Happy Halloween!

 Lots of cutie niblings with great costumes, y'all. 

The captain. 

Both, of course. 

Mando! 

Butterfly! 

Rainbow Dash for lyyyyyfe

Supergirl! 

Winnie the Pooh. This is my new(ish) nephew and he is wearing the same costume that each of his siblings have worn - so cute! 

Hope y'all had a safe holiday! 

Book Club Anniversary Year 3

 Last year, for my book club's anniversary, we did a girls weekend and went out of town and gave each other gifts. The gifts are your favorite thing. You choose your fav thing (has to be under $5) and then buy one for every member of book club. This year, mine was Lego Minifigurines, which we all know I am obsessed with and love. Book club was on Tuesday, and of course I don't go to book club, because we are in the middle of a pandemic that seems to be raging out of control, since nobody changed any behavior (it seems) and is still doing whatever they want while our numbers climb. 

But anyway. 

I got my package today of all of the stuff they gave away at book club, and it was ... all right. 

Lots of candies, lots of stuff that just doesn't apply to me, but hey, I'm sure people saw my Lego and went, meh, not for me. And that's fine. I'll be excited to use every one of these and see how it goes. 

PS It is such a good thing I didn't go to book club - the next morning after I received this package, we got a text from the hostess of this week's meeting, and she had tested positive for Covid just two days after the meeting. Wild, y'all. 

Time to Party

 I babysat the fellas again tonight, and we watched a few minutes of an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, and Epifanio hecking loved it. 

I loved how he kept looking over at me to make sure I was also having a good time. 

This was all I got after asking for a smile. 

This was during dinner, we have the hardest time with keeping Darth at the table to eat, he wanders around like a damn cat. 

Baby Pics

 Just want to do a photo dump of Epifanio pics. 

He's so cute, look at him pushing that cart around like he's real people. 

Park City Jaunt

 This weekend, I joined PJ and her mom in Park City for a quick weekend jaunt, just the gals. We got there Friday night, and then spent Saturday wandering around Main Street. It was nice to be in an area where everybody was wearing a mask, what a refreshment from my current city/county. I found a fun statue we had to take a pic with. 

Then we wandered around the (empty) Olympic park and got to see the bobsled/luge track and just wandered around in general. 

It was a fun short weekend, and nice to get out of the rut of current life.  

A Tough Boss

 There's only one thing to say with this picture. 

"Johnson, I need those financial documents on my desk by 3:00."

Baby Shenanigans

 I babysat some fellas today, Epifanio and Gecko, while Darth is in school. We had lunch and then decided to watch a movie. They decided to be weirdos and slam their bodies for the whole time. 

They are just absolute weirdos but so cute. 

Cookie Exchange

 So for a couple of years now I've listened to a podcast, Deck the Hallmark. It's grown from being this small podcast to now being an entire network of podcasts, with so many good ones. (they have one that is on every day, called Take the Day Off, and that is a dang delight because they ask us questions and we can send them in, so when they read my answers on air it's legit the best!) 

Anyway. 

This week is when Hallmark is going to air its first Christmas movie. Yes, you have read that right, this weekend, the 24th of October, Hallmark is going to start airing the new Christmas movies. So, in order to do a countdown of the week, we Double Deckers (what people who are Patreon's of the podcast and part of the Facebook page are called) have decided to do a cookie exchange. So we threw our names in a hat and we were given names. I sent some cookies (chocolate chip and pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip) to a gal in California. And today, my cookies have arrived! 

I received some cowboy cookies from a gal in Kansas, how fun! They are delicious and I can't wait to see the new movies as they air! Will they be the same as always? Of course they will be. Any surprises in store? Absolutely not. But will I love and hate them at the same time? Also yes. Happy holidays everyone! 

Errands with Gecko

 Today I needed to get a few things, and Gecko came with me. When we got out of the car, I realized what a dang hecking cutie he is. 

He's so cute I could die. 

Time for some jam

 Okay, so, I figured out what to do with the pears. Pear Jam. Let me tell you why I chose this. You don't have to peel the pears, so this wins with me, hands down. Here's the recipe, should you be inclined: 

https://foodinjars.com/recipe/pear-cinnamon-jam/

So this recipe was actually pretty great and I loved it, and it tastes so good! I ended up putting a couple of jars into ready for now jars (so I can eat right away) and then rest I ended up canning for future use. 

It ended up making about 9 small jars, and 2 small Tupperware's. So I think I might give these as gifts ... probably, and someone will end up with some awesome jam. 

Darth is Best Child

 I know I say this about every kid in my life at some point. It changes daily. But for today, Darth is best child. We got his school pictures today. 

That head tilt is killing me, it's so dang cute! Then that night, we also got this gem. 

He's just so funny. And he's so dang spunky, he is so wild. 

Canning Pears!

 Well, since my peaches canning went well, I decided to try and can some pears. Basically, the reasoning behind that is because there are no more peaches, but there were plenty of pears. So I followed this recipe: 

https://www.simplycanning.com/canning-pears.html

So if you want to do this also, try there. And then when finished...

Let me tell you about canning pears. 

This sucked. 

Peeling these pears took 100 years, and I did like, 8 lbs of pears and only came away with 5 jars. Will I ever do these pears again? Probably not tbh. But hey, I did it this once. And I still have 8 lbs of pears, so I gotta figure out something to do with them. 

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

 Well, here we are, another year, another Canadian Thanksgiving. We didn't have a big shindig this year, being a pandemic, we just had a dinner with the same people in our quarantine bubble - just family. But I decorated the tables this year and I think they were aces. 

The pies were good, the chocolate silk was so tasty and the apple pie was a delight. Unfortunately, the lemon pie never set. I followed the directions to a T, and the result was a gloopy mess that was just crust and lemon sludge. It tasted good, but was a freaking mess to try and eat, so now I know not to make that recipe again! 

Chocolate Silk Pie

 Tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving, so I of course spent the day making pie. For this year I chose to make an apple pie, a lemon icebox pie, and a chocolate silk pie. Naturally, I forgot to take pics of most of the pies, but I did snag one of the chocolate pie! 

They were all relatively easy to make, can't wait to see how they taste! 

Some Spaghetts

 Today I was helping a friend cater at a wedding near my sisters house. After the wedding, it was too late to be eating dinner, but of course I was hungry. I stopped at her house to drop off a muffin pan, and luckily their dinner was still available on the table. So I made myself a plate, and then Epifanio joined me to eat from my plate, despite already having dinner. What a dang cutie. 

He's too cute, I almost can't handle him! 

Just Enjoy Some Nature

 Today I was up in the canyon and I noticed how lovely all of the fall colors are looking! 

What a lovely time we are in and in such a lovely state! 

Babysitting some fellas

 Tonight I babysat the fellas, since it's their folks anniversary. When they arrived, Darth and Gecko were so hype that they were dressed alike for the day. 

We started with a great meal (Darth chose Taco Bell, so you know I'm into it) and then we went on a walk to the park. Epifanio enjoyed some quesadilla. 

At the park, we put Epifanio and Gecko on the swings and they had a great time. 

Then it was a bit too cold, so we came home for some hot cocoa and we watched some Halloween short movies on Disney+. All in all, I would say it was a success. 

Bye, Wyoming!

 So today we left Wyoming. Yes, I was here for less than 48 hours, perfect haha. So we hit up the gas station to refill the gas tank to get home. And I got a treat. 

Yep. I got myself 100 ounces of that sweet, sweet Atomic Blue. That, however is not selfish, I wanted to bring some home for Husband to try! I'm not rude! 

So we hit the road. Instead of just hopping on the 80 and doing a direct drive, we decided to come through Flaming Gorge and Vernal and enjoy some sights. 

We made it to Utah! 

Then, I literally had to pull over and PEE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD because as it turns out, there is not a single gas station between the border and Vernal Utah. And I drank a good amount of drink. Yep. Can't believe it either, but there we are. But, we made it! We're good! It was such a fun trip and I'm so glad I got to go. 

Wyoming on a Whim

So, as everyone (probably?) knows, I love Mountain Dew. I have tried nearly every available flavor, and I strive to try them all. Recently I learned that there is an exclusive Mtn Dew flavor at the gas station Kum & Go (what a name, man) and the closest one to me is the one in Rock Springs, Wyoming. 

So, I planned a trip. I found a nice AirBnb, and my sister was all set to go. We decided to leave husbands at home and bring the kids and have a good time. Unfortunately, tiny Epifanio got sick the night before, and then was no better the next morning, the day we were supposed to leave. Poor tyke. Husband had no interest in going with me, so I texted PJ and asked if she wanted to leave suddenly on a trip. She said yes, and off we went. 

So we left yesterday afternoon and then today had the day in Rock Springs. Got some good sunrise pics on my run this morning when it was a CHILLY 36 degrees outside. 

And then finally, the main event! 

So the flavor of the Dew is Atomic Blue. And the verdict ... its good! It tastes essentially as a Mtn Dew Lemonade and yet, it's delicious. I had to snap a pic next to their statue here and I loved it. After I got my drink, we went on a walking tour of historic downtown rock springs! We tried to pick outdoor activities to, you know, coronavirus, and we had a pamphlet of this walking tour. It started in a museum, and we were the only people inside, masked up and safe. 

Here is the outside of the museum, it used to be the city hall/main building of the town.

Inside they had wedding dresses for the last hundred years, actual wedding dresses and pics of the women who wore them! 

And we got to see old-timey Rock Springs jail, where Butch Cassidy and Calamity Jane were once kept!

Then we walked around the city for the next hour or so, taking ourselves through the tour. It was crazy interesting, I loved it! It was a pretty great day in Wyoming, having planned it so last minute (I had other activities planned with sister and the kids, but of course can't do that without them!). And I got to try the Mtn Dew, huzzah!