Red Lobster and Footloose

So you know the saying "Why the cat is away the mice will play"
we'll I done some playing tonight.

Scott went elk hunting with my son-in-law Jon. They were met up with Scott's friend Terry who has a cabin up at Flaming Gorge. We'll to tell you the truth Scott has never been a hunter, he would rather save a animal then shoot it, he thinks their to beautiful.
So you might say he has been converted to the reglion of hunting by the fact he would do anything for Jon. He doesn't have a hunting license but he did get a fishing license in the
hope that Jon might get his elk early and then they can go play and do some big fishing on
the Gorge. He is going to be the cook and extra man to help bring out the elk if the luck
shall prevail.

So me, Kimberly and Shauna decided we would have a girls night out to enjoy ourselves
also. Shauna ended up going to St. George to spend time with her cousin Whitney who
recently turned 21. So we dropped Landon off to grandma Lynn's for some fun time, then
went to Red Lobster to enjoy their Endless Shrimp. I love shrimp but living in Utah, we
don't get to eat it as much as I'd like (the seafood in California is to DIE for). So we tried
the Shrimp Alfredo and Breaded Shrimp first....YUMM, wish I could explain how good it
was. Then we tried the Shrimp Scampi and Spiced Shrimp next, the Scampi was also good
but didn't care to much for the spiced shrimp. That was my first time eating at Red
Lobster but I can certainly say it won't be the last. I could eat there once a week if the
budget allowed but I will be thinking of that dinner for awhile.

Then we hurried over to the Gateway to the Cinema to watch "Footloose". I haven't been
to a movie for awhile, I am one to just wait till it comes out on video for the most part.
Unless its Harry Potter or the Twilight series. So I went with excitement of enjoying a good movie. I love Juilianne Hough, she can sing, dance and act. She is a very talented young
lady. I heard that the movie had good reviews and that it put the old one to shame, which
was hard for me to believe. I can truly say that I totally agree with who ever said it, it was
so good that I found myself wanting to watch more of it when it ended. The story was good,
the actors/actresses were so much better but the dancing....all I can say is "extremely out
of this world" . At times certain parts would remind me of the old movie, I did however like how they kept it close to the same production then remaking a whole different story line.

I left leaving the movie feeling like I wanted to be 30 yrs younger, go out line dancing
(which I haven't done in 32 yrs) and kick up my heels. You could go in to watch the movie
in the worst mood, come out in a happy go lucky mood kicking up your heels.
I give this movie 5 stars *****!!!

I plan to do a few more things while the cat is away, one is a big project that I have in the
works since Labor Day and hopefully have it done before the cat returns.....lol

Witchfest 2011

So I love holidays.

I love to decorate my home with the holidays in mind.

Every month has a decor theme.

January - snowmen

February - Valentines

March - St. Patricks Day

April - Easter

May - Spring

June - Spring

July - 4th of July

August - watermelon

September - sunflowers/fall

October - Halloween

November - Thanksgiving

December - Christmas

So my shed in our backyard is packed with

bins with the holidays decor. I've been trying

to go through it and get rid of the old decorations

that I won't ever use to make room for the new ones

that seem to have multipled lately.

So this year I have been looking forward to Halloween.

Last year me, Kimberly, Shauna, my sisters Vicki,

Susan and her daughter Whitney, all went to Gardner's Village

in Salt Lake City. They decorate the village all out in witches.

They even have a witch royality. You can have breakfast with

the witches or have a wagon ride with them. All throughout the

village they have life size witches in various areas....one is even

on the potty in an outhouse:)

Two nights during October they have a "ladies night out" at Witchfest

celebration for

ladies 18 yrs and older all dress up as witches.

They all converse in the village to see the parade, dance and just

right out have FUN!!!

So back to the subject...I had so much fun last year that I couldn't

wait to go again this year.

Kimberly and Shauna decided to have a gathering of witches at

Kimberly's cottage before heading into Witchfest.

The witches table with all their potions and

books of spells.

Kimberly made this witches candle holder.

She spray painted an old lamp, took the wiring

out and put candles in it. She then added black

beads for alittle decor.

Shauna made these witches broom favors

filled with witches favorite snacks.

She got the idea off of pin interest.

So when all the witches got done eating their

hearts delight, we put our hats on and gathered

our brooms and flew in the full moon night sky

to the witches convention held over the mountain.

When arriving there were already several thousands

witches already celebrating the streets singing and

dancing.

The witches gathering for a picture before

taking flight.

Stephanie Lancaster, Kimberly ?,

Kimberly, me, Shauna, Breanna Utley

Susan, Vicki Utley, Claudia Griffin

Lisa Harding, Miranda Utley, Sherilyn Idle

Missing witches that couldn't make it were

Whitney Green and Alisha Harding. They were at

the College of Witchcraft in St. George.

Jennifer Harding met all the other witches at

the witchfest.

After a night of singing and dancing,

Shauna and Kimberly stop to take a

moment to let their dancing boots cool off.

We all had such a great time together

Dressing up as witches like little kids

We are moms, daughters, sisters, aunts,

and friends who can gather together

Sing, Laugh and Dance

My Fetish

So I have a fetish...yes I do.

Some women have a fetish with shoes,

some people have a fetish for books,

I have a fetish for plates for our dining room

table. I probably have 7 different sets I decorate

with. I have a lighthouse set, light blue set,

blue/white set, white with a touch of brown in

them (fall), white with rings around the outer

edge, black set (halloween), and a red snowflake set

(christmas).

I store them in clear bins under my bed, along with the

placemats and napkins/rings.

I don't have them set on a formal table on display. I place

them on our everyday table....and yes if your wondering if

we eat at our table...

Everyday

I move them everytime we eat dinner and on the weekends

for breakfast/lunch and then for dinner.

Scott use to complain about moving them everynight but I must

be stubborn because he just moves them now without a word.

I am sometimes hard to get along with.

Christmas display I have on the kitchen counter

in the corner. The Merry Christmas sign was from

Walmart for $2.97, the glass vase was from Ross for

$5.97 I think. The candle from Walmart in their christmas

items for $2.50. I took garland cut it and made a circle,

gathered pinecones from the pine tree's in the park and

hot glued them to the garland. The white baby breath came

from the dollar store. The candy was sprinkled around the

candle with smaller pine cones.

The pumpkin was purchased from Walmart,

along with the smaller pumkins. The flowers

were from the dollar tree store and the Welcome

sign was bought from the Family Dollar store.

Everything you see here I got from the Dollar

Tree store. Each setting was $6.00 x 4 =

$24.00 Total.

Christmas setting.




Have things ever come in phases for you. This

spring it happened for me.

I went to our local

Real Deals store and seen a yellow watering can

with a bird on it that I just fell in love with. Also

was a couple of yellow birds right beside it... so of course

they all had to come home with me also.

I figured I'd put them in the kitchen for a touch of spring.

Then a month or so later I was in Salt Lake at the Tai

Pan store and came across this ceramic bird house

with a bird on it that matched the watering can.

Then they had a plack and planters that matched

the watering can exactly. Same decor on all of them.

(don't have a picture of the planters or plack)

The flower and candle/candlestick I already had.





Table set with the watering can. The flowers,
plates and bowls came from the dollar store.
The napkins I came across at Target. I later
went back to Tai Pan and bought the birds nests
with the eggs to spruce up the setting. I did spurge
on them but I really liked them. I was worried
that it would make the table look like Easter but
I didn't think it did.
Of course I put some different sea shells to add
alittle beachy feel.

Have you noticed the theme along these pictures...
seashells and pinecones.
I just love them!!!

A closer look at the watering can which started the

whole theme for this summer.

I loved this setting so much I had it out all summer

long. Usually every month I change the setting to

something different.

A closer look at the table setting. I liked the

napkin flat so you could see the design. When

I folded it, the design got lost.

I am working on table setting for Halloween,

when I get it finished I'll post a picture of my

new creation.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Fall Cleaning

Most people get the urge to do some spring cleaning

around the house in the spring.

For some reason I always have

the urge to clean in the fall.

So last week I started gathering stuff up to have a

garage sale since I've put it off all summer long.

The weather has been so nice and warm even the

last week of September.

I must not have been the only one in the mood

to clean because the last 2 weeks in our local newspaper

there was 2 columns of people having yard sales.

As I gathered stuff up, going through stuff and carrying

it out to the garage, I came to the conclusion I didn't even

want to deal with it anymore ....as sweat was dripping off my

forehead and my hair soppin wet!!

So I just loaded it all up in the back of the truck and the back

seat of the truck. We took it down to our local Deseret Industries.

I have a few boxes to take to the nursing home. They take little

knick knacks and items to give away when they play bingo.

I still have more to go through but its a start.

I need to sign up for hoarders anomyous!

Landon and Peach Jam

So a week ago, my dad dropped off a box of peaches

that he had picked off of a neighbors tree.

I had been wanting to make some peach jam for the

last couple of years but never got around to it. So the

opportunity arised for me to be able to put some up.

Kimberly came up to help out and of course I had my

buddy who was all eager to help out also.

We put up the camp chef out on the deck to put the canner

on. The pot is bigger than the burners on my ceramic stove top

and it gave us more room on the stove to cook the peach jam.

The camp chef cooks alot hotter than the regular stove, so I didn't

want to burn the peach jam mixture.

We just followed the directions that came inside the pectin

box.

We just used 4 Cups peaches (processed by food processor)

5 1/2 Cups sugar

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

l box of pectin

Landon cooking on the camp chef

Landon helping put up peach jam



Landon picking up a lid with the jar picker up

tool (lol...can't think whats its called, brain cramp...)






Landon holding the lid with the sissor tool.

I tried to hold it like he did on the edge of the lid

and I couldn't do it, so how does a 2 1/2 yr old do it?






YUMMY !!! PEACH JAM



10 pints and 30 half pints



It always makes you feel good to make something

and see the reward that you can enjoy all year long.

Landon at the State Fair

So on Thursday me and Kimberly took Landon to the

Utah State Fair. The day was really nice, not windy,

not hot...just right..with lots of sunshine., couldn't have

asked for a better day.

So we started off by taking him to see all the animals.

First was the sheep, they were bathing and clipping them.

I started taking pictures of him watching them, of course he

wanted to take some of them himself. He is going through the

Mr. Independent stage right now, its been going on for a few

weeks but now its pretty well everything. Kimberly had an old

camera that he uses now (he has a play one that takes pictures

but its not cool like ours I guess).

We went on to see the cows, goats, then we seen the ponies.

He really liked them but wasn't sure of them until Kimberly took

him out of the stroller and put him on "Joe" He wasn't sure of it

but then seemed to started to like riding him which was a great

surprise considering he didn't like the Merry Go Round at the

company party earlier this summer.

Everytime I went to take the picture he would start
playing peek a boo, so I'm lucky to get this fuzzy picture..
smile...lol





We were almost finished with the fair when we seen
these seals that we're hanging out on the deck soaking
up the sun. They had a performance an hour earlier
(which we didn't know about). Landon loved watching
them swim around in the big pool beside the stage for
them to cool off.



It has been several years since I've been to the State Fair.
It seems we are always out of town that weekend or have
something going.

I really enjoyed observing the arts and
crafts. Quilts that look amazing that they would've taken
years to make or wood carvings that make your jaw drop.
There was a full canoe made of wood that I would never put
it in water that it was so gorgeous and beautiful.
I loved gazing at all the pictures that you could look at for
hours and never be without awh.... or make Kimberly
become teary with emotion when gazing upon a picture of
Santa Claus with a reindeer picking through a window.
(which she ended up purchasing).

I so enjoyed the "Old State Fair" thank heavens some old
traditions are still available for the young children to grow up
enjoying as we did when we were young.

Labor Day

It is so hard to believe that the summer is almost

over. They whole family was able to spend the

last summer holiday at our place in Island Park.

Kimberly, Landon and Jon came up to take their trailer

home for the winter. Shauna was also able to join us also.

It just seems like we just took our

trailers up for the summer....which I guess in a way it was.

There was lots of that cold wet white stuff in piles on our

lot June 14th, so we ending up

taking the trailer up the end of June and spending the week

up there through the 4th of July.....with all those Idaho state

birds also aka...Idaho BIG misquito's!! They were especially

bad this year due to all the rain and snow they got up there this

winter and spring.

So we all took an atv ride down to Mesa Falls Saturday morning,

the trail Scott discovered a few weeks ago.

We were excited to show them

the trail with the beautiful scenery along the way.

So we pulled up along side the road to take a

water break for a bit. While talking and snacking on

Pistachio's, we noticed alot of horse flies and yellow jackets

flying around. It was a bit before we all decided to leave

when we noticed the wasp nest up in the tree. It was a big

one. The unusual thing was the horse flies were all flying

around and going in it also. It was like they were sharing the

nest. I know that paper wasp nests are for hornets but there

were none around, so they must have abandoned it at one time

and the yellow jackets moved in and sharing it with the horse flies.

Big paper wasp nest in the tree

The tree with the wasp nest in it.
It was also neat to see that the quakie tree
growing along side the pine tree, they interwine
all the way up to the top. It is one of those
unique things you find that mother nature has
provided us to enjoy.



Shauna and Kylie on the Mesa Falls trail.





Shauna and Landon at Mesa Falls









Jon, Landon and Kimberly at Warm Springs.


Another generation enjoying Island Park!!








Kylie cooling off in the water at Warm Springs

Landon playing in the water fountain....

posing like

"I wasn't doing anything"...

Other vacationers enjoying fishing off of

Buffalo bridge.

(In the background you can see Scott

letting Kylie cool off in the water)

A Bald Eagle nesting

I totally enjoying spending time with my family

but it is especially special when we're all at our place together,

we have made special with all the memories from the

past, present and all the new ones in the future.

We hope our children and grandchildren will keep building

this legacy of experiences and memories for future generations

to come.

Listening to the birds singing in the morning,





while having breakfast under the green pines,





while the squirrels climb the trees to gather their





winter harvest in the golden daylight,





wildflowers so colorful like an artist palet,





the sandhill cranes squaking as they fly over head,





while the mother moose with her calf walking down the





trail out front heading towards the slow moving crystal





clear river with the trophy fish swimming away from





the bald eagle in the bluest blue skies.

















These are a few things we take in while enjoying





God's country that we are blessed to have the





opportunity to enjoy.