Toe-mate-oh?

Do you have tomatoes growing like crazy? We do. Regular and Cherry. We're not complaining, we're just running low on ideas to make and/or can. This morning Jake and I peeled 43 regular tomatoes and made homemade spaghetti sauce. We pulled a Stuffed Cherry Tomato recipe off line and tried two of those. They were delicious. We've done salsa and BLT's, now we need help. What else can you do with tomatoes? 

{pre-spaghetti sauce}

{and we have cucumbers and green beans too}

{stuffed blt cherry tomatoes and stuffed guacamole cherry tomatoes}

Send recipes soon. The growth is not slowing!! 

River Rats

The Columbia River is a happening place in the summer. It's the best way to cool down, relax, and totally enjoy the summer. We've been lucky enough to live 5 minutes away. We toss the dogs in the back of the truck and away we go. 

~Belle is our water dog. She would swim away if we let her. We keep her on the leash so she isn't whisked down stream!

~ Buster is learning how to grab his ball in the water. It was pretty funny because as the tide would go out he would go for the ball. Right when he would grab it a wave would splash him in his mouth and he would drop it! 

~Most of the time he sat and watched the ball come in and go out.

~You can't tell here but he finally got his ball. 

~Sage was a bit timid at first. Jake had to help her. 

Good thing summer just started here.

~Salsa~

Because everything is a friendly competition here . . . 

Two salsas. One fancy homemade (or painted rather) chip dip bowl. One Winner.

Emily's Homemade Dip:

Jacob's Homemade Dip:

One Fancy Homemade (or painted rather) Chip Dip Bowl for the winner's salsa:

And the winner is:

EMILY!

I have a confession. Mine was WAY too hot. Well for me too enjoy. So Jakes truly won the rights to the winner's bowl!

I've talked to a couple of my friends about people who blog about how much they LOVE something or someone. Some times you wonder if they are trying to convince themselves that they have made a good decision or make it a point to tell others they really are happy. But then sometimes that someone is you. And you really do LOVE what ever it is. That's how I feel about Washington. I know it's not my final resting spot in life, but it's definitely a place I truly enjoy, or LOVE.

This last weeks weather:

I'm not sure I'd have to explain why I like it here. It's July and the high is only 95! The kicker - there is always a breeze so it never really feels like 95!

NOTE TO SELF:

When your husband goes out of town and your not sure if you really want to go . . . GO! Even if he's on a tight schedule and you're not sure how much exploring there is to do . . . GO!

Jake's been out of town and that leaves me at home. The house is clean. The dogs are fed. What more is there to do. I wasted two hours of my life watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey. LAME. What a waste. So I turned off the t.v. and went outside. 

The Potatoes:

If you weren't sure what plant the potatoes really were, you weren't alone. So I sat and weeded the garden. I found a slug. It was pretty gross. There were some worms too but they didn't bother me. A bunch of ants too. The slug was gross.

My favorite part of Spring/Summer is the fruit. Every morning before work I would go out and pick a bowl of raspberries, boysenberries, and cherries. Delicious.

These berries are for my smoothie. 

The boysenberries were pretty big. I was impressed. This was a fat one!

These cherries are delightful!

The birds wouldn't settle for the ones on top, they intruded the bottom layer too. So I climbed the latter to save the ones in the middle!

The strawberries became a home for a quail family.

We've now watched the babies grow into little quail. Jake would like to shoot them. 

The tomatoes are out of control. Salsa here we come!

And of corse the peas! They were good while they lasted!

Belle is doing the clean up!

There are so many other things that's going on. The river, the parks, our running course, house sitting (and we're getting good at watering plants!), and much more! Our adventures are just starting to begin up here.

Life is good.