Future Doctor . . .

Future Lawyer . . .

Future Movie Star?

Katie and Teddy and Jeff.

Teddy - you will always be loved and missed.

Sundays when all the family comes together . . .

along with a few friends . . .

these are very nice days.

Matteo and Grant will be good friends . . .

as soon as they stop stealing the other's pacifier!
We finally just removed those little mouth peacemakers and let them play 
so we could see their smiles . . . which are amazing.

I heard that the night air was
32 degrees in Park City this past week . . . 
which means that this is just weeks away.

Which is just fine by me since 

I am tired of the heat of summer . . .

and I love Halloween.

Troy is in shock

over Trevor's ripped body.

Rock climbing is a serious

hobby for that 

handsome son of mine. . .

he has become a 

most adventuresome man.

Congratulations Trevor -

you have lots of chutzpa!

I love being a grandmama . . .

One of these days I will post that spaghetti recipe . . .

Right now I am just having too much fun with this little guy.

the latest edition to the gulbrandsen family

  . . . and yes you can call me crazy for allowing another one of my teenagers to bring home yet another dog . . .
she is a miniature dachshund and her name is gabby

Yep ~ Another Sunset ~ My Other Obsession

But the obsession below is way better . . . 

 

Some of my children think I am obsessed . . .

with this particular child . . .

And you know what?

I am.

How could I not be?
What I would give to have those eyes & eyebrows . . . 

Cherry Tarts

These two bite morsels are delectable . . .

 Recipe:

~ Crust ~

mix together until crumbly:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp sugar

2 cups flour

blend together and add to above mixture: 

1/3 cup milk

1 egg yolk

Place the dough between two layers of wax paper.

Roll out approximately 1/4" thick and cut into

circles with either a cookie cutter, 

or the rim of a large drinking glass.

Place rounds on a cookie sheet.

I use Wilderness Cherry Pie Filling and add about

1 1/2 tsp of Pure Almond Extract to it.

You can use any kind of fruit filling you prefer.

Spoon a small amount of pie filling into center of round.

Fold in half and with a fork crimp edges to seal.

Cut small slit in top of tart.

Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 15 minutes,

or until golden brown and bubbling.

These are wonderful hot or cold.
I usually double the recipe.

  

A Summer Sunset

Oh how I love these late evenings . . . 

Katie and Grant

swimming on a summer's eve

 

The New and Improved Annabelle

It is amazing what a good haircut can do 
to improve one's image!

tanner & grant

summer

sun

grass

goodness

GIRL'S CAMP 2010

Warrior's of Light rock!

No ~ I have no pictures to display.

This would be because I was in charge of food.

I adore the beautiful young women who surrounded me

for three whole days.

I love each and every one of them.

However,

I am not sure I like to cook.

Thank goodness there were 

lots of women to help me.

I came home after three days . . .

thanks to Tonya and Shauna . . .

who came up and took over and endured to the end.

The night I got home

I slept for 10 straight hours without even

getting up to go potty.

That my friends is called exhaustion . . .

. . . the kind you can only get at girl's camp.

~ goodbye June ~

HELLO JULY!!! 

  

The Illusion of Perfection . . .

Sometimes in life we look around us and see the outside shells 

of all the lives that surround us, and we think, 

"Wow! Wouldn't it be nice to have that perfect life!"

Of course most of us know that within those shells 

are the heart and souls of warm and wonderful people, 

and their reality cannot always be seen clearly.

Thank goodness we get to learn all this from each other.

Do not think for a moment that all my pretty pictures reflects a perfect life.

Unless of course . . . 

You can consider a perfect life to be one that teaches us many valuable lessons.

Friendships, giving, sharing, loss, illness,

making the same bad mistake over and over and over again,

sacrificing, being given to, losing one's temper,

getting our feelings hurt, aging, asking questions, 

feeling disappointed because of an unrealized expectation,

drawing on others strengths, letting others lean on us, 
laughing, loving, crying,
dreaming big or small dreams,
seeing the beauty in the world around us,

turning to our God in our darkest hours, 

having life continually change -

whether we want it to or not . . .

that is the only form of perfection that really exists.

And it exists in each and every one of us . . .

everyday.

PLEASE 
somebody warn me next time 
I talk about doing a king size quilt 
out of sixty something different fabrics 
cut into 5" squares.

I am going crazy!

And it doesn't help that Annabelle 

keeps walking all over it.

 

And then after sewing for hours . . .

I have to quilt it.

Or maybe not. 

~ Grant ~

What can I say?

I love this little guy.

 

~ Finally ~

Something I can grow really well -

mushrooms!!!

I have my own little inedible mushroom farm. Yeah.

There's even a different variety growing in the grass . . .

How does one get rid of these pesky little things?

Or are they just interesting enough to leave them be?
They do give you a feeling of being in the great North West . . . 

Gardening . . . maybe?

Usually I try to post a picture of something beautiful, 

or delicious, or interesting -

but today I am posting a picture of what will be the before 
so that when I show you the after it will actually appear to be wonderful!

I am revealing this not so pretty fact about me . . . 

I am not a natural gardener. 

In fact - I probably should not have posted gardening on my blog. 

I have some flowers in my yard that have survived my killing skills - 

but only because they are all extremely hardy varieties. 

Sooo . . .

I am attempting to grow some vegetable garden items in this barren area. 

So far I have killed the blueberry bushes I bought at Costco at the beginning of the year.

Don't ask me how. 

I keep wanting to blame Costco. 

Maybe I just should. 
If I hadn't thrown away the wrappings in a moment 
of rare gardening self-confidence 
I might have returned them a month ago.

But now I am going to try to attempt to plant some kind of vegetable 

and hope that the winter/summer freeze ends  -

and we actually get enough sunshine for squash to grow. 

Or maybe raspberry bushes. 

Anything but weeds please.