Always an Adventure

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter! It was nice of my Uncle Dennis to send an e-mail to all my Hatch family relatives regarding my last post. Keeping in touch with loved ones far away is why I continue to keep up this blog. Love and hugs to you all! I haven't done a good job of posting about all the things we've been up to as a family lately, so here comes one big post.
We're starting to see signs of spring at 7,000 feet above sea level. The first tulips are coming up in our yard and the grass is getting more green. What a treat to move and find beauty that I didn't have to plant. I hope the family who lives in my old home is enjoying the azaleas, hydrangeas, and tulips we left for them.
Yesterday was a day off from school, so the kids and I hiked the Palmer Lake Reservoir Trail, northwest a few miles from where we live. Its about a 1200 feet incline from where we started, and is rated moderately easy. It was not Easy for me, but I could give it a moderate rating. It was pretty much all uphill, but the path wasn't too rocky, and it was wide enough for a truck to drive up. As long as I didn't go too fast, I was fine.
It was certainly beautiful, cutting right between the mountains. We saw a belted kingfisher whiz past when we arrived at the lake. They're only found in mountain lake areas, so that was a treat. It's beautiful blue and white markings help to see it against the green trees. BigBuddy had brought his Colorado bird book with him, so we could easily identify it.
The views were gorgeous. Here you can see our views on the way down. We did see bear scat on the way and kept our eyes open for cougars too, but didn't see any large wildlife. A little snow started falling while we were at the reservoir, so we didn't stay too long, not feeling prepared enough for that kind of weather and on the way home we saw lightning in the Springs. It was a beautiful hike, and one I'd do again.
A week ago Saturday our whole family went about five minutes east to Fox Run Regional Park. Its another beautiful place, with lots of hiking trails. My goals are to get MyGirl ready for Trek and keep Big and Little Buddies from getting bored, and all of us want to experience what Colorado has to offer, so hiking seems to be an inexpensive, but rewarding way to accomplish all the above. It used to be a fox farm that went under, and the owner just let all the foxes go, so we were sure we would see some on our hike there, but we didn't. Instead, we saw one in our neighborhood on the drive home. . . can't complain.
The best part of hiking is the togetherness, of course. This was definitely an Easy trail to walk. BigBuddy came back later that week and rode it with his mountain bike, and said there were harder trails, we just hadn't taken them. Still, it was a peaceful place, and I am feeling grateful we have such beauty so close to home.
We found some interesting tree shapes along the way. The twisting and contorting provided a little variety in the otherwise traditional forest landscape.
This past Saturday I spent most of the time getting ready for our Easter Dinner. I knew Sunday would be a busy day for me, with leading the Primary music, doing my YW Secretary duties, and going early for choir rehearsal, so I made everything on Sat. except the deviled eggs which I made Sunday morning while listening to the Spoken Word on TV.
I kept the baskets to just a few of everyone's favorite treats.
My mom had given me the recipe for a yummy and easy dessert, and it sounded good, so I broke the rule of never serving something new for company, and it turned out great. Its so easy I was pretty sure I couldn't mess it up, and my mom said it was tasty, and she was right. These are the only ingredients - an angel food cake mix, lemon cook and serve pudding mix, cool whip, and sliced almonds.

You bake the cake, let it cool, then tear it up and put it in a 9 x 13 pan. Cook the pudding, and while still warm, pour it all over the cake pieces. Then let that cool for about a half hour, then spread Cool Whip over the top and sprinkle on almond slices. Let it sit in the fridge overnight, or just for a few hours, and it holds up nicely, and was delish, even thought I'm not a big fan of Cool Whip. Next time I'll probably just wait and top it with Whipped Cream right before serving, but it was a good dessert for me to make ahead.
I love all lemon desserts.
I was most thrilled that my roll recipe works at 7,000 feet. I had made a couple of high altitude adjustments a week ago when I tried it, and forgot to do those this time, and they turned out just great anyhow. The recipe made 26 rolls, which were perfect for the eleven of us eating. Our sweet neighbors have brought us dinner or invited us over twice since we moved, so we wanted to host them, and it was fun. However, by Saturday night I was tired. Feeding fifteen on Friday and getting ready for eleven is more than I'm used to, and the mess I made was spectacular. . . .
Just keeping it real! But not to complain at all, I loved seeing dear friends in our home and sharing a meal with them. Now we're getting ready for Cowgirl to come here in only two more days!!! We can't wait! And, she likes to cook, so she'll be a lot of fun to make messes with in my kitchen. :-)