Sweet springtime!

My birthday breakfast -in -bed...thanks to my girls!

  It's been a long time comin'...but its here! Today was such a beautiful day but windy and a little cool. We had a picnic planned down at the Twin Rivers ,but since it would be rather chilly down there, we went to Phil and Jenn's house instead to help do some planning for girls camp.
   This summer is starting to fill up and look really busy, and it's barely here! From around the middle of July to the middle of August, life in Idaho is too hectic! Our church is involved in men's retreat, boy's camp and girl's camp, and to top it off, a wedding all squeezed in those for short weeks. And those are the best months to go camping or driving in the mountains.
We have been working outside as much as we can,we've had a lot of rain which makes for nice green lawns to mow. Cody keeps busy with our lawn at home and mowing at the store. He's been helping me rescue some flowering crab trees that a nursery had dug out and left to burn later. Alot of nurseries are doing that these last few years because of not being able sell em, and they get too big to sell. We hauled five big ones home with the skid steer ,truck and trailer, and got them planted along the lane and out by the entry way to our place. We had to push down the old archway because of rotten logs, hopefully replacing them later on.
I'm hoping to get in the garden to do some more planting this week. I did some of the early stuff, but got rained out before I could do more. I started some tomatoes and peppers inside for my garden  and i'm gonna haul them to the store to put in the greenhouse there, till I can plant them. I have a lady that sells her stuff there till June or when ever she's sold out.

Planting my rescued trees

Moving the new greenhouse to the front at the store

Hopefully this greenhouse comes home with me this summer when we are done with it at the store!

Delicious birthday lunch at the Wildlife Refuge

My sweet mother in law make a delicious picnic lunch for my birthday and we met them down at the picnic area at the wild life refuge. We went for a bike ride all 6 miles around it! It was one of our first really nice days we've had this spring!

First signs of spring: my flowering plum trees, and the start of GREEN in the pasture!



School is almost out, our picnic is on the 19th!  We can't wait! Then the Skrivseths are coming for a reunion the following weekend , so we will not relax till the next week. We are all camping at  our church camground, so it's local and nice and private and lots of room to run for the kids!

Family Fun Night 2012

Our school has a "Family Fun Night " put on by the teachers and students every spring. The theme this year was the progression  of the USA starting from the Pilgrims coming to the new colony to our modern era that we live in! We ended with McDonalds type food which was a lot of work, but it turned out good!

We had grilled hamburgers, and chicken and good old fries and chicken  nuggets and ended with homemade  ice cream topped with yummy hot fudge! drool...

The brains that go into a project like this always amazes me!

The General Store

Samantha and Kendra cooking over the "fire" in the mining town

Rebecca "plowing " her field

The "Mayflower", guided by Captain Dominic

A miniature "Mayflower", the captains had a lot of fun guiding this ship! It even had a lower level !

The indians in first grade, pioneer girls in the background...

The pilgrim and the indian at the "First Thanksgiving"

The high school's project , a really cool "space shuttle"that you could ride in and go flying thru space thanks to a flight simulator. The guys got to rock it back and forth, it was nice and bouncy thanks to it sitting on some basketballs on each corner!

Emily and her friend Jennifer were Civil War nurses, they were busy in the tents with the "wounded soldiers".

The entrance of the mine where the miners inside were panning for gold in the dark and cold..Kaitlyn sat on a platform above the people as they toured and spritzed water down on them, a highlight of her evening..They felt the water but couldn't see her 'cause it was too dark!

The pros of owning a bulk food store!

  ...trying out a Himalayan Pink Salt block from a customer! "would I carry this, please"? (Do I crush it or just pass it around the table?) :)
.....i take all the produce home that get bumped and briused. Onions get chopped and frozen, which I love having on hand ,just don't like too many at a time!
....grabbing baking stuff off the shelves,including many items I normally wouldn't get, like mini m&m bits! Funny tho', my spices containers are emptier than ever, I forget to pick them up 'cause I don't have a grocery list anymore!
....farm fresh eggs from local farmers!
....i get to test out the latest kitchen gadgets,including the broken stuff!
....meat and cheese ends from the deli, they make wonderful snacks when having  friends over!

I love barn wood!

Someday ,when i have the time , I'm gonna start more woodworking projects. For now I'm collecting ideas!  I love anything rustic and simple, but I need to stock up on old barn wood first . 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68305225/barn-wood-vase-planter-centerpiece

Grow your own wheat grass....

I've had a few customers stop in at the store this morning and buy wheat berries for growing their own grass for Easter decorations. I've always wanted to do it ,so that's my project with kids tonite. Sam has the seed planting itch ,so I want to get started on that too. We are getting a greenhouse set up here at the store for display, so i can set my plants in there and  take them home for planting later on!

Grow your own Easter Grass http://asoftplace.net/2011/03/easy-spring-grass-centerpiece/

Of course you could always do something like this instead! 

http://out2playinthegarden.blogspot.com/2010/03/easter-egg-grass-heads.html

 

Posole, a new favorite dish!

Oh ,i'm happy! How many times have you tried a new recipe and the rest of the clan didn't like it? That was me many times over, but I see all these yummy looking stuff on blogs and I can't resist trying some of them...trouble is , sometimes I don't have the right ingredients, you guess the rest! But tonite I hit the jackpot! :)
  We had mexican at a friends house a few months ago and she had a "soup" that she called "posole", sooo good! So I tried a recipe at www.reluctantgourmet.com or just google it, there are lots of differant recipes out there. It takes hominy which usually comes in a can, I happened to get dried hominy at the store and wanted to try it out! I used chicken instead of pork and had no chiles so I substituted cayenne pepper. Try it topped with finely shredded cabbage! Ummm, yummy!  And the best part everybody loved it! :) :) :) :)

In deep despair! ..my closet.....

I have orders from headquarters to get rid of my old faithful dresses that I have had for the past millenia (some newer of course) so I tackled that this week. I am a tight wad  that has not sewed for herself (  and doesn't like to sew for herself) for too long(with the exception of a few now and then) . I'd much rather sew for the girls because it's quick and they fit!   
    My size has changed too many times over the past 17 years with gaining and losing baby fat and now I dont have excuses anymore for being whatever size I am! ...as if I knew what size I am anyway! I love shopping but hate clothes shopping , nothing fits the way I like and my feet are fat and shoes are hard to find !
  So here I am going through my old faithfuls, how can I get rid of dresses that are still good but that I despise? Like I said I am a tight wad (with no fashion sense at all)  If I were to go through my closet, I'd probably get rid of most of my clothes... So my spring project ....sew!!!!
I'm going to California with husband in April, so thats a good excuse to get some new clothes and go shopping! 
...and since spring is just around the corner, :), i'm gonna have to shed my sweaters,vests,jackets etc. ,so its time to shape up! I can't wait to get out there and rake my yard and dig in flowerbeds!