Caramel apples

Sterling and I decided to use up the last few apples we had and make some caramel apples. The package of caramel we had said it was enough to make 5 apples. I figured that we would just make the three that we had and then we could drop spoon fulls of the rest onto wax paper and let it cook and it would just be caramel candy. LOL...we were lucky to get the 3 apples made, I guess we were heavy handed on the caramel. They turned out really yummy and had so much more caramel on them then any others we have had. We both decided though that they were fun to make but that we would much rather just have the apples cut up and dip them into some of the store bought caramel apple dip. At least we had fun making these and they were not too much of a mess to clean up.

The Aurora Borealis

Awhile ago Sterling and Curtis went to an invention club from the homeschool group. This 5 week session was about Alaska. They studied the Aurora Borealis one of the weeks and they painted pictures of what they thought it would look like. This is Sterlings version of what he thought it would look like. I think it is really cute and the colors are really pretty. Curtis made one also, I just need to take a photo of his and then I will get it posted.

My dads desk

I now own my dads desk. When my dad died in March my brother and I cleared out his den. There was lots of garbage, checks that my dad saved from the past 20 years, all sorts of old mail, years and years of magazines. There was also some of his prized possessions. All of his Roy Rogers collectibles. Old and new photos. Lots and lots of journals that he kept over the years. We boxed up all of the good stuff and we threw away the 20 year old mail. We poured over his old journals and read some stuff he had written over the years. There in the corner of the room was his desk. A roll top desk that he had for years. I can still see him sitting at the desk paying his bills or reading his bible. He had this desk for as far back as I can remember. My brother did not want my dads desk. My mom did not want it anymore and I was more then happy to take the desk. I do not need a desk and I was not looking for a desk but it means a lot to me to have something that my dad enjoyed for years and years. The desk is still in really good shape. It needs a knob or two fixed. Also, if you look close at the closer picture you can see scratches and gouges along the edge of the desk. Those are from my dad. He wore a big heavy watch and after years and years of his watch dragging across the edge of the desk it wore into the wood. My brother thinks I should sand it down and stain it so it looks better. I am going to leave it just the way it is because that is part of what makes this desk unique and special. If I want a perfect desk I will go buy one but this one is more perfect because it has meaning.

Summer soon

Summer is coming soon. It is already hot and we have already had a few near 100 degree days. I am dreading the long hot summer. It would not be so bad if it did not last for so long. It will not even cool off until November. It is really depressing to think about how miserable this heat is. I see other people post about fun 4th of july picnics or going for walks etc but wish that we could enjoy summer activities outdoors. The only time we can have a picnic here is during the winter. The kids can not even play at the park half the year because it is too hot and the play equipment is hot enough to burn the kids.
It is really miserable to drive in the car in the summer. I have air conditioner in the car but just getting in and out of the car sucks. The seat belts are blistering, the steering wheel is hot, it takes a good 5 minutes to cool the car off at least some and then by the time I get to where I am going I get out of the car and am all sweaty and grumpy.
Each year when it starts to get hot I start dreaming about moving some place cooler. I start looking online to see what places are available that have good weather, low crime, good cost of living, job availability for Ray etc. I have found a few places that would be perfect for us. We dream of moving and talk about it and that is about as far as it goes. I really want to explore it further though. Maybe even take a trip to one of the places I am interested in moving to and just see how it goes.
I just think our quality of living sucks because of the heat. The things I would love to do with the kids I can't because I can not stand the heat. Things like bike riding, miniature golfing, fishing, taking hikes and walks and that sort of thing.
Maybe I can find some place perfect for us to move to and have it not end up being too much of a hassle to move....I can dream at least lol.