The perfect day

This year we missed the pumpkin patch. We had one place in mind and on a sunny Saturday we loaded kids in the car and drove to Deseret Village. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of lines and plenty of parking spots. Once we walked past the gate of the Village, we realized that we came a week too late. Pumpkins were gone and there were very few people walking around...

Bingo! We missed the crowds! Who cares about pumpkins? Being able to let our kids run around freely and play in any child-sized house without waiting for a dozen of other kids to take their turn was the best treat ever. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the trees were still sporting their brilliant colors and the temperature was *perfect*... It really couldn't get any better! Well, actually it did, because we also got to go on a 'train' ride.

We spent wonderful time there, Mark was trying to keep up with Maya and Elijah, I was carrying Anya and taking photos... No hurry, no worry :)

Donut Falls

It's been over two weeks since we hiked that trail but I can still remember the cool fresh air and the smell of mud and wet leaves. Mark and I talked about how much we liked the feel of this 'lone and dreary world', complete with pines, streams, rocks and snow. The fun part was getting back to the car with shoes covered in mud. That's when we truly felt like we were taking part of that world with us to where we lived, surrounded by busy streets, tiny houses nestled next to each other, moving cars and people, who are always in a hurry and yet can't seem to find time for all the things that need to be done...

I dyed...

That's with a "y", get it? :) I know I haven't posted in a while so I have a bit of catching up to do...

A couple of weeks ago this was delivered by a UPS guy:

My long awaited order from Dharma Trading :D I have to say, I love *colors*. Sounds strange? I love colorful things, playing with colors of my photos, mixing colors when I decide what to wear, looking at the colors in nature and things that surround me. And I LOVE being able to 'paint' things with colors. Well, since I don't paint (yet :), dyeing is perfect substitute to that. And it also allows me to think of all the fun things I can do with yarn and fabric once it's dyed.

These were the first few things I dyed after a long break due to the incident when Elijah dumped all the Procion dyes I had. Our first ever play silks and some lovely soft alpaca yarn which will most likely will be knitted up into a hat soon :)

Today's lunch

No, I didn't make it all today :) Mujadarah (rice and lentils) was made last night, flatbread (lepyoshka) was made the night before, and today I just whipped up another batch of Muhammara dip. Tomatoes and cilantro are a perfect addition for rice with lentils, but boy, those tomatoes from Whole Foods are a mockery to my taste buds that are going through a withdrawal after feasting upon real tomatoes from farmers market and Annie's garden in the last few months...


And here's the recipe for Lepyoshka that our friend Linda shared with us (so it's authentic Uzbek ;)

Mix and knead:
2 Cups water
1Tbls yeast
2 tsps salt
5 cups flour

Divide dough into 4 balls and press out one at a time into circles on greased board. Leave the edge thicker than the middle. Condition top with egg and prick flat middle part with fork. Bake on lightly greased baking sheet at 425 until lightly browned.

I have to add that I didn't do the egg part, just made sure the dough was greased on both sides lightly. And I also found out that it's best to stretch out your dough until it's about 1/2" thick. And don't wait for the browning part, mine were too hard once they got browned, but maybe it's just our oven. Oh, and lastly, I did half white flour and half whole wheat. Next time I'll go for all whole wheat :)

It's all about colors

Happy colors make ma happy. Or even better, any colors in fun combination make me happy :) So I'm putting together a quilt, hoping it will be a perfect addition to our couch for those cold winter nights (and days) when I want to wrap myself in a blanket and watch a show with a cup a cocoa or tea.



This stack of fabric has been staring at me for a couple of months, so it's quite an accomplishment that I was able to put together half of the rows last night. Oh, and did I mention it's my first quilt ever? I just hope it won't turn into new addiction, since it's a very time consuming one :)

Food for thought

This is as close as I'll come to mentioning politics on this blog :) I had no idea who Colin Powell was until I saw this clip and then Mark explained to me why this guy sounds so convincing. Honesty, duh!

Late hikes

This year we haven't been very good at having regular hikes, esp. in the fall. Partly because Saturday is the only day when we get to unburry our house from heaps'o'stuff that magically grow back overnight and it's just too hard to find perfect time when it's not kids' nap time and not too dark outside, and when we are not too tired.

This week we've been able to get out !TWICE! and both times is was so refreshing to change the scenery, breathe some fresh air in, get our shoes muddy and listen to the silence of the trees around.

Today's photos are still in the camera, but I have some other ones ready that we took during our Wednesday hike. Both Mark and I were taking photos, so he deserves some credit for doing his best at 'covering' for me when I couldn't hold my camera still while bouncing on my feet to keep Anya from squirming :) And I do enjoy seeing things from his perspective, and the fact that those photos are a 'surprise' to me, something that I don't get to instantly view on the camera screen...

On the way back is was almost too dark to take photos, but I don't mind the noise so I cranked up the ISO and caught the following: