Trials

It's been long and busy summer.  And this is just a quick note to let you know I'm still here.  I have started a new blog, one I never wanted to start or thought I would need to start.  It's a blog that will allow family and friends to keep up with my mom as she battles Breast Cancer.  I hope to find time to update my aDorableDaze blog as well over the next little while with fun things and lovely pictures.  But for now, enjoy this picture that Meghan entered in our county fair and won Best of Class with.

Silver Spurs (Day 2)

Well, as you can see, I am terribly behind--here I am, still talking about what happened the middle of June and it's the middle of JULY!  All I have to say is THAT'S MY LIFE.

The second day we were in Boise started very early.  Especially since the night before I had to run Meghan to Target to pick up everything that got left behind.  But I'll let her tell you about that on her blog.  I'm sure she'll get to it eventually.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the show.

Such a cute pair!

I LOVE watching Arabians.  Unfortunately, the judge did NOT feel the same way

We spent a lot of time doing this.

Since this was taken during the first class of the day I figure it's not a good sign for the rest of the 9 classes.

This was Meghan's first time showing English.  She looks like a natural!

Did you know there is no smiling in English?  I guess a big ol' country grin just wouldn't be proper!

Unless you surprise everyone by placing in this elite crowd!

Outfit change #3.  It's like a fashion show for horse lovers!

Tay and Ken made a lot of trips from the tack stall to the arena dragging Zoey along.

Samantha is a GREAT cousin.  If spending an entire day watching a horse show isn't love, I don't know what is!

Eventually, she just gave up.  Once she crawled up on my lap, it took about 30 seconds.  I kid you not!  We work 'em hard at a horse show.

Check It Out!

I am so excited!  I have been looking for a website that would give me detailed book reviews for the books my kids want to read, but have not been able to find one.  It's made it very difficult and time consuming to choose which books my kids are allowed to read.  Finally, my husband said, "You should just do one."  And I just laughed and thought, Yeah, I'll just do that in my spare time.  But then I couldn't stop thinking about it.  Ideas and layouts kept swarming around in my head.  Finally I called my friend Lark; she would either talk me out of this CRAZY idea, or jump on the band wagon with me.  She jumped!  With both feet no less. 

So this is me, introducing our new Book Review Blog.  I have a couple more friends I need to talk into joining us, but until then, Lark and I will hold down the fort.  Our format is similar to Plugged In Online, the BEST place to go for movie review.  Our goal is to post a new book review every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  We might not be able to do three a week in the beginning, but we're sure going to try.

We won't be reviewing classic literature, you can find those reviews most any where, and hey! they are classics for a reason!  We will do both secular and Christian novels, for preteen to older teens, male and female.  Pass the word along to anyone you may find this helpful, we'd love to see their smiling faces on our sidebar.

So stop on by Check It Out on Monday for our debut review.  Lark has picked a great book to start out with.

Silver Spurs Horseshow (Day 1)

A few weeks back, we took Meghan & Silver to show in their first out-of-town horse show.  It was quite the experience.  We brought my neice, Samantha, along for moral support (and extra manual labor!) for Meg and turned the weekend into a sort of mini vacation.  The show was being held at the Idaho Horse Park in Nampa, ID. 

We hauled up three horses and a WHOLE-LOT of tack.

Thanks to the advice Meghan received from the owner of the stables where she works, we rented an extra stall to use for tack.  That was the BEST move we did all weekend!

This is the last time it ever looked this neat.

The horses did great for the long, hot 2+ hour drive but, were pretty glad to get out and stretch their legs a bit.

The stalls were roomy, but Silver still wasn't really sure what to think about his weekend home.  He did fine though.

We came up a day early, so that Meg & Silver could get a feel for the arena and spend some time working up a sweat.

Is that a good cousin or what?  She followed Meg around, cheering her on and lending all kinds of moral support all weekend.  Those two are practically joined at the hip.

We had heard a lot about their fancy horse washing system.  It's set up much like a do-it-yourself car wash.  Meghan thought it was pretty handy and she was able to wash him in much less time than at home.

She had LOTS of helping hands.

Apparently, Silver is NOT impressed!

Brushing him out after his shower took quite a bit of work.

The kids learned from Day 1, that there would be a lot of time spent waiting.

Family Fire

One of my kids' (and my husband's) favorite things is FIRE.  So, what could be better than a fire pit, right in their backyard? 

OK, so ours isn't really in our backyard, it's in a spot between my cottage and our shop, where Jeff and Jerry park their vehicles. 

And ours isn't one of the cute pits that you can buy at Home Depot, it's made of rocks that Jeff and the kids hunted up, hauled and placed one by one in a perfect circle.  

And, while I'm telling all our secrets, our furniture isn't a cute iron patio set from Wal-Mart, either.  It's a hodge podge of camping chairs, pallets, railroad ties and more rocks. 

Having said all that, lighting the fire and roasting s'mores is something our family LOVES to do.

I don't always go out for the Fire Festivities"--sometimes, I let it be a Daddy and kids thing--but when I DO go out, I get cracked up at what great fun it is.

Yeah, it's pretty Red-Neck.

But, it's also finger-lickin' tasty!

We're pretty laid back.

I think the gas can adds a bit of atmosphere, don't you?  But, it's not really about the atmosphere, is it? It's about family, and memories.

  And melty, ooey-gooey marshmallows dripping down over thick chocoalte.

Love

Here is another card from my Box of Unsent Cards.  I think when I made it, I intended it to be an anniversary card.  What was I thinking?  If I don't remember send Birthday cards, what makes me think I'm going to send Anniversary cards?  Yeesh!  Anyway, it's still a great card and the whole layout makes me smile.  Again, the pictures are crummy, but I think you can still get the idea.

The torn edge with the contrast behind makes me smile.  I also like the way the word LOVE is scratched upward along the side.

This was one of the first time I used Bazzil paper.  I have been hooked ever since.  I stamped the rectagle background first in a brown slightly darker than the paper, then colored the flowers with markers and stamped it on top of the rectangle.

Yep, even with the bad picture color, this card is a keeper.  (Apparently literally)

Bouquet of Gratefulness

This size card, with the rounded corners on one side has become a favorite for me.  It makes super cute cards very quickly.  I have used this stem and flower stamp numerous times.  I love the shading you get from a two-step flower.

You can never have enough Thank You cards, in my opinion.  And this one is like sending along a sweet bouquet of flowers tied up with a little string.

Paisley Wishes

This is one of my favorite cards; that's probably why it's still in my box, I can't bear to send it off!  I love the simple colors and the clean lines.  The pictures are terrible and do not do it justice.  What can I say?  I'm just getting this photography thing figured out and these were taken before I even STARTED trying to figure it out.

I think the simple little sentiment, wish, says it all.

With a photo on my blog, maybe I'll send the card out now.  Who will be the lucky Birthday Girl?

$24 and a Whole-lotta Bowling

A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook this morning that just made my kids summer a little more fun!  Kids Bowl Free is just what it sounds like.  All you have to do is click the link and enter your children's names and birthdate (just the month and year) for free bowling passes for your kiddos. 

The program is for children under 15, but there is a Family Summer Pass that allows you to add on up to 4 adults for $24.95.  The passes allow your kids to bowl TWICE, EVERY DAY until Sept 30, 2010.  The shoes are not included, but it said on the site that you may be able to get an Unlimited Shoe Rental at your location.  This is a Nationwide program, and even the little town where I live in Idaho had a location.

So get all your friends to sign up and get ready to bowl!

**I called our local bowling alley and the Unlimited Shoe Pass is $10 per person and is good for the duration of the Kids Bowl Free Promotion.  Regular rentals are $2.75 per person and on Thursdays they are $1.

Happy Birthday Good Friend

I dug into my card box and found some cards that bring back sweet memories of stamping with friends.  Someday, I will get to stamp and play again, in the meantime, I will look back at what I've done with fond remembrance and share some pictures with you.

I'm pretty sure I cased this card from a stamping magazine, but it was quite a ways back and I have no idea where I found it.  If it's yours, let me know and I'll be sure to give you credit!  I love the three little flowers nestled together in the corner with the antique brads. 

I think a Good Friend would love to get this card on their Big Day!

A New Family Favorite

If I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life, I would be hard pressed to choose between Mexican and Italian (if you notice, both use LOTS of cheese, my favorite food group), but these Taquitos make me lean a little more strongly toward the Mexican side.  I rarely find a new recipe that my ENTIRE family goes ga-ga for, but let me tell you, the kids BEG me to make these multiple times a week.  They are so tasty, I'm tempted to agree.  Right now they are our weekly Tuesday night meal because Meghan, Taylor and Jeff can eat them on the way to 4-H.

My friend posted the original recipe from a blog that I have quickly fallen in love with.  Here it is from Our Best Bites.  Of course, if you know me, you know that because I am an incredibly picky eater, I can almost NEVER follow a recipe as written.  So I had to make a few changes to what I've been told was already a KILLER recipe.  I am not a fan of either lime or cilantro, so here is the recipe that I created based on the original recipe from Our Best Bites.  So, now you can choose--lime and cilantro or NO lime and cilantro.

Baked Chicken Taquitos

4 cups chicken-cooked and finely chopped

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup salsa verde, pureed

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic

3 cups co-jack, shredded

flour tortillas (soft taco size)

Combine all of the above ingredients.  Place about 2 TBSP of the mixture across one end of a slightly warmed tortilla.  Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can and place, seam side down, on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Make sure the taquitos do not touch each other on the baking sheet, so they get nice and crispy.  Just before baking, lightly brush oil over the tops and sprinkle with a little kosher salt.  Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes.

I have not tried making these and freezing them before I bake then yet, we seem to eat all that we make each time, but they are supposed to freeze well.  The last time I made this recipe, I got 26 taquitos, but I over-filled them and lots of the filling oozed out onto the pan, so I could probably get 3 or 4 more.

According to my salsa verde bottle, the La Victoria brand is gluten free, so if you change the tortillas you use, this is also a gluten free recipe.