Its Summer! YAY!

So I have been asked to update my blog. Honestly, Im really not good at creating the pages, it takes me so long.
Things have been really good though. It has been a long winter but the snow is finally gone and the sun has been out consistantly for 2 weeks now. Its so nice to just sit in the sun. Its amazing at how much it effects your mood. Marco gave me a bike for my birthday so Ive been riding it all over town and to work (5 minutes tops). Summer is good! Let see, what else? Marco and I have become quite the gardners. Ill post some pics of my plants they are getting so big! Its exciting to see them grow. Im growing Basil which I cook with all the time. Tomato, Green Bean, Bell Pepper and a jalapeno. They dont have anything yet but hopefully soon. They are all flowering. I think thats a good sign. The flowers I started already died.
Also I went to visit AZ at the end of April. It was great to get out of snow and go to 80 degree weather. I soaked it up. For about 1 hour my family was all together for the first time in months so we took pictures even though we were looking really cute in our Sunday family dinner best. Anyways, here is some pictures...
My New Bike!!

Basil and green bean

Tomato and Jalapeno


Grooming the Tomato




Me and Rendon Dean


Me and my sis's

some christmas pics...

dad and becs..

rendon

becs, rendon and me

Happy Holidays!

So I had a great christmas and New year. I went home to AZ for a couple of day and got to spend lots of time with the fam. I was especially excited to see my nephews. They are so cute! I didnt want to put Rendon down. He is such a good and happy baby. Its was Bostons first christmas where he kinda knew what was going on. He would open any present he could get his little hands on. Ha ha. I had a really really good christmas and I made it home just before all the flights were cancelled and the roads were closed due to weather. We had some really good friends come and visit. We had a lot of fun. Its so nice have friends and family come visit. I didnt do anything on New Years but there was firecrackers on the mountain and I could sit on my couch and see them perfectly out the window. It was a nice suprise. I fell asleep at 1130pm and woke up at 1am. Oops, I slept right throught the new year. Its been snowing a lot and Im starting to get cabin fever. When its 4 degrees outside I avoid doing anything that involves hang outside. Well anyways, I cant get the christmas pictures to download so here are some recent picture of fireworks and random pictures after snowboarding.


waiting for the bus...

me and erin taking a seat infront of a shop..

walking home from the mountain...over the river and through the woods...literally.
Happy New Year!

waiting for the bus again....

THANKSGIVING 2007!!

So this year I made Thanksgiving dinner. It was a challange but everything turned out perfect! And I still had time to shower before dinner. It was my first away from my family but it turned out to be a great Turkey Day. We woke up and went snowboarding and then came home, started cooking the turkey and watched football ALL DAY LONG.

Pumpkin pie

THIS RECIPE IS FOR TWO PIES!
Preheat oven to 350

6 eggs
2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1 29-oz can pumpkin
2 cups evaporated milk

1. Prepare pie crust and gently place them in pie pan and flute edges.

2. Beat the eggs and then add brown sugar, spices and pumpkin and mix. While mixing ingredients, gradually stir in evaporated milk into the filling and mix completely.

3. Pour filling in to the pie crust

4.Bake for about 50-55 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Allow pie to cool before serving.

SINGLE PIE CRUST

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening

1. shift together flour and salt

2. Add water to 1/4 cup of the flour/salt mixture and make a paste.

3.with a pastry blender or two forks, cut the shortening into the remaining flour/salt mixture until little beads begin to form.

4. Pour the paste into the flour/shotening mixture and, with a fork, work the paste into the mixture until managable.

5. Form the dough into a flat ball and roll out into a floured surface. Make sure to turn the dought at least 2 or 3 times during the rolling process.

6. Gently lift and fit dough into the pie pan, trim off excess dough and either flute edges or press with a fork.

MOVING

So Ive been super busy moving into a new place and getting settled in. I love love love my new place. Its big and open and we have an awesome view of the mountains. Here are some pictures I took before and after we moved in. I forgot how much I hated moving.

Pumpkin Pie

Marcos favorite pie is pumpkin and its about the time of year where its appropriate to make it. So last night I made my first pie. Including the crust! It was pretty dang good. Next time will be better though.