About us
“Chicken In the Bread Pan…”
This moment~
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from our lives.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you have a moment of your own–please share a link in the comment section.
Happy weekend my friends!
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Happy Birthday Lyndi!!
Candy Apple Birthday
For my 11th birthday–a million years ago–my dad took all my birthday guests out into his bake shop, into the “sugar room” and made everyone a true, live cinnamon candy apple. Even though this was a long, long time ago, I remember this party very well. I had a pink party dress and got a Newborn Thumbelina Doll. When I opened it, the gal in the blue dress, Donna, gasped and said, “You got…a doll?” like someone had poked her in the eye or something.
I was quite confident in my right to love dolls even at such a mature age so I said, “Yeah, would you like to hold her?” She was caught completely off guard and said, “Ahhh…ok.” Everyone took turns pulling the string in the doll’s back and holding her while she moved like a “real, live baby,” and to their surprise, they loved it.
Believe it or not, I can still name every single soul in this shot. The funniest part about this picture? My mom, the cameraman, got everyone in it…but me…
the birthday girl.
That’s my arm, there on the far left.
Thanks mom.
heh, heh
Faces on the Mountain
Road Trip Day 4
Seems like all the days have started or ended exactly like this. Can’t you just hear the Beatles singing, “The Long and Winding Road?”
Well I can…and it’s beautiful.
We did get a cute little guidance truck to tell us how to maneuver the road construction. They must not have known that we’re from UTAH MAN! The road construction capitol of the universe–and we are detour savvy.
It was a nice gesture though.
Then, all of a sudden these hills started popping up, from out of nowhere. We were entering South Dakota!
Did you know that South Dakota has real, live buffalo hidden away in their hills? I had no clue! Where did I get the idea that they were extinct? Oh no—they have been simply kicking back in SD all these years!
I must be out of the endangered species loop. Can I just tell you–these dudes are ENORMOUS!
Suddenly, the hills turned into bigger hills…small mountains even.
Which was a good thing because where we’re going needs to be a big, BIG mountain.
And it did not disappoint. In fact, Mt.Rushmore was positively breathtaking. I wish I could show you up close how cool this place is. President Roosevelt even looks like he has glasses on. It was amazing.
We had to take the token “stand HERE and snap your picture” shot–you know–for posterity. See all that rubble at the base of the Presidents? There’s a really great film you can watch in the museum that told us that the rubble is from all the dynamite they used to carve this out of the rock.
In fact, they said that 90% of the actual carving was done with dynamite. How does that work? The rest of course, was done and finished and smoothed out with chisels by men hanging down in swing type things. Those guys were soooo brave. Another thing I learned is that the fellow who made it–with 4oo other workers–died before it was finished. They actually had plans for the collars and lapels of Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln–not just Mr. Washington.
The history was positively fascinating.
The ice cream was glorious.
The company was wonderful.
We’ll remember this place–the “Shrine of Democracy” at Mt. Rushmore, for the rest of our lives.
Taking It Slow
Road Trip Day 3
No huge plans for today. Just kinda hangin’ out…
taking it easy…
entertaining the short folks.
However–you can only be locked up in a hotel room with 3 toddlers for so long before you need to find a big, huge park for them to run in.
So we did.
One with tons of very friendly squirrels…
who liked the peanuts we tossed…a lot.
I don’t think I’ve actually seen a squirrel up close before. Chipmunk–yes. Prairie dog–yes. Squirrel–not so much. I’m sure we have squirrels in Utah–but they must be invisible, because I’ve never seen one.
It even had a fountain for toe dipping—but it wasn’t enough to just get our feet wet. So we went back…
changed our duds…
and jumped in the pool!
Some of us were very brave.
Some of us were very chilly.
Some of us were too dang cute.
And some of us were just too tired.
Warm. Wet. Healthy. Happy.
Heaven indeed.
Wyoming’s Winding Roads
or is it Hawaii? I sometimes get them mixed up. ha. ha.
Road Trip–Day 2A
This little dolly is up bright and early because we are excited to get going…you see, we have found…
a real, honest to goodness farmer’s market–
with every kind of fruit and veggie that you could possibly imagine.
Hey they even had some guy roasting peppers in a big cagey thing. And I thought they did that in a frying pan.
Well, I did.
Breads, cake, jellies, jams, candy, jerky–I had no idea. Dude.
Apparently, I have never really been to a real farmer’s market.
I was totally taken in with this fancy Peanut Spread, and Blueberry Jam that you see here.
Then there was the huge loaf of Asiago Bread…and the Cinnamon Streusel. No picture. Sorry…ahhh…bears ate it all…
yeah.
So after our cool little…ahhh…breakfast we realized that we needed to find a grocery store.
Let me introduce you to “Vikki” our GPS navigator. She’s brave and fearless and knows how to find absolutely everything. So we said, “Grocery Store” and she took us…
here. It’s supposed to be Safeway’s but if you look closely, you’ll see that the whole place is totally boarded up and abandoned. Perhaps we should have added, “…with people inside” to our request. Yikes.
Nevermind–we like the open adventurous road better anyway…
with all it’s trains…
and silos…
and cows.
Ever wonder where those fancy Angus Beef burger’s come from? Let’s not talk about that right now.
Soon we came up on what is known as Chimney Rock. They say that a hundred years ago it looked much more like a chimney than it does now but time has marched across the old girl and now it looks like a big birthday cake with one huge candle.
For the earlier pioneers–it also marked the point in their journey, where the flat, rolling plains ended and the more rugged Rocky Mountains began. To be about halfway to Utah was wonderful, but now their trek got really gritty and dangerous.
And we whine about leg room in the car. Well, that, and having to travel with crazy people.
Sheesh.
And some of our crew couldn’t possibly care less…about any of it.
Grammie will have to save the amazing history lesson for another day.
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