Wordless Wednesday - Who turns 65 tomorrow?

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday

Radiator Springs lives

JoAnn and I are away for a quiet weekend of doing nothing. I'm not telling where. It's just not where anyone would expect us to go. And it seems to be perfect. It's quiet. No telephone. Television when we want it. A mini-suite with really comfortable chair, couch, and beds. It also has a pretty good breakfast.

Now for a bit of a hint. I went out for a walk this morning, just to stretch my legs and make sure they still worked. As I was walking down the road I went by the police station and looked up. Wow, there was the sheriff from Radiator Springs. Not only that, but when we look at the terrain around where we are staying it even looks like Radiator Springs. Naturally, I couldn't pass up a chance to take a photo. So, here's the Sheriff and we are close to Radiator Springs. What a great weekend.

A little chicken soup, please.

There is just something about soup on a cool day. I can't say a cold day because in Las Vegas it gets cool, but not really cold. Las Vegas cold is light jacket cold or midwestern spring cold. Nonetheless, a good soup is wonderful.

About 3 weeks ago JoAnn started making southwestern chicken soup, a recipe she asked for from the temple cafeteria. It is one of our favorites and the favorite of many others. We used that recipe for social recently and shared it with others. It sure was good. So good, in fact, we probably had it 10 plus times over the next 2 weeks, including a couple of times at the temple. Yes, our temple still has a cafeteria, and it is usually busy.

After 2 weeks of southwestern chicken soup I was ready for a change. So, last Monday I noticed we had some chicken in the refrigerator - just waiting for some soup to go with it. I know that JoAnn appreciates it when I come up with a recipe, so I dug out a crockpot cookbook and looked up chicken soup in the index. Sure enough, I found a great recipe titled Mediterranean chicken vegetable soup. I did a quick look, didn't recognize many of the ingredients, but figured JoAnn would. I even talked to her later in the day to make sure it was okay. It was. I stopped on the way home and got a loaf of French sough dough baguette. Okay, even I know French and sour dough should never be used in the same sentence, but that's what it said on the label. I was ready for dinner.

I got home, walked in and immediately smelled the wonderful soup. I was excited. While I fixed the bread JoAnn dished up the soup. The first thing I noticed was the absence of chicken. "Where is the chicken?" I asked.

"There isn't any chicken in this soup," replied JoAnn.

Of course I knew I was right, but how could JoAnn be wrong? "Sure there is. Let me see the recipe." Guess what? No chicken in the recipe. I know it called for chicken, so I looked in the index where I found it this morning. Is said "chickpea," not chicken.

"I don't understand, why don't they have a chicken soup in this recipe book? To which JoAnn responded, "Maybe because it is a vegetarian cookbook?"

duh…

We had chicken in the soup on Tuesday and it was still awesome.

Wordless Wednesday - Another Birthday!!!

Wordless Tuesday, late Birthday

Three Generations Project

Almost 2 weeks ago JoAnn flew off to Denver to get her once a decade taste of a blizzard and this year was no exception as Colorado and Aurora got a "top 10" snow storm. That was just a bonus for being there. She really went to spend time with our daughter, son-in-law, granddaughters, and grandson -- and yes, to go to a "sewing conference." Silly me, I didn't even know they had such things. And snow or no snow, they made the 2nd day of the conference. I'll let JoAnn tell her "snow day" story of fun with the family.

On their first day there Jeni had made arrangements to do a 3-generation photos of the girls - Grandma, Mom, and daughters/granddaughters. When the photo showed up last week I was really impressed. It is such a good photo and captures the 5 of them wonderfully.

L-R Front - Sydney, Alyssa, Meagan
L-R Back - Jeni (Mom), JoAnn (Grandma)

I got to thinking. We are going to be on the road this summer and visit everyone - or they are going to visit us. Why not do a whole new set of photos focusing on the three-generations that are present in 5 of our 7 families. Those 2 families without children will do 2-generation photos. I shared the idea with JoAnn and she thought it was great too. So kids, when we show up this summer; or when you show up here, be prepared for a photo shoot - and no, they won't all be professional - but they will be fun and a new collection of photos for us to hang on our walls and enjoy. We will keep you posted with the photos as they are taken.

Wordless Wednesday Monday Birthday

Hiking in Red Rock

A couple of weeks ago Tim was in town for the weekend. We went to Death Valley on Friday and on Monday before he left we got up early and went for a walk in Red Rock. It was Martin Luther King Weekend and we stopped by on Saturday afternoon and that was a bad idea. It felt like half of Las Vegas was present. Tim went on a short hike, but wanted to do more, so on Monday morning we took off. It was a cool and windy morning and we decided to take a moderate trail. I hate to think what a difficult hike would be like. I don't climb quite like I used to, but we took off on the short hike. It was a beautiful hike. For January the weather had been unusually warm.

We started off up the trail, which is a stream when it rains, and the trees were green and there was sand to walk on. As we went up the trail we began to get to the rocks. In some instances there were stairs that were obviously created by moving rocks around. They fit nicely into the environment.

Tim and I, however, sometimes had to find the trail when it wasn't so obvious. We got sidetracked by rock formations, beautiful scenery, and just plain curiosity. We took lots of photos so we didn't make good time, but it wasn't about making good time it was about enjoying the place and each other.

When we finally go to where the trail took us it was a deep bowl that obviously filled with water when there was rain. It wasn't real impressive from a beauty perspective, but from a geological perspective it was pretty. However, Tim and I thought there must be something better to see so we hiked a little bit further and all of a sudden we had a 270 degree ranging from Las Vegas around to all of Red Rock Conservation Area. It was the real frosting on the cake for a great morning.

We found our way back, although we got side tracked a couple of times and then got Tim to an airplane. It was a great morning.

Looking South East towards Calico Basin and Las Vegas
in the distance

I'm just overwhelmed by the beauty of this area. It is just awesome.