Fall Break is here!!!

   Fall Break went from October 17th to October 25th. I took vacation as well and I can't lie....it was absolutely awesome and went too fast!!! We did something every single day. We had Pappaw up to spend the night, did cocoa, did the fire pit, cut wood, went to parks, went down home, had one day of lounging around the house, camped in the front yard one night (even though it was not for the whole night lol), mulched/mowed/did yard work for over 4 hours and prepped the garden area for winter, visited Steve's baby sister and her four kiddos (lots of laughing and fun that day!), visited with Kaya's great great aunt and Uncle, went to the lake, went to the falls...oh good grief we did tons of things. 
  Let's see we......

We went to the falls, spent the day hiking, climbed the fire tower, played at the playground, had lunch at our fave Mom n Pop diner,went to the overlook and had a great day!

We went to the lake, spent the day at the overlook at the lake, played on the playground there then Kaya got asked to go to the park with a dear family friend who was taking her grandkids...and she treated them all out for pizza. Miss Social didn't get home till after 6 then the kids hung out here playing on the trampoline and having fun!

We drove by a supposed Haunted House, stopped to take pictures and Kaya is "investigating" this whole thing LOL 

We took tons of gorgeous fall pictures!! Kaya did too!!

We hung out at Pappaw's for a day, jumped and ran across hay bales, and played with buddies

We spent the day at the park of Kaya's choice, took a drive and had a great time!                                                          

We had Pappaw up to spend the night, we got the firepit going, made a pot of hot chocolate, a pot of Mexican hot chocolate, made smores and enjoyed a great evening. 

We cut wood and Kaya was amazed at the awesome heart the wood made. Her Daddy and her Pappaw cut her several slabs of "heart shaped" wood :) 

Got my pantry started!

  I had to be off work for a school meeting so I decided to take a vacation day and just enjoy the day. Once the meeting was done I thought...ohhh we'll have a nice day lounging around and chilling out (something we rarely do). Steve of course had another idea and hated to waste the day. So what did we do??
   We pulled the cabinet and counter out of my utility room, moved it to the garage to make it into a workbench/storage, cleaned the floor, painted the wall behind the counter, added floor trimming, and moved the pantry rack Steve had started building in the garage into the utility room. We added the wire shelves (Steve used the ones from Lowe's, braced the back with a flat 4x4, and used the wire shelf upside down to give the front a "lip" to keep cans etc from sliding off. The board in the back slightly raises the shelf in one spot so my cans are slightly at an angle to keep them moving down. The bottom of the rack is built so I can fit a clothes basket under it for dirty clothes, my basket that I keep plastic bags etc in and still have space for a large plastic storage container of pet food. I also have room to store my big glass jars, my canning jars etc.
  The best thing is that Steve put my Great Grandma's corn slicer onto one section for decoration and then we put some cute things that mean lots to us (Mimi's spice rack, a candle from Granny's funeral etc etc).
  To say I love it is an understatement. I LOVE IT!!!!!
  And where I had stored my can goods in the kitchen is now where I put my mixing bowls and skillets/pots. Before they were shoved into the "hole from hell" that Steve so lovingly calls my cabinets that are near the fridge (and hard to get into).

Have extra tomatoes.....make salsa

We had some last minute tomatoes start turning from our garden. Then a buddy at work had bought waaayyy too many from the Amish and they got passed to us. I absolutely detest wasting anything. So my mind went instantly to salsa. In our house Kaya and I love salsa, Steve likes more of a restaurant style sauce...smoother. He loves the local Mexican restaurants salsa sooo I googled some recipes, altered it a bit and found one we all like. It's also excellent to cook with and warms in heat factor (as in spicy) the longer it sets.
  The recipe:
   28 oz can of diced tomatoes (with or without chilies) (or you can use 10-12 fresh tomatoes....just get water boiling, drop tomatoes in till skin starts to crack, put in cold water....then peel and dice the tomatoes)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsps pickled jalapeno rings, diced
10 cilantro leaves
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend till smooth. Chill before serving

  If you use ripe tomatoes (especially very ripe tomatoes) use less than the recipe calls for because the juicer it is, the more juice it will make! And you'll have more juice, less spices etc.
  I also use about 18 to 20 cilantro leaves because it really makes it taste like the restaurants and we LOVE cilantro. (I'll admit...I'm a cilantro addict. Just smelling it on my fingers...heavenly lol).
  I process mine up then put it into a plastic container with a lid (refrain from using a metal bowl...the acid of the tomatoes can damage your bowl and the salsa will take on a twang from the metal).
  I use it in rice, fajitas, you name it. It dips well but remember it is a thinner salsa so it won't be super thick. You can also use it in out of garden season time by buying canned diced tomatoes. 

Have I ever mentioned that I love October? It's one of my favorite months and has my favorite things:
 **warm firepits and hot cocoa
** changing leaves
**crisp air, apples, apple cider
**hay rides and pumpkins
**snuggles under the blankets
**Halloween

   We are all October nuts in this house :) 

Kaya has been doing photography :)

We've been letting Kaya use the camera since she's bigger...and I honestly think the girl has the eye for it!! Sometimes her pictures make you think, or they catch you in some off beat way or...they are just pretty. THAT is exactly what photography is suppose to do!!! I hope she continues to explore this fun hobby. Both Steve and I love photography and it's nice to see Kaya getting into it as well!

Our first canoe trip...and probably our last lol

   Our cousin had called and asked if we would like our Christmas gift early and for the gift to be a couple's gift. I of course told her that we didn't expect anything at all and whatever she wanted to do was fine. Welllll seems she got us, her and her boyfriend, and three other couples together to go...canoeing.
   Being a gung-ho type person I'm usually up for anything and will give it a go, especially if it's something new and we are all together. Steve was a little hesitant at first but said "Lets do it".
   Remind you that every other canoe place around has closed down due to extremely low water. "Ohhh this place wouldn't book us if it was too low"...cousin's reasoning number 1. Also keep in mind that it's nice and cool today. "We won't sweat as much"...cousin's reasoning number 2. Furthermore keep in mind that none of us except one couple had ever actually canoed more than once, if at all, that we traveled about an hour to get there, the booking place basically said "pick a life jacket and sign the papers saying we are not responsible, get your oars"...."It's gonna be fun!! We'll float along, chat, picnic on our snacks and just have fun"....cousin reasoning number 3. Do we see a pattern here :)
   We pick everything out, load up in the small bus and the guy takes us to the river. Oh did I mention that more than once we are told "There are at least six spots severely low that may require you to carry your canoe. This is a physical journey for sure"...yeah do you see where this is going? Lol We all had packed snacks and drinks, bagged anything that needed to be kept from the water, and basically the canoe crew holds your canoe, you sit in it, they push you off and bye bye for the next 7 miles. Yes. 7 miles. Four hours. Let me repeat that...7 miles, 4 hours.
   We are total nature nuts, liked the people that was on the trip so we are still staying positive at this point. It's a balmy 60 with NO SUN on the river at all (none would show up till almost the 6 mile marker) and the water is 32 degrees. We all take off and there's lots of laughter and fun.
   Now mind you, you cannot jerk quickly in a canoe, you cannot lean over in a canoe and you both have to not only paddle well together you also have to coordinate any moves to prevent tipping over (cousin reasoning number 4: Canoes don't tip easy. Don't worry about it. Need I tell you that is LIES!! LOL). We are going along well when we feel ourselves tipping...Steve tries to save us but...lets say it did not work. From neck to toe we are soaked. But we continue on....
   We end up paddling our arms off, hitting tons of spots so low that we literally dug bottom. We carried our canoe (All 5 of us was in the same situation so it wasn't just us), we fell in the water. You name it. On the one flat, nice spot our cousin is singing Cmas carols ,lol, while another guy is saying "Really...if this is peaceful and fun, I missed the memo" LOL (Cousin reasoning number 5: It will be peaceful and tranquil. We'll destress and relax). I don't think I need to elaborate on the fact that it was not peaceful and easy going lol
   We hit the 6 mile marker and you can hear everyone's desperation....Steve literally screamed 911 help me as we went under the "Screaming bridge". lol The guys were looking for signs of civilization, we couldn't stop for a drink or a snack because we had to paddle so hard to just keep going, fighting the low water and rocks. Finally....heaven's light shines and....
  The boat dock is finally there!! We all happily hit the dock, pull our canoes up and surprise...only 2 people have dry clothes because Cousin Number 6 reasoning was "You won't need extra clothes, we shouldn't get wet". Yet again not true lol So after the 2 that had dry clothes change we head towards home for a late lunch.
   One guy had to wear his socks only in because his shoes were soaked. Our hair was all sticking out, we looked tired, damp and I know the ladies at the food counter thought OMG lol till we explained about our trip. We were all frozen so a hot lunch warmed us up.
  Finally at home the guys confess that the constantly wet butts combined with the seats (the guys sat in the back to doing the harder work) made for literally chapped butts LOL.
  It was a new adventure, one I might try with more water (much more water!), we had a great time laughing, being together and it was a nice gift and idea. But Steve has suggested to our cousin next year just get us a pizza gift card HAHAHAHA
UPDATE: The next day we were all so sore it was insane. Poor Steve could barely move!! The cold water locked up his leg muscles and about killed his legs. But...at least we were gung ho and gave it a try!!

Ok...I realize...

  A busy summer makes for less time on the blog lol and I realized that when I got on here and realized it was June the last I posted.
  The summer went well. We debated and decided against putting up the big swimming pool this year only because the ladder isn't as sturdy as we'd like for Steve. Last summer he nearly fell off it, caught his foot and it could have been a serious issue since he was home with K. So we opted to just put the smaller pool up while we look for ladders etc and K loved it the same.
  The garden has grown like crazy. Tomatoes out our ears, beans, onions, peas, peppers and greens. We tried a new hot pepper this year, a Tabasco pepper, and it's still coming on. Thinking that it will be producing near fall time lol  
   We had some awesome family time, car trips and picture taking. Lots of laughter. Tons of time star gazing and moon watching. Listening to the animals in the night. Watching area farmers work on their fields and helping at our family places.
  My schooling has rolled right along. I've enjoyed the majority of my class work and I keep telling myself to keep trudging along...the light's at the end of the tunnel ;) 
  And now...summer is winding down. School shopping is on the agenda, book rentals loom ahead and the schedule gets a bit stricter.
  But what a wonderful summer it has been!!

a wonderful tomato!

Some wonderful summer nights star/moon gazing