Last Weekend & Crazy Things!

Aaaah, as the season of summer begins I am itching to have the school year over and the vacations to start!! I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would give everyone a good ole update!

We are doing well. Ryan is working!! He got hooked up with an awesome job at the Argriculture Research Center out here and while the work isn't the most exciting thing ever (counting grasses, identifying weeds, driving out to experimental dirt plots out in the boonies) you can't beat the great government pay!! We are oober excited about it. He has work with them until August and then we'll see what happens! Ryan is still planning on applying for radio jobs this summer so keep your fingers crossed.

I'm doing well. I've been subbing a ton and I'm excited for summer. I have signed myself up to do a community theatre production of The Music Man! Call me crazy....I know that I am. In six weeks I will be showing Harney County what real community theater is! It's fun, good and no one will be reading their lines off of their hand (honest to goodness truth about the last play that was done here!!).

We had Ryan's parents visit us last weekend and that was fun. We went yard saleing, got bit by dozens of mosquitoes, watched movies, ate at Glory Days and one evening went up to Deliment Lake to do some dutch oven cooking & fish. I'm so mad that I forgot my camera - there were some beautiful shots that evening! The sunset was beautiful - never forgetting my camera again. We then enjoyed some Simpson's Clue (It was Mr. Smithers in Mr. Burn's office with the slingshot) & Catch Phrase ("Middle Evil", "Evil Times", "Dark Times", Dark Evil Times"....Medevil Times!). We enjoyed having them here and hope they come back again!
Hope everyone is doing well!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our friends, Candace & Darwin Johnson and their boys Denver, Porter & Parker, recently purchased a camper trailer that can sleep 9! They wanted to go try it out and we were invited to try it out with them. The adventure started when the truck (that was pulling the trailer) ran out of gas and Candace & I had to drive out 10 mins away to try to find cell phone service to call someone and ask them how to switch tanks (the gray switch under the dashboard). We found a spot at Sage Hen Springs that had alot of trees, no mosquitoes (score!) and no bathrooms (the campers bathroom isn't ready yet and Ryan & Darwin learned about girls and well....how they need a bathroom). We ate like kings! Yeah for marinated steak!! And I won't tell you how many toasted marshmellows I ate, but .....you can't go camping without toasted marshmellows!! The beautiful thing about campers is the fact that you can go inside a room, sit on the couch and play cards at a table (I'm not knocking tents! they're great, but this was awesome). All I'll say is that I'm not good at Phase 10 and probably never will be!! The next day we went fishing at Yellow Jacket ("Porter has one of those" said Denver) Lake. Ryan tried to get a big one, but....it just didn't work out. But the fish really loved the bait and ate plenty of it! After a whole day of sun, sitting, watching Denver fish using a stick with "playdough" (that's what he thought the power bait was), eating handi snacks & Little Debbies Oatmeal cookies it was time to pack it up and take it home....where all the mosquitoes are!
We had fun and are excited to go with the Johnsons again!

The Perfect Brownie

A dear friend of mine is continually in search of the "Perfect Brownie". Well to Greg and to all of you who are in that same search.... I think that I have found it.

Cookie Dough Brownies (oh yes! They do exist!)

1 Box Brownie Mix, plus ingredients for the brownies
1/2 C. Butter, softened
1/2 C. Brown Sugar, packed
1/4 C. Sugar
2 TBS Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Flour
1-3/4 C. Chocolate Chips, divided (I also use whatever chocolate candy I have on hand. I used chopped up Reeses eggs in the recipe pictured)
1 TBS Shortening

1) Prepare and bake brownies according to package directions in a greased 13x9 pan. Cool completely.

2) Cream butter and sugars in a mixing bowl. Add milk and vanilla mix well. Beat in flour. Stir in 3/4 C. Chocolate chips. Spread over cooled brownies and refridgerate until firm.

3) Melt remaining 1 C. Chocolate chips and shortening, stirring until smooth. Spread over filling. (The brownies that are pictured are not iced)
Store in an airtight container in the refridgerator.

Enjoy!!! Sometimes dreams really can come true!

Weekend in Utah

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My friend, Heidi, went down to Utah for her sisters graduation and they brought me down with them! It was a quick three days - and I'm sorry to all of you that I didn't get to see - but it was really fun! Tiffany & Katrina are growing up really fast. It's fun to see their little personalities coming out. We had grass fights in the back yard, painted our toes & went to the park. Katrina LOVES the swings!! Caiden is really getting big - and blond!! and hates to lay down (he thinks you are changing his diaper!). Me & my mom went to the Draper temple - beautiful place!! And on Saturday Merisa & I went up to Logan to spend the day with Nan (we didn't have a break in the conversation for three straight hours) and had some lunch with Rachel (my sis-in-law) before she heads out to Germany!! Amidst family dinners, watching "Friends", seeing Kelley before she headed off to see Wicked! and enjoying Tiffany walking on the ceiling it was a great weekend - with the exception of missing Ryan (who had work) I'm so co-dependant on that boy & hated to be away from him (Tiffany was pretty dissapointed as well)!! That and I really wanted to to go to East High and get some pics, but it never worked out & I can't be upset with that because....I'm 26 years old!! Maybe the next time I'm down. Hope all had a good weekend!

"I Am The Cure"

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My friend Heidi & I participated in our town's Susan G. Komen walk for the cure this last Saturday. I love to participate in these walks. Both of my Grandmothers battled with breast cancer so walking for a cure means alot to me. It was the perfect day to walk; the weather was beautiful and there was a great turn out. I think the best part of the walk was the last half where all the motivational signs were put up. As you can see just being in the race made me the winner! Heidi & I plan on doing it again next year and this time making first place. We had alot of fun!!
(Click on the pics to make them larger)

Easter Bliss

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Eating! Oh baby did we eat good!! Eggplant, artichokes & spicy meat-a balls....not to mention some fabulous Sicilian pizza in between -we were never hungry.Big thanks to Ryan & Dad for cooking and a shout out to our little helper Tiffany! When we would start to pull out the pots and pans Tiffany would come in and say "Help?" - how can you say no to that!?!
fAmily time! My family came up to spend the Easter weekend with us! It was wonderful, glorious and truely a miracle....I couldn't believe my eyes. My Mom, Dad, Jeanette, Tiffany & Katrina were all here and we had great fun.We were running around with the girls, making cards at Scrapbook Heaven, watching movies "...your shoes....are very....comfortable. Bye" (Ghost Town - MUST see!), blowing bubbles, eating, napping, reading, playing Druthers "If Dad were a vegtable what vegtable would he be? A. Potato B. Carrot C. Rutabega D. Celery". *answer down at the bottom. It was sooooo much fun!!
Sleeping. What is a vacation without a little R&R? My favorite little napping pal was Katrina. Such a cuddler!! (As long as she doesn't see her mommy she'll stick with you).
Tiffany and Katrina faces!! It is sooo much fun to see more of their two - very different - personalities come out as they are getting older. Tiffany puts on quite a show when she is up for it. I would say "Smile Tiffy" and she would give this squinty eyed grin to me - adorable! Katrina has THE FACE it is the "Oh face". She only did it every so often and it was my quest to capture it on film. After many proddings (My Dad took a picture of all three of us giving the "Oh Face" to Katrina trying to make her mimic it) and a load of blurry pictures I got it!! She sucks her lips in and pulls her face down as far as it can go - SOOO funny.
Egg hunting & Easter baskets. We took Tiffany and Katrina to our town's annual Egg Hunt. It was so much fun watching Tiffy get those eggs. Katrina is also quite the egg hunter......did she have any accomplices? The Easter bunny was not a great hit. Tiffany didn't even want to be by it and Katrina just looked at him like "Why do you have all that fur?". Easter baskets were fun! Hello to my honk'n huge Reeses egg (Thank you Jeanette!)While up in Portland I went to a Good Will and I found the perfect Easter basket for Ryan. The pail is green with football field yard markings all around it and the handle is a goal post with a football in it - perfect!! Ryan liked it.
Reading. The first day at the house Katrina tried to unload our bookshelves....kinda got peeved too when we wouldn't let her unload all the big books that she wanted to. Tiffany fell in love with "There's a Monster at the End of This Book" - you know the one with Grover? She thought it was the best thing ever! My favorite part was when she wanted to read the book. She would open her eyes wide, hold her hand out (in a "Stop Stop" motion) and say "Uhhhhh Ahhh" for every page - sooooo sweet!!
Hope that all of you had a great Easter too! *Answer: Potato.