Heat Wave!

Like many of you, we have been under heat advisory's for much of the past week. I really can't remember a time that has been so hot and so dry.
The grass is so dry that is doesn't take much for a fire to start.
On Thursday and again on Friday, we had electrical transformers blow about a mile away from us, and grass fires started as a result.

We had driven by this area about 15 minutes earlier and then were quite shocked when we drove past later to see that there had been a fire! It shows how quickly a fire can happen in these dry conditions. A little further down the road is where the other transformer blew, and the fire was larger there.

This is hard to see, but it's a thermometer that shows the temp in our back yard. It's in direct sun and it always shows the temp hotter that it really is in the afternoon. This was taken Friday and it shows 122 degrees! I did see actual temps of 109 in town that afternoon. As I said earlier, I don't remember ever seeing temps that high.
It finally cooled on Sunday, with temps in the high 80's -feels so much better! It's supposed to be in the 80's this week, but then get hot again. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the temps a bit cooler and keep praying for rain.

Fourth of July

I hope you all had a great holiday. It was extremely hot here and we had a relaxing morning.
Laura, Aaron and Alaina came over and had supper with us.
As usual, Alaina got lots of attention.

I was trying to get a picture of her in her red, white and blue outfit, but as I've said before, she doesn't stand still! She's also teething and her hand was always in her mouth. :)

After supper we decided to do an impromptu photo shoot to get a new family photo of them. We got some good pictures. Aren't they a cute family?

Then back into the house to cool off and have a little play time.

Laura had offered to bring dessert - check out the cake she made!

When she cut it, we found a flag inside. It tasted good too!

Cooking Thursday

It's time for Cooking Thursday. Stop over at Sandra's place for more recipes.
It's been really warm here. In this kind of weather, we aren't hungry for a big meal and I don't feel much like cooking either. Something I do when I want to throw together a quick meal is make grilled sandwiches or Panini's. We each have a little different version. Mine is turkey, bacon, swiss with tomato - yummy!

Panini Sandwiches

Bread of your choice - we like Ciabatta
Thinly sliced meat - turkey, ham, roast beef, bacon
Cheese - swiss, cheddar
Thinly sliced tomatoes
mayo - we like herbed mayonaisse

Butter bread and place it butter side down on your griddle or panini maker. Layer your choice of meats, cheese and other toppings. Cover with another piece of bread, butter side out. Grill until lightly browned.
This is a quick and easy supper, easily customized for each family member!