grand canyon

In November Keith and I took a wonderful trip rafting down the Grand Canyon. Our friend Paul made it possible for us to go on his private trip for the first 7 days, then we hiked out the Bright Angel Trail. Thanks for the fantastic trip Paul! I have never spent that many days on a private trip and I thought it would be enough. I was wrong. Someday I want to do the whole 18 days in the canyon. The Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. For me, every day of the trip is worth the entire trip just to be there for that moment. And the whole trip is like that. Each day is new, beautiful, exciting, interesting, and just great to be on the river with great people. And of course a huge thanks to Mom and Dad for taking the kids! Here are a few pics. Keith also posted pics on facebook.

pumpkins

Friday night we had a pumpkin carving party with pumpkins from our own garden! They turned out great don't you think?

creamy tomatillo dressing

Some of you have been asking for my salad dressing recipe for sweet pork salad (cafe rio style). Here it is.  Enjoy :) 

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

2 packets ranch dressing mix (3 Tbsp)

1 C mayonnaise

⅓ to ½ C buttermilk

3 tomatillos 

¼ C fresh cilantro lightly chopped  (1 bunch is about 2 cups chopped.)

1 clove of garlic

Place all the ingredients into a blender and mix well.  Occasionally scrape sides as needed.  Store in fridge for up to 2 weeks.  It is best made about 4 hours in advance to let flavor develop.

october ads

Are you buying things made in October?

b-day and bigfoot

A few weeks ago we celebrated Keith's birthday. He asked for white chocolate raspberry buttercream frosting. Well when I added the raspberries the frosting turned the prettiest pink color ever. So I went big and made a two tiered cake with cute decorations and a big K on top. He got a good laugh out of it and was a good sport about his very girly cake. I had fun making it. Happy birthday Keith!
Then this last week Bigfoot the monster truck came to town. We got to have fun seeing the truck and then watching him smash 3 cars and do lots of jumping, smashing, and engine revving. It was so LOUD. I should have taken pictures of the show. But if you go on youtube and type in "Bigfoot monster truck" you can see exactly what we saw if you are feeling left out.

first snow

I just had to post and say that the first snow of the season fell today. Here's to another big snow year! Or should I say here's to adding to the snow from last year that hasn't melted yet.

wedding

Becky and Andrew got married last weekend and it was so fun to celebrate with them.  I got a few pictures from the day- if you can't tell, I did not take the last three.
Congrats Becky and Andrew!  Andrew we are super excited to have you in our family.  Good job Becky getting us another great brother-in-law.