Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

Dallas has a new landmark in it's skyline, it's the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. That's it over there on the right in the picture above.

Back in March before the bridge opened for traffic, the city of Dallas let the Girl Scouts hold a bridging ceremony for girls who are "bridging" up to the next level of Girl Scouts. Unfortunately not all three of my Girl Scouts could attend, but my family went and these were the pictures from the day.

We got there a little early so that I could take some extra pictures. It was a beautiful day.

Here's Rominal, Mom and Bailey.



And just to show that I was there too, here's a picture with me in it.

 

I love to get pictures of people walking away.  I don't know what that says about me, but I always feel like I've captured something special.

 






This woman was dressed up as Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts. She was so sweet to be dressed up out there for the girls!



Eventually quite a crowd showed up.



Gee, you'd never know that Rominal and Bailey were related would you? Father and daughter standing exactly the same.



For the bridging ceremony, the organizers had all of the parents go to one side of the bridge and then the girls walked across according to age and Girl Scout troup level they were going into.

The youngest girls went first and they were adorable.



Then some of the older girls came across.



Then it was time for the oldest girls to cross. You can see that there aren't as many girls.



Even though we didn't go with any other girls, Bailey met some "sister" Girl Scouts and they invited her to walk across the bridge with them. Bailey is on the far right in the picture below. Part of the Girl Scout law is to be a "sister to every Girl Scout" and these girls were so sweet to welcome Bailey.



It was a great day and a wonderful opportunity to be on this new landmark for Dallas. 

Granola - Home Made!

I love granola and yogurt together.  They are perfect.  Creamy and crunchy.  What could be better?

I've never made granola before.  My mom had some that she had made and I borrowed her recipe and tweaked it a bit to fit me.  That's the beauty of this recipe - you can adjust it to fit your liking.

Here's what you need:




What, you want measurements?  Oh, fine.  Here you go:

• 3 cups old fashioned (not quick cooking) rolled oats
• 3/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I used at least 3 because I like vanilla)
• 1 cup coconut (I used sweetened - are you surprised?)

I should point out that the recipe calls for adding 1/3 cup chopped dried apricots, 1/3 cup dried cherries, but I prefer granola with just nuts, so that's what I did.  Please feel free to tweak this recipe to fit your tastes.

Preheat the oven to 275. 

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Combine oats, wheat germ and nuts and put on baking sheet.  It should look like this:



Bake this, stirring once, for about 20 minutes. 

While that's baking, mix together the apple juice, brown sugar, oil and vanilla extract. 

After the oats, germ and nuts have baked for 20 minutes, take that out and pour over the liquid and mix well.  This is the time to add the coconut and any dried fruit if you are so inclined. 



Raise the oven temp to 350 degrees, and bake for 20 minutes, stirring half-way through.  Be careful not to let this burn.

Here's the final product.  It's so amazingly good!

 

While we were on vacation last month, I found a new yogurt that I am addicted to.  Luckily for me, I found a store here that sells it as well.  It's Noosa yoghurt.  It's super creamy and yummy.  It comes in tons of flavors, here's just a few.  (And Noosa doesn't know me - I just love their yoghurt.  I've even left the house late at night to get some so that I'd have it for breakfast the next day.  I'm even currently trying to get my local store to carry it.  It's that good!)



Yum, I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!



Enjoy!