How We Spent Our 4th of July Weekend: 2010 Edition

Time to crank out some more vacation blog posts--in the next few installments, I'll share some pictures & thoughts from our week in Utah!

Our Fourth of July weekend was a very busy one--unfortunately, much of that "busyness" involved traveling. On Saturday, July 3, we bid Colorado a fond farewell and drove through the Rockies to the Wasatch Front in Utah, where we'd stay with my sister's family in Saratoga Springs, UT.

 The drive through the Rockies was, as always, fantastic. Such beautiful vistas; the Denver-Grand Junction leg of I-70 is one of the most scenic routes I've ever driven. Everyone should try it sometime. We stopped for a quick break in Glenwood Canyon; the pictures don't really do it justice, but it was breathtaking. We also got to look down on several rafting/canoeing adventure tours floating by on the Platte River:

While heading west to UT, we took a brief detour into Rifle, CO, where my cousin Michael Nash and his wife Ramanda live. We hadn't seen them in years and it was wonderful to visit them & their children. They were, as always, very generous, sweet and funny!

This is Aurora with Mike's lovely girls: (L-R) May, Mikie, and Ashley. They loved Aurora and rarely put her down the whole time we were there.

And here's Cousin Mike, as he and Aurora get to know each other...

Their backyard was huge & chock full of neat stuff, like a thriving garden (complete with raccoon blood; Mike had killed one amongst the vegetables the night before), a chicken coop filled with chickens, and a bunch of kids' toys & games, including this see-saw--look how excited Lorelai is!

After our stopover in Rifle, it was hours more of driving...5 more boring hours...ugh. However, there was family at the end of it, so that made it all worthwhile! We had most of the evening to crash at Jocelyn & Paul's house; since the 4th of July was on a Sunday, and since this is UT we're talking about, all the big fireworks shows took place the night we arrived. We declined the invitation this year; maybe we'll catch a full-scale fireworks show in 2011!

However, on the 4th itself, there was still plenty of fun to be had (following church, that is):

We set up the Carlin's grill pit & made s'mores for everybody (here's cousin Abby toasting some marshmallows);

Nate & "Uncle Paul" sat around talking guns & bullets; they later went on to do some shooting down by Utah Lake...

and the kids all took turns jumping on the Carlins' new trampoline. Lots of fun indeed!

Then it was FIREWORKS TIME! Paul bought a ridiculous amount of bottle rockets, fountains, blooming ground flowers, sparklers, firecrackers, etc. last time he passed through Nevada. Needless to say, the party went on wayyyy past certain kids' bedtime...

Sorry, those are the best fireworks pictures I have (doesn't Jocelyn look a little "overwhelmed" holding all those sparklers??).

But there wasn't much time for sleep, despite the late bedtime. We had to get up early the following morning, to drive down to Provo, for the Freedom Festival Parade. I won't go into much detail on this, since Nathan wrote his own blog post about the parade here. However, I will add a few pictures...

(the girls really enjoyed the "giant Pongo," as they called him)

Aurora was still a little wiped out from the night before. Luckily Aunt Jocelyn was able to lend a hand...

Behold, the Founding Fathers (only this time, they're being pulled by a truck and they're drowning in glitter). Hee hee...

The parade was lots of fun; I enjoyed it in spite of the crushingly huge crowds & the hot weather. We're glad we tagged along with the Carlins (getting out of Provo, though, was a bit of a chore). However, the highlight of my day was yet to come, as our family headed to Pleasant Grove for our Utah dining tradition...

Oh, Purple Turtle, how I've missed you.

Yes, it's a greasy spoon. Yes, you can feel yourself getting fatter just reading the menu. But who cares? It's so darn tasty. I always used to get their fish and chips, but today I went for their salsa & Swiss burger...

It's HUGE!! And cooked to perfection. On this trip, we noticed a new menu item--sweet potato fries (just like regular fries, but with more vitamins)! We had to try them:

They cost a little extra, and you don't get as many fries as you do with a serving of regular fries, but they were still very yummy and just the right texture (it can be hard to cook sweet potatoes just right, without leaving them too crunchy or overcooking them into wilting). Unfortunately, though, the sweet potato fries didn't taste quite as good as the regular fries when paired with that ubiquitous Utah condiment--fry sauce.

Finally, though...the REAL reason we keep coming back to the Purple Turtle...

...the shakes. Oh, the shakes!!! What you're seeing here are two SMALL shakes (yes, the overflow cup is normal for the small size). They have over 30 shake flavors, and I haven't had a bad one yet. They are incredibly thick, creamy, and delicious, and are guaranteed to shorten your life. We ordered a strawberry cheesecake shake, and a peanut butter cup shake. Nate & I got the big cups, while the girls finished off the little cups. We were all quite stuffed at the end.

So there you have it, folks...that's how our busy 4th of July weekend went down. We were tired at the end of it, but we had a lot of fun. And here's how it looks when 2 little girls stay up late watching fireworks, then spend the whole next day at a parade and the Purple Turtle (not to mention driving all over UT County):

Nighty-night, slugs! More on our Utah adventures later.

My Yummy Home-Canned Blueberry Jam, In Pictures

I know...I should be doing more vacation photos, but it's my blog and I'll do what I want, darn it! I wanted to share another one of my newest canning projects that I'm pretty darn happy about--blueberry jam! A couple of weeks ago, blueberries went on a big sale down here in Sahuarita--just $1 per dry pint! I couldn't say no to that; of course, I bought some to eat fresh (they're so delicious fresh), and froze quite a lot of them too (great to thaw out later & use in muffins, pancakes, smoothies, etc). But this time, my ol' canning sense started tingling, and I thought, "What if...?"

Before I proceed, a disclaimer...I am in no way a canning "expert." The recipe you're seeing here is literally the recipe that came with the pectin--I don't have any "special formulas" in canning, I just tend to go by what the experts say! However, I do love canning, and I do think it's a great skill to learn that will benefit you & your loved ones, plus it results in some tasty product. So I'm just sharing the fruits of my labors with y'all...virtually.

Anyway, first you've got to gather your raw ingredients--the box of pectin, as shown above (1 package will result in one batch of jam);

your blueberries, of course (you'll need a little more than 3 pints to get started);

and your sugar. ALERT: the recipe calls for 4 cups of sugar. I used 3 cups of regular sugar, then 1 cup of Splenda (sugar substitute). I know the package says you shouldn't use sugar substitutes, but I've found that your jam will still work as long as the sugar substitute only makes up one-quarter to one-third of your total sugar measurement. Sure enough, with 1/4 of my sugar replaced with Splenda, the jam still set up perfectly!

 And, as always, be sure to have your pots cleaned & ready, your lids sterilized, and your jars washed with hot soapy water. Here are all my tools, ready to go!


Let's get started...first, wash the blueberries (make sure their stems are removed), then drain them well...

Then get out your masher and mash away!

Blueberries are easier to mash if you do it in small batches (say, a pint or so at a time). You'll ultimately need to measure out 4 cups of mashed blueberries...

...as shown here. Frankly, the color of the mashed blueberries scared me a bit; I wasn't sure I'd want to be eating jam that was the color of fresh bruises (brownish-bluish-green). As it turned out, though, I needn't have worried.

Add your mashed blueberries to the pot, stir in the pectin, and bring the whole mixture to a rolling boil (that's when the mixture remains at a full boil even when you're stirring vigorously). The above picture is just after I turned on the heat...

...and this is the full rolling boil, complete with lots o' steam! It's important to keep stirring this mixture as thoroughly as you can. Let it boil like this for about 2 minutes, then...

Dump in your sugar all at once! Keep stirring, and it will soon dissolve into the mixture from the heat. However, it will get more difficult to stir. This is when endurance comes in handy; you have to stir for a few minutes, until the whole mixture comes to a rolling boil again. Then, keep stirring the boiling mixture for about 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.

At this point, it's time to ladle the jam into your jars--using a funnel like this is very helpful! Once the jar's been filled to within 1/2 inch of the top, make sure the rim of the jar is clean, then screw on the lid:

The recipe will tell you to put your jam jars in a hot-water canner at this point, but here's where I diverge from the recipe yet again. I've never had to use my canner to seal my jam jars. All I do, after screwing the lids on tightly, is invert the jars, and let them cool completely (this can take several hours; I usually leave them alone overnight).

The heat of the jam will cause the lids to seal themselves--at least that's been true with my jams in every case (and I've been canning jams for years).

Voila!! This recipe yielded about 3 pint-jars full of blueberry jam (with a little left over). Luckily, the bruise color faded quickly during cooking, and the final product was a lovely deep purplish-blue. The texture was perfect, too---once cooled, the jam hardened nicely, with virtually no runniness. If you like blueberries, then this jam did not disappoint--we tried it on toast with a little butter that night. Dee-licious.

So...keep an eye on your grocery store. Maybe you'll be getting a sale on blueberries soon! If so, I highly recommend making some jam. It was easy and very tasty!

Home Sweet Colorado Pt. 5: Tiny Trains, Campouts & Other Delights

Just a few more random photos and thoughts from our Colorado trip this summer...

If something looks weird in the above picture, it's because these houses aren't exactly to scale. In the foothills to the west of Denver, close to the town of Conifer, is an odd place called Tiny Town. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like...a tiny town, in which famous/landmark building from Colorado's history are recreated at a smaller scale.

It was a big drive up the mountain, but an interesting place to visit. Not only that, but Nathan's sister Kelli and her family live in Conifer, so it was a good opportunity to meet up with them...

...and take a spin on Tiny Town's pee-wee train, which makes a circuit of the whole park and even crosses a little creek! Needless to say, the cousins were all pretty excited...

 All the kids crammed themselves into the caboose of the train; it started to look a bit like a clown car:

After a quick trip on the train and another few minutes playing on the playground, it was off to Kelli & Taryn's house for pizza & playtime. It was great!

The two gorgeous vistas above are--no kidding--the view from Kelli's front yard. So. Jealous.

As I mentioned above, Kelli's house is in Conifer, which is up in the foothills--a good 45 minute drive from my parents' house, where we were staying. Earlier that same day, I'd taken an even longer drive--up to Ft. Collins, CO, where my high school pal Kim now lives & works (she's a pediatric nurse in a local hospital).

Here are the girls with Kim at McAlister's, a yummy deli not far from her home. It was great to see her, and I unfortunately didn't get a lot of pictures of Ft. Collins, which is too bad, because I LOVE Ft. Collins! With luck, I hope to live there someday myself. It's a biggish town, but not TOO big (and it's not too far from Denver, if I ever wanted some excitement). It's clean. It's beautiful. It's close to Colorado's majestic Rocky Mountains. Need I go on?

Back in Denver (although not necessarily all in the same day), I had a couple of trips down memory lane...a trip in which my kids joined me. My dad thought it would be fun if the girls had a "night out under the stars," so he pulled out our old family tent, which we took on many a trip to the mountains:

The girls were very excited (they'd never slept outside before!), but just to be on the safe side, Daddy slept outside with them as well in case they got scared:

Everything went great! It made me long for the day when we, as a family, can have our very own campout--of course, we'll have to buy a tent of our own & some supplies first, but there's time for that.

Last but not least (not to me, anyway), the day before we left Colorado, I did a quick drive-by of an old haunt: the home of my piano teacher! Hazel is a wonderful woman who's been teaching children in Denver piano lessons for decades. I owe much of my love of music (and pretty much all of my piano skills) to her excellent work. Because I was feeling nostalgic (or maybe because I was in a stalker mood, whatever), I snapped a few photos of her home for my own collection. For many years, I'd make the weekly trip through Hazel's back door to her piano studio, either for an individual lesson, a group lesson, or a recital (she held them at her home monthly!). In addition to being a good teacher, Hazel is also a good housekeeper, and has an immaculate yard. My favorite part? The paved walkway leading to her studio, which includes this neat design:

Cool! That would be neat if I could have something similar at my home someday. Yes, I'm a music nerd.

With that short trip, there wasn't much left to do but pack our things and get ready for the drive to Utah. I'll blog more about that later. I had a great time in CO; can't wait to go back next year & play around some more!