Halloween moments...

We had the most wonderful time this Halloween with the newest member of our family.

 Seeing our son continue to be a great Dad to his precious little man is the absolute best.

 Hope you had a fun and memorable Halloween as we did with our girly skeleton, butterfly fairy and our very own little dragon.

~ * ~

The weekend...

I'm completely surprised at this moment that I have accomplished all the things that I had on my 'to do list' for the weekend.  Normally I would be looking at the clock and it would be 10pm because for whatever reason I just couldn't get my act together and finish the things I wanted.  

I suppose it did help when I shut the craft room door so I could work on things with out being interrupted.

Like sprucing up someone's headband for her costume. Because how it looked out of the bag from the store was horrid.  So some ribbon was added 

 and then some flowers.

Now it's a bit more tolerable.

Three turkeys were made.  More are on the way.

 And in between the craft room adventures, there were yummy things made through out the weekend.

Pumpkin pancakes for an early Sunday morning breakfast.

 Yummy, cheesy Rotel dip with chips and lots of homemade chicken soup to eat on all weekend.  The soup was not so I didn't have to cook that much but because we were taking care of Glenn was knocked down due to a cold.  Poor guy.  At least he had 3 nurses to look after him.  I think he's ready to go back to work tomorrow.

Loving this

Moments like this are surely on the very tippy top of my favorite things list.  Everyone doing their own thing while hanging out in the craft room all afternoon with the Ipod jamming.  

I'm hoping for a repeat today after the all important pumpkin run is completed.

~*~

Baked Oatmeal

I absolutely love apples.  Especially in the Fall.  Mix that with oatmeal and I'm in heaven.  I've not always been a total fan of oatmeal.  There was a time when I despised it.  I don't care for the flavored instant stuff you get at the store.  Too sweet and it's really not good for you with all the additive stuff that is put in it.  So when I found a recipe for some oatmeal where I knew what was actually in it and I controlled the sugar, I was hooked.  I did a little tweaking of my own and made it even better.  At least to my liking.  I now make Baked Oatmeal at least twice a week.  Everyone around here loves it for breakfast of course.  But there are a few times when I have caught some of the crew heating it up for a snack.  No complaining here with that choice of snack.

So I decided to share this baked appley, oatmeal goodness with you.  I hope you like it.

Baked Oatmeal

by kar

3 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup melted butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

3 apples, peeled and chopped small

12 oz. bag of frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for the blueberries together well.  Make sure everything is incorporated together well.  Then fold the blueberries into the mixture while still frozen.  You don't want to mix them in because they will break up to little pieces.  They add a perfect amount of moisture to the finished product.  Spray a 9" x 13" pan with baking spray and spread the oatmeal mixture into it.

Bake for 35 mins. and remove from the oven.

You can enjoy it right out of the oven or let it cool just a bit and store it in a container with a lid and place into the fridge until you are ready to eat it.

It's not too bad with a dab of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on the top either!

Let me know what you think if you try it.

Vigilant...

Tonight we will be visited by our first cold temps this Fall season.  A big part of me is doing a happy dance because it means that finally the Fall colors will soon been gracing us with all their glory.  Oh how that makes me happy.  Just knowing that you can probably tell that a Fall stroll down by the river wasn't accomplished over the weekend because of all the green that was still gracing the trees.  Then there is a teeny tiny, itsy bitsy party of me that is sitting there going "great, the heater must be turned on".  That grump of an inner voice is trying to be ignored while we enjoy cuddling on the couch while watching movies and enjoying hot chocolate.

While waiting for this most wonderful season to finally make it's appearance, I've been trying to wrap up odd and end little projects so that I can get to a couple of really important ones.  One of the little projects are placemats for a friends Mum in England.  All that's left is sewing the binding to the back and give them a good wash so that they can start on their journey across the pond.

 I just love this little charm pack with all it's country, farmish charm.

 I've been also trying to figure out which soup recipe to share on Jodi's blog.  On the 7th of November she will be hosting a soup recipe sharing event so that you can have new soups to try this wonderfully, chilly season.  I can't wait to see all the different kinds everyone will share.  Hop over and join in.  Mark the date on your calendar!  You just can't go wrong with a ton of soup recipes.

 Speaking of important projects, this brown yarn sits patiently waiting for me to start on a few little things for a few little people in the family.  It's so important that the little people in the family look their absolute best during the changing seasons.  Especially chilly, breezy ones.  More on this by the end of the week.  Cross your fingers.

 And hopefully by the end of the week I will be enjoying a colorful walk amongst all the Fall color glory that I'm hoping this cold snap will bring tonight.  That way I don't have to keep looking at the photos taken last year just so I get my fix of Fall color.  Enough with the delay already.  Get here now!

Finding time...

Things have felt a little scattered around here this past week.  I've been putting too much on my plate again and it frustrates me.

So back to making lists so that I can actually see what needs to be done, what I would like to get accomplished and what actually was completed.  I'm a visual person when it comes to things like that.  So along with all the Fall chores that were completed around here the past few days (there are a few more to do) I was able to find time to do my own thing.

A few scrappy Halloween colored dishclothes were made from scraps leftover from solid colored ones that were made while on our trip last week.

 Two more table quilts were made.  They have only been waiting on me for a week to finish them.  So sad.

 Favorite Fall recipes have been pulled out of hiding so that we can enjoy them again.  Em made dinner  last night while I played 'supervising chef'. She did an awesome job!  You must try this soup.  So yummy.  I'm surprised we have any leftover.

 Then after the hustle and bustle of the day, I finally made time to work on my granny blanket.  Even if it was just to weave in ends on squares that I just threw together last time.  Tails drive me crazy so I had to remedy that.  Poor blanket was probably wondering if I would ever work on it again.  Hopefully I can start adding more squares to it so that it will be finished one day, soon.

Some where on the list to do a Fall walk must be added on the list so that we can go enjoy all the glorious colors that are finally started to show themselves.

Hopefully this weekend will be filled with a bit more slowing down so that things don't feel so out of whack around here.  One can always hope.

Long awaited trip...

Since spring I have been delaying the planning for a particular trip that everyone else has been wanting to go on.  My two bits of concern were extreme heat and too many people to deal with.

So finally after the heat has now departed for the year and the masses of tourists have made their way back home, I made reservations for a place to stay a few days.  I was a little nervous when the clouds turned darker after we made our way off the interstate and down the state highway towards our destination.

Can you believe snow in the mountains already.  We found out after checking in that there was at least 2ft. of snow that had fell in some parts of the mountains just days before we came to the area.

 After getting checked into our cabin we gathered our things and started out on our awesome exploration.  The City of Rocks!

 It takes your breath away when you first see it.  I just can't explain it.

 We found Camp Rock where all the settlers that would come through the area write their names on the rock with axle grease from the wagon wheels.  Certainly something to see.  Absolutely amazing how some of the writings have lasted since the late 1800's.

 After looking over the Reserve map for a bit, a trail was decided upon and down we went.

 Through aspen groves,

 up and around Flaming Rock to wonderful vantage points to see beautiful views around us,

 the girls were most impressed to find holes in the rocks that they could climb to and sit in.

 After an exciting few hours exploring we made our way back to the cabin to wash up and go get some dinner.  After that we all realized that it was time to call it a day and get rested for a very long day starting the next morning.  

After breakfast we were back to the Reserve eager to start finding lots of new and exciting things within this awesome landscape.

Near the entrance of the Reserve are the remnants of an old stone house on the old Circle Creek Ranch.  We found out later that day that the house was built by an early settler around 1901 and stayed in tact until a fire gutted it in 1957.  All I kept thinking was how awesome it would be to have a house made out of all that beautiful stone.  And then to have The City of Rocks for a view right out your back door.  That would be just too much!  I wouldn't know how to act.

 A few more stops were made to see other parts of the Reserve and then we made it to the trail where we wanted to hike for the day.  There are just too many breath taking views to show here.  Every where you turn to look it amazes you that all this beauty is here for us to enjoy.  

Stops were made every so often to have a snack and look around.  Lizards were found.  Lots of crickets, chipmunks and birds.  Thank goodness no mountain lions were spotted nor heard while out on the trails.  It is always a concern that we are always reminding the girls about when we go out hiking.

 Little explorers were allowed to read the map the see where we were and where we needed to go.  They are getting better and better at reading maps and finding their way around places.

 Strolling through numerous aspen groves had me stopping to listen to their little leaves rustling in the wind.  They are my favorite trees to listen to when the wind blows.

 Soon after making our way to the end of our nearly 5 mile hike, it was back to the cabin for lunch and then out for more exploring at Castle Rock State Park.   A few hours were spent in this awesome bit of landscape looking for wildlife.  We were on the look out for moose, who were suppose to frequent this area quite a bit.  But during our visit we were not graced with any presence of them.  But Em sure was happy to see what she came on the trip to see.

A mountain cottontail!

Good thing Brenna is still short enough to see under the ridge of a rock and spotted one for Em to see.  The rest of us walked right on by without any notice of it.

 To say that we all were tired at the end of this day would be an understatement.  The girls and I were happy with our decision to just go back to the cabin and eat Cup of Noodles for dinner and call it a day.  But Glenn wouldn't hear of it and it was back to the restaurant to fill tummies with good food.  Later that night we watched the full moon come up and light up the entire valley.  Everything glowed with such beautiful bright light.  There were yips from coyotes that could be heard from the cabin and few moo's every now and then from the cows on the ranches nearby.  The peacefulness of this area is just beyond words.  We stood out on the porch of our cabin and literally listened to nothing.  No humming of cars and the goings on of everything near where we live.  It's surely something that must be experienced once in your life just so you know how wonderfully quiet nature is.  The only thing to be heard was the occasional breeze that passed by.  I've never slept better in my life.

The morning we were leaving we were seen off by 6 deer that were out in the field right behind our cabin.  The sunrise was gorgeous!  Golden light thrown across everything.

 The girls said goodbye to our stunning view of Castle Rock from our cabin.

 And then one last goodbye to our cozy little cabin that everyone hopes to see again.

 Off we went into the sunrise, headed back home.

Sniff.

To say that we had an absolute blast those short few days on this adventure would be a severe understatement.  Why it took us this long to make our way down to these parts I will never understand.  It's only 3 hours away!  We truly live in a most beautiful state!

We love you Idaho!  

Thanks for another spectacular trip for us to enjoy.

Still here...

Ever had a time when you went through a bit of bloggers block?  That is what happened here within the last week or so.  You know, do I share this or that.  Is this interesting or not.  And by the time you have debated the situation thoroughly it's late and you just go to bed.  Something like that.

I have to say that today is a wonderful day though.  A day that I have waited a while for.  Cool, damp, breezy.  Fall has finally decided to show it's face around these parts.  It's about time in my opinion.  I mean really, get on with it already.

  The oven has been going all day.  Roasting squashes, baking a little of this, a little of that.  Chomping at the bit at standing over a good pot of soup tomorrow when it's suppose to rain all day and only get into the 50's.  I'll be comfy, cozy here dabbling around in the kitchen while it's suppose to be snowing in the mountains.

Awesome!

I have been waiting for this season.  

Bring it on Fall.  

I'm ready for you!