Those Summer Nights!

Friday night I felt like I was in the movie Grease. It was so great! Rich and I decided to try something new and go to a drive-in movie. I cannot believe I'd never done this before! We had such a nice time and the weather was perfect. We went to see Iron Man, which I know has been out forever, but we hardly ever make it to movies. We set up cushions and blankets on the hood of Rich's car and snuggled up for the movie. (I did take a picture, but I don't have the camera cord right now.) I loved being under the stars, and I loved being with Rich! Honestly, I think this is my new favorite summer activity! We'll definitely do this again! (So many exclamation points!)

Saturday morning we went for a bike ride. A LONG bike ride. I loved it! I felt so active. But our bikes are sad. The chain on mine got bent right before the big hill we had to climb to begin our ride home, and the the tire on Rich's bike started rubbing on the brake and the frame of the bike. Weird, I know. It was a disaster! We had a fun time anyway though, and I think those trials just made us stronger:)

Saturday afternoon I got to go to Selina's bridal shower! Yay! It was so much fun to see her again (it's been awhile), and she looks so great and happy. The shower theme was a "Lingerie Shower," Cameron is such a lucky guy! Another great part of the shower was seeing Sheena! She came up to surprise Selina, which was great for me because I hadn't seen her since my own wedding. Yay for friends! After the shower I went to my great uncle's 80th birthday party. Yes. Very exciting. But there was amazing food! I ate so much!

And on the topic of food, on Friday night before the movie I decided I needed to make this dessert I'd seen on the Bakerella food blog. (I love this blog!) I'd been craving it ever since I'd seen the picture (again, I have pictures on the camera that has no cord). You should use the link to see the pictures of the pie Bakerella made. Anyway, the dessert was a Hershey's recipe called "Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie." It was AMAZING. Next time, however, I will use a better pie crust recipe; the one I found on the Internet was fast, just as it was billed, but it also had WAY too much oil. So, that's something I'll change the next time around. But the pie was still great; Rich, me, and my mom all loved it! I think you'll love it too. Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell*
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans
Serve with ice cream (optional)

• Preheat oven 325 degrees F.
• Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
• Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
• Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.

Recipe from Nestle Classic Recipes, 2003
* If using frozen pie shell, use deep dish style and thaw completely. Bake on baking sheet and increase baking time slightly.

Weekend in Tropic

I love Tropic! Most people know this about me.

This weekend me, Rich, and my mom went down for a quick weekend to clean up the yard some. I know, it doesn't look like much, but I promise it's an amazing piece of dirt!!

Rich and I ran the mowers and got all the weeds and grass down while my mom made things look really nice and trimmed up some of the trees and cleaned out dead leaves and such. We were all worn out by the end of the day. I'm just not made for hard labor anymore!! It was a great weekend though, and I'm glad I got to see my friend and her new baby at church on Sunday.



I can't wait until we go back in July! (Even though Selina is going to hate me forever!)

5:00 in the morning fun

So, I don't want to brag, but I'm the nicest sister in the world. Really, it's true. My brother and fabulous sister-in-law Jo ran in a 10-mile race on Saturday, and I agreed to watch their kids. They dropped off Canon and Addie at 5:00 in the morning, which is way earlier than I've gotten up for like two years. Anyway, I had a great time playing with the kids, and I'm not complaining, promise, I just needed to start out the blog dramatically because I HAD to post this picture of Addie. She was so tired and confused when her parents dropped her off. She was just sitting on the couch with this half scowl/half confusion look. Rich and I were laughing so hard. I tried to take a picture, which was probably mean and and probably added to her confusion, but she just looked so cute! She refused to look at us for a long time, which I think was her way of being defiant while we were trying to take pictures of her with her crazy hair.

Love you Addie! And yes, lots of things are a lot funnier at 5 o'clock in the morning!

Annalisa Came to Town!

Just like Santa Clause brings joy to all the boys and girls when he comes to town, Annalisa did the same for us:) Okay, bad intro, but it's all I could come up with, gah. Annalisa is one of my most favorite friends! Our entire friendship has essentially been over e-mail, instant messaging, or Google Chat, but we're still best buddies! I look to her for objective opinions on all my purchases and for the honest truth. I know she'll set me straight, bear me up, or just commiserate with my ventings--all things a good friend does! She also understands when I dork out and blog about books for weeks on end:)

She came to visit our other friend, Jamie, who was once upon a time my roommate and who Annalisa introduced me to. We were able to meet up for dinner at Cafe Trio for some good food and some nice conversation. I wish we'd been able to spend more time together, but we had a great time! Here are some pics from the night.

Thanks for making time to have dinner with us Annalisa! Yay!

One Summer Book Conquered!

So I finished Bluebear! Check one book off the list! What a great way to start the summer--I'm being prideful, but I pretty much rock right now. Another great thing about finishing the book: Annalisa can take it back with her instead of me paying the post office to mail it to her! Perfect timing!

OK, the review. It's going to go down like this. List form. These aren't in order, just how the thoughts came to me.
1. I feel as if the author occasionally got so caught up in winning THE MOST IMAGINATIVE WRITER IN THE WORLD contest, that he forgot that long, long, long lists of various colors, species, and definitions of the effects of time travel get boring after 667 pages.
2. I want to meet Professor Nightingale and see all of his extra brains.
3. I will someday have a puppy named Qwerty; affectionately named after Qwerty Uiop, Gelatinous Prince of the 2634th Dimension.
4. Would it not be very exciting to enter a tornado and find a stable and working city?
5. I found the Troglotroll endearing, aside from the fact that he constantly was leaving Bluebear to be devoured or captured or to die a long, painful death.
6. I think I held my breath for 15 pages during the Spiderwitch chase.
7. How badly do you want to try a muggroom right now?
8. Bluebear's last 2 1/2 lives were not as interesting as his previous 11.
9. The word 'gah' will now be a staple in my blogging, IMs, and emails.
10. If I could be sure that a Reptilian Rescuer would save me when the island tried to eat me, I would gladly gorge myself on Gourmetica Insularis's fantasical treats.

Okay. There you have it! I recommend that you go on your own adventure with Bluebear. I think you would find it refreshing and much more fun that your current life! Pizazz!

Fiction Selection

I began reading my fiction summer book last week. I just forgot to blog about it. I started on this book because it's a book I've had for over a year and Annalisa wants her book back!

I'm reading The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. I'll admit that this was not a book that I would have bought on my own. And I was wary when Annalisa gave it to me (thus the waiting forever to read it!), but she would always talk about it and mention how "it had changed her life." That's a big claim. So I decided to have my own adventure with Bluebear.

The best way to describe this book is to relate a scene from when I visited my nephew Canon on Friday night. I call this the "13 1/2 Sides of Canon Millett."

Set scene: Rich and I walk into the backyard. Canon comes running toward us.

Canon: I'M SUPERMAN!!
Me: You are? I can tell, you're pretty amazing.
Canon: [begins swinging his arm and making light sabre noises]
Me: Does Superman have a light sabre?
Canon: That's Dad's stuff.
Me: Oh yeah?
Canon: I have a hammer! That's my hammer.
Me: Wow, that's a great hammer.
Canon: It makes noise. [starts hitting concrete with his plastic hoe (hammer)]
Me: Wow, that does make a lot of noise.
Canon: I have lots of tools.
Me: You do? So lucky!
Canon: I have a trailer! That's my trailer over there. See, I can climb in it. [climbs into his wagon then climbs back out]
[I start talking to Jo, Canon's mom]
Canon: Stop. Listen. My hammer makes noise!
Me: Yes, I can hear that. I'm just telling your mom a story, hold on.
Canon: [puts his hand in front of my face] STOP.
Me: Okay.
Canon: I'm a dinosaur! ROAR!
Me: You are the best dinosaur ever!
Canon: Let's go swing!
Me: Alright, let's go.
Canon: [while swinging] That's Sara's kitty. I want to play with the kitty!

End Scene.

Okay, do you understand? Essentially a frenetic book that is all about imagination and reminds you of being a kid and going from one adventure to the next. I'm about three-quarters of the way through. I just climbed out of the Bollog's head and am now traveling through Atlantis. (If you want to know, you have to read!) I'll give you my full report when I get done with all of Bluebear's lives!

It's Grill Time!

Sunday was such a great day! The weather was great, and we were able to relax and enjoy being home together. For dinner we grilled it up! I love when we cook together, and our dinner ended up being a great masterpiece:)

I created a slideshow of all the pictures from last night. There were just too many that I wanted to share!
Here are some quick highlights: You will see before and after shots; you will see my albino breadsticks (I made them from scratch! But for some reason they never browned on top. Tasty though!); you will see my wet leg when I was trying to water the plants but our sprayer is all jacked up and I ended up watering myself instead; you will see our magically amazing kebobs and how much we enjoyed our dinner!

Okay, feast your eyes below! (I couldn't figure out how to put it directly in this post.)

Date Night(s)

Friday night was a date night for us. Yay! We went to the Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand concert. Rich loves these guys and has been listening to their new CD ever since it arrived in the mail over 2 weeks ago. I knew Rich loved this band and that he really enjoyed their concerts, so I got tickets for him as a surprise (thanks Abby for helping me make the surprise!). The concert was tons of fun and the weather was pretty great. Below are some pics so you can enjoy the concert too.

Selfer pics are hard. Also, boo to the man whose head is perfectly placed in this picture.


See how happy Rich is?


I was going to add video, but loading it took too long. TOO LONG.


On Saturday night we had a double date night! Trevor was one of Rich's companions on his mission. They are best mission buddies. Trevor and Kara just finished up at Utah State and moved to West Jordan, so we're hoping we'll get to see them more. I love hanging out with them and it's fun to hear all the stories from Rich's time in Germany. Rich and Trevor were companions for over 5 months and spent a lot of time in the same city after their time being companions was done, so they have a lot of memories together.

The four of us met at Dooner's in Riverton to show our Germany love! Rich lived off these sandwiches on his mission (though the version at this place pales in comparison to the real thing, they're still pretty tasty!). It was great to catch up. Then we got some ice cream and headed back to our place for some games.

What a great weekend! I love Rich and love going on dates!

Friday Afternoon Musings. . .

I began the morning by frantically getting ready in time to catch the bus. This is how I begin most mornings. I simply am too tired (or lazy, whichever you prefer) to get up 10 minutes earlier, so instead my mornings consist of me rushing to make it out of the house in time to walk/run to the bus stop. Today I knew I had to catch the bus because I had to be exactly on time to work to be there for a morning devotional that Elder L. Tom Perry was giving. I full-on sprinted the whole way to bus stop. I am not in shape. I was breathing very, very heavily. When I reached the bus stop and caught my breath, I got into my bag to find my bus pass. This is when I discovered the Nilla Wafers I had stuffed into a sandwich bag had all fallen out all over the contents of my purse, this was especially annoying as all of the cards/papers/frequent shopper cards had fallen out of my wallet earlier in the week, but, again, I was too lazy to reorganize everything, so now there is a nice gritty feeling to all my papers and belongings. But don't you worry, I scooped up all the Nilla Wafers and ate them later on for breakfast!

I made it on time for the devotional, and wow. It was a great way to begin the work day. Because I work for the LDS Church, I have a department devotional every Monday morning. I sometimes make it to these devotionals. Devotionals consist of coworkers giving short, inspirational thoughts to set the tone for the work week. General Authority devotionals only happen once a month; in reality though, they usually happen quarterly, depending on schedules, etc. I have missed a few because I forget and am lazy and regularly show up to work at least 10 minutes late if I drive or take Trax. (The bus is helping to remedy my lateness issues.) Anyway, Elder Perry began by asking who had a calling in the Primary, and I was one of two people who raised their hand. So, he singled me out! It was all right though--but the lesson was particularly inspirational for me because I do have a current calling in the Primary. I hope that I'll be able to take the message he shared and help my wonderful Primary girls understand the gospel better. Elder Perry's main message was that we need to know the Articles of Faith. We need to make sure our Primary children understand the AofF so that when they go into Young Men and Young Women, they will be prepared to grow their testimony and put all their doctrinal knowledge together, this will then help them be able to share their testimonies better, thus becoming better teachers once they go out on missions. He made a little diagram and categorized the AofF into groupings, which made a lot of sense to me. I really enjoyed this presentation and it was great to hear from an Apostle of the Lord. I'm really grateful that I was able to have this more personal lesson from Elder Perry.

So, that is the spiritual ending to my Nilla Wafer morning!

Barnes and Noble Let Me Down

So, I went to Barnes and Noble and didn't buy a thing. This is proof that I have will power.

To be honest though, I was a little disappointed in B&N. I mean, I went searching for classics and all that was being offered were B&N's own editions. I may be a book snob, but I like the Penguin editions of the classics. Maybe I'm all about appearances and just really hate the B&N book designs (which I totally do), but the real reason is that I think the B&N versions really suck. I bought their version of My Antonia, and I was sorely disappointed. The notes left a lot to be desired.

I did find another book I was interested in, and it was $17 for a paperback. It was 250 pages. Now, I know that B&N doesn't mark down prices, but I was still upset. I think I was taking the lack of classics editions out on the price gouging the publisher was inflicting. At any rate, I went home empty-handed.

Then Amazon saved the day. I found the Penguin edition I wanted, and the 250-pager for a combined $20. Brand new! I of course had to add something that was $5 to get the free shipping, so I renewed my Smithsonian magazine subscription. All in all, a great night.

And yes, I'm playing coy. I'm not going to tell you what books I decided upon just yet. I'm so mean!

Books, Books, Books!

Summer is here! Well, not officially, but if I wait for the summer solstice that means being patient for 20 more days, so we're calling now summer time! And what does summer mean? summer reading lists! Yay! I'm getting started a little later this year, what with the Philippines and me reading some brain candy and then trying to finish the last book I started, but no more excuses--on to the goals! Disclaimer: I think this post may officially out me as a nerd.

I normally try to read a variety of books from different genres. The past few summers I've only managed to get in one book per genre. Hopefully this summer I'll be a little quicker and get to more than 4 books. I have the following break-downs: classics or books from the literary canon, non-fiction/biography, fiction, and religious/spiritual/self-help. I have some ideas for some of my summer books, but for some areas I'll need to peruse the shelves of Barnes and Noble, which we all know can be a dangerous activity. For now though, here's a sampling of what's been going through my head the past few days.

The Classics. I'm thinking Dickens. I haven't had a great jaunt with Dickens for awhile. And it's always nice to read a book where you can imagine a British woman saying "4 o'clock." "o'clock" is such a fun word. I always smile when i come across "o'clock" in a book. And it's even more fun when it's said with a British accent. Obviously there are many books I could choose that would employ the "o'clock," but right now, Dickens is winning. Though, in honor of Annalisa, I am considering venturing into the world of Steinbeck. Honestly, am I the worst English major ever for not having read Steinbeck? Another admission, I kind of want to read Moby Dick. I'm not sure if I would get to any other books this summer if I set sail with Captain Ahab, but deep down, I want to see if I'll survive the journey or be left stranded. We'll see what I end up picking. What are your favorite classics? Books that never lose their excitement or allure? Please share!

Non-Fiction/Biography. I just finished a memoir by A.J. Jacobs called The Year of Living Biblically. It was a light-hearted read, not as amazing as his first book, but out of the ordinary. I also just read The World is Flat, which was very interesting and thought-provoking. I recommend it to everyone--Rich said he would read it, I'm waiting for this to happen. Anyway, my point is, I think for this section I really want to read a biography. About someone not boring. That's my only criteria. My dad has a book entitled American Caesar about Douglas MacArthur, which really intrigues me. But it is a large tome, and I'm not sure I want to lug it around to pool sides and campgrounds. This might be the kind of book best suited for winter reading, i.e. curling up on the couch under many blankets. Instead, I'm looking for some inspiration, or at least some wow factor in a much smaller package. For some reason I've always wanted to read about Che Guevara. Weird? Idk that much about Che, but I feel as though I should. I mean, his face is splayed across T-shirts worn by yuppies all over New York. We'll see if Amazon has any wonderful recommendations on Che Guevara biographies. At any rate, I'll read his Wikipedia entry.

Fiction. This can be a dangerous category for me. I get sucked into brain candy books very easily. And once I'm hooked, I can't break myself free for many volumes. Earlier in the winter I went through a phase where all I read were Gossip Girl novels and Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death. (The latter is completely awful. I loved it! It's also not really in the fiction category. Officially.) I also just got sucked into The History of Love, which when it was first published I promised myself I would never read because of the title. But then I went to the library and there it was in all its brand-new paperback glory. So I checked it out. Guess what? Not brain candy at all. It was a fabulous journey into human relationships and the emotion of living. I tell you this because I was pleasantly surprised. I want to read another book like this. One that catches me off guard. A book that effects me. When I find books like this they tend to be about war, or the effects of war, or Jewish people who escaped during the war. This is a trend that I think I would like to break this summer. I will be wandering the aisles of Barnes and Noble to find the perfect fit.

Religious/Spiritual/Self-Help. My big concern here is not really what the book is about, it's what the title will be. You see, there is a man on the bus I ride who is very chatty. More chatty than anyone should be at 7:00 a.m. More chatty than anyone should be who does not actually know the people sitting next to him. He is the chatty man. I hate when the last seat on the bus is next to chatty man. I am forced to hear comments like "So, what are you reading?" "Has it convinced you that the world really is flat yet?" "So, is the book really about how the world is flat?" I mean, read the Amazon reviews yourself chatty man! You can see my dilemma. There is no way that I can read a book entitled Be Your Own Windkeeper. If I do, my luck is that I'll have to sit next to chatty man. Or, like this morning, chatty man will kindly give up his seat so that I can sit down, but then will look over my shoulder the entire ride at the book I am reading. And while it was very nice of chatty man to give me his seat, chatty man then took this sacrifice to mean that everyone on the bus wanted to hear him talk. He was standing in front of everyone, thus, it was chatty man's stage. He counted how many people were standing 3 times. We know. Thank you. Then with every jerk and jolt of the bus, chatty man would groan and make a comment like "Oh, that's painful," or "That's why in the old UTA handbook it said that no one was allowed to stand while driving on the highway," or "Ugh, my rotator cuff. It's torn." One point chatty man even tried to engage me in a conversation about his torn rotator cuff; I responded by not looking up from my book and dryly saying "Perhaps yous should sit back down." Chatty man apparently developed a southern accent at this point and went on for 5 minutes about how chatty man could handle it because he was such a tough guy. Chatty man, if you're so tough, then stop complaining about your torn rotator cuff. Chatty man has totally ruined this section of summer reading. I'm sure chatty man is a nice guy. Maybe. But there is no way that I can read a book about not letting people drink from my pool of inner power when chatty man is looking over my shoulder stealing all the ideas! *sigh*

Garden!

Saturday was a big day. We were very productive. Yes. Us! I was so proud of us for getting up relatively early and getting going on some things. The day began with Rich going for a run and me for a bike ride. I haven't ridden a bike in years. It was interesting, but I had a lot of fun and will probably go again! Yay for us for being active!

After our rigorous exercising, we went to the nursery to get some plants. I wanted to try to grow some fresh herbs for cooking. I also wanted to see if we could grow a few veggies so that I would have some on hand this summer. We started out small. Hopefully I don't kill anything. Our backyard isn't that big, so we used this flower bed to plant everything.

We got some basil, which was the number one thing I wanted. I love fresh basil! We also got some dill. Isn't it the cutest little ferny plant? Love it! We also got some parsley, cilantro, and rosemary. I'm really excited to start using these fresh herbs in my cooking!











We decided to start even smaller with the vegetables. We are the proud owners of a zuchini plant, a cucumber plant, and four beautiful roma tomato plants. Their all so small and frail looking--but they're all ferociously fighting for their lives! I hope they make it!!



After running some other errands and getting the garden in, it was time for a night out with some friends. We hung out with Lindsey and Brett and it was great. Lindsey and I have been playing phone tag for ages, and we haven't hung out forever. I was happy that our schedules finally worked out to get together. We had tons of fun and great conversations! Also, we all learned the Rich is a lot better than all of us at miniature golf! He's so multi-talented!