Bye Bye Burbo

Last night I bid farewell (and good riddance) to my old Suburban and said hello to my sexy new Durango. I have wanted a Durango for years but could not rationalize the money for a new car... until the money being spent on the old car started looking like throwing good money after bad. So Jeff and I have been looking for a while. Yesterday we found it.

I had two main things... 1) It had to have enough power to tow my camper 2) It had to be under $16k and less than 60k miles. This baby had both.

So, without further adieu, friends and family, may I introduce you to Red...

She's got a lot of gizmos and gadgets but I'll learn them all eventually :-)

Navigation system... YAY! :-) now I can find my way to YOUR house. LOL

Star gazing anyone? :-)

And last but not least... no more lugging out a big ol' heavy seat when I need more room in the back. All I have to do is lay down the seats. :-) Love it!


So there you have it. My new car. :-) Room for kids, power for pulling, and best of all... it's got a bumper to bumper warranty for 3 years. Good thing too! LOL :-)

Ready to come for a drive with me???

Weekend Fun

It's been a busy weekend here at the ol' Ritter Ranch. Keep reading and see all of the fun and the work we did.

Saturday mornings mean yard work... well maybe for most people... for us it's a rather rare thing but we all buckled down and got busy. The fun part was that when we all pitched in and got it done it didn't seem all that bad.

First we took care of the chicken coop and added the trampoline top for some extra shade (yeah we should have done this at the BEGINNING of summer instead of the end. Oh well.

Madi is holding the chicken that broke its leg when it was young. We just about ended her sweet little life but I kept her right next to me all day on my desk until it healed. Now she does not even have a limp.

Jack is holding one of our Turkins. They are not really part turkey but they sure do look weird. I love their naked necks!

We all worked on the garden and got quite a lot planted. We're a little late so I hope it all comes up in time.

Onions, scallions, green beans, sugar snap peas, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli. YUM!!

Last night was our ward's trunk or treat. We didn't spend any money on costumes this year (which I'm thrilled with). I always like the costumes you create from what you have. :-)

I had a lot of white fabric that I was going to make a nightgown with. Instead it was used to make a mummy. Madi went with the traditional "baby going to bed". They both looked great!




Tonight we had poppy over for dinner. Lemon garlic chicken has been cooking up all day long in the crock pot. I served it up with green beans, carrots, and rice a roni. YUM :) Good food, good conversation, and excellent giggles make for the perfect Sunday dinner.

And then once supper was over we had THE CONTEST... who has longer hair... poppy or Jack? LOL~~ :) I'll let you be the judge. All I can say is I think with dad's retirement getting closer and closer he's reverting back to his hippie days.




















Either way I think they both could benefit quite nicely by spending some quality time with nanna and her scissors. :-)

Living the dream....

Tonight I read the blogs of some "kids" I really love and miss. They aren't really kids anymore. They've grown up and moved on/out. A few are at BYU-Idaho, one is at BYU-Provo, and I LOVE reading their blogs. It brings back memories... and a few regrets... of the time I spent at college. Oh what i wouldn't give to go back!! If i had it all to do again here's a few things I'd do differently:

1. Boys... I'd date. And I'd date like CRAZY!!! But not just any boys... I'd date boys who have ambition, a strong testimony, and a love for the wilderness. Looks fade, bills pile up. housework and yard work can be a drag so find the boys you don't mind looking at on the inside, the ones who will always be good providers for your family, and who know how to clean a toilet. The rest is easy. LOL

2. Grades... They matter. I would have studied harder, attended my classes more, and actually TRIED to make it to the next semester instead of just looking for the easy road (their ain't no easy road).

3. School... I would have stayed on campus more. Joined clubs... been INVOLVED. Yeah. Big missed opportunity there.

4. Friends... I don't remember the full names of anyone I went to college with... not even my roommates. How sad is that? Seriously. I should have made better friends. I should have been a better friend.

You get out of life what you put into it. I didn't put much of myself into college and I didn't get much out of it. Fail. In more ways than one.

Caramel Apples

One of my favorite childhood fall memories is sitting up on the kitchen counter unwrapping about a gazillion Kraft caramels. Then as they were unwrapped one by one we'd plop them into the pot as mom stirred them until they were all gooey and melty.

Next come the fresh, crisp, cold apples. You can hear the crunch as you slide the stick into the core. Finally it's time to dip... and dip...

and dip...
watch the master at work...

Now comes the hardest part, the waiting for them to cool.


Tonight Jeff thought he'd be funny and issue a challenge to the kids while we were waiting... stick your finger all the way in the melted caramel. He did it first and only let out a mild whoop. Needless to say the kids are both standing at the kitchen sink letting cold water run over their fingers and Poppy is standing there laughing. Not the smartest kids on the block but they sure are fun. :-)

Learning Curve...

I'm a sucker for a good webinar. I love learning new things about the internet and I've been watching the grand daddy of all webinars IMHO (in my humble opinion). well ok it's the grandaddy for this week LOL anyway... Facebook Success Summit 2010

My mind is filled up with ideas for so many websites that I work on. I have lots. I have my "day job" at www.savingdinner.com I have my personal websites like this blog, www.desertgardenpath.com, www.seemediet.com, www.inyourwritemind.com (a work in progress), www.matrixsportsclub.com, www.charlesgreggo.com and a few others. they keep me VERY busy. but i love them. all of them. each one is a piece of who i am.

Some people clean house. I create websites. :)

But today I'm going to give my poor eyes a rest from the computer screen and do some old fashioned reading from a book. The weather is finally cooling off and I'm going to go lay in my hammock and read The Referral Engine by John Jantsch. :-)