Clinton's Birthday! 8-31-11

It is Clinton's Birthday today! He is 48 years young. He is one awesome guy! I really like having him around. On Sunday we had a birthday dinner for him. Tyson, Courtnie, Kaden, Emma, Kimberly and Chelsi were here to help us celebrate. For his dinner we had sweet & sour meatballs, baked potatoes, cole slaw, rolls & jam. For dessert I made his favorite cake, a german chocolate cake from scratch. It has been a tradition for years that his mom make it for him. This year I had to step up and do it. A little later that evening we had cake and ice cream with the family from Sugar City. As you can see, grandpa had help blowing out his candles.
I had a secret. I secretly went to Jackson Hole with my friends, Cari & Sherry, to buy Clinton his birthday gift. We found a cool cowboy hat there a few weeks ago that he really liked. So I went back to get it for him. He has no idea what I am doing. It is going to be a big surprise. While I was there with my friends, we ate lunch at the Merry Piglet Restaurant. It is a Mexican place and it was good. To document our trip we got a picture in front of the elk antlers.
This is Clinton in his new cowboy hat! It looks great on him. He really was surprised. He said he knew something was up, but didn't know what. This is the second time I have surprised him this year. To finish his birthday, we are going to go to Chiz' tonight for dinner. It will be the perfect end to a fun birthday! Happy Birthday Clinton!

Famous 8-28-11

Chelsi came home for the weekend and we went to West Yellowstone on Saturday to see "High School Musical" at the Playmill. We also got to spend some time with her friend Sarah Parkinson.Sarah and Chelsi being silly while we were shopping. Below is a picture of me trying out some modeling moves with my new friends. (haha) Before the show started at the Playmill the cast likes to get people from the audience to come up and help them. I really thought that Sarah would have them pick Chelsi. I was wrong. They picked me. So I got to dance and model with them. They even gave me a piece of the Playmill fudge and this lovely picture. Chelsi was so embarrassed that I was up on stage. That made it even more funny. Now that I am famous, I am willing to sign autographs for my fans.

Projects...

Ever since President Uchtdorf gave a talk about creating things, it has motivated me to start projects again. I have come to realize that by creating things, I feel happier. I just finished this pie plate for a birthday gift for Courtnie, my daughter-in-law.
The rest of these items are going to be Christmas gifts, so you just get a little peak at what I am doing. I can't show the whole thing because I don't want to give it away.


I hope the recipients will be as excited to receive them as much as I have been excited to make them.

My cousin Heidi 8-20-11

This is my cousin Heidi. I remember playing with her when we were little kids and they lived in Idaho Falls. They moved to California and I didn't see her much after that. Her and her family live in Rigby now. They moved here a few years ago and we got reacquainted when she and Patrick painted my house. It was so fun to catch up and get to know them better. Her husband is Patrick and they have 3 darling children, Max, Ruby and Georgia. Then we moved away for two years and now are back. But the crazy thing is now they are moving to Boise. It has been fun to spend time with them while they have been here and now we will have someone to visit when we go to Boise. We are in her yard at their going away party. She will be missed.

Food From the Garden - 8-20-11

This is an acorn squash from our garden. Clinton baked it for dinner today. It looks so pretty sitting there and it was yummy too.
I bottled 7 quarts of carrots and froze 2 quarts on Saturday. We are going to see which way we like best.
Huckleberries are such a staple for us. We have been to the mountains twice to pick them. We feel very lucky to now have 4 cups in the freezer. They are like gold!

A Trip to the Bar J Wranglers - 8-17-11

This is one of my favorite things to do. I like the food and atmosphere. I also laugh until my face hurts. I just love going to Jackson Hole and visiting the Bar J Wranglers.
Clinton, Me, Stacey and Jimmy. We had a very fun evening!

Kimberly Rochelle 8-11-11

Meet Kimberly Rochelle Arnold. She came into this world today. She weighed 8lb 1 oz and is 20 inches long.Grandpa holding baby Kimberly
She is named after both of her Grandma's.
I just love those chubby cheeks!
Here is the proud Papa and Grandma holding little Kimberly. She is so sweet. She is our 8th grandchild. I just love my grandchildren, they are the best!

Book and Beets 8-10-11

Everybody has been talking about this book. So, I bought it and read it. I loved it! I found out there is a movie coming out about it. It starts today. I gathered some of my friends who could go and we all met at the theater. The movie was just as good.My friends who could go are: Gailiene Rudd, Michelle Parkinson, Sherry Archibald and Alana Lerwill. It was a fun evening.
I bottled 10 quarts of pickle beets today. I am going to have to hide them, because my children seem to want to sneak them out of the house without me looking.

Starting a week of harvest with more to come

The harvest time has come. I am so excited that our garden has exceeded our expectations. It is the best garden we have ever had. I picked these peas and Kaden and Emma helped me snap them.
The zucchini has gone crazy. Every other day there is at least one as big as my arm. I am grating it for later use in the yummy banana, zucchini, chocolate chip bread.
This is the first picking of the red leaf lettuce.
This green leaf lettuce has also gone crazy. To date I have given away 18 bags of lettuce. Lucky for me we had homemaking night on Thursday and I took 9 bags there and shared with the ladies.
I was lucky to find raspberries and ordered 3 flats. Millie had huckleberries in the freezer and this is the result. I just love raspberry, huckleberry jam.

My lamp 8-3-11

I just finished making a change to one of my lamps. If you remember, I spray painted the metal part of the lamp. Now I made a change to the shade. This is the shade before
Now this is the after. The material matches my curtains. I think it looks awesome!

A little heaven on earth 8-3-11

I was given a great whole wheat bread recipe from my friend Vicki Ashton, when I lived in Peoria, AZ. Today is the day to try it out. It was so easy to mix everything up in the Bosch mixer I inherited from Millie.The dough has risen and is now ready to be shaped into loaves, 6 to be exact.
Here is the finished product, just hot out of the oven and buttered. I sliced off the heel and....
A little piece of Heaven on Earth! It tasted delicious with my homemade blackberry jam! Can I just say AWESOME!

Camping with the Barrett's 7- 30-2011

Stacey, my sister-in-law, called up a few weeks ago and asked us to go camping with them. Clinton decided on a spot in the Moody Meadows area. We had a real test of patience when we arrived. On Wednesday Clinton and I went to find a spot and leave our camper. To our surprise, when we got to our spot on Friday, there were 3 other campers all set up. So we had to make do. I guess this is called being flexible.
Katie, Nate, Stacey, Trey and Jimmy all enjoying a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage.
Clinton and Anna on the other side of the table.
Kaden came with us to play with Nate and Trey.
This lantern was used at night so we could see to play cards. Stacey, Katie, Anna and I also played a couple of games of Harry Potter Clue. This is a super fun game!
The scooters seemed to be the favorite toy for the kids.
Saturday night Tyson, Courtnie and Emma came up for dinner. Tyson is cooking a "smarshmallow" for Kaden. This is how the kids said the word marshmallow.
Pam and Ivan also joined us for dinner.
Stacey trying her hand at "smarshmellow" roasting. We had a great time. We also had thunder and rain for part of the day Saturday.