A Day at the Lake --- Homemaking Link-Up Weekend

Hello my dear, sweet, PATIENT readers!  Can you believe I FORGOT to put up the link up post today?  Ugh...pregnant brain!  Anyway, it's here now and I'd love to have you all link up your home-related posts!

I was going through some of our pictures from the last couple weeks and found all these adorable pictures from Elisha's birthday a couple weekends ago.  He wanted to go fishing at the lake for his big day so we planned a fun trip to a nearby mountain lake.  It took about an hour and a half to get up there so it was just right for a day-long get away!

Here are some of the highlights from our day.  Be sure to link up below and visit some of the other participants with an encouraging comment or two!

Elisha wanted a fishing-themed cake...it sort of melted on the way to the lake!

He was really thrilled with his birthday gifts.  This was a detective fingerprinting set he had been wanting.

This gift was a knife he's been looking at for about a year now!

Everyone was quick to point out the candle that he missed on the first try!

After the party, Jamie and the kids were ready to start fishing!  This is Penland Lake in Eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains.  This has been a favorite fishing and camping spot in my family since before I was born.  In fact, this is where I was when Mt. St. Helens erupted.  I wasn't quite 1 year old yet!

I was probably baby Kynthia's age, actually!  She had so much fun playing in her walker...until she got sleepy.  Then she slept the rest of the day on our laps.  We took turns! :)

This was also Liam's first fishing trip.  He had a good day all day long!

Avalon liked to walk a little trail that went back into these trees a ways.  She always likes to go off exploring on her own.

Selah spent most of the day keeping Mr. Darcy busy.

Here's the birthday boy and mighty fisherman with his Weed Fish.

My favorite part of the day was watching my kids enjoying a special and memorable place from my childhood!

Have a lovely weekend!

Chinese Style Pork and Rice & Homemaking LinkUp Weekend

Hope everyone had a great week! Today, for my Homemaking Link-Up Weekend post, I'm featuring a delicious recipe.

This is one of our family's favorites and it's pretty easy to make.  Let me know if you give it a try!

Chinese-Style Pork and Rice Dinner
 
2 lb. tender pork loin or shoulder roast
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. honey
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
4 c. cooked rice
1 c. scrambled eggs
1/2 c. green onions

Mix soy sauce, honey, garlic, and salt together and marinate pork 24 hours, turning every 6-8 hours.  Remove pork from marinade and bake at 400 for 1/2 hour.  Turn heat down to 300 and bake until internal temperature reaches 170 or the packager's pre-inserted plastic thermometer pops up.

Let pork sit on top of stove or counter about 45 min.  This will help the juices to settle (so the meat stays juicier) and will cool it off for easier slicing.

Slice almost all of the meat, saving a portion for adding to the rice.  Cut the saved portion into small pieces and set aside.  

In a large bowl, mix cooked rice, chopped scrambled eggs, green onions, and reserved meat.  Add salt, soy sauce, and, if you wish, garlic and other seasonings to taste.

Enjoy!

Please link up all Homemaking posts below and have a lovely weekend!

Dewey Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Dew

Hello!  Welcome to the Weekend!  I hope everyone has something fun and relaxing planned!  We are headed to the lake on Saturday to celebrate Elisha as he will be turning 9 years old!  Everyone is so excited---it's not often that we get to take an outing like this and I just pray it will be a wonderful day for all!

For this week's Homemaking LinkUp Weekend, I'm reviving a post I wrote in 2008 when I first started blogging.  I'm reposting it because there's been a new development in this lifelong dream of mine!  I'll show you the post and then tell you the update!

Please feel free to link up your posts below!  The theme is Homemaking---but it's very general.  Just link up what you want---as many as you want---and I'll come around and visit you this week!  I even plan on picking a post or two to feature so show me your stuff!

Here's the 2008 post:

Last night my husband and I were watching the Stargate SG-1 episode where Sam's new boyfriend is teasing her about quirkiness. He makes a comment that goes something like: "as long as you don't have alphabetized bookshelves..."

My husband looked at me and grinned his "you have weird quirkinesses" smile.

You see, I not only want my bookshelves alphabetized---I want them arranged according to the Dewey Decimal System. This has been a dream of mine ever since I began collecting books in my early childhood.

People keep telling us we need a bigger place because we have a lot of kids. They're all only half way right. Yes, a bigger place is needed...but not for the kids' sake. If we were to have one more bedroom than we have now, it would not be for kids---it would be for my dream library.

All arranged as Dewey would do it.

So... Are you ready to hear the good news?  My husband, in his Software Developer Geniusness, is creating a program for me so I can arrange all my books according to THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM!! Isn't that awesome?!!  Ha!

I'll be able to store information for every book in our home library on my computer and search for books according to several different categories like title, author, and keyword.  You might think this is a little extreme...but, what you may not know is...we have about 1,600 books in our home!!  An organizational system is very much needed!

And, on that nerdy note, I invite you to this week's Homemaking LinkUp Weekend!

Also linking with:
Tesha's Encouraging Link Up