Going On a little Hike

Here is a little something to do close to home and is free! We walked the Becker Lake trail. Me and Curly Top had fun, this was about 2 months ago, which was perfect weather. The only thing I don’t like about the trail is that it doesn’t circle around. You go down and up the same trail. But its still an Adventure as Curly Top would say. Its amazing to me what the simplest things we do with are kids they tend to love the most.

Be sure to wear a hat! Pack your favorite backpack loaded with water and a snack or two. (Don’t wear cute skirts, when walking.) Even if your on a trail! Itchy legs will be in store for you if you do.

There are lots of little spots to sit and rest and get some shade. Its also nice to sit and try and figure out what animals might be living in the area.

We had fun and it got us out of the house for a bit!

Things To do In Holbrook

My husband is working in Holbrook for about 3 weeks so we have been staying over here in a hotel. So that gave me the bright idea to start writing about things to do in Arizona. Gas is so expensive!!!! So why not stay in your own state and do some cool stuff that is close by. Me and my husband have talked about this before. There is so much to do in Arizona and close to home. We need to take advantage of what we have here.

First thing you can do is go to the rock shop and take pictures with all the awesome dinosaurs that are around. Curly top had lots of fun doing this. And then we got to check out all the cool rocks and petrified wood that was here.

Second thing is go check out this Museum. Its free! Its actually really cool! I could do another post about all the cool stuff they have in there, but then you wouldn’t be surprised when you come visit. This Museum is the old court house and it is huge! It even has the old jail under the court house. Pretty creepy!

Third thing is watch a train go by…. Kids love this! It might not seem that cool but hey Holbrook is a really small town and you have limited options, but honestly Curly top thought it was pretty awesome. Trains come through this town about every 10 – 20 min. so you don’t have to wait long for one to pass.

Fourth thing is to go to the Petrified Forest. If you like to hike this is a perfect thing to do. It cost 10 bucks per car for a 7 day pass. So not too expensive. We had fun and it wore Curly top out! Lots of walking and being out side. Curly top called each stop an adventure!

You might want to pack a lunch and water bottles. I hadn't gone to this since I was little, so I couldn’t remember how long it would take us to go through it all. We got there around 8:30 and around 11:30 we got to the end. We missed one stop so it could actually take you longer. And depending on how fast you go through each thing. But we were hungry when we got to the end and decided to eat lunch. So we ate at the restaurant there and it was really good, but expensive. It cost me and Curly top 18 bucks for lunch. So anyways if you have more than a couple people I would pack a lunch.

They also have a program the kids can do so they can become a Junior Ranger! Curley top loved this! They get a packet of paper that has different things they have to do through out the trip and then at the end they get a certificate and a badge and a patch. Pretty fun stuff right!

So although Holbrook isn't the ideal Vacations spot there is stuff to do. If you would like to blog about cool stuff to do in Arizona e-mail me! I think it would be fun to see what everyone else is doing around here!

Ramblings

I'm pretty sure every web page should have a scroll up button like pinterest.

Curly Top is learning her how to write letters, but she doesn’t really know the sounds they make or the placement for words. So she always writes random letters and asks me, “what does it say mom?”  And then I kindly say, “Well you wrote it so how about you tell me what is say’s.” Then she gets mad at me and tells me, “Mom just read it, you know how to read everything!” So then I make up some word and hope that’s what she was trying to write. I'm usually wrong  and she just can’t understand why I can’t read what she is writing. Bless her heart.

My cat is pregnant. Due anytime within the next week or so.

I'm in the process of spring cleaning my kitchen.  Is there a reason I have 50 thousand knifes?

Why do I always want to do 20 projects at once?

Today I am reminded that I am so blessed, and reminded that there are people in need.

Curly Top is so cute.

The weather was nice today. I'm hoping tomorrow is the same maybe even a little warmer….

Thinking about this pregnant girl

Today I am thinking about my dear cousin Karli. She is about to have a baby. She lives in in another state so we don’t get to see each other often. She had a baby shower in are state,so we loaded up and went to the shower. It was so good to see her! She is having a boy and the theme was cars. Well me and my family are yard sale junkies so of course when we saw yard sale signs near the baby shower we had to stop. And you know what we found? That huge cars sign (top left of pic) We got it for a dollar! Everyone had a good laugh that we happened to find that right before the shower.

Me, Karli and my sister. 

Cousin to cousin we'll always be, Special friends from the same family tree.

Canning Potatoes

How to can potatoes

I used 10 lbs. of Potatoes for 7 quarts .

First I get a big pot of water on the stove and turn it on hi to get in boiling.

Wash all your potatoes or have your 3 year old do it :} (you don’t have to peel them.)

Then cut up your potatoes the way you like them.

Then put your potatoes in your boiling water for 10 min.

Meanwhile I clean my sink really good and fill it with really hot water then I wash my jars and place them  in the hot water to soak.

I also get a small pan with boiling water and put my 2 piece caps in them .

After the ten minutes I pack hot potatoes into my hot jars. leaving about 1” headspace.

Add the boiling water into the jars.

Get all the bubbles out then add teaspoon of salt to each jar.

I usually wipe the top of my jars with a clean rag then put the two piece caps on.

Then I put the jars in my pressure cooker, then I add water to my pressure cooker about 1/3 the way up from the jars.

This last time I processed for 40 min. at 10 pounds pressure I think next time I am going to process for 30 min. and see how they turn out. Just because we ate some of the potatoes that night and they were good just a little softer then I would have liked.

Some uses for canned potatoes….breakfast potatoes, potatoes salad, potatoes and meat, mashed potatoes.

 

my first quilt

I started this baby blanket last year while taking a quilting class. I only went about half the semester due to being pregnant and than miscarrying. So its been sitting here in pieces for a while,but I finally got the top done. I liked how it turned out. And guess what…..I made it out of vintage sheets! I have bought a lot of sheets from thrift stores that I just loved, so I can make some projects with them. That means this quilt cost me around 2 dollars. My teacher wasn’t thrilled that I picked sheets to make my blanket, but hey it was my first quilt, and if it had lasted this long I was sure it would last a little while longer :}

Bountiful baskets

Okay I have been wanting to try this for a while. I heard about Bountiful Baskets last year when my husband was working out of town. Some girls I met at the library in Page told me about it. I got on Bountiful Baskets website and checked to see if they did this in my area. At the time they didn’t so I was a little bummed. Then a month ago or so I was reading You and Me Plus Three’s blog and she was talking about Bountiful Baskets. She also gives you tips on how to get ready for your basket. So I looked again on there website, and it was in my town! It grew a bunch since last year. So this last weekend I picked up my fist basket. Iv got to say I was impressed. And I am a nerd so I wrote down everything I got in my basket and went to the grocery store and checked prices to see how much I was saving buy getting this basket. The basket is 16.50 all together with the handling fee. The total at the store was 36.55 so I'm saving  more than half by getting the basket. I'm going to list all the stuff I got so you will be as excited as I am. O and I will post the grocery stores prices.

living butter lettuce 2.49

4 bananas 1.77

3 kiwis 1.00

3 green house cucumbers (those are the really big ones) 6.00

5 pink lady apples 3.00

2 mangos 4.00

3 lbs. pears 5.07

1 head of cauliflower 4.50

1 thing of broccoli 1.27

1 cantaloupe 2.49

1 bag of potatoes 1.00

3 red potatoes 4.00

Kids bag

 

Yesterday Me and Curly top decided to decorate a canvas bag we bought from Wal-Mart a couple weeks ago. We had lots of fun picking out what designs to do.  We cut the design from my silhouette machine. Then I traced it on the fabric and cut it out. (I do realize you can cut fabric with the silhouette, but I couldn’t figure it out so) Then we used heat n bond and ironed every thing on. I made some ruffles for the water. Curly top really loves her bag. Really anything we make for her she loves. This was a cheap project too. The bag was 2.50 and everything else I had at home.

 

Pretend Mail

Curly top informed me today that we needed to do a project. So of course I turned to pinterest! Curly top saw this version of the play envelopes. They are pretty darn cute! So we decided to try and make are own. They turned out so cute and we are having fun with them! I had all the supplies at the house so that’s always nice! We just used permanent marker for the writing. We also made pretend notes. These are just easy and fun!