North, to Alaska

I just got back from taking Hubby to airport. He is off to Alaska this week. After that he will go on a trip to Belgium. Chocolates......
I am always glad when he returns from his trips and try to keep the home fires burning. I think it is nice that he knows where I am and what I am doing. Which is usually nothing much. Work, eat, sleep, watch tv.
Mondays are Ruth's laundry day. Plus today she will make applesauce at my house. So it should smell really good. Then the rest of the week I work. Boring, I know.
Not much else happening. We try to have a date outing when he is home. Sometimes it is just going to the store together. But then, remember we are old people so it is okay.
He usually brings home pictures of interesting things. And he will tell a funny or interesting story.
He works hard and I appreciate him. Can't wait to see him again. Till Friday!

scavenger-type hunt

Last sunday our High Counselor gave a talk that his daughter went with her YW group for a scavenger hunt, with a twist.

The girls were divided up and each group was given a pencil and a pass-a-long card. They were instructed to Trade Up at each house and leave a card. Well they explained what they were doing at each house and started trading up. A pencil for an apple, and apple for book, etc. They finally were out of cards and it was time to go back to the church. Then the girls were impressed to go to one more house. They went back to the church to get one more card and told them they would be right back. They went to the house of a man who was from South America. He brought a beaded bag for them to trade up and he told them that it meant a great deal to him. Then he said that he noticed from the card that they were members of the LDS church. They answered yes and he said he was too but he lost contact with the church for 18 years. The girls were glad that they followed their impression and were glad to be an instrument in the Lord's hand.

Splash!

On saturday I was out in my pool Aquasizing. I was all finished and was just swimming about when I thought about getting one of the kid's ring to float on. Just a few weeks ago Rachel had tried to float on the kid's ring and flipped over. I thought to myself "she must not have centered herself right". So I thought I would try to get right in the middle and relax. Well, I tried it and immediately flipped over. Great..... Well maybe I wasn't quite centered. I will try it again. Splash! nope that did not work either. Guess I need a jumbo giant ring. I was so glad no one was there to see me.

Plum Full

We have a tree at the side of our house that went Crazy this year. It was so full of plums that it broke 3 branches because of the weight. Well on friday we picked plums. We have a LOT. We will share them, eat them, and if Rachel wants to make plum pudding we will encourage her. So now we can say the tree was Plum Full and we were Plum Tired from the picking and cleaning.

I know you are all drooling now and I really feel bad about that. So bad that I will probably eat a plum or 2 in your honor. (they are small but good)

Salsa won 2nd place.

So for the salsa contest, I won 2nd place. The first prize winner and his wife were having their own competition, then the recipe we made was our first endeavor so we were pleased, and the 3rd place winner admitted he went to a local restaurant and got a jar of his favorite... cheater!

A big shout out to the originator of my prize winning salsa. Thanks again.

reunion

As you can see, this year we dressed in Country Clothes since hubby was a farm boy. We enjoyed ourselves and really liked having the children here. We feel our age and are glad we can keep up a little. Napping here and there as able. Thank you all who could make it and make this reunion a wonderful one. See you all together in 2 years. Love, MOM

salsa

Not the dance, the chip companion.
I do not usually eat salsa but I like the Newman brand , but you can not always find it. I went to one daughter's Sock Hockey game and a lady brought home made salsa. It had corn in it and I thought I would try it. It looked quite attractive, very colorful. So I had 1 serving with chips, then a 2nd serving. Needless to say I went back for 3rds. Yes, it was that good.

Our church is having a Fiesta with a salsa contest. So I asked my daughter if her friend would part with the recipe. She did. And she did not swear me to secrecy... so I will include it in this blog.

Hubby and I went to the store and bought the supplies, then we put it all together just like the recipe said. Then we canned it like the recipe said and we had to eat a little that would not fit in the jars. Yummmmmmm. We modified the recipe because she had a double batch with 12 cups of tomatoes.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we will and I hope I at least get 2nd prize in the contest. The credit goes to Linda. Thanks Linda...What other recipes you got?

Salsa:
6 cups chopt tomatoes
1 (6oz can) tomato paste
1 1/2 cups chopt onions
3/4 cup cider vinegar (or white )
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbl salt (we only used 1 1/2 tsp because hubby shouldn't have much salt)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic chopt or pressed
3 green peppers chopt
1 (7 oz) can green chilies
1 jalapeno pepper, don't use seeds ( we added a few 'cause hubby insisted)
1 can drained corn or equivalent in frozen corn.

Simmer all on stove until desired thickness then put in pint jars and seal in water bath 15 minutes. We got 7 pints with a little extra to taste.