Labor Day

 Happy Labor Day to my friends in the U.S.  I hope those of you from other countries aren't laboring too hard today!

(Comments are disabled for today, enjoy the time with your family)

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

During this season, our church has a big table where people can bring extra produce to share. Last week, someone brought a bunch of jalapeno peppers. Someone else there said she had made Jalapeno Poppers and they loved them.  So, I took a few to try it out.  Bob was skeptical of how hot they would be, but they turned out really good and not hot at all. If you have extra jalapeno's, try this one out!

Jalapeno Poppers

6 jalapeno peppers
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup bread crumbs (Italian or plain)
1 tablespoon butter

Slice jalapenos in half.  If you don't want them too hot, scoop out all seeds and the white membrane.
In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, shredded cheese and seasoning until creamy.
Spoon filling into jalapenos.
Melt butter and stir in the bread crumbs.
Dip stuffed jalapeno into the bread crumbs so filling is covered.
Place in air fryer at 325 degrees for 15 minutes or until bread crumbs are golden.  Or you can bake in oven at 425 degrees for 5-10 minutes.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Community Fair

Our Community Fair was last week.  Alaina and Ruby usually enter things to the exhibits, and we went to see their things Friday afternoon.

Here's a view of the Fair scene; rides, food and lots of happy kids!

I love the colorful Ferris Wheel!

We walked past a man doing chain saw carving. I like this eagle.

Laura and Aaron were there with the girls, so they came to the exhibit hall to show us their entries. Here's a few of them. It was hard to see them all because they put everything behind fencing so it isn't damaged or stolen.

Ruby's leather coin purse

Ruby's woven doll blanket and pillow

Alaina's clay relief of a cactus

Alaina's cutting board with wood burned design

They had to enjoy a few rides

This is Ruby and Aaron on the Ferris wheel

You have to see the animals when you go to the Fair.  I thought these sleeping goats were cute.

We were good and didn't buy any Fair food.  :)  But, we did get a lemonade to share.

I don't get nearly as excited about the Fair as I did when I was a kid, but it's always fun to walk through and see everything, especially if your grandkids are part of it!

44 years!

Last week Thursday was our anniversary.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful husband and we've now been married for 44 years. We decided that we would have a fun day out to celebrate.

We started at our neighborhood Sprinkles which is a donut shop.  A friend is the manager and she had told us to stop by for their grand opening.  Bob won a t-shirt and a free donut.  

From there we drove to Fallasburg, which is about 45 minutes from our house.

We had a picnic lunch and ate it near the Flat River.

We took a little walk to get closer to the river.

There were lots of geese enjoying the area too.

A little selfie!

Next we moved on to the Historic Fallasburg Covered Bridge.  It was built in 1871 and is on the National List of Historic places.  It is one of 2 covered bridges in Michigan that is open to vehicle traffic. 

Isn't this a beautiful bridge?  And I thought I'd take a picture of that good looking guy too!   The sign says "$5 fine for riding or driving on this bridge faster than a walk."

We did drive through it, but also walked through and admired all the beautiful timbers.

The river from next to the bridge

There is also a historic village.  This was the home of one of the founders of the village, John Fallas.  It was built around 1840. He and his wife lived here until their deaths, in 1891 and 1896.

The old schoolhouse, which was built in 1867.

Next we drove to an adjacent town, about 10 minutes from the bridge. This is Lowell and you know you are in a farming community when this is in the town!

We walked through town and saw the Lowell Show Boat.

This was such a charming town.  It was full of beautiful old buildings.

We enjoyed walking down the main street and stopping at some shops.

One of them was this antique store, always fun to walk through!  I even made a few purchases.

I thought this old paperweight was pretty.

Look at this cute little pewter pitcher.  I thought of Janice from Prims by the Water when I saw this one, as she just purchased a little pewter plate.

One last shot of this charming town.

We avoided the highway and took the country roads home.  It took a little longer but was a pretty drive.

We went out for supper, Bob got meatloaf and I had a southwest salad.  A good meal after a lovely day!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

The recipe I'm sharing today is one I got from my friend Deb at Days of my Life.  She posted this taco recipe and said her husband wasn't usually a big fan of tacos, but he liked these.  Bob is also not a big fan of tacos, so I thought I would try them and see what he thought.  He really liked them too!  They are easy to make and it's nice to have them ready to go when they come out of the oven. They make a perfect summer meal.
*I halved this recipe so am writing it out that way.  It still made 12 tacos which was more than enough for us.

Oven Baked Tacos

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
1/2 can refried beans
1/2 envelope taco seasoning
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons tomato sauce
1/2 can Rotel tomatoes
grated cheddar cheese
12 crispy taco shells

Stir together the ground beef, refried beans, taco seasoning, water, tomato sauce, Rotel and cheese.
Spray taco shells with Pam to keep them crispy.
Fill the taco shells with the meat mix and set on cookie sheet.

I leaned them against each other and the edge of the pan to keep them a little bit upright.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

We added shredded lettuce, taco sauce and sour cream when done.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Connor is one!

Our Connor had his first birthday last Friday and we had a party on Saturday. Here's a few pictures of the celebration.

The party was Sesame Street themed and these signs were on their slider doors as we were outside for much of it.

Pictures of Connor through the last 12 months.

The birthday boy!

It was very hot, a good day for some water fun.

We had a nice picnic supper.

And then went inside to open presents.  Connor was happy with the tissue paper and wrappings!

Connor's cake looked like a giant cookie that Cookie Monster would have enjoyed.  

He did get into it and made the usual mess!

Happy Birthday sweet Connor!  You are so loved!