hang'n with da fam

My family's the greatest! How can a group of people be complete opposites and yet exactly alike at the same time? This is the first time is almost 10 years we've all been together for a family photo. Crazy, hun? We've all been in far off places at different times. It's good to go home to them.
A little note about the foot pict. It's tradition! We have feet pictures just like this dating back 20 years when we were tiny kids my parents put our feet in circle and took an arial shot. I'm not sure why, but it's pretty cool to us.
And I'm not apologizing for Dan's face in the last picture because he is dang good looking (note other photos) and he purposely was being a nerd.

Random Photos from Our Summer Adventures

Jared with my brothers, Byron and Dan. By the way, my brother really is that tall!

On the way to Northern Utah, there's this PLACE just off I-15---you know what I'm talking about. You can't miss it. It has surplus everything for sale. Including, no joke, missles. Lots of them. Really, where did this stuff come from? I'm pretty sure this shop has the cold war to thank for most of their inventory. This is the base of the sign outside the store. Natalie is the tiny thing on the top steps.

Jared's stunning sister, new husband, and favorite niece Natalie.

Isaac is such a chunk on my sweet grandma's lap.

Natalie modeling my mom's camping gear.

What else is going on in that brain of yours?

People tell me Jared is so weird. "Really?" I reply. But sometimes I do get so used to him I forget until like last night, for example, when he comes up to me after getting out of the shower and says, "Sorry it took so long. I had to sing all the verses to "St. Bernard-o" and that's a lot of verses."

(In case you think you are not familiar with "St. Bernard-o" you are but just don't know it. It goes like this: "There was a farmer who had a dog and St. Bernardo was his name-o...S-T-B-E-R-N-A-R-D-O..." and there's plenty of clapping involved.)

cookies and little love

Here are three cookies and a a little love.

Natalie is eating a new cookie creation---new to me anyway! It's oatmeal blueberry, with dried blueberries instead of raisins. Pure yum.
Here's the recipe because you'll want to try these for yourself:

Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies
1 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salk
1 stick softened butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. dried blueberries
Sift dry ingredients, minus the oats in a small bowl. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mix to sugar mix. Stir in oats and blueberries.
Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees on greased cookie sheets. Makes 2 dozen.


And, a little love...
Check out the heart tomato from Mother Nature herself. Here's the tomato sliced and it's on the swing tray in the first photo. More pure yum---a tomato sandwich waiting to happen.

Good Times

My mom and sister were here for two weeks. One of the highlights was when I pulled out my guitar and my mom and I sang together. It was a fun surprise when she new all the verses to "I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane" and I had almost forgotten what a great voice she has. Warm and fuzzy feelings for all. We even squeezed in a few verses of "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" for Natalie.