Lucy love

This week we took care of john's parents dog, Lucy, while they where out of town. We love to play with her :) Here is some Lucy Love shots

World largest wooden nickel

Here is Iowa City we have our very own roadside oddity: The world Largest Wooden Nickel!

warming up our house

We had a little get together on Saturday to celebrate our new house.
Thanks to AJ, Jenny, Lynne, Adam, and Brewer for making the drive all the way over! It makes us feel very loved :)Brewer is ready to play



Hanging out with the Pollards before the event



keep away from brewer!


the crowd




late night crowd

What does a vegetairan eat

Lynne asked for it I'll provide it. Its another addition of what a vegetarian eats. Currently in the oven is my own concoction I'm going to call:
Kristel's veggie pasta bake

1. Boil pasta noodles of any shape or size- (package sizes depending on how much food you want)
-I used about 1 large package of corkscrew pasta
2. While the pasta is boiling find a baking dish that will fit your pasta plus room for the extras you will add.
-I used a large casserole baking dish
3. Add in: Herbs (to your taste, fresh or dried), cheese (to your liking in both kind and amount), pasta sauce (also the amount depends on how sauce you like it and how many noodles you have)
-for today I used fresh basil, parsley, and oregano; Colby-jack cheese (2 cups) and pepper jack cheese (1 cup in cubes); 1 jar of Barilla three cheese pasta sauce (a little more expensive but the taste is worth it)
-other add in ideas chopped veggies (peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms), or fried tofu
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees
5. Cook pasta till it is just shy of being ready to eat (still a little tough to chew)
6. Mix all ingredients into your greased casserole pan


This is pre-baking picture
7. Bake a 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melty
(not is good to stir the dish 1/2 through baking so it does not get to dry on top)
As mine is not quite done yet I will add a more note after I eat. Enjoy!

silent day

Don't forget to take time to enjoy the little things in life, like sunsets.

Makin' breakfast for my hubby

I made breakfast for you this morning and felt pretty 'super awesome wife'. I made his bacon and scrambled eggs with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil.


Its uncommon for me to do this as he is usually up and eating for me so it was fun to be able to make it today. Good morning world and happy eating!

Lucy vs John

John and I love to play with John's parents dog Lucy. Last night I decided to try out another setting on the camera for video. I also think its pretty funny to watch Lucy run around like crazy and for John to try to get her on her back. That is the game if John "pins" Lucy he wins.


This time Lucy won, no pin for john. Taped at the Parent Saxton 'ranch'

North Bend Bluegrass Festival

Sunday our church hosted the North Bend Bluegrass Festival and two people near and dear to me played in a band. I decided to check out the video feature on my camera and shot a little of the music since you can't see it in pictures :)




Mission Bluegrass
Band members:
John Saxton, Bass and vocals (rarely); Renee Person, Vocals; Dennis Boyd, Mandolin and Vocals; Lyle Muller, Guitar and Vocals; Dave Jansen, Guitar and Vocals

Also playing today where some other of our favorite bands. Top among them Mr. Baber's Neighbors and the Finder and Youngberg band. A great festival with lots of great music! If you have a chance to check any of the bands out I'd recommended it for not only their great music but stage entertainment.

As I learned it takes me forever to load video (you tube or not) I will load more songs I recorded at a future date!

oddities birthday roadtrip part two

Part two of our adventure and the sign points to our next oddity


The plow in the oak. (Exira, Ia)


Only working Danish windmill in America (Elkhorn, Ia). I also recently learned I have Danish ancestors. (Lynne go ahead I know you want to comment on this one :) )

I do look rather Danish don't I


What a 'mean' looking viking!


Little mermaid (from the children's book) (Kimballton, IA)



Albert the Cow (and Albert the cow campground-not kidding!) (Audubon, Ia)
This is the self timer pictures where John yelled turn around faster and I made it (although I do look at bit deer in the headlights :) )


Yup hes a bull alright ;)
10 foot tall rotating ear of corn. Coon Rapids, Ia)
Yup that's a big ear of corn!

After that we headed back home. A great time and a lot of great oddities.
Check out a roadside oddity near you and send me your story. You can also find oddities and upload them to the roadside America website.

oddities birthday roadtrip part one

For my birthday this year John 'got me' a road trip. This trip was secret until we came home early from work on my birthday and then I had to solve what we would be doing.
But before we could go its traditional for me to be able to pick a fresh strawberry...and I found one in my 'patch'


The first part was whisking me away to Des Moines for the night to stay at the Sheraton in West Des Moines with shopping and relaxing (no dinner as I was to full from a wonderful treat day at work!! My co-workers know my love of choclate :)). Wonderful!!! I even ran into Cy at the mall!


The next morning I slept late and then we took off on a tour of Iowa Oddities :) Which was about the best present he could have gotten me! I loved every minute of it- photos, road tripping, good music, funny jokes, seeing and doing new things and did I mention pictures? Here are the oddities we visited:


The first bank Bonnie and Clyde ever robbed (Stuart, IA)


The first train robbery in the west. (Adair, IA)


The smiley faced water tower (Adair, IA)



(ok so click on this picture to look at it largly- story behind it. I set the self timer on camera on a tri-pod or the car if we have nothing else. So its a long ways to get to the tree and my timer is 10 seconds so I run as fast as I can and didn't make it. John did yell out turn around but I just wasn't quick enough- this time (see part 2 when it comes up))

(I then played with my camera and learned how to use the custom timer for 30 seconds- so much better!)
The tree in the middle of the road (Brayton, IA)

More to come in part two stay tuned!