A night in the wild

We took our first camping trip here in Virginia this weekend. It was a great trip, although I thought a lot about the Ingalls family (we're now reading On the Shores of Silver Lake) and I could just picture Pa Ingalls saying, "So let me get this straight. You have a house that doesn't leak with indoor heating and plumbing, and you choose to go out into the mountains and sleep and cook over a fire . . . for fun?" How times have changed.

 We have gotten so much rain up here lately that no dry firewood was to be found. So we roasted marshmallows over our stove. Ain't no shame in that, although it does seem slightly less survival-esque. Clara, oddly enough, does not like s'mores (!) and would prefer her marshmallows cold.

In the morning, Michael fixed us a fabulous sausage, egg, and pancake breakfast. A idea of mine was to use powdered milk in the mix I made beforehand so we didn't have to bring any milk. It worked!

This shot also confirms the long well-known fact that I look freaky without makeup.

Of course, while I was so focused on making the pancake mix convenient, I failed to pack anything to put on them, so Michael invented a new fabulous recipe: roasted marshmallow pancakes. They were a hit.

After packing up, we went on a hike up to "Lover's Leap." (That name kind of freaks me out--why would lovers want to leap here? I am hoping it means there'd be a proposal so that the lovers would "take the leap" into marriage or something.)

Clara did so well hiking--we were quite proud of her. Of course, pretending that we were in Candyland and that I was "Grandma Peanut," Michael was "King Candy," and she was "Princess Frostine" made her enjoy the experience much more. (Remember how she likes to pretend ALL the time? No change whatsoever.)

On our way, I almost stepped on this three-foot long snake and Clara heard me use the "c**p" word. Oops. I expected it to slither away through the leaves, but instead it wound itself up this tree. I thought that only happened in the Amazon. I am glad there weren't too many low overhanging branches the rest of the trail.

 We made it! We were holding on pretty tightly to our junior hiker here.

I finished the hike with a little meditation . . . as if I could find any inner peace sitting on a rock with a hundred-plus foot drop-off inches away.

The trip ended with a gorgeous day, and we made it home for lunch and a nap . . . and unpacking. I don't love that part about camping, but the memories make the laundry and the cleaning worth it.

Animals

Clara isn't a big fan of animals. Let me rephrase that: She is a huge fan of animals that are stuffed with cotton, covered with velvety fur, and were never alive at any point in time.

This picture taken in 2007 is still fairly accurate. The fact that she gets on her horse is incredible, but I think the reason she does is because there is a saddle and a saddle blanket between her and Macy.

Clara has recently taken to making "books" out of a whole lot of paper and some scribbling on them. She presented me with such a group of papers and I suggested that we write a story. This was the final product.

 "The Forest Is Not My Favorite Place to Be" by Clra and Mommy.

 "I do not like the animals."

 "I don't like the bees. But if I wear bug spray, I will be OK."

"Then I can go in the forest!"

"The End."

So we don't lose hope, I also have to show this shot taken at the same time as the first one. Perhaps uber-tame bunnies also fit in the "acceptable live animal" category.

And just for the record, Clara actually patted Macy and Montana (the black lab on the farm) for about .05 seconds last week. Perhaps there is still the possibility that in the next ten years we'll get a dog. Maybe.

Relay for Life

This past weekend, Michael's office had a booth at the local Relay for Life. For those who don't know (I didn't), Relay for Life is a huge national fundraising event to raise money and awareness for cancer research. There are thousands who participate in these across the country, some in memory of a loved one who has passed away from cancer, others in celebration of a survivor, others currently going through the trial of cancer currently. People form teams and walk around a track all night long, symbolizing the fact that cancer never sleeps, and that "there's no finish line until there is a cure." Michael's office and other local dentists were supporting a dentist's wife here who has cancer.

Later Michael did oral cancer screenings, but before he had to leave to do that at the booth, we enjoyed the festivities. Tons of food, bands, a bounce house, face painting, you name it.

The fact that Clara let a stranger touch and paint her face is impressive. She's wanted to in the past but has been too afraid.

It turned out pretty cute.

Michael stared deep into the eyes of this llama and gained knowledge about how to achieve the emperor's new groove.

We ate an assorted amount of healthy food, like fried Oreos (not impressed), hot dogs, and chocolate pie.

Anything for cancer support, right?

Losing isn't always a bad thing . . .

 . . . especially when you get to put it in a fancy satin-lined box . . .

. . . enjoy a ridiculously cute smile . . .


. . . and wake up to two shiny quarters.

Easter weekend

Last weekend was a whirlwind trip down to ATL. We got to take my friend Mandy (whom I've known since fourth grade) and her lovely family through the LDS temple open house before it was dedicated. It was beautiful despite the crowds.

We also got to see our families, albeit not quite long enough for our tastes. And dagnab it I forgot to take more pictures, but here are a few.

I am glad I remembered to take a pic of Clara Michael's wonderful mom (but didn't get one with Grandpa!), whose hand Clara held during church. She really misses her grandparents. 

Michael's two youngest brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, are growing into studs (and tall, too). I'm continually impressed every time I see them with their maturity, kindness to others (especially to Clara), faithfulness, and work ethics both in their sports and studies.

Back in 2005, the jury was still out.

Gotta have a family shot even if you don't like you in it.

One handsome couple. Hard to believe these two amazing people raised me and are going on their, what, 43rd anniversary this year?

Random Wednesday thoughts

1. I am still waiting for the plethora of household hints I know you folks are dying to share.

2. Clara no longer lets me do whatever I want with her hair. Her typical request is a braid on the side. Occasionally she will let me put a bow in her hair, but only occasionally. This makes me sad. But it also makes me happy that she has her own opinions.

3. Yesterday at Clara's second horseback riding lesson, she did wonderfully. She was so proud of herself, didn't cry once, went around and around the riding ring, putting rings on posts and telling Macy, "Step up, Macy," "Whoa, Macy," and "Walk on, Macy."

4. I used to enjoy thunderstorms. Now I dread them because Clara is terrified of them. In the middle of the night last night I grabbed a camping mattress and slept on her floor so she would go back to sleep. Part of me feels sad for her. The other part of me wants to spank her bum so I can go back to bed. Fortunately the former part rules out.

5. Listening to a biography of Albert Einstein by Walter Isaacson on CD has made me enormously grateful for audio CDs. The book is 600+ pages, and there is no way I would have gotten through it without some serious skimming (the audiobook is 18 CDs), even though it is well-written, insightful, interesting, and humorous. I have learned that I still don't like physics (it induced tears in high school), my mind cannot wrap itself around his general theory of relativity, but that I do miss the rigors of learning some of these concepts in high school. I'm currently on disc 17 and I think I've used up all my library renewals. I have to finish it by tomorrow.

6. I have been craving southern food (even though I didn't grow up on it) and am going to make some buttermilk biscuits some time this weekend. Sometimes an itch must be scratched. Or a zit must be popped. Or a . . . I'll stop.

7. Last weekend we went to a special needs fun day at a camp here in VA. As much as I appreciate not feeling any pressure for Clara to "perform" since all the other parents and volunteers empathize, I prefer for her to be around neurotypical kids because Clara is an imitater and I want her to imitate appropriate behavior instead of its opposite.

But while we were there she showed off her self-propelling pumping skills. HUGE accomplishment.

Household helps and a question

Since you guys (girls, mostly) are full of such great ideas about lunches, books, etc., I thought we could do a little household tip exchange. I am always in the market to learn helpful ways of doing things and would love to hear how you make your life more pleasant and efficient.

And since none of these ideas are my own but ones that I've found enormously helpful, I thought I'd pass them along. You probably already know them, but just in case.

HOW TO CUT AN ONION: I found this tutorial by Pioneer Woman to be life-altering.

HOW TO CUT AN AVOCADO: After being laughed at--quite literally--by some friends for peeling the avocado with my hands, getting my hands all green, and then slicing it, I thought I'd try to spare anyone else the shame of not knowing how to cut an avocado as well.


First slice the avocado in half with your knife and then use the knife to chop into the avocado pit to pull it out (you're just using the knife to kind of "stab" the pit to remove it without using your fingers.)


Then use the knife to slice through the avocado while it's still inside the skin, being careful to slice down to the skin but not through it.


Then you just push the avocado inside-out to plop out all the neatly-cut avocado pieces.

HOW TO CUT AN APPLE: There are lots of ways to do this, but this is my favorite way because (1) I always am afraid I am going to cut myself--which I do all the time anyway--if I hold each slice individually and cut the core out; and (2) it is satisfying in some bizarre way. I learned it from my friend, Rachel.


First you cut the apple in half (and cut out the bruised spots, ahem). Then take a flexible knife--this is a serrated steak knife--and simply make a circle around the core.



Ta-dah! 

 
Then you can use that knife or a chef's knife to slice it. Very quick and finger slice free.

HOW TO PUT SILVERWARE IN THE DISHWASHER: When we first got married, Michael and I had the discussion of whether you put the silverware up or down when you put it in the dishwasher. I had always put mine in down. Some people say that this is the right way because then when you're pulling it out to put it away, you're only holding on to the handles. Michael put his in up, saying that that way they get cleaned better.

Martha Stewart in her homecleaning book declares that the best way to do it is to alternate them so that way they don't nest together. So now we can both do it however we want and feel quite justified.

I love a happy ending.

Any helpful hints you'd be willing to share with the rest of us?



As for my question: Do any of you do FlyLady? If you don't know what I mean, that's okay. I am a big fan of the morning and night routine philosophy and find it enormously satisfying and organizing. I am trying to shine my sink every day and feel like it's a weird but cool idea. My question is, can you keep it up eternally?I have always been a spring-and-fall-cleaning kind of gal, but I find the zone philosophy intriguing, too. What are your thoughts?

Through the years

We recently enjoyed a wonderful visit some from friends from Augusta. Lately I have been missing Augusta a lot. (For people who live there, that probably seems quite weird.) It's not so much the city that I miss, but the friends and memories I made there.

Clara made lots of memories there with a particular friend.

2005: ages 8 months and 11 months, respectively. I think they felt a kinship in the rotundity of their cheeks and thighs.

 

 2005: ages 9 months and 1 year. Also both apparently felt lackadaisical about their stroller time.

 

 2005: First Halloween. Both quite fascinated by something on the ground in front of them.

 2007: Clara's 2nd birthday. Her only guest. (We're all about going over the top for birthdays, don't you know.)

 2007: Playing at the beach is wayyyy more fun with another child than it is with your boring old parents.

2008: JJ was privileged enough to take a "fairy ride" from Daddy...you know you're a special friend if you get that opportunity.

2009: Camping, now joined by JJ's younger sister. (They didn't sleep together--we're not that crazy!)

2011: A visit to us in Harrisonburg on their way to their new home in NY.

The fact that I have so many of these pictures through the years astonishes me, quite honestly. Both of these cuties were in the womb moving from BYU to Augusta, so it seemed that they were destined to be friends. I felt that way about JJ's mom as well, quite frankly. But even though at first you're desperate for friends when you're alone in a new city, it's kind of nice to think that sometimes you still want to actually remain friends . . . even when you no longer live a drive away.

(The spacing is killing me here--can't figure out how to fix it--sorry!)

Befores and afters

Sometimes I just can't leave well enough alone. And moving to a new place seems to bring that out in me, I have to say. What's a couple of gallons of paint, right?

Famous last words.

This is what it looked like when we moved in. Nice, but fairly boring.

This is after painting it. Still very neutral, but a bit warmer. The double chair rail proved to be a challenge, so I just got scrapbook paper (!) and cut it into strips.

This morning (after I tidied up, of course--I couldn't have you thinking that we ever have messes, now could I?.).

I lined the back of this Ikea bookcase with the same scrapbook paper.

The kitchen.

I got the bright idea to make a "backsplash" with painter's tape.

Oh man. I was getting quite overwhelmed. Did I mention that I'm not a meticulous person? This project confirmed that for me. Good thing my husband is. He is also quite patient. And forgiving when his wife flips out and wants to tear all the blue tape down and cry.

The end result.

I think it looks purty . . .

but I don't want to paint again. For a long time. Like eternity.

A new seat

Clara had her first day of therapeutic horseback riding yesterday. These lessons aren't designed so much to teach her to ride a horse as to use the horse to help her with coordination, confidence, balance, etc.

Clara doesn't like animals. Or rather, she likes stuffed animals. The real ones are unpredictable and make funny noises, which scare her. So when we went to our first lesson, I had told Gloria (the instructor) in advance that I doubted that Clara would even get on the horse during the first session, or maybe even for the first month.

Clara's horse, Macy, looks almost like a pony and is actually a cross between a Welsh pony and some standard horse (can't remember which breed). So she is the perfect height for Clara, and is old and incredibly gentle and patient. The perfect match for Clara.

 It was going really well at first--Clara was very excited and even touched Macy's nose. But then Macy sneezed. Twice. And Clara started crying (to be honest, it startled me too!). Clara's tune quickly changed and she became quite nervous and upset. Once we got out of the stable (which amplified the horses' whinnyings, etc.) and into the riding ring, she felt slightly more comfortable.

And she got on the horse. And sat there about three seconds and then began to try and wanted to get off. She tearfully cried, "Can we go home now?!!!" So we sat on the ramp and talked about how gentle and patient Macy was, just standing, waiting for Clara. We talked about how many other children had ridden her. I told her I would be right beside her with my arm around her waist. And finally I asked her if we could take a picture and video for her grandparents to see her. This motivated her to try again.

And she did it! With the three of us with her the whole way, she rode Macy around the ring and back to the ramp again.

Gloria suggested we stop on a high note, so Clara got off after that brief tour. She then asked, "Can I go again?"

I was thrilled to be able to tell her, "You can ride Macy every week!"

We'll see how it goes in the future, but the fact that Clara said on several occasions after she finished, "I did it! I rode the horse!" is a good indication that this will be a positive experience for her.