Summer Home Some R Not

I can't believe how quickly summer is passing by. We are finished w/ the fair - the fate of the five lambs?....3 lambs made it to the Junior Livestock Auction, 1 to the local food bank, and 1 will end up in our freezer....lamb curry, here we come!
Our family's vacation was to take place right after the fair, flexibility reigned. The fires burning in California kept us from plan A, so, we did some day trips for the first part of the week.....

Here is our wonderful find (well, Sarah's wonderful find!), a place called Silver Star Mountain...

....turns out it is 16 miles due east of us, and takes an HOUR to get to by car....and FS roads -not certain if that is Fire Service Roads or Forest Service Roads - but I am certain that the word "road' is used quite loosely. It was BEAUTIFUL! We could see four different mountainson the hike; Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St,. Helens, and Mt. Adams! I must refer you to my daughter's blog to see more lovely pictures! (She also has pictures of our beach day). It's so nice to live in a place from which the mountains and the ocean are both w/in a couple hours drive! Hooray for the Northwest USA! God has made some GLORIOUS scenery to be appreciated in these here parts!

I hope you see His glory in your day!

Ballerina Birthday

"Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."

1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)

Yesterday the twins turned 7 years old. They wanted to have a ballerina birthday party.....and since I LOVE the analogy that can be made between beautiful, strong, graceful and poised ballerina and a Godly woman, we granted their wish.

The pictures are numerous, the beautiful little ladies had a lovely time, and hopefully gained a physical picture of what a women's spirit should look like by the grace of God.

 

Happy Birthday! Megan Joy and Madeline Hope!

We pray that you will become the woman spoken of in 1 Peter 3!

Emily Anne

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that

needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth."

~2 Tim. 2:15

Whereas

Emily Anne

 

Has not only mastered a body of knowledge pursuant to a secondary education, but has also demonstrated Godly wisdom and personal maturity based upon faith in Jesus Christ, we are pleased to announce her graduation from high school.





Brown Sugar Ice Cream w/ a Kick - Father's Day 2012

For Father's Day, we made our first batch of homemade ice cream for 2012. I browsed the internet and settled on a brown sugar ice cream and added the last three ingredients - the "kick" part. My favorite molasses cookie recipe has cayenne pepper in it, and we LOVE that recipe,so I thought I'd see how ice cream handled the fire! We liked it.

Brown Sugar Ice Cream w/ a Kick

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole milk or 2%  - I used 2%

• 2.5 cup brown sugar

• 6 cups heavy cream

• 2 Tablespoons vanilla

• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• .5 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 Tablespoon Ginger

Instructions:

1. Pour everything into the bowl and whisk by hand, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved.

2. Pour it into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions. You can harden it in the freezer or eat it right away. If you freeze it the peppery-ness will intensify.

NOTE: The pepper doesn't really add flavor so much as an after sensation - kind of like when you eat a handful of cinnamon Altoids (chewing them up) and then breath in deeply...(yes, I've done that!)

Hey...Good Lookin, What...cha got Cooking?"....

This morning, Madeline did not get up in time to accompany the older kiddos to the track to run, so she decided to make breakfast for them......Ah, such a delicious breakfast. She chose an old Bisquick recipe for Ginger Pancakes and Lemon Sauce and they were a big hit!

She was a chef extraordinaire! Charming, diligent, and  perservering - cooking for 8 of her siblings!

(Her left eye is on the mend from an encounter w/ the slide...I thought the slide had won, but daddy pointed out that the slide was still laying out there;  Maddie walked away, so I guess she won!)

Silly Songs.....

As we were getting ready for our day, my son, James, was in the kitchen singing this song......Now I want you to know that we LOVE our grandmas! AND that my parents were the ones who introduced us to this song.....It  makes us chuckle, but we in NO WAY would consider anything close to this activity!

**********BEWARE**********

It is a catchy tune!

First Annual Girls Weekend

This last weekend we - my 6 beautiful daughters and myself, went to the nearby seaside town of Gearhart, OR. We did a lot of walking, some girl movie watching, and some Bible study and character study, and just had a lovely time together. Here are some pictures of our weekend.....