Fall is Fabulous

Every fall as gardening starts to wind down and the weather cools, we leave the valley and venture to the mountains for fire wood. This is an activity I never did as a child. We didn't have a wood burning stove because my dad had not so fun childhood memories of having to haul wood and ashes. I am with him with the ashes but I LOVE going to cut wood. The mountains this time of year are so majestic. It is so peaceful (aside from the crazy loud chain saw). I love how slow paced life seems in the mountains. Sometimes I think I would have liked to be a pioneer; slow pace of life and hard work. I think we have so many unnecessary distractions these days. Until the last five years or so I was such a city girl wanna be. I always wanted to live close to shopping and my neighbors. But now living rural again I have come to appreciate the quiet, no traffic, "everybody knows your name" kind of life. It is great for my kids too!

How cute is that!

Tony loves his chainsaw! He cut

enough wood this day to fill our

truck and long bed trailer.

With all of her sisters in school, Lyndie gets to

join us. She has the best time puttering finding

bugs, spiders, sticks, rocks, etc.

(Who says we need a son?)

Buurrrrrr! It's cold outside.

Olivia didn't have school today so I decided to take her to the park and snap some pictures. It was maybe not such a great idea. She had on short sleeves and it was only 42 degrees outside. She was a REALLY good sport right up until I asked her to lay down on a cold concrete bridge. WARNING: The following picture is not for the weak of stomach. But I just had to catch the moment. So funny!!

Dolls Anyone?

Now that it is getting close to Christmas I just have to give a plug for the cutest doll company. If you have girls you have to take a look. They are so cute!! There are even dolls for little boys. They are so life like and have great texture and weight. The distributor is out of Spanish Fork. So check it out and get some of your Christmas shopping done early. I promise your girls will love them! http://sugarnspicebabydolls.blogspot.com/

What do you do with all that Zucchini?

I found the greatest recipe ever for all of that abundant zucchini that you either grow in your garden or that magically appears on your front porch each fall. I made this recipe and shared it with many people and everyone was fooled. It is an apple crisp type recipe but instead of apples you use zucchini. Tony's cop buddies horked it down and then when Tony told them it was zucchini they asked what apple product I added to it (maybe apple juice or apple sauce). Try it. I guarantee everyone will like it and will have no idea that it is made of zucchini unless you tell them.

Zucchini "Apple" Crisp

8 cups of zucchini, core and slice in apple-like chunks

3/4 cup lemon juice

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine

Place zucchini and lemon juice in large sauce pan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until tender, about 15 min. Add 1 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.

To prepare crust:

Combine flour, 1/2 cup white sugar, brown sugar, and margarine. Pat 3/4's of the mixture into 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

Pour zucchini mix over baked crust. It will be runny. Top with remaining crust mixture. Bake 30-35 minutes more.

Recipe from www.lanierbb.com/recipes