No Tomatoes, but Zucchini Happening Here

Cheesy Zucchini with Garlic and Parsley

Zucchini Salad with Tomatoes and Basil

I see that Rand has completely beaten me on the early tomato contest, but here are two things I made from my first zucchini (round 8-ball zucchini) and some basil from my garden. I've converted the bed in my back room into a platform for taking photos and these are my first photos with all natural light. I can't link to the recipes or people can find our family blog by following the link, but both recipes were awesome.

I highly recommend the 8-ball zucchini if you haven't tried growing them. Good flavor, and great for grilling.

P.S. The tomatoes are from Costco.

You can stop praying for rain now!!

We have had a few inquiries, so thought we should give you all a look. Here is a peek at the aftermath in Bartlesville. We are fine and dry, but some we know have damage or came very close.

As you can see from the top 2 photos, we won't be playing soccer or at the park anytime soon. The white bars that you can see in one of the photos are the soccer goals!!



The bottom two pictures are just accross the street from the home of one of the sisters that I visit teach. The water did not reach her home. :) The river actually crested at 22.5 feet and flood stage is 13 feet, so we have a lot of extra water all over Bartlesville. This was a 100 year flood -- the problem is that we already had the 100 year flood back in 1986 (only 21 years ago).



Can you say MOSQUITOES!! I hate to even think about how many of those little creatures we will soon have!!


Today Carl and Liz did not have work, because the roads across town (the river goes right through the center of town) were totally flooded over.


Inspite of it all, we're well -- We hope you're all dry and well too.

Stuart Wedding update

since the invitations are still in the process of ordering and shipping out, I thought I'd give an update on their plans.
July 27th, 2007 (friday) we'll be driving down to St. George to spend the night before Jessica takes out her endowments on Saturday July 28th. if any would like to come, we're staying in a friends large home (we have the entire home) and anyone is welcome, although some might have to do inflatable beds.

August 4th, 2007 (Saturday) (I think late afternoon or early evening) Stu and Jess are holding their wedding breakfast / dinner. all are invited. it's at an LDS church bowrey in Layton. more info to come.

August 8th, 2007 (wednesday) (I think 9:00 a.m.) Stuart and Jessica wedding ceremony at Salt Lake Temple (I think, hey I'm the father of the groom and the details are a little fuzzy to me!) we are somewhat limited to my siblings for this as the room only accomodates 45, but there will also be more info to come. their reception will be this evening in Layton.

we'd love to have all there, but also understand that distance, time, and other family conflicts may not allow some. we'll see those who make it and love from a distant those who cannot. We'll be getting the invitation out soon, but I wanted to get some info out now as I realize this is a very busy time of year and wanted to give you options. thanks for doing what you do. love to all

Tomato pickers take your places.

Tomato fest 2007 has officially begun. I picked these two red tomatoes yesterday from my little garden. I realize we have a little bit of a head start here in California as we could plant tomatoes in December if we wanted. Ahhhhhh. Summer tomatoes.

It's Official....................

We're Engaged!!!

FOR ANGEE: How to organize your photos.

Since Ang was kind enough to ask how I organize my photos I thought I'd share the secret with all of you. Here it is: Be lucky enough to be born into a family with an older sister named Laurel (yes, that is her in the picture). Let Laurel gather up ALL the family slides and photos and magically (after hundreds of hours of work no doubt) put them all on incredibly organized CD's, each labled with the exact contents of the CD. Lar even organized them by sibling, year, family etc. It's an unbelievable CD collection and one that I reach to almost every time a birthday rolls around. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the work that went into that project. I LOVE it. In fact, yesterday I spent a few hours putting an old old picture of each of my siblings into my iPhone so that when I call (or get a call) from any of them their photo pops on. Very cool. Thanks for making me look very organized Lar. I just absolutely LOVE that collection. PS: other than that Ang, for me with the pictures I take, I organize them into albums on iPhoto. You have a Mac don't you? It makes it SIMPLE.

D Draper Update

Just thought I would take a second and give a quick update on us Drapers. Pretty much we are enjoying the lazy days of summer. I love the days when it doesn't matter if it is Monday or Thursday.

Darren just got back from a conference in Atlanta where he was adored. He is also doing lots of schooling this summer. The picture above is us sporting our Atlanta shirts he brought back.

The kids have just been playing. Kenzie likes our new toy we made (our soccer goal) and Mason has been playing baseball and a bit of golf. Rylie is Rylie and Camrie is a trouble maker. Baby Sadie is just growing up fast. She has the cutest smile. As for me (Ang), I'm just soaking it all in and taking pictures along the way. (How do you organize all your pictures Rand? I'm amazed at all the pictures you have share. Any advice is appreciated.)

We had a fun BBQ at Becca's new house yesterday. Jaxon has the cutest new bed. I hear he got it from the nicest Denny couple with 4 boys. If they had another one, I know someone who would love it for their birthday in July. :)

We miss you guys and hope to see you all at a get together soon.