The County Fair

We went to the county fair this last weekend and had a lot of fun.  It was Mary's first time and I am sure she will have some fond memories of our day.  It was the very first time for her to go on rides.  She went on a small roller coaster and a carousel.  She loved both of them.  The animals were so amazing ... BIG pigs, friendly goats and some beautiful cows.  We enjoyed fresh squeezed lemon aide, cotton candy and fresh hot baked pretzels.  Here is a slide show of our day.

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Mary painted a picture of her and Mac playing.  She really loves her little dog.  Her Aunt Linda sent her a t-shirt that says, "I heart my puppy".  It couldn't be more true!

Princess and the Pup

Mary and Mac are becoming the best of friends.  Mary loves giving him treats and playing with him.  His little tail just wags his whole back end when he sees her coming down the hall in her pajamas in the morning.  He is getting better about his little puppy nipping.  He is extra gentle with Mary as she gets away from him if he nips her toes.  So being on her lap is a great for Mac and he is such a good boy

Yard Tour

I have put together a little video tour of our yard and flowers.  This year the weather has been so mild and lovely.  Such a great year for the plants.  As I am typing right now it is 64 degrees and raining.  Very unusual for this time of year.  We usually don't see a drop of rain in July and August.  So we have been having a wet and mild summer here in the Northwest.

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Cherries

From this ...

To this ...

To this!

My sister and brother-in-law gave us some beautiful cherries on the 4th.  They were so sweet to give us several bag fulls that they picked.  Rich made really yummy cherry jam from them.  He just used the recipe off the Ball pectin box and it came out so good.  One batch he added lemon zest along with the lemon juice.  We call it our zesty cherry.  It has a real lemon flavor along with the cherries.  I like it a lot.  The rest of the jars he just added the lemon juice and it brought out that beautiful cherry flavor.  We took several jars to our home fellowship and gave them to people.  Rich just loves to share the things he makes.  He is a true chef, loving to cook and loving to see people enjoy what he has made:)

Our Dog Mac

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May the 4th be With You!!

We had a really fun Independence Day weekend!  On Sunday we all dressed up in red white and blue and went to church.  We had a special service to honor all the service men in our church and a special message concerning our nation and the church.  Then we went to Rich's folks for a fun afternoon.  We took MacKinley Mac as Mary call our little dog now, with us over to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Rich's mom had a couple of toys for him.  So cute.  One was a ball with a bell inside and the other was a stuffed bird as big as him and he loved.  We call the bird, Kevin.  If you have seen the movie, "UP"  the name will make sense.  Mac did really well at Rich's folks.  It is good to have you puppy experience different people and places when they are young so that get well socialized.  Also we were gone from our house all day and we couldn't leave him that long, so he had a great time at Grandma's and Grandpa's.  He is such a good boy and Mary is so good with him.  She loves him so much.  At one point he nipped her in his puppy play and she just cried and cried.  I held Mac up to her cheek and he kissed her so sweetly.  I told her he was sorry and she smiled through her tears.  I told her he did not do that on purpose but that is how all puppies play and he will out grow it in a few months.  She then said,  "Oh, Mama, I just love him sooo much!"  On Monday we had Rich's folks and my sister and brother-in-law over.  We had a bar-b-que and then dessert in the evening.  When it started to get dark we had a small fireworks display in our back yard.  It was a lot a fun and beautiful evening.  Here is a slide show of our weekend.

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In Love

Yesterday we got a puppy and we all are just in love with him.  He is a little Pom-a-poo (Pomeranian and Poodle).  He looks just like a poodle except for his tail curls up his back like a Pomeranian.  We named him MacKinley and call him Mac for short.  MacKinley means "son of the white warrior". He is very tiny, only 7 weeks old.  He is the sweetest little puppy.  He loves his bed and his toys.  Very smart little thing too.  Poodles and Pomeranians are both very smart breeds.  Poodles are second in intelligence next to Border Collies who are the smartest.  Pomeranians were originally sheep herding dogs before they were miniaturized.  As you can tell I have been reading up a lot about dogs!  lol  I had been looking for a puppy for about a month and was getting a little discouraged at finding just the right one.  Sunday when we sat down at the table to bless the food, Rich said, " Lets all pray for a puppy and we will see what happens on Monday.  All day Monday nothing happened until right before I went to bed I checked some ads on the computer and there was an ad for these little puppies.  So, I just took it from the Lord we were to check it out. I called the next day and talked with the gal.  She seemed really nice and had 3 puppies, 2 females and one male.  I told her we would like to see them and we set it up for Thursday afternoon.  Thursday morning I got an e-mail from her saying the female puppies were not available as she had to sell them to one lady because she has promised her females in her last litter and didn't have any.  So, all that was left was the little male.  We had originally wanted a little female.  So, I was disappointed.  Then I just thought, "Well we are just leaving it in the hands of the Lord and he knows best."  So, I called the gal and got to talking with her and found out that she was a Christian and was so happy to know that we were Christians too and it comforted her heart about giving up the little male as he was her favorite.  She said he had the cutest personality and so smart!  So, Mary and I got in the car and drove the 30 miles so see him and he was wonderful.  We brought him home and we had a little bed and toys for him.  He just fell in love with his little bed and toys.  Mary just loves, loves him!  She can only hold him if she is sitting on the floor and I help her to remember he is just a little baby puppy.  She just wants to be near him and talk to him and watch him play.  I know they are going to be such good friends.  Rich really likes him too.  We have a little play yard for him with his bed, food and little wee wee pads to go on.  

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Hungarian Pork Chops

Well my wonderful husband has knocked my socks off again with a really yummy recipe that I want to share with you.  This is now our most favorite way to have pork chops.  Rich found this recipe in an old cookbook of ours.  It was called sour cream pork chops but it reminded him of a pork chop recipe that he loved to have at a restruant that he would frequented when he was in the Army in Georgia many years ago.  They were called Hungarian Pork Chops.  He used the sour cream pork chop recipe as a base and then changed it to his taste and retitled it Hungarian Pork Chops.  So without further ado, here is the recipe.

Hungarian Pork Chops

6- Pork Loin chops 1/2" thick or 2 large Pork Shoulder chops cut in 6 pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 tblsp sugar
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
 4 tblsp shortening or lard

Mix milk and egg in shallow pan and dredge meat through mixture and then coat with flour and bread crumb mixture and set pieces on wax paper.  Let rest 10 minutes.  Brown meat lightly in frying pan with hot shortening and arrange pieces in baking dish.  It is O.K. to slightly over lap pieces.  Combine chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, sugar, seasoned salt and sour cream.  Mix until smooth and pour mixture over meat and bake covered in a 350 degree oven for an hour.  Use sauce in dish to pour over mashed potatoes. 

Sweet Little One You are Real!

Today marks a very special day in my life. Five years ago today, I first felt Mary move inside me. The positive pregnancy test was wonderful but it just didn't seem real until I heard her beautiful little heartbeat at the doctor's office, so quick and endearing.  It was so precious to me also because our first little one never had a heart beat and that is why we lost him.  The most profound was this day when I felt her little movements tap the inside of my womb.  She was speaking to my heart and saying, "I'm here, I'm here!"  Now she is my sweet little preschooler coming home from her first week of Vacation Bible School and loving it.  Singing all the songs she learned  that day.  Saying, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you Lord!"  How could it get better?  But, I know it will as she grows and learns many more wonderful things, becoming the young lady that God has intended her to be.  I was just looking at her new born picture and then the one I took today and realized how quickly the time has gone!

Dance Recital

Mary's dance class had their recital on Saturday.  She had so much fun!  It was her first time on the big stage and her whole class did really well.  Rich's folks came to watch her with Rich.  I was back stage helping out with the kids.  Here she is getting ready to go on stage and is so excited!

Here they are with Snow White getting ready to practice their dance.  They are friends of Snow White, the little bunnies.

Mary is the little bunny second from the right.

The big stage

Waiting before the big performance.

Mary with her friend, Mady, out in the lobby.

Here she is with her red rose that she got after her performance.

We had such a nice Father's Day weekend.  We had her dance recital on Saturday and then Sunday after church we took Rich's folk's out for dinner to a steakhouse that we had not tried before.  It was recommended by some dear friends of ours and it was fantastic!  We were Outback Steakhouse fans but this new one, The Road House Grill, beat them hands down.  I am so thankful for my wonderful husband.  He is such a good dad and husband.  Always so loving and gentle with Mary but firm when she needs it.  I am most thankful that he loves the Lord and is a good example to Mary as to what it means to love and serve the Lord.  We pray each day that she will follow in our footsteps as we humbly follow our Lord.