Home By the Creekside

We were waiting for the kids' parade. I guess it used to be a real big thing. It was cute and very short. I have pictures of my brother and I when we were in this parade growing up. Waiting for the little parade, kids found heart shaped leaves off of a plant that they were sitting by. Hope no one minded that they picked about four of them. Rides! Rides! Yummy smell of hamburger and onions! Cotton candy. I was hoping this would be a fix so we would not have to go to the eastern Idaho state fair. I was wrong. They and husband want to go now more than ever. Better save my money! The kids each had a wristband that let them go on all the rides as many times as they wanted. They LOVED this slide. When I say loved, the guy there told them that they had to let other kids ride it and take a break. So basically they were kicked off. They had lots of fun on it. This little roller coaster was ridden about 8 times. They weren't kicked off here but they had lots of fun raising their ...

This was outside of Praire city after coming out of a mountainy forest pass. This was in Vale. I love these murals. On the way home, there were tons of onion fields outside of Ontario. Yum! It made me so hungry for a hamburger or fajita. Then we went by a mint field. The fresh smell of mint....Ahhh. How awesome that was!

My grandparents live in Eastern Oregon. This is actually where I am from and all my relatives live in Oregon besides my parents and my brother. Anyways, we had to take Sister Lou to a doctor in Boise (we'll talk about that later) and my mom to my grandparents house for the remainder of her visit. We had lots of fun. Grandma and Grandpa live about 7 miles from town out in the boonies on a 5 acre lot. Lots of things for the kids to see especially deer and catching butterflies. Yes, butterflies. The little buggers were slow and the kids caught them. This is a view from our car on the way back to Grandma's after visiting some more relatives. This is on the furniture store wall downtown. Sorry, the pole is in the way. I love these murals. This is the backyard view at my grandparents. What a nice view to wake up to! We went walking up the way to give the kids a chance to let off their steam, I mean energy. Here is a picture of my son with his great grandpa. Sister Lou adored ...

We decided to head up to Kelly Canyon on Saturday and pick huckleberries. I have no pictures. But..if you want to look at these pics from last year. Have at it... huckleberry 2009 pics ...This time it was hot..sweaty hot work. It was also slim pickings where we were. Although two other people have told me that they have gotten two gallons of hucks..big huckleberries. We had no such luck. There were so many cows there though. So much that before we left, I stepped into two piles of steamy squishy cow pies. Not fun. I had to drive barefoot home. I have tried to get it out of my shoes. I have washed them twice. Oh well..atleast my huckleberries are tucked away in the freezer. We might head out for more next weekend..maybe.

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This here cobbler was our first try at dutch oven cooking in our pit in the backyard. It looks good, doesn't it? Too bad, it was gross. The recipe was 2 cans of pie filling. I used strawberry. I knew we were in a world of hurt when I had to use can filling. I don't use that stuff. I think fresh berries would have been fabulous. Then sprinkle on cake mix. I used yellow.. Then top it with a 8 oz of diet soda. I did not have diet soda but I had some lemon lime soda. Maybe that is why it did not taste very good. The kids were so excited to cook this goodness out back. This man here..such a good man..ate the whole bowl. The kids and I tried a couple bites. I can't wait to try our main course this week in the dutch oven. I hope to happily report a good meal that night.

This summer we enrolled son in soccer. He likes to run and kick but hates to sweat. Sister Lou was his personal cheerleader. We did not put her in soccer last year due to holding hands with coach and catching butterflies. I wasn't about to waste my money this year for that. He has potential. He even scored one goal. I think only two or three goals were scored the whole season. Hopefully, he will want to play again next year.

I am not a vegetable person at all. This is what I can snack on all day and not even fill guilty about it. Oh ya! I think I am going to make these and take them camping. Maybe I will make all the other campers jealous. 1 cucumber (used an English cucumber from bountiful baskets.) 4TBS apple cider vinegar 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1/8 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp onion powder 1 tsp parsley 1 packet stevia/(Dont have packets? Use 4-6 drops) What is stevia? A natural sugar herb.....I got mine at the health food store. Dash of salt Mix ACV with spices toss with chopped cucumber and chill at least 1 hour. (I didn't chill :)) Okay, I admit I use cheap spices...Don't tell the world!

Yesterday was my ____th birthday. I hate birthdays just mine of course. It is okay for others to get older but ME. Not loving it! I decided that I am going to fight age with dignity. This is what my day looked like yesterday. I spent the day with my kids. My friend came over her kids and they all played in the water. That was 2 hours of loudness and kids. It was nice to get distracted. I got a new blender that makes smoothies. Yay! I have decided to eat a little bit more healthier, get a little bit smarter, and not worry about the small things. The last one is hard for me. Anyways, our morning started like this around 8:30am. Ya! Sister Lou wanted to run thru the sprinklers. Who am I to stop my darlin? Then our afternoon was alot of this with the other kids. and alot of this......