show up later when the day has cooled off and sit back to enjoy.  Or stand and wave.

Here's the sit back and enjoy.  I loved that it wasn't elbow to elbow people!

This float gets best sign!  Way to go Jenna (did you save it for next year?)!

But this might be the best float.  That cooler is motorized and was not slow!  

I wonder what he had in it?

Picked up some candy.  Again, no crowds.  

I think some of that might still be there.

The post parade crowd.  What should we do next?

Play at the park of course!  Did you know some cities still have the better-than-great old metal slides!  Remember when going down a slide meant more speed and less static?

And some time on the swings.

We helped (but mostly just hung out) in Lisa's cookie booth.  

I was lucky I got one early... they sold out fast and they are delicious!

We jumped on the trampoline.  Or watched.

We got to hang out and watch the Olympics.  We also watched video of the deer the men saw each morning while they were out scouting for an upcoming hunt.

Eliza even caught a little fish all by herself at the trout catch.  If you look closely you can see that she was in the act of letting it go.  I was relieved we didn't have to carry that little fish home in a bag.

Eliza thought it was fun to camp out on the floor.

We also enjoyed the ice cream social, horseshoe tournament, and barbecue lunch.  And we watched the BBC's newest version of Jane Eyer which I would recommend to anyone who liked the book (or hasn't read it) and has 4 hours to enjoy it.  It was a great weekend full of fun!  I know where I want to be one weekend next August!

* * * * * * * * 

Don't worry... we didn't leave the boys home alone.  They were having their own weekend of fun prospecting with Grandpa.

They spent entire days outside digging in the dirt, ate meals completely lacking in any vital nutrients, and got to use sharp objects.

Who wouldn't want to spend a weekend with Grandpa?  Thanks Dad!

Hot Hot Hot!

Do you remember these?  They are called icicles.

Do you remember snow?

I remember having to dig through 8 inches of snow so I could feed the dog.  I call "not it" this winter.

Do you remember having to dress up like this just to go get the mail?

Now be glad it is still summer.

Why do stores have Christmas in the summer?  Christmas is in December not July (or August).  Are they just clearing out all of their old stuff from last year because they need the storage space for all of this year's stuff?  Or do they really think people start getting ready for Christmas that early?  Do people get ready that early?  Am I the only one who thinks about getting ready early but then spends the two weeks before Christmas running all over trying to find something but not knowing what I'm looking for?  Maybe there is something to Christmas in July after all!

So, since I didn't blog about Christmas in December like a good blogger would, I give you Christmas in August-

One of my favorite Christmas trees ever.  Some of that has to do with cutting it down ourselves.  Friends Phil & Jenna invited us to go with them, so we all drove in to the mountains to search for the "perfect tree".  I have a picture of that day, but the other computer won't let me have it.

Our stocking were hung.  This was a R.S. Super Saturday project from the first ward we were in.

The Christmas Eve present.  Why is it always pajamas?  I made these ones.

And of course, tearing through everything the morning of.

Now I do wish it was Christmas in August.  

Time to start planning.

More fishing

We took the kids fishing to a secret spot.  Ok, I'm really not sure if it's a secret.  It was a perfect day- mid 50's, cloudy, and we had our bug repellant on.  There's nothing like the smell of deet in the morning, especially when standing by a lake.  The kids had a great time, and I again had the problem of too many pictures and not enough space.

Swimming lessons

Today was the last day of swimming lessons.  I have to admit I am surprised at how much a kid can learn in 9 lessons!  Clay was swimming all over (and under) and Tyler found out he doesn't always sink.  Now I just need to get them to a pool more than 3 times a year so they don't forget what they learned.

1st they practiced straight arms

Then they practiced kicking

They played a game

or two

Imagine my surprise when on the last day of lessons I look over to see them all like this

Shouldn't they do that before they learn to swim?  I was told they were learning about safety, but still life jackets and safety seem like a day 1 kind of thing to me.

They are done!

Again, I need some work on my picture taking ability.  I don't have any pictures of them actually swimming and showing off all their new found skills.  I'm really glad they had fun!  

And now we are done!!!