50th celebration finally here!

How long til NYC?
Today is the weekend so that doesn't count.
It's Stake Conference tonight and tomorrow so tomorrow doesn't count either.
We leave first thing Monday morning so basically we are on our way.

NYC here we come! US Open - here we come!

Thank you Paul for this most A.Mazing 50th Birthday Party!

Can't wait to celebrate for a week with YOU!

Don't Crowd the Mushrooms!

Last night I needed to saute the mushrooms to put on our steak. Paul reminded me about Julia Childs advice in the movie 'Julie & Julia'. Julie is sauteing mushrooms and has read in Julia Childs cookbook to 'not crowd the mushrooms'. So I decided to give it a whirl and see if it really made a difference. IT DOES! I just let them have some room to breathe and bubble. They browned up so nicely and the flavor - YUM! So my advice to you - Don't Crowd the Mushrooms!

Dried peaches...............

Did you know that 16 thin slices of dried peaches = 1 whole peach. So if I ate 32 thin slices of dried peaches that would = 2 whole peaches. And so on and so on...........

They are just irresistible! You can't just have one thin slice. And you can't just have a few slices. They are impossible to leave alone. And you add that to the boxes of fresh picked peaches off of the farm and let me tell you, there are sounds going on inside of me that just shouldn't ever be heard.

Peach season - you gotta love it!

Timing is everything!

This was supposed to happen.............




But instead, this happened!




A pretty good tradeoff if you ask me! I was at girls camp and the day before the big hike I get a call from Dani that she's a go to have a baby! Not due til the 18th of August. I think I had my truck packed up in about 5 minutes, shed a few tears with the camp leaders, and was off. About two hours into the drive I got the call that Taytum Jean Harmon was born at 6:31pm, 7lbs 5oz, 21 inches long. I spent a week watching over her siblings and enjoying Taytum - aka Tater Tot, lil Spud, Tay, Tater! I would not have missed it for the world. The mountain will be there forever..........Taytums birth only happens once!

Welcome to the world my beautiful grandbaby!

Drumroll please..........................

Grandbaby #7 is going to make it's way here next year! Sam and Nikki announced that they are expecting their first baby. They came upstairs one morning at Sunriver with t-shirts on that announced it to us! Yay for more babies! And there will shortly be a drumroll for the birth of grandbaby #6 due anytime! Dani and Jefferson are expecting their third child - a girl - named..............up for grabs!

Genius.....

So my mom is a genius. You all probably knew that but I just figured it out today. While I was growing up my mom always used vinegar to clean windows. I hated the smell. HATED! I vowed to always use a glass cleaner - which I have. Well, my house is windows - I should count sometime just how many. Just in the kitchen, dining, and great room there are 28. And these aren't small windows. We are talking 7 ft tall on some of them. I have had it with the streaky cleaning. So i got online and sure enough, they also knew that vinegar was the best for a no streak window. I tried this recipe and it's A.Mazing! It's not quite as strong as what I'm sure my mom used/uses but it works! Here it is:

2 cups water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent

Just use paper towels - no newspaper..............

You may just have a bird fly into your window!

Thanks MOM!

Might Moki and another story to boot!

This morning April and I hiked the service road on the mountain near our house. I am pretty sure I showed it to most of you. It is very steep and difficult for humans. So Moki started to follow us. First off it was 6am. Secondly, Moki can hardly stand yet alone hike. He just kept following us and following us. He really bugged me. I kept scolding him to stay home. I finally started throwing a few rocks in his direction to let him know he was not wanted. To no avail..............Moki the Mighty hiked the service road. He stayed right with us (much to my dismay) and on our way home he pooped out around the office. However, I walked in the door around 8:10am and was showered and back out the door by 8:30am and he was already home. How he did this is certainly a miracle. St. Moki!

Just before our hike I was out in the rock pile pulling weeds and setting the sprinkler. I was at the top of the rock pile with my back to the driveway. There was a particularly big and stubborn weed. I sat on a rock and started pulling. Well it did the trick only I wasn't able to stop the motion and tumbled backwards down the rock pile and really banged the back of my head. I now have a giant goose egg and it really hurts. The only thing that made it better is that there wasn't anyone there to see it! I now have an extra measure of compassion for my grandbabies who seem to bump their noggins all of the time!