ZipLine!

Phew!  What a day!  Dad and I have been working on a zipline for a couple days. Today we finished it!  Obviously needed a maiden voyage... Would death follow?  Dad, gentleman that he is, let me have first go. 

It's only about 20 feet in the air. And you have to climb the tree hanging onto the rope, so the bar doesn't escape. 

I (fortunately) didn't die, and if you want to see the (30 second) video, follow this: http://youtu.be/h1C_xCiL3mE

Dusting Off the Blogg

Right, so last month I dusted off my ScrapBlog... This month I'm dusting off this blog...  Yeah, it's been a while. Between moving and the emotional (not to mention physical!) chaos all that caused, I got out of the habit, and then stayed there. 

But I'll be better!

My sister asked if I'd drive with her to my parents' house. Funny, she didn't feel up to tackling a 10 hour drive with a 2 year old without backup. Can't imagine why... So of course I said yes. 

I know it sounds like weird timing, for her to go off to her dad's on Father's Day, and leave her husband all on his own, but the work schedule for my brother-in-law gives him every-other Friday off.  That means that he worked this past Friday.  So rather than be gone over one of his Off-Work Fridays, we were gone over Father's Day. Was awesome for us to spend Father's Day with our Dad, though!

Now, you've undoubtably realised by now that my family are a little nuts. Well, we just know how to have fun!

Yesterday we did a 2 Mile Family Fun Run (err... Mostly walk).  Papa (my nephew's word for Grandpa) and Auntie (that's me) ran with Munchkin, while Mommy and Grandma walked.  Munchkin RAN most of the way!  At least a mile and a half!!!  And walked another quarter mile!  He only had to be carried the last quarter mile!  Pretty good for a 2 year old!

He had SO much fun!  He does LOVE to run, so he loved running with Papa and Auntie. Afterwards, he's 3/4 asleep in his car seat, BEGGING to go more!

At home we worked on the Treehouse. Munchkin "helping" by bringing Papa "all the woods."  (Never mind that Papa was up the ladder with nuts and bolts, installing the Zipline!)

Then we went up to the Rimrock Park and hiked across all the boulders. Another huge hit with the Munchkin!  We walked more than a mile, and he was still wanting more!

We rounded the day off with Nerf Gun Wars!  

Yeah, he slept well last night!

Today was another spectacular day. After church (and naps... For everyone!) we went back out and played in the yard. We checked on the baby robins in their nest under the eave's, played chase with Papa and Auntie, spotted a deer walking through the yard! Got tossed between Auntie and Papa ("I'm a Rocket Ship!"), played hide-and-seek (with a "Boo!" when found) with Papa, played with shadows, and Grandma hooked up the baby swing to the Zipline!

Oh the squeals!!!  Joy. Rapture. Bliss. Just enough danger to be exciting. Such a hit!

And ice cream and Nerf Wars, then Mario Cart... And bed. I hope he's as tired as I am!

Here are a couple of photos from the past 2 days. 

"Surprisingly Refreshing"

"It's not every day that you bite into a biscuit and feel refreshed."

That's what my friend's husband said about the cookies we baked today. 

Let me start from the beginning... no wait, that will take too long.  Let me start from a beginning.

I had a "play date" with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and friends Mara and Andrew.  We 3 women figured we'd do something fun whilst we sent the boys (well, we kept the toddler with us) off to play with their cameras.

Lois was in the middle of making some bathtub crayons (really, soap with food colouring added), and she was using Mint and Lavender to scent them.  The mint tones down the "girly-ness" of the lavender.  It was really smelling delicious, so I thought... I bet that would be a great sugar cookie flavour!

Presto, our afternoon's activity, sorted.

This was the recipe we used.

We didn't have any of the fresh stuff, though, so we just used lavender essence and peppermint oil we had on hand.  Worked great.  (Note: We decided it was a little too much cornstarch.)  Also, we didn't add the lemon flavour to the dough.  When we originally thought of it, we didn't think we wanted the Lemon flavour.

Once the cookies came out of the oven, we had a little taste, and realised, the Lemon would have been a smash hit, so we added a Lemon Drizzle topping.  Just a bit of powdered sugar mixed with lemon juice.

The results?  Andrew's assessment was the best, "Surprisingly Refreshing.  It's not everyday that you bite into a biscuit and feel refreshed."  They were a total hit!

Thanks, Andrew, for taking the photo!

Grandma Growls

So, my mom just got home from a 3 week trip to Egypt. She's sleeping on my sister's sofa. My nephew keeps running up to her and growling. We could not figure out what was triggering it.

All the sudden we heard my mom snore.... And Ethan growled back!

Dad, Lois, me, we all fell out laughing. Ethan looks up at us like, "What's so funny guys?" So of course, we laugh harder. He joins us in "social laughter", though he obviously had no clue what was so funny.

Still Have an English Brain

So, I've been back in the US for a year and a half, more or less, And I have report, I'm still not acclimatised. This is either good news, or bad, depending on your preference.

My sister complains whenever I use a British phrase. "Adele, you're an American!" My lovely friends across the pond say, "No! That's the correct way to speak!"

Anyway, it's my mother's birthday today. She didn't want normal cake, so my sister arranged for a cream pie and profiteroles to be on hand. I was offering to serve up, and asked my sister if she wanted some profiteroles, she said yes. Then I offered some to my Dad. Blank look. So I repeated the offer, "Do you want some profiteroles?" Again, non-comprehension. My sister steps in, "Do you want some cream puffs?"

Oh. I didn't even know I wasn't speaking American!

Book Review!

My mom's book, Revenge of the Dorkoids, got reviewed in Deseret News!  How exciting is that?  Here's the link to have a look at the review.

Dinner Don'ts

I'm sitting in a posh restaurant. The people next to me have had a gorgeous meal: steak, new potatoes, green salad, wine, dessert...... Now the girl is sitting there on her iPhone, completely ignorning her date/boyfriend/partner/husband, whatever. Sereiously, she's not even looked up for 10 minutes. Hasn't spoken a word to him. To me, that's poor ettiquite. Very rude. Have we become so attached to our toys that we can't leave them at home, or at least in our bags, when we go out?

Now, I know I'm sitting in the same restaurant, having had a truly gorgeous rosotto, working on my iPad. But I'm alone. I'm not ignoring anyone! In fact, you lot are my psudo dinner partners. So not the same thing.

The really sad part? Her date doesn't seem put out! He's accepting it as normal.

Wrong. Just wrong.