First Rain-free Day

When we tell people from elsewhere that we are from California, they automatically picture us living in either sunny Los Angeles or beautiful San Francisco. We live in Northern California, a more rural, less crowded, and inclimate area. While it only snows on the mountains in the winter here, it can be very wet and foggy for weeks at a time. This years the yucky weather seems to have gone on for months. Monday, President's Day, we woke up to a bright and sunny day. Not wanting to waste the day doing badly needed chores around the house, we ditched the house and went out to Colusa, a town about 20 minutes from Yuba City.

First we visited the wildlife refuge hoping to spot some, well, wildlife, and we did. However, I'm not that great with my camara yet, so I got mostly scenery pictures. I wish I would have taken a shot of a couple of guys with hugely long lenses on their camaras who sure looked professional, comparing notes with each other.

Well, enjoy or mock or whatever..... I'm still figuring out some things with the computer.

You can just make out some ducks and geese in the background :-)

As the afternoon wore on, we stopped at the Sacramento River for a rest. We saw a deer on the other side, but I was just not fast enough with the camera.

...And of course we got hungry, so we stopped for some soup and sandwiches. This place was great, but one problem - I forgot the name of it. Well, someday when you're driving around Colusa, which is lovely with its old Victorian homes, look for this place. It is great!

Finally (don't ask me why this is in purple either. I did nothing. The computer has a mind of its own), no visit to Colusa is complete without a trip to the Colusa Theatre. Although the movie was a so-so chick flick, and John, yet again, was the only manly man in the place, in my humble opinion, the threatre is the best in Northern California. It made an okay flick almost good.

(Back to black. Hum...) When we got home, some of Julanne's friends gave her a "Heart Attack" all over the lawn and her (already messy) bedroom. Sorry the photo doesn't do justice. They did a great job and made a GIANT heart-shaped cookie, too. Thanks guys!

A Very Fancy Weekend

Hannah and her Very Fancy Nancy Friends, dressed in their Fanciest duds, celebrated Hannah's birthday this weekend.

Hannah's Fancy Friends enjoyed pinning the accessories on Fancy Nancy...

And making crowns and wands.

Her 2 year old cousin, Sydney, finally found a special "hat" with room for her pony tails.

When it was all over, Joel, her 7 year old cousin, got to have a special banana split party in honor of his birthday, which was a few days earlier. Happy, happy birthday Joel and Hannah.

Random Family Pictures:

Greetings My One or Two Followers! I've been going through some old pics, and these ones really tug at my heart. They're all pretty self-explanatory:

A New Year

We had all the family home this year for Christmas.  It was great fun, and it may not happen again for years as our children settle who knows where.   However, three days after Christmas, I came down with my annual horrible-sounding cough.  I try to plan being ill NOT during vacation when everyone is around, but it didn't work out this year.   With Dane going to Army Basic Training and Officer Candidate School and Mark, Jasmine, and Lindsey headed back to BYU, I decided not to contaminate my kids by holing up in my bedroom for a couple of days until the drugs kicked in.   When New Years rolled around, John and I thought we'd be abandoned at home since we would  have to transport Julianne to her party and Mike would be working at Sonic.  John and I had actually planned to go to bed early, party poopers that we are.  At the last minute the Powers that Be decided to move the party from Sacramento to up here, which was a nice surprise.  

Dane and Lindsey helped with the food while I sat back and watched.  Nice to know they're learning a few things at college.  

Mike made it home from work just in time to celebrate the new year with us.

Per tradition, when the magic moment arrived, we banged our pans outside.  

This year,  Mike opted to sport his luchador mask topped off with my favorite metal mixing bowl while still wearing his working clothes - smelling strongly of all things deep fried.  (I think he has aspirations, maybe Nacho Libre???)  

A Belated Merry Christmas!

Got a new camera for Christmas.... It's taken me a while to figure out the basics.  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  The background picture is one of  Gramma Smith nee Roper and her siblings - she's on the far right.  

Conference Scones

Twice a year in October and April, we stay at home for the weekend and watch our church's semi-annual general conference, which is broadcast from Salt Lake City.  These are my favorite weekends of the year!  Some families dress up as if they are going to church, but we, slackers that we are, stay in our jammies and cozy under blankets in front of the TV.  Since the kids were small, we've had a tradition: on Saturday, I wake up earlier than anyone in the house and pick up some doughnuts from the bakery around the corner; on Sunday, we make scones together - an homage to my husband's home state, Utah.

  I'm not really sure if scones are a traditional Utah food, but when my parents converted to the church, we were shortly introduced to these awesome little pillows of happiness :-) from friends raised in Utah.   I've had them with powdered sugar or honey butter.  

I generally use a simple yeast roll or bread recipe that does not incorporate too much oil or butter, since they are deep fried.   I find that they tend to be lighter if the recipe has eggs in it, too.  For the yeast, I always use rapid-rise yeast since it is a lot more forgiving of temperature variations, and it seems to rise  - well rapidly.  I prepare the recipe, let rise in a warmed oven (with the heat turned off!) until doubled, and roll out to 1/4 " thickness.  I then cut squares, triangles, whatever, and fry @ about 360 degrees until slightly browned and turn over, cook until done, and drain on paper towels.  CAUTION: WITH THE HOT OIL AND ALL, THIS IS NOT AN ACTIVITY FOR THE VERY YOUNG!!!!!!!!

Trip to Tahoe

This summer we spend a couple of days at a cabin in Tahoe with the family.  The mountain flowers were in full bloom, so Brian took some terrific pictures for me.  Thanks Brian!  Hope you like them.  My favorites include butterflies and grand daughers.