Erica's Little Tidbits

New Friends and Social Endeavors

2011-04-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

I started attending a new congregation back in July. These are some of my new associates I have met there. Peter taught us how to make pot stickers. You may recognize him from his Debut with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Karina, Levi, Julie, and Patrice are hanging out in the back and there was another group in the living room at the time.

Celebration

2011-04-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day Parade 2011.

If you ever need a balloon arch for any occasion...I'm your girl.

Each month at work we have a 'spirit day'. March was Decade Day.

Heidi organized this enormous group to go see our friend Mandi perform in a play at the Desert Star.

Cornucopia!

2011-04-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

A couple of posts ago I included a picture of our first Bountiful Basket. Here are the pictures of more of the yummy produce we have enjoyed as a result.

Week 2

Week 3

A forgotten Holiday

2011-04-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include pictures from our Valentine's celebration!

It was a night for the Roomies and my faithful friend April, who's husband was away training for his new pilot job.

My roommate Karina has chosen to not eat sweets except on holidays. Weeks prior to Valentines day she requested "moist chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, caramel topping, hot fudge, whip cream, and cherries".

Fine Dining

2011-02-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever eaten the food at 7-11? Neither had I until Friday. Robert and I had it a 3 course dining adventure all from 7-11. It is also worth noting that this was my first chili dog experience.

Good news! I don't think either of us ended up sick from.

To Finally Be Caught Up!

2011-01-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

Ringing in the new year. I don't know most of the people in this picture, but at least you can see me down in the right corner. I don't know exactly why I was making this face.

On to the sledding extravaganza!
Jacob and I.
Some of my favorite people. Starting in back: Heidi, Luke(I don't really know him, but he is roommates with some of my favorite people), TJ (I really like that kid). In the Middle: Me and Robert. In the front: Karina, and Jacob.

One adventure in tubing. Robert lasted till the bottom of the hill...almost.

I believe the quote repeated over and over as they went down the hill, "We're gonna die!".

This was not as thrilling as we had hoped, but at least we tried.

Yeah. I'm cool when I carry a tube.

We celebrated King's Day belatedly with a Latin night. Heidi, Karina, and I made this piñata. Karina and Heidi are the creative genius behind the exterior appearance. I was sleeping:(.

Just a funny picture.

Heidi taking her turn with it while is was still hanging. It didn't stay up long, so...

We resorted to the baseball approach. It was pretty much the best piñata ever! Heidi and I filled it with what ever we could find around the house. Dental flossers, old nail polish, flat marbles, life savers, alcohol swabs, random tubes of chap-stick and lip gloss, tootsie rolls...

I have serious questions about Costco's chicken! Can you even imagine the chicken this breast came off of?! That can't be natural. Please note the size of the banana next to it...and that is not a small banana!
Heidi and I signed up for our first "bountiful basket". It is a food co-op that you buy into and get your produce at wholesale price. We paid $15.00 and got all this! We were most excited about the strawberries b/c right now you have to pay a small fortune for them at the store...ok, maybe only $5-$6, but still.

Snowshoeing...
The guy taking this picture told us to act like we knew each other...apparently Robert doesn't know me as well as I thought.

A hole!!
Robert explored the hole too:).

We hiked to Donut Falls. I had never been up inside the cave where the donut name comes from. So Fantastic!!!

I love holes!

Post Script

2011-01-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

This picture is evidence that I am perfectly capable of wasting time.

Oh the holidays are joyous

2011-01-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

Technically this one should have been amid the November pictures, but it was taken a holiday weekend, so it fits in here. Hayden and Jennifer came to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Pretty self explanatory here...the Christmas tree of choice.

Karina passed the light decorating portion of the tree. I actually let her take over for the bottom part.
Garrett and I headed outside to hang the lights on the outside of the house.

The Amish bread experience. I was given an Amish friendship bread starter this year. I decided that people would much prefer a finished loaf of bread, rather then a starter. So I did the math and figured out how much I had to increase the measurements to cook up all the starter. It turned out to be such a funny adventure.

When I measured out the wet and dry ingredients and they filled both of my largest bowels, it was time to get creative. I finally came up with the idea to mix everything in a large bin I was given for my birthday.
That turned out to be a good arm work out.

Then there was dividing the dough into just about every cooking pan I had.

I ended up with about 8 pans in the oven which I had to be careful to rotate frequently. In the end, most turned out all right. The ugly ones still tasted good. Note, this is not a project to undertake at a late hour. The last picture was taken at 11:40pm and they still had to bake after that.

We had an ugly sweater party to attend this year and so we headed to the local thrift store and picked up supplies. This is me, Karina, and Patrice trying our handiwork. Its amazing what ugliness can be created with a little hot glue.

The whole crowd. I was fortunate enough to take first prize for the ugliest sweater.

We decided to leave a note with some treats on the mailbox for the mail man.

Here they are hanging for him to enjoy. He left us a thank you post card the next day. I am sure we are now his favorite house on his delivery route.

We celebrated Christmas Adam with the roomies and a couple other cool cats. For those who are unfamiliar with Christmas Adam, it is the night before Christmas Eve. Thanks to our friend Ashley J. for introducing us to holiday.

I was able to spend Christmas Eve and part of Christmas day with Jennifer. Apparently one picture was all we could muster.

I drove down to Cedar City on Christmas day to spend the rest of the Holiday weekend with Cambree. We spent some time exploring boutiques on main street. These glasses were just so perfect!

November: A quiet month

2011-01-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

So apparently the only photo worthy moment in November was my roommate Karina's birthday. We took her out to Layla Mediterranean Grill and Mezze. The owners are from Lebanon and Egypt. We tasted some delightful new thing and some not so delightful new things. I would highly recommend everything we had there, except for the lamb shank. The atmosphere was very enjoyable and the staff was very personable.

As always...left to right: Erica, Heidi, Karina

We tried to be thoughtful in our gifts. The squeegee was for her car that the defrost didn't work on...the car died the week before we gave the gift. The headlamp was for our late night jogging adventures. The clock was a fulfillment of a home design dream, thank you DI for having the perfect clock for the right price.

We finished out the night by bringing home a chocolate lava cake from Chili's.

Happy Birthday Karina!!!

October: California and Halloween

2011-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

These cute little flowers were on the bank of Lake Tahoe.

We stopped in at a little coffee shop/ice cream parlor/bike shop/ski shop/office center. It was quite charming and the ice cream was delightful. I had a hard time leaving, but we had only blocked out so much time at Lake Tahoe.

This lake is Donner lake. We went up over Donner pass on our way to California.

Visiting a Jelly Bean factory was on my list of things to do before I die. Taking a tour of the Jelly Belly factory will remain a highlight for many years to come.

Left to right. Dave, myself, Cambree, Jenni, Garrett.

Yeah for the Golden Gate Bridge.

We purchased several 2 pound bags of "Belly flops" from the Jelly Belly factory. We polished off this bag in record time!

We visited the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz that plays tricks with your mind through optical illusion. It was quite entertaining to watch people try to walk through this little structure.

These huge hydrangeas were lining Lombard street in San Francisco.

Then there was Yosemite on the return trip. This rotted log was too much to resist.

You are all aware of my obsession with holes and nooks and crannies.

Yosemite's half dome.

Cambree's and my attempt to recreate Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo Da Vinci.

We were driving late at night on a remote highway when the hood of the car flew open. That was definitely thrilling.

These next couple of pictures were taken on one of my favorite hikes in SLC.

This first one is my cute roommate Karina.

There is SOME beautiful foliage up the canyons.

Roommate picture.

This is the reward to be enjoyed at the end of the hike.

We had a roommate date to "Color Me Mine". We created some art work to help complete our front room decor.

Pumpkin Hunting!!! One of my favorite things about Halloween, taking the wagon out to the field and picking your pumpkin.

Left to right: Jake, Michael, Chris, April, April's cousin(in the front), Heidi, myself, Mandi, and Karina.

Aren't they lovely!

Karina, Heidi, Me!

Jake, Me, Heidi

I copied this idea from the internet. I made it with spice cake to which I added a package of butterscotch pudding. It turned out deliciously moist!

We had a pumpkin carving extravaganza. I was not feeling super well that night, so Erik was kind enough to carve my pumpkin for me.

Left to right: Erik, Me, Jamie, Heidi, Karina, Garrett, Jake, Michael(front)

Chillin' on the couch while everyone slaved away.

We had the Halloween party of the century. There ended up being 50+ people in our house through the night. I took pictures with some of my favorite;).

Me and Robert

Cambree was awesome and joined us for the weekend.

Cambree, Me, Jenni

Roommates: Me, Heidi, Karina.

This is Jamie in possibly the best Halloween costume of all time.

I have a fantastic cupcake book which contains all sorts of creative cupcake ideas. Cambree and I found these rats harder to make then anticipated.

So we moved on to our own creations.

I am getting closer to caught up, so hopefully my blogging will get to be a little more interesting and not just a multitude of random pictures.

Feeling Overwhelmed

2011-01-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

You may be wondering why the title is "Feeling Overwhelmed". It is because I realize the mountains of pictures that are in the archives waiting for blogging. I need to get caught up so I can move forward!

This is from the annual tradition of going to Thai village for my birthday. Jennifer always practices smiling with her eyes.

Two cute sisters.

We had a few extra guests this year. My mom!!! My roommate Heidi and Jennifer's roommate at the time.

This is picture from what I fondly call the "ex's camping trip" on Labor Day weekend to Vernal. Left to right. Cambree's ex : Jake, Cambree, My ex: Evan, and me. It was actually a great weekend.

This picture speaks for itself. I arranged the rock, with some help in selection of the right rocks for the toes.

This frog kept us entertained for hours! This picture is a posed recreation of a naturally occurring event previous to it.
Cambree, myself, and Jake on a brief hike. Evan was with us although not documented in this picture.

These next couple of pictures you get to try to guess the reoccurring theme.

Did you figure it out?! I have what some would call a mild obsession with holes and crevasses

.
A picture of our new business license complete with me posted as the director. I have finally settled into my new job and I'm enjoying it with all of its challenges and successes.

This is another opportunity for mental exertion on the part of the reader. What is going on with the next three pictures?

Don't worry. Jenni was not harmed in the picture taking for these pictures. This was a result of a late night visit to Winco. Jenni was convinced they really had live bees in there. I was determined to prove there were not. The local grocery store has a great sense of humor.

Cedar City's main street is dotted with sculptures. We stopped and posed with each one.

This is taken at Cedar Breaks

We explored the wonders of fried cookie dough at the chili festival at Duck Creek. Not as good as a fried Twinkie, but a close second.

Just watch out for powdered sugar in the wind.

A snow cone in Cedar City. The guy at that made it for me was super chatty. Apparently his wife grew up in Hawaii and the snow cones she got came with a free gummy worm. As much as I love snow cones and gummy worms, they don't really go together.

This is inside a shelter someone made. If you can get past the spider webs, it could be a cozy adventure.

A hiking trip in July with my good friend April. It ended up being more exploring/rock climbing and less hiking.

This one was taken in Idaho around the fourth of July. I have gone up their 3 or 4 time with the Bitton family. They now consider me an extension of their family. Their dad refers to me as their quasi-daughter.

These are some of my favorite people. Left to right...Jenni, Cambree, Dave, me, Garrett. This was a going away party for Dave. He moved to Cali.

Indianapolis, Indiana

2010-10-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Back in June I was able to go to Indianapolis and hang out with the Marches. I should have taken more pictures, but a small representation is better then none. I fell in love with Indianapolis. It is such a great city with a small town feel. I have decided to live there someday. Cambree and I may have been making plans to move there in 3 years if we are both still single. I think both of us hope we are not, but if we are...we might as well enjoy a fun adventure.

Miriam, Seth and I found what entertainment we could while hanging out at the apartment. We had a lot of fun. Seth was so proud of his hat.

Kathryn and I were able to take the kids to the zoo on one of the days we were there.

I think this was a goat or a sheep they were able to pet.

This is a baby elephant that was swimming and playing in the water. It was fun to watch!

I wish I had been better able to capture this moment on film. Kathryn was very patient and tried to recreate the moment while I shot the picture.

What beauty there is to enjoy in plants! I really loved these water lilies.

In case you are wondering what this picture is: There are just hundreds of chrysalises!

Summer Adventures: 1st-Ephraim/Manti

2010-09-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Way back when, Manelle, Alli, and I went to Pocatello for a random trip (sorry, no pictures from that adventure). While we were in Pocatello we came up with a random list of fun things to do this summer. Among them was a trip to Ephraim where they have really good Piccadilly fries. Alli's Grandma lives down there so we stayed with her.

April was telling us how the sister missionaries on temple square are taught to always pose in a certain way in pictures. We decided to create our own.

(Manelle, Alli, April, and myself)

Just hanging out in some comfy old chairs.

We went wondering around the streets of Ephraim and happened upon a playground with teeter-totters(sp?). You have to realize two things:

1.teeter-totters are extremely fun.

2. teeter-totters are becoming increasingly difficult to find on playgrounds.

We played on them for quite a long time. Here is a picture of me where I may remind you of Yoda. Try not to be intimidated/disgusted by my massive calf muscles that are relaxed and hangin'!

Manelle and I leaning in for a shot.

While getting ready for bed April and I decided we had to document our flashback to the eighties p.j.s.

We went to the Manti temple while we were down there. I had heard it was beautiful inside, but it still created a sense of awe and respect for the workmanship that went into it.

After we finished at the temple we finally got to enjoy the fries. We actually tried some at two different places that both claimed to have the best. I enjoyed them at both but think the second place used oil that was a little more fresh.

Birthday and Other Celebrations

2010-09-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Someday I will upload pictures in chronological order. However, for this one it will go from most recent to older ones. Hopefully they will be enjoyable and informative anyway.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in Utah it's kind of a "thing" to put little family decals on the back of you minivan or other large capacity vehicle. One day, I decided it would be really funny to just get one single girl to put on the back of my car.

We had a roommate shopping day yesterday and found the perfect one! Heidi got it for me, she had shopped around for one for my birthday present but could never find the right one. I love how this one has a little sass and a haircut that nearly matches mine.

Another birthday purchase. I am finally a bike helmet owner. I have been doing a fair amount of biking, mostly on quiet neighborhood streets. However, I feel like I have been making a gamble on my skull's safety. So I decided to use my birthday money from Grammy and Grampy to buy a helmet to for noggin protection.

Thanks Grammy and Grampy!

Flashback to my childhood. I remember spending significant amount of time clearing the etch-a-sketch at Grammy Kenfields house. I still remember the first time I successfully cleared it and learned that the little thing that clears the screen looks like a hershey kiss.

I was able to relive those fond moments because Jennifer gave me an etch-a-sketch for my birthday. I spent a certain amount of time on it at her birthday party.

Now for those of you who have not experiences Jennifer in full action at an arcade! This girl has mad arcade skills!... and a possible addiction to getting large quantities of prize tickets.

Here she is playing a very intense game where you have to shoot a ball into a hole while airplane propellers spin in front of it. You may think this is a staged picture, but that was really the natural face she was making.

Birthday luck was in her favor this night. The arcade had this giant wheel that is like the wheel on The Price is Right. It is very fun to just spin it but Jennifer took it one step further and won the biggest prize on the first try! 1000 tickets! (She has better pictures and video of her enjoying her winnings)

Birthday candles with her parrots (the balloon animals) watching on.

My roommate Karina was born in Mexico and then raised in Chicago. She had mentioned that Mexican Independence was coming up, so we decided to celebrate. In Chicago people drive up and down the streets waiving large Mexican flags and shouting "Viva Mexico!" at midnight. I made sure we did the same. We loaded into my car, Heidi held the only flag Karina had (it was about the size of a 3x5 card), we rolled down the windows and drove up and down a quiet city street and yelled salutations out the windows.

We should have photo documented it better, but we did get pictures of the pinata smashing the next night after a Mexican meal of chicken, rice, mole, cactus salad, tortillas, and pineapple soda.

Heidi obliterated it on the first try so we just had it out with it from there.

In an effort to be more economically we bought Halloween candy which we are saving to pass out to the neighborhood kids when they come trick-o-treating. We are conducting an experiment with it. Half is in the freezer and the other in the cupboard. Any guesses on which will be the least stale come Halloween Day?

The Forgotten Parts

2010-09-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

The hidden bathroom/laundry.

Front of house.

Back of house.

Change, Change, Change

2010-09-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

In the past month or a bit more I have changed about as many things as one person can in a short time. I moved to a new house that I am completely and utterly in love with! I started my new job as the Director at the preschool. I moved into a new ward, or rather, branch (the largest branch I have ever heard of). Got a new phone...well I guess that is about it. All of these changes have made me extremely happy.

I was also able to enjoy a great collection of random events and trips this summer. It has been so busy but so great.

I'll start with the tour of the new place and blog later about other adventures.

Obviously this is the kitchen complete with a fabulous little table I picked up at the DI. I was able to negotiate and get it for $25. Have I ever mentioned how much I love shopping at DI!!!

We have fantastic Landlords who put in all new cabinets, new dishwasher, new sink, new floor in kitchen...I feel so blessed!!!

Here we peak in to the living room from the dining area.

Front room with door to kitchen and entrance to the hall.

This hall leads to the bedroom and bath area. My room is at the end.

A tour of a house wouldn't be complete without the bathroom, right?

Then there is my bedroom. It is pure happiness in my book. Please excuse the unmade bed; but truthfully if it were made that would not be an accurate depiction of my reality.

I forgot to include the little laundry room off the kitchen with a little hidden half bath behind the door. Maybe I will include that another time.

Photo Barrage III

2010-06-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

Photo Barrage II

2010-06-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

Photo Barrage

2010-06-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

Roomates and Future Spouse BEWARE!

2010-04-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

I have a problem! A shoe problem. This is not the typical shoe problem that most girls have. I do not have piles and masses of shoes, but I have a problem putting them away. They just seem to come off my feet where ever they may and remain there until a good collection forms and then I fill my arms up with one big load and put them away. However, this fix does not last long, it is only a matter of days before half the collection is out again. I remember this being a problem when I lived at home. Mom would occasionally remind me that my shoes needed to be dealt with. I pointed this problem out to Cambree and she acknowledged that at least I was doing better at keeping it contained to my bedroom instead of the entry and living room. So that is my confession and my warning.

Spring photos

2010-04-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

We were learning about flowers in my preschool class as part of our spring unit, so we went on a "spot-the-flower-walk". Here are some of the photos I got, when we got back to the school we printed them off and hung them in the classroom.

Time to Catch Up

2010-04-11T08:11:00.001-07:00

These were my Easter creations. I loved the spring colors.

We had a claymation FHE were each group created a scene of their choice. This was the result of my group's team effort. The figure on the left is a smurf, then there is Winnie the pooh and last but not least is the blue-footed-boobie.

For St. Patrick's day the preschool I work at participates in a parade downtown. This is the balloon arch that Lori and I made for it. It was super easy to make. I did try inhaling some helium while we were doing it and almost passed out. I am weak sauce. I don't think I will try that again anytime soon, even if it does make your voice sound cool.

Heidi, my roommate, and I enjoying breakfast before the parade. It was so cold that morning! I had to wear a jacket but decided to move my green shirt to the outside so I looked festive.

This is my friend Manelle and I together on top of the Conference Center. The sunset that night was phenomenal.

This photo was taken as part of an FHE activity. This little house is outside the construction trades building. I only wish the door had not been locked so I could have actually played inside.

The Education of Young Children

2010-02-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I spent some time in my classroom switching out some of the toys. I grabbed some blocks from the supply room and threw them in the class. The next morning I started taking a closer look at the blocks and realized that I could not in good conscience leave them there, however I think they offer some great entertainment.

My personal favorites: the shrimp, the battleplan, the missile, the electric torch and the beer. Honestly who puts a mug of beer on a child's play toy?!
I ended up editing them with a black permanent marker so the kids could still enjoy the building pleasure.

I'm freaking out!!!!

2010-02-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight I had the first piece of hard evidence that I am in fact getting older! I found my first grey hair! Where should it make its appearance? Right smack dab in the middle of my forehead.

Some would pull it and deny they even found it, but that just seems fundamentally wrong. So the hair will stay and I will try to accept my fate to some day be a aged woman.

Olympics here I come!

2010-01-31T19:54:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I took a 2 hour introduction to curling class.

Yesterday was snowshoeing.

I didn't get a picture of it, but I was able to get $5 tickets to a motocross event. Amazing what a bike can do in the air!

The official return to blogging

2010-01-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Many of you may wonder what has kept me from blogging for the last few months. The answer: School and work.

I retook anatomy, physiology for improved grades and added microbiology to the mix.

In preparation for my 18 tests (21 scheduled but I was fortunate enough to get out of 3) I spent a lot of time making flash cards.

But all the paper and hours spent were a recipe for success.

The end of the semester happened to fall on national cupcake day so my good friend April and I celebrated by making some adorable cupcakes.

There were some fun diversions during the semester as well.

Following the end of school. There was Christmas, new years, snowshoeing, and a double doughnut adventure... This is one of two gingerbread endeavors. You should know this was a group effort.

After we made the doughnuts we went and did donuts in the freshly fallen snow.

I'm the one laying down in the snow on the right.

Time for Goodbyes:(

2009-09-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

My good friend and roommate of 3 years got a "real grown-up-peoples" job and moved to Cedar City yesterday. Cambree and I have enjoyed so many new experiences, new friends, food cravings, camping trips, parties, and projects together, I only thought it appropriate to create a tribute to our friendship.

Hope you enjoy the photo journey of the last couple of years.

2009

2008

2007

2006

A Farewell to Summer

2009-08-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

It is official: Summer has come to an end. At the bright and cheery hour of 7:00am this morning a attended my first class of the semester.
It has been a fabulous summer of fun! I feel grateful for all the fun trips and adventures I was able to enjoy with so many wonderful friends.
For my last weekend of freedom, I was able to attend my Park City retreat for work, volunteer at the jazz festival, and a relaxing trip up Logan Canyon and past Bear Lake.
Unfortunately the retreat and jazz festival have no photo documentation. But here are a few from the Logan trip.

We had a picnic lunch up the canyon. Here Evan, Patrick, and Cambree are playing BFLD (big fat lazy dog: usually played after a filling and satisfying meal) I took the chance to walk along a tree lined trail that ran along the river. I can't wait to revisit it in the fall.

Apparently our guy friends feel a sense of accomplishment climbing to the top of climbing structures.

We took a moment to hug the trees.

We didn't really have to use the restroom but thought it was so entertaining that this was off the main road. They had a sign on the main road advertising public restrooms. It caught both Cambree's and my attention.

There was lots of laughter.

Bear lake in the background.

I have no caption for this next one.

A Random Presentation

2009-08-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

I started out trying to upload these pictures in a logical and chronological order, but I gave up quickly, so I apologize for the random nature of the presentation.

This first picture is from a huge adventure where I put a hole in my oil pan in the middle of the desert. I feel incredibly guilty for the environmental implications of my accident. All my oil drained out. I ended up having to have the car towed and my friends and I embarked on a 4-5 adventure to get home. (More pictures to come)

I tried to get under the car and catch the oil in a plastic bag and a water bottle. In the end, only more damage to the environment because we forgot they were under there and the tow truck guy didn't pick them up so in addition to the full supply of oil in the desert there are other non-biodegradable plastic items out there.

Before the adventures with the car we had fun exploring the spiral jetty and geo-cashing. This picture was taken when we had found the geo-cash.

The next series of pictures are thanks to Cambree's genius. She thought it would be fun to do cartwheels on the spiral jetty, and it was.:)

We also spent some time skipping rocks.

So to get home from the spiral jetty we first caught a ride in the back of someones pick up. Then spent an hour or so at the golden spike waiting for my good friend Dani to pick us up. She brought us to the front runner and that is where this picture was taken.

While we were hanging out at the golden spike a cute couple, unaware of our situation, offered us some strawberry creemies they had bought which were melting in their cooler. Moments before we had been talking about all the treats we had left in the back of my car and wouldn't it be nice to have a treat right about now. I was very grateful for that couple.

This was taken on the ride in the pick up truck. It was very windy in the back, but we were grateful for the ride. Without it we would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere. They were even nicer in that they gave us a nice cold water to share and some fresh cherries to enjoy.

A week previous I worked the Children's Academy Preschool 4th annual fundraiser. I along with my co-teacher Amanda and one of the Parents in our class joined in the karaoke fun singing Abba's, take a chance on me. Totally out of my comfort zone, but a lot of fun.

Back another week or so, I can't remember that exact date...My friend April has some tickets to the symphony. They were doing an outdoor concert. April couldn't attend, so Cambree, Jacob, and I were able to to go enjoy. It was that night I had a fabulous epiphany for a trip to Colorado (More to come on that).

One night I was feeling like I needed some personal and therapeutic time and so I decided to do some painting. These were my two creations. I had a lot of fun doing it.

This is just a random picture! I was driving to the temple on night after work and stopped at a traffic light. I looked to the side and saw this. It just made me laugh. If only I had the money to buy a covered wagon!!

So there is one thing in life that has the power to make me absolutely livid-Rock Chips! I don't know why, but they make me so incredibly angry. This one in particular, it took every ounce of self control from me to not lose my temper. After the fact I was somewhat appreciative of the beauty of the crack. I was able to get it repaired.

Fast forward to the most recent adventure. So when we were at the outdoor concert we started talking about our goal to have at least one camping adventure a month during the summer. We missed it in June and July was going to go by way too fast. So we started talking about going camping on the weekend of the 24th. Why that weekend, it is a holiday weekend in Utah. But that means that anywhere you might be inclined to camp in Utah would be crazy busy. That is when the stroke of genius hit me! We should go to Colorado! Now you might be wondering, "Why Colorado?"

For Christmas Cambree received some movie passes, however, the movie theaters they are good for don't exist in Utah. So Cambree researched them, our choices...Las Vegas or Grand Junction Colorado. Grand Junction is about 2 hours closer so we have been talking about going there for a number of months. Well, they trip finally happened and it was fabulous!!!

I deemed the trip a "grand adventure in borrowing". We borrowed a bike rack, 2 kayaks, 4 life jackets, a hatchet, a tent, a lantern, a sleeping bag, and an FM transmitter. It was all worth it.

Evan created a panoramic picture of the lakes we were camping on. Highline lake is the big one and then up above it was mesa lake. We were able to go kayaking and swimming.

There was also a lot of relaxing around the campsite.

Who can resist a good playground?

We went on a random hike.

I really like holes!!

We had some excellent ribs. But, can you tell me what it wrong with this picture?! That's right, they boys decided to eat their ribs with a fork! Who does that? Ribs be finger food!

The movie theater.

More playground shots.

The crew.

Then there was kayaking on the Colorado river.

On the way back home we took a slight detour to Goblin Valley. What a fabulous playground that is!!!

There are two little dots in this picture-they are Cambree and me. We had a ton of fun climbing around.

Another panoramic courtesy of Evan.

...a few more things

2009-07-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hiking

Fun at the army surplus store.

Hiking up to "the living room" We are sitting on sandstone furniture which overlooks the Salt Lake Valley

Blazing a trail.

A free outdoor concert with the Utah Symphony.

Mesa Falls 4th of July weekend.

Cleaning the fish.

That's right...we caught 25 fish in the matter of a hours!

I had a real knack for catching "sucker fish". I caught 4 in a row. "Uncle" Jim said he hadn't caught that many in all of his time fishing this lake.

The first of 2 trout. I was a light weight when it came to catching the good fish. Emily caught 9 trout!! (please excuse the hickish way in which I am wearing my hat. I had some last minute help adjusting it right before the camera flashed)

Tales of a neglectful blogger

2009-07-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Of course these are coming in reverse order because I always forget to start in the right order, and I am just too lazy to fix it today.

The other night I had a night of no commitments, these usually turn out to be a ton of fun. I grabbed some ice cream with a friend after work then I headed home. Cambree and I decided to go out for dinner, but in our excitement to leave the house we left her dog inside with a very full garbage bag on the floor. She sure did have her hay day!

We were glad we decided to go out because we were able to enjoy these beautiful rainbows.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go hiking on a lesser known trail, because of all the rain, the underbrush was drenched and as a result we were by the time we reached the top.

This peacock lives at the Tracey Aviary, one of my favorite places in Salt Lake. I went there on a field trip at work.

One morning I got out of the shower and thought there was a beautiful dragonfly on my bedroom floor. However, when I got closer I realized it was just two barrettes and a bobby pin I had thrown on the floor the night before.

Then there was the air show. If you read carefully you will realize we were taking a serious risk in attending.

This was on the train up to the air show. For you loyal followers you will remember that in the infancy of my blogging days I rode the train for the first time and loved it. It is still an enjoyable endeavor.

This is from another hike. Credit goes to my friend Becca who studies photography in college.

For those of you who have not participated in a murder mystery dinner, you should! A ton of fun. This one was set in the 1930's. I am not sure you can tell by the picture, but my friend Manelle did an actual finger wave hair style. It was fabulous!

The Continuing Adventure of EDC

2009-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the pictures from my trip to Yellowstone Memorial Day Weekend. We went up for my friend Chris' birthday celebration.
Left to right Heidi, Evan, Erica, Kandis.

This picture is so funny to me b/c right before we took I could tell Evan had his tongue sticking out, so I reached up and tapped his tongue with my hand. This picture captured the moment when he turned to me and asked if I had really just hit his tongue.

Erica, Heidi, Kandis

One of four bears spotted over the weekend.

Evan communing with nature.

The whole crew- Evan, Erica, Kandis, Ashley, Brant, Chris, Alan, Heidi.

There were ton of bison to be seen. The one picture I regret not taking was of 14 bison marching down the road with a tour bus stuck behind them. There were also lots of Elk out and about, but I don't have any pictures of them.

Erica and Kandis.

A wolf print from the many we saw on our hike.

I don't know what it is but I love to climb into small holes when the opportunity arises.

This was super cool! We were just driving along with no significant snow spots and then we came across this. I was out walking on it with out a jacket and sandals on my feet.

Relaxing outside the tourist trap while my friends were sucked in.

Brant, Erica, Evan.

A Camping We Will Go!!!

2009-05-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

So you may be wondering what adventures I have been up to of late. Here is a picture guide.

2 weekends ago I went to a friends cabin down near Bryce National forest.

This was a picture taken to show my coordination with the color scheme.

The cabin crew minus 2.

The girls.

My good friend April and I.

This weekend I headed out to the west desert to celebrate Cambree's 4th annual 21st birthday. There ended up being a lot of boys there and not so many girls. Luckily our friends Camille and Kandis joined up last minute so Cambree and I didn't have to handle all those boys on our own.

Although I am perfectly capable of building a fire, it wasn't worth the effort when there were already 8 boys getting the job done.

This is Jake taking a picture of me taking a picture of him on Saturday morning. Darian is still looking a little sleepy-eyed in the background.

A big beetle I came across. Maybe an inch to an inch and a half long.

We went out to shoot some guns but chose to take pictures of nature instead. The last time I went shooting I ended up with a huge bruise from the kick-back.

This is lone peak. It was directly across from where we went to go shoot some guns.

I took this picture of through binoculars.

After shooting we headed out to find the Dugway Geode Beds. We accidentally took the scenic route out there (a.k.a. off roading) which ended up being a ton of fun!

We found a watering trough. Exciting!

Cambree buckling up for safety.

We finally arrived and were excited to be there.

They recommend digging 1-4 feet down to find good geodes, so I took a couple swings with the pickax.

The roads made everything incredibly dusty, even Jake.

The inside of one of the geodes I decided to keep.

My two geodes. The little one is cool because it is inverse.

Snow Shoeing

2009-04-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

4th grade talent-rekindled

2009-04-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

Our ward had a talent show on Monday and this was my contribution

There is always next year.

2009-03-26T17:33:00.001-07:00

As you can guess from the title, I got my letter from UVU today, I did not make it into the program this year. There is always next year.:-)

Dental Hygiene-To Be or Not to Be.

2009-03-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

That is the question.
For those who don't know-I turned my application in at Utah Valley University's dental hygiene department a little over a month ago. I just called them today to see when I should anticipate a response. The letters of notification went out yesterday, so any day.
If I get in I am pretty sure it is an act of God. If I don't get in, then it is time to retake a couple of classes for the better grade and try again next year.
I will keep you posted.

For my adoring fans;-)

2009-03-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

A few pictures to view. The majority of of the pictures are from an artistic photo hunt I went on with Camille and Garrett (both pictured).

The bottom picture is from last Sunday, not the best day for picking out what to wear. I tried on 20 tops, 8 skirts, 3 pairs of shoes and switched between my two sets of glasses several times. That isn't even counting all the different combinations within the articles of clothing. What a ridiculous morning!!

I have more pictures to add later, but I have to wait for my friend to email me.

Spring has Sprung

2009-02-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Despite the snow last night and the turn for colder weather, the Irises and Crocuses decided to make their debut today.

Clay Pigeons

2009-02-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

I think you can tell from the pictures, that I was not a natural at this and that the gun was just a little too big for my short little arms. I was able to shoot one clay pigeon out of... um, a lot.

You can see how many shells we went through-pretty impressive.

There was one extra pigeon after all the ammunition was gone, so everyone took a shot with a rock.
Jake noticed this cloud sneaking over the mountain as we left the west desert.

Last night I went tubing with my ward. The place we went had a toe rope for the tubes and nice runs to go down. Definitely an activity I would be inclined to repeat.

So Great a Cause

2009-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

I want to blog about my ward's Family Home Evening activity.

We went downtown to see the movie about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. I have seen this movie several times. However, each time I come away more grateful for the blessings in my life and a commitment to do better. I am specifically grateful for the sacrifice of so many individuals as they acted in Faith.

Tonight I was especially touched by a line that said something to the effect that the experiences the church members had experienced and endured had made their hearts more tender. I know that my experiences, both the good and the bad, have made me who I am today. I know that my heart has learned to be more tender and I hope it will continue as I search for truth and follow the teaching of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A 5 star week

2009-01-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

A pretty great week, but not many photos taken.:(
This was my first full week of work in a long time. It was pretty great. I sure have missed the Seare's and was happy to return there on Monday. Marie Claire was really sweet, she was all full of hugs and kisses and following me everywhere. She helped me with ironing, cleaning, and everything else.
My hands will be as raw as raw can be with all the hand washing required by law when you work in a childcare/preschool center, but have been happy to be back and incredibly busy.
On top of that I spent the week catching up with friends. I was able to go to FHE, and Institute and play with Garrett, and have a game night on Friday at my friend Jeff's, then Saturday was jam packed.
I had my toe fixed free of charge by a parent at the center (in-grown toe nails-makes me feel like a dirty girl). Then I spent the day with my friend Cindy, we enjoyed a great lunch, hit a movie, ran a few errands, hung out at her house, enjoyed a great dinner, and played a fun zoo game with her husband.
I apologize for the lack of pictures, I'll try to do better next week.

The Power of a Word

2009-01-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

Isn't language amazing! Especially the simple aspects of it. Something as simple as a "Please" or "Thank You" can make all the difference. Add to that the different intonation- one phrase you hear all the time can take on a whole new meaning. There is my thought of the night.

Disclaimer: There will not be a thought posted every night.

A Return to Blogging

2009-01-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

Along with a holiday break came a break from blogging. But I will now reestablish the habit.

Some of you may be wondering what I did over the holiday. Truth be told a large chunk of my time went to my new webkinz pet. His name is Baxter.

We spent a lot of time together in his virtual world playing video games and decorating his room.

If you can't read the blurb, it says "I love it when you come to see me!" then he makes a kissy sound and a little heart appears in the air. He is the perfect pet.

The fire hydrant is his refrigerator. He likes to ride around on his skateboard.

He usually sleeps in his bed when I am not playing with him. But sometimes when I come back he has moved to his skateboard and is sleeping there.

This is where he sits to work on the puzzles I got for him.

We even tried to hook up with my nieces' webkinz pets but found it difficult to get into the same virtual room. Perhaps they noticed the year 1979 on my profile and for the safely of young children everywhere have intentionally made it next to impossible for me to meet them in a virtual room.

Poor Baxter doesn't get to play as often now that I have returned to the world of work and responsibility.

It was great to get together with family. I have pictures, but for the safety of young children I will not be posting those on my blog which is unprotected in the Internet world. I will send those out in email form in the next week or so.

Another great gift I got this year was the game "Don't Eat Pete". I had my first chance share it with my friends on Friday night.

Other excitement to be noted...

While I was gone Cambree put the baseboards in my room and the kitchen, painted the hallway, including the dark brown doors, and installed a towel rod and a toilet paper holder in my bathroom. I told her I should leave town more often.;-)

That's all until next week-

The First Sledding Adventures of the Season

2008-12-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

We finally got some snow on Saturday and so we decided to go sledding after our ward Christmas party on Saturday night.

A Master Piece on Canvas

2008-12-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Another addition from our list of fun things to do.
Cambree and I have been buying supplies to create a masterpiece on canvas. We would get the supplies if they were on sale or if we had a coupon for them.
Friday night was the night we decided to create our masterpieces on canvas. Here is the photo tour of the fun.

The artists from left to right: Jeff Chumley, Rick Smith, Erica Cummings, Cambree Johnson

Floss with Caution!

2008-12-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

After eating lunch the other day I decided I needed some floss. My boss uses the flossers and, since my purse suppy of floss recently ran out, I grabbed one. I have used them before and they seem to get the job done, however I ran into one little problem. It got lodged between my two front teeth. I was pulling and tugging and it just wouldn't come out! I was worried that if I pulled any harder one or both of my teeth would come out with the flosser. The only direction it would go was up. Finally I had to take a pair of scissors and cut it out.

For your entertainment

2008-12-07T20:43:00.001-08:00

This has been a week of mixed emotions. Once again I am trying to figure everything out, but this week has also brought a lot of fun.
Cambree's office party was a the Desert Star Theater. It is a local theater that does parodies (I guess you would call them) on plays and movies. This one was Miracle on 42nd Street. Very funny! The best part is, the plays are filled with local humor.
For those Veggie Tale lovers out there, try not to be jealous but, we hosted a veggie party on Friday. A huge success. Everyone brought their favorite veggie, and we watched Veggie Tales. I am telling you-good clean fun!
Then our friend introduced us to this great YouTube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyxpXgS5deU

Tour De Pools

2008-11-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving took me to Vegas where I stayed with my friends and their family in a resort there. The highlight, besides the wonderful Thanksgiving Feast, was the Tour De Pools. This is how it works: You don the swimsuit (thus the lack of pictures) and spend a little bit of time in each pool and hot tub at the resort. I believe the grand total of pools visited that day was 9 or 10-this included the kiddy pool and the lazy river. Fun times were had by all.

One other thing. It was rainy off and on while we were driving down on Wednesday and we got to see a few good rainbows, the pictures don't do them justice.

Oh yes, I forgot, I was tagged

2008-11-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

So I was tagged awhile back but never answered the request to answer questions about myself on my blog. My apologies for being a party pooper.

I apologize for the delay

2008-11-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

I know there are some of you out there that expect Sunday updates on blogs. My apologies for missing last week. Life has seemed to get a little crazy of late, and not much to note. You know the usual day to day stuff, and that is about it. I do have two pictures to share. 1st-we bought pumpkin bread mix at Costco. Not really that news worthy, I know. However, it contains pecans. Most of you know how I feel about the majority of nuts. So Cambree convinced me that we should by a sifter and just sift the nuts out. It worked pretty well.

However, it did not work as well when we attempted to sift poppy seeds out of a muffin mix.

Some of you may remember a post I made on July 13th about my car reaching the milestone of 100,000 miles. As an indication of how much time I spend in my car, I reached another notable mileage...111,111! Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch the exact number on film, but one close to it. That odometer won't have one digit in all the number spots again until 222,222.

One more cool thing. I think I took this picture last week.

It is hard to tell in the picture, but the majority of the ice is floating above the pavement. I thought it was cool.

"I'll Have the Brain and Eyeball with a Side of Mummy."

2008-11-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween party was a success with total attendance reaching 31! (That's a lot for a tiny house, but fun none the less.)

A few of the guests.

Artistic Skills Put on Trial

2008-10-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

We revisited the taco stand. I think we might be addicted. However, there seems to be a language barrier so we have enlisted the help of one of our bilingual friends for our next visit.

We hit the haunted village on Friday night for some Halloween fun. Unfortunately no pictures were taken but it was mildly entertaining. I have to be honest and say that they did get me to jump a couple of times. And this one guy followed us for a while and Cambree gave him my name so he kind of creeped me out.

So, I carved my pumpkin tonight. I tried to be all "artsy" and do a spider in a web, but it is really indistinguishable and it may contain at least 4 toothpicks. Luckily we bought 3 pumpkins because things are supposed to be more artistic in groups of 3's or 5's so I was able to redeem my pumpkin carving skills with a more traditional carving approach.

Thanks Jennifer for all the votive candles that are helping the pumpkins look all festive!

I almost forgot! Yet another thing on our list of fun things to do: Whittle something out of wood. That was part of our entertainment on Friday night. I didn't get very far, but it was fun. I can't wait to get back to work on it!

A 10 Out of 10 Sort of Day

2008-10-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering if it is even possible to have a 10 out of 10 sort of day, but I promise you that Saturday was just such a day.

It started out with me waking up with a desire to exercise. If I do exercise, it is out of obligation, but this day, my eyes opened, and my first conscious thought was, "I have time for a good long walk".

The weather and temperature was PERFECT!

I got to spend the majority of the day with one of my favorite people, April Bitton.

We went out for a delicious and very belated birthday breakfast for her (June). For those who live near a Kneaders, you have to go try their french toast! Amazing!

April got to substitute coach her sisters adorable soccer team. They range from age 3 to 5. I am pretty sure if the day had ended there, it would have been perfect, but it just kept getting better from there.

I was able to go to the Jordan River Temple and do a session there. Yeah!

Then it was off to the pumpkin patch. There is this great farm (Day Farm) in West Layton. For $5 you get a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and you get to select your pumpkin and pick it from the vine. My friends Cindy and Bryan introduced me to it.

Here is our tractor driver.

The crew anxiously awaiting the ride.

Everyone with their pumpkins.

Then on the way home we went to this great pizza place in Centerville. It is Camille's (a great friend) favorite place.

Of course a 10 out 0f 10 day couldn't be so without sharing company we so many wonderful people.

Two other note worthy ventures from the week.

1. Our midweek banana run. Apparently we were not the only customers at Smith's in need of bananas that day.

2. In our neck of the woods road side taco stands are like hot dog stands in NYC (or so I've heard), they are everywhere. We have always talked to going, but have always been kind of intimidated, b/c we don't speak Spanish. Well, we tackled our fears on Friday night, and are now left wondering why it took us so long. The tacos were fabulous and super cheep. It is one of my best $3 meals. Unfortunately we did not photograph the experience because we were all ready feeling about as "gringa" as they come.

Halloween Fun

2008-10-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

One of the things on our list of fun things to do was "create a scarecrow for fall decor". We decided to do it on a budget. We used old clothes we all ready had, a green pillowcase, and stuffed it with some phonebooks (which I swear they drop a new one on our doorstep once a month). It didn't turn out very "scarecrow-like" but entertaining non the less. While I was studying yesterday I heard one of the neighborhood kids saying she wanted to steal it. I was sure to keep an eye on them. Luckily the friend with the girl saw me watching and said, "she's watching". They were gone within seconds.

Can You Identify This?

2008-10-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

I was on my way home form Jennifer's belated birthday dinner when I saw this huge thing being transported on the freeway. I have absolutely no idea what it is, but my fascination with it was piqued as I drove beside it all the way from Orem to home. I was tempted to follow it and see were they went, but they probably were headed west to Nevada or something, and I was almost out of gas.

I hope this picture helps you appreciate the size of it. If you have any idea what it is, please share, it is kind of driving me crazy not knowing. I think things like this should have a brief explanation posted as they transport.

It's a Matter of Perspective

2008-10-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

Mom came to town for a visit in the end of September. It was a fun and exciting week. Here we are at the Bingham Canyon Copper mine. These are the tires that go on the big trucks.

To give you an idea of the size of these trucks...that dark spot on the top of the bed is a man welding something on the truck. I took this picture for Mica and Ben.

Every now and then Cambree and I generate a list of fun things we want to do. Mom was instrumental in helping us cross a couple of these off the list. There is this breakfast place across the road from us that advertises a breakfast for $2.99. We have been wanting to go for some time. So Mom took us there before we went to get pedicures, another item checked off the list of fun.

We were kind of scared the the breakfast place would be a compete and scary dive, but it was very clean and as good as any breakfast you would get at Denny's.

These are the toes post pedicure. 10 points if you can guess which toes belong to each person.

Last Saturday Cambree and I did an impulsive tour of Cabellas. It was very brief because we showed up about 10 minutes before they close. They have some trout you can feed. So we paid the 25 cents for the experience. After we bought the few grains of food we noticed the large amount of them just floating on the surface of the water. That's ok though, we still got a few fish to bite.

The fine print you can't read under the "Feed the Fish" says: "FISH FOOD GOOD FOR THE FISH. NOT FOR PEOPLE. PLEASE DON'T EAT THE FISH FOOD." Sad the they have to spell that out for people.

Now we come to this weekends fun. We have an exciting month planned full of Halloween fun. We had SO MUCH to fit in that we ended up having to go to the corn maze last minute on Friday night. Luckily some of our friends were plan free and able to join us last minute.

The funny story...the corn maze is supposed to cost $7. However, we had coupons for a dollar off( one for each person in the group). Yet when it came down to paying, we all got charged different prices. We can not figure out why. Pat had ended up paying the full $7, Jake-$6, Me-$5, and Heidi-$4.

We made sure to get pictures with all the "official" corn maze guys as we happened across them.

Well, if that isn't lengthy enough, I just found out Kathryn had her baby today so that makes niece/nephew 12 for me!

Look forward to more fun blogs this month as we celebrate Halloween in all its glory!

Nature and Ward Sponsered Activities

2008-09-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Abe (10yrs) started looking for bugs. He said that his class was paired up with a younger class through a mentoring program at their school and they were supposed to be looking for insects to bring to school to study. He solicited my help in finding and catching the bugs. He found a spider in their garage that he wanted to study-yes he and I both recognize that spiders are not technically insects. The big spider had this sack hanging in its web.

Friday afternoon we headed down to BYU's Timp Lodge up by Sundance for our ward retreat. Cambree and I wanted to be there early so we could hike around a little bit and have first claim on a bed for the night, and we had volunteered to help with dinner prep.

The lodge has 64 beds. All singles, with some bunks. They are all in three large rooms that are all connected to each other. We determined which looked the most private and set up our stuff I ended up with a bottom bunk by a window and Cambree was in a single bed next to me. When the other two people arrived I asked the one girl if she had staked her claim on a bed yet. Her response, "yep, the bed above yours!" Seriously?! Of all the 62 beds she had to choose from, she felt compelled to take the one above me! Then she didn't come to bed till 2:15. So needless to say I didn't get to sleep till after that. However, other then the lack of sleep, I had a really great time up there.

In the morning I snapped this picture of the mountain from the parking lot.

As many of you know I am on the mingles committee in my ward. The translation of that for those who are not familiar with that calling - each sunday, our committee plans a little snack for the ward to enjoy, which leads to people lingering after chruch and mingling with each other, thus the title, "mingles committee". Today we are having a boys vs. girls bakeoff mingle. A while ago I saw a creative idea for cupcakes in Parents magazine and I decided today was the perfect opportunity to make them.

Preschool type things really make me happy. I really enjoyed making these.

For those who may want to recreate this culinary delight.

1. Bake up your favorite cupcakes.

2. Frost with your favorite frosting.

3. Top with your favorite yellow and white jelly belly flavors-

I choose pina colada, coconut, and A&W cream soda

4. Apply small dab of frosting to yellow starburst candy and put on top your ear

5. Don't forget the corn on the cob holders.

Photographic highlights from the week

2008-09-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

The joy of the fluffernutter is out of this world! What a birthday treat. I came home to a loaf of homemade bread and a thing of fluff. Melissa was the wonderful gift giver here. It had been a while since I had enjoyed the culinary excellence that can be enjoyed with the use of three simple ingredients.

I have a slight obsession with the bouquets of flowers at Costco. We go there just about every week and every week I say, "we should buy some flowers". However, I can never quite justify the purchase. Well, for my birthday on Monday, my good friend April gave me a bouquet of Costco flowers! I was so excited!

Some of you may remember my account of various "after-anatomy" celebrations. One of those involved the purchase and assembly of a puzzle. I don't know if I mentioned the size of the puzzle-2000 pieces! After a month, the help of many friends and a few late nights, it is finished. I put a sharpie marked next to it so you can fully appreciate the size. You had better believe it is now glued together and ready to hang in the extra/guest bedroom.

Now we come to Saturday. A fun filled day to say the least. We went to the Utah State Fair with Cambree's brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew. We took this picture at the beginning, little did I realize "Bushels of Utah State Fair Fun" we would have.

First we ran into Brooke, Darryl, and Zach. Seeing them is always fun. We all headed over to the reptile show. I don't think the Marshes made it through it though, did you guys end up ducking out? Anyway, lots of cool animals, but this was my favorite. 100+ (if I remember correctly) pounds of turtle, and they live to be super old too. I tried to be the crowd volunteer on this one, but some other lady was chosen.

This rooster is for Dad-point of reference on the size-that is a regular 8 oz. dixie cup in the foreground.

Our friend Ben took first place in the scenic photo category with his picture of Arches. That pretty much makes Cambree and I famous. I am proud of Ben, he is a good kid.

OK, this next one is random, but I find it really entertaining. On August 11, 2007 we went to the balloon festival and were very intrigued by this seemingly eccentric photographer. He left such an impression that we had to snap a shot of him.

Well fast forward to September 13, 2008. Who should we happen to run into at the state fair? I hope to see him in a years time. ;)

After the joys of fair fun, food and animals, it was time for my birthday BBQ.

Here are some of my favorite people. (Left to right: Dave Z. , April, myself, Jenni, and Garrett),

That was about a 1/4 of the crowd.

After the delicious food and some games we made cucumber boats to race down the river. April and I decided to work as a team. She is responsible for the winning design. Everyone else would end up stuck on the rocks, but not our trusty little skiff.

This is the launching of the boats. Fun times were had by all. Yeah for food, friends, fun, and most of all, Birthdays!

When was the last time you played in the rain?

2008-09-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

Two Sunday's ago, my friend April and I were drawn to the puddles created by a wonderful rain storm. We decided to revisit our childhood and seek out the puddles instead of avoiding them. Definitely an activity that should be engaged in more frequently

For my birthday, Jennifer treated me to the 2nd annual birthday dinner at this fabulous Thai restaurant in American Fork. They just happened to seat us at the same table they did last year and we honored it by ordering the same food we did last year. I am very excited to continue this birthday celebration.

I think this next photo shows how I feel about it.

I found this praying mantis the other day. Just thought I would share my bit of nature.

p.s.

2008-08-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

For more info and images check out www.ksl.com

The Wild Fire from Where I Sat Today

2008-08-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

So today around 12:30 I came out on the deck to see this.

A little alarming, but still far enough away. 2 hours later it had spread significantly.

Don't worry, I kept a very close watch on it all day to make sure we were not in any danger of being trapped on the mountain.

It was actually a very educational experience for the kids, we talked about the causes of wild fires, how they try to contain them, the damages that can be caused by them and how we are glad there are people who are trained to put them out; especially the pilots that fly so close to homes and mountains. I wish I had gotten a picture of the one plane that flew directly over the Seares house, but I did get a video of one that got close.

Fun with Water Balloons

2008-08-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

This weeks highlight was definitely when Jonah wanted to make water balloons. I decided we needed to make it a little more interesting so I had Jonah set up some dinosaurs on the driveway below.

The best part was when a couple of guys walked up. They were going door to door trying to convince people they needed their carpets cleaned.

Intoducing Crabby Jr.!

2008-08-17T11:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I decided I was finally ready to get a new hermit crab. Crabby Jr. was purchased compliments of the $5 Grammy and Grampy sent to me in the card that arrived the very same day I was planning on going to get another crab. I always like to do something special with the money sent to me, and I thought this would be perfect (he cost $4.99). So Thank You Grammy and Grampy!

One Thing I Forgot

2008-08-10T07:39:00.001-07:00

My friend's blog reminded me that I wanted to include this picture. I was taking some pictures of the kids this week and Jonah mentioned he wanted to dress up for a picture. I got busy doing laundry of something and the next thing I know Jonah appears in his costume.

He and Abe a huge Star Wars fans! Can you tell?

The Untitled Blog

2008-08-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

The biggest event of the week was the completion of my anatomy class. I have to say that taking a final has never made me so happy before. I was a little giddy on the drive down to take it yesterday because I knew it was the end of the longest 7 1/2 weeks of my life.

I had an eventful week with the kids as well. One day we went to the children's museum and another day we went to the planetarium.

Both were fun but I was most excited about the planetarium because it was free!

Friday night I went to see the play Seven Brides for Seven Brothers-a favorite from my childhood. It was at a little small community theater in Magna. The Empress Theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic places, it first opened in 1917.
Every one that worked the show were volunteers. There were a few people from my ward in the production, so that made it even more enjoyable to watch.

After I finished my final on Saturday morning, it was time to celebrate!

Jennifer and I spent a good chunk of the day shopping. Then I met up with my study-buddies to celebrate over dinner. If it weren't for these guys, I wouldn't have made it through the class. There would have been a picture of all of us, but several of my friends were too spent and didn't feel like a picture. The last celebratory event was ice blocking.

Two other random pictures to share. I really liked the shadow that this chair made.

And I liked how you can see the rain falling in this picture.

To the Chagrin of My Mother and Grandmother

2008-08-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

With the end of my anatomy class coming my life has gotten a little crazy. This is the pile of clean laundry that moved between my bed and my office chair for almost a week depending on what was in use at the time.

I am happy to report that it has all been neatly folded and put away now.

Luckily work still provides an outlet for fun during this stressful time. Thursday I took the kids ice blocking. They loved it. Here is a picture Jonah(6) took of me coming down the hill.

I also remembered how much I love ice blocking so that is going to be my celebratory activity on Saturday evening after I take my final.

In other news...

I bought TV tables for when we have company because we have no real table space. Of course Cambree and I had to give them a test run last night. It is great to have a place to put your food and drink and remote controls!

While grocery shopping we discovered a new flavor of Colgate tooth paste. We had to buy it.

I am pretty sure exciting things are now going to start happening in my life.;)

Oh and I almost forgot to include the "Food-Network-quality" dinner we enjoyed last Sunday.

The Days of 47 Parade

2008-07-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

As many of you know July 24th (Pioneer Day) is a state holiday in Utah. Every year they have a huge parade though downtown SLC celebrating the pioneer heritage. In order to commemorate the holiday, Shannon and I decided to take the kids down to see the parade. My favorite part were the Seagulls. I tried to get picture, but I couldn't get my camera out fast enough. Luckily they were news worthy so I was able to download a picture for you all to enjoy. you wouldn't believe some of the floats the local stakes but together! After the fun of the parade we headed to the park where they had inflatable toys, street vendors and more. All in all a pretty great day considering I was on the "clock".

I have not spent that much time outside all summer, so I was pretty drained, but knew that I had to do some studying that day. I pulled out the books and tried to dive in, but then Cambree and I got to talking about maybe going to see a dollar movie that night. We looked at what was available and were having trouble deciding between 2 movies. Then we came up with the idea to catch them both, but I had to earn the second one. If I buckled down and studied for a couple of hours I could go to both movies: If not, I only got to go to one. You know you have a problem when you have to treat yourself like a kid by setting up a reward system for things you should just do because it is required of you.

I am happy to say I earned both!

This one couldn't wait till sunday

2008-07-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago Johan told me he wanted to paint fake money green. When I asked him why he said he didn't know, but was adamant about doing it. Unfortunately we forgot about it and it never happened. However, today he brought it up again. He thought through all these plans and presented them to me. I realized he wanted to try to use it as real money.

He thought that after it was painted no one would be able to figure out they were fake. Some of the errors of the plan, including the moral issues associated with it, but he seemed bound and determined to go ahead it. He then came up with several different plans to try to make it look real-including photocopying a real dollar bill. He wanted to make 100, 1 dollar bills. I told him you weren't supposed to copy money.

Finally we came up with the plan of tracing the bill. I traced one for him, with just a few of the many details of the bill. I asked him if it looked good; luckily it passed inspection. So we copied the traced bill so he could paint them.

By this point I thought he understood that the only way to get money to spend was by earning it, not making it. Then he got into the nitty-gritty of the project.

He hunted for supplies for 45 minutes, that is a lot of dedication for a 6 yr old. Then he carefully cut out each bill and asked to look at a dollar bill so he could paint it correctly.

As he started painting, he kept telling me not to tell anyone about it. I realized that he still had the intention of passing it off as real money. Luckily he couldn't get the right mix of watercolors to match the color on the bill, and he gave up, so for now our counterfeiting operation has stopped.

The Circle of Life

2008-07-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

I went up to help my friend Dani with her new baby, 7 batches of apricot jam, fruit leather and general entertainment while her husband was gone. I had notice this dragon fly on her lawn and I was planning on taking a picture of it because it looked so cool

Dani turned it over and discovered that the insides were gone and there were a number of ants inside.

Pretty cool if you ask me. This experience also left me impressed with my camera's ability for super close up pictures.

In other news, in a crazy moment a few weeks ago, I agreed to go to the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight". So that is how I spent my Thursday into Friday this week. Luckily I could sleep in a little on Friday to make up for it. All in all it was a fun time.

I am also happy to report that I got my highest quiz score in Anatomy thus far! It is definitely hanging on the fridge.

Sunday is a Great Day!

2008-07-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights from the week. School is taking up most of my midweek, so for now, Sunday's are going to be my blog update.

The first thing of note for the week was a milestone in the life of my car.

In case you can't see the mileage the first says 99,999. Then the next picture is the 100,00. I thought that alone was a momentous day, but then I was on my way back from bringing Jonah to tutoring when I noticed a collection of cars parked along the road by the Draper. They were lowering the Angel Moroni into place, I was very excited that we drove by at that time.

The kids and I were in a silly mood that day so I taught them how to make the upside down face. They thought it was hilarious! I have to say, it hasn't gotten old for me either.

Way back when our Relief Society gave us little cups with flower seed in them. I transferred mine to a very small pot. After that Cambree took over loving them and on Tuesday night I noticed this itty-bitty blossom. Isn't it cute?

Thursday Jonah, Marie Claire and I went to Wheeler farm while Abe was at his guitar lesson. I love Wheeler farm so much! My favorite are definitely the little lambs.

Saturday night I took a break from studying to volunteer at the 4th annual fundraiser for the preschool I used to work for. It was a ton of fun. The other person in the picture is my friend and former co-worker Ashley. The fundraiser had a Luau theme. I was in charge of table decorating, raffle, and keeping track of the live auction. I had a last minute responsibility of demonstrating the joy of riding a baby-blue beach cruiser. It has been forever since I rode a bike!

Going Green

2008-07-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

I was driving home from class tonight, and thinking about all the damage I was doing to the environment with all my driving, and I am not quite sure where my train of thought went from there, but this is where it ended up.
If everyone is so worried about "going green" I think one of the biggest impacts we could make it by doing away with billboards! Think about it, all the energy spent to light them up at night, some of them even have lights during the day. Then there is all the waste product produced when they change the signs. Additionally, most billboards are now just giant plastic signs hung over a board, have you ever thought about where that all goes when the sign is changed? Then there are the drivers that slow down on the freeway to view the billboards, and then accelerate after to regain speed, thus decreasing their fuel efficiency.
One last point, wouldn't the landscape look so much prettier without them? And if they weren't dotting the landscape, perhaps drivers would notice the smog in the valley more.

Well, there is my tree-hugger, and I think, quite ingenious thought for the day.

Cheap thrills

2008-06-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I became the proud owner of a queen size deluxe air mattress (double the height of a regular air mattress). Ever since I got it I always talk about how I am going to sleep on it just for the fun of it. I mean think about it, I am still sleeping in a twin bed:(.

While, I finally did it. Some of my friends came by on Friday night and after staying up way too late, I was in the mood to get it out. After finally getting to bed, I slept great! However vinyl is not the most "breathable" material, even though I had a blanket under me, it still got a little warm. I think I am going to give it one more night. I mean, just look at the thing, wouldn't you?

I have decided to set up a "buy-Erica-a-queen-size-bed-for-her-30th-birthday-fund". Anyone wishing to contribute can contact me (you have 1 year and 3 months to think about it). Also, anyone who whats to fly out and celebrate my 30th with me next year is invited. I have decided to make a big deal of it.

My friend Melissa and I took the kids to the Tracey Aviary on Friday. I did a little research on it and the aviary was founded when a guy donated his private bird collection to the city. I was really excited to go, but it turned out to be just too hot to enjoy it fully. They do a bird show twice a day and the last time I went it was quite entertaining. But the birds must have been feeling very rascally that day, because so many wouldn't do their tricks, one even decided to just fly off. I guess the heat was getting to them too.

We still made sure to get some pictures to document the event. I will add the picture of me and the horned owl later when my friend Melissa emails it to me. I wanted a picture with the emus since they are my favorite bird, but they were hiding. If you have never heard the sound an emu make you should check it out! http://www.abc.net.au/archives/av/birds.htm#e

Jonah took this picture of the pelicans. There were quite a few more and they were just swimming around in a line together. I think pelicans will be my runner up to the emu.

In other news, as a study break on Saturday I joined my ward for our ward activity at the driving range. This is my third time at a driving range, and I can not even get a ball to go 100 yards. I don't think golfing is my future. That's alright I would hate to be in Tigers shoes with a knee injury, surgery and all. Again I will add another picture later, it is on Cambree's camera so I need to get it from her.

Example, Time Allocation, and Socially Acceptable Behaviors

2008-06-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Marie Claire (19 months) taught me a lesson on the power of example and time allocation today.

I had all the kids with me today and we had just dropped Jonah off for tutoring and we had 45 minutes before Abe had to be to swim lessons. Since it was early in the morning we decided to just chill in the car for a while. Abe and I both put our seats back and I got Marie Claire out of her car seat and put her on my lap/stomach to play while I sat back and relaxed. She proceeded to grab the steering wheel the exact same way as I do 90% of the time and then every so often she would lean over and pretend to shift gears.

I had never thought about how much she watches me while we drive around town together. Although I am excited that I am all ready grooming the future generation of drivers, it made me stop and think about all the other times she is probably watching me and learning from what I do. The one other thing I thought of is how much of our time we spend in the car together.

My other story of the day revisits time allocation but mostly covers socially acceptable behaviors.

Tonight I had Anatomy lecture from 5:30-8:00. Of course as with most classes that run that long we are given a five minute break to stretch, grab a drink, and use the bathroom. I had been feeling a little dehydrated before class so I had been loading up on water during class. I went to the restroom and proceeded with the usual business (I apologize if this is a little too much detail). Well, a girl from my class enters the stall next to me. What do I hear next? Her having a conversation with her husband on the phone! I can appreciate her desire to spend the little bit of free time with her husband, but I most definitely did not appreciate feeling like he was also in the bathroom with me!

A tribute to Crabby

2008-06-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

This long story of a beloved crab (Crabby) begins a few weeks ago. A friend asked about my hermit crab. I went to pull him out of the tank, and noticed that he had receded far into his shell. I immediately thought he was dead. I started to tear up. I couldn't believe Crabby was dead! I have to admit that I also couldn't believe I was crying. This made me realize the extent of the emotional attachment I had formed with this crab.

Upon further investigation of the situation, I realized I was cooking my crab. Apparently the light bulb, although matching my previous bulb was a much higher watt then was appropriate for the tank and the crab. I removed the light and hoped Crabby would recover quickly.

A couple of days ago Crabby crawled out of his shell! I did some reading online to see what I could do to help him, and it just said to keep him moist, provide food and water, and new shells should be available for him to upgrade to. Although there was a new shell available, he did not decide to take up residence in it. He had been very active despite the lack of the shell, and when I would mist him periodically throughout the day he would respond to the stimulus, so I was hopeful. Last night as I drifted off to sleep, I could hear him moving around the tank. Then this morning I went to mist him with water before I left for the day, but he did not respond. I am sorry to announce that he must have died in the middle of the night.

Now there may be some of you that do not know about Crabby. He was the best of pets. I came to know Crabby a couple of years ago (the above picture was taken in August of '06) when he became my preschoolers class pet. As you may have guessed, they were the ones to name him. We got him for free because the pet store deemed him too freakishly large to be sold.

Crabby was so tolerant of the kids playing with him. He didn't get upset when he was dropped repeatedly.

One time he was place on the carpet and decided to grab hold; there he stayed for a couple of hours until he decided to let go.

The kids used to love to put him on the table and sit around him as quietly as they could and wait for him to come out and crawl. I can't tell you how many times a day they could ask if they could play with Crabby.

Occasionally I would bring him home to wash his tank thoroughly. I would arrange the tank in a nice and organized manner, aesthetically pleasing as well. But as soon as I would put crabby in he would start rearranging the "furniture". I would frequently forget to bring him back after the weekend. The kids were always so disappointed and would keep asking me, "Why did you forgot Crabby?!" and "When are you going to bring Crabby back?"

Then there was the time that one of my students was being timid around him and I decided to show her there was nothing to be afraid of. I put Crabby in the palm of my hand and he pinched me in between the index and middle finger. I tried really hard to make it seem like it didn't hurt as much as it did.

During that school year the preschool asked me to step in as assistant director of the school. Crabby stayed behind in the classroom. Sure, I saw him now and then, but it wasn't the same.

When the teacher that replaced me continued to have concerns about the "love" (maybe a little too much) Crabby was getting and the distraction he was becoming in the classroom, it was combined with my missing him. I volunteered to bring him home with me. Cambree and I loved to let him out to crawl around the room and on the couches. We would watch Cambree's dog try to figure out what was going on. He was also great for conversation. As for our roommate at the time, Jenni, well. . .Crabby just creeped her out.

But really he was the best of pets and will be dearly missed.

Cambree and I have plans to visit the pet store soon in order to help cope with the emotional strain of loosing him. Maybe I'll get a frog, or a lizard, or a fish, but then again, perhaps I will just get a freakishly large, but ever faithful hermit crab.

Rodeo or bust

2008-06-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Jennifer and I went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove on Thursday. It was a ton of fun! My favorite events were the cow milking, (each team has to catch a cow and get a certain amount of milk) and the mutton bustin' (little kids ride sheep). The mutton bustin' brings me back to our childhood when we used to try to ride our pet sheep, not an easy task.

The other thing that I absolutely loved, but can't remember the name of, was the dirt bike half time show. These crazy kids set up these huge ramps and drove their dirt bikes up them and did all these crazy tricks in the air. This was my second time seeing this done, and it just blows my mind!

One last thing of note from the rodeo was their famous strawberries n' cream. Delicious! My friend Tony treated all of us to some. Yeah for Tony!

Since going to the rodeo it has pretty much been all anatomy all the time. I am pretty sure this class might lead to the end of me. Thank goodness for Sundays! Then I have the whole day not to study.