salsa (now with pictures!)

Our garden is doing very well lately. I have more tomatoes than I can eat, and Kelsea doesn't eat them plain, so we decided to make salsa. We're also growing peppers that are doing well. After looking at various recipes, and reading the ingredients of our preferred salsa, I decided to combine what I knew I wanted, and make something up. I often cook this way when it doesn't involve bread, cake or cookies. So anyway, we had to buy some jalapenos, an onion, and some limes, which we combined with our bowl full of tomatoes, and one bell pepper. It turned out pretty good, though too spicy (I should have used only one jalapeno). It's nice to be able to do something productive with all those tomatoes.

Incidentally, I purposely got tomato plants that would not produce huge tomatoes. It has been my experience that larger tomatoes take too long to ripen in the desert heat, so they split, go bad, get eaten by insects, or all of the above, before we get to eat any. So this year, I planted 6 roma tomato plants, and one grape tomato plant. The tomatoes we're getting are mostly very small roma tomatoes, or very large grape tomatoes. But we're getting a lot, and they are very good.

Also, our basil is growing like crazy, we're overwhelmed by zucchini (which honestly doesn't take many zucchini), the cucumbers are overwhelmed by the zucchini plants, our carrots are leafy but the roots are still small, the peas have mostly died in the heat, we have one pumpkin that is already turning orange, and five or six watermelons that are gradually getting bigger. I think next year we might have to put in a lime tree to support our salsa habit. We also have some very young grape vines that won't do anything till next year.

So, in the picture to the left, do you see any watermelon? I know there are three that I could see when I took the picture, but in the picture, I can only find one for sure. The largest is about the size of a mini-basketball. We had a watermelons about that size (12 in. diameter?) before we even noticed that there were any watermelons actually on the vine. Then we saw the other four or five all of a sudden. They hide well.

Lake Pics

Lake Day

We went to Lake Mead on Saturday, and I was reminded why we don't go very often. I had fun, and I want to go again, but without a boat, it's crowded,and you have to put up with other people. I don't mind putting up with people, but it's nice to have some privacy, someone was smoking (which was weird all by itself), and you have to see people who don't understand that a bikini doesn't automatically make you look good. Also, I got sunburned, as usual, though not too bad, and only on my shoulders. I wore a life preserver a lot of the time, so that I could swim around with Holly and Mia more safely. We decided they both needed life jackets, and they're likely to be more daring swimmers than me if I don't wear one too.

I really enjoy floating along in the water with a life vest on. I've never been a great swimmer, but bobbing along in a big lake is really relaxing. I also enjoyed water skiing the last time we went, which was also the first time I went. If the girls didn't freak out about water so easily, Lake Mead might become a regular destination for us.

So we'll go to the lake again, especially if someone with a boat invites us. (Which might be a hint, but I don't know if anyone with a boat reads this). Unfortunately, I didn't take a camera, so I have no pictures. Consider that a gift though, as you are spared my blinding whiteness.

Family pictures

On Saturday, we went to my parents' house to have pictures taken. My sister and her family are visiting from Colorado, and it had been a while since our last family picture. After fretting about a photographer, Marissa, (who Tacy and I went to high school with) came and took some good pictures. Here is our official family portrait:
Marissa commented that my dad looks like he is comfortably hovering. I noticed who barely got off the ground. Tacy claims she has "bad jump timing." Yeah Tacy, I believe that. I'm also surprised that I look to have jumped as high as anyone, since all of my younger siblings have played volleyball in high school, and some played tennis. Granted, it's a jump for a picture, and Matt and Chris were wearing matching sandals, but still. For reference, we're lined up oldest to youngest.

Ok, fine, it's not really our official family portrait, and I haven't even seen the pictures Marissa took, with this exception. Here's the link to the Facebook album [link disabled, email me to see them] I made of the pictures I took.

Also, one note on graduation. My little sister's high school graduation is today. She thinks she'll be a CHS alumni. Of course, she'll be an alumna. As a Latin-based word, all forms are present in English, so alumna is correct, even in English, and alumni is only correct for more than one male graduate, or a group of male and female graduates. You know those license plate holders that say, for example, UNLV alumni? I could never get one of those, because I'm only one graduate, but I would buy a UNLV alumnus license plate holder in a heartbeat. I've often considered ordering a BYU alumni license plate holder, because that would actually be accurate, as Kelsea and I both graduated from BYU.