• Herb crusted salmon with lemons
    Dinner,  Recipes

    Herb Crusted Salmon

    Herb Crusted Salmon When you live in the Pacific Northwest as we do, salmon is part of our regional heritage. For generations, salmon have played an important role in the local Native American tribal religion, culture, and diet. Early explorers Lewis and Clark feasted on roasted and dried salmon and made detailed descriptions and drawings of the salmon they saw in the Columbia River, noting how abundant the fish were in the area. Today, we learn about the salmon life cycle in our schools. Students raise fingerlings and release them into local rivers. We visit fish hatcheries and count the salmon in the fall when they migrate up river. We name rivers and streets after…

  • Junk refunk vintage maket truck
    Home Decor,  Money Saving Tips,  Summer

    Junk Refunk: Vintage Market

    Junk Refunk: Vintage Market Today there were three amazing vintage junk sales on my calendar that I wanted to explore. Two of them were within 45 minutes of each other, so those are the two we decided on. Our first stop was the Outdoor Vintage Market at Wade Creek House Antiques in Estacada. This was set up like a farmers market combined with other vendors selling antiques and handmade repurposed items. I didn’t end up finding any treasures at this sale, but my friend Anne walked away with a cool rustic mirror framed in barn wood for her bathroom.  These pillows are all the rage over on Instagram and I…

  • These kid-approved Zucchini Fritters are perfect for those times when you have way too much Zucchini on your hands!
    Breakfast,  Dinner,  Garden,  Lunch,  Recipes

    Zucchini Fritters

    My kids can always tell when I’ve added zucchini into a recipe! No matter how sly I think I am, they know! Sometimes a recipe comes along and there is just no hiding the zucchini. This recipe for zucchini fritters is just such a recipe, but once they taste the zucchini fritters, they happily clean their plates…sometimes they even ask for seconds!

  • road trip essentials
    Desert Southwest,  Great American Road Trip,  Quick Tips,  Summer,  Travel

    Top 10 Things to Bring on a SW Desert Road Trip

    Little Essentials to Make Your Road Trip to the Desert States More Enjoyable Prior to our recent road trip, I tried to be mindful of all the things that might come in handy for my family who would be spending a large amount of time in a very dry environment. I kept watching the forecast to see the temps for the Las Vegas, NV and St George, UT areas and they were both consistently over 100 degrees for days on end. The average temps were around 106 degrees. As a native Oregonian, our summers are very comfortable, usually in the mid 80’s. We typically top out at 100 degrees, but it only…

  • Birthday,  Celebrations,  Summer

    Surf’s Up Dude! — The Perfect Summer Party for the Surfing Enthusiast

    That moment when you overhear one of the party guests tell his mom “Can I stay longer, I’m having the time of my life!!” Three hours into the party, I was feeling pretty tired and just as I was starting to lose steam, his comment was just the thing I needed to hear to let me know it was all worth it! This Surfing Party was a fun theme for my son who just discovered surfing during our spring break trip to the North Shore of Oahu, HI. What a fun adventure! I couldn’t believe my eyes when my little nine-year-old boy got up on his first try. It was…