Outdoor tub...

I was talking to some friends the other day about living in a remote place... away from neighbors and paved roads. This idea is so appealing to me, possibly for no other reason than I could have an outdoor tub!

This is on the short list of things I would like in my future home. I do realize that in order to do this we really would have to live away from civilization. Or at least have a ton of trees and some privacy screens. But I love the idea of having a tub outside. Soaking in the tub is one of my favorite things to do, and I think it would only enhance the experience to do it outside, under the stars, with the wind blowing by...

And no, this is not the same as having a hot tub. Not at all. First of all chlorine... yuck! And it's just a different experience to be in a hot tub as opposed to a regular tub.

Yes, I realize this might not be super realistic... but oh I'm hopeful! Anyone out there have any dreams for your living space that might seem a little different?

And no you can't be my neighbor!!! (just kidding...)


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Weekend getaway...

My cute husband had a whole 24 hours off of work this weekend and we decided to be a spontaneous and go on a little weekend getaway. Poor husband has been working so much lately, and poor wife and son have been missing him, so we packed an overnight bag and headed east of here. We literally only had about 24 hours before we needed to be back so it was a quick trip. We went to Flaming Gorge with three things in mind that we hoped to see on our trip.

 

1- Fall leaves changing color.

2- Kokanee Salmon spawning in the river.

3- Big horned sheep (I've always wanted to see one of those!) 

 

I tried to sneak a fourth one in there which was to see real dinosaur bones in Vernal, but we got there just at closing time and had a very disappointed little boy (why does everything close so early in Utah? It wasn't even 5 pm yet!). So we will have to go back there sometime when we have more time to do it.

 

However, our disappointment in missing out on the dinosaurs was soon forgotten when we pulled into Ashley National Forest. We saw wild turkeys, deer, raccoons, more deer... and the thick trees were breathtaking!

 

We pulled off the road to explore the trees a bit and then headed into Manila which is surely the smallest town I've ever slept in before.

We found one little diner that was open and had our dinner. We then ordered a banana split for this little guy who had never had one before.

It was a hit to say the least... even though it didn't have sprinkles (the boy really wanted sprinkles).

We found our hotel thankfully by the bright yellow sign blaring in the trees... otherwise we may have missed it all together!

We were one of two people staying at the hotel that night. I guess mid September for Flaming Gorge isn't a very popular time to be there. Even with it being Kokanee Salmon Day!?!? Are we the only people in the world who would drive hundreds of miles to see salmon spawning in the river? Yep... we pretty much were. At least for the first ten minutes, then a few other cars trickled in (phew... I was starting to feel a little silly being the only ones there).

And here they are in all their red glory...

 
We stood on a bridge and watched the salmon spawn in the river bed. Here is what I gathered from listening to the DNR guy who knows a whole lot about salmon. These salmon are land locked salmon who live in Flaming Gorge. When they are about 3-4 years old they start to swim upstream and their bodies change from a greenish gray to this vibrant red color. They find a place in the river where there are lots of rocks and gravel and there they hover for a few weeks and get fertilized and lay their eggs (both male and female fish are involved in this process... obviously... don't know why I felt the need to point that out). Once the eggs are laid the fish die... and thus the circle of life for the salmon goes on. New salmon are born and flow downstream and live in the lake for the next 3-4 years until they swim upstream and do it all over again.

This little monkey was awfully friendly up there on the bridge. Two older men pulled up and got out and he said, "Hey guys, there are three fish on this side! Come on over and see!" And sure enough they followed my four year old to the other side of the bridge to see the three fish. My own little fish is growing up... and surprising me every day with his ingrained traits and habits. I love how outgoing and polite he is.

So there you have it. We went to see fish "spawn" aka make fish babies and then die in the river... moving right along.

I still wish I could wake up every morning, look out the window and see beautiful trees like this. And look at that blue sky! I was in heaven.

And we did manage to see many beautiful colors of trees up there. Yellow, orange, red... they were so lovely.

We did not, however, see any big horned sheep. We drove around for a long time hoping to spot them but we were unsuccessful. I guess they are all making their way back down from the high Uintah's to the gorge right now and will all be back in November for their "rutting" season. However, I don't really want to be around for that one, so I think I will pass. I'm fine going on trips to see the beauties of nature, I do not want to base all of our trips on animal mating season though... aren't you glad you read my blog today?

After that our time was almost up and we headed back home via Wyoming. We pulled off in Evanston for some lunch but the variety of fast food did not look good to any of us, so we held off until we got to Morgan and went to Taggart's.

Trust me. It is worth the drive to Morgan from wherever you live (in Utah... or Wyoming) to eat at Taggart's. That place is so yummy!!!! Just to tempt you here is my lemon poppy seed cheese cake.

The boy loved his extra large frosted cookie as well.

There you have it! Our quick yet eventful weekend getaway. Is it just me, or would you go on a trip with your hubby because he wants to see fish... oh never mind! I don't want to say the "s" word again! I hope you have a lovely Monday!

Sunflowers...

All 15 of the sunflowers that I planted have grown! And they are all taller than me (I'm 5'9"). It makes me happy everyday to see their beautiful yellow petals.

They're getting a little top heavy and starting to bend down. We're going to try and get the seeds out of them. I'm just continually amazed how beautiful things can grown from a little water and sunlight.

Homemade tomatoe cage...

We needed to get some tomatoe cages for our little tomatoe plants but I didn't want to spend money on them. So we decided to build our own "tomatoe cage" of sorts. We went to a heavily wooded place in the area and gathered a ton of sticks (over 50). Then we put together this cage and tied the junctions with bakers twine.

It's a pretty sturdy little structure. I love the natural, organic look of it. I'm trying to imagine it with 80 lbs of tomatoes on it... we'll see!

Baby Steps - Drink your vegetables!!!

One thing that I've been trying to be better on is getting more fruits and vegetables into my diet everyday. I am much more likely to snack on cheese, bread, chips, than I am to snack on veggies. So I've been trying to find ways to get more green food in my diet.

I've always liked the idea of green smoothies, but the ones I've tried before tasted way too much like spinach to be very enjoyable. I found this simple recipe for a great green smoothie.

Green Smoothie
- 6 oz Pineapple Coconut juice (I use the L&A brand in the glass bottle)
- 1 banana
- two handfuls of spinach
- about 5-6 ice cubes

Blend together the juice and the banana first, then add the spinach. When it's all blended together add in the ice cubes and blend till smooth.

I promise you that this tastes like a banana smoothie. You really can't even taste the spinach. I like the way that spinach tastes, but not really in a smoothie. I love that I get a full fruit and veggie serving in first thing in the morning.

I've been reading up on why it's good to drink veggies instead of eating them. The idea behind it is that when you eat food your body has to make it into a liquid state in order for the nutrients to be absorbed. That's why you chew food and break it down with your teeth and then your stomach acid breaks it down into a liquid form. When you blend your veggies into a liquid form before ingesting them then your body is ready to absorb the nutrients and you cut out the time and energy it takes to break them down. This makes it so that your body can absorb more nutrients than it normally would be able to. Sounds like a good plan to me!

And the best part... this little guy loves it. Especially when I tell him it's dinosaur juice. He drinks it right up!

Have you tried green smoothies? What's your favorite combination?

Quinoa...

I've been wanting to branch out and try quinoa for a while now. So I bought some and it sat in my cupboard for a week until my husband saw it and got curious. We tried it out one night and are completely obsessed now! It is so good! It has such great texture to it. I'm hoping to get this book for Christmas so that I can try out new quinoa recipes.

One night we whipped up this tasty dinner. It was so yummy! I've been trying to find recipes and meals that I can make without meat and I've been struggling at that. I'm not trying to go vegetarian or anything, but I just don't like being so dependant on meat to make a good dinner. But this is meat free! And it was awesome!


We cooked the quinoa with vegetable broth (2 to 1). Mixed in black beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, cilantro, corn, some cumin and pepper. It really was so good. We put it on warm corn tortillas with sour cream and some Gorgonzola cheese (another awesome recent discovery). It really was amazing.

The popular man of the night was Mr. Tapatio. I've never been a real hot sauce fan (I'd only ever tried Tabasco) but this is really good too. Nice spice, not an overpowering vinegar taste like most other hot sauces... yum!

Are you a quinoa fan? How do you like to eat your quinoa?

Road Trips...

I haven't been crafting as much as I would like to this summer. One thing that I have been doing is spending a lot of time in the car going on different road trips! It's been a lot of fun, and I've really enjoyed the scenery as we've driven along.

On one trip I was loving how blue the sky was and how amazing it looked with the green green grass. It was so inspirational I thought the whole way about making a quilt out of greens and blues. I was so in love with the color combination that's all I could think about.

But then a few weeks later on another trip there was a huge storm and the whole sky was gray. I loved how the gray looked against the green... and then I started to change my mind.

I'm not sure which I like better now, gray + green or blue + green...

Either way, I'm pretty sure that mother nature puts together the best color combinations that there are...

Tree hooks...

I've had these tree hooks sitting around my house for months and months... I finally got them put up on the walls/doors (okay, I had little to do with it. Husband lost a bet and this is what I wanted him to do as payment).

Our friend Paul lives up in the mountains. When he came down for Thanksgiving he asked if there was anything he could bring down that I wanted from Utah. Yep, some tree hooks. So he cut these out of the trees himself. I love them! I think they are adorable! I have one more that needs to go somewhere but can't decide where to put it...

Wild flowers...

We went on a drive a few weeks ago while we were camping. We found ourselves driving through a field of wild flowers. It was so beautiful! I don't like picking wild flowers because then they die and they just don't look as pretty dead as they do alive mixed in with all the other flowers and greenery. So I took a few pictures instead. I am by no means a photographer or even close, but I thought these turned out pretty well...

My new friend Neti...

I would like to introduce you all to my new best friend Neti...

I usually don't buy my friends, but this was an exception. I have this horrible head cold right now and have been trying to tough it out. Yesterday my sinuses were just killing me. So I decided to head over to Whole Foods and pick up one of these gems. I'd been wanting to try one for a while but was a little hesitant. I don't normally care for water up the nose if you know what I mean. But I was desperate!

How it works is you fill it with warm water and a little salt. Then you hold the little spout to your nose and tilt your head to the side. It flushes out your nose/sinuses/head and the water drains out the other nostril (I don't care for the word nostril... but it had to be said.)

Honestly, it was weird. It took a little practice to actually get it to drain right and not feel like I was just pouring water in my nose. My ears felt a little funny after (they are all connected up there after all) but within minutes my head started to feel a little better.

Today when I woke up, NO SINUS PAIN!! I'm so glad! I think this one is a keeper!

I really like home remedies. I would much MUCH rather try something out at home before rushing to a doctor just to get on medication. There is a book that I like called The Prescription for Nutritional Healing which has some really good remedies in it. However, I'm a little leery of trying too many herbal remedies. I don't really like putting things into my body that I'm not totally sure what they will do. There are some herbs out there that can cause a lot of problems, so I only try the herb stuff if it's been well tested and is a more common herb. There are some other remedies that I've tried that I will now swear by such as taking ginger pills for motion sickness. I wont go on a road trip or a plane without it. Also the old nasty bitter straight cranberry juice for UTI's. Work great!

So yes, the neti pot is now a keeper on my list of home remedies. What home remedies have you found that work?