opera in the park raspberry bars

These bars are fiercely delicious. So fresh and summery.

Opera-in-the-park raspberry bars
from the penzey spice catalog

Crumb Layers:
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp, baking soda

Filling:
3 1/2 cups raspberries (I just used two pints - it came out to about 3 cups)
2 Tb. raspberry enlightenment (found at Penzey's)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tb corn starch
1/3 cup oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl combine the ingredients for the crumb layers. Mix until crumbly. Press about 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan and set aside.
For the filling, combine the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let cool until only slightly warm. Spread over the bottom layer in the pan. Top with the remaining crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 until the topping is golden and the raspberry filling is bubbling near the center, about 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

besties photo shoot

Our friend Amanda is a talented photographer, and when they were visiting a few months ago, she took a besties photo shoot with Dave and Caleb.

Behold:

squirt update

butternut squash


It's really supposed to be spaghetti squash this week, but the spaghetti squashes at the store are gigantic right now. Butternut squash is actually in a few weeks but that seemed the more appropriate size, so I just did a little squash swap.

It feels good to be a little over halfway now. It also feels good to be obviously pregnant instead of just excessively chubby.

Here are some outtakes from our little photo shoot.







Doesn't she look like Ed, the crazy hyena from Lion King?? HA!

pizza train

To celebrate Roger's birthday, we took a ride on the Osceola Railway! We were served pizza while on board so Asher referred to it as the "pizza train."

Ice cream and coffee in Osceola before we boarded was a must!





























Chloe was there too. Somehow I managed to not get any pictures of her. Sorry Chloe!

It was such a fun, historic ride. You should check it out if you have a chance!

downtown day of fun

For birthdays and christmas, Roger prefers "experiential" gifts as opposed to a gift he can open. So for his Christmas present (yes, Christmas) we took him to the baseball museum, to explore the Guthrie as well as the stone arch bridge, and then dinner at Old Spag. We were supposed to go to the Mill City Museum, but that was closed due to the government shut down.



The baseball museum was interesting. Not what I expected at all. It was like walking through someone's musty basement, but it was neat to see all the old World Series artifacts and such.



The Guthrie is one of my very favorite places to go and Roger and Linda had never been there, so it was really fun to show them around.



View from the endless bridge.









And we went to part of the Guthrie that I had never seen before. A lookout spot with amber glass!



Then it was stone arch bridge time!











And finally, we had dinner. I dont have any pictures of that because I was too busy oohing and ahhing over ever.single.componant of my meal. Seriously.

creepy carnival

Our town has a celebration every year called Whiz Bang Days and they have all kinds of things to do, including a carnival. We have never been to said carnival so this year we decided we should go. It was....interesting. I'm not even sure how to adequately describe this carnival for you. It was creepy. It was tiny which just made it somewhat awkward. The rides were ancient, as in something you would see on American Pickers, not at an operational carnival. The ride and game operators were stereotypical if you get my drift. We both decided one time at this particular carnival was enough for a lifetime. Here are some pictures. I gave them all a 70's tint since that's when the rides should have been RETIRED.















We did stay long enough to grab some grub (who can pass up cheese curds??) but we took our food outside of the carnival grounds, out where normalcy reigns and where we were free from the crazy carnival time warp.