Traditions

3-2-1 Cake Mix and Cake

This weekend was special. It is our annual Trails for Kids fundraiser. If you have been here anytime at all… you know that usually, we have this ride in April. Also… this year has been “interesting” (to say the least!) so we had to postpone until this past weekend. All summer long we wondered if it would even happen. I mean seriously…

But the time came and it did, in fact, happen! I can’t give away any of the details on the ride just yet but know, it was a MAJOR success! That would be an understatement!

On Friday night of our fundraiser, we have a bake sale. A few years ago I had a chocolate chip cookie in a cast-iron skillet go for $130. Well, this year I had something go for more than that… but that’s another story for another time :). Yup, I’m mean.

Today I want to share a recipe I’ve shared before… BUT… the cool thing is this is perfect for camping. And since this fundraiser involves camping, what better time to share, am I right?

3-2-1 Cake Mix & Cake

Ingredients for Cake Mix Setup:

  • A box of Angel Food Cake mix
  • A box of your favorite flavor of cake (chocolate, funfetti, lemon, you name it!)
  • A ziplock bag

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10 Years Strong

*I am posting this after our Anniversary! That’s how some of the info is on here 🙂

Here we are… 10 years into my marriage… And since I did one of these posts about our marriage year, why not do one for our 10 years?

2020

Leap Year starting on a Wednesday.

World Series Champion: Los Angeles Dodgers

Super Bowl Champions:

  • (Super Bowl 54) Kansas City Chiefs vs San Francisco 49’ers: 32/20 KC
  • (Super Bowl 55) Kansas City Chiefs vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 31/9 TB

NBA Champions: L.A. Lakers

Kentucky Derby Winner: Authentic (more…)

How to Can Peaches

It is that time of the year… Peaches!! They are in full supply. I love peaches. They are so great to eat as is or you can can them for later. Like the dead of winter when you are wanting that zesty, sweet taste of summer. There are 2 ways to can, we’ll get to that.

I would like to start some of my own Peach trees, but until that happens, I know where there is a stand on the side of the road ready to sell! And that’s just where I went on Sunday. I also bought a watermelon and my mom a cantaloupe. I don’t like cantaloupe but she does.

A fun side note about the word syrup… Grandma had me reading in her Joy of Cooking Cookbook about freezing peaches. We were looking for sugar measurements. Anyway, they kept spelling syrup, sirup. That spelling was driving me nuts. I wish I was still in Grad School so that I had access to the Oxford English Dictionary to look up the spelling history.

Also, side note: if you are canning anything… canning lids and jars for that matter are difficult to find right now. Supposedly it isn’t a shortage, but more so everyone was home and raising a garden. All canning is happening RIGHT. NOW.

Peaches

Grandma told me that she read that 1 bushel of peaches should produce 15, 20, 30 jars of peaches. It’s so funny that 3 different things she read said 3 different things. Either way, we were well on our way to that. We had 3/4 of a bushel of peaches. We got 13-quart jars and 2 half-full gallon bags for freezing.

Not all the peaches were ready for canning, so grandma’s tip is to lay them out on plastic overnight. The next day most all of them were ready to go. (more…)

Patchwork Moose – Talkeetna, Alaska

We ate breakfast at a restaurant called Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant in Anchorage the day before. Our waitress was so awesome. She asked if we were out of town or locals. When we told her we were on vacation, she asked where all we had been and where we were headed next. Then she suggested heading north to Talkeetna, Alaska. 

The next day we grabbed breakfast as we headed out of town headed north to Talkeetna. The waitress had given us a few different Alaska books to look at and mom and my husband did some research before we headed there. One of the things mom saw was a quilt store located in Talkeetna called The Patchwork Moose. Now, my grandma’s birthday is the same day as mine which also happened to be the week we were on vacation. Very few years have I missed celebrating with Grandma. So we decided to go to the quilt shop to bring grandma back some fabric from Alaska.

The Patchwork Moose

22262 Talkeetna Spur Rd
Talkeetna, Alaska

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Bull or Heifer (but not mine, just so we’re clear)

It’s so interesting the things that have come about this year. 2020, you’re sure keeping us on our toes. So one of the interesting things is the debate about gender reveals. Some love them and others think it’s wrong. I’m not sure why it’s wrong. I think it’s fun. 

A friend of mine put out a Facebook request for cookies for a gender reveal. Someone mentioned me and that friend hit me up. Asked if I’d be willing to do them. Of course.

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Memorial Day Weekend – Coronavirus edition

This Memorial Day Weekend we found ourselves back at the lake. Last year we skipped out on the lake and went to KC house shopping, but this year, what is there to do? 

We bought a camper earlier this year and had big plans for it. So far, the best it has done was to house my husband’s office when schools closed.

Finally, it got to move… And guess what, it didn’t crunch the cab of the truck! Yey!

And while we had plans to SCUBA dive this weekend, we had more fun on our boat. What? Yup, we got a boat. It’s not new… in fact, I’d call it vintage or classic… do they refer to boats like that? It’s a 1976 Baja. It was my grandpas. He passed away in 2010… The boat had maintenance done to it just before that. We pulled it out of the barn a few weeks ago, hubby changed the gas and she fired up. She has a few issues. 

In fact, the drive cable broke. Simple fix and really one of the easiest things to go wrong. I wound up towing the boat back to shore on a kayak. (more…)

Mother’s Day – Coronavirus Style

If there is one thing this Coronavirus season has brought… it has brought a lot of people staying in and staying away. But… it has brought a lot of people wanting to get out into the great outdoors. Us included. Even though I’ve spent a lot of time outside.

And for some reason, we thought it would be fun to take up hiking. Yup, you read that correctly. Why not? I have been working my butt off here lately outdoors (which when hubby isn’t working his real job, it’s made him work outside too, plus our little. She’s great). So we thought it would be fun to take a break. And you know, go hiking. Something we’ve never really done… but my little has been wanting to do things like that so now is the perfect time.

Happy Mother’s Day to me :). (more…)

The Coronavirus Easter… Day 30

I’m pretty sure most people would agree this wasn’t the Easter we planned on for 2020. Everyone talked about the Roaring ’20s but I seriously doubt this Coronavirus is what they had in mind. Honestly, truth be told, this is probably the Easter I don’t care to remember. Not because I want to forget the true reason for this season. In fact, Jesus is what is getting us through this. Him and God. Otherwise, this would suck a lot more than it does. I love that a lot of churches were broadcasting Easter Church services online because we’re not allowed to congregate at Church right now.

But Easter with my family this year could have gone better. I seriously think I’ll just leave it at that. 

At least the Easter Bunny was able to make it through to our house. Whew!!

What made it “perfect” was the fact that the little said that she loved this day and couldn’t wait until next Easter. That right there and Jesus are the true reason for this! (more…)

Christmas House… Coronavirus Day 7

Here we are… Day 7 of this “You Should Stay Home Suggestion.” At this point, that’s where we are. There are some states I’ve heard who already have stay at home orders, but we’re just highly encouraged at this point. 

Truthfully I am a homebody. I’m okay with being home. But this is eating at me. I like to go when I want to. I’m trying to do what’s best though, I don’t want to be the cause of a spread. At this point, there are no known cases in my county. So we’ll see.

This kind of feels like we’ve been given the gift of time. Nowhere to be and a lot of things canceled already so we have time. Just how on earth are we going to fill our time? Well today, at my house anyway, we’re doing the Christmas Gingerbread House. Say what? (more…)