Martha Stewart Can Kiss My Grits

Last night we went to our friends, the Sundahl's, for a "tree house party." Throughout this summer they have been working on a very impressive tree house in their back yard. So with Indian food on the menu, I offered to make the dessert. I'm sure by my title you can already sense my demise.

Yesterday happened to be one of, if not the hottest day of August 2007. I believe that my commentator friend on NPR said that the heat index was 104. That means that with the humidity it felt like "the inside of a mouth." Terrible day to try a new recipe, especially one that involves a ton of butter.

Not thinking I printed out the three recipes, with a total 20 steps that were supposed to produce a great cake. I even watched the video from her show so I would do it all exactly the way she did. During my production I realized that this was also a two person operation. (well three actually because they have a kitchen aid mixer which counts in our kitchen as another person, which we don't have.)

This is what it was going to look like!

All was workable until the frosting portion of the experiment. Our house was just too hot. The butter was too soft and my whipped butter cream frosting looked terrible. Boo and I conjured up a solution however once we got the frosting on the cake it wouldn't stick, also because it was too hot. It wanted to melt and slide off. We tried to put it in the fridge to cool it down but every time we took it out we had the same surprise, a huge pile of frosting at the bottom of the cake. We needed cake suspenders to hold it up. We learned that more in this case is not better and that patching up the sides where it had slid down didn't help. So needless to say our cake was a flop. It tasted fine, but looked awful.

Maybe I should have taken my sissy's advice and gone and bought the chocolate cake at the Costco. It would have looked a million times better. Also, I have learned that Martha's recipes are not for the faint of heart and she should put a disclaimer on the recipe that says in extreme heat and humidity this recipe is sure to fail.

Thanks to our friends who actually ate the cake.

Oh me of little faith

Last night we went to the baptism of a new friend Luis. I was thinking that he is incredibly wise for his years. Before the baptism we had him over for dinner with the missionaries. This wasn't the first time he'd been to our house as Boo had participated in the discussions with him before. But he's only 17, lives with some relatives but takes care of himself while his mother has left to take work somewhere, he doesn't know. Doesn't know his father at all either. We got talking about school and his plans for after graduation. I told him that if it was me, I'd be freaking out and that I thought he was really calm for his situation. I commend his decision for being baptized. I know that he thought through it very carefully. It was a really nice event to be part of.

Cape Cod Day

So one of these years we will indeed make a trip to Cape Cod for more than just a day's worth of activities. Maybe we'll get smart and go in the middle of the week and stay through a weekend?

We were invited to go to Nickerson State Park to do some camping with friends from the hood (neighborhood). Boo and I packed up our beach gear the night before and decided we'd head out early Saturday morning, as to beat the crazy end of summer beach goers. For those of you who have never driven to the Cape on a Saturday in the summer, it really only has two ways on, Bourne and Sagamore bridges. We haven't ever gone over the Bourne bridge, but the Sagamore creates a serious bottle neck for getting on and off the Cape. But if you leave early enough like we did you will avoid all of that nonsense.

Noelle eating some spilled Fruitloops out of the dirt. Ah, I love my scavenger baby!

We hung out at the camp ground for a while before heading out to Marconi Beach. Boo and I tried some boogie boarding.

Noelle just played in the sand and made new friends on the beach, as she wandered off while I was snapping pics of Boo in the water. I think they group she was hanging out with was laying bets on how long it would be before someone in our group noticed she was gone. (disclaimer - no we're not bad parents, its just that the baby sensors were turned off for those who agreed to watch her for us, and its ok, we can still be friends.)

After the beach we went back to the campground and went on a nice bike ride just before dark. Seeing how I was on a tiny little bike the workout was a little more intense than I had planned on. But it was still a really beautiful ride.

- We'll just call this picture "WIFE" the ultimate ball and chain

We ended the night with a tasty dinner compliments of Papa Bokovoy. He even made his own ketchup.

Thanks for a fun day on the Cape. Next time I go to Nickerson I plan on bringing my bike and sleeping in a yurt. Yes three state parks in Massachusetts offer yurt camping, I bet you're jealous.

Blueberry Picking Dejavu

We went blueberry picking again, but this time we went for the smaller more tedious berries to pick. I don't know blueberries very well, but Jen says they're better to cook with. I'll take her word for it. However I'm so smart I put two boxes full of berries on the top of the stroller and then tried to do some four wheeling and dumped my hard to pick berries into the crab grass. It made me swear. Poor Ian's virgin ears. We scooped up as many as we could and then had to go back and pick some of the fat berries to top it off. Good enough for me. When I rinsed them I found a bunch of sticks and grass in the strainer.

We thought maybe the babies would like to just hang out in the stroller, but they didn't fit as well as we would have liked them to.

The Freedom Trail for the Millionth Time

Riley and Tate win the prize. I think I just did the Freedom Trail for the millionth time. We didn't get going until later in the day so we weren't able to complete the whole thing, but we saw some good stuff and and did the Bunker Hill Memorial at the beginning of their Boston tour. It has a new visitor's center that just opened this summer. Pretty cool.

They also saw Fenway Park (which Tate had never heard of, duh), the Museum of Science, and the aforementioned Six Flags. No beach though. We like to go to the beach, but I couldn't convince those boys. I guess three days really isn't enough time to do it all. And its kind of an expensive journey if you try to do it all.

Roller Coasters and White Trash

This summer seems to be a summer of firsts. Blueberry picking and now Six Flags! My brother Riley and his friend Tate skipped on over to Boston after their week at EFY in Palmyra, NY. We made the venture out to western Massachusetts to experience its major attraction of Six Flags New England. I wasn't sure if we were going to the Massachusetts version of Lagoon or if we were going to the Warner Bros version of Disneyland. Needless to say all of these places have one thing in common; the common definition, in demonstration of white trash. Yeah, I said it. Honestly folks, I realize there is a water park attached to the theme park, but is it really necessary to pretend that your swimsuit is part of your roller coaster riding attire? Absolutely not! Not only did I see things I didn't ever want to imagine, but I guess I had no idea that body shape versus swimsuit really doesn't matter to the general theme park population. One word: scary. Maybe I only noticed because we were standing in line for long periods of time and I had a lot of time to evaluate the fashions.

Despite our neighbors in line we got to ride some awesome roller coasters. Superman was so fantastic that I honestly couldn't say or scream a single word. I thought my tongue might fall out. Seriously. It was crazy scary/fun/pee your pants cool. Another fun one was Batman, hence our picture.

L to R: Tate, Riley, Boo (with flamboyant hand pose), Rach

Noelle unfortunately didn't get to come, however we are so indebted to the Jackson's for letting her pretend she was Ian's twin sister for the day.

A very New England thing to do

Last Friday we participated in one of the classic New England activities of the summer. Fruit picking!!! Yes folks, there are many places around where you can go and pick your own fruit. Common varieties would be raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and of course apples. Ryan and I have gone with the youth in our ward to pick apples for the annual apple pie making night at the church, but that seems so limited with such a large variety of produce to choose from.

Rachel with Noelle and cousin Ian

So Noelle, Ian, Jen, Lindsay, and Spencer all got our pick on. (sounds like something you'd say about the guy in the car next to you who is picking his nose.) I digress. We found a lovely orchard for picking and with the rainy conditions and cool summer air it was one of the most spectacular things my Utah native eyes had ever seen. I wasn't exactly sure what a blueberry patch looked like and much to my amazement there were loads of berries. I decided that there aren't too many things much more beautiful than a loaded up, ripened blueberry bush. Be still my heart.

Needless to say we ate our fill of berries and took a bunch home too! Definitely a tedious task, but worth the experience and money.

Something to blog about

So we haven't been doing too much in the past week besides pretending to be hermits and staying in our house because its too damn hot to be outside and chances are that it might just be so humid it will rain. I played the inside outside and back inside game while trying to rid our garden of some weeds. I won't be playing that one again.

Besides being completely perplexed about returning to the working world versus raising my child, we've just really been reinforcing that bond between mama and Jelly. However she does put on a good show when Boo leaves in the morning. I even think it makes him feel better about himself to know that she's sad to see him go and so happy when he returns.

Noelle got some more immunization shots today and she totally knew they were coming. Poor girl. But she did get some super-fly band aids that sparkle. But besides the shots, our doc said she seems so much older than she really is and its not because her head is the size of a three year old either, or that she's a little bit tall for her age. Its really because she wanted to chat the head off the doctor with her baby gibberish. Does that sound like anyone we know? Guess not. We're so lucky.

A girl's got to have her shoes...

Noelle has discovered shoes. She has dragged a few pairs into the living room so that she can try them on and walk around in them. You'll notice her carrying her "purse" which is also her bucket. However what you can't see is that she has her comb in the bucket as well as the shovels. I couldn't help but to laugh a little as she continually tried to get the one shoe on. What a persistent child, that's why we love her.

Utah Wrap Up

Phew! That's right, I said it. We survived, all three of us. Three weeks and one day. We returned from Utah today to the hot and steamy bum hole of Boston, but actually we're happy to be home. I can't wait to weed the garden, which by the way, Boo did a great job taking care of. We only had one plant fatality. Boo survived the NH bar exam and Noelle was a dream on the flights home.
I've thought of a list of things that make me glad to be home:
1. Boo
2. My bed
3. No need to borrow a car
4. My garden
5. Jelly Bean in her own room

Ok so this list is lame but really I'm happy to be home.
We did do some fun stuff while in Utah. In chronilogical order:

Fourth of July - Cooling off on Independence Day '07
Grandma Nay's birthday at the zoo
High school reunion, twice
Lunch with old friends - Noelle and R at the Fowles'
Water skiing at Bear Lake

Pickleville Playhouse
Golfing at Sweetwater
BBQs - Noelle with Great Grandma and Grandpa Grow
Settlers of Catan
Basket Loft
Swimming in Grammy's pool
Playing with cousins - the "little lady" swinging with Maddy and Bud
Herding cats at Target Portrait Studio
Deseret News 10K - no I didn't run it! (Vic, Reb and Kate after the 10K)
Pioneer Day

Thanks to those who drove us around or lending us their cars, for feeding us, and for the extremely cheap entertainment, new clothes and good company. We love you and can't wait for those of you to come and visit in the next few months or to see you on the web cam.

Week at Bear Lake

I haven't posted anything about our week in Bear Lake, mostly because I am afraid of leaving my pictures on my parents archaic computer and never getting them back in a format I find suitable. So I've linked to The Gold's blog for their version of the same thing. "Bear Lake" - plus I probably couldn't have said it better.

Shame on us all... you know who you are.

62%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Free Online Dating from Mingle²

So thanks to my great friend (who I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with recently) I took a quiz on blogging and what I thought was a minor addiction. I know I'm a blog stalker. I think anything over 50% needs adjusting in one way or the other. This leaves me a couple of choices. I can either ramp up my blogging so that I can achieve a crazy high percentage or I can be more focused and blog less but about more. We'll have to see what I come up with.
This brings me to another thought, which is there are people who I know are looking at my blog and I'm not sure if I should thank them for publicizing it or not. You know who you are (M Lowe, J Andersen, you blog stalkers.) I would most love for people to leave comments. I know, I know my posts might be lame, but at least give me something to look forward to when I check to see if anyone has looked at my blog. Maybe I'll put a hit tracker on here. Hmm...the possibilities.
PS - I expect this to have a home on Jen's Blog of Random Thoughts because I know she thinks about her blog a lot during the day.

But it's a dry heat!

So we have been in Utah now for just about a week, and my word is it so blasted hot. I've lived in New England long enough to know that it gets hot there too, but its not 105 degrees (Fahrenheit of course.) Just standing on the curb at the airport I could feel the desert breeze, drying out my contacts.

Then as we celebrated the Fourth of July the temps crept up on us. We luckily were done with the neighborhood parade early enough to not have been cooked by the sun and by the time we were at grandma's for a BBQ there was enough shade to seek shelter.

Noelle wasn't fond of the heat and so I finally stripped her down and filled a bucket with water and let her play in it to cool off.

But the worst was the 5th of July. What in our right minds would have possessed us to go to the Hogle Zoo when it was 100+ degrees? Well we were celebrating Grandma Nay's birthday with all the grand kids. It was fun, no one complained and we saw the "Ghost of the Bayou" - or a rare white alligator. Noelle had fun and was great as were the other kids. She was so exhilarated that she zonked out waiting to be put in her car seat to go home. It could have just been heat exhaustion though. The misting contraptions at the zoo helped but really they should open at 8:00am and then close for a siesta and reopen in the evening.

But really it is hot and there is just no escaping the burning hot steering wheel, hot car seat buckles and air conditioning that just doesn't get cold until you've finally arrived at your destination. I think the heat is getting to the car too. It doesn't want to start for some reason. Today I had to pull out the jumper cables. I'm sure the scene was odd to the neighbors, one actually said something to me but I was in a hurry and was concentrating on the task at hand so that I didn't short out the batteries on both cars. I was just trying to run a couple errands and then have lunch with some old friends. I got all packed up and ready to go but when I went to start the car it just clicked. It had done this a day prior and Bear and D helped me charge it, but I guess some light or something was on because it still didn't work. So luckily one of my parents other cars was home and I could use it to jump start my car. However nothing can ever be easy. I had to figure out how to open the darn doors since none of the locks seem to work. And since luck never seems to be my companion at the right time, I happened to have on white pants and it was a 100 degrees out. The good thing was though that I have always had a half crappy car, or at least for most of my teenage years. I drove cars that were on the brink of being put out to pasture or at least in a junk yard and my skills were such that I didn't worry about putting the cables on the wrong place. Crappy cars can teach you a lot in life. Good thing for hindsight.

Camp Joseph - Sharon, VT

Rather than preparing to spend three weeks in Utah, we decided our time would be better spent with some friends camping in Vermont. I'm glad to say we were right! Camp Joseph is situated next to the monument that commemorates where Joseph Smith was born. Its a nice place even just to go and ride bikes around. We drove up Saturday morning and spent the night in a cute, very little, cabin. By little I mean probably an 8' x 10' space that has two bunk beds and a chair. We managed to put our port-a-crib in between the two bunks, but that's about all the space you have. In total we had nine families, 29 kids. It was amazing to see people rally together to feed that many people, put kids to bed, help find frogs and salamanders, clean up and many other things. I think it was a true sign of being part of a church that teaches us to help one another and also to rely on one another. We were so glad to have gone and on the way home we made mental notes of the things we'll be better at for next year. Here are some of the things we came up with:

1. We will pack more food and beverage. - Once again relying on others for a meal or two.

2. I will bring shoes and socks. - It got a lot cooler than I anticipated. Socks and flip flops are so yesteryear.

3. Remember our camping chairs that we've never really used because in the eight years we've been married I only recall camping maybe twice.

I'm sure there is more but I can't think of them, maybe I should add pen and paper so I can write it down.

It was so much fun to watch the kids play together. They were able to roam free and play and just be kids. I think its a hard thing to be in this day and age of modern conveniences and electronics. I think that kids really forget how to be creative with sticks and dirt. I also loved the "play" that some of the kids performed right before we left.

Does this resemble anyone we know?

So I've been going through some pictures and scanning ones that are relevant to the upcoming high school reunion, aforementioned. And I came across this picture and thought I would post it on our blog. We have this hanging in our house and as I was getting ready to put it on the wall a friend of ours was over and asked if I was hanging some pictures of Noelle. Clearly after looking at it she realized it was not in fact Noelle, but indeed I told her it was Boo. Wasn't he cute?

They do look a lot alike. This picture was taken by Uncle Len.

Walden Pond, Book Group and Reunion Anxiety

This seems so silly that I'm even posting anything about this on my blog. All these events can be seen as somewhat trivial at best, but what's a blog for? So today we spent the better part of the day at Walden Pond. Yep the same Walden Pond that Thoreau wrote about. Its a great spot to go on a hot day like today, more like sweltering actually. But I imagine that Thoreau probably didn't think of Walden with beaches and tons of kids hanging out enjoying it too, then again maybe. But its cheaper than going to the pool and it really makes you feel like you're in a more remote spot than you really are. Its only about a fifteen minute drive from our house. Needless to say it was "lovely," and Noelle got a kick out it too and we came home sunburn free to boot.

Also, tonight was the last book group of the season and I so blindly offered to be the leader of the discussion. I had great intentions when they started in the fall, but hells bells the last time I read a book in less than who knows how long was before I had a baby and took public transportation to work an hour in each direction. When that is the case you can get a lot of reading done. The book we read was Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (or something like that it has two different names) Its not for the faint of heart as far as language is concerned especially a church book group - uh hello. Anyhow, I have spent the last two days making sure I have the book read so I can actually ask real questions and if I have to carry the discussion I could. It all worked out fine and I'm still alive to tell about it. Duh. Anyway if anyone wants to borrow it let me know.

Last but not least, I'm getting ready to head to Utah for my 10 year high school reunion and as of late I have serious anxiety over it. Its so dumb really, but seriously I'm a little apprehensive being that Boo will not be with me, so what if I'm left talking to myself in a corner? That won't be the case because I'm hardly at a lack of words and could talk anyone into a coma. But really I'm a little scared. Does anyone want to come with me in place of Boo? Let me know so I can pass it by him first. Just kidding actually, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Garden Update

So I was scrolling through some of the old pictures on our blog and found the picture of me working in the garden. (I haven't taken any recent pictures, but will add them when I have a chance.) WOW! That is all I can say when I look back from a few weeks ago. Wow how my plants have grown, wow, my how MiracleGro works, Wow, I have actually managed to not kill any of the plants off yet, Wow I actually have blossoms on almost every plant even some green tomatoes. I am just amazed.

However at nearly the same rate Noelle is growing, saying more "words" and shuffles her feet a little less and wants to run a little more. She's found great accomplishment in climbing the stairs, climbing on top of the LittleTikes table and even can entertain a crowd of strangers with her banter and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She gets so excited to see her friends and finds simple joy in flipping through the dictionary. How did we get to be so lucky? Not only is she smart, but she's cute and funny - everything I'd want in a girl. I hope she always can find humor in her life like her dad. What a sweet baby. I'll miss the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Noelle at the beach

First Beach Visit of the Year

This past week my younger sister Kati, her boyfriend Ben, and our cousin Stacey came to visit Boston. As part of the "tour" we visited Wingaersheek Beach

We got there as the tide was going out. Noelle managed to find a puddle from a leftover sand castle to lay in. Notice she has two shovels with her, which are a reoccurring theme since she wouldn't put them down the entire time we were there. Something she has always done in the bathtub is kick her legs. She also figured out that the water has a salty taste so why not get both effects at the same time.
She also liked the taste and texture of the sand. So despite rolling in it, she also has it all over her body, including her face.
The Shovels
She had no problem with the chilly water either. This was shortly after she plopped in and tipped over from some wave momentum. Kati is checking her out making sure she's ok. Looks like she managed to hang on to the shovel.

Father's Day 2007

In regular Rachel fashion, I made Ryan trek up to the temple for some Father's Day pics with Noelle. He hates having to pose for any kind of picture so for him this was torture. But someday I hope they both look back and think, wow were sure were cute back then. Just kidding I'm sure they'll be cute in 20 years too. Noelle was none too happy to be having her picture taken. She preferred to be walking all about and pulling the flower heads off and then shredding them into little pieces, which she does at home. However while we were snapping some photos she saw one of her friends, Eleanor. As you can see she wants to get down and play.
As long as she could roam free she was happy.
I could have sworn I looked cuter when I left for church, but our new Sunbeam class took it right out of me. Oh well.