{Recipe} Glazed Almonds with Lavender

Back in April, some friends of ours took us to a winery where we tasted wines and ate tasty glazed nuts with lavender.  They were amazing, but Jon is allergic to most tree nuts.  After returning home, I embarked on a quest to find a recipe for glaze that I could make with almonds, since they are one of few nuts that Jon is not allergic to.  I found this glaze recipe originally at cooks.com.  I just added dried lavender to it to get the similarity to the nuts we had at the winery.  It's not quite the same...this recipe comes out more like a nut brittle than a glaze, but it is tasty, just the same! 

Here's the scoop:
2 TBSP butter or margarine
1/2 C Sugar
1 C raw almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla
Food grade dried lavender flowers, to taste (I maybe used as much as a tablespoon... you don't want too much or they taste too perfume-y).

Combine butter, sugar, almonds and vanilla in a heavy skillet over medium low heat.  Stir constantly until sugar mixture becomes a liquid.  Add lavender flowers and spread mixture onto prepared surface (I used parchment paper, but you could use foil over a cookie sheet).  At this point, I sprinkled some of my remaining lavender flowers over the top.  When cool, break into pieces and enjoy!  (Try not to eat them all at once).

Delish!

{Provision}

Thanking God today for His provision in the form of a job with the main school district here in Spokane.  I found out this morning that I've been offered a music teaching position, and I'm excited to take it!  It will be a new challenge, but one that I am excited and ready to take on!  It's funny to think that after getting my Masters and library endorsment, that I'll be going back to teaching music (!) but I think it will be fun!  Time to drag out all my old General Music books and notes.... 

In which we break down and eat out...

Yesterday evening, as a treat to the kids, we thought we'd stop in at a Spokane icon, the Milk Bottle on Garland.  They are famous for their milkshakes, so we thought we'd have a little treat and be on our way to make the chicken chimichangas I had planned for the evening.

Upon entering this fabulous establishment, which really does have a giant milk bottle attached to the building, we were assailed with the sights and smells of fried goodness.  A batch of homemade shoe-string fries was just coming out of the fryer, burgers were on the grill...oh my.

We ordered our shakes and went outside to sit and wait for them, continuing to fight against the amazing smells coming from the kitchen.  We lost this fight.  After our milkshakes were delivered, we also ordered dinner...  sandwiches and burgers and fries.  It was AMAZING.  And a little more special to everyone because we haven't been eating out.

So here's the plan for the rest of the week:

Tuesday:  Chicken chimichangas, with Mexican rice
Wednesday:  Salmon patties with baked potatoes
Thursday:  Grilled chicken breasts with bowtie pasta and pesto sauce
Friday:  Discipleship group potluck
Saturday:  Leftover day!  If we run out, I'll probably make something light, like nachos.
Sunday:  Pork roast and potatoes, roasted yellow squash

It's so much easier when I make a plan and stick to it, but it's also good to be spontaneous and enjoy life now and then, too!

Thinking about Christmas

I'm already beginning to think Christmas around here.  Unpacking all our boxes had the happy chance to reacquaint me with some of my Christmas fabric, which has my creative juices flowing.  You may remember these from last year:

Burlap Christmas stocking with vintage fabric and lace

I'm now selling them in my Etsy shop; with lots more ideas of Christmas-y goodness to come.
There are some other fun items in the shop already, so feel free to check them out.

Send Us...

Our final weekend in Missoula was a whirlwind of fun.  Jon and I celebrated our 16th anniversary on Friday (Dinner at Outback, yum!).

 Gabe and his fellow Scouts said good-bye on Tuesday...

 Saturday night was a send-off celebration dinner at Clark Fork City Church, where the worship team gave him a gift he treasured...

 Cheese!  Because sometimes you just have to be a little cheesey.  Saturday night was also Lucy's last night in Montana, she had to fly out early the next morning.

 Sunday was our final Sunday at CFCC, with a fun BBQ with friends afterward.  

 Jon and I were also able to enjoy a dinner with our good friends Lee and Stacey Yarbrough from Mexico on Sunday evening.  Monday was spent cleaning the apartment and making sure we had everything packed up from our short stay with Jon's parents, and then on Tuesday, we loaded the Uhaul...

Jon turned in his keys to the church...

 

 and drove to Post Falls, Idaho.  We spent Tuesday night with friends and then drove into Spokane to do our final walkthrough and get the keys to our rental.  It was a really busy few days, but we made it!

We are getting to know our new neighborhood and settling in well.  We have a park two blocks from our house, and are within walking distance or short driving distance to everything we need!

Bethany's birthday

This year, Bethany turned 12!!  Time flies when you are having fun, they say!  We took her and her besties swimming and then came home for a BBQ and a S'mores bar instead of cake and ice cream.  For a summer birthday, I have to say it was a hit!  Definitely will have a repeat appearance at some point.  Pictures of the fun:

Poolside

Best friends...

Take the plunge!

Birthday girl!

Presents!

Gabe and Micci...  I caught her in action!

Too dry for a bonfire, so we had to improvise!

Silliness.

Forgot to take before shots... Here is during the s'mores bar!

Lots of different chocolates to choose from...  Yum!

My Cookies 'N' Cream, strawberry, marshmallow s'more.  So good!

Me enjoying my creation

BFF's with matching sweatshirts!

Happy birthday, Bethany!  You light up our lives!!

Yellowstone, Part 2

Pictures offloaded from my phone?  Check.
Writing a follow up post to make sure I post some of these? Check.

So my regular camera ran out of batteries shortly after our visit to Old Faithful, and I had to take the remainder of the trip on the trusty iPhone.  I also like to Instagram things (a lot), so I've got a few of those as well.  Enjoy!

Such interesting colors

Bison poop...thanks to Micci for snapping this one.

Micci and Lucy

Lots and lots of steam and sulfur

Waterfall!

Such bright blues!

Grand Prismatic Spring

Hey Bethany, can you carry...?

Bright colors!

Yellowstone is such an otherwordly place to visit.  Of course, it's always more interesting to the adults than the children, but we just couldn't move out of Montana without taking them there.  It is beauty and barrenness, a unique combination.

Yellowstone National Park

As promised, here are a few pictures from our Yellowstone National Park trip with the lovely Lucy Aldridge.

Just inside the North entrance

Family picture!

Random bison hanging out by the Mammoth Hot Springs Diner

Mammoth Hot Springs

This cone was created by chemical deposits

Lucy and the girls

Jon and I

My cuties.  :)

Top of Mammoth Hot Springs

Jon and Gabe

Trees can't live with so much sulfur around

Lucy and the girls again

Waiting for Old Faithful

Waiting paid off...  Old Faithful geyser

Lucy and the girls in front of Old Faithful

We had a lot of fun on this trip!  We laughed at how crazy we are, wondered if Bethany can ever eat anything without getting part of it on her nose, walked a TON, and saw lots of super cool things.  I have more pictures on my phone, so there may be a "Round two" post of Yellowstone coming up once I get those on the computer.  We have such a fun, crazy family!!