Relocating....Again

I just know that somewhere in my genealogy there was a gypsy.

A beautiful, colorful spirited gal who roamed the earth.

In our short 15 years of marriage, we have had 10 addresses.

Sweet!

I must be channelling her in my dreams, because we are once again "relocated."

This time, my life has brought me full circle.

Back to my birth-country Colorado.

We have been here 1 week and already it is home.

I am loving turning on the fire place first thing in the morning, sipping my warm beverage letting the day warm up around me.

We live in a lovely hilly neighborhood where we have a view of the snow topped rocky mountains right off the front porch.

I told Bill that I find it incredible to have to go to the grocery store and see the mountains. :-)

If I am channelling my gypsy ancestor,

I hope that she will be settled here.

Because we plan to call this place home for some time!

Summer Road Trip Part II

On the second part of our road trip, we drove a little north through Idaho and then back into Wyoming. We had to make a little stop by the side of the road...no one vomitted BUT a few of us had to get out of the car and get some fresh air. It was worth the stop for the scenery how ever.
We continued on and met up with some of Bill's family who are "summering" in Star Valley. We had a lovely lunch visit with Cindy and Scott and Taylor. We just love you guys to pieces. Thanks for letting us invade your camper space for the afternoon!

As we drove through the teton Mountains we just looked and looked and looked. We kept telling the kids, this is what "real" mountains look like. This was by far our most favorite part of our scenic road trip. How can you not love that! We sure do.

Beauty!

We decided to drive through Dubois Wyoming and get a quick bite to eat. Over $100 later we experienced a shack by the creek, hot cocoa and tea, and very exquisite Wyoming Cuisine. I think everyone will remember freezing our trashes off at that restaurant by the creek.

What's a late night road trip with out some throwback sodas and peanut m&m's.

We visited the natural hot spring in Thermopolis, WY. Right next door they have a bison grazing area that you can drive through and see the big beasts. We only saw a couple of bison and I missed the picture. But my favorite part was this little corner where all this metal is stashed. It's kind of a where's waldo of aging cars and misc metal things. I thought it was so cool!

We took a pit stop in the small "blink and you'll miss it" town of Kirby Wyomng.
The new home to Wyoming Whiskey.
This is the first legal distillery in Wyoming.
The master distiller was gracious enough to take us on a tour and show us the process.

Here the mixture is in a 2500 gal tank. The yeast keeps it mixing and brewing.
The whole place smelled like fresh bread.
So yummy!

Here are the first barrels...taking their time with the aging process.
Wyoming Wisky has a beautiful facility in a beautiful part of the country!
It was a very education experience for all.

Summer Road Trip Part I

We decided to escape the terrible triples of an AZ July and road trip north. We drove through northern Arizona, southern UT, up the scenic highway 87 on the eastern side of UT Grandma & Grandpa S's place in northern UT.

~We played road trip bingo,

~ did brain teasers,

~listen to our ipods,

~had "poem hour"

(I read random poems every hour or sometimes 2 if we missed an hour because I was napping)

~took naps,

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At Grandma and Grandpa's we:

tested out the boat on the river

Received tractor driving lessons

Used up every single band-aid Grandma stashed on the business of scootering. I was sympathetic for about 10 minutes and then I decided "someone" needed a lesson in toughen-up-cookie.

Summer Loving

Summer has been in full swing around this house for quite some time.

"look serious please"

It hit me the other day that I am a mother of kids!

No more babies, no more toddlers and no more little kids.

Big kids.

Wowzer!!

Our amazing attempt at a group photo.

How did I get so lucky?! Everyday it amazes me!

My Peoples

People will forget what you said,

People will forget what you did,

but

People will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

The kids eating while we were camping up in Payson.

It got down to 29 degrees and was snowing when we left.

Brrr.

^^^^^

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These are my peoples.

I really hope that one day they can forget that I tend to be a yeller.

I hope that they never forget what my hugs felt like when they were having a bad day!

I hope that they remember what it felt like when others were unkind

and they try to be nice just because there aren't enough nice people in the world.

Sweet Little Library

This is our new library!

I love it!!!

I have always loved the library.

I wish I could check out every book.

I have made going to the library one of my main priorities with the kiddos this hot summer.

The best part is they have kids activities in the afternoon!

Hottest part of the day at the cool library, sign us up!

Last week they had a wii and a rock band set up on the projection screens.

This week the kids watched Where the Wild Things Are on the big screen.

Put this on the list of things I am learning to love about Desert Living!

Strawberries

I love spring

Even living here in Arizona,

I love the warm days and still cool nights.

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I love that I remember to stop

and

look around at all the beautiful flowers

and

trees and shrubs that seem to be in full bloom right now.

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I love that I can go to the local grocer

and

find stacks and stacks of strawberries for a steal.

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I love washing them.

I love taking my little pairing knife

and

cutting off just the greens like my dad taught me.

(You poke your knife in and cut in a little circle around the leaves.)

We don't waste any of that strawberry goodness.

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I love pureeing them in my blender

so they are just the right texture

for perfect freezer jam or smoothies.

I was able to make 5 batches of strawberry freezer jam

and two ice cube trays of strawberry puree,

perfect for summer smoothies.

(I like to puree fruit and freeze it into ice cube trays. When it is frozen I pop them out into freezer bags and I can mix and match with a little bit of yogurt and honey to make the perfect fruity smoothy without any chunks.)