Anniversary Partay!

 In Jackson, it pretty much dies in the off seasons of Fall and Spring.  A lot of the resorts offer the locals awesome deals to entice them to come and stay. 

This year for our anniversary, we were enticed. 

Oh man, it was so wonderful!

We chose Spring Creek Ranch.

So here's the deal that we got:

• A Condo Suite: One of four in each building.  Super fancy with an AWESOME view, a fireplace and a giant bed. At the height of summer, it goes for $360 a night.
• Dinner: Very fancy, four courses, white table clothes, etc and so very good. I had Fillet Mignon, Jake had a New York Strip Steak.  A fancy dinner that totaled $105.
• Breakfast: Also super fancy with juice. And bacon. It totaled $27.
• Total: What was the total for this $500 night? $119!! 

I have to say, the whole thing was a very posh for us, but we really enjoyed it!  

Here's a little pond. There were cabins all around, so went by it every time we were out. And there were ducks in it, right up our alley! Oh yeah, it was frigidly cold. And windy. And it blizzarded on us.

 

Here is the fireplace in our room. I so wish I could turn the pictures on here. They should fix that.  We went outside and collected the wood, already chopped off the front porch.

We weren't paying attention to they dying fire, and we filled the room with smoke. We came home smelling like camp fire.  It was weird though because we left the balcony door open a little bit when we went to sleep. When we woke up, it was closed and locked. Neither one of us remembers closing the door... weird...

Here's the view looking North off of our balcony.  The blue mountains in the distance are the Tetons. We were crazy close, and I must admit I was a little sad the weather didn't really let us see them. If you squint, you can see the airport. We watched planes take off in the night.

 More awesome views. I think we were about 1000 feet off the valley floor. Everybody looks like little ants down there!

 Coming down off the mountain.

 Looking up at where we just were. 

It looks so tiny all the way up there!

We stopped at the Yellowstone/Teton Visitor's Center in Jackson to do some bird watching. It was a beautiful, and COLD, morning. We saw some fun birds, but didn't last very long.  Did I mention it was cold??

Isn't he a cutey?

Happy eight years, my sweet! 

I love you!

The Best Frosting You Will Ever Taste

For Easter, I wanted to do something special, because it's a special day.  I found an awesome recipe for an awesome cake.  I tried it, but alas, my cake was too moist (who knew it was possible) and it fell to bits. So here is the back up plan.  

This lady is a genius when it comes to all things baking.  She has ideas for everything and the tastiest recipes.  And I feel as if I've hit a jackpot every time I go there. 

With the rose cake recipe came the recipe for the frosting.

I didn't have a big star tip. I swear I used to somewhere. So I used a small one and did many small roses instead of a few large ones. 

The only thing I would change is adding a little more cream. It wasn't quite as smooth as her picture showed. But it tasted every bit as yummy! (Oh and so healthy, too!)

Here is the recipe:

THE BEST BUTTERCREAM

2 cups shortening

8 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon clear imitation vanilla extract

6 fluid ounces heavy cream

In a large bowl, cream shortening with mixer until fluffy.  Add confectioners sugar (2 cups at a time) until well blended.  If the frosting gets to thick at any time you can add some of your heavy cream.

Add salt, vanilla, and heavy cream and blend until combined, then blend on high until frosting is light and fluffy.  If you need to add additional cream you can. (up to 2 tablespoons)

A Motherly Moment

 I had a very serious moment the other day. A moment that made my heart jump a beat. A moment that I bet all you mothers out there fear.  That moment when you realize your loved one, your pride and joy, is in trouble. That moment when you want nothing more than to protect the one you love.  

Let me start at the beginning. 

This is Porkchop.

He is my pride, and most days, joy.  We got him when he was just a wee lad of a kitty. Skin and bones. Skittish as all get out. He's still just as skittish, but as you can see, not all skin and bones. And just so you know, this picture does not do him justice. He is half asleep and not amused with me at the moment.  Add the camera, and he has at least an extra pound on him.

He is the neediest, whiniest, most demanding, snooty cat you will ever meet. He gets my feet when I'm getting into bed. He wakes me up at 4:30 every morning for breakfast.  He is constantly trying to eat my plants. He only drinks from the bathroom faucet, and not Jake's, because my faucet is better. What a bum. But I must admit, that I love him. A lot. Probably more than he really requires. Probably more than is humanly necessary. Or normal.

Now that you know about Porkchop, these are my plants.

Can you see the sunflower in the middle of my cucumbers?

Somewhere around the middle of winter, I started growing these plants. I was in desperate need of something living. I started them from seeds. I made sure that they had enough water, but not too much.  I made sure that the sun shined on them as often as possible. When they got too big, I lovingly and painstakingly transplanted them into these pots.

Can you see all the snow in the background. Does Mother Nature know that May is less than ten days away?

And my peas are out of control!  

Everyday, many times a day, I check on my plants. Many more times than I look in on Porkchop. When the sun is shining, I make sure that all of the plants get lots of sun. I rotate them so they don't grow all leany.  I gave my peas some poles to climb (I don't have trellis).  I put them in the living room window during the day for maximum sun, and in the evening, I put them in the back room for protection. When it's time to go outside, I'll bring them in so they don't get frosted. I've put so much energy into them.  I love them more than it's probably normal to love plants. My other pride, and always joy.

Now the thing about Porkchop.  He likes to sleep under blankets. Every night we cover him with "his" blanket. A Sponge Bob blanket we got for Christmas many moons ago. It's his. And he knows it. 

Every day, usually mid morning, he starts whining. He'll meow and pace and walk around the house. He'll start to get just a little hyper, running amok all over the house.  And then he'll crash and sleep for six hours. Oh, the life.

 

So, I'll cover him with a blanket. 

He's not too terribly picky about it during the day.

He usually likes the one wherever you happen to be sitting at the time. 

Well, one day, and here's where the heart breaking moment comes in, he had been sleeping for roughly twenty seven hours.  I was working around the house cleaning, dusting, etc.  Each time I walked by the couch, I could see his lumpy form under the blanket, this is when his name changes from Porkchop, to The Sausage, because he looks like a sausage under the blanket.

On this one particular pass by the couch, the lumps were different. There was no sausage under the blanket, and he is no where to be seen. I quickly calculate in my head how long it had been since I'd last seen him.  Quickly I realize that it had been at least ten minutes. How long had he been up? Was it just  a couple of minutes? Was it ten whole minutes?? 

It didn't matter how long it had been. The only thing that mattered was that HE WAS GONE!  My heart started beating quickly.  My adrenaline was in high gear. Instantly, I knew what he was doing and where he was. And my heart sank to the floor.

MY PLANTS!!

Remember when I mentioned before that he liked to eat my plants?

I ran from the living room to the front room where I had my pots. The entire time, about .4 seconds, I wondered what I might find when I got there...

 I found him hanging over the edge of the pot. Face in the dirt, inhaling my little Pansies!  My pour Pansies! Oh, my precious little babies! As I rush toward the villainous kitty, you would think he would run away. After all, I am screaming and crying and spasming about. You think that would freak him out. But no, he eats faster! And the closer I get, the faster he gets!

MY PANSIES!!!

Oh, kitty! You better be a quick runner!  I start spraying him with the water bottle. I spray and spray and spray. It took a second for him to realize he was getting wet. I chased him into the hallway, through the kitchen, through the living room, down the hallway, into the bedroom and finally under the bed, spraying the entire time.  I'm guessing he was pretty wet.  I was sprayin' pretty quick, too. 

Back to the front room to assess the damage. 

 

 

 Can you what he has done?!? 

Can you see the leafless stems? 

Can you see the flat plants?
Can you see the kitty foot prints?

I didn't know what to do. What could I do? Bandage them back up? Prop them up with Popsicle sticks?

The only thing I can do is put them in the sun. Water them. Love them. Pray for them. Pray that they will recover from this great tragedy that has been thrust upon them. 

Will you, too?

Todos Los Ninos

 

Okay, before you judge, let me explain.

Many years, ago, I used to tend my sweet friend Brittany's baby. Now he's like fourty and my hair is gray. But during this time, he was on a schedule. Nap, eat, wake, nap, eat, wake, etc.  Somewhere in there, nap time landed at 11:00.  The time of All My Children.  So I would watch.  I quickly got wrapped up in the characters, their lives and the story lines.  

  

I had my favorite characters, and my least favorite characters. I had my favorite story lines, and my not so favorite lines. 

I really like Bianca and Reece. But I hated that they got married. Enough said.

 I was stuck to the TV to find out who shot Adam/Stuart. 

I never expected to see who did it!

And somebody was always mad at somebody because they were doing something or had schemed to do something.

Fast forward to about a year and a half ago.  Jake was gone working in Jackson during the week. I was home alone all day, all week by myself. Looking back I was having some serious anxiety/depression about everything. But during this time, All My Children was on my daily routine.  I cried when they cried, and laughed when they laughed. Most of the time, I could predict where the story was going.  I seriously felt like I knew these people. Is that so lame? 

I don't watch as much these days.

Fast forward to yesterday.

They announced that it would be canceled in the Fall.  I didn't cry, because then I really would have a serious problem. But I must admit that I was sad. Not only because I had been watching forever, but it seems almost like an institution. Forty years is a long time.  I'm just guessing that their are people out there that have been watching for the entire forty years.  How does that make them feel? It's like a best friend was just ripped from their daily house.

What will happen when all the Soap Operas are gone?

Now you can judge me.

Shoes

  For the last SIX months, I've been wearing shoes very similar to these:

They have great traction and rubber around the bottoms to keep moisture at bay. 

Many other days I would also don these:

These are my actual snow boots. They aren't glamorous, but my gosh they do the job.  Several times this winter I was hoofing it through two or more feet of snow as I plowed us out. They're from my college days, circa 2002. I think I got them at Cal Ranch. I needed some snow boots for the Christmas Bird Count when I hiked around the marshes/snow fields of Madison County, Idaho looking for birds with a couple of my college professors. Good times.  Theses boots have held up fabulously and are still in perfect condition. I see no new snow boots in my immediate future.

Which is kind of unfortunate, because look how cute these are!

But after SIX very long months of winter, I had a breakthrough yesterday. 

I got to wear REAL shoes!  The were not insulated and they were not rubber soled for traction (well, they may have been rubber soled, but the traction has long since worn off).  And, I wore ankle socks with them and it was wonderful!

 These aren't my actual shoes, but I think they're quite lovely.

When my current shoes wear out, this is my next pair:

They crack me up. Imagine the looks you'd get? 

Or if you slammed your toe in the door, you totally wouldn't feel it! 

I wish they made these in my size, and not just for my big toe.

And check these out:

Do you think they come in blue?