Grown-Up BLT's

I'm keeping my fridge stocked with bacon for the moment my big tomatoes finally up and decide to turn red.  This is slightly dangerous.  Cuz' I'm willing to make compromises for a BLT.  So currently I'm all about being a test kitchen and getting the perfect BLT down pat as I wait on the real tomatoes.

Today's Amazingness:

Toast

Cream cheese, spread on one piece

butter and mayo on the other

(like I said this BLT testing is dangerous business.)

Bacon (Duh) 

-I snip mine into little pieces so I have more even flavor-

A few drops of flavored vinegar

(I use red wine vinegar, it's milder and sweeter than balsamic, which I wanted to like but just didn't.)

lower-case-t tomatoes

Onion greens

Lettuce

Chervil 

(which is like parsley only milder, and not gone to seed yet...)

Cheese

and

*drumroll*

Lemon Basil

I planted it because I'm not a huge fan of basil but love herbs.

Then it grew and I had no idea what to do with it cuz it smells so lemony.

After a little experimentation...

It doesn't really keep it's lemony flavor in baking, and I like the basil flavor a lot better than, well, basil.

Uncooked it has a fantastic lemon flavor and is pretty soft on the herby basil side of things.

Yum yum!

 

Barn Party (and Random July Happenings)

 

Our favorite Aunt Inga had a birthday last week.

Schedules were hectic, two siblings were out of state, fair was going on...

Soo we decided to do a sneaky surprise party.

(Make-up for having a dud birthday)

Bronz, the kids and I worked overtime on the barn.  Blake even got in on the sweeping.

But there was also a lot of this.

(Note, Blake's balancing act.  Is it any wonder our kids are constantly nursing lumps and bumps?)

 

 
 

Her boyfriend, Blake L. completely handled the surprise part of things and did a good job as you can tell by her face!

(My apologies for photo quality... all off the smart phone.  Which happens to have an easy.to.charge.battery)

I just love birthday parties.   

It's like an extra special chance to tell them how much they mean to you.

That said, I didn't get a card written and nary a present wrapped.



Nancy & Layla went all out with a gazillion cakes and salads.

(Lucky me, I found leftovers in my fridge this morning!)

Blake L. had pretty much come directly from a business trip to Kansas, so he was not without fireworks.

This was pretty exciting for the younger crew.

All in all we had a pretty fabulous time.

And we might have pushed our bedtimes a tad...

as in crawling in at 1:30...

 

Here's the Queen Bee.

Her Royal Highness

Miss Kamie

Miss Pam signed her up for a parade float...

Which thrilled her little heart.

She practiced her princess wave on the back of the four-wheeler.

Modeling her hair.

She's soo beautiful...

(No apologies for bragging, you all know her faults.)

And now she wants her hair curled

the crown hurts her ears,

it gets stuck in the back of her trike.

Then my gorgeous little blondie

furiously pedals away

(Blake doing his best to dodge)

(No wonder everyone comments on how fast he walks, it's survival, people)

Happy July!

Pumpkin Picking

Gorgeous Morning
Had our homemade Hot Pepper Jelly on eggs for breakfast
Bronz needed to have some work done on the car, so we drove it into town, and then talked him into buying his girls some donuts. Yum yum
We sat at the picnic table and enjoyed this perfect morning while Bronz ate apple crisp.
(Our treat for him!)

I started Ann Voskamps book One Thousand Gifts this week...
It is an easy day to be thankful.
I look around and see beautiful, not ugly beautiful.
Thankfulness is a response this morning, not a choice.

 

This little cutie happens to be four months old today

 

Bronz planted a pumpkin patch in our feed lot, once the cows were on pasture.  So we picked them. Kamie was our spotter, Bronz cut them off the vine, and me, I was the baby holder, well most of the time.

Except when I was doing important things like running for the camera or ducking under the fence.

 

We even took our Family picture for September...

Happy Harvest Everyone!

Of Peaceful Sunday Nights & Cows

Kamie quietly tucked into bed, Blake cooing, me enjoying Sunday night.  Then my phone started ringing. Bronz’s ring. Since I didn’t answer he hollered up the stairs for me. (What I realized later was that he called my phone, while holding it at the bottom of the stairs…)

>sweet,nagging wife tone<  

Could you puh-lease not call me when I’m putting the kids down.

We’ve got a cow in heat.

(Note: There’s just not a very delicate way to say that, now, is there?)

>groan<  I love you  (Someone crown me quick)

What that means, is  Bronz has to AI the said cow, so we can have a little calf without keeping a bull around. If you need more info than that search engines await.

I grabbed a handful of chocolate chips, and a plaid insulated shirt (have to have the uniform for the job.) Stuffed my sweats into boots, which had their inaugural use under a white poofy dress with rice being thrown at them. Let me tell you, they’ve seen a lot rougher stuff since.

Me:        Aren’t you glad you’ve got me to help you?

Him:       Why don’t I help you, instead?

Me:        Are you sure you mean that?!

Him:       Silence.

Me:        I didn’t think so.

Me:        Well, I’ll do just about anything as long as you like my sweats, cuz they’re super comfy. (No one's ever accused me of staying too close to the topic at hand.)

Me:        How are we going to go about this?

Him:       Well, I’ve got an idea… It might be a dumb idea…

Adeline was the girl we needed to ‘take care of’… She happens to be my favorite, and is really tame. We herded her into the chute, Holding Blake in one hand I pulled the lever to clamp her in.  The cows are always fascinated by our babies, so maybe he had a tranquilizing effect as well.  Whatever the case it went very smoothly and I didn’t have to point a flashlight at nether regions, so happy girl here.  We only had one cow get out, and we were in the house by ten thirty. Not bad. Oh and I got a back and foot rub out of the deal. Not bad, not bad at all.

Aww... Can't wait to see our kids in white jeans in the show ring