i love bulldoggies

I'm leaving for a family reunion in Indiana this morning. Just wanted to post this video bc it is too darn cute!! (its only 30 seconds)

old pics

I'm putting together a little DVD of pics from my Bland grandparents life for our upcoming family reunion. My cousin sent me tons of photos that I have never before seen and I am loving all the old photos!!! Thought I'd share a few.

My Grandpa Bland-guessing this was his Air Force uniform

1932 my grandpa on the left at age 13.

yellowstone. love this pic

My grandpa and aunts and uncles. Love the old sign.

1961

my pops

my dad, my mom, brittany when they still lived in provo and were finishing school

my mom, me, britt and my dad

my grandma bland and a cool old car. I think it was a thing to take pictures with your car back then.

Blueberry Pickin

We finally got around to picking some blueberries on Saturday. The farm we went to was only 10 mins away and it was $1.50/pound! So i'm pretty sure I'll be making a few more stops there before the season is out. It was fun though! They even had these handy-dandy buckets that buckle around your waist! Fanny pack style! We also talked with southern accents the whole time we were picking, bc it was just more fun that way. I would recommend it. 

Per Duke's request I made a blueberry pie when I came home, which was extremely delicious and extremely easy! Also my first time ever having blueberry pie!




Also, I cannot forget to mention that today is also my dad's birthday and Father's Day of course! (2 birds, one stone, thanks dad). So happiest of birthdays to him and I'm so grateful that he is my father!

I'll leave you with the pie recipe just in case you decide you want to make a delicious blueberry pie as well! 

Blueberry Pie

**I ALWAYS use the pillsbury rolled up crust from the dairy section. (not frozen) I'm a big believer in things made from scratch, but i think this crust tastes great and obviously super easy. So I will pretend you are using that crust too :) 

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts

7-8 cups blueberries 

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

1 egg yolk

1 TBSP milk

Place blueberries in large bowl, and with your hands, mush up a few (recipe said  about a 1/2 cup's worth...i mushed like 1/4 that...) Add in sugar, flour, lemon zest and juice; stir to combine. Place bottom crust in pie dish. Spoon (or pour) berry mixture into pie dish. Slice up other crust (I use a pizza cutter) into about 1 inch strips. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern and crimp up the sides to look pretty.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and milk. Brush lattice surface and pie border with egg wash. Refrigerate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack placed at the lower third. Line a baking sheet large enough to hold the pie dish with parchment. Place pie on the baking sheet and bake until crust begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350. Continue baking until crust is deep golden brown and filling is bubbling in the center, about 40-50 mins more (I used about 6 cups of berries and my oven cooks fast, so i turned down the temp at 15 mins, and cooked for about 40 mins after that..also put tin foil on top after about 25 mins so it didn't overbrown the crust!)

Enjoy with a scoop of yummy vanilla ice cream (preferably Haagen Dazs or Blue Bell :)

June Brain Dump

I don't have any fun pictures to post today, but I just felt like writing some things down about life lately.   In no particular order here are some thoughts/happenings as of late:

1. A few weeks ago at work, I brought someone into my office to interview them, and I said, "My name is Brittany......actually it's Mickelle...I don't know why I said that." It was a really really strange experience to say the least. I debated correcting myself and decided I had to...but I'm pretty sure the guy was freaked out. I was a little freaked out too.

2. I've been looking at puppy pictures/video way too much lately. It's a borderline obsession. I just wish they could stay cute and small forever...but alas...

3.  Duke has finally admitted that Winston likes me the best in the family. And it's obviously true. He follows me EVERYWHERE and pretty much only wants to play with me and he could care less about Duke when I'm around. It's kinda adorable, kinda annoying. Bc sometimes I want to be left alone and he'll sit there and bat at me with his paw or whine bc he wants to play. And Duke gets to just sit there and do whatever, bc Winston doesn't even care about him. But i love him and am not-so-secretly happy that i'm his favorite.

4. I only have 2.5 weeks of work left and I couldn't be more thrilled. Well, I'm kinda bummed because I have made some good friends there and it's fun to see them everyday and talk. But I beyond thrilled bc I'm only going to be working part time from HOME!!!! For spingo--the company my sister also works for. It's pretty much a dream come true. I have dreams of a clean house, meals cooked, and a gym that is actually visited frequently.

5. Duke started helicopter school. I forgot what it's like for him to be studying all the time. Kinda a bummer for me, bc I need a lot of attention.

6. I'm kiiiinda baby hungry. It's really weird. I don't know who I am anymore!! Up until a few years ago, I didn't even really care for kids. They just didn't do anything for me. Then I started finding them completely adorable. And now I want my own! But I'm also incredibly frightened at the same time. It is SUCH a huge decision! How do people just decide to have a kid?!! You can't really return it. Anyways, its still a few months off at least. But I want one. haha.

Road TRIPPP

We just got back a few days ago from a 2 week long road trip. Looked a little something like this:

Milton>Birmingham>Bentonville>Denver>SLC>Provo>Moab..and back the same way.

We stayed a day in Bentonville with my fam, 1/2 day in Denver with Duke's uncle, SLC with Duke's sister, Provo for 2 days with my sister, Moab for 5 days..camping. It was a nice break from work, but very nice to be back home again. Here's some pictures from the trip.

BIRMINGHAM

Stayed the first night at Oak Mountain State Park in Birmingham

ARKANSAS

Winston in Arkansas...where is spoiled with treats and attention

Mom made us pina coladas and we played some games outside that night

Winston had to go sniff this guy out. It was hilarious. He was also scared of him.

Took Duke to Crystal Bridges Museum. Nice to visit again.

IN TRANSIT...

Stopped in Memphis for lunch at Tom's BBQ (really good by the way if you are in the area!) Winston was bummed he couldn't go in.

Lots of Driving. 

SLC/PROVO

First stop in Utah. Naturally.

Y mountain. Memories!

Sometimes Winston enjoys wearing shoes.

Love this tree. Wanted to have my wedding dinner around it originally. 

HIKE TO SQAUW PEAK

Hit up JDawgs and spoon it up

GOBLIN VALLEY

MOAB

Driving into Moab...Duke was clearly excited.

Mountain Biking to Flat Iron Mesa...







The rest of the pictures are from Arches Nat'l Park & a few from Canyonlands. A couple of the days were a little miserable with 50 mph winds and all that red dust. EVERYTHING i owned was covered in dirt. The part in my hair was red from all the dirt. The windiest day we took the fly off our tent and came back to see the inside of the tent covered in like 1/4" dirt. Not really what you want to see when you want to take a nap. But I survived 4 nights of camping, 5 if you include the stop in Birmingham.

One day when the wind was bad, I was walking to the bathroom and passed the fanciest looking RV i've ever seen. I felt like a little pesant girl walking past a castle, just imaging what beauties must be inside of that thing. Camping is fun for like a day, maybe 2, but next time I visit Moab, I will be in a hotel thank you very much!

Delicate Arch at sunset.

One of my favorite pics from the trip

cool desert lizard

The next two pictures were the hike from Landscape Arch to Double O Arch. We somehow got off the right path and ending up having to hike up a steep sandy mountain, just across a small cavern thing, and climb out of the crevass in the 2nd picture. It was an adventure.

Wasn't part of the plan. But it was beautiful!

Double Arch, Duke and I's fav that we saw.

The tiniest Cairin you ever did see!

canyonlands- Mesa Arch

Hike to Whale Rock-Canyonlands.

View from Mesa Arch

Took a fall trying to be adventurous. That's what I get.

DRIVING BACK...

This is DUKE's ticket by the way. Sucker.

One of his many interesting sleeping positions

Winston stared in this mirror for about 10 minutes trying to figure it out.