What's New With The Carter Family

I like changing around my desktop wallpaper. Often. Most of the time it will be a recent photo I took of Jem, or maybe of our family. It's almost always a photo of a loved one. I have lots of those kinds of photos. This time though, I wanted to try something different . I still wanted to use one of my pictures, I just wanted it to be people free. Goodness knows I have hundreds of tulip photos from our yearly trek to the tulip fields.... and beautiful scenery photos from our many outings. I found this fairly recent picture in my 2011 folder, from Valentine's Day. This was the bouquet of flowers Brandon had sent to me when he was away in Japan in February. Aren't they pretty? It was a complete surprise - it really meant a lot to me to receive them :) But uh...what on earth was I thinking, photographing these beautiful roses....on my ugly, green, bumpy carpet mat? HIDEOUS! I had to do something about it. So I opened up my picture in PSE 8 and went to town. Some careful sele...

I love being an Aunty to two of the most beautiful girls - and it is a very good day when I get to watch my niece Piper :) She is full of life and is always so darn cute! I couldn't help but get my camera out on this day, and snap a few pictures of her. Isn't it adorable how you can see her bottom two teeth? And the hand - up in the air - just makes me smile. It's her way of saying "Hi", she puts her hand up and gives you a big smile! Love it!

Mmmmm....it sounded so good when I read it on The Pioneer Woman's Blog . Warm, freshly baked bagels - in lots of different flavors. Seriously, I had to try and make them! I mean, how hard could they be? Truthfully - they were not hard to make at all. Not even very time consuming! I was surprised at how quick, easy and tasty these homemade bagels turned out to be :) If you would like the recipe, then just click HERE and try them for yourself!

It's true. We're a carpool family. We kind of have to be, what with Jem's school being so far from our home. It's 20 minutes on a good day, but on a day with traffic...well...it's not a fun drive. We have been fortunate to share the driving responsibility with another NCA family - a family that has become very dear to me after 3 years of travelling to and from school together. I'm sad to say though, that this may be our last year of carpooling with the Conklin kids. It's our cars, you see. Both Brandon's and mine. They only seat 3. And the Conklins have one more little guy who is starting Kindergarten next year. Unless he lays flat in the trunk (and I'm not sure how well that would go over with Jen and Zack), we'll be one seat short next year. Hence no more carpooling. *Sigh* It's the end of an era. Brandon loves to joke around with the girls. He likes to say "Brooke said...." and then tell a whopper, all the while Brooke is in the...

I made fasolakia today. It's a greek dish, consisting of beans, beef and potatoes - cooked in a garlic, tomato and onion mixture. Really delicious. Trust me! You may be wondering why my picture isn't of the so-called Fasolakia. Well that would be because it was so good that it all got eaten before I could snap a shot. However, my good friend April posted a bread recipe on her baking blog this week, and it also looked delicious. So I thought, why not? Let's pair the two deliciousnesses together (I just made up a word, didn't I?) and have Fasolakia and homemade bread. The bread turned out pretty good, not exactly PERFECT, but very tasty nonetheless. It was a little too dense for my liking. You'll notice that April's bread looks much nicer than mine does - much taller and fluffier. I think part of the problem was that mine didn't rise properly. My house is a little too cold apparantly. I had to warm my oven up and stick the bowl of bread dough in there for it ...

When we got back from Spring Break, Jem was one of a handful of recipients of the "Student of the Month" Award. He was TOTALLY surprised by it, and had a smile a mile long as he bounded up onto the stage to accept his certificate :) We were notified of this event a few weeks ago, and it's been really hard to keep it a secret (you know me, I wanted to spill the beans sooooo badly). But I swore to myself that I WOULD NOT tell Jem. I wanted him to be surprised, and I'm so thankful that I kept my MOUTH SHUT! The look of pure joy on his face was priceless - he was beaming from ear to ear! He was especially happy to look out into the audience and see his dad and I, cheering and clapping for him. This month the students were being recognised for "Courage", and Jem was being acknowledged for being courageous and standing up for what he believes is right. I couldn't have been prouder of my little guy! And yes, I made him pose for another picture once we got home,...

We left for Idaho early in the morning of March 31st (and by early, I mean 4:30am early) and arrived there in time to celebrate Brandon's Dad's birthday. We spent the next few days helping Dad clean his house, sorting through Mom's stuff, and figuring out what to do with it all. In between it all, Brandon and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary (with a dinner out at Brick 29 in downtown Nampa). It was a very productive few days - and we had a big yard sale at the end of it. It was sad to have to leave, especially to leave Dad alone there...but we all (especially the grandkids) hope to get to see him again very soon!