Ugly Cherry Pie

I inherited some pie cherries from my mother-in-law a couple of days ago that were begging to be made into a pie.  I'm not the most expert pie-maker, but have had pretty decent luck in the past.  I'm beginning to think it was beginners luck!  Making pie crusts is an art, I've decided... one that does not come naturally to me!

Last night I had it all rolled out and was patting myself on the back for how pretty it looked!!  I had used a small cookie cutter to cut four little hearts for venting and decoration and it looked prefect laying there on the counter.  I started transferring it to the waiting pie and just as I had the shell over the top of the pie, it came apart in about five pieces.... argh!!!!!!  It's a lot harder to salvage when it actually lands on the pie and has filling all over the one side.  If it had happened en-route, I probably would have just crumpled it into a ball and started over (even though I know it makes the crust "tougher"...)!  But, that's not really an option with cherry filling all over it... so I salvaged it the best I could.

It's one of the uglier pies that I've made, but I'm amazed at how much baking disguises the imperfections... and simply the fact that it is a pie...  here's to hoping it tastes better than it looks though!

I used the following two recipes for the pie:
Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust from Pioneer Woman
Cherry Pie IV Recipe from AllRecipes.com (only the pie recipe)

Priest Lake

Nearly two weeks ago we headed up to Priest Lake, ID for several days of fun in the sun, beach time, huckleberry picking, and just a lot of fun!  I'm really slow about getting through my pictures which is why this post took over a week to get up!! Priest Lake is a beautiful lake.  It is glacier fed, so very clear and clean... and very cold.  Since I'm a total wimp when it comes to cold water, I don't do much swimming!

We headed up a few days before Carl and met his Mom, Grandma, and one of our nieces who stayed to help entertain my girls!  We were very glad to have her - as you can see, my two followed her lead!

It was also a help since the weather didn't cooperate the first couple of days.  We had rain and temps in the 50's... we weren't really expecting that in late July!!  Thank goodness for books, play dough, and being able to beauty-case Granny!!  It made being porch and cabin-bound for the better part of two days a lot of fun!!

Carl made it up during naps on Friday, so he joined the girls for the remainder of their snooze.  He worked some long hours to be able to get away for Friday afternoon and the weekend.

The girls were glad to see their Daddy and spent most of the evening with him down by the water throwing in rocks.  It's amazing how long that activity will entertain little ones!!

The weather turned around for us the next day (although mornings are always chilly in the mountains)!!  We're not sure what prompted this "slouch" session on the porch, but took it as our cue that we'd better get moving!

We tried huckleberry picking with the two girls.  Karen was somewhat game - she LOVES huckleberries and will eat them as fast as you will pick them for her.  Once you stop letting her dip into the picking stash... well, she was a little less impressed with tromping through the woods.  Megan... not impressed from the get-go.  It is hard to pick with a 21month old on your hip and a 20week pregnant belly!!  We lasted for about an hour before we headed back to the cabin.  The girls found that activity much more agreeable!!

My sister came up to join us for a day while we were up there, but I totally slacked and somehow didn't get a single picture of her!!  It was fun having her up there and next time I'll be sure to get a picture to show that she was there!!

We capped off our trip with the girls first ever camp fire.  The girls loved it.  Megan didn't like the marshmallows, but was all over the chocolate and graham crackers.  Karen ... loved it all!!

Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of the four of us altogether this year which always disappoints me when I get home and realized it happened... here's one from last year to look forward to next year when we'll have to remember to take one of the five of us!!

Pregnancy eating

My challenge right now is my eating... all of my pregnancies have been the same - once I hit the 2nd trimester, I crave nothing good for me.  Pizza, bread, nachos, all things bound to make my stomach (and all other areas) bigger than I want them to be by the time this baby comes!

So far, I've done a better job this pregnancy of controlling it by really trying to manage quantities.  But portion management can only go so far.  At the end of the day this is just not the kind of food that is going to do the most for me (or the baby, or my long term eating habits), you know?!  One of my biggest challenges in turning this pattern around is that I have a really hard time making myself eat what my body is not wanting.  I make myself good, yummy salads - and don't have an appetite after about 5 bites.

Any advice on what worked for you in your pregnancy?

Wordless Wednesday - Sisters!!

Why the break?

So I've been meaning to put up this post for a while but keep putting it off.  I wanted to share what initially prompted my blogging break earlier this spring. 

The wonderful news is that we found out we were expecting again in early April!! Yay!! This is something we were very much wanting and it had been a long six months of "waiting"... one that included two hospital stays with our youngest daughter, an unconfirmed early miscarriage, the tragic loss of a very good friend, and a second, but confirmed, early miscarriage... yes, it was an eventful and stressful 6 six months.

The short explanation for the break is that there were some early complications (which fortunately did not turn out to be anything worrisome after a couple weeks of taking it easy).  But after the struggle to conceive - which included much more than two losses we suffered (a fertility story I hope to share with you sometime, but don't want to make this an incredibly long post) - I just did not have the capacity to post about anything else but was not yet ready to share this news outside of family. 

So I took a break but am back now!  and sharing that we are expecting another Baby C sometime around December 13th!