New Blog

Hello everybody! I have moved my blog to a different site. The new address is http://epursey.wordpress.com/

I will have pictures from our summer trip to Iowa very soon.

Trip with Mom

I took my Mom on a road trip to Solvang. We had a great time. On the first day we looked around the main street, found a cute restaurant for lunch and took a horse drawn trolly ride. Then we drove to our hotel. It was beautiful. The rooms are all different, they even have some rooms that walk right out on to the garden.

We had a private garden behind our room.

For breakfast the next morning we had the towns famous Aebleskivers, plus some ham and eggs.
After breakfast we headed out of town to Mission Santa Inez. We got in just in time to see the sanctuary. They closed it for a private function after we walked through. We finished our self guided tour in the back garden.



After Mom and I rested on a bench for a it we headed back to town and took in the town museum. For lunch we decided on American and had sandwiches and potato salad. The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping and people watching.

In the evening Mom and I went to The 39 Steps at the Solvang Festival Theater. It's an open air theater and we saw people walking in with heavy coats and blankets, none of which we had, we thought we were dooooomed!!!! LOL They had blanket rentals. Awesome ;) So we rented a blanket. Neither Mom or I had seen the original play, this one was a comedy, so we are going to try and rent it before she leaves.

Sailing and Father's Day

Dwight is our sailing ASM. We are very grateful to him for letting us use his boats and teaching us how to sail!



The past weekend Derek and I went on a Boy Scout sailing trip. The weather was beautiful. This year we had very strong winds on Sunday as well so we had more then a day of sailing. The only problems we ran into was no water. There was quite a quest to find some as more then half of the park were undeveloped sites.

On Saturday night there was a gorgeous sunset and a harvest moon.

Ironically I did not get any photos of Derek specifically. I think he took one of me though.



When we to home Sunday we celebrated Fathers Day with John :) Derek grilled us all steaks and we watched a movie.

Second day of Swimming

I wonder how many days in a row we can get in the pool? My guess is four.

8th Grade Graduation

Derek is in high school now! The ceromony was nice and short, the weather was beautiful and our seats were right in front of Derek. What more could we ask for. We were warned about parking but even that turned out fine.





Graduation Gift - An iPad2!!



Derek getting his Diploma - We got overly excited so the video is kinda shaky ;)

Last Day of School Lunch

The last couple of weeks have been crazy. Both boys have been hanging out more with their groups of friends, which I love, but all the driving is tiring. It's still all good though. In one months time Max was invited to 3 birthday parties. Madness I say. I felt so lame about getting everyone gift MasterCard's but 3 birthdays to shop for is uber crazy. We all survived though and had a great last day of school lunch.

Happy Easter!

I've been cooking most the day but it was worth it ;)

I made Spiced Stuffed Roast Pork with roasted cauliflower and potatoes.


And then there was PIE!!!

More Hemp Jewelery

I've been feeling very creative lately. Late in the winter I got a notion that I could add beads to the choker I had made last summer so I bought some different colors of hemp cord from amazon. The beads I already have were to small so I went shopping and got the next size up. They worked really well. I looked on the internet for ideas and instructions for adding beads and new knots. I made myself a new choker and anklet with beads. I really like how it turned out. I think my brother might like one to. I'm trying to remember if he wares jewelry. For a bracelet I can make one in about 30 min. if there are no beads. The beads take a long time to string on but once they are on it takes about the same amount of time to do the knots.

In my searching for new knots I came across the switch knot. I love it!!!!! The knot makes a sort of lacy more delicate bracelet.

First Henna of the Season

I've been waiting for Kamala to come back from India. I was really excited for some henna. I think I will wait until June for my next session with her. She showed me a peacock she had done. It was beautiful. I am not sure about the placement though. It's meant to go across the back, corner to corner and over the shoulder a bit. Maybe a smaller version for my birthday would be nice. My mom will be here so she could drive me. I would need help getting the paste off to if it is on my back.

This is what I got about a week ago.

Hard Working Boys

Oh my gosh. We have smarties in the house!!!

Max


Derek

Been a Long Time

Goodness I can't say I have been busy just neglectful :( Well sorta busy. The boys have spring break starting Monday. We are not going out of town but we do have a sleepover planned. It's still a little early to heat the pool, we need consistent 80's for that, so no swimming. At the end of the week both boys are going to camp-o-ree, a boy scout event. While the boys are gone John and I might try and take a little weekend trip to Napa. John went a couple months ago with his parents and found a great new place to visit. He is looking forward to taking me.

I have been working on several knitting projects. Both baby blanket and sweater are going slow but they are big projects so I don't mind. I've done a few quick knits. I made my mom a scrubbie for her birthday and I made a few for myself as well.

Today I finally got to my new necklace. I've been trying to get to it for a few weeks but did not have the time. I made one last year and wore it to summer camp. I really liked it and wanted to try it again but this time with beads.

Soup Saturday

I made the best spicy hot and sour soup. I used half the corn starch though. I don't like it so very thick. I also thought of a great way to shred the chicken. I used half frozen chicken and put it in the Cuisinart with the shred disk. It worked out perfect. I sauteed it with rooster sauce then added it to the soup. Yummy!!

Solar is On!!!!!

So we have been waiting for the last step in our solar installation, getting dual direction power box. The wait period was about 4 weeks but I think it only took 3 weeks. I thought the power company would make an appointment. I guess not because this morning I got an e-mail from the solar company saying we could turn on our system. I guess PG&E came out and just changed it. It is outside so no need to make an appointment or ring the bell. I was very excited to turn everything on but waited until the kids got home. I figured they would be so excited their heads would explode but the were not nearly so freaked as I.

Ironically it is overcast and raining today. But as Maxwell found out when they were intalling the panels, it will collect some rays when it is cloudy. Nothing like what we will see on a sunny day but when we check out the online page with all our system info we should see something.

Shots

Last week I got my dpT booster and a flu shot. Ever since I have been really sick. I'm so tired and tired or runny nose, cough and sore throat. It has been one of the busiest weeks ever for us and I had to do it all sick. Plus we have had visitors from Iowa. I really wanted to go to Napa with them but I was way to sick for that. They did bring me back some tasty looking wine though.

Despite being sick I have tried to keep family and guests well fed :) I even made a Pie



Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Since i have been home sick a lot I got my cowl done to.

Napping

I love to nap. I often take one. I'm not sure why but I have since I was little. In college the girls on my floor thought I was nuts. When I started working full time at the National Soil Tilth Lab I barely made it throw the day because I could not take a nap. My little desk area with in the lab so I couldn't take one. I like my job now much better because I have many options for napping. My boss even provides a bed, heh. The only problem is I have to share ;)

Doing Fine

Not much is going on right now which is fine with me. We had a camp out last weekend. Our troop hosted between 15-18 Webelos up at Camp Chesebough in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was a good time but lots of work. Our scouts did a fantastic job teaching the Webelos everything from fire building to knot tying. Adult leaders helped out with archery and ax throwing (very popular ;))

I'm slowly getting me sweater done, very slowly. I think I might have it done before it gets warm again. . . maybe. Here it is so far.

Max's Birthday

Max wanted chocolate chip banana waffles, grilled steak and Black and White cake. No problem! He had a very quiet birthday but when asked the next day how his birthday was his response was," It was awesome!).

the birthday boy


the cake


the happy family

Frittata Night

Potato Onion Frittata



It was oh so thin but ohhh sooo delicious.

Lego New Year

We had a very quiet, relaxed holiday with friends. John thought it might be fun to make a board game out of Lego but insisted the only way to get at the lego was to dump the barrel. Even thought it is a huge mess I have to agree and the kids freaked on having it so available.



AND Juno had to test it for bathing ;)