Muskatatuck River Canoe Trip

Mariana, Isaac and I went for a canoe trip down the Muscatatuck river today. Carolyn dropped us off and picked us up. The Muscatatuck river is a small river about 30 miles north of Madison. We put in at an overpass in a farm field, and took out at another overpass 13-1/2 miles downstream. It took us about 6-1/2 hours to make the trip. In a normal year, we wouldn't have been able to do this so late in the summer, but this year has been pretty wet so the water was still high enough. We wound back and forth between farm fields for most of the trip, though you usually couldn't tell because there was a thin screen of trees along the river bank. The challenging portion of the trip was all of the logs and trees in the river. We had to be constantly on the lookout for submerged logs. In two places we had to drag the canoe across or through big log-jams. In one place we were able to squeeze through underneath a log by laying down in the canoe. We saw lots of wildlife-- great blue herons, geese and ducks, turtles and muskrats, and even one deer that swam across the river in front of us.

We had a great time, and Isaac is looking forward to the scout canoe trip August 7. Mariana is lobbying for another trip for her birthday.

Here's my recipe

Well, here's my goulash recipe:

However much hamburger you want
Tomato sauce to match (16 oz. per lb, more or less)
1 tsp. of garlic powder, basil, and oregano
Egg noodles
1/2 cup or so of water
However much frozen corn you want to add

Brown the hamburger. Once it's ready, add the tomato sauce, corn, and spices. Once it's warmed up again, add the egg noodles and water. Simmer covered until noodles are done. Serve.

Yes, I know the measurements are imprecise, but that's how I do it.

Recipe book project

I am going back to working on my recipe book project for Young Womens. I would like to ask for a few recipes in particular; Uncle Flint's Trout recipes, Aunt Ladawn's Open face sandwich on French bread (the one we had when we visted) and her Fondue recipe, Grandma Stephens' Lollipop and muffins with cereal and fruit recipes, and last but not least Aunt Denisa's soup she made when we visted. Any other favorite recipes you would like to send will be greatly apprecilated. I will send copies of the recipe books when they are finshed hopefully by the end of the month but no guarantees. Thank you all for the recipes you sent me in the past and thank you for all your help.

A few more

At Lake Lavon.
Can you see us?
Cute Girl at the Texas Capitol!

Trying to catch up

Remember the Alamo!
Future Governor of Texas?

Creed receives his mission call

Creed got his mission call today. He will be serving in the Dominican Republic Santa Domingo East Mission. He reports to the MTC on Nov. 4. He is very excited, but wishes he was going a little sooner. We are all happy for him.

Tooth Freedom Day

Mariana got her braces off yesterday! She had been looking forward to this almost as much as girl's camp. She came home and ate caramel popcorn and drank pop. Today we had corn on the cob, and she relished eating it without cutting it off the cob first.

Both Isaac and Mariana had a great time last week. Isaac went to EFY in Bloomington, and Mariana went to girl's camp. They took pictures with disposable cameras, so we won't be able to post them until they get developed in a few days.