Guess Who Called ME Today?

Governor Mitt Romney--from his private number, 202-495-7115.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Remember my beautiful garden? This is a picture of it in August, and it looked like this up until October 8, when it was rumored we would have our first frost. I worked in my garden, and cut a fresh bouquet of zinnia on Ocober 8. It was 70 degrees.

This is my garden now. It did frost early in the morning on October 9, and it was looking sad that morning as right before I left for Buffalo. While we were in Buffalo, Boise has it's earliest recordable snowfall EVER--an inch and a half fell on Friday night, October 10. That totally did my garden in. So I came home to find this! The good news is that the grapes benefit from a frost--it makes them sweeter, and it hardens the squash off, so that's good. My only survivor was a pumpkin, in my southern garden. He still wasn't orange, so I put a little tent over him. He's still green, but getting less so each day.

It's always a bittersweet time, when the frost comes. I love fall, and everything about it, but I know in a couple of weeks I'll be longing for a fresh tomato or zucchini. Oh well, I guess it's time to move indoors and start quilting!

Grandpa in Moscow

Grandpa got to go to Moscow the past week and see Reese (and Jake and Lindsay). I was in Couer d'Alene for some depositions, and couldn't fly out Friday, so drove down and spent the night in Moscow. Lorrie was very jealous, but it didn't bother me. She spent a whole week with Reese shortly after birth. So, Grandpa got to do all these fun things with Reese. I changed diapers, got up with her Saturday morning, read her a book, played car-car-c-a-r with her, fed her Cherios, and just hung out with her. It was GREAT!!!! She is growing up so quickly.

Here I am acting like a bird, so she would eat her oats. I don't know if that really helps, but it is almost an involuntary thing to do what you want Reese to do. She only kicked the bowl out my hand once from excitement.

This is a Grandpa thing. Lindsay watched on with reasonable concern, knowing what was next, but not saying anything out loud. I'm sure her prayer was answered (see below).

And look how happy Reese is!

"Look, Mom, No HANDS!!"

Tagged by Lindsay!

Lindsay tagged me to answer these questions--the catch is you can only answer them with one word! Before you start reading my answers, I have to comment on #31--I was peeling onions!
AND I tag Malorie, Mackenzie, Kirt, Jake, and Erin.

1. Where is your cell phone? UPSTAIRS
2. Where is your significant other? MOSCOW
3. Your hair color? BROWN
4. Your mother? LOVING
5. Your father? ADORABLE
6. Your favorite thing? FABRIC
7. Your dream last night? WEIRD
8. Your dream/goal? ALMOST
9. The room you're in? FAMILY
10. Your hobby? QUILTMAKING
11. Your fear? SPIDERS
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? TRAVELING
13. Where were you last night? HYNMSOFTHANKSGIVINGPRACTICE
14. What you're not? UNRELIABLE
15. One of your wish-list items? WORLDPEACE
16. Where you grew up? BOISE
17. The last thing you did? VACUUM
18. What are you wearing? CASUAL
19. Your TV? OFF
20. Your pet? DEAD
21. Your computer? FRUSTRATING
22. Your mood? CONTENT
23. Missing someone? KIRT (see #2!)
24. Your car? CUTE
25. Something you're not wearing? SHOES
26. Favorite store? CRATEANDBARREL
27. Your summer?AWESOME
28. Love someone? FAMILY
30. When is the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY (see #2--I have no one to laugh with!)
31. Last time you cried? TODAY

FYI: Kirt posted the Palmyra blogs, but Google got confused

The Book of Mormon

The Hill Cumorah

The Book of Mormon is printed and sent out to the World

We have really enjoyed the time with Tyler and Mackenzie. We have done all kinds of fun things. We have eaten the real Buffalo Wings, from the restaurant where they were created. We ate the beef sandwich (Beef on Weck- - Google it). When I asked for fry sauce for my fries, the girl at the counter looked like I had just told her I just returned from an alien abduction. She had no idea what I was talking about. Just like most of you don't know what "Beef on Weck" is. We then had frozen custard at Anderson's. We ate all beef hot dogs with Texas Sauce from Louie's, a place selling the best hot dogs in Buffalo since 1951. I'm sorry, but other than an ice cream potato from the Westide Drive In, there isn't anything unique to Boise cuisine. It has just been a wonderful experience, and Lorrie has enjoyed the fall foilage (that's leaves for you non-scrabble players). KIRT

The Sacred Grove

The Palmyra Temple in October 2008

The only temple with clear windows looking out toward the Sacred Grove

The Sacred Grove from the Palmyra Temple

We were able to attend the temple, and spend time in the Sacred Grove and Church sites

Apples, Big and Small

At Becker Farm, we picked some apples on Friday. They only had Crispins and IdaReds available for picking, and we liked the IdaReds best, so we picked some big ones, small ones, and in-between ones. See Kenzie's blog for the actual picking.

This is a nice in-between one, but I really like the long stem on it. And it's so beautiful and red on the one side, with a little green on the on other side, and the inside is very white, as far as apples go.

Here's what's left of the crisp right after dinner. We could barely wait for it to cool for ten minutes, then we scooped on vanilla ice cream with a dusting of cinnamon (again, see Kenzie's blog for how it looked BEFORE we ate it--I couldn't wait! After eating dessert, we went and saw Tyler's place of work at UB, looked at some beautiful homes in Buffalo, went for a walk around Hoyt Lake, then came home and finished the rest! Yummy!

Sunday Dinner in the Minimalist Kitchen

You all probably saw Kenzie's tour of her kitchen on her blog. It is small, but efficient. Here is a picture of Kenzie and Lorrie cooking a Sunday dinner of salmon, sweet and russet mashed potatoes, and peas, with apple crisp for dessert. Tyler is not helping to cook, he's just looking for a snack.

Everything you need is right at your fingertips--literally. By now, the potatoes are diced and cooking on the small gas stove, the salmon is in the oven, and we're working on the apple crisp. Lorrie is peeling and dicing apples, Kenzie is making the crisp part.

It's fun! Everything got done. I wish I could show you a plated meal, but we ate it too fast! Trust me, it was delectable!

Day One in Buffalo: Niagra Falls I

We saw Niagra from the American side--this is American Falls with Niagra Falls in the back.

Kenzie and Lorrie

Kirt and Kenzie on board The Maid of the Mist, which will take us in close to Niagra Falls. We can't take pictures of that, though, because it will be way too misty!

Kenzie and Lorrie, battened down for Niagra. We've just been though the American Falls mist. The view, the power of the falls (sheer and drenching), and the views are AMAZING!

Day One in Buffalo: Niagra Falls II

Kenzie and Lorrie taking a little rest on the way to Goat Island.

Lorrie, in front of the Niagra River, and some beautiful fall leaves!

We're at the top of American Falls, this is looking to the river below...

YIKES!

Day One in Niagra: Becker Farm

Kenzie and Lorrie at Becker Farms--in the Pumpkin Patch!

Lorrie has a chance to get close to a few chickens!

Kenzie DOES NOT like the llama...

but she does like the little pony!

Lunchtime!

If I had a perfect lunch, this would be it. I've probably eaten this almost every day for a month--a BLT! I've just about single handedly eaten a whole package of bacon, but who can resist the fabulous tomatoes? Here's my recipe--toasted bread (whole wheat, Basque, or Pugalise), with a little mayo on each side, one tomato, sliced, then lightly salted and peppered, three slices of bacon, crisp,
and lettuce. Cut it on the diagonal, serve with a glass of cold milk and a piece of sun-ripened fruit. Yummy!

I didn't used to like tomatoes on sandwiches at all. In the fall of my sophomore year of college, my roommate Jan's sister brought us a BIG BOX of tomatoes. We didn't know what we would do with them all, but Jan showed us how to make tomato sandwiches. It's like a BLT, only there's no B or L, everything else is the same. We were starving students, it was free food, I learned to love them. We ate them every day til the box was gone. Yummy!