Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The quest

Ryan's: To grill a steak better than Taste of Texas.

Mine: To bake the ultimate angel food cake.

It's important to have goals. Especially when those goals involve eating steak and cake multiple times a week.

Any tips? Send them our way.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Save the date

And leave all your cinco de mayo preparations to us...


Tuesday, May 5... Clear your calendar for a fiesta that's as authentically mexican as we are! (Hey, 25 percent ain't bad.)

More details to come.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Some people never change

Have I mentioned that Ryan is an animal aficionado? When he was a little guy, he'd measure out distances in his backyard to see how big the animals in his picture books would be in real life. He could identify just about any animal from just about any time period. Though I think he had a special place in his heart for the prehistoric. Here he is collecting the remains of a woolly mammoth he found in the backyard. Or something.

And here he is enjoying the remains of some real mammoths (though not the woolly type) nearly a quarter of a century later.
Still knew all their names too. Boys may never grow up, but, in their defense, at least they move on to bigger toys. 

Thursday, April 16, 2009

A series of unfortunate events

April 15. Full of tax forms, protests, free food, and, for us, a series of unfortunate events.

First, we drove up with C to meet my parents in Salt Lake and try to fanagle some Wicked tickets through their daily lottery. Fortunately, they were giving out twice as many tickets for that night. Unfortunately, we didn't know you had to crumble up your card or fold it into a paper airplace for them to draw it, and we left empty-handed.

And that was just the beginning.

On the way home, Ryan's car overheated on the freeway.

When we got back on the road, it started snowing. In April.

When we dropped by to visit a friend on the way home, Ryan's ring (of the wedding variety) slipped off his finger while drying his hands and mysteriously vanished. We spent an hour searching. And it's not that big of a bathroom.

When we left (at 1AM), still empty fingered, there was nearly a foot of snow. Everywhere.

On the plus side, we spent the evening with these guys, this girl, and these little ones, we ate dinner here, Simon Cowell saved him, we discovered this at the gas station we were temporarily stranded at, the snow was pristine and peaceful, and, though the ring is temporarily missing, we're still married, and happily so. [Plus, if it is tucked away in the tiny crevice under the bathroom sink (like we think it is), the boys have a great excuse to break out the drills and saws.]

Now that's not so bad, is it?

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Your guess is as good as mine

"I mean, I've never seen one, so..."











From the Endangered Species Wall at Thanksgiving Point's Ancient History Museum

Sunday, April 5, 2009

So you're telling me there's a chance?

When I was a little girl, we planted trees in our backyard. 

Sticks, really.

They were pretty scrawny, and I was pretty disappointed. I had always dreamed of a backyard where I could escape from reality into the branches of a great oak or read about Nancy Drew or the BBSC in the shade of a majestic weeping willow. Our saplings didn't quite fit the bill, but my parents assured us that someday, our grandchildren would climb the branches of those trees.

Well, they grew a lot faster than we anticipated. Unfortunately, as I remember it, one of the bigger trees took sick, and my dad took care of it. I was so mad when I saw its remains: a neatly cut stump. Good for nothing but tripping over when you weren't looking down.

Today that tree stands proud, healthy and tall, with only a small scar to memorialize its life-saving trial. Sometimes you gotta cut out the bad to make room for the good. 

So, like I said before, my basil plant's been struggling. Things went from bad to ugly pretty quick, and suddenly I was watering a cup of dirt and dried herbs. I was about to throw it all out when I remembered that tree in my backyard. I cut each stick down to a stub, and just the other week, this is what I saw:



A new, fresh green sprig, making its way back from the dead, just in time for the holiday of rebirth and resurrection.

Here's to second chances we all desperately need. I think this little guy's got a pretty good one.