Friday night fun

We're just chillin' in our basement on our new reclining couches sporting our matching Snuggies I got us for Vday back when we were dating. We are going through the Education Week schedule trying to pick classes we want to attend. It's rather difficult since there are so many good ones!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Grilled Pizza

This is today's cooking adventure. Delicious! Maybe it's just in my head but I think it has a slight burger flavor. Yummy! I'm also learning that Bret is the Glen Beck of pizza. He has a very rigid definition - tomato sauce and lots of cheese that gets golden on top. Grilling pizza does not make for a golden top. I don't care. It's good!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

St. Charles

Apparently the sculptor of Mt Rushmore was from the small town of St Charles right by Bear Lake. I love this miniature version.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Mt Rushmore

Look what else I visited on my Pioneer Day holiday!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Bear Lake

This is how I spent my Pioneer Day holiday. Very nice!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Holiday in Cali

It's been way too long.  I hate it when I let my blog go so neglected - it makes me feel behind in my life in general.  Or maybe being behind in life makes me neglect my blog.  Well either way, I finally transferred photos from my camera to my computer and now you get to see some of them!

First, about a month before our trip, we participated in a yard sale.  I made just about 100 dollars.  The best sellers were my scarves I've collected since college.  You can see them in a blue basket right in front of me.  They went for a buck each.  Luckily the ones I loved the most went to women I felt would really appreciate them.

Then I went to Girls Camp.  Our theme was "Guardians of Virtue" - you can see the big "V" on my t-shirt.  I let my girls take my camera around to document what they saw.  I guess they saw me.  You can tell we were in nice digs.  Heber Valley Camp, to be precise.  They call it the temple without a roof - very nice.  It was a great time and a great experience, and as everyone tells me, it only goes downhill from there.  Meaning, every camp I go to in the future will never compare.  Probably true.

This is one of my girls doing what I called the "Bug Spray Dance."  There were tons of mosquitoes and so the girls were constantly spraying themselves with repellant.  I think we went through three or four cans.  In the other shots of her you can see the spray actually coming out - you know how action shots are, you get what you get.

One last shot of camp - so you can see just how beautiful the area was.  This is from our "long hike" which took longer since we were constantly waiting for each other.  I like hiking in big groups where you keep track of everyone - it allows for more breathing time.

This is the main reason we went to California - to spend time with these folks - family!  We're sitting on a patch of Astroturf on an island that was built out of a landfill.  It was really rather beautiful, and we were grateful for the Astroturf since the natural vegetation was dry and dead looking.

Here we are again, hanging out at a playground nearby.  We pretty much all congregated and hung out on this disc watching the little girls play and just chatting it up.

We had a pretty good view of this spiral thing and one by one some of us took turns climbing up.  I couldn't do it by myself.  Stephen tried to help, and finally Marshall just push from the rear.  I made it up - but will spare you that picture.  Bret preferred this action shot anyway.

In San Fran we went to the Legion of Honor Museum.  It's free the first Tuesday of the month so we took advantage.  We LOVED all the Rodin.  I highly recommend visiting there.  We spent a lot of time posing for cheesy pictures in the courtyard, though, before going in.  Don't worry, we didn't have strangers take the pictures, the brother and family came along and did their own cheesy posing.  This is our favorite.  Notice Bret's cuffed jeans.  He felt silly when at the end of the day he noticed he hadn't uncuffed them.  He does that in the morning when he's walking around the house barefooted, so the jeans don't drag on the ground.  Then when he puts his shoes on he's supposed to uncuff them - but unfortunately he doesn't always remember. 

Nearby the Legion of Honor Museum was a really great park. Here's Stephen's family having a great time.  Later he wore the pink hat.  I think he was the only father who could get away with playing on the equipment with his girls while wearing a pink hat.

 

 On our way back to Sacramento we stopped by the Oakland Temple and did a session.  Loved it!  This time we did bug a stranger to help us out.

 

 One of outings in Sacramento was to go to Old Town where you see and learn all about the original city and its history.  I'm posing by the school house.  I think people were really short back then.

I'm afraid I didn't take very many interesting photos after that.  We did more visiting - going back to the bay and then back to Sacramento.  We have great family!  The Sun Oven I wrote about in earlier posts was one of my best souvenirs!  I made more bread in it, different recipe, that has more rise to it and it also came out great.  Loving it!  Plus the proceeds from the sale of it go to helping people in less developed countries have them.  I remember from my Sub-Saharan Africa Geography class in college that having enough fuel is a major issue.

Okay, well I need to get to bed now.  Hope Mom enjoys all the photos!

Success!

Here's the finished product. Just like out of the oven. Even used my own sour dough starter.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Cookit at Work

Last week my good sister gave me an early birthday present. It's a Cookit Solar Oven. It is amazing! I baked bread in it today.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Holiday in CA

I haven't posted much, but I'm just wrapping up a holiday in california. I'm on highway 580 heading to Sacramento and there's a bit of traffic. That allows time for checking out the neighbors. On my right I noticed a red Subaru with a bumper sticker pleading to keep Lake Tahoe blue. Very typical Cali car. Then I saw the driver, Jack Sparrow - you know - the guy from Pirates of the Caribbean. Wish I had snapped a picture.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Young Women

Here are a few of my yw as we went to the temple for the first time. Very exciting!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Father's Day Dinner

Bret made it himself. It's cheesy!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Quadrants

Finally they are together again after 14 years. Sure miss the good old days.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

BYUtv - The Generations Project: Rachel

Some of you may have heard of my good friend Rachel. She helped me cut down a few Aspen trees last year. She appeared on BYUTV last night - pretty exciting. It was actually at the cutting down of my Aspens when she was in the middle of recording this project. I think you should watch it - pretty interesting!


BYUtv - The Generations Project: Rachel

couches

there has been plenty of exciting stories from my life lately, but for some reason blogging about them has been more of a chore than a pleasure so i haven't made much of an effort.  today, though, it's rainy and i don't feel like filing (which is what i should be doing) so i'll share some recent good news.

last weekend my mother gave us her old reclining couches.  if there is anything in this world my husband loves it's a recliner.  this is the next best thing.  we managed to find space in our basement and are rather pleased with the new set up.  it did require, though, hauling out our old one.  i did that by myself one morning.  i was surprised by how light it was, especially once all the cushions were removed.  unfortunately reclining couches are NOT light.  i think poor bret may have strained his back moving them in.  anyway, the exciting thing that happened today was getting the old couch removed from my property.  i advertised on ksl and freecycle and i had quite a few interested parties, but none with trucks at their ready disposal until today.  yep, today, in the rain, a little family showed up and took it off my porch.  now i'm ready to do some grilling!  maybe i'll go sit out there and read a book while listening to the gentle rain.  that sounds nice.  or maybe i should look at my long neglected chore list and see about organizing some odd closet.


Anyway, here's a bit of nostalgia regarding my old couch.  it was a sectional.  i love sectionals.

so long old couch.  i loved you for many years.  this couch came with my old apartment, left by a previous tenant.  dona and i recovered it using bed sheets - now that was a fun project, dying them pinkish.  she did all the work.  this is where my group of closest friends was first formed - evenings after working on a tree for the "festival of trees" as well as after swing dance class.  we planned quite a few camp outs and hikes while reclining on this couch.  it was on this couch that i first became a "buffy the vampire slayer fan."  we had cats cover it in fur that gave my good friend ed an allergy attack that lasted months.  in fact i was sitting on this couch the first time i "met" ed, while watching "dante's peak." over the years, when it was less valued, it got makeup on it from the various halloween party goers.  and who knows what else was spilled on it.  and i can't forget all the many many many naps taken on it.  really it may have been one of the most comfortable couches ever.  so long.  may you get a new covering and bring your new family joy.

catching up

has it really been a month? for the last couple weeks i've had ideas of things i should share on here, and then.... well, as you can guess, i don't do it and then i forget. i'm going to try to make a list of the random things that have happened in april.
1) my young women are doing awesome! i love young women. just this morning i even worked on my own personal progress value experience.
2) bret's thumb is nearly totally healed. he wouldn't let me share photos, but just a couple weeks ago he nearly lost his entire thumb print to a mandolin slicer. we now own a protective glove. and we are now the new spokespeople for neosporin and the power of band-aids.
3) i've mastered the art of sourdough baking. today i made pitas and they are perfect! luckily bret loves all things sourdough.
4) last week i went on a hike, that wound up being a snow shoe excursion.  we went to doughnut falls and the snow was seriously four feet deep.  it snowed down on us the whole time and it was wonderful!  there were quite a few bugs out, which i thought was odd.  i wonder what they will morph into eventually - they looked like the morphing kind.  are there morphing bugs?  i don't know, but i killed a few - couldn't help it - snow shoes are big!
5) i'm a fan of drying my clothes outside on the line. so much so that even in this crazy utah weather i risked it on monday. they got rained on. oh well. today i've seen rain, hail, and sunshine. seriously.
6) my new favorite quote: we become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day. - richard g. scott.

Attack of the geese

This picture doesn't do it justice. We went to the columbia river to feed ducks and these huge geese were there instead. They eventually came up on the higher ground and chased the kids around. They even grabbed bread right from their hands. It was pretty scary.

Just so you know, bret and I came to washington state (tri cities) for the week to visit his brother's family. We have had a great week but have to head home tomorrow. We have his uncle's funeral to attend saturday morning.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The New "Secret"

Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was alerted to this book by a friend on Goodreads.  As an optimist I couldn't help but want to see what it was about.  My husband, the pessimist, thought I was strange for wanting to read it.  I couldn't help but hear his voice throughout the book.  I once read and was moved by "The Secret."  This book bashes it, along with other motivational books and speakers I've admired.  It gave me reason to really think about the pros and cons of positive thinking.  In the end (she did a good job of bringing it together at the end - but I did struggle through a couple chapters wondering at her negativity) I realized that there must be something out there better than just having an optimistic outlook.  As she said, it's not about being negative either, at least I like to think she said that.  I remember advice my father used to give - you don't have to like it you just have to eat it.  I guess in life you don't have to think all is rosy and you don't have to think the sky is falling, you just have to work.  A willingness to work hard may be what's undermining America, and the trend toward positive thinking is a nice way to justify our laziness.  Anyway, it was a quick read and gave some added insight into the recent market crash, as well as a renewed desire to be hard working and realistic.  But I'm still determined to be hopeful!



View all my reviews

Gardening

I worked in my garden today. I finally pulled up the last of my carrots. They weren't all this ridiculously small. Now hopefully I will get around to planting my peas and onions this week.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Pumpkin salad

I made it again. Bret can't get enough of it.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

roasted pumpkin salad

it's another recipe post!  a few months ago i was reading a blog where a woman was talking about her family's new food addiction.  i can't remember exactly what her kids were inhaling, but she said it was inspired by a recipe she found on 101cookbooks.  it involved a pumpkin and since i had two in storage i was pretty determined to try my hand at it.  finally, yesterday, i did.  while searching for the blog i had read, i instead came across the recipe on 101 cookbooks, so i did that one.

sorry i don't have pictures, but i do have a link to the website where i got the recipe and that has pictures. and hers are pretty!  much prettier than how my dish turned out, but according to bret, taste is what matters anyway, and this was a winner.  he nearly ate the whole bowlful by himself!

By the way, what I'm posting here is my version of the recipe.  Feel free to follow the original.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad

3 cups of diced and peeled pumpkin (obtained from Mother's garden last fall)
2 large onions cut into large chunks (basically quartered)
olive oil and salt - no measurement - enough to coat the pumpkin and onions.

Toss the pumpkin and onion in oil and salt and then bake on a lined cookie sheet for around 50 minutes at 375.  Every now and then try to stir it up a bit so they can bake on new sides.  The goal is to have them caramelize a bit.

While that is baking, make two cups of brown rice.

While rice is cooking, blend the following in a food processor to make the dressing:

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

When everything is done, mix them all together and enjoy!