Salt and Pepper Popcorn - Product Review

Since I enjoy salt and pepper potato chips, I decided to give Orville Redenbacher's Salt and Pepper Popcorn a try. I have to say that the "Butter", "Movie Theater", or "Kettle Corn" varieties have always been a favorite but I am trying to move toward a healthier snack and since this is whole grain and natural with 120 calories for each mini bag, it seems like a good choice. I found that the pepper gives this popcorn a little kick so you do not miss all of the butter. It is not over powering but just the right amount of pepper. I found this flavor to be just as addicting of all of my favorites. I am still a fan of the butter varieties but I will include the salt and pepper option into my popcorn stash.

Orange Sunflowers

I have to do a quick post about these flowers. They are about 6 feet tall and the heads are small so the plant does not fall over like the regular big yellow Sunflowers. There are around 7-10 heads on each plant and the color is absolutely beautiful. We may have a backyard full next year....if I can figure out what my husband bought! He said they are Russian Sunflowers. When I google that....it seems most sunflowers are called "Russian". I am going to try to save the seeds, wish me luck!

Nineteen

Lauren's birthday fell on Labor Day this year. This was the weekend she was moving into her college housing so I did not think she would be home, but she made it!! I went to Dairy Queen and picked up a cake so we were able to do a small celebration. The Dairy Queen cake has been a pretty popular request over the years. Chelsea started it way back when and the only time we veer away from the ice cream cake is when we get a fresh strawberry cake from Golden Delight Bakery.

This is her college room. She worked all summer to save her money to buy the furniture! I only pitched in a little as a birthday present. I am proud that she did not waste her money and she bought some nice furniture that she will have for a long time. (There is a cute little nightstand on the other side of the bed.)

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Kiawah Island

In August we went to Kiawah Island South Carolina for our family vacation. It is a beautiful island with hard white beaches. We have been going to Kiawah, off and on, for 25 years and really enjoy every time we can get a beach vacation together.
The island has 30 miles of bike paths, a couple of look out towers, a park and a couple of golf courses. It is lush green with condos, houses and a 5 star hotel.

Since the ride from Ohio to South Carolina is around 12 to 13 hours, we decided this year to break up the ride and stop on the way there and the way back. Our first stop was Chimney Rock North Carolina. This was so neat. We stayed the night at the Mountain Lodge Conference Center in Flat Rock. I was extremely nice, we will stay there again.

Vista Rock was about halfway up the climb to Chimney Rock.

The views were fabulous.

This is TJ on Chimney Rock . We were in the Opera Box

and were able to take a picture across the mountain.

This was Lindsey, Baylee and myself in the Opera Box.

Hickory Nut Falls is about a 1 mile hike. It was pretty flat

and easy to walk.
When we arrived at Kiawah, this was our view. Terrible right?

We stayed at Windswept Villas

The beaches are hard so you can ride you bike on the beach!

This was in Charleston. The pineapple fountain was dry, but

we still had fun.

On our way back to the island we stopped at Angel Oak.

This is the oldest oak tree in the states.

This is one of the lookouts on the island. It looks out

over the marsh.

On our way home we stopped at the Biltmore Estates in Asheville North Carolina. It is a beautiful estate but it poured down rain non stop for 4 hours. We did not get to see everything and enjoy it as much as we should, but these lovely rain ponchos made the visit a little more bearable.

We waded in ankle deep water to the farm and enjoyed the animals.

We toured the estate and went through the museum.

The girls were amazed by all of the stories. We drove

through the gardens, it was too wet to walk.

The vacation was a really good time. We did get wet several times throughout the week,

but all in all, we did have more pretty days than rainy days so we did well!!

Pig Roast 2010

We had our 4th annual pig roast last weekend and we had great weather! The planning started over 2 months ago with us going through our stock of supplies left over from last year, planning the date, and making the flyer. We were lucky that our supply bins are pretty full since last year's roast was on a pretty popular vacation week so our attendance was down. This year the guys decided to go with a later date so we would be out of those popular vacation weeks. The attendance was about the same as last year so it may not matter what date we pick for next year.

The supplies in the garage the night before.
This is the pig during the second basting. He was on the

roaster by nine and done by four.

This was the tshirt design for this year.
The girls and I always make a piggy dessert!

These turned out great this year!

The carving, pulling and chopping of the pig lasted 1 hour

with 5-6 people working constantly.

The line started around 5:00 pm. There were so many good

dishes brought by neighbors and friends!

We had five tables and chairs setup in the shade.

There were three more tables up by my neighbor's house and

people sat on his deck. There were also several games

setup in the yard!

Additional seating on our patio. At one point we

counted 100 people.

Thanks to all the sponser families. This roast could not have been such a success without you. Your help with gathering supplies, food prep, setup, and clean up was much appreciated. A special thanks to Dave Mangas for making a great basting sauce and keeping that pig basted all day!

I hope everyone enjoyed the 2010 Pig Roast and will come back next year!!