The arctic tundra

So I thought I lived in the relatively warm banana belt of Idaho, where the skies not are not cloudy all day-- or at least rarely. But this winter has been different. Some days it feels like we've moved just a bit north of the arctic circle. This morning it was 3 degrees as I drove the kids to school and there was beautiful fog crystal formations everywhere. To be honest, it really didn't feel that terribly cold because there was no wind! I tried to capture a few scenes to share with our family in Arizona. I hear it is cold down there too!

What is Leif doing?

He's watching videos of freight trains on YouTube. His favorite pastime. What I'd like to know is who are these thousands of people who think to upload videos of trains going through crossings or just driving past? Are they bored out of their minds?

Small town shopping

The other day, Reagan and I stopped for a few groceries at the small store in our town. I always feel like I've stepped back in time when I walk on the wooden boardwalk to reach the door, it's cowbell (or sheep bell?) jangling to announce my entrance. High ceilings, creaky wooden floors, open bins of nails and bolts, pallets of chicken feed, and open 5 gallon buckets of various dried beans share the store with the normal groceries I'm there to pick up. It seems surreal to me that places like this still exist, only 1 hour away from Boise! I thought I'd share a couple pictures I took. I tried to do it discreetly with my phone because I didn't want to be recognized as a total city slicker-- taking pictures like I'm a tourist or something. :-)

Healthy eating

I've been trying to eat healthier lately (haven't we all!) and I thought I'd share one of my favorite vegetable dishes : Oven roasted brussel sprouts. Just toss quartered sprouts with some olive oil, cook at 375 on a cookie sheet stirring once or twice and until some are slightly crispy and browned. I squeeze fresh lemon or lime over them and sprinkle with salt. I could eat this 2 or 3 times a week, no problem. Except there actually is a slight problem. Brussels sprouts are in the cabbage family and they stink like cabbage when being cooked! When asked, my friend remarked my house smelled like a really stale diaper after I made them for lunch. Lovely. II just try to eat them when I don't think any one is coming to visit. :-) So try it! You'll love them but not their aroma.

Grandma time

A sweet picture of grandma (my mom) and Leif. It's so nice to live near 2 grandmothers!

That was easy!

Whoa! This iphone blogging capability may mean a new era in my blogging! Making posts with photos is soooo much easier when I'm not worried about memory cards, camera batteries, which hard drive the pictures were downloaded onto, not to mention that the computer is always being used by someone in the house other than me. :-). It's more clumsy to navigate on the phone than
on the big computer but that's a small price to pay.
Here are some recent photos of Heidi's birthday. She turned 11 and I can't believe it. I cried and cried the night before. She's one of my "little" kids but she's now eleven and growing quite tall. Sob. Hiccup. For her birthday she had her best friend from Kimberly come spend the weekend and they had a wonderful time playing board games and sledding the whole weekend. Then when Christmas break was over she took her 2 best friends from this area to the ice skating rink. Even Leif tried ice skating! H

Post by iPhone!

I got a free iPhone 4 for Christmas (that's the kind of gifts I like--the FREE kind) and it is so useful! When our Internet and wifi problems are resolved I know I'll love it even more!

Today Taylor put a blogger app on the phone and I'm excited to try it out.:-)

Here my current sewing project: