CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOO

One of our adventures while visiting Anna & Greg in Colorado Springs was the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We took this picture so you could see that the zoo is on a mountain and the view is beautiful.


In the bird exhibit they would fly and land on your shoulder and Anna got to experience that!

Grandpa and Grandma photo shoot.

Here I am holding a albino wallaby....they are only 4 in a million.

Gavin feeding his bird. They sell you popsicle sticks with bird seed glued on the end....smart idea.
Isa feeding the giraffes....they feed them crackers rather than the kind of food that they have to lick off of your hands...I like this concept better!
The boys enjoying the wildlife....cute bunch aren't they!!
By the way!! the birds loved Bob. They thought his hat was tasty besides his collar and neck. We had a lot of fun and would encourage anyone if you ever go to Colorado Springs be sure and check out the Zoo!

BEST FRIENDS IN BAKING!!

Meet my best friends in baking....the Nutrimill wheat grinder and the Bosch! Got up early this morning..ground some wheat and made some whole wheat bread dough.
This is my finished product. Believe it or not I cut the recipe down so it would only make 5 loaves. This bread will keep in the freezer for a month. I wish computers had scratch and sniff ....you would be loving the aroma...yummy!!

HOMEMADE BAKING POWDER

Wow!! You can actually make your own baking powder...who would of ever thought? There are times when you are in the middle of a recipe and realize you either don't have enough or have none. Sooo here is the recipe.....

Homemade Baking Powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cornstarch

Simply mix these few ingredients together and store in refrigerator. This recipe can be doubled or tripled, but really only make what you plan to use in near future.

This is the best baking soda to buy. It is aluminum free (if you buy baking powder always make sure it is aluminum free....Rumford is the brand you want to buy). The less aluminum we put in our bodies the better (just a little health tip there).

GUESS WHO'S HAVING A BABY BROTHER??

ZANE is going to have a little baby brother!! Now we are going to have two little Hoovers...baby's date of arrival is October 28th. Just a few days after Tia's birthday...I couldn't think of a more precious birthday present. This will make grandbaby number fifteen...grandpa and grandma couldn't be prouder!!!

THANK GOODNESS FOR AIR CONDITIONING

Would you believe our air conditioner died a week ago today??? The last of the installation was completed today (yeah! yeah!). Had to take a picture of these new babies...hopefully we won't have any problems for a long time.

HE KNOWS YOU

Lauren, Julien and Maude are illustrated in a sweet little book called "He Knows You". You can see they are all smiles at Desert Book. They mailed me a copy for Mother's Day and I was absolutely thrilled to see our little munchins in such a tender book. You can't mistake all three kiddos in the top picture and then Lauren is in the second picture. Just had to share!

MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Sunday we attended the Gila Valley dedication. There where no church meetings so everyone was able to go to their Stake Center and be a part of that. Bob and I went to the 9 o'clock and watched Zack & Kami's kids so they could go to the next one. So here is grandpa out in the back yard with the kiddos. They where playing their favorite game "grandpa chase me" when I made them stop so I could take a picture.

Addie finished her first year of preschool and they have a little end of the year graduation. I had Zane that day so we packed him up and went to the festivities. They sang lots of cute songs and poor little Zane cried every time there was hand clapping.

Everyone got a little certificate and a picture with their teachers. Isn't Addie the cutest!! Addie will go to preschool one more year and then goes to kindergarten. It's so hard when your b-day is at the end of October...you are more than ready but have to wait.

Have to show off our crocked neck yellow squash. This is our first picking and we had it for dinner other night. It was so tasty and just melted in your mouth. You forget how good stuff is from your garden!!

This is random but someone brought us by a HUGE bag of swiss chard the other day. We cooked it up (well some of it...it was enough to feed a army) and it was really good too.

MAYBE I DO HAVE A GREEN THUMB!!!

These are our tomato plants now...the plant on the left has over 26 tomatoes on it!! Don't ask me what I am going to do with all these tomatoes. I think it is going to have to be sharing and canning salsa. The plants are over three feet high and keep growing. If anyone else has any ideas of what to do with tomatoes let me know!

These are our summer squash plants and they are loaded also...these are Bob's favorite squash but if I have to feed him them every night it is not going to be!

Comparison pic.....see how much they have grown. Now all we have to worry about is the birds and the bunnies they are rampid in our backyard

MOTHER'S DAY POSIES

Had a great Mother's Day celebration and wanted to share pics of the posies...aren't they beautiful?

GILA VALLEY AZ TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE

Bob and I decided to go on a little road trip to the Gila Valley Temple for their open house. It was nice to just get in the car and go somewhere besides our usual errands of life. The trip took a little while as we had to go through some small towns and it was a saturday. The open house was busy and they where having a 100 people go through every 10 minutes. The saturday before they had 8,000 people go through. After the open house we went to a park in Thatcher and enjoyed a picnic with our ward. It was a great way to spend a saturday and enjoy the spiritual things of life.

It's a beautiful sight for a Temple...you can see the mountains in the background with snow.


You know who this is...we found someone kind enough to take our picture. It's really windy up there so my hair is going in every direction.

CINCO DE MAYO...BABY GRACEE 1ST B-DAY

The girls helping decorate cupcakes for Gracee's b-day...we really had some intense sprinkles going on..

Gracee is all excited and ready to party...so are her sisters. Birthdays are a very exciting thing!

No girlies.....it's my present and I want to check it out.

Grandma!! You mean I really can't eat this birthday card????

I am soooo ready for my birthday cupcake. Mommy has me all ready....she even got me this birthday bib.

I don't know how to blow out a candle so maybe I should just grab it!!

This is the best cupcake ever! Well, maybe it's the first cupcake I've ever eaten. I'm loving the sprinkles.....

EASTER EGG HUNT

I know!!! You are probably thinking where are all the kids for the Easter Egg Hunt? Well, two families live out of town and Zack & Kami where in Show Low for Easter. Sooo we had an awesome time with three little ones. I am loving this easter egg. It gives me something to chew on.

Just because I am little doesn't mean I can't hunt for eggs!!

I'm good at this...look I found an egg buried in the grass!

Lucy is checking out her stash...which egg should I open first?

Do I have to pose for a picture?? I have a lot of hunting to do!!

I wonder if this is the egg that has the money in it???

BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS

I posted pictures of our bountiful blessings which are our grandchildren. They bring us so much joy and fun times. Nothing could replace the moments we have been able to share with them. I posted them by family....enjoy!!

JASON & EMILY

Lucy
Quinn

ANNA & GREG

Gavin
Gabriel

Isa