a summer walk

Summer is winding down.



There has been a touch of fall in the air.





School starts next week.



So I know it is true that summer is almost over.



I am going to miss~ these lazy days of summer, having the boys around all the time, staying up late, sleeping in, quieter days on the calendar...



For next week we start another new season.



And I will be ready.


(I took these pictures on a walk this evening at a beautiful park not too far from my home.)

zucchini bars

I made these bars last week to use some of my many zucchini! This recipe is a family favorite that I have been making for years and originally comes from my mom who has been making these for as long as I can remember.

Zucchini Bars

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups zucchini, shredded
2 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup coconut

Grease 15x10 pan. Cream sugars, vanilla, and butter. Add eggs, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in
zucchini, walnuts and coconut. Spread in pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool and then frost.

Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

I survived

Well...I survivied the garage sale of '09! =0) It was a lot of work to get everything ready, set up, and cleaned up--- but it always feels so good to go through everything and to pass on to others things we no longer need.

The whole family helped in one way or another with the garage sale. Jake helped carry boxes and boxes of stuff from downstairs out to the garage, Pete put out the signs, my mom helped both days of the sale,


Tyler 'helped' before his soccer practice =0) on the first morning of the sale~


And Drew was a ton of help- helping with absolutlely everything! He even set up a little stand to sell pop and water~


I think I will sleep good tonight!

projects

I know I have been neglecting my blog when people in my family ask if I have done any new posts yet--- and then sigh when I say no. =0)

The past few days I have been busy trying to finish up my front yard landscape project. It feels like I have been working on this all summer- but I am finally see the end in sight and that is good!!! I will post pictures as soon as everything is finished- and I can hardly wait for that!!!

I also have been busy getting ready for something that I promised myself a few years ago that I would never, ever do again.....

A garage sale! Every time I do these (this is maybe my 5th or so) I say to anyone that will listen- that I will NEVER do another one!

It does feel good to go through everything and I did do a major cleaning of my storage room- but it is definitely so much work. But please remind me in a couple of years- when I start thinking about doing this again- that I promised that I would never, ever do another garage sale!! =0)

And just because a post doesn't seem right with out a picture- here is a couple of pictures that I took when we were at the cabin of some flowers that I thought were just beautiful! (And because I need to look at some pretty things after all the dust I have stirred up these past few days going through our storage room =0)






Sigh.

Movie Night

Can you guess by this picture what movie I saw last night?


I went to see 'Julie and Julia' and I just loved it!! But really, what is not to love? It has some of my favorite things... cooking, blogging and Paris!

It was a great movie and I thought Meryl Streep did an amazing job portraying Julia Child! My only critique of the movie was that it made me so hungry and wanting to go home and start cooking some "Beef Bourguignon." =0)

This morning I went to the 'Minneapolis Farmer's Market' and I came home with all of this for only a few dollars...


I love going to the Farmer's Market any time of the year- but come the end of August when everything is in harvest--it is one of my all time favorite places to go!!

So, what I have been thinking all day is... what would Julia make with this?

pontooning

On our recent vacation to a cabin, we went out on a pontoon for an afternoon of sightseeing, sunning, swimming and fishing.

So here are a bunch of pictures from our afternoon:

Drew skippering our pontoon~

Jake~

My sister and me~

My Aunt Monnie and cousin Sean~

My Mom and Dad~

Tyler reading (something for his one of his AP classes =0)

monster zucchini

Oh my gosh- a week away on vacation and I come home to this~



I went out to check on my garden and I found 3 HUGE zucchini!!!

It is a little hard to tell from this photo but these zucchini are really, big- about 15 inches each! I really want to know how they grow so fast?!

My favorite thing to do with zucchini is to slice them up and saute with other vegis---but these are way too big. I think the best thing to do with monster zucchini is to bake with them. We had a cold and rainy day here today which made for a perfect day for baking!

I used part of 1 zucchini to make 2 loafs of bread. This is so delicious!



I think tomorrow I am going to make 2 more loafs of bread to freeze for later, some zucchini bars and maybe a stuffed zucchini for dinner.

Here is my Zucchini Bread Recipe:

2 cups sugar
3 beaten eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup oil
3 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Mix sugar, eggs, vanilla and oil. Stir in zucchini. Add flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Grease 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

A Walk down Memory Lane

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!

All week I have been sharing pictures of our recent week at a cabin that we went to with family. This was the 5th year we have been to this resort and just really love it there!

The first time we went to the resort was with some or our friends, who were our neighbors at the time.

The year was 2003: Tyler was 11, Jake was 7, and Drew was 5.

~Drew

Jake~

Me and Tyler (I am taller than him! =0)

The boys~

This picture is of our 3 boys, our friends 5 boys and 2 more that came up for a day~ 10 little boys all between 5 and 11 years old!!!

Precious memories!

golfing at the cabin

The cabin we stayed at last week had a putting green right in our back yard which the kids loved!


These pictures were taken from the deck~



And there is a golf course at the resort that some of us used quite a bit. One day almost all of us (minus my sister and youngest niece) went out in 3 groups and played a scramble. Lots of fun!!

I love this picture of the 6 carts in front of our cabin before we headed out~


The first group was my Aunt Monnie, Drew, me, Dad, my Uncle John~


The second group included my cousin Sean, Tyler, my Mom, and niece Sophia~


The third group was my nephew Thomas, Jake, Pete, and my brother-in-law Ron~

Smiling Jake

Jake has been smiling all day! He told me earlier this afternoon that 'this was the best day!'

He started the morning at the orthodontist... and got his braces off!!!! This has been a long process starting with an expander when he was 8 years old . He has had his braces on for 2 years and was very happy to get them off right before starting high school (and school pictures tomorrow).

This picture is from right before he got his braces on in September 2007.

And today before the braces came off~

And after~ holding the congratulation balloons and sparkling cider from the orthodontist. I love his smile!

Later in the afternoon we headed over to Target to get some groceries and Jake wanted to purchase a futon he had seen in the weekly sale. He has been wanted one of these for his room for a while now and was so happy to get one on sale. Then it was off for a haircut!

Here is a picture of Jake building his futon~

And in his room~

And to round out his great day~ he got 9 holes of golf in. =0) Yep- there was a lot to smile about today!