Weary-ness

After a loooooong 11 hours we made it to Utah today at 7:15ish local time. Sam and Grace did surprisingly well in the car for that long. Having our new portable, dual screen dvd player helped, I'm sure. Almost the first thing I did here at my dear sister Whitney's house is put a dent in her wall while I was trying to help move the couch. Happy Birthday Whit. All the pre-wedding fun starts tomorrow with a trip into Salt Lake to buy wedding clothes and wedding presents. And now, to bed.

CHEATERS!

Here's something we saw out our window today:





Our neighbors, who are moving, instead of lugging all their stuff down the stairs like you're supposed to do, chose instead to take the wimp's way(or those with extra cash) out and got a fork lift. Honestly! Whatever happened to good, honest, grunt work? And the very worst of it is the fork lift wont reach up to our floor so we can't steal their idea when its time for us to leave!

Something happened to me yesterday and it really should be the only thing I am writing about because it was a life changing experience. Yesterday, for the first time, I had yellow watermelon. Up until just a few months ago I never knew such a thing existed, and never even supposed that one would come under my knife. But the melon gods smiled down upon us and we received half a yellow watermelon in our weekly share of produce from the organic gardens here at the university. Did I mention it was a life changing experience? Never shall I be able to be content with a red melon again. Red!(said scornfully). Flashy color, yes, and it goes well with the green rind, but the taste is positively insipid next to the amazing, mouth-watering, delectable,...words really aren't enough. Let this serve as a warning to all. If you truly wish to taste what a watermelon was meant to taste like, do all in your power to find a yellow watermelon. If, however, you are content without this nirvana experience, avoid the yellow at all costs! It will destroy your melon tranquility. You have been warned.

Do you dare to eat a peach?

Yesterday, after spending considerable time in the bathroom cleaning for a saftey/cleaning inspection that never really happened, I walked into the kitchen and was confronted with this image:

One more thing to clean. Well, two more if you count the child and the puddle of peach juice underneath her.
Also yesterday I made my first foray into pita making territory. Here's the results of my mornings work:

It was surprisingly quick and easy, though they did not taste as good as Collette's. You'll have to give me pointers when you get home, k?
And finally, yesterday on almost a spur of the moment decision, we decided to move. Of course, only two apartments over from where we are now, but it will but an upgrade to a three bedroom/2bath apartment which will be heavenly after the cramped quarters we have been living in. The greatest thing about it is that the new apartment is on the same floor we are on so no stairs this time!!! After the three flights we had getting all our stuff up here I'm sure the elder's quarum will be excited as well. We'll find out today if the management will go for us ending the lease on this apartment and taking up a new one. This is a brand new management so I don't know how accommodating they will be. We'll be keeping our finger's crossed.

Nieces!

I'm fairly certain that I have the cutest nieces ever. I hate living so far away from my sisters and their kids. Here's pictures of Molly and Eliza Tingey and Sophie Stryker.

National Lentil Festival

The day started for us at 8 am with the Taste T. Lentil 5k run. There were about 100 people running along with me on a fairly easy course. 1st half uphill, 2nd half down. I felt really good as we were about to start until I realized that I had to pee but there was no time so I just used that as an inducement to go faster and reach a bathroom quicker. I was pretty pleased with my time which was infinitely better then any other 5k I've done. Some people from our ward including the bishop were working as volunteers directing traffic along the course so it was fun to see them. Rob, Sam and Grace were waiting for me at the finish line with big cheers and smiles and demands for cookies and oranges. Rob wouldn't let them get any of the snacks that were there for the runners. Micah Adams, our bishop's son, won the race, coming in around 18 or 19 minutes (Rob can't remember), and our good friend Adam George came in second, a few seconds behind Micha. Way to go Micha and Adam!! All in all, a good run. I had fun and the shirt is pretty cool too; designed by the lovely Laurel Nickels whom I have the privilege of visiting teaching.
After a quick shower and a run to the church for a baptism (figuratively speaking, I really drove), we hustled down to main street to watch the parade.


These pictures here show the 500 gallon bowl that they made lentil chili in last night at the street fair. The other one is of Taste T. Lentil himself. Now you'll never have to wonder what a giant lentil looks like. Sam and Grace really had fun watching the parade, though the fire truck horns were pretty loud. After the parade we scooted on down to the park for the fun and games there. We got a boatload of free stuff from all the different vendors that were there and had some very tasty chinese food for lunch. I suppose we should have chosen something with lentils in it, though we did have lentil ice cream for dessert. Sam had a fun meeting with Ronald McDonald. They played catch.

After a turn in the jumping castle for the kids it was time to head home. Nap time is just about over now and then we're off to get all our Saturday errands done in just the 2 hours we have left before dinner. Its been a good day. Tomorrow (Monday really) I'll have to start training for next year. Instead of the 5k I'm shooting for the Tour de Lentil 100k. Good weekend to all!

Botheration!

As if this week hasn't been enough, the heat element of our oven shorted out tonight when I turned the oven on to preheat it for dinner. Which meant that we wouldn't be consuming the 20$ worth of pizza that I had just purchased from Papa Murphy's. Pancakes are always a good standby in our home, and luckily there was some bacon and extra eggs to round out the meal. Once we were all good and full, the apartment manager called and offered us the use of an oven in an empty apartment, stressing that she was doing us a great favor and she was NOT supposed to do it. So now we have two nicely cooked pizza's and no tummy room. Since our oven wont be fixed till Monday earliest, I suppose we'll be eating cold pizza all weekend.
On the agenda for tonight is the Primary Program. I could almost call it the dreaded primary program if that didn't sound almost irreverent. I have in fact started on it and its not going terribly, but I'm not so sure it will be finished by Sunday which was my deadline. I have a sharing time to plan as well this weekend and I haven't even started on that. Well, I'll turn in what I have done and rely in my bishop's understanding heart for mercy.
Today hasn't been all primary and culinary stress. Sam and Grace and I spent a very pleasant morning at the Palouse Discovery Science Center. We have a memeber ship there courtesy of Sam's preschool. It's a really great place and we had alot of fun. The kids favorite exhibit is the huge box of lentils with dinosaur bones buried in it that they can dig out. Well, Sam likes digging; Grace just likes to fling lentils everywhere.
Tomorrow morning I"ll be running in the Taste T. Lentil 5k. Now I know that to many of you who may be reading this 5k is equivalent to a warm up run(all you marathoners!) but its a pretty big deal for me. Back in high school I couldn't even make it once around the track so it's kind of exciting that I can go more then three miles without stopping. I just hope I'm not last since I am a pretty slow runner. Also a muscle in my leg has been giving me trouble this week so I hope that doesn't act up on me. After the race and some church business we'll go down to Reaney Park to enjoy the rest of the Lentil Festival. There'll be lots of fun stuff for the kids and free goodies for everyone and hopefully I'll find a cool wedding present for the little bro at some of the local artists' booths.
Well, procastination time is over and it's time to get to work!

Cookies!

It's bad form to boast, I know, but I just can't help myself. I make the best chocolate chip cookies. Ever. Period. I don't make them very often because once you start eating them it is hard to stop and they are, I have to admit, very bad for you. However, there is oatmeal in them so the fiber is there. I didn't have the camera handy to get Grace's face earlier today after she had eaten one, but this picture is from last year after she had imbibed in all their chocolate-y, walnut-y, oatmeal-y goodness. For good measure there is also a picture from last week when we were playing pirate. But there is no cookie in it, so it really is hardly worth the trouble.
I'd include the recipe, but it's an old family secret. It came from my mother, who got it from my Grandma, who got it, so the legend goes, from a mysterious Mrs. Field.

Other news of the day: my brother's wedding announcement came in the mail. WOW! Could little Beezer really be getting married?! And is he really prepared for his sisters to decend on his future in-laws and tell them what Spencer was really like as a child? My only real question is, has Anna ever heard of FraggleRock and is she prepared to protect her husband from them in all their permutations?

Long Legged Guitar Pick'en Man

I've always had this pet dream that when my kids were about 3 or 4 I would start to teach them to play the piano and by the time they were teenagers they would be brilliant pianists. Sam is now 4, but unfortunately we don't have a piano and Rob stubbornly refuses to get one until we are living on the ground floor somewhere. I just can't convince him that three flights of stairs shouldn't get in our way. However, they have started learning to play the guitar, which is pretty cool too. At this point they just strum while Rob does the fingering, but they both really love it. Perhaps one of them will turn out to be a prodigy. I'm still holding on to my piano dream though.

Rob's blog

I thought I should include the address to Rob's blog. Chances are we'll be commenting on some of the same things at one time or another, so it might be interesting to get a different perspective. http://rob-ablog.blogspot.com/

recall

Our family has been affected by the toy recall. Of that what, 10 million toys recalled?, we bought one of them, a toy Sarge from the movie Cars, which has dangerous levels of lead in the paint. This has caused ripples in my sense of well being. Sarge is now sitting on top of the fridge, well out of reach of Sam and Grace. And whereas before he had an amusingly ferocious grimace on his face, now whenever I look up there I see a sinister glare starring right back at me. Sam is having a hard time understanding why he can't play with his car. We told him there was something wrong with the paint, but he has it fixed in his mind that there is something wrong with the color and wont stop asking me what color Sarge is going to be now. I also have to hope that the car wasn't made in the factory whose owner killed himself over the weekend. Though it would just be one little toy that would link us, I don't want to be connected to that despair.

On a lighter note, I am starting the arduous process of writing our Primary Sacrament Meeting Program today. Somewhere along the line when it became known that I am an English major the primary president decided that I was the best person to write the program. We have over 70 kids in primary, and I have to come up with a part for each and every one of them. I confess to the world of blogging that which I have yet had to courage to confess to anyone else. I DON"T WANT TO DO THIS!!!!! I suppose that it isn't so much that I don't think I can. More that I just really, really don't want to.

And so it begins

So I've been thinking about becoming a blogger for awhile now; at least a year I think. I just never seemed to get around to it but then Rob had to go and make a blog just yesterday and I couldn't let him have one and me not have one, so here I am. I confess that the main thing that has kept me from creating a blog is that I just couldn't come up with the right name. This one just popped into my head when I sat down at the computer today. It seems appropriate since I myself am petite and I imagine that most of what I write will be of small importance. I'm not so sure this blog will get alot of use or viewers, regardless of what cousin Sarah and Heidi say, but it could be fun. Here's a picture of my kids, Sam and Grace. Since they will probably be a main topic of conversation with me, it seems only fair that you should get a look at them.
Interesting fact for today: Over the weekend a grain silo just outside of town caught fire. Since then all of Pullman has smelt just like burnt toast.