Family is EVERY THING

Family is like desert.


Sometimes you want to eat first what you should eat last... my family is my desert! I can never save them till the last.


The past 2 weeks my dear brother Jeff and his sweet wife Lois, have been in Arizona. I have enjoyed spending some precious hours with them. We wait and wait to have visitors here and then when it happens it goes by much too quickly.


We were able to meet them several times for dinner and shopping and talking.


They are my desert.

Last night I did some cooking for them. And what a joy it is to cook for the ones you love.

We also had more loved ones join us. Jeff and Nikki were able to come. Our dear Tyia was with us as well. It was so special to have our adult family together. It isn't that I don't love my grand kids, because I do, with all my heart!! But it is so nice just to have the "grown ups".

As I prepared our food during the day, my heart was full with love for those who were "coming to dinner".... even my husband.... as he was at work and had no idea what was going on at the home front with me and Tyia in the kitchen.

The Menu: Fillet Mignonne, Twice Baked Potatoes, Steamed Veggies, Pistachio Pudding Salad, homemade rolls, homemade strawberry ice cream, and homemade Lemon Bundt Cake.

Is your mouth watering?

It should be!

I have fallen in love with a new blog site http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

She has helped me with the desire to cook, and has the best basic recipes. The Twice Baked Potatoes is a recipe I blog lifted. It was easy, and fast. It was a hit at the dinner. Jeff Ritter even ate two, and they are really big potatoes! I was so glad to see my brother Jeff clean his plate and went back for seconds on a few items... I will tell what they are later.

Yep, Jeff had more than one roll. Well, most of us already wear our rolls, so we were glad to see him eating up!

The rolls are my Potato Flake Rolls which I have shown you before.

We were planning on eating outside, but wouldn't you know it, we broke 85 degrees and it was just a little warmer outside than I was wanting.. so we ate inside. I had to turn on the air conditioner for the first time this year, (just for me) as the house seemed a bit too warm after being around the oven all day. Once the house was cooled down we were comfortable and enjoyed gathering around the table and talked, laughed, listened, ate, talked, laughed, ate, and ate.

My "chef's companion" stayed with me all day. She was the creator of the cake and ice cream. And boy were they good. We will be eating too much ice cream in the future I am sure, because we know how fast and easy it is to make it.

And then there is Tyia.

Isn't she beautiful....? I snapped this photo of her outside as we were looking at the flower garden. This January she planted flowers and has taken full responsibility to take care of them.. I love flowers, but I don't want to fuss with them. She has done such a wonderful job keeping them watered, weeded, and fertilized. They are almost as pretty as she is.

This is one of the many roses we have in bloom, because she fertilized them with "Coffee grounds". Yep, you heard me. She learned it from someone at Starbucks, so she brought some home and sprinkled them on the roses and the flowers. Boy, what a cheap way to have gorgeous flowers.


The sweet peas are some of the flowers she has been taking care of. They are so colorful and smell heavenly. My Tyia is a "sweet pea" .

So, as we waved good bye to our loved ones at the end of the evening, my heart was filled with joy. Spending some quality time with my family is the best. Family is EVERYTHING. There is nothing on this earth as precious as my family.

Thanks Jeff, Lois, Jeff, Nikki, Tyia, and Varce for making my day all worth it. I love you!!