In His Grip

Family Fun At The lake

Our family, or some part of our family, has spent time at Lake Vermillion in the summer for over 25 years.  This year is no different.  With 17 of us here, our family brought along our own personal vacation home to make way for more comfortable sleeping for all. 

Our little vacation home is sitting up in the woods above the boat house with a great view of the lake.  We have a hammock to take naps in as well making for a homy place just feet from the lake house.

This is the first year in a long time that all of our kids have been able to make it to the lake at the same time.  Ryan and Paula have not been up here for 4 years.  So good to have them with us.

Although we have get to hang with these two a lot at home, they always make for a good. time.

This is Kyle’s first trip to the lake and we always enjoy bringing someone new along to experience the lake fun.  I’m not sure he knows what he got himself into, but he is stuck here for a whole week, after all he is 10 hours from home.

My kids and the people they have chosen to hang out with make me smile and my heart is full.  If these people were not our kids, we would still pick them to do vacation with. 

2013 Spring Break Recap

I know that I said I was back to blogging, and I have been thinking about it.  During that thinking time here are some things that I have been doing.  My girls are both teachers so for the last five years we have gone out to the desert near Palm Springs for Spring Break.  My Mom has a snowbird place there.  She calls it “the spa”.  When she and my Dad first went there the park was called Imperial Spa because of the natural hot springs that make up the pools and hot tubs.  So each year we travel to “the spa” to drive back to Kansas City with my Mom.  These two beautiful gals were my travel companions and they are a hoot.  We have the best time together. 

We spent the entire day on Saturday traveling from Kansas City to Palm Springs. I have to say for an airport, Palm Springs airport is the pretties one I have ever seen. 

We spent all of Sunday shopping around Palm Spring.  In the middle of down town we came across this giant statue of Marilyn Monroe and the girls had to have a picture taken with her.  Yes, she is wearing panties.

We left Palm Springs and headed to the middle of the desert.  And when I say middle of the desert, that is exactly what I mean.  Once inside the park, we are perfectly happy sitting by the pool.

Although we are in the middle of the desert, there are hot springs everywhere.  This lake is just across the road and over a little hot spring stream from my Mom’s, it is full of tropical fish that live in the hot spring fed lake.  The water coming out of the ground is 160 degrees.

Out in the desert you come across all kinds of things that have just been left behind.  We have seen this truck off in the distance for years and decided to check it out.

Like I said, there all kinds of things that you find abandon in the desert.

Friday was Anna’s birthday so we wanted to do something fun and adventurous.  We rented this little vehicle and headed out off road into the desert.

One of the places we went on our off road adventure was the “bat caves”.  This is a large pile of rocks in the middle of no where. 

From the “bat caves” you can see for miles.  The large body of water in the distance is the Salton Sea.

Another place in the desert is your typical oasis.  Water is literally bubbling from the ground in several pools with all these palm trees.

After a week of fun in the sun, we began our 22 hour trek back to reality, Kansas, and about 6 inches of snow.  Seriously?

Bringing You Up to Date

So clearly, I have not been blogging much during the past month.  My schedule has been busy with the week leading up to vacation, vacation itself and then the week following vacation.  Being self employed, these weeks take all I have to just to keep my head above water.  Now, mind you, I am not complaining or making excuses, just stating the way my life is around vacation time. Here is a pictorial update of what has been going on.

Lindsey and I ran in the Color Run.

Jeff and I went blackberry picking in Lindsey and Anna’s backyard.  Although I love blackberries, can I say they are evil, evil bushes.  They grab your skin, clothing, etc. and if you are not careful they will suck you in and never let you go.  I made sure Jeff knew as he leaned in to get those berries in the middle of the bush that I if he fell in I would call 911, because as far as me going into those evil bushes to recuse him, I was pretty much out.

We headed up to the north woods for our annual lake vacation. Our family cannot get enough of this fabulous place.

An afternoon of fishing.

There was a new view at the dock this year too. Dan came for the first time to our get away in the woods and brought his boat along. Bringing with him lots of fun, fun, fun.

I can never quite capture the picture of him actually out of the water.

So it is easy to get pictures of Dan out of the water, the trick is getting the one of the actual flip.

This was the year both of our girls have become proficient boat drivers.  Lindsey was taught by her boyfriend Dan so that she could pull him as he wakeboards.  Anna was one of the boat drivers at Kanakuk this summer driving a boat 4 hours a day for 8 weeks.  Now, we have all kinds of people to drive boats around here.

There is always some of this,

and this,

and lots and lots of this.

Always ending our north woods vacation with the traditional rock picture.

Since vacation, I have been very busy helping Picture Perfect Interiors, move into their new location.  Not only have we needed to physically move the store, but it is part of my responsibility to make sure that our current customers know of our address change, as well as help get new folks to find us as well.

This past weekend our family had the honor and privilege to participate and volunteer in the first annual  Spencer C. Duncan Make it Count 5k.

Anna won a print of Spencer’s ride home at the volunteer dinner on Friday evening.

Lindsey took 2nd in her age group.  Seriously, she just shows up, runs and wins a metal.  Really, who does that? Being a part of this event has to be one of the most inspiring things that we have done in a long time.  Over the past year, my idea of America and the freedom we all take for granted has changed so much. I now know the real price that our military and their families pay and it is not all free.

After the race, last night we enjoyed the wedding and reception of a long time family friend.  Mallory has been hanging around our house for about 10 years.  Congratulations to Scott & Mallory Pearson.  Now you are totally, up to date as to what has been going on in my life in this last month of not blogging.  However, I have not even gone into the creative treasures that have been just waiting to find their way right here at In His Grip.  Stay tuned.

*Pictures from the Spencer C. Duncan Make It Count 5K courtsey of  Capture the Moment, Keri Fales

No Problem, Mon

Jeff and I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary this year and decided to take a trip.  We never took a honeymoon but went to the Riviera Maya in Mexico for our 21st year and thought it was about time to celebrate once again.  After all, we have been married for 30 years, our youngest child graduates from college next week and is employed along with the rest of the adults in the family.  We think we have a lot to celebrate.  This was our view for the last six days in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  No problem, mon, was what they say about everything.  I’d like an extra towel, no problem, mon.   Can we get extra bottles of water delivered to our room each day? No problem, mon.  We literally sat and did nothing for the entire time we were there.  We allowed the folks at the resort to totally take care of us.

 When we arrived they greeted us with a chilled glass of campaign with a cherry in it and from that moment on we had no problems, mon.  

 Omar took Jeff out on the catamaran each day and taught him how to sail. No problem, mon.  If you look very closely you can see a boat way out in the ocean, they went out and talked to the fisherman out there who was fishing alone and had a huge fish on the line and could not get it in.  He had it attached to a marker buoy and was going back and get some help to haul in the fish.  No problem, mon. Boy, how Jeff wanted to be a part of that one.

This is how I spent most of my time reading and drinking the pretty drinks that they brought to me.  No problem, mon.

Every afternoon, our beach and pool side activities were interrupted by a rain shower.  No problem, mon.  “Dirty Bananas” and “Mudslides” can take care of any kind of disappointment a little rain might make. No problem, mon.

The sun always popped through the clouds again and back to the pool or the beach, no problem, mon.

On our last evening at dinner we were surprised with a very special dessert created just for our celebration.  Thanks to the chef and the wait staff for making that last evening very special. No problem, mon.

Three Word Thrusday

Time to relax

Girls Road Trip

This week my girls and I headed out to Palm Springs for a couple of days in the sun as well as to help my Mom close up her little winter place and then help her drive back to Kansas City.  Girl trips are fun, in that we get to shop as long as we want, hang in the sun as long as we want, and eat chocolate and popcorn for dinner if we want.  We have been coming out to Palm Springs for Spring Break for the last couple of years and although Mom has her place for sale, we are secretly hoping it doesn’t sell so our Spring Break spot will be there for us for a couple of more years.  When I say that we are in Palm Springs, well that is really far from the truth.  We are near Palm Springs, waaaaay out in the desert in park called Glamis North KOA.  Okay, yes, we are in a KOA campground.  If you were to see it, you would laugh out loud, because it is far from the glamour of what you would think when you say “Palm Springs”.  But there is sun, pools, and a great view of the Chocolate Mountains.

This is the view off of my Mom’s deck and those are the Chocolate Mountains.  So yes, we are in the desert at a KOA but the weather is beautiful and the company is even better.

Here at the “spa” that’s what we call Mom’s winter place, they have great pools that are filled with mineral spring water that comes out of the ground at 160 degrees.  So you have your choice of hot pools or cool pools. 

We choose cool pools during the day and love to go to the hot pools after dark.  There is nothing better the getting all warm and cozy in mineral water before you head off to bed.

Lindsey is training for a 1/2 marathon and this was her week to get in an eleven mile run so we headed out into the desert at 7 am to get her run in before it got too hot.  If you are wondering how I kept up with this 20 something, I was on a bike.  Eleven miles isn’t too bad on a bike for this 40 something.

Tomorrow morning bright and early we will begin our 24 hour trek across the country back to the Midwest and leave this desert beauty behind.

It's Good To Be Home

Although I love vacation, especially our time at the lake, it is always good to come home.  I love the first step in the front door where I smell the familiar scent of our home.  The first night being able to sleep back in our own bed and just the feel of our home around me. I am not going to lie, I love our home and how it makes me feel.  It represents so much love, memories, and family.  It's good to be home. 

Little Country Church

The little country church on the edge of town in Cook, Minnesota, is one of the happening places when it comes to making God's kingdom grow.  We have been attending this little church on our vacations for over 25 years.  The transformation from a very traditional older, baptist church to one that is keeping up with the times and meeting the needs of their community has been fun to watch over the years.  This is the first church that my dad attended as an infant as his father was the pastor here when my dad was born.  I think of the this old song from the 1970's every time we attend here.  "Little Country Church" by Love song.  This song has to be written about First Baptist Church of Cook, Minnesota.

 

Peanut Marshmallow Bars

One of the things that I look forward to when visiting my Mom up North is attending her church on Sunday.  This is a small country church with forward thinking folks that want to attract the younger families in the area and minister to the seasonal people in the both Summer and Winter.  One of the ways that they get to know the visitors in the Summer is their hospitality tent where they serve coffee and treats after the service.  As I was checking out the treats, I spied these great looking peanut and marshmallow bars and just had to try one.  I am usually a chocolate kind of a gal but these have to be the best non-chocolate bars around.  Mom knew the gal that made them so of course we called her for the recipe.

It only takes these few ingredients.  I love recipes with  just a few things in them, they are easy to remember when you forgot you need to whip something up and are already at the grocery store.

Peanut Marshmallow Bars

16 oz. peanuts

3 tablespoons butter

1 bag peanut butter chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cup mini marshmallows

Grease a 9 x 13 pan and then pour half of your peanuts in the bottom.  Melt butter and chips in the microwave, when smooth, add sweetened condensed milk and stir until well blended.  Add the marshmallow and stir (marshmallows do not melt).  Pour mixture over the peanuts in the bottom of your pan and pat down.  Put remaining peanuts on top and pat down.  Chill and cut into squares and serve.  Yummy!

Participating in the following link ups:  Its a Keeper

Winterizing In Minnesota

We have spent the last couple of days in Northern Minnesota helping my Mom winterize her house as well as getting the boats ready for their long winters nap.  Our plan is to do the work for her, but she is no "old" helpless lady.  She gets right in there and works just as hard if not harder than the rest of us and if we are not careful, she just might not "need" us at all.  Jeff has been in training for this winterizing process for the last couple of years under the supervision of my Dad, and this being the first year of getting it done as he supervises from his heavenly home. 

 
When working with Mom, you have to be careful because she is liable to leave you behind when your not looking.  She has her little work chart and when she loads is up you had better be ready to follow or the work will be done before you get there.

 
Our trek up north also included delivering Mom's new car.  What fun to drive a new car and knowing we were delivering the car my Dad chose for her.  During my Dad's final day he talked to us kids about getting Mom a new car and after searching on the internet from his hospital bed, he thought the Buick Enclave would be the car for her. He liked that it had all wheel drive and heated seats for those cold Minnesota winters.  We were finally able to make good on Dad's wish and Mom is now driving the car of his choosing.  Yeah!

 
With the work all done, we get to enjoy the next two days in this Northern Minneasota indian summer.  It has been in the high 70's with no wind, and we even saw some crazy person water skiing this evening.  You just never know what to expect from northerners?

Three Word Thursday

Summer brain freeze!!!!!

Northwoods 4th of July

There is a great place in the north woods to spend the 4th of July.  We call it Camp Grandma.  This place is a true depiction of your americana dream.  We have the lake, camp fire, family, and a whole heap load of fireworks.  Do you see that island behind the flag pole?  We have fireworks duals with the folks that have their cabin over there.  It is every teenage boy's and men who are young at heart dream of explosions and fire. 

My Mom has always been one to decorate for the season and 4th of July is no exception.  American pride is everywhere.  Today is a day that I am truly glad that I have the privilege of living in the United States of America and that there are young men and women willing to fight to give us this freedom that we enjoy everyday.

Grand Canyon Glory!

Oh my heck!  I have never seen anything so breath taking as the Grand Canyon.  Wow, is all I can say.  To live in a country where we can go from the prairies of Kansas to the beauty of the Grand Canyon in  a mere 18 hours is amazing.  The beauty and grandeur is just so overwhelming it literally brought tears to my eyes.  At breakfast this morning, I told the family that I was so excited to get there I could hardly eat and they all laughed at me, but seriously, it did not disappoint.  I just could not stop snapping pictures.  But even looking back at them I realize they can in no way capture the true beauty of this creation.  Our God is truly an artist.

 

Blueberry Crisp for Dad

I needed an easy, quick dessert that said "Summer" but didn't require a huge amount of effort after all I am on vacation and I wanted it to be one of my Dad's favorites so the obvious choice is Blueberry Crisp.  Besides, I had to use the blueberries that I sacrificed my finger for earlier this week. 

Filling

8 cups of blueberries

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Crust

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup instant oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

Filling -- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart shallow baking dish; set aside. In a medium bowl, toss blueberries with 1/2 cup flour, the granulated sugar, and lemon juice. Spread evenly in prepared baking dish, pressing down lightly.

Crust -- combine sugars with softened butter and mix until well blended.  Stir in the flour.  Add oats and mix until crust resembles coarse crumbs.  Crumble evenly on top of fruit.  Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 325 and bake for 45 - 50 more minutes. I usually make 1 and a half times the recipe of the crust so that we have a lot of crispies on our fruit. 

The result is an excellent and very crispy, sugary topping over sweet, tart, gooey blueberry guts. With a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, it is an effortless way to end any dinner and one last hurray before Dad goes on a strict diet following his surgery tomorrow.

Bite Me!

The adventure of my spider bite all started on Thursday when my friends Sheri, Erin and I went blueberry picking.  I was reaching in for a very large bunch of blueberries and felt a "zing" to my finger and look down to find a spider in my blueberry bucket.  Figuring the spider was the culprit to my pain I got it out of my bucket and took care of the little sucker the only way a tennis shoe can.  It really did not hurt more than a really bad misquote bite and as the day progress you could not even see where the little guy had bitten me.  We left for the lake early the next morning and I noticed that my finger was a little swollen and as the day went on the swelling just kept getting worse.  We stopped in at a Wal-Mart and the pharmacist said to take some Benadryle and that should take care of it.  I woke up in the night with numbness in my finger and now into my hand by morning my hand and other fingers were swollen too.  We made a trip to the ER into the hospital of Cook, Minnesota (population 600).  They diagnosed that I did in fact have a spider bite and it was infected.  They gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way.  What a way to start my vacation.

Camping Weekend

Jeff and I headed out on Friday morning on our inaugural camping weekend with our new vacation home in tow.  Towing our vacation home was not our trouble, it was the canoe on top of Jeff's vehicle that kept giving us problems.  We had to stop a couple of times to make sure all was up on top safe and sound and then we would be on our way again.  We arrive at Pamona by noon and in no time had our camp set up.  Our plan was to call the kids and tell them where we were in the campground, as they were coming after they got off work, but we had no cell phone service.  I had to drive back in about 5 miles until I found service and gave them a call with our campsite location.  We had great weekend even with the pouring down rain on part of Saturday.  With our tent trailer, we were all dry inside with electricity even.  This was my first time camping with electricity, what a concept, we even had air conditioning at night.  Can this really be called camping?

Salvation Mountain

Salvation Mountain has got to be one of the most interesting works of art you will ever see.  You can find it out in the middle of nowhere near the Salton Sea.  Leonard Knight, the artist of this masterpiece, created this as a tribute to God.  He originally was going to stay in this spot for one week and that was 26 years ago.  During this time his creation has grown, to include the sinner's prayer and lots of scripture and is all made of adobe clay and donated paint.  He seems so genuine and his entire existence is from donations and his love for God.  This is the kind of thing you will only see if you are willing to go on a road trip. 

Our Vacation Home

We can now say we own a vacation home!  Although you might call it a redneck version of a vacation home, afterall it is on wheels,  we are looking forward to our first big adventure.   My Hubby and two other guys that he works with have gone in together to purchase this great pop up tent trailer.  They have been talking about this for years.  Each guy realizing that they would not get enough use out of it to justify purchasing one on their own so they came up with the "Pop-up Co-op".  Saturday was the inaugural raising of the pop up, which actually went pretty well.  When you get three engineer types together they think they can figure anything out. Who needs the owner's manual? 

Creative Design

How could anyone deny that there is a God?  When you are out in nature and see all that there is out there, how could any of this happen by an accident 1,000,000's of years ago?  As I look at all there is to see in nature, I know that there is a creative designer behind it all.  Ryan has been taking pictures almost every morning and it is so fun to see how creatively different each day might start. 

We were lying on the dock last night looking at the stars and vastness of our sky.  Are we the only ones that God created all of this for?  Would He create all of this beauty just for us, just for you, just for me?  I believe the answer is YES!

"I just had surgery"

Okay, the "I just had surgery" is not working for me anymore.  It has been only a week and two days since she had surgery.  This is NOT what the doctor order I am pretty sure.  She found this size 3 youth wet suit in the life jacket box, she tried it on, (What 20 year old tries on a size 3 wet suit to begin with?) and decided that it was tight enough across her stomach that she could try wake boarding.  So being the "adult" that she is, she made the decision to wake board.  She actually did pretty good, but did not want to fall, but stop on her own terms.  We will see how she is feeling tomorrow.  The day after is always the true teller of how hard you played.