ALMOST As Good As Chocolate

Carob Cake:

3cups flour
2cups sugar
1/2cup carob powder
2tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
*mix all above ingredients very well, then add the following:
2tsp vanilla
2TBS lemon juice
2/3cup oil
2cups water (I used milk)
*mix well and bake in a greased pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees

A vegan friend of mine uses this for church potlucks and stuff. People think it’s chocolate cake. No one could tell the difference. This is a great alternative for those who may be allergic to chocolate (my brother) and/or eggs (notice it doesn’t contain either one), don’t like the caffeine that chocolate contains, and/or for kids when you don’t want to side effects that chocolate (caffeine) has on them. This is a fantastic recipe, delicious alternative to chocolate, and I’d highly recommend it for those who love to bake new things!

Thanks Courtney!

Eye Candy

Eye candy for the vintage/retro eye……..

Modcloth

I Am A Prairie Girl

I’ve done some traveling. Not much comparable to most people nowadays, but I have seen many different places. However, in preparing to drive to Montana I found the excitement growing. I had never seen the mountains. I’ve flown over them, but never stopped to LOOK….never driven through. Heck, I had never gone farther west (by car) than the western boarder of Minnesota. I was excited. I was also prepared to absolutely LOVE the mountains……love them so much I just might want to find some way to move there…..find some possibility of making a life there. This was my thinking before even beginning our trip.

Again, I’ve grown up on the breathtaking beauty of the Minnesota lakes and seasons.

I’ve spent months by the ocean listening to the soothing sounds of the waves and winds as they hit the shore. I’ve traveled to Europe and witnessed the historic wonders of ancient Italy. And now I’ve seen the grandiose magnificance of the Montana Rockies.

But none of those….NONE of those stands close to the contentment and peace I find in the wide open prairies of the Dakotas. I know….many of you are thinking, “what???!….” There isn’t anything particularly extraordinary about the prairie. And for many there probably isn’t anything beautiful about them. But to me, there is a glorious peace and freedom in the open space……just land for as far as the eye can see…..nothing scary or threatening about it. Just land…..and wind……and sky. Yes. I DO love it here. The mountains and lakes and ocean and Europe….they are all beautiful and exquisite in their own way. But the prairie is where my heart is….the prairie is where my peace, contentment, freedom, and HOME are.

Go West Young Man!!!

Now I understand why people go west. I’ve traveled west before but it was mostly by plane. So I totally missed out on this! Wow………WOW!

For Those Of You Who Are Dying To See…

Yes, I’m sure most of you who read this blog know now about our alpaca adventure. John and I drove out to Montana to pick up 3 alpacas. We drove out there without a trailer. Alpacas of Montana owners Sarah and James Budd assured us that the back of a Chevy Astro van was plenty room for 3 animals. Okay. We trusted them. We got there, met our guys and the many many other alpacas there (they have 120), and learned a ton about raising alpacas, day to day care, selling fiber, etc. All very very interesting and exciting (to us). Then the proposition came. They offered us a rather large package deal that we really could not pass up. The deal included not 3 but 5 alpacas AND it remained within our budget. That was well and good, HOWEVER…..the obvious concern was the trip home. Sarah assured us that there would be room in the van for 5. WE were sweating bullets but figured she knew what she was talking about and thought we’d give it a try. Crazy, I know. Sure enough, all 5 fit. They did exactly what she said they would do…..they curled up next to eachother and slept.

Four in the back and Chester (the biggest) hung out in front.

this was actually a pretty comical moment…..four of them decided they needed to stretch and they all stood up. THAT was funny and didn’t last too long…..

…..we all made it home safely. I think they like it here……;-)

left to right: Luigi, Chester, Frederico, Ike, Bonanza

We Went For 3 And Came Home With 5

I posted a while back about our desire to have a hobby farm and our intent to purchase some alpacas. Well….we did it. This past week, John and I drove out to Montana to visit some wonderful new acquaintances Sarah and James Budd from Alpacas of Montana Ranch. Our intent was to bring home 3 alpacas that we have been looking at. We got there and were presented with a rather large (in number not price) package deal. It was hard to pass up. So we took it. We are now the proud owners of 5….YES 5 huacaya alpacas.

left to right: Luigi, Chester, Frederico (in front), Ike (black), Bonanza (in the back)

What the heck are we going to do with 5 alpacas, you say.

??? What do you think? 😉

p.s. leave a comment with some suggestions and I just might make you something. 😉

Happy Birthday Wyatt!!!

12 minutes old

12 months old

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BABY BOY!!!!!!

Boys Stuff

Hayden just LOVES doing anything that the guys are doing.

Funny story: this morning the kids and I were out running errands and Hayden sees the tractors in the fields and points out every single one of them. Yvette quickly chimes in “MY tractors!” Hayden immediately gets serious turns to her and says, “No Yvette, MY tractors. Tractors are for boys.” “OOHHHHH……okay Hayden.”

Boys will be boys will be boys will be boys will be boys. 😉

Fun In The Sand

Justin and Megan came again for a visit this weekend. SO FUN!!! We spent the afternoon at the park and this evening was spent outside in the sandbox and having a bonfire. Megan and Yvette had so much fun in the sand!

Yvette is our “sparkle child”. She does seemingly random things that only make sense to her. I don’t question anymore…..I just go along with it like I know exactly what the plan is. It works better that way. 😉

(note: 2 different sized socks, jelly shoes – thanks Mom!, brown hiked up leggings, a jean jumper, green spring jacket, and a blue skull cap) YES, she dresses herself!!!! and NO, I have no idea what she was planning on doing with a shoe in one hand and an empty bubble bottle in the other. No clue.

I say she’s in great proximity to fill that little bottle and dump it down Megan’s pants. But that’s just me. 😉
                              Yes. Yes, she is MINE.

THIS one is Justin’s:

Newly Weds

John signed us up for possibly being premarriage sponsors. I said, “That’s great but I think they probably need/want people who have been married longer than 6 years to do that.” His response, “No. Actually, the priest said they’d love newlyweds to sign up for it because it would be a great ministry for them to together during those first few years of married life.” John gave me this melting….smoldering look and continued, “I mean….we’re still newlyweds. TO ME, we’re still newlyweds.” *sigh*

6 years, 4 babies, multiple deaths, multiple moves, sufficating stress…..and to him we are still newlyweds.

How sweet is that?!!!