This & That

It's Here!

Everything is packed and ready, or already at the campsite.

And this piece of music totally describes my emotional state:

 

Chocolate Snaps

You might remember my neighbor and jet-skiing buddy, Sam.

Here he is in case you need a reminder of his cute face. Well, he's about ready to pull up stakes and head back east for a couple of years on his church mission. At the risk of sounding totally elderly, I remember seeing him as a toddler riding on a tractor with his grandpa just last week, and now he's old enough to be heading out to do big things. I took some of these cookies over to his house because these milestone events seem to attract a lot of hungry people. I will miss this face, and the rest of him, but he's an awesome kid making good, big choices. 

I got this recipe out of one of those little magazines by the check out at the grocery store and if you happen to be in the mood for something all chocolate and nothing-but-the-chocolate, these are a good bet.

Chocolate Snaps

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Sugar for rolling cookies

Heat oven to 350°. In a large bowl beat together sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, then beat in oil and cocoa powder. When those ingredients are blended well, add flour, baking soda and salt. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour for easier handling.

Shape dough into 1 1/4" balls. Roll in sugar then place 3" apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes. I always under-bake slightly because I like soft rather than crisp cookies. Cookies will puff up during baking. Cool on cookie 1 minute then remove to racks to cool. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

 

 

Around Here This Week

Around here this week, as you might guess, camp prep intensified....if that's possible.

One week from today, camp will be over for better or worse. I ran into some snags this week with one of the craft projects which necessitated raiding my stash of freezer jam jars as well as a trip to the local thrift store to try to remedy the situation. 

I also made the first of several food forays for camp. My walking buddy and I went to Costco to get as much stuff that would keep as possible. I'll make another trip on Monday or Tuesday to get fresh stuff right before we pack ice chests.

As I've mentioned, the men in my family have been in the hills and I was having to pick the beans alone.....by myself. (Movie reference for my family there.) Wasn't terribly happy about it and then I get this, which my husband arranged to have delivered while he was gone. Pretty sneaky. 

My daughter checked in with this picture of her and her companion.

I got this one from a gal in our ward. This is her mother with my daughter. She had told her parents, who are on a church history trip, to keep an eye out for my daughter at the visitor's center. The interesting thing here is that they live in the same town as my in-laws and know who my father-in-law is. Oh yes, it's a small world after all.

From the kids and grandkids this week, I got this picture texted to me of a happy Roger after an evening of fever. His daddy and big brother spent the week on the horsey pack trip and when I spoke to Edward on the satellite phone, he told me he'd caught 60 fish up to that point on the trip. I think he's having fun. 

James found some sheep horns at my in-laws' house that made a dandy chair. I found this video on my phone from his time here:

 

James' daddy has been at a conference in Virginia and among the pictures of Monticello he showed was this picture. Atta boy! He crossed paths with Eric and his family going home from a family trip. They shared a little pizza and a visit.

Beans, Beans.....and More Beans

I am an early riser. I do my best work in the morning without other things to distract me. 

I woke up yesterday morning a little before 6 and was actually grateful I beat the alarm for a couple of reasons. First, it's hard to match this kind of view and second, the beans had been haunting me.

I knew they were ready to be picked, but there was no way I was going to sit in the sun no matter what time of day it was, and pick the dang things. Nobody in my family likes picking beans. We're OK with eating them, and freezing them to eat in the winter.

It's a fairly labor-intensive job unless you only plant a dozen seeds, and it's just like the men in my family to head for the hills when they are ready.

I spent about 45 nice, early-morning minutes picking all I could before the sun got high enough for me to call it quits. I ended up with most of a grocery sack full. Now all I have to do is find some time to get them all snapped and in the freezer before I leave for camp next week. Oh, and pick the rest of them. Dang men.

I noticed a couple of problems in the garden while I was out there. First off, about half my beans look like this. I have no idea what this is, but the plants that have it are much less productive.

And then there's this, which really does have me worried. One of my tomato plants....the leaves are curling and I have no idea what is going on, but the plant next to it has started as well. Any ideas on either of these??

Camera Finds

Wanting to clear off the photo card in my camera before camp, I plugged it in to see if there were any pictures I needed download and discovered a few I'd forgotten about. 

I'd forgotten that I'd caught this cute and pretty messy face during his lunch time one day.

Yep, pretty messy, but he's enjoying himself. He's been experimenting a lot lately with eating utensils. 

I'd also forgotten this one. I planted this perennial flower several years ago and in the past 2 or 3 it's really taken off. It's called Phlox and it's hard to tell, but it stands about 3 1/2 feet tall. The blooms last 2-3 weeks and have a really nice smell. 

And lastly, this one. This is a variation of the Sego Lily, which is Utah's state flower and has significance to Mormon pioneer heritage.

You can see that right now there are fields of them up near the cabin and I'm hoping they'll last until camp so the girls can see them.

Quiet.....Very Quiet

First off, a happy birthday to my DDIl #3! She's a fairly adventurous gal as evidenced by her willingness to go look for bears...and take James with her. Love you!

 Because Ollie was pouting, but mostly because it was really needed, when the men headed for the hills I put Ollie in the truck and went up to the cabin for an overnight.

My purpose was to clean the cabin, undisturbed. We have had a lot of family visit in the last little while and it's difficult to really scrub things down when the cabin is full of bodies. With just Ollie and I in residence, it was almost eerily quiet.

I got things taken care of and started back home but it was such an amazingly beautiful day, I couldn't resist stopping a few times to take pictures of a few things the church girls will see on their way to and from camp.

I think I missed a nice rain shower that afternoon. It sure was looking like something was building up over the mountains.

This has always been one of my favorite views on the way out, no matter what the season. That squiggly line there is the river that runs near the cabin.

These are new, and probably won't be there in 2 weeks. That seems to be about the bloom time length of most of the wildflowers, except for the yarrow. That lasts a good, long time.

The stream that runs along the side of the road. I am continually amazed by the beautiful things that can be seen. 10 days till camp....

Around Here This Week

Around here this week, we have had a general continuation of long-term projects.

Camp prep continues with the last, big push to get everything gathered, and put together. More things are ending up on the "mostly done" list, with a few things transitioning to the "totally done" category. The very organized craft room has become the dumping ground for anything and everything camp-related. It's not looking all that organized anymore.

I still have what I consider to be the biggest part of this job to go, and that is making a food list, getting the food, organizing it and packing it. I can tell you that with about 10 days to go until I have to pull this off, there is major anxiety about remembering every detail. My lists have lists. I just want the girls to have a good time.

Temperatures have become much more normal here in town. I can also report that we spent an amazing mid-upper 60's overnighter at the cabin this past weekend. It. Was. Awesome. 

Preparations for the horsey pack trip culminated in a caravan of trucks, horses in trailers and camping gear heading for the wilderness for a bit.

 

It was quite a parade.

And it sure is quiet around here right now. Ollie's feeling really sorry for himself being relegated to the position of nursemaid for the missus. I'll try to make it up to him with a trip to the cabin so he can chase birds and chipmunks while I clean without any interruption. With what's been going on with camp and this trip prep, I'm afraid we have been totally slacking in the garden. I hope it survives on neglect for another couple of weeks. We did pick some zucchini, though, and enjoyed it. 

My daughter checked in with this picture. She said she was literally driving through a jungle. We don't have anything that looks like this here.

She also sent me a picture of one of her pairs of shoes. I laughed a little bit and then I thought this is a sign that she's been a good missionary and worked hard.

From the kids and grandkids this week, we had to say goodbye to Isaac as his mom took him to spend some time with his other grandparents. Miss them.

And this boy and his mama also had to go back to his other grandparents' house. Miss them, too.

This Boy...

This boy has been in Utah visiting his other grandparents. 

His mama was nice enough to bring him up to see us for a couple of days...

...where he got to see his cousin and play with dinosaurs...lots of dinosaurs....that his uncle colored all the teeth red with permanent marker when he was a little boy. :)

This Face.

17 1/2 months.

July 4th.

This face.

Love it.

That is all.

Cousins

The grandboys had a great time being with each other at the cabin. 

This is Edward during his "racing the rhino" time. The only one I got of Frederick was in last Saturday's post of him riding in the rhino...going away from me. He was a busy boy.

Isaac had an unfortunate run-in with the cement outside the cabin while we were there. Poor boy.

He cheered on the wood haulers when they dumped the load of logs. 

Isaac and his mama. 

Roger and Isaac having a snack after watching the wood hauling. It's very hard work.

Sigh. I have a mud room area in the cabin. Sadly, my children and my husband don't know how to use it so the entryway to the cabin almost always looks like this.

Grandpa is always good for some kind of a ride, whether it's the rhino or a wheelbarrow. Notice the gloves on Roger's hands and the glow stick in Isaac's.

He's also pretty happy with a cuddle or two.