Sunday afternoon BBQ

Since Peggy and her parents JW and Betty were in town Barb had a little BBQ so we could all get together. Here are our "Kodak" moments- 

Me and Emma

Matt and Kenny (I think Matt likes his gotee) 

Peggy the baby hog :) 

Betty and Matt

Sarah and her great grandbaby Emma

Sarah and Kenny 

Sister and Brother (Sarah and JW) 

Betty, Sarah and JW

Peggy and Emma 

Did you know Matt has 2 teeth??? Sure does (Emma has one too but it was too hard to get a picture) 

Matt is such a happy boy! 

Barb and Matt... 

don't tell my mama, k? 

Michelle and Matt (love baby giggles) 

And here is some videos for your viewing pleasure: 

I love how Zack says "bless eww"

Suns Tour

As season ticket holders we were invited to a lunch with our "Sixthman Specialist". We enjoyed some pizza in this super cool room. Notice the basketball hoop? Also, the floor was hard wood and had the court markings. During lunch we were told all about special events and privileges of Season Tickets holders. I am most excited about the ticket exchange. Our goal is to go to ALL 44 games, however when we are in Hawaii there are 5 games we will miss. Our plan was to sell them, but we found out we can exchange them for additional tickets to another game. That way we can bring people with us to a few games! 

Next we got another tour of the stadium. Doesn't it look little without people, a court and the jumbotron on the floor??  We cannot wait for the season to start!!

What to do, what to do...

with this?? 

I got this in my bountiful basket this week and to be honest I didn't even know what it was! Luckily it had a label on it: Butternut Squash.

So I googled it and came up with this- 

My friends at work and family really liked it so I thought I would share the recipe I found on allreciepes.com: 

Better Than Pumpkin Pie

Rated: Submitted By: Barbara Photo By: SunFlower Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes Servings: 8

"Looks like pumpkin, tastes like pumpkin, but it's butternut squash!"

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 egg, beaten 1 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 pinch ground allspice 1 pinch ground cloves 1 pinch ground ginger 1 pinch ground nutmeg 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Place squash in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and simmer over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and cool.
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3.	In a blender or food processor, combine butternut squash, brown sugar, cornstarch, egg, milk, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Process until smooth. Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a table knife comes out clean when inserted in the center.

Fossil Springs

Saturday morning we had to pick up our bountiful blessings basket at 7AM so we didn't get on the road and pick up Jereme and Melodi until about 8:30. By the time we got to the trail head it was high noon, nothing like hiking in the heat of the day! Luckily it wasn't too hot. Our packs weighed in at 42 lbs for Jereme, 40 lbs for me and 35lbs each for Kenny and Melodi.

Kenny and I at the trail  head 

Jereme and Melodi at the trail head 

Kenny on the trail. 

We made it down in 2 1/2 hours and were all tired of carrying our packs. 

Here are the guys in our "living room"

I think we snagged pretty much the best spot in the whole place because some ladies had just packed up and offered it to us. Our tent looks like the guest house to their tent. 

 After we set up we went out exploring...

we found springs

a swimming hole with a rope swing (the water was too low though) 

 but I think my favorite was the waterfall off the old dam. 

you could actually jump off the fall and swim under that wall into the little "spa" area - we didn't try it. 

To get under the fall was difficult so just the guys ventured in.

Kenny swam in the pool below the falls to take this amazing picture.

This was a cool spot Kenny found. You could ride the current into the cave and back out.

Kenny and I in the cave

Jereme and Melodi crossing the fall 

 It started to get dark so we headed back to camp.We took a dip in the swimming hole near our camp site right before it got dark and then we all headed to bed at 8! I have to say sleeping in a tent is not one of my favorite things, but it was tolerable. Poor Kenny was a bit tall for the tent and his feet stuck out! We actually slept for 12 hours! Well I should say we were in the tent for 12 hours I probably woke up once an hour.. it was nice to be so near the creek, but it was pretty loud (Kenny and I thought it sounded like and oscillating fan!). The next morning we decided to find the springs on our way out of the canyon. We all knew it was going to be a tough hike out and we wanted to get started. We left camp about 10:00 and played in the spring for awhile.

The swimming hole

Kenny

the spring (see yesterday's video)

Me

the beautiful view 

Off we go... 

About 10:30 we were on the trail out... I am not going to lie it was really hard for me. The hike was rated 6 out of 10 for difficult and the elevation change is 1280 ft. Kenny ended up taking most of my weight in his pack and trudged on ahead of me.

view of the rim

Melodi and Jereme on one of our many breaks!

Jereme and Kenny 

Me and Melodi 

After the first 1 1/2 it got a lot easier, but we were all exhausted by the time we made it to the car! It took us 4 hours to hike 4 miles... We took our stinky, dirty, sore selves to Denny's for dinner in Camp Verde and drove on home.