A Great Adventure

This past week Robb and I decided that we would go camping on Friday. As a teenager I loved going camping!! (of course we had a pop up camper- which is a lot different than a tent) anyway... I love the outdoors, nature all around, the smell of campfires, the sound of people living in community. When we married we registered for a tent and air mattress but in our two years of marriage ( our anniversary was last Monday) we had not gone camping yet. Friday after work Robb came to meet me at work with the 2 dogs and we set out to find a place to lay our heads. The 1st place we went to had no open spots, apparently now days you can reserve a spot on the internet. (who knew??) I knew there was another state park about 30 minutes from where we were so we set out once again. Half way there Layla got car sick all over Robb's seats. Yuck!! After taking care of the mess we hit the road again. We got to the park and found a great spot. It was exciting to set up the tent, and begin the fire.-The fire starting was not a process without frustration!! We knew how it should work but- however it does not "only takes a spark to get a fire going." We had a great dinner. I learned in my teen years how to make Hobo Meals that cook on the coals of the fire. We loved sititng around the fire, relaxing and talking. the great thing about camping is you can go to bed when it is dark. This is when the night started to go down hill for me. The dogs would not get quiet. They were a little nervous about sleeping out in the wild and barked at every noise! Everytime I would almost be asleep one of the two would start barking. It also grew pretty cold! The low that night was 46. We had plenty of sleeping bags but somehow ended up sharing one spred out. Everytime I would try to cover my face with the sleeping bag to keep it warm, I would somehoe uncover Robb's feet. He had no idea why I was pulling and would cover his feet again, pulling it off my face. And while air mattress are better than the ground, it is not my comfy bed. Needless to say, when the sun came streaming in at 5:30 am, I was not ready to get up and meet the excited dogs. I was in a bad mood!! But after walking the dogs, packing up, and heading to McDonalds, life looked much brighter. We will do it again but have learned some valuable lessons. Hopefully our next camping adventure will contain the fun parts of Friday along with maybe a little more sleep.

Mother's Day Reflections

I am so thankful for the wonderful mothers I have. Mothers?? Yes.. I have many women in my life who I consider to be mothers. I am truly blessed with my special mother who game birth to me, raised me, cleaned my dirty diapers, taught me to love God, and has become one of my greatest friends. My mom has set such an example of what is means to be a strong godly woman. I have also been blessed to have a wonderful mother in law. I am thankful that God blessed me with her! I love the times we get to spend at her house and am thankful for her support and love. I have feeling that there will also be many lessons learned from this added mother. She is a women of God who raised a wonderful son! Aside from these 2 moms, God has blessed me with many women who I see like "mothers." These women have sowed into my life in many ways. I have stayed at their homes, eaten at their tables, and probably added my share of dirt and ware and tear on their houses. Many of these women probably have no real idea of how much they impacted me. I don't send flowers or cards to these women but I am thankful that God placed so many wonderful people in my life. So many kids never have one positive impacting person, and I have been blessed with more than I can count. A Big Thank You to all these women!!

Copy Cat

I loved Kim A. blog like this so... yes I went to the same site and did my own. I like mine to.

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A Girl and Her Grill

These are our wonderful grills. We started with the small charcoal one on the left. While I love the way it smells while cooking, it is soo hard to get the coals just right. It often falls onto two extremes- way tooo hot or cold because I did not put enough coals on. I have spent 30 minutes before just trying to get the dang coals to light... moisture is not the friend of charcoal. To the right of the picture is our gas grill that we bought during a winter clear out at a electronics store. I LOVE to grill food on this and if I might say so, am quite good at grilling. I used to grill just burgers and chicken but now have moved into the realm of steaks, veggies, pork chops etc. I will go further ( fish ,lamb chops, ribs, etc) these will one day be conquered as well. To be a good griller it is important to start with a good marinade and to keep an eye on the time. I used to just plop something on the grill and then check back in a little while,often have something come out burnt or undercooked. I now know more exact times.-due to a fabulous grilling book This helps tremendously in getting a steak (or whatever you are cooking) to be done at which ever level of doneness you like. Grilling is a great lowfat way of cooking. We grill rain or shine, hot or cold outside. It helps that it is under a covered carport, but I grew up helping to hold an umbrella over my dad as he grilled out in the rain. Nostalgia always seeps in when I grill. As I just mentioned I always helped my dad to grill. I would stand there and talk to him while he was cooking. We would talk about all sort of things and often he would tell me a grilling tip /technique in the midst of our conversation. Here is a little recipe for marinade that I just love.
Mojo Marinade
1/2 cup of Orange Juice
2 tablespoons of lime juice
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.- place all together and marinade the meat for at least 1 or 2 hours.
Do you have any recipes that you enjoy?