Surprises To Come

Big Surprises Coming Up!!!!

Project Challenge and Project 365

Project 365 for July-finally finished!

I created this page using inspiration from Jenni Bowlin's handout from her Big Picture Scrapbooking Class. The challenge was to use the vintage dennison labels {that came in the challenge packet} in a project. I decided to use the I grabbed the first photo that I could find on my desk that inspired me. The photo was taken at a rest area where we stopped to eat lunch on our way to Disney last year. Happy Wednesday!

Camping Memories 2009

Trying to light a fire with wet wood in the rain.

Here it is-the long awaited camping memories 2009 post :) Many of you have already heard the story of our waterlogged trip where we had a beautiful campsite along Handcart Creek (I think that's right...).

I could use this one as our Christmas card photo....

Elizabeth and Jeremy...

Setting up camp.

Sarah is taking photos of the flowers.


I actually have tons of photos of our trip. The site was beautiful. The water rushing by on the rocks was a wonderful sound. I could do without the rain falling all night long though. I will try to post just a few more photos tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!

Sarah & Jeremy's Part 2

Hiking up the hill to see the view. Wow-we were NOT used to the altitude {around 8,000 ft.}

Sarah making yummy french toast!

My french toast was delicious!!!!

This is my photo of Lake Echo at Mt. Evans. {It is sooo much better than the postcard photo.}

Elizabeth and Bryan on the way up the mountain. We saw some really awesome clouds below us while we were driving up.

At the top.

Lots of photos!

Love this photo!

The photo that Sarah thinks I should use as my Christmas photo!

Jeremy looks like he's on the edge of the earth here.

If you look really close, you can see the marmott in the lower right hand corner. The edge of the windshield was in the way.

Photos of the 2 of us! I love this one on Sarah's deck.

Ahhh, look. The sun came out just a few hours after we left our campsite.

Love your flowers, Sari!

Jeremy is pinching off the parsley.

I love this organic salad! I started buying it at home!

Sarah's pies. She made these 2 pies while we were sleeping off the cold and damp of our waterlogged camping trip. They were delicious, Sarah! Thanks so much!

I will be doing a dedicated camping post later this week. I want to give our camping trip the memory it deserves....Happy Monday!

Salsa

I learned how to peel tomatoes this year by scalding them and dipping in cold water. Check out how the skin splits and just peels right off the tomato.

I love canning. Well-let me say that another way-I love making food to put away for the future. I don't mind boiling-water canning. But it is VERY time consuming. You spend hours getting all of the equipment ready to go, 10 minutes cooking the stuff to be canned, and another hour boiling, etc. When you're finished, ultimately one jar doesn't seal correctly and your time has been wasted there. Okay-fast forward to this year. I have been working on freezer canning instead. I can concentrate on the fun part (cooking) and throw it in a jar with a screw-on lid (I think you can actually still use the glass jars for freezer canning, but we have a tendency to have things jump out of the freezer, so I prefer plastic while I still have boys living in the house.) I have also finally found a seasoning mix that is both readily available and easy to use. And the result was fantastic!

I used 6 lbs of tomatoes for my salsa. About 4 lbs or so were directly from my garden. I had to supplement with some tomatoes that I bought at the store, because I didn't want my tomatoes to go to waste while I waited for my tomatoes to ripen on the vine.


My favorite part is how easy this was. The most time consuming part was dicing the tomatoes. And it is awesome to use your own tomatoes! The only ingredients are 6lbs of tomatoes (I mixed Roma and Beefsteak), 1/2 cup of vinegar, and the seasoning packet of Mrs. Wages "Create Salsa" which is available here. I bought mine in the canning aisle at Walmart.

Here is the salsa after cooking on the stove and ready to fill jars.

5 freezer jars filled with salsa.

The recipe made EXACTLY 5 pints. Which is what it said it would make. I was impressed.
All that is necessary is to fill the jars and wait for it to cool. Then screw the lids on and pop it in the freezer. What could be easier? Well, okay, I guess if I'd just bought a jar at the store it would be easier, but it wouldn't taste the same.

Fresh salsa.

Of course we had to eat a pint with nachos to make sure it would be okay for future dinners :)

Saturday

I am loving the cherry tomatoes that I'm getting from my garden. Totally yummy on salads! Have a great day!

Hitched

I wanted a photo of us in front of the hitching post before we left the ranch. Bryan took this photo. I love it!