When It Rains

(You know the rest.) IT POURS!!

I'm not complaining. Really, I'm not. In fact I find it slightly humorous. Why is it that life seems to go so smoothly for a while, and then BAM! All of a sudden you're bombarded with problems. Small ones, mind you, small ones, in the whole scheme of things. So let me explain . . .

We've had trouble with our air conditioner lately. Long story short, it had to be replaced after several expensive visits from the repairman. Three days ago we got a brand spankin' new air conditioner. The next day it wasn't working and we began to bake in our own home. After being terribly concerned that we forked over $3000 for a lemon, the repairman came back out to fix the problem and it started working like a charm. Nothing lost but a lil sweat. No biggie.

However . . .

Today Sage was napping when I heard a big BOOM. I figured something must have fallen in the attic because the repairman had been up there moving some things around in order to get to, and fix the unit. When Sage woke up, some time later, I had already forgotten about the boom. That is until I walked in her room and found sheet rock on the floor and an 8 inch hole in our ceiling where part of a heavy tub in the attic had fallen through. All I could think was, "Oh this is not good. This is not good at all." Sage was perfectly safe. The hole wasn't near her crib so nothing fell on her, thankfully!!

But to top it all off, I have a flat tire.

Here's the deal though . . . I've got Jesus. And while He's all I really need, He's also given me a beautiful family, the most incredible friends, a home that completely meets our needs, and food on our table. I could go on and on. You get the picture. There are starving children in Africa. Literally. So I really don't care that I have a hole in my ceiling or a flat tire, or that that I lost 5 lbs in sheer water weight from sweating in my own house for 24 hours. Those things sort of pale in comparison if ya know what I mean. This girl is just thankful that the Lord has matured her enough to realize what's important to get worked up over and what's not. :)

Annual Beach Vacay

It was my turn to find and book the beach house this year for my entire family's beach vacation. I found a really nice house on Fripp Island, in SC. We'd never been to Fripp before and it was a nice change of pace. There weren't many restaurants, putt-putt courses, water parks, etc. But we did have these fun creatures to watch, or in Brian's case, play with every day.

Sage had such a good time playing in the waves and sand. She's pretty fearless when it comes to the water. I should have gotten some video, but of course, I didn't think of that. I also forgot to take any pictures with me in them. Oh well!

My family loves to have a good laugh, especially at the expense of each other. So this year we played this game where you try to move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands. It was hilarious!





And lastly, I must show you Sage's new favorite game to play with Daddy . . .

YUM-O

My family has a peach ice cream recipe that we've been making for years. And I mean to tell you, it is OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD!!! The best I've ever had, truly. Brian and I had our neighbors over for a lil cookout the other night and Brian decided he wanted to make some homemade peach ice cream so I gave him our family recipe, "June's Peach Ice Cream." It was his first attempt ever, and he did such a good job. It turned out perfect! (I only ate a tiny bit because I'm on dessert hiatus, but that little bit was heavenly).

Since nobody likes a recipe snob I figured I shouldn't keep this family jewel a secret. It's a lot of work, but well worth the trouble. Trust me.

JUNE'S PEACH ICE CREAM

1 pint half & half

1/2 pint heavy cream

2 cups sugar

1 can evaporated milk

4 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 quart peach puree (fresh peaches, peeled and pureed in blender)

Ice cream salt

Scald cream and half & half. Turn down to low heat/simmer. Beat eggs and mix with the sugar. Add this sugar-egg mixture gradually to the cream mixture, beating with a whisk as you do so. Add salt and cook on low or medium-low heat until thick (about 25 minutes), stirring constantly. DO NOT BOIL. DO NOT HURRY THE COOKING. When mixture coats silver spoon, remove from heat and add vanilla. Cool. When thoroughly cool, add peach puree and stir. Put in ice cream churn (hopefully you have an electric one that does all the work for you!). Use 4 parts ice to 1 part ice cream salt. You'll probably have to churn it for roughly 20 minutes.

When you first make it, it's so smooth, like soft serve. It's CRAZY GOOD!!! Enjoy!!!