Ghosts!

Grayson and I made some cheescloth ghosts the other day. My mom and I used to make these when I was really young...but it seems like they turned out better than mine did. Grayson loved putting the cheesecloth in the liquid starch and then squeezing it out. He made a 'grossed out' face every time...it was so cute. Our ghosts turned out pretty cool. I still need to get pictures of the final product.

I just love hops, so I had to get a picture of their leaves changing colors.

Green tomato canning

This year I just couldn't let all those green tomatoes go to waste. So I picked all of them...and I mean, all of them! We're talking about 50 pounds worth! So, I invited Missy Jo and Kristen over to help me with some new canning recipes. We made southern chow-chow...which is a type of relish that you can put on meats, beans or black eyed-peas. I had this stuff when I was in Mississippi once and I just loved it. Ours turned out great! We also made a green tomato chutney. This turned out pretty good, but we will see how it is after a month of doing its thing in the jar. The preparation of all these things took quite a while, but it was still fun. The girls ended up going a little crazy with the chopping of tomatoes...and we ended up with way more than needed for the recipes. We ended up freezing the extra.

Portland Marathon

Every year (the first weekend in Oct) we head down to Portland to meet up with the Boyles for the Portland marathon and 5 miler. We love Portland and always look forward to this event. Portland always puts on a great race and they are really well organized. This year, Virinda ran her first 5 mile race...she joined the cross-country team this year, so she has become quite the runner. I told her that now she is no longer the black sheep of her family! This was Lee's first marathon...and he did great! It was fun to have the whole Boyle family here together! The night before the race we ate a fabulous Italian restaurant called Il Piatto. I searched for an Italian restaurant online before we went down there and narrowed it down to this one. This place had such a great atmosphere and decor! The food took quite a bit to arrive, but it really was well worth it. Every dish was freshly prepared from fresh ingredients (tomatoes and other veggies). It was fabulous! I highly recommend it...but you definitely need to be prepared to hang out for awhile (which is typical in Italy anyway).

Happy campers got their pre-race spaghetti

Cheers!

Great food, great wine, great company!


Me and my 'stand in' mama!


Mi familia

I love this race!

Virinda running with her friend, Lindsey.

That was fun! I'm so proud of Virinda!

3 blondes



Here they come! These guys look way too good for just running 26.2 miles!

Hanging with one of my biggest fans (and his soccer ball of course!)

Hands On Children's Museum

The kids were supposed to go to Lattin's Apple Farm for their first preschool field trip. That morning (about an hour before we were to arrive) there was a fatal shooting. Obviously we didn't go...and instead the Hadleys and I took the kids to the Hands On Children's Museum. They were looking forward to going to the apple farm, but were equally excited to go to the museum. As you can see, they had loads of fun!

Older photos I forgot to post

I guess I've been kind of a slacker at posting pictures on here. I post them on Facebook and then forget to put them on here. So, just to keep my blog somewhat up to date....here are some pictures from the past couple of months.

BBQ on Sept 12, 2009

My awesome neighbor, Leona...Brandi and Amy

Kim and Tony

Mike and Colter sporting their awesome shirts!

Heath and Mike all smiles

3 outtakes of this picture...this one is the best of me. Sorry girls, but you guys got the good one on Facebook! :)

Me with Cailen and Missy Jo

Leona, Christina (Leona's daughter), me, Alicia and Missy Jo

Alicia, Missy Jo, Brandi, Christina and Leona

Pop doing the BBQing

I missed this girl! I was so glad that Marjean ventured out of her family compound to visit!

Missy Jo and Cailen

Heath, Scott and Marjean



Black Hills Triathlon, Olympia: September 12, 2009

I'm asking Heath here..."Is that it?" For some reason I missed the announcement that the run was going to be cut short a full mile. Even though I was tired, I was kind of bummed because I was saving a little bit for the end.

Finished the swim...now time to run a quarter mile to the next transition zone.

Sporting the lovely conehead look....Grayson looks embarrased!



Grayson's First Day of Preschool: September 8, 2009

Showing off his "Grayson" backpack

Excited for his first day at school!

Ready for school




End of summer in the garden: August 2009

Not really wanting his picture taken. I was hoping for a photo shoot by the barn like I did last year. Not gonna happen this day!

Sunflowers!

Child of the Corn


Port Townsend day trip: August 12,2009

Grayson and I drove up to Pt. Townsend to meet up with Heath. He had done a little solo hiking/camping excursion up on the peninsula the day prior...so decided to join up and enjoy the town. I had been there before, but it was when I was really young. What a great town! We really enjoyed the day and as you can see we had fabulous weather!

Making sandcastles at Fort Worden

The best tomato soup ever

Here is a simple recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup. It so good and gets raved about all the time. With our surplus of tomatoes...this is a great way to use them up. I don't really do any measurements, its all about how it looks and tastes.

*Cut up several tomatoes (can be a variety of tomatoes...heirloom, roma, cherry, etc) and put them in a roasting pan or casserole dish.

*Thinly slice a whole onion and spread on top of tomatoes.

*Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over the top.

*Sprinkle sea salt, black pepper and variety of herbs (basil, rosemary, thyme, lavender...can be fresh herbs also). Be generous with the herbs and salt (you may have to add more salt after roasting).

*Roast at 425 degrees until tomatoes are very soft and have broken down...stirring periodically.

*After roasting use an immersion blender, regular blender or food processor to puree the mixture. An immersion blender will provide a soup that is a little bit chunkier, while a regular blender makes it very smooth.

*Add extra salt to taste.

*Enjoy with crusty bread!

Yum, I think I'll go make some more right now!