Mountain Harvest!!!

Its starting to get chilly at night, so i thought i better pick the basil before it was too late...that and i didnt want Justin and Jordyn to eat it all :) I made enough for two batches, one of which i put in the freezer. Its soooo easy to make, and absolutely delicious! Here is the recipe if anyone is interested...

Basil Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (consistency to your liking)
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a blender and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Then stir in cheese! If freezing, do not add the cheese and drizzle a layer of olive oil on top. Then add cheese when defrosted and ready to use :)


And since my cilantro did so well this year, i decided to make some cilantro pesto as well! Use the above recipe, and substitute the cilantro for the basil! Enjoy!

Summer Sunday

The dog days of Summer are here, and we happily enjoyed ourselves this last weekend! Justin, Jordyn and i spent most of the time playing...building blocks, playing with legos, coloring and "the great pony rescue" (a game Justin and Jordyn created, involving her stable of My Little Ponies). Of course, that was just the morning...

during the hot afternoons, we played in the river! And while we were out there, Justin and Jordyn did their annual trout rescue!
The river drops really low at this time of year, and the fish get trapped in our pond. Normally this wouldnt be a big deal, except the pond was really washed in this Spring, so the water is too shallow to house the fish for the winter...therefore, we gather any of the big fish we find and release them in the main river on the other side of the island.

Jordyn really LOVES catching the fish, but she couldnt understand why we werent going to eat them. Justin and i dont fish, and we dont particularly care for trout, so we told her that's something she can do with Grandpa :)

Besides, this is the fun part...saving them to swim another day! We had luck and caught two large trout. This one was being stubborn and didnt want to swim out of the bucket...

but this one didnt have a choice! Jordyn reached in and tossed him into the river!

While out exploring, Jordyn spotted a garter snake, so she had to make friends with him. This is the only one we've seen all summer...in fact, our animal spotting this summer has been rather minimal...perhaps the heat is keeping them at higher altitudes? Thats fine by me...keeps em all out of my garden! :)

And finally, a sign of Summer coming to an end...one yellow leaf, soon to be many...but isnt it lovely!

Posthumous Gift ~

Jordyn was sooo excited to receive this gift from Gramma Dena...Berdena had ordered it for her a month or so ago, and was waiting for the right moment to give it to her, and it seems she forgot about it...that is, till Aunt Leann stumbled upon it today. We set it up right away, and Daddy, Mommy, Jordyn and even Spooky played inside. That surprise was just what we needed today, and as you can see, we had a ball!

Speaking of having a ball...kids will be entertained by just about anything! Here is Jordyn helping the septic guy empty our tank...generally not something folks want to be a part of, but look at the smile on her face. This guy has a daughter 3 days older than Jordyn, so he was a really good sport about her wanting to help!

It was rather warm out today, so a dip in the river seemed like a good idea. I was trying to capture just the right shot...climbing around on the rocks...moving up and down the bank...squatting down low...

and here it is...the shot i captured right before i slipped on a rock and went into the river...fully dressed! Dont worry though, i saved the camera...but that was about the only thing that didnt get wet :)
Have a fantastic weekend!

Celebrating a Life~

Jordyn's Great Grandma Berdena passed away this morning, she was 92 years old. In honor of her memory, i wanted to post a few photos from the last year. There arent many, as she HATED to have her photo taken...and she let me know every time i got out my camera...to which i replied, "i know you hate this, but its for Jordyn" :)
Our friendship started out a little rocky...she was not happy that i had moved in with her Grandson Justin, i moved into her old home and changed things and im pretty sure she was sad to "lose" Justin to me, but as years passed we grew to become friends. She had a full life filled with lots of grand kids, great grand kids, travel and adventure! So by sharing these photos today, i celebrate a life!

Here are a few shots of her admiring her 90th birthday memory quilt. You may recall me posting about it here. I was always envious that both of Justin's Grandmothers were still alive...I lost mine when i was quite young, so i welcomed the chance to spend time with his. Berdena lived across the meadow, so Jordyn got to pop in on Gramma Dena often, and she was always sneaking up there for candy and other treats.

Berdena loved good food and enjoyed cooking...she was often passing out baggies of brownies, loaves of banana bread, cookies, or kraut burgers(one of Justins favorites). Every year for Rogue Camp she would make a GIANT pot of chili for all of our guests, and it was always devoured with joy!

She loved to read and would tear thru books rather quickly. We would take drives to the library often, where she would stock up on the 50 cent used paperbacks. She loved her romance novels! :) She also LOVED football...college ball most of all(Nebraska Huskers)...and she spent her weekends in front of the TV during football season only coming out for snacks and the newspaper (her other favorite read).

She enjoyed politics, however, that was a subject we steered clear of, as we usually disagreed :) Mostly, i enjoyed conversations with her about the past...her life on the farm, her adventures in the Peace Corps, running Rustic Resort, and stories of Justin when he was a child. To the rest of the family, those stories may have been old, but they were all new to me, and i loved hearing them.

Here is a shot of her with Justins other Grandma, Anita (Jordyn's other Great Grandma) at Jordyns 4th birthday party last month. I am so happy that we decided to do a family party instead of going away for the day.
Jordyn may be young, but i think she will keep the memories of her Gramma Dena with her always! Goodbye Berdena...you will be missed!

cherries, cherries, cherries...

Here's a shot of Jordyn and i making cherry pie filling with all the sour cherries from our tree. She's using an old cherry pitter that was her Great Great Aunt Wilmas! And it worked pretty good too :) Looks like we'll only have enough for one pie this year though....hmmmmm....i wonder how many she ate while we were gathering cherries? :)

Stay at Home Robin : Square 2

Remember the first blocks i did for Kate's Stay at Home Robin last month? Well here they are with the second block attached. I decided to work on two quilts...one with a Winter theme and one with a Halloween theme. Each month she gives us the size and specs for the block, and after 12 months we will have a finished miniature quilt. This months block was to be 4"x6" finished. As i was perusing my box of fabrics, I remembered that i had this snowman block from Ellies BOM challenge from last year. I had this grand vision of working on 3 every month...and sadly, i only got thru the first couple months...but i wanted a snowman somewhere in my winter themed quilt, so why not use him for this. He comes up a little short, so i left the blue border on the bottom...but no worries, i have plans for that space later :)

As for the Halloween block i added, i just love these vintage postcards printed onto fabric! The photo doesnt do it much justice, but it was late and i didnt want to wait till morning to re-shoot. Its sort of hard working on a quilt when you dont know what to expect next...but that keeps it interesting and fun too! I would like to incorporate more colors in the Halloween quilt, so i hope i dont sew myself into a corner...but for now, i think it works! Have a fabulous weekend!

Where did the summer go?!?

Summer seems to be flying by, but since school doesnt start till the end of the month, we still have time for more summer fun :) Grandpa, Daddy and Jordyn went to the fish hatchery for a kids day of fishing last weekend...doesnt this shot remind you of the opening to the Andy Griffith show?

They all had a good time, though Jordyn was easily distracted by the other kids, rocks, climbing, you name it :) Daddy did manage to capture a few good shots though!

Here is Catzilla resting after destroying the 405 :) Beware the evil Catzilla!

Next stop...Fort Fun! What a cool place this was...

miniature golf, an arcade, a big slide, go carts, bumper boats, etc...

and dont forget the Merry go Round! (a personal favorite of Jordyns)

She wasnt sure what to think of the slide the first time down, but after that, she was good to go, and went down it dozens of times! We will definitely be going back to Fort Fun!
Here's a disturbing photo of pony palace :)

Then i was ready for a city fix...so we headed to Denver for another visit with Christy, my cousin and Jordyn's Godmother.

Jordyn loves to go to the city, where there are sidewalks to draw on...

and skate on...

and sprinkler fun with her super cool Godmom, Christy!

And lets not forget all the shopping! I had a Joannes gift card from my birthday a few months back (cant believe it lasted that long, but glad it did) They had buttons on sale 50% off...so i totally scored! We also discovered two new quilt shops that were wonderful...great service, and reasonable prices...ill definitely go back! Anyways, here is a shot of all my loot! :)

And i swear these werent in my garden 3 days ago when i left, but look what the garden fairy left us...

ginormous zucchini! :)
Anyways, that about catches us up for the last week and a half. May your August be filled with creative joy! :)