A True Summer Feast!

Our Summer Feast included Grilled Chicken Skewers, Homemade Mexi-Rice, Crispy Oven-Baked Fries with Fry Sauce, Rolls, Wedges of Juicy Watermelon, Colorful Veggie Plate,  Green Salad, Ranch, and Mashed Avocado.  Dessert (not pictured) was Homemade Blueberry and Raspberry Smoothies.

 

-JULY 2014- 

 

Our first stop on our BIG summer vacation was Herriman, Utah where we gathered with some of Steve's side of the family for a memorable, summer-y, BBQ feast that I wouldn't mind living over and over again.

Bev's Truly Crispy Oven Fries.  The trick is to bake them a really long time.

These marinated chicken skewers were mouthwatering.

When we weren't eating, we were visiting, and playing outside.

This dog is Ninja.

Ninja acts like a ninja.

She is very playful and energetic.

 My girls enjoyed going on a little garden tour with their cousin, Eva. 

 Later, James started a fire in his fire ring while the girls played on the jungle gym.

 

 When the fire was ready, we found sticks and broke out the marshmallows.

 Matt has lived abroad quite a bit, and he let us know that roasting marshmallows is a very "American" thing.  Gotta love the good ol' US of A!

 Everyone tried to achieve the perfect golden brown outer crust with a warm, gooey inside.  Everyone except James, I believe, who liked to set his mallow a-flame and eat it char-y black.  I went through a phase as a teenager where I actually preferred that too.  That stage is gone for me now, though. 

Amara was thinking, "yummy gooeyness!"

Lily was thinking, "yummy gooeyness!"

I love the toastiness of these marshmallows.  P.S.  We had fresh raspberry smoothies for dessert and we all had raspberry seeds in our teeth afterward; Steve was just the lucky one to get his photographed when I tried to capture his perfected mallow.  I assure you that he normally has impeccably clean teeth.

Flaming Gorge Freedom Festival

July 5, 2014

Flaming Gorge does a freedom festival every year, and we thought that we would take Grandma Christensen and Uncle Matt up to go see that beautiful countryside.  Our drive was beautiful and took us through colorful rock landscapes, past sparkly reservoirs, and on into fragrant pine forests.  Flaming Gorge area is a good 1.5 hours from our house, so we're glad the drive is so pretty.

We stopped at a lookout point for a few pictures.

Our first destination was one of my favorite historical sites in the Uinta Basin, the Swett Ranch.  I love the solace and the history of this simple place.

 We walked around the property and since it was the Freedom Festival, there was a tour guide giving tours of the structures on the property.

 We didn't join the tours so much, but we got to go in the buildings that are normally locked up when you go there any other time.

The tour guide had a tame dog that liked us and he liked lounging on the picnic table located on the front porch.

P.S.  I want one of these dugout root cellar things.

One of my favorite structures on the ranch is this hidden root cellar.  It is somewhat cool, somewhat creepy, and completely impressive to me.  It is built into the side of a hill, it stays quite cool in there, there are shelves for food storage, and they even brought electric light to it (you can tell the wiring is old- not up to today's codes).  Swett Ranch was one of the first places, if not the first place, in the Uinta Basin to get electricity and telephone service.

 After touring the Swett Ranch, we were off to a nearby car show and then the Flaming Gorge Dam tour.

Lily and Amara loved the sparkly purple corvette.

 Steve's mom and Matt had to leave early because they had a long drive to make to get back home that day, so they didn't get to go on the tour with us.  Our tour was fun and educational.  This dam is massive!  You start off the tour at the top of the dam, then they take you down on the longest elevator ride you've been on to the bottom.  Did you know the cement is so thick that it is still curing, and this dam was built in the 70s (if I remember right).

Flaming Gorge from a different view.

The bridge in the background is where the dam is.

 On our way home, we stopped to take a short hike on the Bear Canyon Trail.  I'd love to spend more time on that trail when I have more energy.  We only went a short distance and we experienced the glory of nature. 

Yes, this was another "see and do" activity for the contest we entered.

Can you see the deer looking at us?  She didn't stay long, but we saw her first, so Steve got a good photo.

 Coming down the canyon, there was heavy smoke near Steinaker Reservoir.  A forest fire had started and was burning rapidly.

 We got to see the helicopter load his big bucket of water in the lake and then dump it onto the flames.  That's one thing you can count on in Utah during the summer.  It's fire season!

 By the time we reached Vernal, we were ready for some good eats.  We finished off the day at Winger's Roadhouse Restaurant.  And for dessert, our good-natured and resilient driver, Steve, ordered the Cookie Zookie (a giant, warm chocolate chip cookie with a scoop of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whip cream.  A good end to a good day.

July 4, 2014

~Our Fabulous Fourth of July~

We started the day off with the small town parade in Neola, a 10-15 minute drive from our house.  We got there just as the parade was beginning, and we were at the very beginning of the parade route. As kids crowded into the road to get candy, Lily came back and asked for my phone camera so she could take pictures of some of her favorite floats up close.  I loved the miniature horses pulling a couple flags and a guy in the cart.

After the parade, we headed over to Bottle Hollow to take advantage of free fishing day.  The girls splashed and played in the water even though we didn't come prepared with swimwear, which was just fine.  We only live 5 minutes away from that reservoir, anyhow.

 They started with pants rolled up.  Then those got wet and cold, so they ditched their pants on the shore since we were in a pretty secluded part of the reservoir, and played in their undees and t-shirts.  I didn't stop them.

 Steve tried to catch some fish, but nothing was biting the power bait.  I'm beginning to think power bait is a bogus waste of money. 

 Lily and Amara were having fun collecting moss and making a fairy home in the sand.

 After the reservoir, Grandma Christensen and Uncle Matt arrived for a visit.  We were so happy to get to spend time with them for this holiday!  We took them past Pelican Lake, ate at Pelican Cafe,

 and visited the Ouray Wildlife Preserve, where we've normally had luck bird watching. 

 This time around, the birds were no where in sight.  Oh well.

 Later that evening, we went to the Ute Pow-Wow in Fort Duchesne (near Bottle Hollow Reservoir).  We stayed for a little while watching the opening ceremonies where they play the drums and dance in the center circle.

 It was a full day, and the sunset was spectacular.

 We finished the night watching fireworks at the Constitution park in Roosevelt. 

Our July, Before Visits/ Vacations

The most notable things that happened this past July are the visits and vacations we took part in.  We were not home for most of the month.  However, the time we did spend at home, wasn't wasted.

 We got our garden all prepped for our upcoming vacations, including setting sprinklers on a timer, replacing hoses, weeding, harvesting, and putting up a garden fence. 

 Because spinach bolts so fast when the weather gets hot, we only had a little spinach before we left on vacations.  We also harvested some beets, but it was obviously too early for that, (We didn't know.  It was our first time growing them) and we only got a couple spindly roots.

Something else we did was try to check off as many of the challenges in the 101 Ways to See and Do the Uinta Basin as we could.  One of the things we did was watched a well-done outdoor performance of Les Miserables.  We all really loved it.

 We also hiked a short distance to this interesting poem carved into the rock.

We're so blessed that Steve gets the summers off from teaching so we could spend so much time as a family!  Steve got a new camera this summer and practiced with it.  He now has a new hobby that he really enjoys- photography.  Here's one of his shots of a dragon fly.  Lily is in the background.  I love seeing all the cool things he captures with the lens of his camera!

We weren't home for much of July, but we made the most of every second of this summer!

P.S.  Don't worry, I promise I'll catch up on all our vacations/ visits at some point in the future.  Stay tuned.