Any Excuse To Eat Brownies

If Ian smells something on your breath, he leans in really close and puts his nose right up to your mouth. Usually he just sits there, right up in your face, until you pull him away. He was tired when I got this, though, so he was only a little interested.

I know I look hideous and you can really see Ian's jowels, but it's the best we could do on our own.

Bib Problem

Ian has a bib problem. He hates them. He gets mad when I put one on and sits there and pulls on it until it comes off. Then he chews on it, I guess to show it who's the boss.

To Cut Or Not To Cut?

I am having a really hard time deciding what to do with my hair. I always like it long, but I get tired of it after a while and chop it. I'm in a chop phase right now, and I don't know if I should go with it or resist. This is what my hair looks like right now:


This is what I'm thinking about doing:

Only a little longer in front and a little less Britney.

I just can't decide.

EFK (Especially For Kathy)

This is for Kathy, who is working hard and is very bored.



Josh Turner, Long Black Train.

See, Kathy?

Kathy asked me what was wrong with Ian crawling, if dumping himself into his car seat was that much of a problem. Well, Kathy, it's not, but he also has started getting into his laundry basket and is pulling himself into a standing position. He also can twist to the side and dig in the garbage next to his laundry basket. This is what is the problem.

Also a problem of equal caliber is the fact that half of the time we take his picture you can see straight up his nose.

Totally Awesome...Not!

I got these generic gallon zipper bags the other day. When I took the first one out, I couldn't believe how thin it was. It felt like it was made out of tissue paper! Are Ziploc brand bags totally luxe, or are these bags just really really crappy? I should've known they would be bad when I saw the name. If they have to say they're awesome, they probably aren't.

"Scrapbooking" - Jesse's Turn

I thought that since Haley got to post her favorites, I had to post some too. As I have plenty of favorites I won't have to repeat any of Haley's.


On a climb up Pfeifferhorn looking northeast down on White Pine Lake and across Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.

Nearing sunset on the La Saal loop road, Utah.

Sunday Lake on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. Maine has a healthy number of lakes.

My good friend, Ben, contemplating the workings of the universe on the Appalachian Trail.

Provo mountains and trees beside Utah Lake in the glow of a post-thunderstorm sunset.

Another good friend, John, skiing down a cirque on Mt. Timpanogos, Utah.

View from The Canyons, Utah.

Down canyon from Reed Lakes, Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska.

Looking down on Upper Reed Lake

At home in Davis Canyon, Utah.

Across Davis Canyon.

Double Arch, Arches NP, Utah.

Big Rocks, Little Haley.

Rock art.

Sunrise near convergence of Coyote Gulch and the Escalante River Gorge, Utah

Coyote Natural Bridge (and Haley).

Haley canoeing at sunset on Lake Champlain in Vermont.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

Now Ian is mobile. He was crawling like a worm across the floor but on Sunday finally figured out his hands. How unfortunate this had to happen at such a young age. I was thinking I had another month.

Scrapbooking, Online-Style

Here are some of my favorite pictures that Jesse has taken.

This first picture was on a trip we took to Yosemite. It was freezing the whole time, and then when we packed up to go home, it turned gorgeous. Go figure.


This is a picture from Pfeifferhorn. The ridge line across the middle of the picture looks like a knife blade--very dramatic.


This is up Spanish Fork Peak. I wasn't actually on this trip, but this picture is so good I feel like I was (how do you like that, Jesse?). I love quaking aspen. The sound of the leaves in the wind is musical.


This is Sand Flats, outside of Moab, Utah. It looks warm, but it was actually very very cold. Well, maybe not very very cold, but cold nonetheless.


This is in Davis Canyon, Utah. I love this picture because it looks so vast and empty. I want to live somewhere like this when I get older. I'll own a big old truck and it will be great.


This picture is from the same trip as the previous two. Still cold. Not that I mind the cold! I'm just sayin'.


THIS trip was not cold. This is Coyote Gulch, Utah. It was hot. I loved it. It was refreshing to hike down the gulch, sometimes in the river, sometimes out, and whenever you got too hot, you could dip back in. Very relaxing.


The Escalante River is the little strip of green in the middle of the picture with Coyote Gulch converging from the left (hard to see). I think I love the outdoors so much because you really realize how vast the world is. When I looked out across the sandstone, I could imagine that I was the only person alive. Television and radios and all the modern conveniences seemed so superfluous. Who needs 'em? I guess without the internet I couldn't be posting these, my favorite pictures, so I guess I should say "Who needs 'em as much as we use 'em?" Kathy, I really wish you were on that trip. It was great. You would've only felt like you were going to die as we climbed in and again as we climbed out. This picture is from climbing out.


This last picture is from Alaska. It was not taken by Jesse or I, but by a roommate named Ashleigh. I remember eons ago flipping through my grandparent's encyclopedias and under Washington State it said that it was the last wilderness in America. That was obviously written before Alaska joined the union. Anchorage was the largest city in that state, and they basically had nothing. That was wilderness.

Lo Mein

Here is the recipe Jesse and I use for lo mein. Sometimes we use whole wheat pasta, which is a little more filling and adds a nice texture to an ordinarily slimy product. This recipe is from the Washington Post.

1/2 pound chicken, pork, or beef, thinly sliced
Cornstarch for sprinkling
4 T canola oil
12 ounces Chinese egg noodles (or 8 ounces spaghetti)
3 ounces shredded Chinese cabbage (or regular cabbage)
1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp minced garlic
3 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce (we use the "less sodium" version--for some reason this always tastes salty)
1 tsp dark soy sauce (we usually sub hoisin sauce or just double the regular soy)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 ounces bean sprouts

Put the meat slices in a bowl, sprinkle them with cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of oil and marinate for 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles according to directions, drain, and rinse with cold running water. Drain again.

Place a wok over high heat. Add the remaining two tablespoons of oil, and stir-fry the meat until cooked, three to four minutes. Add the cabbage, green onions, ginger, and garlic, and cook until fragrant.

Add the noodles, oyster sauce, soy, and sesame oil, and continue stir-frying over high heat. Add the bean sprouts, stif-fry a minute longer, and serve. Eat with chopsticks.

Crazy Old Jaymee...Always Good For A Laugh

My sister Jaymee is a stuffed animal fiend, and would go to great lengths to get a new one. She and my mom were in Wal-Mart on Thursday (Valentine's Day) and they saw some women picking out stuffed animals for their sweethearts. When my mom and Jaymee got back in the car, Jaymee said, "You know, Mom, Valentine's Day is for kids. And this year I don't want candy, and I don't want flowers."


Really subtle, Jaymee. Just like your silver tooth.

Hot Wheels

Because Jesse and I both work at REI, we oftentimes get amazing deals on gear. Good thing, too, because we're none too rich.

One of the things we bought was a Burley bike trailer for an amazing $35 and a bike for me (my old one having been stolen at Hampton Court) for $95 (a $500 dollar value). The bike trailer manual said that infants 6 months and older could ride in it, so we couldn't use it until very recently.

Jesse did have the ingenious idea of lashing Ian's carseat inside the trailer, but I gave him a good rule of thumb you would all be wise to remember: If what you're doing would look like child abuse if you were caught, then don't do it.

That having been said, we took Ian out on 2 bike trips this last week. The first was only for 2 miles because Jesse had to go to work, the second was for an hour. Ian loved every minute of it, and stayed awake for maybe 10 minutes of it.

Question: Is the neighborhood I live in dangerous enough that I should not take Ian out on bike trips during the day to secluded trails? Probably. Is the traffic in my area bad enough that I would worry about Ian or I being killed or severely maimed in one of the stupid decisions idiotic drivers around here routinely make? Definitely. When are we going to move? I don't know. I do know one thing: Ian looks like a chipmunk in this picture:

The Year Of The Rat

Gongxi Facai! XinNian Kuaile! Happy Chinese New Year! Jesse and I rang in the Year of the Rat by eating about two pounds of lo-mein that we had made. I found a fortune cookie in a kitchen drawer earlier in the week when I was cleaning. I thought it would be nice to save it for the celebrations, but got really hungry and ate it instead. The fortune wasn't good, so I don't feel bad.

If Missing Birthdays Is Lame, Then I Guess I'm A Big Lame

I got a call from my friend Mariana Tuesday. After a bit of chit chat, she said, "Guess what happened a few days ago?" to which I replied, "Ummm...I don't know. What?" Turns out it was her birthday, and I didn't even realize I had missed it. I felt bad, but she assured me that she had missed mine, so it was okay. When I got off the phone with her, still feeling stupid, I realized I had also forgotten my sister's birthday and Brittney's birthday! I had forgotten a whole month of birthdays, and not realized it until someone pointed it out to me the next month! I am so lame! Sorry Brittney and Ashley! To make amends, I will now post pictures of Brittney (and Ashley, when I get them).


Okay, so I guess I only have one picture of Brittney. And I'm not clever enough to eliminate me and Brigg.

Note To Self:

• Just because Ian likes prunes does not mean he should be able to eat them.

• Combining prunes with bananas, a fruit that normally slows transit time, does not negate prune speed.

• Poop socks are gross.
  

Photo Shoot!

We've been trying to get a family picture since...well, since we had Ian 6 months ago. First, we weren't trying very hard. Then it got all cold, and then rainy, so we haven't been very successful. We tried to take some at the temple, but that kept falling through and it's all ugly outside now anyways. We finally caved in and took one in the backyard. Note the ugly background. That's okay, though, because when we move away all we'll have to do is look at our family picture to remind ourselves why we're never moving back. Jesse looks like he's laughing because he was making funny faces to make Ian smile.