Good Food

I would be remiss if I didn't make a note to myself (translate: post on my blog) about all my favorite foods we got to eat while we were out West.

Huckleberry candy bar (a new favorite!)
Idaho Spud candy bar (OK, it's not that great of a candy bar, but it does have the appeal of being a candy bar version of a potato. And it has coconut. Yum.)
Fried chicken at Maddox
A hamburger, fries with fry sauce, and a raspberry milkshake from Arctic Circle (I mixed it up a little this time by going for the raspberry cheesecake milkshake)
Lunch at Costa Vida
A pastry from Sweetly Divine pastries (I'm pretty sure I need one of those every day)
Lunch at Bajios (which we do actually have a Bajios in Lexington, I just haven't managed to get there for lunch yet)
Horseradish cheese from Gossner's (another new favorite!)

It seems impossible to hit all my favorites every time - too many favorites, never a trip long enough - but this was seriously a pretty good eating trip.

Ready To Go

We just got back from eight days of travel, and Rachael is all ready to go again. She "jam-packed" her "car" with about six dolls and all the stuff she thought they would need, and they are off.

At least one of us is ready to go!

Haircut

Nothing like cutting off five inches of hair to make you feel like you've lost 10 pounds. Well, except losing 10 pounds.

My Kind of Trip

One of the things we did in Idaho was to float Henry's Fork in a canoe. I enjoyed it almost as much as the trip to the Bahamas... it had a river, tall trees, and real mountains. it would have been perfect except for the four year old whiner seated behind me!

Meat Tenderizer

Today Rachael got stung by a bee. It was bound to happen eventually; I think everyone has to get stung at least once in their lives. I'm not sure what happened but I think she picked the flower that the bee was sitting on. She got stung right in the cheek.

Grandma quickly asked if we wanted to put meat tenderizer on it. What? I had never heard that either, but you'll try anything to make a bee sting feel better. She made a little paste of the tenderizer with some water and put it on the wound, which was already starting to swell.

It worked! Believe it or not, it was amazing. It drew out a little blood and most of the venom, and within 15 minutes the swelling was already starting to recede. After a couple of hours it looked kind of like a three day old mosquito bite, and Rachael said it didn't even hurt anymore.

Now I just need to buy some to keep at home!

Flashback Friday

May 2005
Braden and Rachael meet each other for the first time.

Playgroup

Playgroup Monday:

Let's make paper cranes and paper frogs. That will be fun! Kids love stuff like that.

Until I made a daddy, a mommy, and an itty bitty baby for two kids. And a frog.

Monday: I am losing my mind. Playgroup is going to kill me.

(Note: I didn't even have the wherewithall to photograph the paper mess. This picture is from the week before.)

Playgroup Tuesday:

Drop Rachael off at Alex's house. For an hour an a half.

Finish an entire load of laundry, load the dishwasher, grab a shower. All without "help."

Tuesday: I love playgroup. Now I remember why we do this every week.

Redemption

Today I had the opportunity to accompany my friend Nathan as he played the cello. He is a wonderful cellist and I love to listen to him play.

And it was a chance to redeem myself, if only for myself.

A couple of years ago I had this same opportunity. We practiced a couple of times during the week (I remember that vividly - he pulled out the cello and showed it to Rachael, who was probably 18 months old or so, and she cried when he played it. Probably not the reception he was expecting.). We practiced early in the chapel. I don't like to turn pages in the middle of playing (too many pages that have flown clear off the piano that way), so I copied the music and laid it out across the piano. It stayed that way until we were in the middle of the performance, in the middle of sacrament meeting, at which point the pages started falling off the piano. I could NOT recover them gracefully... we ended up completely stopped in the middle and restarted from some agreed on place. Never in my whole life have I wanted to be swallowed up into the floor like I did in that moment.

So today, even thought I dropped a couple of notes, it was an otherwise lovely performance. We stayed together. We ended at the same time.

And I used copious amounts of tape.


Postscript...
Fortunately for me, Nathan takes moments like these in stride. He doesn't take himself too seriously. Obviously.

Pool Time

We have been spending lots of time in the pool this week. LOTS.
But we are having lots of fun. LOTS!

And check out our fabulous tan lines!

Wink Wink

Can you wink?

Rachael is trying. She knows one eye needs to be closed. Trouble is...
... she can't manage it without using her hand to help.

Alex, though, has been practicing.
He's even got the slightly open mouth to go with it.

In about 15 more years, this kid will be knockin' em dead.

And with any luck, Rachael will have learned to wink without using her hands.

Sunrise

Conviction

Never let it be said that this guy didn't give up everything to stand for what he believes. And that you weren't warned, if the Apocalypse does indeed come this year.

(Thanks Louan for letting me copy this from your Facebook pictures!)

If you don't have the opportunity to drive down the Bypass in Richmond, KY once in awhile, you probably have never seen this guy. He wears some kind of belt support to help hold up the sign and frequents a couple of busy intersections. He's probably got some screws loose but I have to admire his conviction and determination.

Comfort

Last night Rachael was up again at 4:30 in the morning. This happens once in awhile, usually when we have an overnight thunderstorm with sharp, cracking thunder. I went into her room to help her fall back asleep.

As is her usual fashion in these cases, she chattered to me nonstop for about 20 minutes. I don't remember most of the conversation (come on, it's 4 in the morning!) but here is a snippet:

"Mom, if our house catches on fire, can we leave?"

"Sure honey." (Why is she worrying about the house being on fire? Too tired to care right now.)

"Can we all go together?"

"I sure hope so." (Assuming this fire happens when we are all home.)

"OK. Can we take your car?"

"Um, sure." (Why would she care which car? Weird.)

"OK thanks Mom." Then she moved on to some other random topic.


I guess as long as we all get out together and we leave in my car, she's not afraid of the house being on fire.

Pride

We should all be so proud of ourselves when we accomplish a spectacular cast!



(she says, "yeah, sweet!" in case you can't hear it very well)