time to make the doughnuts

Of all the places we visited and ate during my time in North Carolina, perhaps my favorite was The Fractured Prune. This strip mall store front doughnut shop was intriguing. First of all, I wondered, what's with the name (click here to learn the history)? Then, the slogan of "You create 'em', we make 'em'" caught my attention. Finally, after walking in the door, I was taken by the specialty flavors!

Amy and I got a dozen to go and took them home to share with Josh. We each got to pick 4 doughnuts (eaten over the course of 2 days). My selections included a Pebble Beach, a Myrna Medley (in honor of Amy's mom), a Morning Buzz and, a created by yours truly, carmel and coconut. Yum!

all in the family

Not only did I get to see Josh, Amy and Madeline, I also got to spend some time with my mom and her parents. My grandparents live about 3 hours from Durham so the three of them drove over on Saturday afternoon. Madeline got lots of attention, we all shared some laughs-and some Carolina style barbeque!

oh baby!

Heidi took a short trip to Durham, North Carolina so she could meet Madeline (and see Josh and Amy, too!) Madeline had just gotten her two month shots so while Josh and Amy said she was a bit cranky, I thought she was wonderful! We spent some quality time catching up, holding a sleepy baby, enjoyed a walk around the art museum trail system and made it to a few of the triangle's best restaurants!

reporting from...

Heidi is spending the weekend in Durham, North Carolina with Josh, Amy and Madeline. Yesterday Heidi, Amy and Madeline spent time with Heidi's mom and grandparents who came from Asheville to visit.

Dad wasn't able to come since he's still in Montana but we did find a photo of him in this morning's Helena Independent Record.

evanesco!

The weekend's festivities didn't leave alot of time for reading so we're still not sure how the 7th Harry Potter book ends (shh...don't tell us!). I'm not sure if this was Vokey's attempt at the Vanishing Spell or a Concealment Charm.

time to get 'roll'in'

We tested out a new Cooking Light Whole Wheat Cinnamon Roll recipe on Sunday morning. Once we had all achieved a sugar high, we headed to the Nelson Atkins art museum and took a Sunday drive through Mission Hills. We returned home for one last meal (make your own paninis), and then it was time for the girls to head back to Iowa.

wildfire warren

Last Thursday, dad left for his assignment to the Hawken Fire near Reno, Nevada (at the time it was the highest priority fire in the nation). Today, we heard that he has been reassigned and is now at the Ahorn Fire near Augusta, Montana. He had alot to say to the Great Falls Tribune.

For more information these and other fires go to http://www.inciweb.org/ and search by state or incident (top right).

yes, we have no bananas today

While the girls had their first taste of tapas at LaBodega, Mike and I enjoyed dinner with our friends Lynnis and Larry (the girls joined us later for dessert). This is the second time that we've cooked together and hope to make this a once a season tradition. The evening's summer menu featured:

Watermelon-Ginger Agua Fresca (from Bon Appetit, August 2007)

Crostini with Peaches and Blue Cheese (from Good Day For a Picnic)

Cold Beet Soup with Pistachio Mousse (from From the Cook's Garden)

Mint Marinated Shrimp with Tabouleh, Tomatoes and Feta (from Bon Appetit, August 2006)

Black-Ollive Yogurt Cheese with Flatbread (from Bon Appetit, August 2006)

Grilled Banana Splits with homemade Coffee Ice Cream and Mocha Sauce (from Food + Wine)

girls just want to have fun

Our neice, Mackenzie, and her friends Liz and Libby made a roadtrip to Kansas City and (hopefully!) enjoyed a weekend at the Locust Street Bungalow Bed and Breakfast (aka 'our house'). Highlights included shopping, a trip to the Nelson and lots of food!

a long time coming

have you ever had one of "those" projects that takes A L O T longer than you think it should? we recently (today!) finished one of our own. many of the old houses in our area still have the original windows and the interchangeable storm windows and screens to match. when we moved into our house, most of the storm windows were installed and the screens (with black trim) were in the basement. this spring (after living here almost 5 years) we finally got around to taking off the storm windows, bringing the screens upstairs and finding the window they fit. after all of that, the screens needed to be cleaned, the trim painted and a few repairs made. it was so nice to have the windows open this spring that we lived for a few weeks with black screens on our white windows. once it got hot enough to turn the ac on, we started painting. it didn't take too long to get them all painted but it was a relief to get them all installed...until we pulled into the driveway a few weeks ago and saw that we'd missed one! well, today we got all of the painting supplies back out and the last screen got painted white! onto the next project...

brunch with bruce

When you haven't seen someone for almost 5 years, it's good to have some time to catch up. We were excited when we got to see cousin Bruce not once, but three times during his visit to KC! Bruce came to our house for brunch (eggs portugal and breakfast potatoes), followed by some quality Vokey time, before heading to the airport to return home to Sin City.

in training

While I haven't actually signed up yet, for the past few weeks I have been "training" for the Kansas City Marathon to be run on October 21. I'm hesitant to commit...between the new job, the hot and humid weather and memories of last summer when our marathon plans were derailed after Mike contracted a staph infection and spent several days in the hospital. In preparation, today I ran 12 miles and even though she didn't go, Vokey seemed equally (if not more) tired than I am!

the cleaning crew

While cleaning the refrigerator today, Vokey decided to lend a helping...well, tongue. Something had spilled on the shelf and as you can see, she stepped in to clean it up!

a bumper crop

While our tomatoes aren't much to blog about, our friends Angela and Dustin have a bumper crop! We were excited when they invited us over on Friday night for a dinner of tomatoe pie, salad, sweet corn and ice cream with fresh berries...all of the best fresh summer foods!

Ticket, Please

Heidi's cousin, Bruce, has been in town this week to help set up the box office for the new Sprint Center arena. Bruce works for AEG in Las Vegas so it was fun to see him here in KC!

We enjoyed dinner at Jack Stack Barbeque on Wednesday night (which happened to be Bruce's birthday!) and saw him again on Friday when we got a sneak peak of the new arena, still under construction.

i'll huff and i'll puff...

but you won't blow this house down! That's because Heidi and 8 other members of Women in Design spent most of Saturday framing this house as part of Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program. My first task was framing the closet (photo on right). I also learned to use a palm nailer, a sawzall and to install joist hangers!

Just like old times...

A group of women has been working hard to help reconnect the K-State Thetas living in the KC area. Heidi attended their first social gathering, a reunion/happy hour on Saturday night.

If you are a KSU Theta who wants to get reconnected (whether or not you live in KC), visit http://groups.google.com/group/kstatethetas?hl=en and sign up to be a member!

Happy 4th of July!

We're enjoying a relaxing (but very hot and humid) 4th of July at home this year. A few neighbors came over to grill for lunch, then tonight we're headed to the K to watch the Royals play Seattle, followed by fireworks!

Inspired by the cover of this month's Martha Stewart Living, I made this summer shortcake in honor of the holiday!