Anniversary

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Caleb and Amanda!

Your wedding was an awesome way to celebrate the 4th of July.

Egg-In-A-Hole (Pioneer Woman)

**My daughter, daughter-in-law and I are cooking our way through Pioneer Woman's cookbook and writing about it here. Today's entry is from my daughter-in-law, Amanda.**

This is a really yummy and easy breakfast recipe! Since I made it six months ago (oops), I've made it for my husband several times again because it's a good hearty recipe for when you don't want cereal.

Here's the huge amount of ingredients:

First, cut a hole in the bread. Use a biscuit cutter if you're sophisticated, but if not, use a knife and cut a wonky hole.

Pretty!

Butter and cast-iron are a beautiful thing. Toast the bread and crack the egg in the middle. Or, put the egg in a hole! So clever.

Yums!

A Man of Integrity

 I am thankful for my son-in-law.

He is God's answer the prayers I prayed for our daughter Megan's future husband throughout their childhoods. I prayed he would know the Lord personally. I prayed for a happy childhood. I prayed that he would have integrity. (I don't know if I used that exact word, but it is certainly what I desired.) God so graciously and mercifully answered those prayers in Zach.

My daughter posted this video on her FB wall today that is a tribute to the coach Zach played football under when he was in high school. This man had a big role in molding Zach into the man he is today. I believe God used this man to answer those prayers of mine. Watch the video. You'll be in tears by the end. It's 10 minutes well spent.

Potato Salad Memories

This afternoon I made Potato Salad. Not really earth shattering news. Not even Facebook Status worthy. (Although I considered it.)

There are a few things I won't order in restaurants because they aren't like my mom made, namely Coleslaw and Potato Salad. My mom made Coleslaw with Italian Salad Dressing. I like that so much better than the sweet creamy dressing on most Coleslaws that are sold in restaurants. And Potato Salad? I try to model mine after my aunt Johnnye's. My mom would make it and my dad would always say it wasn't quite like Aunt Johnnye's. (Tsk, tsk, Dad! Don't you know that the 1st rule of husbands? Don't compare your wife's cooking to someone else's.)

So anyway... this afternoon I made Potato Salad. When I make Potato Salad, I am flooded with memories. I realize that is strange. (But hey, if you heard me telling my hubby what I dreamed about last night and what I was fretting about at 5:30 this morning, you wouldn't be quite so surprised at how my mind works.)

Since I try to make Potato Salad like my aunt Johnnye's, of course I think of her. She passed away 4 1/2 years ago, although Alzheimer's took her long before that. Aunt Johnnye didn't have a recipe for her Potato Salad, so I have to guess at what she put in her's.

I also think of Charlotte's Web. Remember that wonderful children's classic book by E.B. White? I loved that book when I was little. I read it multiple times. I remember that the little girl in the book fed Wilbur the Pig potato skins. So when I peel the potatoes, I think of that wonderful book.

Another memory that comes back to me when I make Potato Salad is...

(I wonder if I'm setting the record for how many times the words Potato Salad are written in a blog post.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, memories and Potato Salad...

I think of when I was in 4H when I was a kid. Why? Because Aunt Johnneye's version has hard cooked eggs in it, of course! Back in 1973 or so I gave a short demonstration about How To Cook Hard Cooked Eggs at a 4H meeting. I have the little speech written up on a piece of paper stuck in an old cookbook. I refer to that whenever I make hard cooked eggs.

Every single time I boil potatoes, it boils overs and makes a stinky, burnt mess. (Anyone else do that?)

At last, but not least, I think of my grandma. One of the main reasons I decided to make Potato Salad is because I wanted the water from boiling the potatoes. My sisters and I are trying to recreate the yeast rolls that our grandma used to make. No one has the recipe (if she even used one). My dad seems to think that she used potato water in the rolls his mother made. So now I have four cups of potato water to experiment with. (I'll let you know how they turn out.)

The Potato Salad? It turned out very good. And it was yummy with the brat, grilled asparagus and watermelon. :)

What do you make that triggers memories for you?

June Hodgepodge!

1. Do you and your family enjoy camping? What do you enjoy most/like the least when it comes to family camping? When was the last time you camped?
I camped a lot with my family when I was growing up and I kind of liked it. (Always tent camping.)
The hubby and kids and I camped a few times. The last time we camped was 1997 (I think). We enjoyed camping. We have a tent, camp-stove, sleeping bags, LOTS of foam pads and all the stuff.
But then... there came a few years living in Southeast Asia and vacationing in 5-Star hotels and Yours Truly got spoiled. Now the thought of sleeping outside on the ground (even with foam pads), having to get up and hike to a bathroom in the middle of the night, and all the other stuff? No thank you. Give me a nice comfy bed. With walls and a roof. And Air Conditioning. Thank-you-very-much.
(Our daughter and son-in-law love to camp. Good for them.)

2. Did you attend a summer camp when you were a kid? Is that a happy or not so happy memory? 

Yes! I went to a camp in Ontario for five summers straight (two weeks each summer) and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. The camp  is owned by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I learned a lot about having a relationship with God there. I made some wonderful friends there. (Thanks to Facebook I have reconnected with a few of those friends.) I shot a bow and arrow, I learned how to start a campfire, (but since I don't camp anymore, that's not a very useful skill), I learned how to canoe, had morning dip in the lake, sang fun camp songs and some great early Christian praise songs, watched the original Parent Trap movie in the dining hall one night. I loved those weeks at camp. I was able to take my hubby and kids there about 15 years ago. That was fun to be able to see it again.

3. Over the course of your life, what have you probably spent more time pondering than anything else? 
I would say I have pondered where I'd like to live next more than anything else. And I would say that has been most of my married life, since Hubby's job has always had the potential to move us. Not necessarily something I always have a choice about, but I ponder it all the same.

4. Which of the seven natural wonders of the world would you most like to see? There are many lists of 'wonders' but this is the standard natural wonder list: Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Harbor of Rio de Janerio, Paricutan Volcano and The Northern Lights.

Let's see.... I've seen the Grand Canyon (from a helicopter even), saw a glimpse of the Northern Lights a few years ago (one advantage to living in the Frozen Tundra), and snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef. (That's pretty impressive and I wasn't even trying.) Out of the rest of them? I think I'd like to see The Harbor of Rio de Janerio.

This question made me want to test my photo scanning skills. I haven't done much with the new printer scanner we have. (Should I confess we've had it for close to a year?) I found a fewpictures from our adventure on The Great Barrier Reef. This is Christmas Eve 2000. That's my kids sitting on the black square thing. I'm in the blue hat hiding behind part of the sailboat. (The photographer was smart to conceal me.) We are heading out to the reef from Port Douglas, Australia.

I just had to include a picture of my favorite pedicure ever. Can you see the Christmas colors? The smaller toes are gold and one big toe is red and the other is green. There are also tiny stars and glitter on the big toes.

Here I am again behind something. :) (That was back in the day I could hide behind my kids. Now they are both taller than me, so that doesn't work as well.) This was taken after we had all been in the water and seen some pretty awesome wonders of God's creation. We were snorkeling around that island behind us. (A little trivia here: Remember Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter? This is the island he was brought to after he was hurt for a helicopter to pick him up.)

5. What was your first real job? 

A car-hop at A&W. Sadly, I did that for three years. To this day I do not like root beer. In the summer my uniform was an orange top, brown skort, (both double knit), pantyhose, and white nurses shoes. Can you just imagine what my shoes and hose looked like at the end of a day of spilling root beer all over them? Ugh. I can still remember peeling those hose off my legs.

6. Lemonade or Sweet tea...which do you prefer on a hot summer day? 

Neither. Plain old regular UNsweet tea. I love Iced Tea (with no sugar).

7. What is something that always brings a smile to your face? 

Pictures of my daughter and son-in-law's nephew. That kid is seriously cute and funny.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm going to break away from posting a random video. (gasp)
Instead I think I will post a random picture from my phone. 

Last summer when Hubby and I were on vacation in Seattle,  our daughter texted me and said she wanted us to buy her a sailboat. (Random, yes.) So I took a picture of the sailboats in Puget Sound to send to her.

 There were just a few to choose from...

What A Morning

These are the things I accomplished before 10 o'clock this morning:

1. Waking up.
2. Two loads of laundry started.
3. Washed and dried my hair.
4. Got dressed.
5. Read Amos and Obadiah (in the Old Testament).
6. Watered the garden in the back yard.
7. Watered the flowers in the side yard.
8. Ate breakfast.
9. Read some blogs.
10. Now I need a nap. :)

That's a lot for me so early in the day. I just hope the rest of the day is as productive.

Daily Photo Journal --

I intended on posting this yesterday, but opted to go to bed instead. What can I say? It's a really comfy bed! I like my bed better than my computer or my blog.

Here is a before and after of the ribbon drawer in the sewing room dresser I've been working on straightening up:

 So much better! (Oh, and I had a confession from my kid who liked to wear ribbons that they may or may not have been partly responsible for the jumbled mess. That confession just made me laugh.)