New Recipe for Bell Peppers

Our family is enjoying the garden. Today's crop was a giant zucchini, okra, black-eyed peas, bell peppers, and tomatoes. I decided to try something new. The bell peppers were just the right size for individual servings. Couscous, ginger, garlic, salt, and Mexican blend cheese joined the vegetables inside the "stuffed" pepper. After spending 20 minutes at 325 degrees, delectable veggies were dinner. A veggie bbq riblet was a fitting compliment to the bell pepper. Delicious!

Home-grown sun-ripened tomatoes - beautiful.

Okra is a photogenic vegetable.

Extra filling without the pepper.

Morning Glories

The Morning Glories from my brother, Jim in Kansas, are taking over their section of the yard. They have grown to the top of the six foot fence and are now proceeding over the fence to the driveway side. They grow several inches overnight. Amazing! The flowers have stopped blooming, but the leaves are fabulous.

New garden flag for Randy for Father's Day... blue Morning Glories. :)

Grandparenting

Randy: "Hello."

Person on phone: "Hello?"

Randy: "Hello?"

Person on phone: "Who is this?"

Randy: "This is Randy. Who is this?"

Person on phone: "This is Steve. Emma must have called you again."

LOL! Emma gets Meredith and Steve's cell phones and pushes buttons. She has called Randy several times, but never says anything.

Bathing Beauty in ladybug swimsuit and cover up

Playing ball with Grandy in the pool

Emma really likes the water.

Ready to get into the water with the penguin floatie.

Emma is the center of attention. Imagine that?!

Swimming

Big splash from a little girl

Text from Randy:

"Having a grandchild is fun."

Today's Garden Harvest

Monday and Tuesday, we got a slight break in the temperature and even a little bit of rain. The garden and yard really appreciated it.

This small bell pepper plant had 12 peppers on it!

Sun-kissed green pepper... a thing of beauty.

Baby butternut squash. I really like the Butternuts.

Cooking them is new for me, but they are delicious. I'll have to post a recipe for them.

Zucchini that is longer than my foot, which is size 7.5!

Today's harvest. Zucchini, tomatoes, green pepper, okra, and black-eyed peas. I foresee individual stuffed bell peppers in the year future.

This is a 6 foot fence. The okra is making its way to the top.

Happy Anniversary to us!

June 24th marked the fourth anniversary of the beginning of my marvelous marriage to the most wonderful husband ever.

To celebrate this year, Randy told me to dress nice for a surprise destination dinner. We drove for half an hour before stopping in front Carmine's Pizza, a place we frequented often when Randy lived in north Dallas. It is quite possibly the best pizza in Dallas. While going there would have been great, I thought we were a bit over dressed. My handsome groom wore his suit pants and shirt he wore at our wedding.

Just kidding! We pulled out of the parking lot and drove around the neighborhood looking at various things. Randy was trying to throw me off since I had guessed where we were going. Don't tell him, but he didn't have to try very hard. I couldn't find Chamberlain's Fish Market again without him. :)

So you guessed it, we ate at Chamberlain's Fish Market. Randy had various kinds of fried seafood. I ordered their decadent fresh sauteed spinach with garlic and tomatoes and a baked potato. The waiter offered to have a veggie and pasta dish made for me. Mmmmm! Spaghetti with broccoli, baby carrots, snow pea pods, capers, and olive oil. Wow! The best dish I've had in a long time.

Now I'm sure you're wondering why Randy took a vegetarian to a fish restaurant. Chamberlain's Fish Market was the exquisite restaurant where Randy and I dined November 5, 2005, the night he proposed. OK, collective, "Awww...."

Our dinner at Chamberlain's on our fourth anniversary was just as wonderful as it was the night I had the pleasure of agreeing to become Mrs. Randy Walker. I love you, Sweetheart.

Decisions, Decisions.....

Last month on Mother's Day, I received the great honor of winning a contest for a photo shoot with a fantastic local photographer, Wallflower Photography. We've got a day to get the whole family together, now the question is... where to take the pictures? What do you think of these four possibilities? Read on and leave a comment or three or four. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Paschall Park and City Lake Park are Mesquite Parks and Recreation parks. The city does a great job at providing beautiful, pleasant places for residents to have fun.

MISD Centennial Park is a small park built by Mesquite ISD in 2001 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Mesquite Schools. Being a teacher in Mesquite of 25 years, of course this one is special to me. Look for the brick with my four kids' names on it.

The fourth location is "downtown" Mesquite. It is the section of "old" Mesquite near where I grew up, also known as The Square. Ah, the memories of watching rodeo parades circle around that square.

Paschall Park

Paschall Park is literally around the corner from my dad's house where I grew up. Like all of us, it has changed over the years. One of my fondest memories is taking walks through Paschall with my kids and Mom and Dad.

Paschall Park now has disc (frisbee) golf. I imagine Randy and the kids will enjoy experimenting with that.

I miss the rocking purple dinosaur that used to be on the playground.

covered picnic tables

Notice the bird in flight just above the trees.

That's just plain pretty.

makes me want to go for a walk

MISD Centennial Park

MISD Centennial Park established in 2001, commemorating the centennial year of the school district

Collin checked out every inch of the park.

The brick I got for Eli, Deborah, Sarah, and Daniel when the park was built in 2001... awww.

Mesquite Town Square

Nice arches on Wells Fargo Bank

City meets Green

The gazebo

Love this wall

Can't you just see my family in this scene?

This stairway is captivating.

How quaint

City Lake Park

Collin met some ducks.

He was not impressed.

We saw lots of baby ducks.