5th Annual Memorial Day Camping Trip

We went to Alta Lake this year which is near Pateros, Washington which is between Winthrop and Wenatchee. We decided to go for east of the Cascades again this year. We expected to get rained out but aside from a few scattered showers and one short storm the weather was actually really nice. Nice enough to lay on a beach towel and enjoy some sunshine on Saturday afternoon!

Alta Lake - Beach/Picnic Area


Matt and Jenn enjoying kabobs, the "co-hosts" of the camping trip. Jenn and Joe do 90% of the cooking. Thanks guys!


Boys enjoying the fire and baked potatoes. The guys put up a tarp shelter to keep us dry.


Mark and Rachel - the newbies to the group this year.


On Sunday we took a little side trip to Winthrop, has an old west feel to it. The boardwalks are pretty cool and all the hand-painted signs. Pretty cool little tourist trap, fun to visit for the first time.


Sheri's had some killer homemade ice cream - I had the lemon custard with a homemade waffle cone, which was surprisingly only $2.75. Winthrop would definitely be a fun place to stop overnight on a road trip if you happened to be up in northern Washington.


Scenic detour to the Grand Coulee Dam on the way home - pretty impressive sight! My dad grew up in a house here that is now gone. It used to be where the new section of the dam is.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Playing with Picasa ... and lady bugs

Caught Malcolm mezmerized by a lady bug this morning. He has been chasing a ton of bugs outside recently, its pretty funny to watch. From a distance you can't tell why he's doing all these crazy little antics. I decided to play around with the picture in Picasa and try out a couple different effects.

 Original

 The "Tint" effect with partial color preservation. Left the tint unchanged.

This is the "Focal Black & White" option, I put the focus over the ladybug.

Any favorites?

Happy Monday!

I'm so happy spring is finally here! The lilacs are almost out, the cherry tree has a few flowers and the hawthorne is about ready to color the front yard magenta. We've got half of our veggie garden in and just filled the new window boxes out front. Moved the bird bath out front today and planning to fill the hummingbird feeder tomorrow! Hope everyone else had a happy Monday!

Yummy Cookie Bars

Peach Melba Shortbread Bars adapted from recipe printed in Southern Living magazine. My father-in-law sent this recipe to me. They're pretty tasty! (I still need to make him a batch)

Makes: 1.5 to 2 dozen bars

Hands on time:  20 minutes

Total Time : 2 hr, 20 minutes

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup cold butter

1 cup peach preserves

6 tsp raspberry preserves

1. Preheat over to 350 '. Combine 1st three ingredients in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup flour mixture.

2. Lightly grease an 11 x 7 inch pan. Press remaining flour mixture onto bottom of prepared pan.

3. Bake at 350' for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

4. Spread peach preserves over crust in pan. Dollop raspberry preserves by 1/2 teaspoon fulls over peach preserves. Sprinkle reserved 1 cup flour mixture over preserves.

5. Bake at 350' for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool 1 hour on wire rack. Cut into bars. Garnish if desired with almonds or powdered sugar. 

Green Thumb?

Will be finding out shortly if I have a green thumb or black thumb this spring :)