Cookin' It Old School

For those who don't know, my dad is an award winning dutch oven cook. Us kiddies have been bothering him for awhile to teach us the skills of the trade, so when we had a three-day weekend with Labor Day, we decided to have a dutch oven cooking/teaching extravaganza.

Who would of thought the hot tub would be such a great cooking prep table?

Good work Russell! If you need to fry something up, just use the lid. Who would of thought? Told you my dad was good...

Caitlyn working on the cornbread under the watchful eye of the master (my dad, definitely not the confused, trying to take it all in girl in the background)

Go Colty go! Way to use those muscles!

Just cooking and turning into something delicious!

40 mile stew, cornbread and cobbler, delish!

Cleaning up. Don't EVER use water in your dutch oven. Water= serious bad news! (and yes, i am a total tongue sticker outer when i concentrate. Another thing I learned from my dad...)

Amber has a gummy bear in there you know...

Oh hey colt and kadey

Well, the mama was behind the camera, so sadly, we have no pictures of her. As with basically every dutch oven meal though, she was there behind the scenes getting everything prepped and ready! She definitely deserves some credit!

Great day, great food and great company, although we were missing erin and abe (as usual). The good news for everyone is if you come camping with me, I know at least have an idea of how to serve you something tasty!

But Trust Me on the Sunscreen...

Well, the Mattster officially graduated last week. That kid is so great he was in the program so many times, you almost couldn't count them all ;) He worked hard to graduate cum laude with a double degree in business and economics.

Matt and the Dean (and someone's wife??)

Jeremy and Matt have been besties for as long as they can remember. Thanks for coming Jeremy!

Matt's family, who came all the way from California

My parents and younger siblings

Congratulations Matty! We're all very proud of you! You'll do great in law school next week.

Travels

In July, Matt's parents graciously took everyone on a cruise to Alaska in celebration of them returning from serving as mission presidents in Mexico. It was really a great trip, lots of fun, great company and incredible scenery. You always hear how beautiful and unique Alaska is, but I was really surprised by how often I found myself in awe of the beauty. We hit up a lumberjack show (great entertainment), humpback whale watching, glacier visiting, train ride through the Yukon among other things. We also saw more humpbacks, some dolphins and orcas from the actual cruise ship. Other wildlife included sea lions, flying fish, salmon and bald eagles (did you know that most Alaskan towns have more bald eagles than people?)

I was pretty proud of myself for not only bringing my camera, but also taking pictures! This was a BIG step for me. The funny thing is, when we got home and were showing my family, they were making fun of me for only taking the amount I did. Oops, at least it's an improvment (i did take 40, that's better than my usual 1-2).

Glacier anyone??

Gotta love my husband...

This picture would be even cooler if you could see all the large salmon swimming in the river

Hurray for the lumberjacks!

Oh little Wesley (or Bobo as he started calling himself), I think it's pretty apparent here that my nephew is the cutest thing ever

Wahoo! My Matt Man's coming home!

He Thinks My Tractor's Sexy...

The Mattster and I decided to make a fairly last-minute Memorial getaway to California.Our trip consisted of some great time being with Matt's siblings while being entertained by the hilarious little wesley (who at one point called me grandma, good thing his real grandma is coming home from her mission in three weeks to help clear things up), a great girls' day, visiting Matt's friends and eating delicious food.

Also, I hadn't really spent much time at the actual farm, so Matt decided it was time for me to get some "Farm Education," so I could actually follow along and keep up with conversations.

I think it's safe to say when I found out Matt grew up on a farm, I thought he was joking. As silly as it seems, it is such a foreign world to me, my first thought was, "People still do that?!" We now joke around that we can have a farm one day if I can have my own pink tractor that I can drive to bring him his lunch, he thinks I'm crazy, but I think it would be great!

Anywho, education started on the first day, with crop identification. Everytime we'd drive into town to meet people, go to church, etc, (yes, we had to drive into town), he would quiz me on the various trees and other things. I am proud to say that I can now successfully distinguish almonds, pistachios, alfalfa, cotton, wheat and corn (i'm not that bad, i knew that one already).

On our actual Farm Education morning, we started out by explaining what the various machines do. It is really quite cool, all of the things the various machines can do. Then it was time to get me on a tractor. Matt said I was a natural, but I don't know if I believe him, when I was driving, we only got up to about 4 m/hr (hey, i'm not dumb, i'm pretty sure it would be a damper on the relationship with the in laws if I bulldozed down their house right before it's time for them to start living in it again...).

This shows you how big this thing is, not going to lie, I was pretty surprised/intimidated, the wheels were bigger than me!

Who doesn't love pictures of Matt? I know I sure do! Apparently he spent a lot of time on this sprayer as a youth. It sounds like they had some adventures together! It doesn't have a brake, so you can use your imagination. We'll just say, I feel bad for his grandma's car...

I really enjoyed seeing where Matt grew up and feeling like I have a least a smaller understanding of where he grew up. Good thing he's such a good teacher. Special thanks to Bob and Becky for helping us get there! And thanks to Mark and Tina, Melanie and Steve, and Dahl and LaRayne for being such good hosts! We're excited to be back in 21 days!

Oldie but Goody

In early April, my sister Erin and her husband Abe came to town. We had a great time with them and wish we got to see them more often. They are both excellent cooks, and Abe served his mission in Japan, so it seems like, lucky for us, they usually end up making us some type of delicious asian cuisine at some point in their visit. This trip was no exception, and they led us in a Family Sushi Night. My family loves sushi (matt and my other bro-in-law russell still haven't seen the light...) and we were excited to try our hands at California Rolls, a delicious roll with crab (and yes, it's cooked), cucumbers, avacado and rice rolled in a seaweed.

Erin showing Caitlyn the ropes.

Despite being a little skeptical, matt even decided it was a fun and tasty evening.

Abe aka Iron Sheff (a play on his last name) enjoys himself while family friend Mandy watches.

Some of the rewards of our labors.

Decisions, decisions...

Lately I've really been wanting one a sewing machine. I think of all the wonderful projects and things I could make like curtains, aprons and a sweet quiet book. I got an email yesterday advertising this pretty baby

I am definitely tempted. It seems to be a great deal. The question is, are these little fantasies of me sewing beautiful things simply that, a fantasy? It's been years since I've sewed anything. Oh boy, decisions...