awesome

A quick story...

Last spring I was looking through Erik’s school papers and came across test.  There were 25 official questions, and then there was a 26^th multiple choice question penciled in – in 5^th grade handwriting it said:

26. Who is awesome?

                        a. Erik

                        b. Erik

                        c. Erik

                        d. Erik

Haha!  

Who else is awesome?  This guy is.  'Jay' left about six months ago to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Awesome-ness.  Jay and Erik.
(sorry 'bout the fuzzy photo)

be at peace

These are words I love.

Bid thine heart all strife to cease;
With thy brethren
be at peace.

-Joseph L. Townsend

And the November highlight was my entire family getting together for Thanksgiving!
Many thanks to Heidi and D.J. for hosting.
Here are the cousins…

A good looking bunch...even the one making a silly face.

important things

Here is a quote passed on to me from a friend.

Everything changed
the day
she figured out
there was
exactly enough time
for the important things
in her life.



Yesterday I interpreted it as:
Put aside the things that suck away your time and leave you feeling empty.
Instead make cookies.
Because at least they will fill you up.

 Thank you Grandma, Claire and Megan!

This was one of my better ideas and so we made cookies again today.

Roma and Megan's creation.

photos of the fam.

We have many family albums filled with pictures Jeff and I have taken over the years.  The photographs tell a story, they preserve a memory and over time they become more valued. 

So, for me it is like Christmas when I can add in photographs taken by someone who knows what they are doing.

A million times ‘THANK YOU’ to our friend, Jenn, and her camera! 

Megan.  She likes to climb and wants 4 cats when she is older.

Claire.  She loves bright colors and is a pro at the monkey-bars.

 

Erik.  He does funny poses if a camera is pointed at him and likes riding bikes.

Jeff and Janae.  They like love fresh peach shakes.

Jenn the Photographer, Whittney and Janae.  They like to laugh. 

yummy zucchini soup

2006 garden

This is a great time of year when fresh vegetables are in the gardens and at the local farmer’s market.  Woo-hoo!

But what the heck do you do when your neighbor gives you not just one but a whole bag of zucchini?

Well you make zucchini soup, of course. My kids love this and we always double the recipe so that there is enough.

When you receive the zucchini, slice them and freeze them in Ziploc bags until you are ready to use. This recipe is really the only thing that you would use the frozen zucchini slices for, because when they thaw they are mushy.

Zucchini Soup

3 cups (about 1 pound) sliced zucchini

½ cup water

1 tablespoon fresh or instant minced onion

2 bouillon cubes

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

Combine zucchini, water, onion, and bouillon cubes. Cook until zucchini is tender and most of the water has evaporated. Puree  in blender and set aside. In saucepan melt butter and add flour.  Blend; add milk and simmer until thickened. Stir in pureed vegetables; thin with milk, if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Makes 4 servings

August peaches and pumpkins

We have been waiting all summer to see these words. 

 

I think what makes these peaches tasty is that they are infused with extra sunshine.

This pumpkin vine grew up the trellis intended for our grapes and now we have a hanging pumpkin.
The 'garden geek' in me loves it when the unexpected turns out so well.

There are two decent sized giant pumpkins growing in the front yard.
What are the chances that they'll still be around come Halloween?
I say...slim to none.
At least we have the pumpkins out back.

thumbs up

The cutest thumbs up ever.  (2009)

This past spring my friend Meredith and her husband, Jeff, came out to Utah to do some skiing. It was great telling stories and catching up on how the kids are. Meredith asked me about the latest ALS happenings and I filled her in.

 I then told Meredith about a strange trend I had noticed. Recently there had been a sharp increase in the number of thumbs up people had been giving me. We hypothesized that perhaps people were giving me a thumbs up because they didn’t know what to say otherwise.  They see it is increasingly difficult for me to speak and not knowing what to say to me they become uncomfortable. 

But, hooray for those that are patient with me!

While it takes significant effort to enunciate and speak, there is good news, which is:  My hearing is fantastic! This means that you don’t have to get really close to me and then speak in an overly loud voice.  It’s awkward if you do.

I recently had a conversation that went something like this:

Woman “How are you.”

Me “I’m doing great.”

Woman (as she pats my shoulder) “Well you keep hanging in there.”

Apparently she didn’t believe my response.  Between you and me, I'm glad THAT conversation ended quickly.

Back to the thumbs up. Meredith and Jeff laughed about it.  Later when they were leaving, both of them gave me double thumbs up… this WAS funny.  

Meredith and her Jeff