Seriously, What Do you Do...

... with this many tomatoes? This is just my harvest from tonight. It consists of 64 roma tomatoes and 53 grape tomatoes. And that's after I threw out all the ones that were split or looked like they might have been snacked on by the roly polys in my garden (who knew that roly polys like tomatoes?). Did I mention that I only planted 4 tomato plants this year - 2 grape and 2 roma? Anyway, I made fresh salsa with the tomatoes I picked last week and have been snacking on that... I'm not sure that I have the ambition to can salsa. Any other suggestions on what to do with this many tomatoes???

Humility

I was asked to give a talk today in church on the topic of humility. I really enjoyed my studying over the last week as I prepared. I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes that I found:

• To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support.
• “Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God – the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and a testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption.” -Bishop Richard C. Edgely
• “How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing?” -Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Series

As you know from some of my past posts, I'm on kind of an environmentalist kick right now. I want to congratulate my sister-in-law Tonja for organizing the Fall 2007 Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Series here in Boise. Over the next couple of months, she has organized five sessions to help us learn how to save energy and care for the environment:

• Be an ENERGY STAR! - Simple no/low cost energy & money saving ideas for your home.
• Beyond the Green - Remodeling or building? Identifying green products & understanding their benefits.
• Get Your Ducts in a Row - Get ready for the heating season with weatherization, insulation, ductwork, & ventilation ideas.
• One Less Napkin - Ideas of how to: rethink, recycle, reuse & reduce.
• Fact or Fiction - What you should know about wind & solar energy sources.
  

I've marked my calendar & I invite you to join me if you're in town. I'll be sure to fill you in on all the exciting things I learn!

Smile :-)

Just another picture of me and my cute nephew Alex - he thought putting orange peels in our mouths to look like we had orange teeth was just hilarious!

One of My Favorite Things...

This might sound silly, but one of my favorite things to do is decorate my table based on the season. Fall is my favorite time to decorate my house - the colors are warm and match my house well. I decided because it's September, I can start to decorate for fall :-) Anyway, thought I'd share some pics of my table and new centerpiece. I'll probably be adding more and adjusting over the next month or so, but here's my start. It sure dresses up my dining room and makes my house look a little more festive.

PS - The pine cones in the cornucopia are from my tree out front that I blogged about earlier this year... I knew the pine cones would come in handy for something!

Motorcycle Gang

Today I went on a bike ride at lunch with a couple of my coworkers - Ross & Greg. I felt pretty cool as we rode around town - we got lots of looks as we rumbled down the street (okay Greg's bike rumbled, mine purred!). We went to this great restaurant - West Side Drive In. I had to take a picture - my bike is the cute little one in the middle :-) Have I ever mentioned that I love riding my motorcycle?

Ready, Set, Hike...

Well, my Broncos are off to a great start! The season opener was Thursday against Weber State. I was a little nervous this year - there were high expectations because of the big Fiesta Bowl win (oh, how sweet it was - I have it on DVD!). I was also nervous because we lost a lot of seniors. My boys didn't let me down - they pulled off a 56-7 win... and that was after putting in the 2nd & 3rd string players after pulling ahead 56 points in the 2nd quarter! Our new quarterback, Taylor Tharpe, looks like he's up for the job, and I was impressed with some of the new freshman talent. Let's see what these players can do against Washington this coming Saturday. Go Broncos!